The Rosie Ramble - Big Apple Comic Con - Part 2
Here is the next bit of the Rosie Ramble from NYC- Im sorry it is taking me so long, but a combination of work, RL, computer problems and distractions have made this a very long drawn out process. As it is - this is only half of the saturday, with the other half and Sunday still for me to write up (and I still have computer problems that are making this difficult!)
Saturday
I had so much to carry today (including the quilt for James) that I took a cab to the Penn hotel. Then I made my way up to Amy Sue, Magie and Adrian’s room to drop most of it off and collect Magie as we were both going to the post play discussion. Having made our way up to the floor where it was supposed to be, we were met by several of the others saying that the room was just a normal hotel room and there was no answer! (It was turning into one of those weekends!) Trying to get hold of Steve, most of the people arrived too, not knowing anything different. Finally Steve arrived looking harassed and told us that about 30 seconds previously the hotel management had told him the room we were using was in fact on the 6th floor and not the 13th…!
So we tried to get on the elevators, but they were crowded and slow, so a few of us found the stairs and galloped down the 7 flights or so (and mostly beat the people in the elevators!) The room was easy to find, but had had no preparation at all - it had a couple of tables and 5 chairs and nothing else! Steve was most apologetic and started getting onto the hotel whilst we arranged the tables in the centre. Most of us were there when Peg arrived with James, and there still wasn’t any more furniture or coffee!
James was in jeans (of course!) dark navy t shirt and a rather nice black leather jacket. He also had a cut and a mark on his forehead that had not been there the night before. I happened to be standing the closest to the door when he arrived and so was first to be greeted with a big hug. The jacket proved to be very soft! I asked him if he had slept and he said yes and then complimented him on the jacket which he said he got from a film shoot.
As he moved around to the next people, someone asked him what had happened to his forehead and although I didn’t hear the answer, it seemed he had done it in his room getting worked up about the play. I did hear him say he had broken the phone in his room when he was getting mad at the hotel for not bringing him coffee…!
Having greeted everyone, James pulled up one of the few chairs and sat on it and started to talk about the play as he was keen to get into it. I grabbed one of the other chairs and took myself round the far side so I was opposite him across the table and in good position to take photos. (Camera on small tripod on the table so I didn’t haven to be peering through the viewfinder all the time) More chairs did arrive for everybody so people got settled in, but the coffee was not yet forthcoming, although Steve was having a few choice words with the hotel about it….!
The discussion was fairly involved and it is difficult to explain some of it if you haven’t seen the play. It wasn’t really a very easy time, we had a few laughs, but mostly it was fairly intense and at times uncomfortable. James was obviously deeply affected by the whole play and the feelings it roused and was questioning himself all the time about his place in the world. He kept coming back round to the same questions all the time - what was the message we were supposed to take from the play, was he the tiger and what did he do now? The play had really affected him and he said he would think about it for years. (Later on during the weekend it became apparent that James was not in a very good place mentally anyway - but how much of that was there already and how much of it was exacerbated by the play I don’t know.) But it made for a interesting if sometimes intense conversation.
He was asking what we got from it to start with - what were our conclusions and feelings about the play and its message. I told him that I came away feeling a bit pissed off but I wasn’t really sure why. And for me the message was - “war is shit” which James kind of agreed with. He was constantly questioning himself and calling himself an idiot and it didn’t seem to matter what anyone said, it wasn’t going to make him change his mind. And with the oft repeated question of “Am I the tiger?” we obviously weren’t giving him the answers he wanted.
Julie had given James a gift of a coffee mug with a Rachel Maddow quote on it at the start of the session and he kept on picking it up and peering hopefully into it as he was talking, just in case it might have suddenly filled with coffee. He looked so disappointed at one point when it hadn’t that we all laughed. (the hotel was taking so long to get organised that Peg had gone out to buy James a coffee!)
A lot of the discussion was about how America is the new empire and James didn’t like that he was part of it. Was the tiger in the play representing the empire and all its problems? We had politics and we talked about war and its effects and all the time James was still asking the same questions in different ways, was he the tiger, what did he do now? - finishing off one set of asking with “And where is the coffee???”
