     Now that 2011 has expired, it is time to look back at the year that was. I didnt travel too much this year, but that was ok, as elite names were roaming the streets of Vancouver throughout the year... now only if I had ran into some of them. 20 - Ellen Degeneres I managed to get the talk show icon twice on her trip to Vancouver, including the 1st autograph I got in which I had to run 4 blocks to get after being given up to the second info on where she was. Few if any autographs I got this year took more energy out of me than that 1st 1 I got from her. Next day, she signed again and was happy to do it. 19 - Axl Rose For a long time, I had heard nothing but horror stories about the lead singer for Guns N Roses. So I was not eager to go for him. However, this past time thru Vancouver, not only did the band actually play the show they came here to play, but Axl was even a willing signer. Pretty much anyone that went for him here got him. 18 - Simon Pegg While here for Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol, Mr. Pegg was the most often seen of the films stars. Whether it was at the airport, his hotel or the movie theatre, the Hot Fuzz star signed whatever was asked more often than not. 17 - Henry Cavill The new Superman has been very good here so far. Although he is strict about limiting his autograph to 1 per person each time you see him, he has still been terrific in the interactions people have had with him. 16 - Cast of Sanctuary Never had a bad experience with this cast, this year was no different. Whether it was at the Leo Awards, the airport or a charity event, each member of the cast was exceptional.      15 - Cast of The Secret Circle This cast could have made the top 10, if it werent for 1 exceptionally bitter & sour life hating senior cast member of the show. That exception aside...the rest of the cast has been terrific with us. 14- Matt Barr & Aly Michalka I miss Hellcats. Not just because of the campy cheerleader drama storylines. But because 2 of the nicer celebs we have had in Vancouver in a long time left when the show did. While some other cast members were a lot less thrilled to interact with fans during the shows 1 year run, Matt & Aly were as accomodating & friendly as you can expect. Class acts. 13- Cast Of Supernatural Much like Ms. Torv from Fringe, the cast of Supernatural, whether its Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Jim Beaver or the recurring characters of the show have been quite good to us Vancouverites when we run into them. Long as the regulars respect the no asking them on set policy, they are more than receptive to signing and chatting with us away from set when we see them. 12 - Leo Awards This years award ceremony for BC film industry was not as spectacular as past ones I had hounded. Much of that was because of an unexpected change of venue & the loss of 1 or 2 shows since last year. Still, a list of names came out that made the effort worthwhile. 11 - Amy Adams I had heard that Ms. Adams was a very willing signer, but till I saw it for myself, I didnt understand just how good she was. She willingly signed for everyone till there was nothing left out there to sign. She did it too with a smile. Wish all movie stars could have that level of appreciation.      10 - Booboo Stewart, Myanna Buring, Julia Jones, Guri Weinberg This past year, the final installment of the Twilight Saga series, Breaking Dawn 1 & 2 was filmed here. In the years prior, some of the bigger names in the film were at times, pretty decent signers. This year however, there was VERY FEW great interactions with the cast. The names above were the very few I can say were outstanding. Considering how massive the cast was, its sad you can count the great experiences on 1 hand. Not to say ALL the others were terrible, but that they didnt neccesarily stand out as great. 9- Cast Of Fringe The cast of the hit FOX show Fringe is generally friendly (the occasional grumpy Mr. Noble encounter not withstanding) the true star from a fan interaction aspect is usually Anna Torv in past years. Despite seeing the regulars probably 100+ times combined over the shows run here, she still willingly signs for us, even at the absurd time of 5:30 AM. This season, Seth Gabel became a regular and skyrocketed up along side his Fringe co-star for terrific interactions. Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole & others are terrific as well. 8 - John Schneider Although from an excitement standpoint, getting Mr. Schneider wasnt overly high for me (I was a Dukes of Hazzard fan..but not a massive fan), it was how wonderfully personable he was each & every time that won me over. My 1st interaction with him was 1 of the rare "I wasnt expecting that" situations where we were at the airport for persons unrelated, and saw a sign for him there. Knowing he was coming in for an episode eventually, we waited to see if it was him, it was. He happily signed then. Seeing him 2 more times after, he was just as gracious each time after, even at the Smallville wrap party, where some of the bigger stars were nothing short of rude, Mr. Schneider was 1 of the ones that made the fans waiting out there happy. 