Nathan Barr's True Blood Score Signing at Dark Delicacies

Today has been a REALLY fun day so far! After yesterday's trip to the Santa Monica Pier and Bubba Gump's (a favorite of Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer's, or so my waitress told me) for lunch (in honor of my sister's birthday), I really didn't think that my weekend could be better...

It turns out that I'd forgotten that I had plans today! I went down to Burbank, to my favorite bookstore, Dark Delicacies, where Nathan Barr was doing a CD signing of his new True Blood Score CD. I arrived early, and had a GREAT time! Nathan was very open, and answered my questions about working on True Blood, whether or not he'd have a cameo again, how he got involved with True Blood and Alan Ball, etc.

It was very informative, and Nathan's producers/managers were also very cool. They also answered the questions I asked. All in all, EXCELLENT experience, and I'd happily go do it again!

Here's a couple pics!





And here's the signed True Blood Score cover:



However, the Nathan Barr signing isn't the only one who had a signing today... Bear McCreary (of Battlestar Galactica Score fame) was signing the season 4 score for BSG, and I chatted with him for a bit as well! He's a total sweetie, and REALLY cute! (Same goes for Nathan Barr!)

Here are more pics:







I really wish I'd seen more people there at the signing, simply because it was so much fun!

I Dreamed A Dream...

I just woke up, and I remember having the most awesome dream last night!

In it, my home was part of some sort of hotel, and Hugh Jackman and his awesome wife Deborrah-lee Furness were staying there! I'm not entirely sure of all the details, but somehow I knew they were there, and I actively searched them both out.

I found Deborrah-lee first. I called her over, and I started telling her about how big a fan I was of both hers and Hugh's. She responded very politely, and we discussed some of her work. I remember directly telling her how much I loved her short film "Standing Room Only" and her shock when she realized I'd seen it, as well as a large grin on her face when I blushed, looked down and mumbled that I'd seen almost everything Hugh had ever done.

Right before my conversation with Deborrah-lee ended, she sat down on the side of my bed (somehow we were in my room), leaned over me, then kissed my forehead. It was a motherly gesture, and a very comforting and much appreciated one.

Well, now that I'd found her and KNEW she was there, I figured Hugh had to be there as well, so I stared searching for him. At first, I didn't find him. It was highly disappointing, and reminded me of a conversation I held with a friend a long time ago about how if you see one celebrity you like, you're probably not gonna see another one unless you're on a movie or film set or something.

However, that happily did not turn out to be the case in my dream. Instead, I heard him talking with someone, so I ran in the direction of his voice. He was in another room, the door wide open. I knocked on it and was given permission to enter.

From there, a very long, wonderful conversation was started. It began with me introducing myself, and telling Hugh was a huge fan of his I was. He smiled back and told me how nice it was to have fans like me. All the basic polite chitchat led to us discussing characters he'd played, what he thought of them, etc. The part I remember most from the conversation that was in the room was me asking him about Wolverine as he was in X-Men and X2: X-Men United, and the relationship with Rogue. I specifically asked him how Wolverine REALLY felt about Rogue, and his response, as I remember it was:

"I think Wolverine loves Rogue. She's the first character within the movie series to make him feel like he's worth something, not just a loner and brawler. He actively checks up on her in the first film, worried about the companion who in only a few moments made him care about someone besides himself. After all, remember how desperate Logan was to save Rogue at the Statue of Liberty..."

I ended up cutting Hugh's comment off to ask him what he thought about a Wolverine/Rogue relationship that included being a couple. Hugh made a comment about liking the idea, and thinking it would be cool to work with Anna Paquin again, but I don't remember anything else from his response.

Then, Hugh turned the conversation around on me, and started asking me questions about my goals, what I wanted to accomplish, etc. I remember specifically telling him that my major goal in life was to become an Oscar-winning Screenwriter and Director, and someday a mother.

Hugh responded by telling me a highly clichéd line: "Don't give up on your goals, and someday you'll get there."

I think I raised my eyebrow at him before continuing my response about how I'd love to have him in a movie of mine someday, possibly playing a young grandfather or a father with 20-something kids and teenagers. This ended up with Hugh giving me a giant bear hug! (And boy did that feel great!)

All during this time, Hugh and I were walking along, and somehow we ended up on a train together, still talking, with Deborra-lee a few rows behind us, rolling her eyes at our conversation and laughing lightly.

The conversation on the train turned towards Hugh once more. I asked him about the lunch he had with Miley Cyrus about some movie that they were supposed to costar in. I asked Hugh why he would risk his career like that.

I didn't get a response about the career risk, but I did get a response about the Miley issue. Hugh said that it had only been an idea, and he wasn't going to do the movie with her (and then grinned as I sighed in relief).

