Starfury - The Chosen convention report: February 3nd 2008, Sunday - Keith Play:
I didn't do much during the morning, basically I was hanging out with Do and Mary - sometimes in the main hall, sometimes on the stairs. Besides to get to know each other better, nothing spectacular happened until Keith's play startet - and it was really funny.
He wrote it himself and it was about a guy (Jonathan), hopelessly in love with the mysterious Turandot (Juliet), who wakes up dead and tries to find out, what happens to him. He obviously was one the fools who tried to solve her riddles and failed, which didn't stop his love for her, very much to the annoying of his dead companion (Neil), who fails to talk some sense into him.

Originally Vincent supposed to be in the play but he never showed up but kept Keith's script with him, so that he was replaced by Jonathan. I must say, I did not like Jonathan as a person, but I was impressed by the performance he gave on stage. He was simply gorges as the hysterical "fool for love" and Neil was pretty good as his unintended companion, who became more and more impatient by Jonathan's mental blindness. A running gag besides Jonathan's yelling was, that he pronounced Turandot's name wrong as "Turandoh" and was constantly corrected by a more and more unnerved Neil: "...DOT!!!" :-) Juliet was as great as always, playing her Turandot quite delusional and Keith' seemed to be very pleased by his actors performances and laughed happily quite often :-)



Diesmal ist meine Ausrede, die Einträge nicht zweisprachig zu halten, daß ich noch krank geschrieben bin und nur mit einer Hand tippen kann :-)

Starfury - The Chosen convention report: Feruary, 2nd 2008 - Pics from the Panels, Documentary movie from Juliet Landau :

I was never really a part of the Angel or Buffy Fandom, but even I heard about her tremendous con reputation and you could see at Starfury clearly why.


Have to go to bed now :-)

Aus Zeitgründen ist es mir im Moment nicht möglich, meine Einträge 2-sprachig zu halten; nach der Berlinale wieder :-)

Starfury - The Chosen convention report:  February, 2nd 2008 - Pics from the Panels  Vincent & Keith :
As I said before, they mostly made fun of each other, but there were couple of questions asked nevertheless. Of course some old Angel related questions popped up and Vincent and Keith talked about the writers strike, but they said basically the same I already told you in my post before. I asked Vincent about Killing Zelda Sparks, and he answered, that it would be probably never released, because it wasn't any good. They were first time filmmakers, didn't know, how to do what, his wig was bad... well he seemed not to be very satisfied with the result :-) Besides that I wanted to know about Sweet Justice, because it's in some official press kits from his movies, but it isn't listed at IMDB. He said, he was actually in an episode, when he was like 13, but he didn't give away the episodes name, just someone who was on it with him, but I didn't understand the name.

As 2 days ago, I uploaded 8 pics with Vincent  and 1 with Keith to my German Fanpage and embedded them here in JL. As before, the size is between 300 and 700 kB, because the light was bad and some of them can only be watched very much downsized. I hope you enjoy them anyway :-)



Have to watch my next Berlinale movie now :-)

Aus Zeitgründen ist es mir im Moment nicht möglich, meine Einträge 2-sprachig zu halten; nach der Berlinale wieder :-)

Starfury - The Chosen convention report: February, 2nd 2008 - Pictures from the Panels

Elisabeth & Jonathan : I actually don't remember much from this panel, there weren't many questions asked. Funny was when Elisabeth joked she likes to be in a porne. That sort of followed her the whole weekend. She is pregnant right now and when she's been asked about further plans, she answered, she's "producing" a baby :-) Concerning her last show, she suspected her character to be gay and is of course fine with it. Although she thought it was funny, that the question popped up over again. If she could appear in the Angel Comic comics, she likes to be more at the dark side, like becoming a vampire.




Vincent & Keith : They mostly made fun of each other, so it was actually hard to place a question, because it felt like to interrupt them. I'm gonna talk about it tomorrow, because there are actually some things to say; right now I just want to post the next 10 pics with Vincent. As the one with Elisabeth, the size is between 300 and 700 kB, because the light was bad and some of them can only be watched very much downsized. I hope you enjoy them anyway :-)



Aus Zeitgründen ist es mir im Moment nicht möglich, meine Einträge 2-sprachig zu halten; nach der Berlinale wieder :-)
 

I'm still sick, last night I throwed up, so I couldn't post, but I've got better today and was capable of buying  Berlinale tickets for Saturday.