7 - Cast Of Once Upon A Time Usually when new TV shows roll into town, odds are someone on the cast thinks more of themselves than they actually are. Not so with the cast of the new ABC fantasy drama Once Upon A Time. Each & every cast member I have met has been terrific with interacting with the fans & the pros. It was the overall attitude of this cast that made me hope for it to do well...I'm glad it is succeeding, this cast deserves it. 6- Sharlto Copley The District 9 star is simply, awesome. How awesome is he with fans? After a flight that was the better part of a day, he stopped, chatted with fans at the airport, did photos with, and even cracked a few jokes. So awesome he did an autograph session for a local African import store "African Breese Imports" just because they asked...and at the autograph session, he had no qualms signing stacks for fans, collectors or dealers alike. One guy plopped down 30 or so photos, Sharlto went thru the entire stack, not once groaning about doing it and thanked the guy for coming afterwards.      5- Callum Blue
Being a huge Dead Like Me fan, I still get a bit excited when I meet any of the cast. This past year, I had a 4th (or 5th?) chance to meet Callum Blue. He was in town reprising his Smallville role as Zod. What made this meeting stand out more than others prior though was how it went down. I first learned he was going to be coming back..I then contacted him thru a site I knew he was a member of that I too was a member of. He replied back with when he was coming. I then tried, several times, but without success, to cross paths with him naturally. So I gave him another message & he told me what day he would be off. So I tried that day, called his room & he answered & came right down. In the pouring rain, he stood, signed, and chatted with my friend & I for several minutes. 4- Chloe Moretz At 2010 TIFF I had Ms. Moretz high on my list of people to get...but she cancelled. This year however, Hit Girl was there, and made up for the year long wait. One of the best signers at TIFF. Even with volunteers telling her she had to go, she still kept signing. 3- TIFF - The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival Individually, several of the events from Tiff could make this list, and a couple I did list individually. But for the mostpart, the entire event of the Toronto International Film Festival falls under 1 event for me. So thus, why it is going here. This years fest was certainly my most successful from a star power aspect, and total wise, it was close to my best. Stars like George Clooney, Megan Fox, Madonna, Nicolas Cage & Ryan Gosling made the event quite successful for me. It was the newer names I wasnt as faimiliar with before going that made some of the more cool moments though, like Chris Pratt, Ezra Miller, Dominic Monaghan and Sarah Bolger who all made me fans of them with the way they handled their attention. 2 - Tom Cruise While I did get a disappointingly low total of 2 autographs from someone I was told "signs everything", a lot of that wasnt any fault of his or really mine either. It was just dumb luck. Still, I managed to get 2 from him, which was still 2 more than most hounds in Vancouver got from him. The 1 and only night outside the trade & convention center unfortunately turned out to be the 1 and only chance Vancouverites got to get the Mission Impossible star. He made the waiting worth it though, as Mr. Cruise strolled over to a crowd of 20-30 people (which swelled to 75-100 when extras & crew came over too) around midnight & did a 20-30 minute meet & greet with fans, taking photos & signing autographs. Each interaction he made feel special, he asked fans to make sure their photos turned out and even acknowledged autograph requests with a level of respect, and not just a "ugh, fine" mentality to it. 1- Madonna No disrespect to Mr. Cruise, but at the end of the day, a rare, hard to obtain signature is a bigger deal on average than a classy, easier to obtain star. Anytime you get someone of Madonna's level of fame, its probably going to make your best list. The Material Girl has been known for quite awhile as, at best, an unwilling signer. However, when you are promoting a movie you directed & has been panned by many critics, you are on your best behaviour. That is what fans in Toronto got when the pop icon was there to promote W.E. this past Summer for TIFF. Madonna signed probably 75-100 autographs on the red carpet, and signed at dinner a bit later after her event as well. Some honorable mentions should go out to the likes of Patrick Gilmore, Rose McGowan, Daniel & Henrik Sedin, Ben Cotton & Lyndsy Fonseca. So, that concludes 2011. Some amazing successes for me. Granted, there was some downright failures as well. I somehow never got Matt Damon despite him being here for 2-3 months. All my Saoirse Ronan autographs were ruined by an ugly fading silver sharpie. I missed Robert DeNiro AGAIN by mere inches, and same with Brad Pitt this time. Who will grace the list at the end of 2012? Going into 2011, there wasnt a lot of "sure things" I could see making the list. To be honest, most of the list is a complete surprise, simply because I didnt know going into 2011 these people would cross my paths.
