CANADAGRAPHS

An open letter offer to Conan O'Brien to work for me. 01/22/2010

Dear Mr. O'Brien

It has come to my attention that sometime soon (say at the end of today) you may find yourself no longer employed at "NBC" (Nothing But C****). This is a travesty. Everyone involved with the exception of Mr. zucker and perhaps Mr. leno realize it. Its a sad end to an awkward situation that they didnt need to create.

Personally, I think you made the right move by putting your foot down. You stood up for television tradition & refused to be a push over. Its that type of attitude I can use.

Conan, I understand that you may be for hire now. I am assuming your deal to leave comes with a clause about not returning to TV for awhile in any talk show manner?. So in the mean time you may try new jobs.

Well, I have the job for you. You can help me get autographs during the 2010 Olympics here in Vancouver, BC. Now the pay is meager. It might even be below minimum wage to be brutally honest. But, I am putting the offer out there. If you need a job, to help feed your family. I'll find work for you here.

It does come with some perks.
1- you can meet tonnes of world class athletes. Kinda cool, right?
2- There is bound to be countless NBC representitives roaming town for you to hurl insults at, you know, to blow off some of the steam you may have pent up.
3- Get away from all that rain flooding L.A......oh right. Nevermind. Scratch that, it will probably be here too.
4- Its closer to Seattle than L.A. So you could take a trip to see your wifes family faster (at your expense of course...do I look like I have money to throw away? I'm not NBC.)
5- You could get into a game/event & hold up an "NBC sucks" sign, which will air...on their station.
6- Theres lots of musical guests here you could chum up to...incase you get another talk show gig at FOX....or somewhere else.

The pay may suck, it will certainly be a notable decline from your current pay rate.
I can assure you it will be a longer & less rewarding day than a day of joke telling & celebrity interviewing.
And frankly, you may have a better offer on the table somewhere. I will respectfully understand if you decline for a prior commitment.

I just think its a job you can excel at. With your height, you have an advantage with reaching overtop of fans to get your items signed. This can come in handy. As a talk show host, you have developed a strong speaking voice, which will help in getting the attention of athletes who may not be paying attention & not hear a quieter person... and if all else fails, you can bribe them with the string dance.... if NBC didnt steal that in their raping of your intellectual properties.

I can assure you a few things.
1- I have no intentention of replacing you after 7 months with Jay Leno if you dont seem to be doing that good.
2- If we see an NBC rep that you hate, I will assist you in hurling any rotting vegetables you may feel the need to throw.
3- Andy can tag along...but hes your responsibility to keep in check.
4- The gig will end at the end of February..... That is more of an advance notice than NBC gave you.
5- If all fails in your career as an autograph hound, I will still make you some money by setting up a "meet Conan O'Brien & get his autograph booth" nearest as possible to an NBC area. Prices to be determined.

I hope you will take my offer seriously. I'm just trying to help you out, and get your feet back on the ground. I will gladly give you a job reference to any future employers you may be seeking employment from.

Sincerely, Canadagraphs

PS- thanks for the years of entertainement.

Most searched keywords on google for my site in 2009 01/07/2010

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These are the most commonly used search keywords to get to my site thru google.
Of course the data is only relevant from Oct 15-Dec 31. I didnt have the program in place prior to October 15th. Because of that, terms like Twilight, Pattinson, Stewart, New Moon etc are likely a lot lower than they would have been if this tracked all searches since day 1. I suspect if they were covered from the beginning, RPattinson would probably have topped 10,000 searches.

That said, I was still impressed with the hockey related search numbers for the Olympics. These search terms ran thru the release of New Moon, so the Twilight phenomenon had SOME pull, but still Olympic searches dominated the numbers.

With 2010 now here & the Olympics a few weeks away, it will be interesting to see how dominant they are at the end of 2010 in my search terms.

1st 1094 HOCKEY
2nd 852 OLYMPICS
3rd 833 2010
4th 592 CANADAGRAPHS
5th 309 ROBERT PATTINSON

6th 267 TEAM CANADA
7th 251 TEAM SWITZERLAND
8th 250 AUTOGRAPHS/SIGNED
9th 199 KRISTEN STEWART
10th 185 TWILIGHT

11th 118 TEAM CZECH REPUBLIC
12th 91 TEAM LATVIA
13th 88 ARGUMENT/ELEVATOR
14th 82 HOCKEY AUTOGRAPHS
15th 70 TWILIGHT AUTOGRAPHS
16th 51 NEW MOON
17th 46 TEAM FINLAND
18th 31 TAYLOR LAUTNER
19th 24 ANNA TORV
20th 19 JOSHUA JACKSON
20th 19 NEW MOON AUTOGRAPHS
20th 19 CANUCKS AUTOGRAPHS.