Starfury - The Chosen convention report: February, 1rst 2008 - Meet & Greet:
I was never at a Meet & Greet before, because it's something you cannot do when you have 2000-3000 guests. So I enjoyed it, the actors came to the table and talked for a while. I missed the first one, Keith, because I went to the Bar to get something to drink. George came after him and he was really funny and likable. He talked a bit about the Buffy comics he was involved and wanted to know, if we prefer the Angel or Buffy comics. I couldn't help myself but to tease him  a bit and answered: "Firefly" and he gave me a look and said: "I almost liked you." :-) John was next, he was annoying, already drunk and full of himself and I was happy that he left soon.

Vincent came next and that gave me the opportunity to ask a couple of questions. In this post I'll stick mostly to mine, because I remember them better and I guess, dresden_doll_01  and aldo_77  gonna post their stuff themselves. I don't try to keep this in the right order, I think it will be easier for you guys to follow, when I'll sort them into topics, ok?

• Livejournal: He asked us,  where we were from and after that if we know each other before, so we told him, that we found us via LJ. He said that a friend of him found kartheiser_grls and aldo_77s site. He wanted to know our LJ names again and when he asks, if we like LJ, I said, that it gives you the chance to be pretty precise about your interests (the tag system I miss so much on MySpace) and therefore it's easy to find people who go for the same stuff

• Mad Men:
  
• I think he was pretty excited that we all new the show and watched it via Internet, only aldo_77 saw the first 4 eps on Swedish TV, I think.
  
• Vincent told us, that the shooting of the 2nd season starts in 3 weeks  and was happy about the Golden Globes. But he's hoping to get an Emmy for himself or getting at least nominated for it and put himself into it.
  
• He didn't know much how the story will proceed, but the next season should be set up 2 years later ( and then 4 years later), Pete will have a child and maybe a different boss. He normally finds out about things like 5 days before shooting, which is quite normal for TV shows to my knowledge.
  
• I told him, that I find the storyline with the pregnant Peggy implausible, because she went for doctor at the beginning of the 1rst season and he said, that they had have sex to soon and her prevention might had needed like 30 days. before she should go for it (I remembered later, that my parents went pregnant too, although they had taken prevention, well,  it was the 60s, right?)
• He worked with Elisabeth Moss (Peggy) like 10 years  before on workshops  for directors and writers in Sundance.
• I think it was dresden_doll_01 who asked how much of Pete is a part of him, and he said ( as he usual does at cons before), that he is a nice guy, but added, that Pete comes easy to him. I asked him if Pete stays  a "gray  shaded  character"  ( that is a literal translation from German and he didn't get it when i asked it first:  it means someone who has as much good as bad sides)  and he agreed and hoped so.
  
• We all agree that Vincent plays a perfect pycho :-)
• He said that Mad Men is the best thing that happened to him and I asked, if that's not always the case, when someone work in a project and is happy there. I knew actors who say that always and even mean it at this particular moment, but he disagreed and reminded me, that he didn't liked Connor and mentioned it before. He thinks that he was to weak ( he actually used a different phrase, but I don't remember it ) and that he was badly written.
• He thinks that the writers strikes give AMC a good chance to grab some really good writes, because so far only UA, Lionsgate and the Weinstein Brothers made deals with them.
  
• I wanted to know if the next season will have only 13  episodes again, and he agreed. Because I heard that from some scifi actors before, I asked, if that means they'll have more time to shoot one episode. But that's unfortunately not true, because AMC is to small, so they have not much money and have to shoot actually faster (only 7 days per episode), only 2 instead of 4 cameras like Angel had, a.s.f.
• We talked again about the quality of the show and he became very excited about it: he thinks, that there is still a lot of chauvinism out there, it's just much beneath the surface than it was in the 60s, so the show is not only a show about the 60s, but - and here I filled in - about today.