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Going thru my backlogged photos I found a few more Hellcats pics that never made it to my blogs. They consist of Matt Barr & Robbie Jones at the WB Press Junket earlier this year. Some pics from outside of the cast arriving during the episode where Dans film project is shown, as well as a few of Aly & AJ Michalka on set the day they shot the scenes where Marti chases her 1/2 sister on the show out of the guitar shop she was working at.                    So last weekend there was a wrap party for season 1 of the new CW cheerleader drama Hellcats at V Restaraunt in Yaletown. With only a few days left in their shooting schedule, this was the weekend they chose to have it on, as surely next weekend some or all of the cast may have dispersed. Usually wrap parties see a handful of cast show up, but theres always some missing. The Hellcats cast was surprisingly full, with really only 2 notable secondary cast, Gail O'Grady (Wanda Perkins) & Gale Harold (Prof. Julian Parish). Everyone else I could think of made it. The first cast members I saw show up were Sharon Leal (Vanessa) & Craig Anderson (Morgan Pepper). Shortly after Ben Cotton (Travis Guthrie) arrived & was willing to chat for a few minutes about the show, his character & his new pilot "Battlestar Galactica Blood & Chrome". Then came the primary cast. First up was Aly Michalka (Marty Perkins) followed shortly after by Ashley Tisdale (Savannah Monroe), Robbie Jones (Lewis Flynn), as well as Heather Hemmens & Matt Barr (Alice Verdura & Dan Patch) who came together. They all showed up within a couple minutes of each other, so there wasnt a lot of chance to interact with all of them. Jeremy Wong (Dawrin) & Alana Randall (Frankie) apparently arrived at some point as well, but I didnt notice them going in. A couple hours would pass before anything would else would happen. It wasnt till a random Bronson Pelletier (Twilight Saga films) sighting walking by the restaraunt that things seemed to pick up a little. Shortly after seeing him out & about, Hellcats producer, and star of Smallville Tom Welling arrived with an entourage of 3 or 4 people which included co-star Justin Hartley. Some time would go by again before we saw another random sighting. Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger came to hang out with a few friends at the restaraunt downstairs from the party, Earls Restaraunt, which added to a very random night. First to leave was Ashley Tisdale, who was in a little more happy state coming out than she was going in. She signed for me, but refused to sign for my friend claiming her feet were hurting because of her shoes. I guess they didnt hurt 3 seconds before that??? More cast would slowly make their way out. Ben Cotton & Sharon Leal were next to depart (I cant remember in which order now). Then came the majority of the cast a little later, including Matt Barr & Heather Hemmens coming out together as they went in together. In between that group and the final group, Chad Kroeger came back out & joked with us as 2 of us were taking his photo asking how thats possible when theres only 1 magazine in town & then saying he hasnt seen so many cameras here since his court case for DUI a few years ago. Then, him & his friends got into a limo (wise choice for a man with a DUI on his record, good to see him planning ahead) and rode off home. It would be another 45 mins or so before the final batch would come down. Aly Michalka came out with her sister who we never saw arrive, her mom, Tom Welling, Justin Hartley & another female friend. Justin came out first to secure a taxi, and the cab driver was giving him attitude telling him he would only wait "a couple minutes to get out there". Justin went back & told the rest there was a cab there (called the cab driver a "dick" to his group..and rightfully so) only to have it taken from them after the girls insisted the taxi driver take a man who was bleeding profusely from the head to the hospital, after what can only be assumed was from some type of altercation just up the street. The cab driver was refusing to take the man, but the girls quite insisted & with 8-10 people telling him to, he begrudgingly took the man in more serious need of a ride than the rich celebs who then opted to walk home. Up the street they passed a couple men who had clearly had more than too much to drink who were threatening to throw down right in the middle of the fairly abandoned street. Tom seemed unfased by it & more fascinated to see if they were going to infact fight or not. Justin seemed to be encouraging the girls to just keep moving, as was I. Aly looked quite upset to be seeing it. At that point, I let them go on their way...or so I thought. Little did I know they would get to the next block & stop there for a few minutes, and I would again cross paths with them 1 more time before our nights finally quit crossing paths. Unfortunately, my cameras batteries were on deaths door, so I was being extra picky about taking shots & was really only shooting when I was sure I had a chance for a shot...to top it off, the flash refused to work 3 or 4 times, thus why I have no good Ashley pics, and the Tom pics are quite fuzzy & blurry.. since I had to resort to shooting him without my flash. Pics below of Ben Cotton, Matt Barr, ly Michalka, Heather Hemmens and the Loch Ness Monster, or is it Tom Welling?         