Things I found interesting were that Taylor Lautner, although one of my best selling autographs, was quite frankly, not a very often searched term in comparison to his co-stars Rob & Kristen, and only moderately more than Kellan Lutz at 17. That put him 2 short of the logjam that became 20th place.

I had to do a lot of partial word searches thru my list to find possible misspelled ones, and even though I did. Maybe I missed some. But these are within 99% accuracy, correct numbers. I was more amazed with the amount of mis-spellings some words had. Argument was spelled ELEVEN different ways. My personal favorite being "argewmint". With that many failed spellings of 1 word, you can imagine how its possible I may have missed 1 or 2.
For peoples names like Rob, Kristen, Taylor, Anna & Joshua I searched their first names & last names to come up with the list. In Rob & Kristens cases, I even putt commonly used nicknames like RPatts, RPattz, KStew to find them.

Interestingly Fringe stars Anna Torv & Joshua Jackson made the list. But the show itself did not.

Some 2009 Thank yous, stats & observations 01/01/2010

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FRINGE FILMING- Season opener. Broyles & Nina kiss 12/13/2009

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When I filmed this I was eager to post it, but then thought "no, I cant do that to them. I'll wait till it airs, even if it means a few less views". So then it came out, and I got busy & distracted with countless other little projects & forgot.

So here it is, better late than never.

Agent Philip Broyles & Nina Sharp (aka. Lance Reddick & Blair Brown) sharing a fairly close moment during Se 2 Ep 1 of Fringe.

This was one of the 10-15 takes this did of this scene. Might not be the actual take they ended up using, I dont know.

Twilight New Moon & Eclipse pics- UNTAGGED. Read blog 12/10/2009

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**IMPORTANT- IF YOU WISH TO USE ANY OF THE PHOTOS IN THIS SPECIFIC BLOG. DO NOT CREDIT THEM TO ME. PHOTO CREDITS GO TO - "J.KING"**

I was asked by one of the local photographers to help promote the work he has done.
You have likely seen some of his pics in various places in the past.
He has decided though, that due to unresolved issues with other parties, he will now allow some of his work to be used untagged for no other reason than the photo credits.
Since I have a few more followers than him, he asked me to post them for my followers to see.

So enjoy, and remember, if you want to use the photos on your site. Please feel free to do so, AS LONG AS YOU CREDIT THEM TO J.KING.

You can follow J.King on twitter http://twitter.com/shareefdog

Fringe & Star Trek icon Leonard Nimoy pics- better late than never. 12/10/2009

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A few weeks ago I told you about my second encounter with Mr. Leonard Nimoy (Dr. William Bell- Fringe). But I never posted the photos because a couple things happened. Firstly I promised to show them to a huge fan I know first, after that...well, they got buried under more recent events. But, alas....here they are.

Mr. Nimoy is no stranger to autograph requests. Afterall he is an icon of one of the most memorabilia crazy sub-cultures of all time, Star Trek fans. I am not a Star Trek fan, but friends of mine are. So I felt some level of excitement meeting him simply because I realize how many others would have probably sold their entire collection of other memorabilia that they have compiled over 20 years just to meet him. I kind of compare it to when I met Paul McCartney some. I had no admiration for his most known work with the Beatles, but still understood how amazing it was meeting him still.

To me, Leonard is Dr. William Bell, because I am a fan of Fringe. So this was exciting to me to meet a cast member. But it was obvious others were more thrilled to meet "Spock". Leonard is no stranger to autographing stuff. He commands a pretty penny at Star Trek conventions for his signature, so getting one for free is always a bonus. On this day, like my first meeting, I was getting him to sign an item for someone I know that was a big fan...for free. The first time I met him I got a Fringe photo signed by him for my friend. I told her at the time if I ever got a chance to get a Star Trek pic signed by him, we would swap the first one I got for that....so that was what we did after that.

