summary of my weekend at ELF (be warned: very long post)

[Saruman of Many Colours]

Friday - Woke up early and headed over to the convention. The place was right across the street and only took my 5 minutes to walk to, which was awesome. I got there around 9:30ish. There was one other person there so we ended up talking about different movies and conventions and whatnot. Eventually more and more people showed up and we got in line to sign in and get our passes. wait wait wait. Eventually we sign in, get our passes and all that, we still had an hour before we could go in. wait wait wait more

Anyways, finally opens up, go in, walk around, look at the merch, not anything really good, the place was tiny and only had a few booths set up, 2 for creation merch and they only had shirts and posters and hair-net, 1 booth with Tolkien's books, 1 for jewelry, 1 for art, 1 for elvish writing stuff, 1 for Ringers: The Lord of the Fans, 1 table for author Peter S Beagle and his books, 1 table for the band Emerald Rose, and then 1 with general sci-fi pants (shirts, posters, cards, autographed pics, etc). Walked around there for a bit, nothing too exciting, then 2:40 came around and we had our first presentation. It was for The Ringers documentary, Cliff Broadway (writer) and Carlene Cordova (writer/director) pretty much just explained what it was, showed the trailer, then answered questions. After the presentation I went to their booth and talked to them a bit, asking if they sent out an email asking for pics of Tolkien related tattoos, they said they did and asked if I was one of the ones to send pics in. I said I did, but didn't get the waiver in time so I couldn't send it out. They asked me to see what I had and Cliff said he remembered getting those and was really looking forward to including my Saruman tattoo as not many people had any "evil" tattoos. So yeah, sucks I couldn't get the thing in on time or I would've been on the DVD. Grrrr.

Next up was a Trivia Competition. They took 24 volunteers on stage to compete, so of course I volunteered. It was all yes or no questions, you have a yes card in one hand, an no in the other and you raise whatever you think the answer is, and I lost first round. Not because the question was hard, I was just nervous (I HATE being in front of a crowd) and I forgot which hand had the yes card and which had the no card. I put up yes for a bout a half second, then switched to no (which was the right answer), but they said I switched my answer, which is BS. Whatever, second round I volunteered again, I had to prove myself, this time I kicked top-hat and won. My prize was a $50 gift certificate, which awas cool, even though I didn't really find anything I wanted earlier. So I decided to wait until the next day, hoping they'd have more stuff. After Trivia Matt Appleton, who works for WETA Workshop, did a presentation which was awesome. He made most of the armors and the miniatures, as well as did other stuff, including playing an elf at the Council of Elrond. He talked for about an hour just telling about how he did some effects and some funny little anecdotes about filming. Then there was a class on writing elvish, which was very interesting and surprisingly easy, we even got a recipe for lembas, it's in elvish and we have to translate it. SWEET. Then a short presentation about how the fans differ around the world, which was actually rather boring. That was the last of stuff for the day, there was an Emerald Rose concert at 9, but I didn't much care for them, so I just went back to my hotel, ordered a pizza and watched some TV, then read some of fellowship and eventually went to bed.

Saturday - Woke up early again, and headed over to the convention. Sat around, waiting in line for the John Rhys-Davies photo op. That went really fast, only about 15 seconds a person, I just said hello to him and I've been a fan of his since Sliders, he asked what I do for a living, I told him I was an editor, and he said that was a very important job, without people like me, his job would be pointless. Which, I guess is kind of true. So, yeah, that was cool. Walked around a bit, looked at merch, trying to find something to buy, while looking around I found out the gift certificate was only for creation merch (which again was only stuff like shirts and posters and autographed 8x10s, none of which I was interested in). I asked the lady at the book booth if I could use it there and she said no, but she asked what I wanted, so I told her and she's "well, I'll make you a deal, those books are $46 all together, if you use your gift certificate and get me 2 shirts I'll trade you the books" which was so totally cool of her to do that, so yeah, I got her the 2 shirts and she gave me my books. I ended up getting The Languages of Tolkien's Middle Earth which is about the 14 languages Tolkien created, including an english to elvish dictionary, and The Chronicles of Narnia, which I've wanted for a while, but I've never seen a all 7 books in one big book and it's too expensive to buy each separately, so yeah, I'm glad I finally found it, and for free no less, see, being a huge Lord of the Rings Geek finally pays off.

