had a blast at supanova! (part 2)

[continued from part 1]

After the madness of the Kamehameha Blast-Off! I made my way back to the seminar room. It was midway through Paul Goddard's seminar (best known for "The Matrix" and "Farscape") and I thought I'd try and get a good seat for Sean Astin's seminar which was due to follow. Unfortunately, a number of people seemed to have the same idea, as when Paul Goddard finished speaking (he was very entertaining by the way) very few people got up and left, so I didn't have the greatest view for Sean Astin and in the pictures I took he appears as a blurred blob. Pity! Anyway, the place was (not surprisingly) packed and Sean got a rousing reception when he arrived. He seemed to enjoy the sound of his voice through the microphone as he played around in a number of voices (no Sam accent though) and made many jokes. He talked for quite some time about his family, particularly daughter Alexandra, who had turned down the opportunity to travel with him as she was "star of the week" at her school, and his mother Patty Duke who was recently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Cute coincidence, huh? :-) He also talked about the "nature of celebrity" (though I think I missed the point because he tends to get sidetracked easily!), his likeness being on a stamp and money in New Zealand, how he hated having to put on weight to play Sam, that he's back in New Zealand filming "Hercules", politics, and numerous other matters which have slipped my mind. He is an engaging speaker though, I must say. He then opened the floor for questions, and the most memorable was when someone raised the issue of all the Sam/Frodo homoerotic material on the internet. After much laughter, Sean regaled us all with a tale about when he received a book of such material from fans at another convention in Utah. He mentioned how he had it shipped home as he didn't want to be questioned about it at an airport.. then told us when he arrived back home and went to his office bathroom, he found a large poster (from the book) had been stuck on the wall by his assistant. He said he left it there.. ;-)

That was probably the day's highlight for me, and I'm so thankful the convention staff allowed me to use my Saturday ticket on Sunday so I didn't have to miss this no doubt once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I made my way back to the Madman Anime Theatre to check out the Madman Cosplay Contest. It was wild! I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to anime, but even I couldn't help but be swept up in the frivolity of the contest. I'd seen numerous people wandering around in costumes during the morning, and now I discovered why. They each had their time on stage, most of them staying in character, doing appropriate poses for the audience, and enjoying the extremely enthusiastic applause, whistles, and hollers from all in attendance. I tried to get some photos but no matter what setting I used on my camera, all the photos were dark except for the glowing screen on the stage. D'oh! There are some great pictures of the Saturday Cosplayers located here though, for anyone who is interested. My favourites were a couple of pirates who got up there and declared it "talk like a pirate day" then had everyone in the audience bellowing "Arrr!" and "Yo ho!" Hilarious! :-)

I then had some time to pass before the final seminar I wished to attend, so I returned to the main building when they happened to be speaking to Jade Carter over the PA. He had to leave not long after, so they were encouraging anyone who wished to pick up an autograph to do it now. So I did. :-) He asked my name then looked at me and said "I remember you from this morning!" to which I replied, "Yeah, I'm the non-Jag fan girl!" Anyway, we then got to chatting about my necklace (a replica Sting, which he liked and wondered if I had picked it up there at the convention as he hadn't noticed it that morning) and Buffy. He asked who I liked as he had met most of the cast, I responded Spike, and he started writing a message on the print. I asked if he was going to sign as "Spike" to which he replied he wouldn't, as Spike would kill him. :-) After reading what he wrote and giggling at the message, he told me that he had hugged Spike, and now he was going to hug me, which he did (hello, not everyday I have incredibly attractive actors hugging me!), so it was like I had almost hugged Spike. How sweet is that? ;-) He was gorgeous in every possible sense of the word, and he now has a new devoted fan. Yeah, I'm easy to win over. :-)

I passed some more time in wandering around the stalls. Popped by the Madman booth where I filled in a questionnaire so I could score a free anime DVD sampler. The bro had asked for some anime goodies, and since I was by this stage out of money (and apparently all the ATMs in the vicinity had been emptied!), this was the best I could do. At least I remembered and got something, right bro? ;-)

Also checked out the EA Games booth because they had their next "Lord of the Rings" game on display: "The Battle for Middle Earth". I didn't have an opportunity to try it out for myself, but spent some time watching other people play it. Gameplay seems far more involved than their previous "Lord of the Rings" games and the graphics look amazing, so I'm looking forward to its release.

I wrapped up my day at Supanova by attending John Noble's seminar. He's an incredibly enthusiastic and passionate speaker. He had much to say about his role as Denethor (there were plenty of excellent questions for him to answer) and time filming the movies in general. One interesting tidbit was that during the audition process he was asked to read for both Denethor and Saruman. Anyway, I asked him about the scene that was added to the extended edition of "The Two Towers", featuring himself, Sean Bean (Boromir) and David Wenham (Faramir). It's a favourite of mine and one I felt really belonged in the theatrical edition. John was quite philosophical about it and said he wasn't disappointed over its exclusion personally, but felt bad for David Wenham. He thought it would have been a much better introduction to the Faramir character. But he did admit he felt the theatrical editions would fade into oblivion and that people would only watch the extended editions in the future, so there was no problem with that scene not appearing in the theatrical edition. :-)

John Noble seminar snaps: 01 / 02

And that rounded off my day. It was just after 5pm, and though the exhibition was open till 6pm I was feeling a little weary (and suitably satisfied) by then, so I headed home.. looking forward to next year's Supanova! Bring it on!

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