Twilight Eclipse Premiere Part 1 - from chaos to tents...

I was going to type out an entire story here...but then I realized something. You don't REALLY want to hear my story...you just want to see the pictures! Let's just point out a few key words...

1. Security - I hope that LA Live and/or Summit really paid attention to how security handled the stampede that happened on 6/21. I get it, we weren't officially supposed to be in line...but telling fans "...for all I know it'll be a mad dash" isn't exactly setting the right example. 'Nuff said.

2. Rules are rules...or are they? - interesting things happened...not really gonna comment on it but those of you who know, know. Anyway, the rule I'm talking about is the "once banded, he/she may choose to leave and come back on the day of the event, 6/24 during designated time". Yes, this was Summit's original rule. Without it, I wouldn't have even tried. There's just no way that #1 my husband and #2 work would allow me to camp out for 4 days straight. at 5:30am someone changed the rules. Thankfully, my Twi-sistas (suck it!) allowed me to come and go and in turn, I helped feed them and hung out as often as I could, including 1 sleepless night on Chick Hearn Avenue in front of Staples Center.

3. Twi-cast rocks my socks - I read all about the Twi-cast who came to Tent City on 6/23 and immediately they made me all warm and fuzzy. These guys don't really NEED to do this...they WANT to do this; and thankfully I was able to meet Charlie Bewley (oh my wow...'nuff said) and see Kiowa Gordon wake up a few gals at 1:30am.

4. Signs are evil - when we arrived into our little cattle cage, we were plagued by signs and the Wall of Rob, the 8th Wonder of the World. Thankfully these gals were lovely and no longer held those signs up when the carpet started to fill up.

5. Rob is hot - 'nuff said.



6. Sometimes people surprise you - after the carpet emptied out we noticed people running and had no idea what was going on. We then found out that the first 500 people to receive tickets were GOING TO SEE ECLIPSE with the cast!! Immediately we sprawled out to see if we could get tickets...only to see that our fate was in the hands of the one security guard to truly despised our little group. Earlier that morning I calmly and nicely asked him a question and he seemed ok with me...but others, they had issues. So I believed there was NO WAY we'd get in...that is until he saw me...walked right over to me met by my "please?" and he asked me how many in our group. He handed me 5 tickets and WE WERE IN! That's right...we saw Eclipse 1 week before it's due out in theaters...WITH THE CAST!! I breathed diluted Rob Pattinson air for 2 hours while watching the best film of the saga (so far)!



7. Rob is hot - oh, nothing more...just wanted to say it ;)

Water For Elephants - Set Visit #1

First, allow me to say something upfront: nowhere in this blog will I give out specifics or detailed maps to find the sets. We did it the old fashioned way...google. LOL! If you're crafty and know how to type, you too can find sets :)

Ok, now to the matter at hand...

::giggle:: notice my qualification for Set Visit #1? Yes...I plan to go back...after all, that's what preliminary fact finding missions are about right? I prefer that our Sunday, May 23rd activities are known as a "preliminary fact finding mission" instead of "set stalking" as the latter does sound a bit creepy (don't mind me, I'm all about making myself feel better with semantics...potato/potahto and all that).

I'm about to state the obvious...ready? I am a fan of Robert Pattinson...and of course, I follow a lot of other fans of Robert Pattinson who shared all the lovely pictures from the sets of New Moon, Eclipse, Remember Me and Bel Ami and when the opportunity presented itself for lil' ol me to visit a set, I had to jump at the chance! It turns out that the set for Rob's latest project, Water For Elephants, is about 30 miles from my house. I was now presented the chance to see Rob on set ::bahahahah:: yeah right...as you'll see, this set is VERY different from Remember Me and Bel Ami.

::let the journey begin::

We drove to City 1 and were on the lookout for the Benzini Circus train. You'd think it would be easy to find...cuz come on, it's a train! Well, not-so-much. My friend found it...not me, cuz I was looking the complete wrong way. LOL! We turned around and that's when we noticed the security guy so we knew we had limited time to take pictures, in fact, so limited that I wasn't able to get any close up shots (my friends did and I hope to share those with you later). We talked to the Security guy for a while (nice guy...I think they're only grumpy when provoked) and he divulged a little too much information (to our advantage of course). He did say that the production company doesn't want anyone taking pictures of the train but it's sorta hard to make people stop especially because there was an article in the local papers that the train was there, what movie it was for, and who was in the movie (I mean, COME ON! X marks the spot).

Other great things he said...

- Reese Witherspoon, the guy who took Best Supporting Actor in the Basterds movie and that Twilight guy, Robert Paddington were in the movie.

- Rob Paddington was the one who gave away the set locations using Twitter. Cuz the day before, he had 15-20 tweeter people there because Brother Rob twittered it.

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The Benzini Circus Steamer Train is on the right. They trucked the engine in from Reno and the production company hired a crew to service it to make it run...it is a working train that is parked in City 1 and then moves around when needed on set.

::on the road again::

Thanks to the tips from the security guard and another train operator at City 1, we went to City 2 and the site of Set 1. Getting confusing? HAHA, sorry...would be a lot easier with city names. Anywho...we spotted the tent from the main road but from that distance we couldn't tell if it was a tent or mounds of really nice, white sand. You may be saying to yourselves, couldn't tell the difference between a tent and mounds of sand??! In our defense, it is an odd looking tent. We navigated the back roads and found a nice vantage point that was REALLY far away (yes, this is the difference between Remember Me and Bel Ami sets...the WFE sets are FAR from public access, which is why we've only seen digitally zoomed in papper pics and aerial shots).

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The large tent on the right is bizarre...not a typical, modern circus tent. You'll notice that there is a gap between the bottom of the tent and the ground...so maybe it's a place for animals? The white tent on the left is more modern...so I believe this to be a hospitality tent. There was a security guard sitting in a car underneath an awning.

