The Yak Shack Forum

So this is only a week late but I've had class all day, every day this week so have been pretty tired in the evenings.
Anyway, one of my good friends (whom I met on my NZ tour last year) and I talked each other into flying to NZ from the weekend (we live in Australia) to attend the Armageddon convention and spend a few days in Wellington. Here's the report--I hope it's not too long/detailed:

Once we were inside, we wandered around trying to find
the queue for the autograph signings. We managed to figure it out fairly quickly and got in the rather long line. Once the signings started, it moved at a fairly decent pace. Still, it was almost 11:30 before it was our turn.

Despite the line of people, no one was being rushed through the line which was VERY much appreciated. I didn't have
much of a chat with Sarah McLeod, but she was very friendly and nice.

(http://tinypic.com/awjn8)

Next up was Sean. I was getting a
picture from him signed, as well as his new book. Out
of all the stars I've met he was/is the most reserved and least chatty. He told me he hoped I'd enjoy the book and I asked him about the latest presidential polls in the US. To which he
buried his head in his hands and said he didn't know
whom or which to believe!  LOL.

(http://tinypic.com/awjdl)

Next up was Thomas Robbins. I'll admit that I was not
particulary excited about meeting Thomas but how wrong
was I! He was a great guy, just fantastic. Very warm
and friendly and eager to chat.
(http://tinypic.com/awjlz)

Andy Serkis was at the next table. I was thrilled to
meet him--such a talented guy and such a great sense
of humor. My conversation with him was the real highlight of the trip for me. He asked what I was studying and when I told him
conservation biology, he wanted to know what in
particular (note-I never get this sort of response. At
most I get a "good for you"). Thrilled, I explained
how I was very interested in working with native
communities and really giving them a stake in
conservation efforts and a sense of ownership and how
I particulary wanted to work in Africa. Andy had just
gotten back from a month in Rwanda, studying at the
Dian Fossey center for gorilla conservation and
immediately agreed with my interets and talked about
what he had seen. A wonderful conservation followed,
if too short, about wildlife conservation in Africa.
(http://tinypic.com/awgvq)

Finally I went to John Rhys-Davies. The photo with him
from two weeks prior had not come out, so I asked him
about another picture (and he remembered me!) to which
he immediately agreed. As with the last time, he
tickled me while the photo was being taken, but even
more so (i.e. tickling me under my sweater instead of over it :o)
(http://tinypic.com/awjnq)

After this, we headed up to the main stage for a
series of three one hour talks with Sean, Andy and
JRD. Overall the talks were great (more Q & A though)
despite expected stupid questions "what is your
favorite part" "did you like the crew" etc.... A
few highlights of the talks follow.

Sean: his favorite bit is the fight with the cave troll in FOTR while his favorite line is the "potatoes..boil, mash em...",
when he watched FOTR with his daughter for the first
time, she loved it, the dialogue coaches were on him
the entire time, he wished that Sam could have been
present throughout the whole council of Elrond, on
Andy tearing his wig off: "he's quite strong for a
little creep".

Andy: favorite line "stupid, fat hobbit ruins it", the
MTV acceptance speech was PJ's idea, he felt the
character of Gollum had more dimensions and more
levels to him than in the book, he would do "The
Hobbit"-he would love to do the chapter "Riddles in
the Dark" esp, he would love to do a remake of
"Hunchback of Notre Dame" or do Richard III on stage,
he has his "gimp suit" at home.

JRD: has spent more time talking about makeup than he
spent in it, took him 45 years to read the trilogy,
Viggo is one of the great all arounders he's ever met
and Sean Bean is one of the great golden souls, he saw
the need for Gimli as comic relieft because as things
keep getting worse the tension from the previous scene
needed to be discharged, there were lots of great
moments in the book that couldn't be done on film
(i.e. Galadriel giving him three hairs)

After the talks, we went down to the autograph area to
get in line again--I had decided to get
another autograph or two and was now worried that my
pictures with Thomas and Andy (the ones my friend didn't
take) weren't going to come out. So he waited in line with me and played photographer.
 Sean recognized me
immediately and was a bit more friendly. Thomas was
very friendly again and had no problems posing for
another picture with me, and the same for Andy (side
note--my worrying was for nothing as all of the photos
came out). The final task for the day was for us to
pick up the new location guide books (signed by the
author as well). By that point we were tired and ready
to call it a day. But what a day!!

Wow, that sounds like a great trip!

Was the event called Armageddon? and was it all LOTR or was there other stuff!

Hi Alyssa!

Sounds like a treat!

If you do come to study in the UK I'll have to introduce you to a friend of mine, she taught me to sail actually but she's a social antropologist. She was one of the first women social anthropologists to work for the UN she's retired now but worked for a long time in Sub Saharan Africa, well Southern Uganda mostly! Although she's less from the wildlife conservation side than you are she would give you some invaluable tips on how to get yourself absorbed and trusted by a community such as those you plan to work with. Her area of study was more to do with gender issues - but with both of your works it will be vital to become a trusted member of the community! Well - just talking to her has always been an education in itself for me, so it would be well worth chatting ;)

How's Sean Astin's book? Have you read it yet?

I think the full name was Armageddon Pulp Expo
It wasn't just LOTR, lots of other pop culture stuff there. Yu -gi-oh (sp?), Star Trek, wrestling, comics, etc...Pretty big actually. I think they were expecting like 15,000 people over the course of the two days!
It's held twice a year in NZ (the next one is in Wellington again in April, convinent since I'll be living there then  ;D)

Roz-I'd love to meet your friend. It would be very interesting in hearing thoughts on how to gain acceptance in communities. It's often very hard for outsiders to do but is very important. I'm pretty sure I'll be coming to the UK to study, the question is next year or the year after.

Sean's book-I read it all on Saturday. i actually really enjoyed it. Note--it is NOT all about LOTR. While Sean often comes across as having a large ego, in reality it seems to be the opposite--he seems really insecure. He seems to have a habit of opening his mouth before thinking about what he's saying which gets him in trouble. But as for LOTR, there are some very JUICY BITS. Some good behind the scenes stuff, info on the original Aragorn, Sean's relationship with the other actors, more on PJ as a person and director...etc. And I have to give Sean credit for touching on a lot of the "controversy" and such around him like the whole oscar nomination campaign. But those are only the last few chapters of the book. Overall I enjoyed it and am glad I read it. I feel like I "know" Sean a bit better now and have more respect for him. So that's my (long) review. Happy to provide more details if anyone is curious or debating on whether or not to buy it.

Hmm.. sounds interesting. I think I'll have to pick up a copy :) I wonder if he will come to the UK to do book signings or whether I'll have to get a "rare unsigned variant"  ;D

He is coming here :)
So I will just have to go get a book and meet him again :)

Last time I met him I was last in line and talked with him forever! was a good 15-25 min convo!
He was a great person to talk to so I am really looking forward to seeing him again.

He said "I have never signed something like this before, it is so cool" and showed the guy next to him ( his whatchamacall it guy!) and then signed my litho for me :)

So I hope to see him again and get some chatting in :P

Cool Jas!

He'll be glad to see another copy of it then ;) actually from what I hear he rang up the manufacturer and demanded a hideous number of sets for free... ahh the benefits of being a star!