When Leonard showed up he was for a few seconds actually happy to see a couple fans. He had a partial smile & a friendly sounding hello. Then he realized we werent infact the only ones there. All toll there was about a dozen fans, hounds & photographers there vying for his attention & his pleasant appearance quickly thinned out to a less happy look. "How did you know I was going to be here?" he quickly asked after realizing there was several people waiting. I told him "I just bring everyone I know could be in town with me just in case". Which was true, but not entirely true in this case. I infact had knowledge he was coming in from one of my autographing/photographer friends & was anticipating him, unlike many times when I am there just on statistically probable ventures. He signed for me, whiel I asked him to personalize it to my friend, he moved on to signing for others. I left the item out, and a few seconds later he returned & added my friends name to it. I was pleased. It never donned on me to try & get more than 1. Its a rare moment of forgetfulness from me. But I was actually happy with....1? Its happened before, it happened with Sir Paul, it happened with Robert Pattinson one time when he finished off an item I was really impressed with & it happened the first time I met Wayne Gretzky.

From there he moved on & started to make his way to his awating vehicle. I asked him how he liked Fringe, he said it was good. Interestingly enough only a week or two later he was quoted as saying he didnt think he would return to the show because he wasnt happy with how his character was being used/developed.

It was a good day for me. I got Dr. William Bell, Leonard Nimoy from the TV show Fringe. ...or as a few people might know him as "Spock".

Tiger Woods cheats. So what? 12/04/2009

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Does anyone really care that Tiger Woods cheated on his wife? Is anyone even moderately surprised? The first question SHOULD be answered NO, and the second one IS NO.

Really, everyone who has heard of Tiger Woods, whether you care about his hobby/job or not, you know who he is, what he does & likely what he looks like. You KNOW he is one of the worlds most famous faces. So you know, he is quite desired because of his status. Whether its by marketers, celebrity by association seekers, or gold diggers. Everyone that ever meets the guy, wants something from him. Hes aware of it, his wife is aware of it (yes, she is. I'll get to that in a minute) & every person close to him is aware of it.

When you have that many people telling you that you are that great, your ego is going to take on some of that. In Tigers case, he takes on all of it and more. Anyone thats ever met the guy outside of public relations functions can tell you hes the most cocky jerk there might be walking the face of the sporting world. He treats the fans like peasants, the lower level media like high class peasants & the higher end media as whores who are there only to serve a purpose for him, publicity. He truly believes his shit doesnt stink.

So, his wife. Elin Nordgren, the "victim" in this "transgression" Mr. Woods has been involved in lately. Poor her. I mean she must be devasted to find out the loving & caring Tiger is a cheater.... I cant believe I typed that with a straight face. Get real people. Its not "Poor Elin". Its not like she married me, and I cured cancer a year later & was now a mega-sensation. No. She married Tiger Woods when he was already an icon of his industry. She KNEW what she was marrying. Do you think he managed to keep his persona hidden from her THAT well? Come on. The guy is a public figure. She either knew, or assumed that stuff like this was going on. This certainly could not be breaking news to her. I mean your husband has people clamouring at his feet daily for any snippet of anything from him, women likely throw themselves at him dozens of times a week, probably even in your pressence. You KNEW he was being tempted. You KNOW he thinks hes untouchable. So are you somehow going to sit there & tell me that you are even remotely shocked he did this? Give me a break.

The ONLY reason shes angry, is because it is now public knowledge & her ego takes a bit of a hit that her man was shopping elsewhere for sexual favours. She might not have known whom it was with specifically, but she had to know it was going on. So all you "poor Elin" people. Shut up. She knew who she married. She knew he was a cocky prick who thinks of himself first & foremost. She knew he was continually being propositioned. She knew this would happen sooner or later. Dont be fooled for a second. Girls who marry high profile celebrities go in with the very open knowledge "my husband is probably going to play around behind my back at some point, its inevitable". They have temptation at most every turn & can get what they want when they want it. Tiger Woods could tomorrow, even with this black eye, go out & say "I want that mansion, 3 of that car & 4 of those yachts" & they would be happily given to him. Women arent much different.

Interesting thing by him getting caught is, he has become just like most every other major sports icon around. They all have negative scandals in their history. I suspect in most of the cases its because they truly believed they were so great nothing bad could happen to them. A few of the more prominent ones include..