• New Movies or Plays: Unfortunately there are no new movies in sight, he auditioned for a couple of shows as a supporting actor instead. I like his independent movies very much, basically  I'm  following his career because of that and I asked about his theater plans. He said, that he checked a play in London and didn't liked it and if he gets payed bad, he wanted at least to like the play. We talk about the low payment you receive on theater in the States, very unlike than in Germany. he made a joke about getting a play in Germany if there wasn't the German language.

• Style: I think it was dresden_doll_01 who asked him about a style manager and he answered that they only kill individuality.
  

• Angel: Vincent wanted to know if we knew him from Angel, but I saw him first in "The Unsaid" and dresden_doll_01 even before that.

Remember when I told you about the singing at the opening? I didn't bring my camera, but dresden_doll_01 did and allowed me to show this pics here :-)



So that's how Vincent looked at the first night - very "Mad Men"ish, don't you think :-)) Suits him.

That'll be all for now,  I'm afraid I have to throw up again :-( Or maybe I should eat something? Just not quite sure right now...
I'll continue posting  during the next couple of days and I still have a couple of nice pics to share :-)

Aus Zeitgründen ist es mir im Moment nicht möglich, meine Einträge 2-sprachig zu halten; nach der Berlinale wieder :-) 

Starfury - The Chosen convention report: February, 1rst 2008 - Arrival:
The way to Bristol was a nightmare: My bag broke directly after the 2nd security check. The flight was 2 hours late and I had less than 20 minutes to find my way in Heathrow to get the bus. I made it in 11 minutes, but of course ended up in the wrong bus station. Someone explained the way the the central station and I finally ended up in the right place. At the hotel I studied the paper I received when I checked-in at the Starfury registration desk, they had less in common with FedCon than I expected, so I had to ask them a couple of questions to make sure, I understand the rules :-)

I arrived in the Main Hall a while before the actual Opening started and I looked around and took my time, because I hoped aldo_77 would recognize me. And I was lucky, she and dresden_doll_01 saw me an d we talked until the ceremony began. It was a short one, basically all the actors were introduced by Neil Roberts, who acted as a chairman a couple of times during the convention, although he was a regular guest. It was nice and funny, especially when the actors had to sing Mandy. Vincent went with his mic from one actor/actress to the next, and "forced" them to sing :-)

After that the Meet & Greet starts, but I have to talk about that tomorrow, because it's late and I have to get up early: I'm already in Berlin for the Berlinale Film Festival and I have to get up at 6 o'clock in the morning to buy my tickets for the first day.

I don't have any pics from the Opening Ceremony, therefore I'll post here 3 from Vincent's first panel. Unfortunaly the light was the worst I ever experienced at a convention, so they are not brilliant. Ejoy anyway :-)


Aus Zeitgründen ist es mir im Moment nicht möglich, meine Einträge 2-sprachig zu halten; nach der Berlinale wieder :-)




I'll post more during the next days and I have a couple of nice pics to share :-)

When I came back from my vacation, I found the e-mail conformation for my hotel room AND the Starfury ticket in my letter box. Spontaneously I decided to celebrate :-) My ticket number ist 50, so I might even get a good place :-) Of course this would not be Starfury, if there weren't some things which wrong ;-) A few days later I received a second ticket, as I was afraid before. So again, I e-mailed and phoned Sean and he promised to cancel the second ticket, so I hope everything will work out fine and they'll let me in, when I arrive :-))
It was interesting how hard I find it to understand Sean on the phone, British English really is quite different from American, which I more used to. But he was polite and he is one of the rare English natives who uses different words when you don't understand him instead repeating himself over and over again. Nice! I call this a pretty good, friendly service :-)

So, ich habe jetzt die Hotelbestätigung plus Con-Ticket zusammen. Natürlich kam das Ticket wie vor einiger Zeit befürchtet ein paar Tage später ein 2. Mal, aber dank Sean lies sich das alles am Telefon klären - hoffe ich doch! Ich habe die Nummer 50, was hoffentlich einen guten Platz bedeutet...

