A Marstersful Weekend - Part 2
This way to Part 1
Saturday's events didn't start until midday so we had a lazy morning sitting round drinking tea and coffee, eating toast with homemade raspberry (as it turned out) jam and browsing round the interweb. Following some frantic texting EM joined us and we made our way out into the sunshine and headed towards the Drill Hall.
MARSTERSCLASS EVENT, DRILL HALL - SATURDAY 2 MAY
Goodge Street station doesn't exist was closed so it was a long walk up the Tottenham Court Road to the Drill Hall - though I was very tempted just to go into some of the shops and grab a bargain TV/laptop/camera *insert electrical item of your choice* on the way.
Once everyone was settled in their seats, complete with goody bag containing mouse mat, signed Piccolo pic and JM quiz, the programme for the day was outlined. A better recording of 'Teechers' from the Queen Mary had been found and so this was playing while people filed in and out to have their 'smile and camera flash' moment. I got a 'good to see you', lovely hug and a 'rock on' as well as a big smile, and loved the way Froggy just leaned against a pillar to take the pics. I convinced EM that we needed to get an additional photo op (just the one though) and we joined the end of another queue. As well as the photo op I also purchased a Captain John dolly. I had intended to give it to Ellen to add to her Doctor Who figures/Tardis crew but sueworld says I have to leave it in the box as it's collectible. (Chris agrees with her, but although he is still all pristine in his little plastic bubble I don't think he'll stay that way for much longer*g*).
Just as I was waiting to go in for my second pic, calturner and her daughter emerged from the lift, having just arrived after battling awful traffic and accidents on the motorway. I went for a more cuddly pose for this pic, but having watched other people's photo ops think I might go for the 'stand in front of jamses while he attempts to do the splits in front of you' pose. Good for two people this one I think, with the second person crawling through his legs.
Stressful part of the day over, it was time to get a coffee and wander around chatting to people .
I was seated with sueworld2003 and shapinglight in the centre of row E, nice and not too near the front. We were reminded that we needed to give our quizzes in so after I'd stolen most of my answers from EM (I know nothing about GoTR) I completed mine, made up an answer about Whoopie Goldberg as I couldn't remember what EM had put for this one (which is a shame as she knew the asnwer), and then invented some reasons as to why jamses was fired from one particular job. Stev collected the papers and then read out some of the more interesting and amusing answers.
Then it was time for James and Gareth to do their 'Masterclass in Acting for Film and TV'. I wasn't sure beforehand how I was going to like Gareth's part in this, but as it turned out he was great. He and James worked well together, and the whole session was just magical. James had made some notes, never having done anything like this before, and he referred to them a few times, but I think they were just a little bit of a prop rather than a crutch to be held onto tightly to stop him falling down. The whole audience did some warm up excercises with James (but not the falling down on the floor like a dying fly) and then some vocal excercises with Gareth, who put his own spin onto A Proper Cup of Coffee. Though I found that 'a cup of Lapsang Souchong tea' would have scanned just as well as his version did. *covers ears of all 9 year old girls everywhere*
James is such a fidget though.
The good acting/bad acting performances were just marvellous, with Gareth obviously drawing on his experience of melodrama and pantomime to really act badly ever so well. And of course Jamses was brilliant whether acting well or badly. We had the return of Spike, and the 'Jack asking Ianto out on a date' scene from Torchwood was given a whole new dimension. I could have watched the good/bad scenes all afternoon, unfortunately there was only time for two of each (Stev didn't get his chance to act, badly or otherwise) and then it was on the the acting Q&A. Which I hope must have been detailed in depth elsewhere, as I have nothing.
Next on the agenda was (I think) the autographs, nicely timed so that you could get your previously taken photo op signed should you want to. The personalisation issue was taken care of by people writing your name on a post it note which was then stuck onto your item for James to refer to. I had taken along the cardboard box that the Small Favor Dresden audiobook CDs came in for my personalised auto. The person before me had something large signed in big writing, and as I put my bit of cardboard down I realised that there was a much smaller space, so advised James that he'd have to write nice and small. Which he did. :D He looked at the cover and said how much he enjoyed reading the books, and I obediently said how much I enjoyed listening to them (and reading them as well). James had a stock of little phrases he wrote - I got 'One Love', others had 'Bite Me', and I think 'Rock On' appeared once or twice too.
Another Q&A followed, this time with just a jamses (Gareth and fiance having left earlier for Ireland) though the only thing I think I remember is James being adamant that astronauts really had landed on the moon and not to listen to any sort of conspiracy theory to the contrary. And then it was time for a long break and some FOOD! I was starving, having had nothing to eat since breakfast apart from a flapjackky thing which was a bit dry and chewy. Eve, EM, LS, Hawera, Kaz and I set off with purpose and soon stumbled upon a place simply called 'Hamburger +'. With our disastrous attempt to get a meal in a fish & chip shop during the Rift intermission this had two advantages - it was two minutes walk from the Drill Hall and it was pretty empty. We were soon joined by polarbear and a variety of ribs, chips, burgers and beverages were consumed while we chatted over the day so far and had some masterclasses of our own in how to actually use your camera properly. I'd found the 'black and white' setting and stuck with it for quite some time (mainly because I couldn't remember what I'd done to get it in the first place).
Back to the Drill Hall for the singy part of the day. I was convinced that I heard some Gareth singing while we were waiting for James to appear on stage, there were some very strange noises coming through the speakers above my head - and it wasn't just me, shapinglight and the lady sitting on my other side heard it as well. I sang along and got even better at taking pictures of jamse's chair during the gig, and then EM, Kaz, LS and I accompanied Sylph to a pub where she'd arranged to meet up with her husband (not really a hardship that) prior to making our way back through the tube network home.
Phew, nearly there now, just need Sunday to finish things off.
