Showing posts with label Lee Norris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lee Norris. Show all posts

Monday, November 12, 2018

Monday Afternoon QB'ing Musings: Cons, Meet & Greets and Money Wars




Are any of you starting to feel a bit of pocketbook pain from the rapidly increasing costs associated with attending your favorite fan convention these days?  

Take for instance, one of the top dogs on the convention circuit, Creation Entertainment, which sponsors most of the Supernatural gatherings.  In April 2019, for the Chicago con alone, the Copper weekend admission package will cost $429 (and that's early bird pricing subject to increase at any time!).   Of course the Silver and Gold packages will be even higher. And this doesn't even include photo ops or other scheduled events.  Want a tour of Chicago while you're in town with Rob Benedict as tour guide? That'll set you back another $349.  

By comparison, back in the year 2015 at the Supernatural San Francisco convention, I paid $509 for a Silver Package (which included an autograph from Jared and Jensen), plus $249 for a J2 Sandwich photo op (both Jared and Jensen).  Now, at the Chicago 2019 convention, what price is being charged?  How does $429 for a duo photo op sound?  "Due to time constraints", Jared and Jensen will only be signing autographs for the Gold and Silver package holders".  So, the price for the Gold package?  $1,025.00  The Silver?  A paltry $629.  Again, Creation tells everyone these are "early bird" prices and subject to scalping, I mean increases.

More like,


Isn't it?  LOL!  Geez, I think I would have to dip into my 401K to be able to even attend a Supernatural convention these days.  And with the stock market plunges that have been happening, no thanks, I need something to retire on, fellas!

Interestingly enough, Creation tells everyone that there will be fewer conventions in 2019 than in the past, so "you do not want to miss out!"  Hmmmmm, wonder why???  *wink*

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With our OTP half Jake Gyllenhaal FINALLY confirmed for the role of Mysterio in Spiderman:  Far From Home, 


the prospect of Jakers needing to appear at Comic Cons and Wizard Worlds looms ahead as likely pretty necessary.  So, perhaps Jake might be testing the waters with this little trial run to see how these arranged fan encounters work:

Woohoo!  Here's your chance to meet Mr. Jake while he is in New York City next winter.  Let's see what one gets with a winning bid.



YOU ARE BIDDING ON:

Two Tickets and Meet & Greet with Jake Gyllenhaal in Sea Wall/A Life

Two tickets to meet Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal in the production of Sea Wall/A Life (January 26-March 24, 2019) starring him and Tom Sturridge at the Public Theater in NYC.

Experience to be scheduled on a mutually agreed upon date between January 26, 2019 - March 24, 2019 based on production availability; flexibility in scheduling is advised. Exact seat location may not be determined until the day of the event. Brief meet and greet for the 2 ticket holders only. Background check required for winner and guest within 24 hours of purchase. Travel and accommodations are not included. This item may not be resold or re-auctioned in any circumstance.



A background check may be required for the winner and guest. If the winner fails the background check, he/she will forfeit the prize. Please bid accordingly. This package does not include any items/services that are not detailed in the above description. Any travel, meals or accommodations are the sole responsibility of the winner. This package must be for use by the winner only unless given as a gift. If given as a gift, the recipient's name must be provided immediately following the auction. Otherwise, this is not transferable by the winner and may not be sold, otherwise transferred or used for any other purpose, including promotional, commercial, advertising, or other trade purposes. Respect for talent and their staff will be expected at all times. Inappropriate behavior by the winner could result in the immediate conclusion of the experience with no refund.

Hmmm.  Okay, so you won't have any idea of where you're sitting until possibly when you pick up your ticket. And a mutually agreed upon date, but basically the fan will need to concede on this point.

 And....a background check.  Wait, a what?

via Gfycat

Note in the tiny writing in the last paragraph, the background check is listed as "may be".  But up in the big writing, it's downright going to be required.  So, if you're thinking of bidding on this opportunity to meet Jake, better pay up those credit card bills, renew the green card, and don't eat any poppyseed muffins in case a drug test is required!

I don't know why, but I suddenly have the urge to sing "The Way We Were".  ♪ Can it be that it was all so simple then, or has time rewritten every line, And if we had the chance to do it all again...♫♪

 By the way, bidding right now is at $2,125.00 for this "opportunity".  Guess that leaves M&M and me out, as the business expense kitty for Narnia Dispatches is presently in the red right now.  LOL!!!

