tea berry-blue

So! Hunger Games!!!

Hansi, who is making the fanfiction documentary I have mentioned taking part in a couple times before, actually came to my apartment to film me and Jess getting ready. She wanted to do it cinema verite style, which basically means filming us doing what we normally do.

I’m used to being on camera for interviews, and I’m used to acting on camera, but trying to just do what you normally do when you’re aware you’re on camera is a really weird experience, because it makes you very conscious of things like the fact that conversational speech is nothing like anything sensical, especially when it’s people like me and Jess, who know each other so well that we talk in a lot of common assumptions. But it was still fun and I hope it’s useful for the film. We went out to the theater together, and Hansi filmed us in Times Square for a bit. She wanted to film inside the theater, but was worried she’d get kicked out with the camera, so I offered to go inside and ask someone.

I walk in, and I immediately get completely gushed over by three of the AMC theater team, who were like “OMG EFFIE.” One of them was like “HI I AM A CAREER TRIBUTE FROM DISTRICT THREE!!!” And they asked me for a photo, so I asked if we could come in and film. One of them was a manager and he was only too happy to let us in to film, as long as we didn’t get AMC logos on anything. Plus, I told them Katniss was there, too, and grabbed Jess for their photo as well. So that was great. While we were in there, a girl making a documentary for her NYU student project also asked to interview us, so we did that.

We also got asked for a bunch of photos from other people, which was super fun!

We had been told they were going to let people start lining up around ten, so that had been the plan to meet up, and since we had to do the stuff with Hansi, we had figured we’d go get some food, and then get on line, but just as we finished the interviews with the NYU project, we heard they had decided to let people line up early, so we got on the line. Jess was starving so she went back out to get some food, and then I needed to stretch my legs from sitting on the floor, so I went out just to walk around a little. I went outside and immediately more people wanted photos! So I did a bunch of photos, and then went back into the theater– when Jess texted that they had decided to let people hang out in the theater.

So we got in, got settled with pretty excellent seats, and then I went out and got us large refillable soda. I don’t normally do that because $5 for a soda, but I shared mine with Kate and we refilled it and stuff, because, two hours waiting in the theater? TOTALLY. Kate got there pretty soon after, and then Darryl did, and Darryl was kind enough to go out with us to take some photos of our costumes.

Which meant more people asked us for photos. I seriously don’t think I’ve done so many photos in my life. Plus, pretty much everyone kept squealing at me and saying “Happy Hunger Games!” and stuff, so it was kind of adorable. There were a lot of people dressed as Katniss, and a couple people in Capitol wear, and a couple people dressed as Peeta, but no one else dressed as Effie, so that worked out nicely. One of the Peetas actually had a loaf of bread he was running around with which was kind of adorable since he seemed to be a very energetic young man and was kind of all over the theater with the bread before the movie started.

Then was the movie!!! I was mostly pleased with it. There was one pretty major character moment that I wasn’t crazy about how they interpreted it, but other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It wasn’t the best movie ever, but it was pretty solid as far as I’m concerned. Without doing anything that is really a spoiler (although I suspect there will be spoilers in the comments), I have to say that the single most impressive major change to me was how they portrayed Seneca Crane, who is an extraordinarily minor character in the books, and Wes Bentley just did a phenomenal job expanding him.

After the movie, we immediately got stopped by a guy from some website who wanted to interview me. It was three in the morning, dude. I was like, “sorry, but I need to get up in the morning, so I need to go home.” I guess people who do interviews like this are so used to people being excited about being on camera that it didn’t register that I was saying no, because he kept trying to explain what he wanted me to do. Finally I was like, “look, lots of people talked to me before the movie, and I would have been happy to talk to you then but now I need to go home and sleep.” He still seemed kinda incredulous.

The movie theater, who had done an AMAZING job with crowd control and managing lines for the wait to get in, utterly FAILED on getting people out. They clearly didn’t think about the fact that they had people for nine screenings all arriving over a three hour period, and then all leaving at THE EXACT SAME MOMENT. The escalator landing got so crowded people were running back up the down escalator. We decided not to risk it and instead waited ten minutes for an elevator. I felt a little bad for that interview guy, cause I could have done his interview, but I also would rather not appear in anything that involves people gawking at people who dress up in costumes, and you never know someone’s angle.

Anyway, we got outside, and more people wanted pictures, while we hailed a cab, and then took a cab just a few blocks across town to Kate’s car, as she was kind and lovely enough to drive us home, which also gave us time to discuss the movie.

Then I went ZZZZZZ and today was another day with less makeup!!!!

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.

Happy Halloween!!!!

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.

On Monday, I was not going to the Harry Potter midnight screening tomorrow. I had made plans with Rina to do some drawing, and the midnight Harry Potter was the farthest thing from my mind. I didn’t even know what date it was.

Back when the first movie came out, a friend of a friend invited me to go to the midnight showing at the Ziegfield. He was a huge movie buff, but I don’t even think he’d read the books. I had read the first three, but I think Goblet of Fire was out, and I hadn’t read it yet. I enjoyed the books, but this was before I had gotten at all involved in fandom.

The thing was, I was never really in the fandom for the books. I just…started meeting people. Amazing people. People who got me through some really hard times, even if they didn’t know what was going on in my life at the time because I didn’t know them well enough to tell them.

It was always about the people for me. A lot of you are those people.

So, when Rina had to change our plans, I immediately texted spiralstairs who was one of those people. I think she’s the first person from hogwarts_elite whom I met in person. She had been looking for someone to go with, but all her friends were busy.

Suddenly, I was not only going to see the last Harry Potter movie at midnight, but I was going to see it in the same theater where I saw the first one.

So then, Kate asked about costumes. I have some Harry Potter-themed clothing, but It’s either “all out” sort of stuff– like full dress robes– or it’s up at my parents’ in Connecticut (like my Gryffindor tie). So I was like, eh, I don’t think I can do it.

But then, when I was dressing for work this morning (I think it was this morning), I took a look in my closet. Not for a costume, but for clothes for work. And I came to a stunning realization.

In two days, I went from not going at all, to this:

PS: I am actually wearing vintage skivvies under that dress. Since you can’t actually see those.

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.

Here are the photos from my trip to New Orleans to visit liret.

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Mirrored from Antagonia.net.