vanessarama

So today was the second full day of Supanova and the Colin Morgan panel, and it was absolutely fantastic.

vissy and I actually lined up for the panel before Colin's, not wanting to experience the hour-long wait in the sun that had characterised the Billy Boyd session, and then we just let everyone go past us and ended up close to the front (we weren't the only ones doing the sneaky clever thing!) We ended up with an excellent view, in the third row (the first two were reserved for the people who paid VIP prices, ie, hundreds). Alas, they only let us take photos for the first five minutes and only without flash, so the shots I managed to get were pretty grainy. But Colin was in great form; he was funny and relaxed and chatty. I'm sure many of you have already heard about the giant "You're the Voice' singalong (which did make me cringe a wee bit) so here are the few really interesting highlights for me:

- Someone asked about how musical he was. He said he'd pretty much picked up and played any instrument he could ever since he was a kid, drums, piano, accordion - I think he said his mum had, or had given him, a Casio keyboard? He never learned the notes, but played what he heard and said "imitation is an actor's passion". But he said he had a problem with singing and it was an issue for him at drama school.
- a wee little girl asked if he was going out with Katie & he said "no we're not"
- he said the best scene he'd filmed with Bradley was the most iconic Merlin & Arthur moment from the legends, which has been referenced before in the show, but hasn't screened yet.
- he did a very cute imitation of a horse trying to mess with his head and buck him off :)
- He can speak cat! He and cats connect on the cosmic level :)
- He had many good things to say about Catherine Tate - she's brilliant, incredibly funny, he couldn't say enough good things about her
- Someone asked about the props and whether he'd got to take any home; he said the thing he wants most is the little wooden dragon Balinor made for Merlin, and the thing he has is a prop from 4.04 - "you can fry it, boil it, poach it... and it's MINE."
- He says the finale of this season is phenomenal and he doesn't know how they'll get out of it.
- There was a "truth or dare" - he was dared to do ten sit-ups and had to hitch up his jeans before he did so :)

- and I transcribed this bit from the rather awful audio I recorded (so there is a word missing or muffed here and there) because I thought it showed how happy it made him and I know rodneyscat will like it :) As he was saying goodbye Colin said "I've had a chance to speak to most of you with the signing and the photos... And you really really have exceeded the expectations of what the Australian fans are like, you've represented your country absolutely fantastically... You've made me so at home and so welcome, it really is an honour, so thank you so much once again, you're all brilliant!" And I think he really meant it; he really did seem so genuinely pleased and happy and bowled over. At one point he commented about all the love in the room. So many hearts from everyone!!!

In short: Colin happy. Fans happy. He spread the joy around, and it was good.

It's been a quiet weekend with lots of knitting - I finished a shawl, although I've yet to block it so you can't see it yet. I failed to resist the siren song of naptime this afternoon, so now I'm wide awake.

On Friday I met tetsubinatu for the first time, with vissy and we discussed many Merlin-related things (and many things in general). It was a lot of fun; I'd forgotten about the innate coolness of just being able to comfortably rave on about fandom stuff with people who understand. Fandom FTW!

On the minus side, writing has slowed to a syrup-like trickle. It is still happening, just very slowly. I have a kinkmeme fic partway through and I'm determined to not leave it hanging.

Last week I bought two books on special which I think encapsulate the essence of me. They were 'The Letters of Ted Hughes' and 'The Maitland Double Headless Murders'. The latter is poorly written and disappointing - what is it with Australian true crime? There are so few good writers. The former is far more satisfying, especially since I have Sylvia's journals and letters as well. I feel enormous sympathy for Ted; I don't think either he or Sylvia were particularly easy people to live with. What startles me in these letters (apart from the occasional racism which is of-its-time and no less startling for that) is the palpable emotional connection he had with Sylvia, the care he took in his dealings with and about her, and the respect he quite clearly had for her throughout his entire life. It's a bit of a revelation. Surprising to realise that people used to write so much - although I suppose that people who don't have nine-to-five jobs and who write as their profession might have more reason and opportunity to write than the rest of us poor slobs.