Michael Jordan- gambling.
Kobe Bryant- cheating on spouse
Allen Iverson- gang affiliations.
Wayne Gretzky- associated to a bookie & his wife gambled thru his friend.
Patrick Roy- domestic violence
Martin Brodeur- cheating on spouse
OJ Simpson- murder
Michael Vick- dog fighting
Jamal Lewis- drug dealing
Pete Rose- gambling
Dwight Gooden- drug possession
Darryl Strawberry- drugs & prostitution
Ugeth Urbina- attempted murder
Mike Tyson- what hasnt he done?
Sonny Liston- robbery
George Best- DUI & assault

When you look at that list, quite a few of those guys were considered squeaky clean upstanding models for society before their secrets came out. Some of them, even after it are still looked at as role models. The reason? Because no one cares about their personal life for the mostpart. Sure the OJ Simpsons & Michael Vicks of the bunch are frowned upon heavily, but do people quit cheering for Martin Brodeur because he slept with his wifes brothers wife? Till this day theres still legions of fans who think Pete Rose should be in the baseball HOF despite him betting on the sport. Tiger Woods will be no different. His image may take a temporary set back. But it will rise again because hes just too good at what he does & for the most part, his fans will not care that he slept with another woman, or another 3000 women.

I for one, hate Tiger Woods. Not because of what he did to his wife, but because I hate golf, hate seeing it prosper & to top it off, knowing hes a classless prick to the public. But I know, that he is an incredible talent at his chosen pastime/job & will recover from this quickly. Once he gets back out on the course, it will be forgotten as soon as he puts up another incredible performance. Sure, those first few tours it will still be "Tiger is back after cheating on his wife/ex-wife" but he'll get over that hump & it will be forgotten, banished to menial facts on his wikipedia page.

As for Elin, dont worry about her. After the original shock set in & she got over it, she probably has been dancing on the cieling all week about the 100s of millions of dollars she just won in the marry a celebrity lottery. Realistically, she has probably been hoping for this day since the beginning.

New Moon movie- my review. Plus, my top 10 memories/experiences of NM filming here. 11/21/2009

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I considered burying my review in the middle of the blog, just to make you all read the whole thing thoroughly to find it....but, here it is..... It didnt suck, but it wasnt awesome either.
I'm giving it a generous 5.5/10.
Now remember, I have NEVER READ THE BOOKS!!! So dont gripe at me with "oh, they forgot this" or "the so & so scene was ruined because this pointless background detail wasnt there". I dont care. I graded it as a movie, and not as a comparison to a piece of literature. It is a movie, I graded it as a movie compared to other movies.

I was pretty worried it was going to be gawdaful after hearing responses from people I knew. Of the 6 people I knew in person who saw it prior to me, only ONE gave it any type of positive review. The rest were trashing it hard. Sites like IMDB & Rottentomatoes were in agreement with this assessment of it as well, so I was truly expecting garbage. Maybe thats why it rated higher than 5, because I went in with such low expecations & it overshot them.

To me the film has several good pieces which are wrapped around a pile of really dull, dragged out scenes. Some of the smaller characters are a bit too dorky for my liking. Just them saying even a couple words made me roll my eyes. The pudgy little school kid that has a crush on Bella might be the most annoying of the bunch. They shoulda scrapped him all together. I personally did not have the same problems with the acting of the big 3 that others have stated. They arent going to win the academy award, but its fine. I mean if Sean William Scott or Hugh Grant can continue to find employment doing the same character over & over again in movies that arent even connected to each other, than whats the problem with these 3 acting the same as they did in the first film? The supporting cast did a decent job IMO with the limited screen time they generally had.
The Volturri looked good image wise, but Michael Sheen & Dakota Fanning were the only two that really made a positive impact on me. If Jamie Campbell Bower had more of a role, maybe he coulda done the same. The rest however... I found most of them too rigid & not smooth enough in delivery. The fight scene was too sped up to enjoy. They needed to slow it down a bit. I realize they are vampires & are really quick, but the audience is only seeing minimal glances of the action & its really frustrating IMO.
It was certainly fascinating to see scenes in places I knew, or had been to. That might have given it an extra .2 or so just for the Vancouver element? But overall, it wasnt terrible. I wont go spend $12.50 to see it again, but I could see me watching it down the road again if someone rented it. Its certainly watchable.

So that is essentially my review of the movie, spoiler free I hope.

Of course Twilight Saga: New Moon is a film that was a big deal to me, as I hounded this film pretty intensely compared to the efforts I usually put in to celeb hounding.

Here is a list of top 10 things I learned/appreciated/enjoyed about the New Moon phenomenon being here.

- Jackson Rathbone. The man who plays Jasper turned out to not just be a wonderful surprise for interacting with, but perhaps the nicest celeb I have ever met. After 1 of the 100 Monkeys perfornaces here he talked in chilly spring weather for like 15 minutes about anything & everything. Awesome guy who even after that first encounter, kept up his good guy images all the way thru Eclipse even.