A few of you asked if I had anymore Hellcats vid of last nights kissing scene between Gale Harold (Julian) and Aly Michalka (Marti). Yes I do... but like I told those that asked...this one wasnt as good as the last one because I moved around a bit & my camera lost its focus for a second or two. But here it is anyways, and an answer to a few other questions I was asked...or read on other sites about it. 1- Why did the scene take 2 hours? Filming is always this way. A simple 20 second scene often takes an hr or two to shoot, as they change angles to shoot it from, almost always it takes more than 1 take, the director may ask them to do it slightly different way each time etc. Plus they filed more than just the part shown in my video, it was the only part I had any angle to shoot. There was 2 other parts to the scene where they continue making out from the door to a wall 15-20 feet away that includes them disrobing each other (partially). 2- What was Gale saying in the scene? No idea. I was about 100 ft away & it was just off a moderately busy st with lots of background noise to drown out any chance of hearing stuff. 3- Why does Marti look different in the two videos from the other post? No idea what you are seeing that makes you think that. It was all from the same take, I just stopped recording for a few seconds because the take prior seemed a lot longer & I didnt want to record 30 seconds of inactivity. 4- when will this air? Rough guess 4-8 weeks. Probably more in the 6-8 weeks timespan. 5- Are they filming the season finale? I do not think so. There is still 1 month of filming left and an epi usually takes about 2 weeks to do... so by my estimates this puts it at the 3rd to last episode. Now, all that aside....... Another little issue. The last videos I posted managed to find their way to youtube, photobucket & 2 websites without my permission. The content is on here FOR FREE... so there should be no reason to be stealing it & posting it on your page. Simple link to my article is fine, but downloading the video & re-posting it on your site...even if you "credit" me is not acceptable. I dont post this so you can re-post it & circumvent people coming to this site. TBH I dont know how you are doing it, I was under the impression it was blocked from downloading. If you post the article, thats fine, but any reference to the videos should be a link to the site. I have already had to put in violation complaints to youtube & photobucket & will be doing the same to 2 websites tomorrow if my simple request to remove them voluntarily isnt met. Tonight I saw a few scenes for the locally shot CW series Hellcats done. *****SPOILERS POSTED BELOW IN THE VIDEOS...DONT PROCEED IF YOU WANT TO AVOID ANY SPOILERS***** , , , , , Ok, still here? Ok, you have been warned.... soooo here we go. Earlier scenes were somewhat generic, involving the shows star Aly Michalka & guest stars AJ Michalka (her sister) & Jim Byrnes (from Highlander) at a guitar store that involved Aly chasing out the store after AJ. But the real big scene was later a block away when Aly's character (Marti) & Gale Harold's character (her professor Julian Parish) shared a little more than the average teacher student relationship does. For more than 2 hours, I saw Aly & Gale do 3 different angles of 1 scene, them kissing. The first angle was however the only 1 that had any potential for shooting. Later angles were done from the other side of the door, thus we couldnt stand where were standing when they were shooting from behind Aly, and the final scene, although I had an angle to shoot it, I would have seemed like a complete ass trying to, since the film crew was mere feet away from me shooting the scene from the exact same spot. Video attached is split into 2 parts (there was a bit too long of a pause in between parts for my liking). I was working on a Hellcats blog unrelated to this one as it was, but bumped it for this blog. Pics from todays daytime shoot will be added to that blog later this month. 