Lisa said that Steve was shouting at people in the kitchen trying to get coffee for all of us - and at about that point Peg arrived with a large cup for James! He looked relieved and we all cheered. He was all “Mine!” grabbing it possessively, daring anyone to try and take it from him and decanting it into his Rachel Maddow mug whilst saying something about “Faffing me around won’t get you anywhere”
“Don’t poke the tiger!” said someone which got a big laugh and agreement from James.
More talk on the empire and what it does, talk about the responsibility of being American and ruling the world and still we came back round to the questions with James saying “I’m like “I’m the tiger man. I totally am.” And that’s evil. Is that evil?” which demanded the answer no of course and lots of people chiming in, causing James to say in frustration, actually highlighting the trouble he was having with it “That’s the problem - there is no end to this question!” (but he still kept asking it and looking for answers!)
He seemed to be feeling responsible for just about everything at this point! Politics, policy, foreign aid, trade! He was beating himself up mentally for things that certainly were not his fault in any way, but he seemed to feel responsible for it all. It was like he was stuck in a loop, not being able to find the answers he wanted. He also touched his face and ran his hands through his hair a lot - often rubbing at his face with both hands, seeming to hide his mouth behind his hands and covering his eyes far more often than usual - something that he continued to do for the rest of the weekend.
There was a lot of jumping about around from topic to topic - the conversation was still about power and James’s view of the American Empire, and where he was in it, but it kept on changing very quickly. How his vote could affect the planet so he had to vote carefully. And a discussion on American culture and diversity and why some people wanted to be American - though James was pretty scathing about American culture! And still it kept on circling back round to the play and the tiger. We didn’t really come to any conclusions; we discussed what we took away from the play and the message, though there was no real agreement on what it actually was!
So it was a very interesting morning, if a little depressing. James was very down on himself, asking the same questions over and over and even though we were answering him, he was asking them again - maybe he didn’t like our answers. He seemed to be feeling responsible for everything, and depressed that he couldn't seem to change anything, that he wasn't doing enough. And he didn't want to be the tiger, he really didn’t want to be the tiger, even though he was convinced he was!! And that kind of set the tone for the rest of the weekend.
I had brought James a white rose - a real one - that morning and so I gave it to him just before he left the room. I just said something like “this is for you” and his face lit up in a lovely smile and he sniffed it and seemed to love it. Then he hugged me very tight - cannot remember what he said other than “Thank you, Rosie!”, but he did seem genuinely touched by it.
From there it was down to the convention proper - where we discovered complete chaos! The place was tiny. The lines to get passes were just stopped right there and going out the door onto the street and everybody was just falling over each other. There was nowhere for us to get our passes quickly despite being the platinum tickets. In the end, Jean went up and badgered them into giving her all 12 of our passes and extras, though it took about half an hour and it was running perilously close to the photo op time. By the time they were all handed out along with auto and photo tickets, it was time to line up - which just involved moving about 10 paces away to join the queue! The line ended up going round through a few vendors because it really was that tiny. And it was hot in there - really hot! Everyone was sweating and looking pink which was really going to make for great photos - not! We were all near the front as they were doing VIPs first which helped.
The area for photos wasn’t to cramped luckily, and it wasn’t actually Froggy talking the pictures - he wasn’t there, it was one of the other guys who works for him. There was quite a bit of space to see once you got closer so I was able to watch people in front of me have their pictures and it was immediately apparent that James was in one of his manic moods. He was being expansive, very touchy-feely and doing slightly more risky poses than he normally does - at his own behest.
Going forward, I told the photographer that the first of my two poses was actually my 200th picture with James! And then I was greeted with a “Hey Rosie!” and a big hug from the man himself. As we separated I told him that this was my 200th picture with him and James brought his fists up by his mouth in a mock panic and said “Oh my God! What am I going to do for this??? I was smiling as I replied with my hands held out to the sides in a shrug saying “I don’t have a clue!” (And I know this because the photographer snuck in a candid shot of us both at this point that I didn’t know about until I got the pictures back later - James has his hands up and I’m shrugging!) and then said something like “Just be how you feel - show what you feel about me” - so apparently I’m lickable! James pulled me in close with both his hands in my hair, one thumb resting on my cheekbone and his face up close to mine and as I was turning towards the camera, I was suddenly aware of this long tongue sticking out right by my eye! That just made me smile a lot and then laugh as we broke the pose and before I could say anything, James said “Now you lick me, Rosie!”