- Sam Bradley show at Richards On Richards. It was my big payday of the event. It nabbed me my first ever celebrity photo run in a national magazine (sure, it was OK Magazine & I would later blast them for being idiots...but still, it was groundbreaking for me) I also learned to enjoy Sams music leading up to the show & the short amount of time I got to enjoy his performance. It also lead to a cool impromptu sing along by Sam on the street after the show that I thought was all too cool, which later lead to getting a couple Pattinson autographs. So all in all, a very productive night.

- Spencer Bell discovering. One of the things Jackson Rathbone told us about that night was Spencer Bell & asked us to donate to his site (link is in my twilight autographs section). It took me awhile after misplacing it, but I finally found the site & have since then enjoyed quite a bit of Spencers music. Sad that there cant be anymore.

- Meeting Rob after filming in New West. It was the only set hounding I did in New Moon & it nabbed me the nicest Rob autograph I obtained the whole shoot, and to top it off he did in despite his driver trying to deter him from signing for me. At 6 AM, after a long night of work, Rob came over to a fence & signed for the 5 or so fans who waited it out, while his co-stars left with little more than a wave from a distance.

- How it revitalized my celebrity hounding. Because of New Moon, I started hounding celebs a fair bit more over that run, and it still lingers some now. I met a lot more stars in that few months it was here that I had probably met in the past 5 yrs (minus my time at Toronto Film Fest a couple yrs ago) because I just rarely bothered going out.

- Twitter strategizing with others to prevent chaos during the Blue Water Cafe cast dinner. After the shenanigans of Punkd images & Lainey Gossip to try & ruin the casts party at the Blue Water Cafe, several of the regulars who were at the scene took action & banded together despite all having different interests in being there. The one thing we all knew was, if it wasnt stopped now, chaos was going to ensue. Within 10 mins of Laineys tweets, 2-4 people had shown up, but no one else did after that & for that, the credit mainly goes to the few fans & myself who worked on creating a smoke screen to assure no one else would try coming down & making it a mob scene.

- All the new hotspots I never knew about before. I pass places like Chill Winston often & have occasionally passed Glowbal & Blue Water Cafe, but never really though of them as anything special. Since then I have learned just how often they really have housed notable celebs.

- Celebs twitter updates. Before New Moon I barely knew of Twitter. Within a week of it, I had signed up for an account & was using it daily to keep up to date on where people were & more importantly, celebs who tweeted about their every detail. It was vital in giving me good, solid info more times than I probably confessed at the time. Fan updates were 1 thing, but celebs updates were 5Xs better.

-The day Kristen Stewart told my friends & I "I dont care". Outside of the Loose Moose one night we chatted with her for a few mins. One of my friends apologized for being there, which Kristen responded that she didnt infact care, understood we have a job to do. She respectfully asked us not to do 1 or 2 things, so we didnt. But for the mostpart, she was understanding that we had a job to do & was fine with it.

- The fans. Sure, there is a large portion who are batshit nuts. Odds are a few of you will even read this & say "well, he cant be talking to me". When I see a 40 yr old woman nearly in tears because she met Rachelle Lefevre or a girl probably no older than 12 telling Kellan Lutz she wants his body...well, yeah, THEY are nuts. But I also met quite a few cool, laid back people whow ere just fans & who just wanted to soak up a bit of the experience of them being here. Some of the regulars were the most normal people of the bunch. It amazed me every time someone told me they were from Brazil, Texas, Minnesota, Belgium or Japan. I was just like "wow, you spent your vacation time to come here in the HOPES of seeing one of the cast?". Now granted, I have considered the same thing for my favorite TV show...but I also can combine it with work to offset some of the costs, as well I have a fair bit more knowledge & experience in finding them than Joe fan. But I admired their commitment to an entertainment medium & most of the time, I found most of them to be normal.

For all the frustration the New Moon filming here brought me at times, the entertainment, money & memories likely outweight those frustrations greatly.

Thats it on New Moon I guess. Next up is Eclipse.....which as we all know, I have a less fond memory of.

Twilight round up- part 1. Why I will see New Moon and WILL NOT see Eclipse 11/04/2009

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Last week, Eclipse, the 3rd film in the Twilight Saga series, wrapped here in Vancouver. To be brutally honest, I was relieved.

Lets take you back to the beginning when the cast was first in town for New Moon, the 2nd film in the series, coming out in theatres everywhere November 20th.