Unfortunately, I don't remember any more of the conversation I held with Hugh, but I remember that my stop on the train had come up, and Hugh and Deborra-lee BOTH hugged me goodbye and said that they hoped to see me around New York again, which means that I must have been somewhere in New York, though I don't know exactly where. (The area around me was completely new to me, even though I've been to New York many times before...)

The last thing I remember from my dream is seeing Hugh and Deborra-lee waving to me from the train as it continued on its way out of the station.




Quite the interesting dream, huh? I wonder what it means for me in the long run, as I believe dreams have deeper meanings than just what we see and remember in them. Of course, that's nothing to say of the frustration when I woke up and realized my dream wasn't real... Let me know what you think of this! I'd love to hear some opinions on the meanings of the dream!

The News of the Day

Today is a pretty big day for a couple of reasons. First, it's my mom's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I LOVE YOU! Second, two of my favorite celebrities got engaged!

A little info about my mom's birthday... It's pretty hard to shop for her, since she really likes jewelry, but has rings for every finger (except a pinky ring or two), TONS of necklaces, earrings, etc... And she's a rather discriminate tv viewer that really doesn't believe in buying tv shows on DVD (the only exceptions being Animaniacs and Rocky & Bullwinkle).

So, this year, my even more discriminate father asked me and my little sister what we thought our mom wanted. I immediately piped up with "A Wii and Wii Fit!" My sister countered, saying she hadn't heard mom talk about it in a while. However, I pushed and pushed on this until my dad and I went to Costco a little later. There he sighed and gave in, grabbing a Wii and Wii Fit for my mom, though he still questioned my motives for wanting it. I won't lie; I do want those as well, because I REALLY like Wii Sports, and my sister and mom like yoga and want the Wii Fit for it...

Basically, this is a HUGE deal in my household because my family has been intensely anti-gaming systems for as long as I can remember. So, I'm still not sure how it happened, buy my mom got the surprise of her life in getting the Wii and Wii Fit from us as a present, and we're already taking advantage of it! I'm so glad that my mom loves her new toy MORE than I do!





As for the second bit of news....


CONGRATULATIONS TO ANNA PAQUIN AND STEPHEN MOYER! News is, they've gotten engaged for real! After the previous hoax, I'd had my doubts, but since it's now been said on the news... I'm gonna believe it to be true!

After meeting Anna and Steve at Comic-Con, even though it was a very quick thing (since it was at the True Blood signing), I really believe they're in love. Both Anna and Stephen looked at each other and just GLOWED when they were signing items and talking to fans! Plus, it seemed to me that they were being rather "touchy-feely" behind the privacy of the signing area. (Let's just say it wouldn't surprise me if they were playing "Footsies" with each other out of view of the fans and everyone!)

I'm gonna guess that this is a real relationship, and that it's gonna last. For me, as a fan of both, I just want the two to be happy, just like how I feel about my friends and family.

So, *raises imaginary glass of wine* Congratulations and Good Luck to you both, Anna and Steve! May your lives together continue to be showered with love and happiness and respect for each other and TONS of passion!

And again to my mom, Happy Birthday, and I love you!

Comic-Con: Thursday Edition

Today was a GREAT day at Con! I'm really tired, but it was an excellent day. I got up really early for pretty much no reason (we're talking 6:30am)... Just hung out in my cousin's apartment until he got up and we left...

Once we got there, I went right over to Sherrilyn Kenyon's booth, and once again enjoyed seeing Erin and the rest of the crew Sherri brought with her (Kim and Ed, I LOVE you guys! Sheri, same goes for you too, though I didn't see you as much...) After that, I ran around. I went to about 20 minutes of a panel for an animated movie coming out next year called Quantum Quest... The animation I saw was STUNNING! I may not have known what the movie was originally, but I'm definitely interested now.

For that panel, I skipped out pretty quickly, since it was an hour, but I actually was running to the panel my awesome godmother, Wendy All, was on. That one was at 12:30, and again, I wasn't able to go to the whole thing, but this time it was because I had to check in for my volunteer work, which was really boring. But back to the panel.... It was Comic-Con in the 70's, and actually very interesting, from what I saw... (I did learn something completely unrelated to it though... I need to get a tripod for my video camera... I'm apparently pretty damned shaky when just taking straight film!) One of my favorite moments in the panel was when I was indirectly mentioned by my godmom... She talked about how she warped the minds of children, so I did what I do best, and responded directly to her statement, saying that I was grateful for her having warped me... I wouldn't be who I am without her influence. It got a laugh from the audience, and a huge grin from Wendy. Made my morning...