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And then there's these doggone One Tree Hill conventions, of which I have now attended one as a paying guest (along with Florida Tom!) and been able to see actor Austin Nichols.  I wrote about the experience in a two-part March 2018 post called Austin Nichols Makes a Return Visit to an Old Dearheart - One Tree Hill's Wilmington NC.    Eyecon was the event show runner and while it had its delay issues, once Sunday arrived and we had a chance to meet Austin, the experience was a positive one.  

 It was barely a month later, however, before a loud ruckus was raised on Twitter involving Hilarie Burton, Sophia Burton and Eyecon.  I watched the battle evolve on social media, gain steam, and then leap off the high dive platform of national media, noted in our April 8 post, Sunday Evening Almost Monday Morning Musings - Nibbles 'n Bits.  The whole heated snark fest began with an obvious black-eye pelting of the convention show runner, Eyecon and ended with someone coming up with an "alternative" event.  

 Things quieted down, or so it seemed, until this past week when a tweet caught my eye and what did the tweet lead me to, but yet another Hilarie Burton rant and verbal lashing out against Eyecon.  



Lee Norris had issued this professional statement through a podcast twitter account:





 Then, it looks like "Hil" recruited her "husband" JDM to contribute.  This one made me chuckle, I have to say because the credibility is already shot by the "honest as they come" statement.


"as honest as they come."   Really, Jeffrey?  Are you sure about that one?

 Certainly, Lee's tweet was well-written and without explicit disparagement, but Hilarie's above had to fire off a Sophia Bush-like "Don't F with" index-finger-point-to-the-chest jab warning shot.  

When you see accounts just created in March 2018, with tweets devoted to the Hatfields/McCoys mudslinging, you begin to see that this story is not going to have any kind of happy ending. 




 


 


 

Nope, no happy ending for anyone.  It's only going to intensify and there will be loyalty pullings towards the actors, peer pressure applied, intimidating fan twitter accounts created and lotsa cursin'.  A live look at one of the sides right now,

Without any of us being privy to the contract signing dinner, private email chains, texts and whatnot, who's to say what is being exaggerated, conveniently omitted, embellished, and/or straight-out lied about.

Now no one is suggesting that EyeCon is perfect.  And no one is saying the record books have been seen and behind-the-curtain activities witnessed.  But, after looking at the conflict of interest which has occurred already involving Hilarie Burton and One Tree Hill conventions, and witnessing how her "husband" Jeffrey Dean Morgan swears that Sophia Bush is as "honest" as they come, when we here at Narnia can state this is Laffy Taffy stretching of the truth, it's hard not to question what is really going on. After all, Sophia Bush served as a professional beard for Austin for years, and there was allll kinds of deception and outright lying going on throughout the public pairing, lying that actually began before the start of  One Tree Hill's Season 6 and pictures of her with Jake Gyllenhaal and Austin Nichols at the beach in 2006.  Therefore we're pretty sure it might not be the wisest idea to go there, Mr. Morgan.  *wink*  As they say, consider the source when evaluating the veracity of someone's assurances.

Ahem.  *mud slinging alert*!

Narnia will most definitely continue to watch this story as it develops because there is lots of money at stake here for the Hatfields & McCoys.  When 'Hil" and Sophia's Meet and Greets cost $350 each and another $500 to "Paint with Hilarie" [while Lee Norris's photo op only costs $40], well - you can see why both sides of this femme female collaboration are wanting a piece of this potentially very lucrative pie.

Make no mistake about it - money is made at these fan conventions.  So we'll see which One Tree Hill actor receives the next "Red Rover, Red Rover" call-out to cross on over to the other side.


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This was a sad and sincere sounding tweet from Liam's account  on Saturday the 10th,


 

The only eyebrow raiser occurred however, when his story instantly appeared on several gossip site twitter accounts as well.  Mere hours later,



When you find out that this home was supposed to be the "home" that he shared with the beard, coupled with the way the story was picked up by other news sites, could the placement of "Liam's home" have been more about the cementing of his faux relationship with Cheryl Tweedy/Cole/Fernandez-Versini?  



Location wise, you really couldn’t ask for more. The house is situated in the stunning Calabasas region, just minutes from Malibu’s beaches, and your neighbours will include Miley Cyrus, Drake and the Kardashians – could it get any more showbiz? - Liam Payne's House That He Shared With Cheryl Is Up For Sale

Aaaah yes....that story is littered with faux relaysh insinuations.  As we have seen already with Austin Nichols and Louis Tomlinson, Management teams are not below taking advantage of tragedies and deaths in the family to sell narratives, particularly when it comes to the closet.  Which brings us to our final Nibbles 'n Bit.