Part 3
Saturday's events didn't start until midday so we had a lazy morning sitting round drinking tea and coffee, eating toast with homemade raspberry (as it turned out) jam and browsing round the interweb. Following some frantic texting EM joined us and we made our way out into the sunshine and headed towards the Drill Hall.
MARSTERSCLASS EVENT, DRILL HALL - SATURDAY 2 MAY
Goodge Street station doesn't exist was closed so it was a long walk up the Tottenham Court Road to the Drill Hall - though I was very tempted just to go into some of the shops and grab a bargain TV/laptop/camera *insert electrical item of your choice* on the way.
Once everyone was settled in their seats, complete with goody bag containing mouse mat, signed Piccolo pic and JM quiz, the programme for the day was outlined. A better recording of 'Teechers' from the Queen Mary had been found and so this was playing while people filed in and out to have their 'smile and camera flash' moment. I got a 'good to see you', lovely hug and a 'rock on' as well as a big smile, and loved the way Froggy just leaned against a pillar to take the pics. I convinced EM that we needed to get an additional photo op (just the one though) and we joined the end of another queue. As well as the photo op I also purchased a Captain John dolly. I had intended to give it to Ellen to add to her Doctor Who figures/Tardis crew but sueworld says I have to leave it in the box as it's collectible. (Chris agrees with her, but although he is still all pristine in his little plastic bubble I don't think he'll stay that way for much longer*g*).
Just as I was waiting to go in for my second pic, calturner and her daughter emerged from the lift, having just arrived after battling awful traffic and accidents on the motorway. I went for a more cuddly pose for this pic, but having watched other people's photo ops think I might go for the 'stand in front of jamses while he attempts to do the splits in front of you' pose. Good for two people this one I think, with the second person crawling through his legs.
Stressful part of the day over, it was time to get a coffee and wander around chatting to people .
I was seated with sueworld2003 and shapinglight in the centre of row E, nice and not too near the front. We were reminded that we needed to give our quizzes in so after I'd stolen most of my answers from EM (I know nothing about GoTR) I completed mine, made up an answer about Whoopie Goldberg as I couldn't remember what EM had put for this one (which is a shame as she knew the asnwer), and then invented some reasons as to why jamses was fired from one particular job. Stev collected the papers and then read out some of the more interesting and amusing answers.
Then it was time for James and Gareth to do their 'Masterclass in Acting for Film and TV'. I wasn't sure beforehand how I was going to like Gareth's part in this, but as it turned out he was great. He and James worked well together, and the whole session was just magical. James had made some notes, never having done anything like this before, and he referred to them a few times, but I think they were just a little bit of a prop rather than a crutch to be held onto tightly to stop him falling down. The whole audience did some warm up excercises with James (but not the falling down on the floor like a dying fly) and then some vocal excercises with Gareth, who put his own spin onto A Proper Cup of Coffee. Though I found that 'a cup of Lapsang Souchong tea' would have scanned just as well as his version did. *covers ears of all 9 year old girls everywhere*
James is such a fidget though.
The good acting/bad acting performances were just marvellous, with Gareth obviously drawing on his experience of melodrama and pantomime to really act badly ever so well. And of course Jamses was brilliant whether acting well or badly. We had the return of Spike, and the 'Jack asking Ianto out on a date' scene from Torchwood was given a whole new dimension. I could have watched the good/bad scenes all afternoon, unfortunately there was only time for two of each (Stev didn't get his chance to act, badly or otherwise) and then it was on the the acting Q&A. Which I hope must have been detailed in depth elsewhere, as I have nothing.
Next on the agenda was (I think) the autographs, nicely timed so that you could get your previously taken photo op signed should you want to. The personalisation issue was taken care of by people writing your name on a post it note which was then stuck onto your item for James to refer to. I had taken along the cardboard box that the Small Favor Dresden audiobook CDs came in for my personalised auto. The person before me had something large signed in big writing, and as I put my bit of cardboard down I realised that there was a much smaller space, so advised James that he'd have to write nice and small. Which he did. :D He looked at the cover and said how much he enjoyed reading the books, and I obediently said how much I enjoyed listening to them (and reading them as well). James had a stock of little phrases he wrote - I got 'One Love', others had 'Bite Me', and I think 'Rock On' appeared once or twice too.
Another Q&A followed, this time with just a jamses (Gareth and fiance having left earlier for Ireland) though the only thing I think I remember is James being adamant that astronauts really had landed on the moon and not to listen to any sort of conspiracy theory to the contrary. And then it was time for a long break and some FOOD! I was starving, having had nothing to eat since breakfast apart from a flapjackky thing which was a bit dry and chewy. Eve, EM, LS, Hawera, Kaz and I set off with purpose and soon stumbled upon a place simply called 'Hamburger +'. With our disastrous attempt to get a meal in a fish & chip shop during the Rift intermission this had two advantages - it was two minutes walk from the Drill Hall and it was pretty empty. We were soon joined by polarbear and a variety of ribs, chips, burgers and beverages were consumed while we chatted over the day so far and had some masterclasses of our own in how to actually use your camera properly. I'd found the 'black and white' setting and stuck with it for quite some time (mainly because I couldn't remember what I'd done to get it in the first place).
Back to the Drill Hall for the singy part of the day. I was convinced that I heard some Gareth singing while we were waiting for James to appear on stage, there were some very strange noises coming through the speakers above my head - and it wasn't just me, shapinglight and the lady sitting on my other side heard it as well. I sang along and got even better at taking pictures of jamse's chair during the gig, and then EM, Kaz, LS and I accompanied Sylph to a pub where she'd arranged to meet up with her husband (not really a hardship that) prior to making our way back through the tube network home.
Phew, nearly there now, just need Sunday to finish things off.
Part 3