After about an hour all that was done and John went on stage to do a presentation/Q&A thing. Not much to say here really, just talking about making the movies, the rest of his career, funny things that have happened on set, just a lot of fun and interesting stories, then questions from the audience. He was on stage for about an hour, and then Sean Astin came on. Sean was surprisingly funny, and he's very very nice. Basically same thing as with JRD, talking about filming, other movies, his campaign for literacy, and then Q&A. After all that was autographs. This is where hair-net started going bad, JRD likes to talk to his fans for a bit, sometimes spending upwards of 10 minutes with just 1 fan, which is cool, except there was probably like 350-400 people there and they expected to finish autographs with both Sean AND John in about 1 and a half hours. That of course didn't happen and that caused everything to get pushed back. Sean was to do photos at 4, which didn't really give people enough time to get both autographs, but JRD was coming back at 5:30 to do more, which was fine, but other hair-net got moved around so I had to miss one of the panels I wanted to see, oh well though. So I got my photo, then went back wait in line for JRD and found out they gave out numbered tickets if you were line and missed him the first time, which I never got, plus the lady at Sean's table took both tickets (for Sean and John) assuming I was going to go straight to his line, so now I was all worried I was going to miss out on John, but all ended up working out. After autographs were all done the costume contest started. Not much to say really. There was some really great costumes and some really hair-net costumes. There's some pics in another thread, so be sure to check them out.

That was the last for that day, there was a dessert party at 9, but I was planning on going out with friends so I was going to skip that. Went back to the hotel, couldn't figure out and plans and there was nothing on TV so I decided to go, so back I went. While waiting for doors to open I met this chick, Lyra (baggins under the hill) who is totally cool and told me about this site, we got to talking a bit, then went to the dessert thing. They had chips and ice cream and cake and stuff, as well as a mini bar. So me and Lyra and Mel and some others from the board (sorry, i don't remember all of your names) hung out and talked and had some drinks. It was fun. About an hour into the party they had what they called "Tolkien Karaoke" where you go and act out your favorite scenes. Lots of people did it, Lyra and Silmaryan did the drinking song from Return of the King and had the whole party clapping along. More Karaoke, more drinks, more talking. Come midnight the party was over but Lyra and I ended up going to the hotel bar to get a drink and talked with more fans. and then ended up chatting till like 3am. it was a blast chilling with her.

Sunday - Woke up, headed over to the con, met up with Lyra and another friend, and headed over to a Dwarvish class to learn about Dwarf Runes. that was cool, but not as cool as the elvish ones. Next up was a panel on who is the true hero of the books, another interesting discussion idea, but unfortunately Elijah was there that day so the majority of people were in line for photos and there wasn't much discussion, which kind of sucked. Up next was a behind the scenes/making of thing for The Dork of the Rings, a low budget parody fan film. The director had dressed up like Peter Jackson and it was hilarious, I will definitely buy it when it's released. After that I got in line with Lyra and her friends to wait for a photo with Elijah. Luckily she had gotten in line earlier because by the time I got to the line there must've been 300 people in line, Lyra was maybe 40th, so I cut in with her and chatted some more. We all got our photos done and they went off for lunch, I gt a quick bite with them and then went to another discussion, this one about what characters in the movies were the most similar/different to how they were in the book, which was a very interesting discussion. Lots of talk about faramir and aragorn. ultimately they decided the character that was probably closest was Grima. Once that was over everyone ran over to the main room for Elijah.

There must've been like 600 people there for him, a lot of people (especially young teeny bopper girls) showed up only that day and only to see Elijah. Not surprised in the least. Anyway, Elijah comes out on stage and for some reason someone yells to him to call Dominc Monaghan, so, he does, Dom was in hawaii shooting Lost and said hello to everyone and wished he could be there to see everyone and how much he misses and loves Elijah. After that Elijah called Billy Boyd since it was his birthday and had everyone singing happy birthday to him. That was kind of cool getting to hear from them even if they weren't there. The rest of the time was Q&A and a lot of stories. He talked a lot about music and all these bands he loves and whatnot, as well as plenty stories of haning out with Dom and Billy and Sean. Lots of fun. That lasted about 2 hours or so, then it was autograph time. It gets to my turn and, being the geek I am I ask if I can show him a tattoo of mine, seeing as the first movie he was ever in was Back to the Future 2 and it got him his start, as well as it was the first movie I really remember seeing and it was his first film ever I thought he'd appreciate it, or atleast appreciate the quick story, (plus I really didn't want to be just another person to tell him how amazing Lord of the Rings is, I'm sure it bugs him that no one seems to care about his other films), so I show him my Back to the Future tattoo and he was "OMG that's so beautiful" I say thank you and shake his hand and go to walk away, he says "wait, I see you have a lot of other stuff, would you show me them?" so I quickly show him some other stuff, then ask if he likes zelda (he mentioned during his Q&A that he loves action/RPG type games) and he says it's one of his favorites, so I of course have to show him my back piece and he sat there for what seemed like minutes then was "wow... just, wow, that is one of the greatest tattoos I ever seen, would you mind if I got a picture of it?" uh... ok, I usually don't really get the least bit star struck or freak out about anything, but I have the star of my favorite movies of all time asking to take pictures of me, Mr. Elijah Wood now has pictures of me (or my tattoos least ways) on his camera. Again, don't usually get star struck or anything, and I try my hardest not to put them up on any huge pedestal, after all "he is just a person", but that was just over the top and to know I am on his camera is just REALLY weird. I wonder if he will post the pics on his website or anything, if he has one. Thanked him again for coming here and all that jazz, then said good bye. Of course there was like 50 people watching all this go down so I had all these people asking what was going on and saying they were jealous and that I'm so lucky and all that.

