The Gathering - Day 1

First word:  Amazing.

Second word:  Awesome.

Third word:  well...you get the point.

Alright, so let's try this is some semblance of order, shall we?

After a small mishap involving the wrong subway line, we managed to get to the Hotel alright.  Then found the line for membership pickup to be about an hour's wait.  Opening ceremonies were due to start in half an hour.  So, naturally, we waited.  Turned out to our advantage as just before we reached the ticket counter they announced that they were bumping all programming back an hour.  So we only missed the first 10 minutes of the opening. 

The con was MC'd by none other than Quickbeam from www.theonering.net and he was amazing.  This is a guy who can deal with anything that creaps up and make it look like it was almost intentional. 

After that, Rach and I walked back out to the front and ran across the other members of the MF ML that had come.  I finally got to meet these people face-to-face...one of who is almost a legend among our group.  They are all incredibly nice people and I felt at home at once. 

We then headed off to join the autograph line, which was already long.  And after a patient but long half hour wait, I finally got to meet Mark, and got him to sign the Gil-galad page in my LOTR book.  Angelica organized a gift for him, including one of the shirts we she designed for the Con.  He looked so suprised and happy to recieve it, and said he'd where it to the Q&A later.  We stuck around a few minutes, waiting for Fozz to get all her pictures signed, and tried to take a few of the guys...kinda hard to do between people in a line, but I tried.

Then it was on to the Q&A with Haldir and Gil-galad.  This was by far the highlight on the Con, as the entire audience was laughing for the whole hour.  The main highlights:

-When asked about what they liked best during the shoot, Mark replied that he liked having his own army.  He then started in on getting to fight the orcs and his "pointy stick", and then about how Elrond was his assistant, and he kept asking him to do stuff: "Bring me coffee".  Mark started talking about how he was barely in that fight scene at all in the movie, and how Elrond took his place and stole the army from him.  He was really stuck on that point.  Course, Rach and I were laughing hysterically over this.  How dare Ada!

-They were asked to tell a story from the set, and hummed and hawed and decided there was nothing they could tell that was PG!

-Craig was of course asked about why Haldir was chosen to die and whose fault it was.  He said he's pretty sure the reason Haldir was killed, is that one day Craig butted into the food line in front of someone, believing it to be an extra, but it was actually Peter.  Right after that Craig got word Haldir was going to die!  lol  He confessed Haldir's death was his own fault, but then announced that of course it was quite stupid of Aragorn to shout out at him during battle.  So really, here Haldir comes, all this way to save Aragorn's butt, and he ends up getting killed because "Arrow" distracted him!  lol again

-Someone asked them to sing, as elves have beautiful voices.  Of course Craig immediatly volunteered Mark, saying that only first age elves could sing and that had his own song, so he could sing it (and apparently he does in the shower!).  Mark launched into the whole "things a elven-king does not do" reasoning.  Then Craig (and I have this on video) said that after the elves left they gave up their ability to sing...right. 

-They were asked to 'prance' and after much attempts to disuade everyone they shouldn't...they managed to 'glide' across the stage.

-Someone asked what it was like to have "foaming, fanatical fangirls", and that was the funniest thing.  Mostly because Mark and Craig kept messing up the words as they debated what exactly that meant.

-the guys had gone to see the Leafs game on Sat, so they commented on how hockey seems to be all fighting with the occasional passing of the puck around.

-someone was stupid? enough to ask whether they thought balrogs have wings or not.  M & C threw this one back and forth, and asked the audience, but no one could agree.  Then Craig asked what PJ thought and was of course told that Peter thought balrogs had wings.  So Craig, obviously fearing something else would happen to his character if he contradicted the Director, immediately said: "Of course they have wings!"

-Craig was asked to say a Haldir line.  So he did an over dramatized rendition of Haldir's dying sequence, with interjections from Mark.  He then relented and started in on the 'welcome to Lorien' sequence in elvish, which is succeeded in messing up!  He finally got it right though. :)

That's pretty much all Rach and I can remember from that.  More might come to me.

After the session was over, the group all went up to the stage and waiting until Mark and Craig had finished an interview with one of the media people.  Then Amy, bless her, asked Mark if it would be possible for us to see him for an hour or so, since he was kind enough to oblige the group at RingCon.  He said to talk with 'his people', but thought it was a nice idea.  Have no hope, but it would really be nice if we could do a group thing tomorrow.  I can dream, right?

Then was off to lunch on the underground.  I love Toronto.  Wandered around with Rach for awhile, and then went to the Dealers room and walked through the crafts area. 

Then off to the Tolkien Jeopardy Round One...during which the major problems showed up.  Mostly to do with the program they were using, which had a few glitches.  All got sorted out, though Rach and I seemed to know more answers than the contestants.  Sad really.

Tried a panel on Women in ME for a bit, but were bored so we left the Hotel early instead.  Ended up stoping for food on the way, and sitting in Union Station laughing as we remembered everything that happened.

So, watched PotC now, but will be off to bed soon.  Am very tired right now, as is Rach, and tomorro will be a long day.  And Wednesday even longer. 

Will post Day 2....Thursday...maybe.  Friday at the latest!

~an ecstatic half-elf