This is my ticket, my precioussssss ;-) Sorry, too much LOTR lately ;-)

The Schedule for Friday: Good for me that we don't have much program here, because I'll arrive approx. at 4:15 pm. I hope that is soon enough to buy a ticket for the photo shootings and hopefully I'll get one for saturday, because you need to pick the photos up by yourself at 7:00 pm that day there were made... Maybe I have to ask aldo_77 for help?

Well lucky me again, because I need to leave the hotel at 4.45pm to get the bus to the airport. So I can enjoy Vincent's last panel until the end :-)


AND last but not least:

Golden Globes for/für Vincent's Mad Men as best TV-Show Drama

And John Hamm wins best actor in a TV series Drama. For more Information see the Golden Globes official site

Today my friend told me she was able to book a room at the Starfury's convention hotel for me, yes!!! So I have my
• flight ticket
• convention booked
• hotel room
Of course I have to wait 'till I receive the confirmations, but I deceided to celebrate tonight :-)

Heute rief mich meine Freundin an und teilte mir mit, daß sie das Zimmer im Con-Hotel buchen konnte, damit habe ich alles bis auf die Busfahrt zusammen:
• Flugticket
• Convention Ticket
• Hotelzimmer
Natürlich muß ich noch auf die schriftlichen Bestätigungen warten, doch am Telefon und online schien alles soweit ok zu sein,woraufhin ich beschlossen habe, heute schon en wenig zu feiern :-)

Today I've received an e-mail from Sean, the guy behind Starfury. He told me that I give them the wrong card number during booking (I know that, that's why I contacted them) and ask my to "to re-enter your details on our online booking form". He "rserved a ticket for you in the mean time", which is quite nice. But what does that means? Do I have to book again and get a new Order_ID? Why can't they use the number they've get from me via web contact? Don't they even read it?
In the meantime my friend still wasn't able to get through reservations...

Heute habe ich von Sean, der Mann hinter der Starfury Con, eine Email bekommen, in der er mitteilt, daß meine Kreditkartennummer unvollstänig ist (das weiß ich, deshalb hatte ich sie ja nochmal kontaktiert und sie nachgeliefert) und ich "to re-enter your details on our online booking form" also alles noch mal machen muß? Wirklich? Immerhin reserviert er mir ein Ticket, was echt lieb ist, dennnoch: warum können sie nicht auf meine Nachfrage Bezug nehmen? Haben sie sie gar nicht gelesen?
In der Zwischenzeit hat meine Freundin vergeblich weiterhin versucht, mir ein Zimmer zu reservieren. Oh Man, das ist echt anstrengend...

Didn't hear anything form the Starfury people :-( My anglophil friend comments with a smile: "British service". What she didn't find so funny anymore is that's not possible to get through reservation at the thistle hotels. Her english is way better than mine, so she tried it almost the whole day, but always ended up in the holding line. That's not really a recommendation for this place *** sight *** I hope Vincent is worth ist :-)

Bisher habe ich nichts von den Starfury Wesen gehört :-( Meine sehr England-begeisterte Freundin meinte daraufhin mit einem sanften Lächen "Britischer Service". Das Lachen verging ihr aber, als sie den Tag über immer wieder vergeblich in der Warteschleife hing, statt zur Zimmerreservierung durchgestellt zu werden - ich hatte sie gebeten dies für mcih zu tun, da ihr Englisch deutlich besser ist als meins *** seuftz *** Ich hoffe nur, Vincent is ist das wirklich wert :-)

Didn't hear anything form the Starfury people :-(
Besides that I found out, that I didn't get a paper ticket from BA, but have to print the e-mail they've send me. And to make sure at the airport that's really me, I have to show them the credit card I used for the apyment. F**k, I thought that's what passports are made for :-( Which means I have to carrie them both to GB :-(( Which means they can both get stolen :-((( Ok, sound paranoid, but it happens at RingCon last year to me and I swore never to take both at then to a convention.