I started this entire venture, NOT LIKING the idea of Twilight. I had never seen the movie & vowed I wouldnt. In the first couple weeks, I even found it easy to justify my disdain for it as the stars we were seeing were few & far between & had been to say the least, unwilling to interact. From KStew staring at us as she walked into the hotel ignoring our requests to RPattz speed walking by us when we picked him out in mid day, they were giving us a negative vibe.

The first turning point came when meeting Taylor Lautner for the first time. He was extremely friendly, pleasant, signed everything that was asked of him & I watched as he talked on a fans phone to her friend in another city, just because she asked him to. I wasnt about to run out & see the film just because of that, but I was about to start softening on this cast.

Over the next while a variety of actions happened. I called out KStew publically, and she responded by becoming more cordial, cast members befriended the locals, and in general, cast came across as extremely friendly & easy to deal with. We liked them and they seemingly liked us (compared to other entertainers we encounter often who dont show any respect without any prior reason.). After I got my first Kristen Stewart autograph, I conceded that I would infact give the film a chance. She was the one hold out of the primary cast for signing at that point, and now she had signed & in fact done a 180 from what she was like in the early weeks. I rented the film, watched it with a couple friends. Not exactly Casablanca, but a moderately entertaining & watchable movie. I stated at that time I likely could see myself going to see New Moon when it comes out.

By the time the filming for New Moon ended, we were seeing the cast almost every couple days, Rob here, Taylor there, Kristen here etc. They were exceptionally good to us & on more than 1 occasion, 1 of those 3 said "I dont care, I know you have a job to do" when we asked for more autographs or a photo. They were finally understanding they had reached a certain level of fame, and had found a happy medium in their lives with dealing with it.

I was pro-Twilight by the time they left here at the end of New Moon. In the time between the end of New Moon & the start of Eclipse, a LOT happened in their lives (mostly with Rob & Kristen) & to be brutally honest, I had no idea how much it clearly affected them till I had to deal with them again.

They went to Italy where they got their first true big time encounters with paps since their fame had skyrocketed. Oddly enough days before leaving Vancouver, many fans who were not actually here constantly were saying "cant wait for them to leave Van, so they can get a break from all the crazy fans there etc etc etc" only to learn it actually is worse everywhere else. Italy likely stressed them some, but it was NOTHING like what they endured in NYC & LA where they were under 24/7 surveillance. At least in Vancouver, we were only on them at major events & some weekends. The fact that Rob had gone to the same bar about 8-10 times before we ever actually saw him going there tells you just how much they were going out here undetected. They didnt have that luxury anymore. It changed them for the worse.

When they came back for Eclipse, we again had a small slump at the beginning. Cast were being elusive. But this time it was not so much because of dumb luck as it was with the crowds waiting. Summer time in Vancouver, and growing hype around this series meant much larger crowds. To top it off, the mentally challenged gerbils in charge of Summit decided in their infinite wisdom to book the ENTIRE cast in 1 place. Imagine whatever your idea of hell is. This is surely what Rob & Kristen felt, if not, the smaller cast members as well.

By the 2nd week of production there was about 25 paps in town & on average 30-50 fans waiting in & around the Sheraton Wall Centre hotel. Cast were becoming elusive & quick. Regular casual castmates like Nikki Rieed, Kellan Lutz & Peter Facinelli were out far less this film than the film prior, and Nikki opted to move away from the hotel with Elizabeth Reaser to a different hotel. I never got a chance to ask them why, but by Nikkis new "dont look at me" attitude she spawned in this film, I am guessing it was obviously a "I dont want to be around the hype" change of address. They wanted quiet, so they moved away.

My question to Summit. Why the hell didnt you do what you did from the beginning? 3 hotels= moderate crowds most days. 1 hotel= everyone at the same place. It was literally ground zero & the cast were prisoners of their film companies incompetence. It made the fans more desperate, it made the paps more desperate, it made us autograph hounds more desperate. So what happens when you have that much desperation building? Stupidity. With 20+ out of town paps here, the first real uh oh was the night they went to a sushi bar for a cast party. Upon their return, Robs cab went underground, and without hesitation, the out of towners with nothing to lose since they dont live here, followed them in. This was a no-no amongst the regulars, but these out of towners who would onyl stay here for a week or two did not care. This action made the cast even less willing to go out. Soon, sightings were quite rare & it was usually the same couple guys. Kellan in full sprint for a jog. Xavier for a walk. Peter Facinelli out for a short stroll. The big 3 were hiding. Rob, Kristen & Taylor were practically ghosts except for group functions or at the set.