Well, that was a surprise - but I wasn’t going to argue! James put one arm round me and stuck the other hand in his jeans pocket, whilst I put both arms round his neck and leaned in. I did actually put the tip of my tongue just against his cheekbone (I was going around afterwards with my tongue stuck out saying “I nevvr gown to waff I’ agin!”) and my eyes lowered, whilst James was kind of almost leering at the camera with his mouth open! We both started laughing as soon as the picture was taken and James put his free arm back round me and hugged me, hard against him for a couple of seconds. Just before he let go he squeezed me even tighter and made a deep “mmmm” sound into my neck! I was just laughing - I was being hugged by a warm cuddly James! - and told him he was crazy and that I loved him.
All the pictures came out really well - neither pose is one I would ever have asked for so they are different for that, and I think they reflect the mood James was in.
After photos, it was time to find out where the Q and A was. This involved a lot of hunting about and in the end proved to be a walk down to the far end of the hotels vast lobby, continuing down a corridor, through some doors on the left which brought you out into another foyer with elevators and a sign saying to go to the third floor. On arriving up there, you then had to walk down another corridor that was filled with gamer tables and gamers and round a corner to another entrance lobby with even more gamer tables and finally - the Q and A room!!
I ended up staying and lining up - it was just easier in the long run. They were emptying the room between panels so staying meant getting a good seat. The VIPs got the front rows anyway but it’s an ingrained habit with me now and I got a front row seat.
They had a MC for this and he said he didn’t know anything about James so we started asking him questions - like when is his birthday from Magie and loads of us were shouting the answer back to him. I called out “What’s his middle name?” and when he didn’t know, the whole room practically chorused back “WESLEY!”
Hilariously as the MC was again admitting his ignorance, James came striding up through the centre aisle of the room, calling him on it, which got a huge roar of appreciation from the crowd and then he was leaping up onto the stage. He certainly made a great entrance!
This proved to be a good Q and A - very lively with some interesting questions and James answering without the aid of any kind of filter between his brain and mouth! At one point the MC got him to act an impromptu scene as Spike with a young girl playing Buffy - he came down off the stage and did this little scene with her. The poor girl was utterly gobsmacked - her face after James hugged her at the end was a picture - her eyes were huge and her mouth just hung open as she stared at him!
James was later talking about living in New York and then said Chicago wanted to be Toronto (after Magie had asked him if he had got to see any of the city when he was filming there) which ended up with him having a debate with Violet Spike about it and he wasn’t that kind about Chicago either!
James revealed that the new Ghost of the Robot album would be called Murphy’s Law - it was a name they had wanted to use because it had relevance for everyone, and especially because of Megan Murphy (Charlie’s girlfriend)
I actually got up to ask a question (partly because I wanted to know and partly because James had left the mic on its stand on the table for the Q and A and it was covering his face a lot of the time at first which was making photographs difficult!) I asked James what really really naughty thing it was that the writers of Caprica had told him that they were going to have Barnabas do if it got a second season? He decided he could tell us now and it was that Barnabas was going to have lots of sex with an 18 y o girl (which I assume was Magda) I said that they so should have made a season 2 and that there was a petition online to have it made and that everyone should sign it….!
Amongst other things, James sang a bit of the cowboy song and taunted us with the fact that he was reading the newest Harry Dresden book “Ghost Story” in preparation for reading it in the studio very soon and he knew what happens and we didn’t! Then the MC got him to read the comic con programme out loud in the style of reading a Dresden Files audiobook. We all called for James to do it in Toot-Toots voice, to which he replied he wouldn’t as he wasn’t getting paid - in Toot-Toot’s voice! He then read the bit of the programme out with much emphasis and lots of drama, which I videoed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce6D95lMux8
It certainly proved to be an entertaining hour, with Mr Flappygob operating at full capacity and without any filter engaged at all!
It was going to be another photo op next as I decided I didn’t have time to get in an autograph beforehand, I would do it afterwards. My original plan had been to give James the quilt at the auto table, but it was so crowded and small and with a wobbly table that Lisa and Peg had suggested it would be better done at the cocktail party later. Initially I hadn’t wanted to do it there as it was a personal thing and I didn’t want to be taking up other people’s James time, but they thought it would be best, so I went with that idea.
to be continued...