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Narnia Blind Item:

 A recent story came out following a sporting event involving a rising star player and extended family member.  This rising star is on the cusp (if not there already) of national greatness and it has happened in an astonishingly short period of time.  He is humble, engaging, and appealing.  He also has a girlfriend, one who appeared to play her hand with the subtlety of a Mack Truck.  By merely studying the star athlete's Instagram, not too much looks afoot.  If you study his career and community activities, everything looks tremendously admirable and promising.

 One look at the beard's Instagram page however, and the photo shopping, repeated state of scantily clad activities, dearding pictures, and frequent showing of her long-term relationship with said athlete begin to hint towards her role as more of a long-term beard rather than girlfriend.  

 The "girlfriend's" OTT social media postings were eyebrow raising and she, family members, and the athlete's agent should remember the region where the athlete plays.  Low-key goes over best.  Low-key doesn't draw attention, nor eyebrows.  

 Of course, Narnia reckons this depends on income-driven aspirations (i.e., endorsements) further down the road.  

 Then again, it might be worth pausing to take a look at where this similar-looking road took Eric Hosmer last season, when his high powered agent appeared to think he knew what was best for him and his career.  Headlines such as this was the result:

"Eric Hosmer’s first Padres season is a bad mix of more groundballs and more strikeouts"- theathletic.com





pic sources:  Popular Science, idealhome.co.uk, giphy, whsv tv,
                     gfycat
our playlist:  Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
                     Here You Come Again - Dolly Parton
                    White Liar - Miranda Lambert



 
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Thursday, March 22, 2018

Austin Nichols Makes a Return Visit to An Old Dearheart - One Tree Hill's Wilmington NC (Pt 1)


As Austin Nichols stated during his and Lee Pace's panel on Sunday, March 18, Wilmington NC continues to hold a very special place in his heart. He returned to the "small town" city last weekend for EyeCon's One Tree Convention No. 8 on Saturday the 17th.  Of course, he was delayed arriving, but that's a whole other side story which shall be saved for Part 2.  ;-)


Oh My Godot/Narnia's Florida Tom and PG had scheduled this event back when Austin's appearance was announced.  We made it safely to Wilmington NC on Thursday the 15th, despite missing our initial early morning flight.  The start of our con weekend had taken an ominous turn to be sure. Here was a look at me trying to catch Tom and the car for the lift to the airport:


LOL!  *wink*  Nonetheless, we arrived at lovely Wilmington International and after a near hotel rooming miscue, by Friday we were registering at the convention center and walking the riverfront.



Pardon the bedspread background on the badge!



The first two official days of the One Tree Hill convention were comprised of many lines, delays and veering away from a vague schedule.  Tom and I assume that OTH Bingo was played on Friday afternoon (supposed to start at 12:30 I believe), but we couldn't stick around long enough to participate, due to long overdue hunger pangs.  Crunchy fish 'n chips at the Front Street Brewery took care of that.


We returned in time for a Q & A panel which appeared to be comprised of four past guest stars, but I have to say that they did not seem too inventive with many of their answers and one in particular repeatedly just said "What he said" or "I have to agree with so-and-so" and would point to one of the other panelists, not expanding at all on his answers.  Needless to say, our first official day was rather disappointing but it was early yet!

Thursday night had a BBQ for those who wanted to pay to attend and Friday night held a cocktail party at Dan's Beach House.  Saturday morning was to be occupied with photo ops from 08:30 until 12:30 with a Q & A to begin following the photo ops.  With Chad Michael Murray not being able to arrive until Sunday and Austin delayed until Saturday afternoon, the schedule* was greatly impacted.  Organizers tried to accomplish more on Saturday in order to ease the imbalance thrown onto Sunday.  Once Austin had arrived, the call was made for fans to line up and they sure did line up:


The photo/autograph rooms were at the very end of this line and Austin's photo op line wrapped around the corner about where the girl in the bright blue shirt was, and continued down another hallway.  This was Austin's first One Tree Hill convention in the states and many fans were excited to see him as is evident above.

