Yet another memorable trip to Southern Cal, this time to attend Comic-Con, plus more hobnobbing with fellow Lord of the Rings fans & makers of the LotR movies...including 3 of the hobbits, one who sat next to me briefly at breakfast! But it was the "Bad Guys" from the movie that hung out with my group of friends....

A happy reunion with Eridana, the gal who shared her hotel room for the Oscars party in March & who shared her house with me this time! In fact, there were many familiar faces from that party, plus from Barliman's Bash, a fan gathering in Bellevue, WA(!), I'd attended the weekend before. Add to the mix several people whose screen-names were familiar from the message boards, and whose faces are now attached to their names in my head. There were 7 of us, another Fellowship of 7, who hung out with each other a lot, all sharing a meaningful bond, (i.e. quoting lines from the movie at an appropriate moment & receiving raucous laughter in response, instead of the usual blank look from "normal" people).

One more familiar face was Richard Taylor, founder of Weta Workshop, who did most of the effects for the LotR movies. He actually remembered my face from the Oscar party, but I also reminded him that I'd emailed the great photos of him with his 2 Oscars. His face registered delighted recognition, & he told me those photos were hanging on the bulletin board at Weta, then he gave me a peck on the cheek & a red pin of the "eye of Sauron", the official symbol used to identify his workers to the cast & crew during the movie shooting... a VERY rare piece (he only brought a pocketful)!

Richard & his Weta crew had set up a display of weapons from the movie & were available to answer questions & sign things. Also there: Lawrence Makoare, who played Lurtz, and Sala Baker, who was the evil Sauron, ("He's the one who started all this," said Lawrence, pointing to Sala). These are 2 BIG guys, who are native New Zealanders (Maoris), & are great teasers with darling personalities! In Sala's words, "We're the guys you love to hate." Since we 7 met them on the first night & several times throughout the weekend, they felt comfortable with us & would hang & chat with our group before going on to other fans. Our extra attention to them worked in their favor, because other people then wondered who they were, & that brought MORE attention than they normally get due to relatively small parts & being hidden behind the makeup, etc. I now have several things with their signatures on them, books, cards, etc. Due to this "special" bond, we 7 came up with a brilliant idea/gift that *made* their weekend.... more later.

The whole center of the convention hall was taken up by LotR stuff: Weta display (weapons & Lurtz/Ringwraith lifesize statues), Sideshow Toy (replica statues display), TheOneRing.net, Houghton-Mifflin (books display), New Line Cinema, & Decipher (Trading Card Game). Decipher & LotRFanClub were the sponsors of the autograph sessions. Lawrence & Sala were first on Thursday, then Dominic Monaghan was scheduled for Fri/Sat. He is also a lovely person, thoughtfully spending a little one-on-one time with each fan. When I wasn't in line getting something signed, I was videotaping his interactions with other people. He hammed for my camera several times. Cute!! ;-)

Sat. a.m., about 75 FanClub members had an opportunity to attend a breakfast with Dominic. He admitted to not being much of a morning person, so he told us to be sure to get our $30 worth of food, chairs, tablecloths.... ;-) After everyone had eaten, he took the podium & regaled us with humorous tales about filming. For example, the injuries sustained by everyone. Dominic's was his foot getting stabbed by Boromir's sword on the crumbling stairway. Sean Bean thought he was putting the sword in its scabbard, but missed & hit Dom's foot, but they didn't call "cut"!

He told us about almost getting stuck in the snow, with flakes so big they went "boof" when they hit the ground. The scene, trudging thru the marshes, didn't make it into the theatrical version of the movie but will be in the extended version. The cast & crew barely made it to the hotel 40 minutes away, but there was no place to take off the hobbit feet, etc., so they went to the laundry room & sat on the washers (also helped warm them up!). Elijah Wood was telling a dumb joke & fell off the machine as he told the punchline! All they could see were his feet sticking up in the air! :-D

Someone asked Dominic what it was like when he found out he'd gotten the part of Merry. He said he was in a van-full of actors when he got the call from his agent. The other actors asked him what he was smiling about, but when he told them, they just said, "oh...that's great..." ;-) Dominic closed with telling us his favorite scene: when Merry & Pippin meet up again in the 3rd movie, but Merry is so shell-shocked from fighting in the war that Pippin has to help "bring him back". He said it is both sad and beautiful.

Then Dominic went from table to table, chatting with each group briefly. Bill (Sauron's Truss), another self-appointed videographer, got the wide shots on his tripod, while I followed Dom to get the handheld close-ups of the people at the table & of him answering their questions (never realized how pretty his eyes were until I zoomed in on them! ;-} ). When he came to sit at our table, I put the camera on its tripod & asked my question, "How long did you guys have to sit around waiting for the lighting crews & set designers to get everything set up?" He wilted as he said, "Oh God! There were 4 days in a row where Billy & I had to get all dressed up in our feet & everything, but they never used us in any of the shots! We read a lot of newspapers..." That was the scene where the fellowship was stuck in the snow on the pass of Caradhras.

