Sabre

Lovely man! I met him at a previous Collectormania and had a really interesting chat with him. Welcome back Paul!

Mind you, given Tom Cruise's penchant for marathon glad-handing at premieres, can you imagine if SM did get him to Milton Keynes - he'd never make it to his seat! He'd probably end up in the Place to Eat at John Lewis - he could even do the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet from up there if he fancied giving us a bit of Shakespeare! Mind you, although there are obviously some people that we're probably highly unlikely ever to see at a con, if you don't ask, you don't get - so I'm gonna carry on putting in a good word for my faves - we might get lucky one day!!

Sending love and light to Kylie

Yay Roswell!! Great show!!

But the albatross is bad luck for sailors!!! -sniffs- I wanna be a siren!!!

Yay!!! Roswell guests would be great!!! Was beginning to think I was the only person who'd ever watched it!!!! So nice not to be alone!! Big hugs to all the Rosw-aliens

Oh, and if there's no more room on the Gerry ferry, can I just be a siren and sit on the rocks singing?

Yep, adding my vote!! No-ones mentioned 'One More Kiss' - has it escaped your attention? Shurely shume mishtake?? lol

I went to see KOH this weekend and really enjoyed it. I think it's unfortunate (but inevitable) that it will be compared with LOTR and Gladiator because there are the Orli/Ridley Scott connections and also a similar feel of scale with the huge battle scenes (as in LOTR) as well as the fast-paced, close-filmed combat stuff where the blood is literally splattering the camera lens (as in Gladiator). Both of those films (counting FOTR/TTT/ROTK as one) set new benchmarks and it is a shame for those that follow them that anything vaguely similar will now be compared to them. I had slight reservations about what to expect after Troy (which I thought was largely dreadful), but I was pleasantly surprised by KOH. I got the impression that the older/more experienced actors seemed to be taking OB under their wing both in character and on their own behalf - there seemed to be a genuine warmth towards him on screen from most of the performers that seemed to me to go beyond characterisation and not just from the more seasoned heavyweights but actors like David Thewliss, who is hardly an old boy but does have a lot of experience. Did anyone else pick up on that or am I just being a big old softy? I actually thought OB was a rather inspired piece of casting, a bit like art imitating life: I know he's been involved in some huge projects, but we were seeing a young man with an enormous amount of responsibility being put on his shoulders, both in the film and in real life: everyone has been speculating about whether he was up to carrying a film, and I think he managed it. I'll be really interested to see if he makes the transition to grittier material in the future - not just in the limb-hacking sense - I hope he'll be able to prove his acting chops as a really versatile performer along the lines of a Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp, both of whom combine good looks with superb craftsmanship. I haven't seen all his films, only LOTR/Pirates/KOH/Troy, all of which have a certain similar quality to his performances, so I'm looking forward to seeing him stretch himself a bit. Mind you, there were some definite probs with the film, that can't be explained away. I mean, humble blacksmith is devastated by death of wife and child and then goes off with (literally) the first woman he sees...hmmm, not exactly true lurve? And the passion wasn't convincing (which I also thought when I saw Troy). And then he has five minutes sword training with his dad and turns into Russell Crowe?? And he knows how to defend a castle (tuning into his past life as Legolas?!). Plus... can anyone tell me how he got away from those baddie knights who had come to kill him - the scene opens with him sitting under a tree and ends with him being knocked out and covered in blood. Next scene we are told he's been killed, then suddenly there he is telling everyone what Saladin's plans are. Did I get abducted by aliens for a few minutes and miss a key scene? But those niggles aside, Orli gets my vote on this film and I'd certainly see it again (maybe I'd figure out how he got away from those pesky baddies next time round lol).