20- Getting Jerry Seinfeld two nights in a row TV icon & comedian Jerry Seinfeld came to Vancouver for a couple shows this past summer on his current tour. I have gotten Mr. Seinfeld before, and really, if it were not for hearing a few horror stories from around the continent, I likely wouldnt be including him in my top 20 for this past year. Jerry had 2 shows here & it was night & day for how he acted after each show. Going in he told us "get me after the show". So we came back after the show & Mr. Seinfeld signed a moderate handful, but got far from everyone. Many went away empty handed as the funnyman signed for a handful before leaving. I managed 1 that night but was hoping for more. So I went back the 2nd night. The encore night was much better, as Mr. Seinfeld stood outside for about 5 minutes signing, and everyone ran out of items. Another 3 for me the second evening took away the disappointment of the day prior. It was after me reporting on getting him that I was made aware that several people had been shut out by him in other cities recently. He has apparently been elusive at venues where the option to get in unconfronted is an option. I heard from others at the city right after here, this was the case there as well.... which made me all the more thankful that he played a venue with only outside entrances. With 2011 just around the corner, a new batch of bests should arise by the end of the year. With the likes of Mission Impossible 4, Twilight Breaking Dawn, Underworld 4 & Superman already slated for here, and the rumour that part of Die Hard 5 might come here, big names will certainly be in stock in Vancity in 2011. But, just like this past year many stars were here, its rarely the case of the big names that garner the best attention. The few times they do, they are worth noting though. 19- Benji & Joel Madden of Good Charlotte at the airport. This past summer, the brother from Good Charlotte came to Vancouver for some hanging out time. For a long time they were considered terrible signers, and we had not heard anything recent about them, so we prepared for the worst. My friend who got the tip of them coming in was hesitant to get too many things (which for him is rare), but I hastily raced to various used CD stores to get stuff for them. Total, there was 5-6 hounds there all with CDs at the ready. All with blue sharpies, and proof cams at the ready. The old GC I had heard about would have snapped at such a scenario. I have heard on multiple occasions in multiple cities, the band arguing & even being physically aggressive towards hounds. So we were prepared for the worst. Instead, we got a friendly, meek & personable Benji & Joel. They not only signed, they did multiples without complaint. A situation NONE of us expected, but were all happy to partake in. 18 - Getting 3X Olympic Gold Medal winner Hayley Wickenheiser at her tournament Sure, I know, I got like a dozen Hayley's at the Olympics. So whats the deal with getting her 1 more time thats so special? Well, first, theres the fact that it was after Olympic photos were out, thus giving us a good chance to get autographs from her on items from the 2010 games. The games that will, because of where they were, always be the most special to me. Second, it is 1 of my favorite athletes of all time, so I am always finding new things I want to get done. But what topped that was how cool she was about it & how she essentially held up her speaking engagement to sign for the group of us. She had an autograph session in a hotel that was housing her & some of the teams playing in her tournament. It was open to the public, so a handful of us went. Hayley the day prior had told 2 of the hounds to "bring everything tomorrow" & they did. I only came with 5 items and soon felt grossly underprepared as I watched my friends roll about 20 & 50 items each on her. Hayley did it all, said she didnt care what they were doing with it & even suggested she hoped they got good $ for it, and chatted at length with us in between piles. She took photos with my friends & their kids with her Gold medal. At the end, my friends both gave her collections, 1 in CD form, and 1 in actual print form of many of her greatest moments. She had apparently told them the day before that she had not seen much or any of the items they had... so they both did different things to show their appreciation to her. As you can imagine, she was thoroughly impressed & thankful. I dont know how many sports you can find where the undisputed best player of all time in that sport would sit down & sign 50 items for someone, without complaining and expecting nothing back. 17- Vancouver actors going to & coming back from Comic-Con Every year a variety of Vancouver based shows send a few of their cast to San Diego for the annual Comic-Con event. This gives Vancouver autographers a good chance to clean up on some of the more elusive of casts. Shows like Smallville, Stargate Universe & Sanctuary, who primarily shoot in studios are easier to find when there is only 1 flight in & out of town (granted some did take connecting flights thru other places.) A literal plethora of action happened going in & coming out. From Smallville, we got the likes of Erica Durance, Cassidy Freeman, Justin Hartley, and Tower Prep/Smallville cutie Elise Gatien. From Fringe we got Anna Torv, Blair Brown, Lance Reddick & Jasika Nicole (also saw Josh Jackson & John Noble, but neither were too receptive on departures). Supernatural stars Jensen Ackles & Jared Padalecki were terrific on departures, as was Sanctuary star Amanda Tapping returning. We also saw a few others from shows I was not prepared for like Eureka & Psych. There was plenty to get, and often, you would miss 1 person getting another as they would come & go in groups. But in the end, it was still worth the effort, as there are no less than 5 people from that weekend that I got that I have not been able to get since. 