Later that day, New Line was supposed to do a presentation in the BIG meeting room & show the 10-minute preview of "The Two Towers", but didn't. Instead, it was another presentation by Richard & his Weta crew, but THIS time it was cut short when the emcee said he had 3 guys backstage who wanted to say hello...!! We'd heard rumors, & they proved true. Out came not only Dominic, but also Billy & Elijah. The crowd went nuts & my great videotaping position up front was suddenly interrupted by several rude & crazed fans who rushed up to take pictures. Sigh. Though much of my footage here contains jostling the camera to get a good view & sternly telling people to get down, I did get some very cute moments with all 3 of the guys. Thank goodness for zoom!! I got some good close-ups & some great teasing between the hobbits & the "bad guys". Unfortunately, though Billy & Elijah were signing a few things from stage, none of us *calmer* fans were able to make it up there. I didn't even try, since I was burdened with all my equipment. There will be other times. Dom said he thought they'd definitely try to make the next Oscar party. Yeah right.... I'll believe it when I see it. ;-)

That night, we 7 gals got a great idea. Due to the extra "attention" paid to us by Lawrence & Sala, & vice ersa, we named ourselves the BGG (Bad Guys Groupies). 7 women were suddenly on a mission that kept us from attending the "masquerade" of costume-wearers at the convention. We bought t-shirts & iron-on transfers, downloaded a digital photo we'd taken of them to print onto the transfers with "Bad Guys Groupie" underneath. We also created t-shirts for THEM that said "Bad Guys Rock.... Love Your Groupies", & then we all signed their shirts. At their last autograph session on Sunday, with most of us in period costumes, we presented our groupie shirts for them to sign. They were all smiles & we could tell it really meant a lot to them.... but then we gave them THEIR shirts! They left their seats, came down off the platform & gave each one of us a big bear hug! We also gave a "groupie" shirt to Richard, who was delighted as well. (Speaking of which, every time I asked Richard or one of the Weta guys to sign something, I made sure to tell them that they should get as much, if not more, recognition as the "big" stars did for all the hard work & many hours/days/weeks/years they put into the movies. Heck, they were just flattered to be asked for their autograph! Their humility is astounding & refreshing.)

I videotaped throughout the convention, using all the new knowledge I've gained from my classes. We (the 7) reviewed most of the footage while prepping the t-shirts at Eridana's house, & I'm looking forward to throwing together a fun video to preserve the highlights! The gal who was tending the Houghton-Mifflin booth had seen me walking around acting like I knew what I was doing, & asked if I'd be willing to provide some footage for her to use in sales/mktg promos. TheOneRing.net also requested video to post on their website!

Now, the DVD is finally in our hands, & it's awesome to see these people we just met in person talking about their craft on the Special Features disc. "There's Warren!" we'd exclaim, as they showed the Weta Workshop guy demonstrating the shotgun action crossbow. And seeing Dominic & Richard in interviews is like seeing one of my friends talking about their everyday job. I really feel like an insider now. Mostly due to the unprecedented amount of graciousness & appreciation demonstrated by the LotR cast & crew toward their fan-base. I'd always scoffed at "fans" of any particular movie or movie star, because they all seemed so... well... fanatical. But almost everyone I've met at these fan gatherings are "quietly passionate". Many of them have related stories about how one aspect or other of this movie has changed their life. It is an amazing group of people, and we are united on a deep level that cannot be described.

Briefly, the next weekend included a Howard Shore concert at the Hollywood Bowl, an outdoor concert stage. Prior to that was a lovely potluck picnic in a neighboring park that was almost as beautiful as Rivendell, including a 6-member musical group that played "elvish" music. The concert was amazing, even though we sat 3/4 of the way up (about 200 feet away?). The delay between the conductor's movements & the musical response was unnerving, so we tried closing our eyes. Excellent way to experience the music!! There wasn't a dry eye in our section, especially when the adult choir & boys choir chimed in.

Now I'm home, I've begun downloading the (9 hours of) video footage to the server, so I can throw something meaningful together. I got some GOOD stuff, & it's going to be hard to whittle it down to something shorter than an hour! Meanwhile, I will continue to look for a "real" job, but if I can get a video hosted on TheOneRing.net, that can act as my "demo reel" & possibly open new doors.

"...all you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." I know what I have to do...

Remember what Bilbo used to say.... "It's a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."