Eventually the crowds died out. Ironically it came in the form of Summit growing a functioning brain cell, and it had the added luck of falling right when school was starting. They moved a large chunk of the cast out of the Sheraton to a small, still not completed apartment building a few blocks away called Level. I still remember 2 days before the first people would stumble across it saying to a couple people "I think they have moved them out of here" because it was so rare seeing anyone there. Within a week, all the regulars that were in the know had the new address. Only ones left without that info were the obsessive 24/7 "I cant live without seeing Rob/Taylor" fanatics that were still lurking around the now nearly ghost town like Sheraton.

For a couple weeks, there was still moderate crowds around the Sheraton, while us regulars were finally getting a cast that was far more relaxed signing & posing for pics coming out of their new residence, they would sit around there on weekends hoping to see cast when there was only 3 elusive regulars there & occasionally a couple part time cast members. Eventually, even the die hards gave up. For the past month or so of filming the place had practically no one waiting there 5 out of 6 times.... Ironically, it coincidentally was around the same time a few fans were figuring out where the residence was. Soon there was crowds of 8-10 at the residence on any given day. It quickly became the end of the cast going out as often as they were those first couple weeks there. While the focus shifted to the smaller cast members, the likes of Rob & Kristen were finding it easier to get out & were seen often out on the town by fans. Thats something they had not enjoyed since as far back as New Moon production. They had to endure being "caught out" a handful of times, but for the mostpart, they went out with little fanfare... which brings me to why?

Why with so much freedom suddenly were they so put off when they were found out? It wasnt just some paps they were trying to evade. Even in moderately calm settings where they would have signed or taken a photo with in NM, they were speedwalking/running away from now. They made people more desperate, and because of that. Stupid actions like the elevator incident happen. I dont endorse what my friend did. But in the same breath, I get somewhat why he did it. Rob & Kristen were giving him no choice. A reasonable reaction to us being there would have been a short, head down walk into the hotel, isntead of the Usain Bolt impression Kristen was trying to pull off everytime she came in. If they had casually walked in, like they had dozens of times in the past, there would not have been the panicked desperation of someone to follow them inside, because they would have been satisfied enough with the 2-3 seconds of them walking in, like the dozens of encounters prior. But when you hastily try to run away, all it does is incite panic into the others. So they feel they need to get something out of this, so they follow inside.

Its sort of the same philosophy of what happened at the sushi place weeks earlier. They made a big production about getting the cast out of the restaurant, which included calling in police to escort Rob & Kristen to the garage... a private underground secured garage. They called POLICE in to help them escort them TO A PRIVATE SECURED UNDERGROUND GARAGE??!!!!, because there was 10-12 paps waiting 200 feet away on a sidewalk in the dark. I didnt even get to the pathetic part of this.... THEY WERE IN A SECURE BUILDING!!??? There was no need to drag officers off the street for this. All it did was again, like elevator gate, incite panic in those involved, and when panic is brought in, stupid decisions happen. So what did they do? Panicked & ran in after the cab to the underground. Every stupid action could have been prevented. That includes last weeks cab fiasco (which I still laugh at all the comments of people who have adapted the story to fit their own needs & act like there was a Fast & The Furious type race thru the crowded streets of Vancouver or something). Illogical actions lead to illogical actions.

So, the last few memories I have of the Eclipse cast, are primarily negative. Much of the respect I gained for Kristen in New Moon, was lost in Eclipse. I had respect for Rob, now, I am unsure. The rest of the cast became less pleasant as well, with the likes of Kellan literally ignoring 3 girls as he returned to his hotel & not even making eye contact with them, Nikki leaving her place in hoodie tied up and sunglasses at night & giving a shit excuse like "I cant right now" before I even asked her.... which I would have understood if she was late for something. But she literally brushed off 3 people to go across the street & grab groceries, which of course meant she couldnt when she returned. I think much of her attitude comes from Paris though. Others who saw her occasionally when he wasnt around said she was her old friendly self still. I never had such luck after pre-production.

It also was not helping sell the movie on me when certain minor stars tell me "I am only allowed to sign 1 & I have to put your name on it". Now if your Rob Pattinson, you can get away with that type of demand without raising red flags. But when you are Cameron Bright, well I really dont find that level of ego acceptable. Of course, its not entirely his fault. Most of it, is the people around him implementing such levels of narcissism. I wont name names, but a certain PARENT to him is a bitch...and its not just me and the regulars here who thinks it. I recently recieved an email from a fan who met him at a function overseas and she was with him there too, and she was no less pleasant to PAYING fans at an official function. Cam is gonna grow up thinking his shit doesnt stink because of his family, and one day hes going to learn they were wrong. The most disturbing part of this is, people from his school who were over here tell us he has the ego at school even. Its cast members who sell the movies....and unsell the movies. Even family members can help unsell a movie.