Anyway after that I walked around, calmed down a bit, talked to some friends. That was the last event of the whole weekend and everything was all closing up and everyone had to leave for the airport to catch their planes, so we all said our goodbyes and whatnot, and off we all went.

the weekend was so fun, learned some great stuff about tolkien, the books, the films, the actors, and other stuff. and made some great friends. can't wait till next year.

[Niniel]

What a wonderful time. Wish I could have gone.

[Gavanna]

The part about your tatoo's being on EJW's camera was interesting, including your feeling of the weirdness of it all.

Welcome to the boards!

[Saruman of Many Colours]

The part about your tatoo's being on EJW's camera was interesting, including your feeling of the weirdness of it all.

Welcome to the boards!

thanks, and i just realized t his and find it funny, elijah's initials are EW. just realized that. hahaha.

and thanks for the welcome!

[Baggins-Under-The-Hill]

Saurman I'm so glad that you made it to the boards. I definetly like being referred to as a "cool chick" as well! I'm glad that some one has posted there experiences of the weekend. I will if I get a chance. First I want to write all down in my journal so that I don't forget a thing!
I am extremely jealous that Elijah took a picture of your tatoo's !!! The weekend was definetly one I will never forget!

Baggins

[Saruman of Many Colours]

Saurman I'm so glad that you made it to the boards. I definetly like being referred to as a "cool chick" as well! I'm glad that some one has posted there experiences of the weekend. I will if I get a chance. First I want to write all down in my journal so that I don't forget a thing!
I am extremely jealous that Elijah took a picture of your tatoo's !!! The weekend was definetly one I will never forget!

Bagggins

yes, no problem, as i told you earlier, you are by far one of the most coolest people i have met in a long time. i hope that doesn't scare you or freak you out at all....

[Overlithe64]

The part about your tatoo's being on EJW's camera was interesting, including your feeling of the weirdness of it all.

Welcome to the boards!

thanks, and i just realized t his and find it funny, elijah's initials are EW. just realized that. hahaha.

and thanks for the welcome!

That was awsome!! I stood there wondering what the heck is going on over there...lol. Why is that guy getting undressed for Elijah and why is he taking photos then i recognized you from the night before and realized..tattoos..hmmmm. It was a great moment for all who were near juss because it was so different and it pulled E out of his Con auto pilot mode....

[MrsFrodoBaggins]

It gets to my turn and, being the geek I am I ask if I can show him a tattoo of mine, seeing as the first movie he was ever in was Back to the Future 2 and it got him his start, as well as it was the first movie I really remember seeing and it was his first film ever I thought he'd appreciate it, or at least appreciate the quick story...so I show him my Back to the Future tattoo and he was "OMG that's so beautiful" I say thank you and shake his hand and go to walk away, he says "wait, I see you have a lot of other stuff, would you show me them?" so I quickly show him some other stuff, then ask if he likes zelda...and he says it's one of his favorites, so I of course have to show him my back piece and he sat there for what seemed like minutes then was "wow... just, wow, that is one of the greatest tattoos I ever seen, would you mind if I got a picture of it?" uh...ok, I usually don't really get the least bit star struck or freak out about anything, but I have the star of my favorite movies of all time asking to take pictures of me, Mr. Elijah Wood now has pictures of me (or my tattoos least ways) on his camera.

So you were the guy with all the ink! I was the female in line right behind you. Pretty interesting to have a front-row seat (as it were) for an Elijah geek-out!