Hey Stuart, Yep, just like what they all said above. A scary job to take on ("With great power comes great responsibility"...lol!), and there must have been moments over the weekend when the first stirrings of an ulcer may have been felt! Whilst I'm here, I hope people won't mind me adding my two-pennyworth generally, but I've been amazed by the amount of vitriol that has been stirred up on the forum post-C7 - I've now crewed five shows for SM and I've not seen anything like this on the forum before. I'm sure SM are very aware of things that didn't go as planned this time, and I have no doubt that all the issues being raised on the forum will be addressed before the next show. For what it's worth, I have felt that each show has been better organised than the one before, which to my mind shows that people's comments are being taken on board. I must say, I did feel that there were some things that didn't run quite as well this time round, but we know the reasons for that, as Jason outlined at the crew party (another chorus of "Bohemian Rhapsody", anyone?!), and I will admit that when I saw the queues for James Marsters on the Sunday morning I did think, oh my God, it's another Elijah Wood situation. I really felt for the crew who were involved in those queues; I did Elijah's crowds at C4 and it was really tough sometimes, with a lot of unhappy (as well as some ecstatic) people to deal with. Well done SM for re-organising James's area to the other side of the shopping centre on the Monday (this is no criticism whatsoever of the crewbies who were dealing heroically with the big crowds on Sunday, it's just that that side seemed to be more open to the rest of the concourse and it must have been hellish to try and marshall); I was helping to mind the queue on the Monday and there were quite a few comments on how well it was all managed - we seemed to have more room on the other side to allow for the crowds to be more easily filtered through). At the end of the day, I sign up to work at these shows because I'm a film fan, I have had the chance to meet some performers I really admire, have met some brilliant people on the crew, get the chance to talk to other film fans who come along to the shows and it's just a great opportunity to do something 'different' and meet people I would never otherwise get a chance to meet. You learn pretty quickly as crew that there are no guarantees that you will meet the actor/actress you're hoping to see - even if you get to work as a guest assistant, the probablility of it being the person you want to meet is by definition pretty slim. But if you sign up for the work with that understanding and arrange to do a half-day shift so that you at least get the chance to queue up, you're still 'ahead of the game'. C4 was my first show and it was really scary, but I'm still here - no doubt there will have been some newbies who really didn't know what they were letting themselves in for (because I don't think you really do until you've actually experienced it!). It is a fact of life that the people who get noticed (and criticised on this forum) can often be those who aren't perhaps getting it right for one reason or another, which is a shame for those crewbies who are working hard and acting as ambassadors for SM (which someone rightly commented on in another thread on the forum). Being verbally abused by the public is no fun; the challenge is to try and remember (even under duress) that a bit of kindness and courtesy can go a very long way in diffusing tricky situations, and trying to explain politely to people why something is so can really make a difference to a customer's experience of attending a show. And yes, it's hard work, your feet ache, your head aches, you live on junk food and you get worn out with it all. But that's how it is. I don't think it's terribly helpful to cite these as reasons for not handling the job well - the public really aren't interested in excuses and if anything, giving these reasons (even if it's a fair comment) just winds people up if they're already unhappy about something they've experienced - we KNOW it's hard work, but at the end of the day, none of us HAS to do this job, and if we all work together as a team, that's what we become - a team. We make friends, we do our best, sometimes we might have a bit of a moan, but then we just get on with it, and let our hair down and have a laugh when we can. I believe that's why longer-standing (literally sometimes lol) crewbies keep coming back to do more shows, because we look forward to seeing each other, even though for some of us it's only a few times a year that we get together. Sorry if this wasn't the place to put all this down, it's just my own opinion. So I say, well done Stuart, yay SM for the guests (Paul McGann!! What a great guy! Daphne Ashbrook was fab! James Marsters!! James Marsters!!!! JAMES MARSTERS!!! And sorry, but the Daleks were an inspired idea - they kept the crowds really entertained and it was great to hear so much laughter areound the centre when we know that there was some high anxiety going on - I reckon they probably diffused a lot of tension because it was definitely the adults who were getting the most out of being moved aside by them and their brilliant wisecracks), well done all the fantastic pit bosses (sorry to single people out but I want to put out a thanks to Kate, Paul and Julie, who were my fab pit bosses for C7) and generally, just WELL DONE EVERYONE! We all rock! Yes we do!! Hmmm... that lot is more like fifty quid's worth than two pennies.... What the heck! Feel the love, people!!

Ray is great, one of the nicest people I've worked with at Collectormania and LFACC and he gives a lot of time to the fans - just the kind of guest SM is looking for, I would have thought! Nice one!

Wahoo!! I'm excited!!

I'm getting excited!!

Looks like we broke the forum tonight waiting on the guest announcements. The stats at the bottom state:- Most users ever online was 235 on Feb 7 2005, 08:27 PM That'll be why I couldn't get on to the site then.....lol Yay everyone!

Marry him? Hell, yes!