Unfortunately, after that, I had to run to my volunteer work. It ended up being me and another girl just standing outside in the direct sunlight for 3 hours, leaving both of us not feeling well, and rather irritated (with INCREDIBLY sore feet!)... No wonder we both sought out booth 1220, aka Sherri's booth... Of course, she was looking for Sherri, and I was more focused on my amazing akri Erin... Either way, I got a BIG hug from him, and it made me feel better, at least for a little bit.

I did end up staying there for a while, and I did run into Sherri (and her awesomely sweet hubby Ken, and her incredibly cute children!). So, I did what I most enjoy... I sat down at the seating which was luckily right across from Sherri's booth, then relaxed, letting my sore muscles take a break for a while...

Then I moved on. By now it was about 6pm, and I decided to search out the True Blood stuff, which I still haven't found. (However, this morning, I lucked out and got a special True Blood matchbook which says Fangtasia on it. It's one of only 200 in existence! I think it's my treasure from Con this year!) Instead of finding True Blood, I found another author I used to read a lot - Kevin J. Anderson. He used to write books in the Star Wars universe, as did his wife, and now he has the famous Dune series... He and Rebecca, his wife, were in a part of Con called "Artist's Alley." I spent a good hour or so there, just talking to Kevin and his wife about writing, and how they both got into it, then I got my cheap purse signed by both of them! It's pretty freakin' awesome!

After I left, I just walked around for a while before going back to Sherri's booth and just hanging out. I stayed for several hours, then went to Ballroom 20, where there would be a showing of Michael Dougherty's movie Trick 'r Treat. I got in early, and lucked into seeing the WORLD PREMIERE of the new animated Green Lantern movie! It was really good, lots of fun and laughs to be had, even though the movie was in all honesty pretty corny and very clichéd and predictable. Truth is, that movie wouldn't have worked any other way. I really enjoyed the movie, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has young children who like superheros.

After the Green Lantern movie was over, it was time for the Trick 'r Treat screening. I was really excited, since it would end at midnight, and midnight would mean that it was Friday, and officially Anna Paquin's birthday... I was really hoping to give her a birthday present (pictures to come in a later post), but Anna ended up not showing. Instead, before the movie started, there was a panel with the film's director, Michael Dougherty, and many of the actors from the movie, including Brian Cox.

Now that may not seem to important to someone like me who has an overactive imagination and holds a desperate fear of horror films, but to me this was a REALLY big deal, as Michael is one of the top dogs who penned X-Men 2: X-Men United, and Brian Cox played baddie William Stryker in X2. (And it should be obvious that Anna played Rogue in the X-Men trilogy though I STILL don't believe that X3 actually exists... But that's a rant for another day...)

So, I was more excited for the chance to see all these people who were involved with one of my favorite movies than any real particular interest in Trick 'r Treat (though I admit to enjoying the ironies of Anna Paquin playing a girl who gets killed by a vampire in Trick 'r Treat, then becoming the star of True Blood and playing a character who is in a deep and committed relationship with a vampire who loves her...)

Well, here's where I take a quick break from my typing, and post a couple of pictures from the panel... Where I was seated in the FRONT ROW Center seats of the room. Literally right in front of me is the panel seating...






This was really cool except for one thing... I was unable to sit through the entire film. And it wasn't because of my typical inability to watch horror films (normally I can't stand them since I have an overly active imagination and I get nightmares from such things)... Unfortunately for me, it was because I actually got sick, which sucks because I was really enjoying the movie! Yes, what little I did see grossed me out, but the movie was both scary AND incredibly funny! I was laughing almost as much as I was cringing! So, it really sucked to not see the final outcome of the movie!

Since I left early, I, along with my cousin Corey, took the trolley back towards SDSU. What we didn't realize was that the trolley stop we needed was already over for the night! We actually had taken a different route, thinking it'd be easy, but boy were we wrong. Once we got off the trolley at the stop, there were a couple of cops on the opposite side of the station, and we hailed them to ask about the line to SDSU that we needed. Once they told us it was done for the night, we walked up towards the street, and ended up at a BJ's Restaurant. Since they were closing down for the night, I had the guy cleaning the bar call a cab for us, and that's how we got back, well after midnight, to his VERY loud apartment!

It seems that while we were out, his room mates decided to have a party. Nice, and the people who were over were nice, but I was tired and wanted to go to sleep... It took a couple hours before that happened!

I Finished An Awesome Pillow!

This is my latest pillow... And I finished it early today, before I started on my 3+ hour trip to San Diego for Comic-Con! If I really luck out, I'll be able to give it to Anna Paquin (Rogue in X-Men series, currently Sookie Stackhouse on True Blood) while there to celebrate her birthday!

Tell me what you think!