16- Getting Lady Gaga after a show Lady Gaga did 2 shows in Vancouver this past summer. The first night, she signed for everyone outside after the show. I am not going to sit here & tell you I was "really excited" or "thrilled" to get her, or even that she was coming. Personally, I think shes grossly overhyped. That being said, I really had to respect the P.R. job she did after her first show here. She signed, signed some more & didnt care what the item was or who was handing it to her. With the venues security actually trying to prevent me from getting an autograph, she reached for my item with a seeming purpose as to say "I dont care. Just hand it to me". She signed without hesitation for several minutes, and didnt shy away from the flashes of cameras. Although she was less willing to sign the 2nd day, the 2 time Grammy Award winning artist was still a willing signer the day after her show & the night of the 1st show. For someone of her status, at the peak of her career, to sign 2 out of 3 days is pretty decent. With 2 autographs on the trip, I consider her trip to Vancouver a success. 15- Getting Tom Welling... TWICE In the 10th season of Smallville I have gotten Tom Welling to sign TWICE. In the 9 seasons prior- ZERO. Long regarded as the worst signer in Vancouver, Welling this season has quite literally gone into a signing frenzy.... if you count about 8-10 autographs this season a frenzy. Prior to this season I only knew 2 people who had got the current Clark Kent in this town. Suddenly, this year I know of 4 people who have gotten him now... funny enough, each of us have got him on multiple occasions. My first epic shocking moment came back in late July, only a week earlier Mr. Welling had outright denied me... as he had many times prior over the years. So I was not expecting a change in results...but this time, there was a good luck charm in tow I didnt know about. See, Tom was coming back from a trip to L.A. with Matt Barr, a cast member from the TV show Hellcats that Tom produces. Matt as I will tell you later, is quite chummy with us. So when I saw him with Tom, I was hopeful that maybe Matt's persona would rub off on Tom. I broke the ice with "will you sign TONIGHT Tom" *emphasising the tonight to remind him that just a week earlier he turned me down standing in practically the same spot* with a somewhat unimpressed roll of the eyes, he reached over, grabbed the pen & signed. I was in shock for a minute or two. I walked over and snapped a quick photo of Matt & Tom going their seperate ways, then joked with Matt as he left that he was my good luck charm. I got him on a magazine that i had, no joke, carried with me on & off for TEN YEARS. Proof Matt is my good luck charm would come a bit later in the summer/fall when at an event for the Smallville's 200th episode party, Matt was in attendance and wouldnt you know it, Tom signed for everyone that waited it out that night...all 4 of us. It was without a doubt, the largest "autograph session" Tom has done for any experienced autograph hounds in Vancouver ever. 14- Jensen Ackles, almost any given weekend. When the biggest star of a hit TV show comes thru an airport, they expect some level of notoriety. Some handle it poorly, some handle it well. Jensen Ackles, for the mostpart, handles it quite well. The man who plays the sharp tongued Dean Winchester on Supernatural has been quite good about the growing attention this past couple years. For the first 4-5 yrs here, him & his castmates came thru Vancouver with little to no attention on them most days. now, any given weekend, odds are, there will be at least 1 person out there waiting for them. To top it off, the recently crowned "Best Lead actor in a drama" on the highly popular SpoilerTV polls is not just willing with signatures & photos with, but he is quite willing to give an opinion on most anything if asked. In fact, I have on multiple occasions have opted not to post things hes said, because I didnt know if its something that might come back to bite him in the ass later if the wrong people in the wrong position were to read it. It was the attitudes of Ackles & his co-star Jared Padalecki that have made me a fan of the show. I started watching it because of them, and found it to be one of the best shows on....but I never would have given it a chance, if it werent for their off screen actions. 