Von den Starfury Wesen habe ich noch nichts gehört.
Unabhängig davon habe ich herausgefunden, daß ich die Email von BA ausdrucken und als Ticket verwenden muß, um mich auszuweisen, wollen sie die verwendete Kreditkarte sehen. Klasse, jetzt kann ich beide mitnehmen! Ich dachte dafür gibt's Personalausweise :-( Es klingt nämlich nur auf den ersten Blick paranoid, denn mir ist auf der vorletzten RingCon mein Portemonaie mit ALLEN Ausweisen gestohlen worden und ich hatte mir geschworen, in Zukunft mit weniger unterwegs zu sein.

So I deceided to went to Vincents Starfury convention next February. Shouldn't be a problem - I'm not exactly a convention newbie and I'm enjoying Fed- and RingCon for around 10 years now. But - I underestimated the british way of handling it ;-)
I booked my flight and my convention ticket on sunday and had unfortunally using different credit cards, because Starfury dont't take Amex, which I've already used for the flight tickets. Finding a flight was more difficult than I expected, because it take at least 2 hours from london to bristol and the last flight back was offered at 20:15 from BA, which is quit expensive. I can't use easyjet, because don't fly to my city (Frankfurt) nor ryanair, because they only depart at london stanstedt, from where a bus to bristol needs around 3-4 hours, which I think I don't have on sunday. I really don't like to leave the convention too early, I mean, Vincent's there, right? :-)
After booking the con ticket I realised, that I messed up with my credit card number, so I deceided to contact Starfury via their web form, because it is secured. Then I waited...

Ich habe beschlossen, mir Vincents Starfury convention nächsten Februar anzusehen. Naiverweise bin ich davon ausgegangen, daß das kein großes Problem sein kann, schließlich bin ich nicht gerade ein Convention-Anfänger und habe mittlerweile hut 10 Jahre Fed- und RingCon auf dem Buckel ;-)
Also habe ich mir letzten Sonntag einen Flug und das Con-Ticket gebucht, allerdings mit verschiedenen Kreditkarten, da Starfury keine Amex nimmt, was ich aber erst herausgefunden habe, nachdem ich mit ihr den Flug bezahlt hatte. Überhaupt erwies sich an einen vernünftigen Flug zu kommen schwieriger als erwartet: Es dauert mit dem Bus etwa 2 Stunden von London nach Bristol und der letze BA Flug geht Sonntag um 20:15 Uhr. Easyjet fliegt leider nicht nach Frankfurt, Ryanair nur nach London Stanstedt und von dort aus benötigt der Bus etwa doppelt so lange :-( Und gerade am Sonntag möchte ich die Con ja nicht unbedingt früher verlassen, ich meine - Hey, Vincent ist da! :-)
Nachdem ich das Con-Ticket gebucht hatte, kam mir im Nachhinein etwas komisch vor und ich kontaktierte die Veranstalter über ihre verschlüsselte Webseite. Und dann begann ich zu warten...

I still have trouble with Tendonitis at both my hands, but I HAVE to post this: Vincent will be one of the guests at the Starfury Convention The Chosen at the Thistle Hotel in Bristol, 1-3 February 2008. You can already purchase tickets online, but so far no accommodation. The ticket will cost £65 for all three days (adults).
Let's enjoy Vincent's point of view regarding Connor and Angel for another time. I'm gonna be there, are you?
I'll keep you posted :-)

Ich habe immer noch Probleme mit meine Sehnenscheid-Entzündung, aber diese Neuigkeit MUSSTE ich einfach posten: Vincent wird ein der Gäste auf der Starfury Convention The Chosen vom 1.-3. Februar 2008 im Thistle Hotel in Bristol sein. Es ist bereits möglich, online Tickets zu ordern, Unterkünfte im Con-Hotel selbst allerdings noch nicht. Ein Wochenend-Ticket für Erwachsene kostet 65£. Ich bin gespannt, was Vincent diesmal zu Connor und Angel Themen zu sagen hat und werde da sein, Ihr auch?
Ich werde Euch auf dem laufenden halten :-)



Besides Vincent they invided so far: / Weitere Convention-Gäste sind:

• Juliet Landau (Drusilla)
• Elisabeth Rohm (Kate)
• Keith Szarabajka (Holtz)
• Jonathan Woodward (Knox)
• Neil Roberts
• Georges Jeanty (season 8 comic artist)