Dont get me wrong. Eclipse still had some class in the cast. Bryce Dallas Howard, Xavier Samuel, Peter Facinelli & Jackson Rathbone were all awesome when they were seen around. Booboo Stewart, Jack Huston, Bronson Pelletier & Chaske Spencer were all great as well in the brief time I saw them.

But just like I said during New Moon, when I said I wouldnt see Twilight till Kristen changed her ways. I wont see Eclipse because of the attitudes shown by them here. I'll still go see New Moon. I have good memories of that experience. But Eclipse, no. Its sad for Xavier & Bryce that I wont get to see the film that they did here, the one that they made such a positive influence on me with. For that, they can thank others, namely Kristen Stewart, Summit Entertainment, Stephenie Meyer, Kellan Lutz, and to a lesser extend Nikki Reed & Elizabeth Reaser.

I absolutely hope they take Breaking Dawn to Portland. It will be a relief to not have it here. Dont be confused if it goes there either. Its NOT because of security/fans/paps because it will be considerably worse there obviously. It is because of the all mighty dollar. Which is fine, it is a business. But those of you who naively think the Twilight series is moving there because it will be calmer need to get your head checked. Anyone with an IQ higher than single digits & even a minor knowledge of Portland can tell you it will be far far far worse there with a region only about 1/2 the size of Vancouver, closer proximity to the stories roots, and closer proximity to Los Angeles, the media and fan attention on the area will be overwhelming for the cast. Just like when I told you all that Vancouver would be better than Italy, NYC & LA for their privacy, trust me when I tell you, Portland will NOT be better in that aspect. Its just not logically possible. But as we all know, Summit doesnt make decisions in the interest of their stars, they make it in the interest of their pocket book. Which like I said, is fine. it is a business after all. Too bad for them, their business model doesnt include a public relations course for the cast, that might help then sell the movie on possible fans on the fence. Its all fine & dandy to do a mall tour where the actors pretend for a couple hours. You should teach them how to pretend outside the mall as well. Thats where you actually do win over people. The ones lining up for 2+ hrs to see a star will likely go to see the movie regardless. The random encounter with someone at a hotel or restaurant on the other hand, those people likely have not made a commitment to see the movie & the stars can unsell the movie far easier than they can sell the movie to those same people.

I started off as not a fan of Twilight, I was won over by the cast of New Moon, and was alienated by the cast of Eclipse. This month, I will go to see the LAST Twilight movie I intend to see from the series.

Twilight Tidbits leftovers- Part 4- Kellan Lutz, Bronson Pelletier, and a bit of Pattinson 10/29/2009

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Afew final pics I had lingering around that never got posted back when they were taken.

Kellan Lutz was caught at a different hotel one day. His excuse "I'm doing laundry" which we thought was BS at the time, till he left with 2 bags full of stuff. Apparently the Wall Centre doesnt have a laundry service, but the Sutton does, because thats where he went to do his laundry. This was cemented more later on when we saw the security guard Robert had for a bit walk out 1 day with laundry & came back without it at one point. Two of the hounds wondered if it was Robs laundry, or his own personal laundry. Guess we'll never know lol.

Bronson Pelletier came out of the residence (which I guess I can now tell you was at the corner of Seymour & Nelson, called "Level") one day & didnt go anywhere. he literally came out, signed a couple autographs, chatted for a few seconds, then went back inside. Random, but it gave us a chance to get a few pics of him.

I know this photo got published a few places already, but it was 1 of the few pics I had run from this shoot. It was Rob, Kristen (can only see her shoes) & Taylor at the Water Street Cafe before the Kings Of Leon show. Just thought I would throw it in there since a few of you wanted some Rob coverage & I had nothing really new to add.

I have a pile of Jackson Rathbone pics I need to still sort thru to see what I might post. But essentially, this is the last of the Twilight Sage Eclipse pics.

I will do a wrap up blog on this whole phenomenon & my partaking in it, both good & bad later this week or maybe early next week when I have some time. Probably start writing it soon, but it will take a few days to polish up.

*SHAMELESS PLUG*- I will probably be posting some Twilight autographs this weekend on ebay, and with any luck, some new stuff not currently in my gallery may make it in there too.

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