13- Steven Segal signing day after day A lot of actors who are iconic names tend to be grumpy as their star fades. Steven Segal is not one of those people. The action icon has been in Vancouver for awhile doing a show/series of movies. In the early days of shooting, he was staying at a local hotel, and would be seen at least once or twice a day on average. Every time, he would willingly sign for whoever asked. Even those who he knew he had already signed for. Since moving to a permanant residence, he has not been seen around much, but for his efforts in the early days of shooting here, Segal earns a spot on the list. 12- The cast of Hellcats around town. Sure, Ashley Tisdale is a bit unfriendly at times, but she does show flashes of niceness. Her aside, the cast of the new CW show Hellcats is pretty great. Aly Michalka (along with her now guest starring sister AJ) is the real star of the show, and her off screen personality is absolutely spectacular. With the exception of 1 evening recently, she always seems up to the task of signing, chatting or taking photos with whoever is asking, regardless how many times she knows shes seen them. Matt Barr has been elusive in the past few months, but when he is seen around, he is a willing signer & chatter. Barr is one of the few stars who if he sees a hound or pap will make the effort to give a head nod or a hello before you see him. He also holds the distinction of being at the same place on BOTH occasions where I got Tom Welling this past year.... so hes also a good luck charm it would seem. Heather Hemmens is quite pleasant. Says alot about her acting that she can pull of the ruthless Alice character after you meet her. Sweet & friendly, Hemmens has been known to be so nice that she was still signing for me, while a driver (not even HER personal driver, but a hired one by Ms. Tisdale) was grabbing at her arm trying to make her go. Robbie Jones seems to always be all smiles. Recently upon returning from California, he was spotted by a larger than usual group & willingly signed for everyone & joked about how cold it was here & that he wasnt used to the weather. As a unit, this cast has been great. The few minor souring experiences with Ashley are more than made up for by Michalka, Barr, Hemmens & Jones. 11- Getting Misha Collins on the set of Supernatural There is an unwritten, enforced rule on the set of Supernatural. Dont ask people for autographs there. While this rule is predominantly enforced on the regulars for the shows two top stars Jared Padalecki & Jensen Ackles, its implied on everyone with the rest of the cast as well. So I was more than excited when I had the lucky break of being able to get Misha Collins, who plays the angel Castiel on the show, on set, in wardrobe. It was my first time meeting Collins with items to get signed. I had met the man 1 time prior, the season before, but was not yet aware of who he was, since I hadnt got to that point in the show yet. Another hound broke the ice, by encroaching into the area where Misha was, and with approval from Mr. Collins, we were allowed to wait for him as he came out of a tent to sign for us. After he signed, he chatted for a bit, and took a photo with me, in his Castiel wardrobe, then went back to the set. A couple of unamused glares from the security on the set mostly rolled off me as I was sincerely excited to get the 1 main cast member from the show that had eluded me to that point. Since then I have gotten him a couple more times, but that first meeting with him was the most memorable for the situation & how he dealt with it.       Hellcats is coming to a TV soon near you. ...assuming you have The CW network on your television. The same network that carries other Vancouver based hits like Supernatural and Smallville will again be looking to strike gold up here with a new show about cheerleaders. With the backing of Superman Tom Welling's pocketbook & name attached to the project, Hellcats will surely come out of the gates strong as fans of Welling's will surely give it a shot. Will the show be able to carry itself on quality once fans get a peek? That remains to be seen. But it is a safe bet that it should be able to squeeze out at least 2 seasons on the premise & names alone. i have had a chance to see a few of the cast around town...some of it really good, some of it, Ashley Tisdale. So far any interactions I have had, witnessed or heard of wth Tisdale has been to say the least, poor. No one is saying nice things about her yet, and as shown in the pic. The one time she was spotted by a fan, SHE RAN to her hotel. Running from 1 of us. A professional autograph hound. Well its immature. But running from a fan with a DVD who is a kid, is unacceptable. This is the attitude of one of the shows "stars" as she thinks of herself as...even if no one else does. With music & television veteran Alyson Michalka (known to some as 1/2 of pop duo, Aly & AJ, and to others an actress on Disney teen comedy Phil Of The Future) attached to the project as 1 of the cheerleaders, there is at least 1 cute girl on the set who is nice to the fans. She has done as much as can be expected to quell over any sourness fans might have after meeting the bitter & snarly Tisdale. Of course the real star of the show with the fans is Matt Barr. Best know for roles on One Tree Hill & Harper's Island, Barr has quickly established himself as one of the nicest celebs in town. Always willing to stop for autographs, a photo with or just to chat, Barr has been the shows best asset in trying to win the fans that its snobby diva Tisdale has tried so hard to alienate. Below is a few pics from some of the encounters with the 3 cast members of the show. Hellcats debuts September 8th on The CW.          |
About meI occasionally argue with inanimate objects, but I usually win. So its all good. Archives
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