 There were two Q & A's on Saturday and the guests for the first one were Barry Corbin and Antwon Tanner.  Folks will recognize Barry Corbin from other shows and both of these men were funny and I greatly enjoyed their panel.


















Let's see, there are PG's "HQHD" pictures as seen above, and then there are these, lol


 


 

Paul Johansson and Craig Sheffer were in the next Q & A. They played brothers on the show and unfortunately I don't have too good of a photo to share.  As you can see, there are usually other people's heads, arms and cell phones blocking your camera angles.  ;-)


The view from the back of the main hall:


Saturday night's schedule was busy with a banquet and then a party.  The banquet was sold out and fans could have one of the OTH actor guests seated at their table.  Here's our guy Mr. Austy:

To give you an idea of prices, here were a few of the postings on the wall:




So, these prices are on top of your admission price if that gives you an idea of how much of a tab one can ring up at one of these types of conventions.  There are also private meet and greets, where you can meet in a small gathering with your favorite actor guest.  I know that Austin's was sold out, as were many (if not all) of the others. And just think - the Supernatural conventions are significantly higher than this one.  With our platinum package, Tom and I were allowed one free autograph and we both chose Austin for our autograph.

Austin was the sole, prime reason we both attended and Sunday the 18th made the entire financial expense, the missed flight, the hotel reservation near-miscue, the freezing convention hall temperature, missed OTH Bingo game, crying tykes on the plane, barking emotional support dogs, near-throttling of the convention emcee over the repeated delays ALL worth it.  When you see this up ahead of you in line...




it was all so worth it.

 LOOK AT HIM!!!!  That was Mr. Tall Texan himself, Mr. Austin Nichols within feet of us, famous 1000-watt smile and all.  All 6 ft and whatever of him (I'll never know because he wasn't standing!).    Also, Mr. Lee Norris just beyond at the next table and he seemed like a very nice gentleman himself. Autographs were secured.

My copy of John From Cincinnati (freed momentarily from its imprisoning bubble wrap): 


and Mr. Tom's "brick" that he lugged around with him all day Saturday for naught:

Kind of funny, when it was my turn, of course one of the hawks took my DVD from me and set it in front of her.  She handed it to Austin (why there has to be an intermediary I'm not sure) and he said "Nobody ever brings this!" and I told him "Yes, they have. Someone tweeted their picture of it last weekend".  And he looked up as I reminded him of this.  LOL!  See Austin, somebody is paying attention to your twitter feed, buddy. And that somebody is me.  ;-D  He then said "Oh that's right" but I'm not sure if he really remembered or not.  LOL.  And so then Lee Norris made a comment and Austin told him that John From Cincinnati was his best work.

 Tom was able to shake his hand twice, was addressed as "sir" and I think I shook his hand, but I can't even remember!!!  Jared Padalecki Syndrome had hit me and I lost all self-awareness.

 Soon, Austin joined Lee Norris for the first Q & A panel, which was followed by a second panel with Roberto Buckley, Stephen Colletti and James Lafferty.  Both panels were so enjoyable and let's just look at a few pictures.  











Aww, look at them!












The "Julian Baker High Five" again:

I'm so pleased with this one!  "Roberto" and Stephen:

Awwww!!!

Roberto!


Chad Michael Murray crashed the Robert, Stephen and James panel:








And our guy, Mr. Austy:

Yeeeeeahhhh, you betcha!!

 While we didn't get any selfies, no Karen Cafe, no on-the-street sightings, no beach walks, no up close & personal views of the battleship North Carolina (not too bad of a shot!), 




Florida Tom and I accomplished what we had set out to do.  I don't know about him, but I wouldn't hesitate to do it all over again.  

 It is no wonder that Jake is said to have fallen hook, line and sinker for Austin because he is a wonder to behold.  Very sweet, polite and personable.  And I will leave you with this.

 During the Q & A, Austin and Lee Norris were both asked by a fan what did they take away with them from the character and role that they played during their time on One Tree Hill.  And Austin answered that the lesson he learned from his stint as Julian Baker was that when you find that special someone, you hang on to them.

 And I have no doubt that he indeed does have his special someone and is hanging on for all he's worth.

Please click here for Part 2

 pic sources:  PG and Florida Tom, giphy, files mombius
our playlist:   Inner Smile - Texas
                      O - Coldplay  (Dedicated to Austin Nichols)
                      Waiting - Seal
                      I Can't Get Next to You - The Temptations
                      Extraordinary - Mandy Moore

              
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