The tent didn't look like a circus tent to us so we weren't even really sure if we were at the right place (we didn't see any production signs) so we drove around a little more and that's when we ran into a better view of a flattened out tent and production signs! Yes folks, that there is the circus tent...

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Funny fact...while we were taking pictures of Set 1 we noticed a small airplane circling overhead. We figured they were pappers...or come to think of it, maybe security. I'm going to stick with pappers since no one ever came over to shue us away.

::on the road again::

We headed to City 3 because of things that I researched and info from the folks in City 1. I had read that the production crew may use parts of City 3 as Ithaca, NY back in the 1930s (so possibly Set 2). I honestly don't know how this is going to happen since there aren't many older looking buildings on the main street of City 3 but who knows? In City 3 we were looking for a road where we were told they were building a set but unfortunately we had the right street in the wrong part of town. We headed back towards City 1 and found the right street and once again...lucked out, Set 3. Not easy to find since there are no visible production signs.

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What is up with this tent?! If you look closely you'll notice that this tent is considerably more WORN than the tent at Set 1. That tent was PRISTINE whereas this tent...looks like it had been subjected to a meteor storm.

This may look a little more familiar than Set 1. I am still not sure if Set 1 is actually a decoy for this set since it is way more visible and there isn't a shred of production evidence. The tents appear similar but because of earlier, leaked pictures...I was looking for the red brick building near the tent. Because I didn't see it at Set 1, I thought this wasn't the right place. Well, Set 3 had everything I was looking for.

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Nothing stands out more than a bunch of white trucks, tents and trailers in an area full of plants and trees!

All the production trucks and Star Wagons were at this site. Wanna get closer? not possible unless you carry WFE set credentials. I had my camera FULLY zoomed (a good point&shoot Canon SX1 IS) to get these shots. Even if Rob were on set, it would be impossible for me to get anything better than I got here.

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Trailer village...wonder which one is Rob's? Probably one in the middle...completely blocked by the other ones.

::on the road again::

We decided to continue on our little quest to City 4. There was nothing really going on here that had to do with the movie other than one of its stars was recently papped there. And since we'd never been...we decided to go. We did see 1 pap stalking someone but didn't actually stop to see who it was. I believe he was stalking a group of diners in a pizza joint who situated themselves right against a curtain so people couldn't see. We were done with that part of the adventure and decided to head home.

::on the road again::

We drove back through City 3 because #1, it was on our way home and #2 we were told that the train may move to the city for filming either that night or the next day. No sign of the train in City 3.

::on the road again::

We stopped at Set 3 to see if the train was there...and guess what?

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The circus train was in town :) so the train operator was right...they did move the train but to Set 3, not City 3. Again, there was no security by the fence (only 1 car with other set recon girls in it...LOL!). So since there was no security there...I took a few pictures of the train.

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Here's a better look at the Steam Engine...the train was actually really cool to see close up. The production crew did a great job of painting those box cars. Also, the location scouts did an amazing job finding these sets!

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Another view of the tent, the red brick building (which you can tell is a facade because of the scaffolding behind it) and the train.

Well, that's it folks. I wish I could say that I saw/met/accidentally but really on purpose ran into Rob while on my adventure but alas...he was somewhere in LA hitting the gym and attending birthday parties for random celebs. Maybe another day when I venture out into WFE land again...he'll be there and I'll stand a chance :)

The Twilight Convention - Day 3, 3/14/10

Please read: I don't mind if you use my pictures...just please don't forget to site my blog as your source :D

Alas...the time has come. Time to bid farewell to the pictures of the Twilight Convention - Los Angeles. Day 3 was the finale...which featured 2 hunky Cullen men. Although I had an amazing Day 2, I was super excited about seeing/meeting Kellan Lutz and Peter Facinelli!

Things ran a bit out of order that day...our photo ops with the Cullens was at 11:30, before the Q&A session. This was good for 2 reasons - 1) my hair looks cuter in the morning, those of you with curly hair will totally understand and 2) we were all bright eyed and bushy tailed rather than tired looking after sitting through a few hours of sessions.

We were toward the front of the line...waiting patiently to see these 2 in person. I gotta admit, I was really sorta nervous - these 2 are just all kinds of hot ;) We got into the room and saw the people in front of taking their pictures...but here's one thing we noticed; Kellan and Peter were talking to each other...not really with the fans. We were a little disappointed to see that, especially since they just got started taking pictures. By the time I got up there, they were talking to each other about the paparazzi.

Me: "Hi guys!"

Peter (to Kellan): "how's the paparazzi been treating you?"

Kellan (to Peter): "it's been alright, not too crazy but they're everywhere! Did they catch you on your bike?"

Exit Romy...enter Megan...

Peter (to Kellan): "yeah, they've caught me on my bike"

Sure, they didn't really talk to us...but heck, I still got to stand between them and take a picture with them...so who can complain?! Once again, I totally didn't see the guy taking our picture. I was sure that this shot was going to be absolute hell. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad :)

Oh...fair warning. You'd think that since there were only 2 major guests on Day 3 that there would be far less pictures. You couldn't be more wrong...I was an absolute shutterbug on Day 3! You can thank me later ;)

Once again, the Hillywood crew were there to introduce the guests and moderate the Q&A session. I was really going to miss these guys...LOVE LOVE LOVE "Jasper" and "Alice"... :)

It was finally time for Kellan Lutz to hit the stage. This man's smile is enough to melt anyone to their knees. I've heard a lot of grumblings about his hair...a lot of people aren't fans of the new 'do...but honestly? It's not that bad...

This is right about the time Kellan looked down and asked, "can you guys see my nipples?" and there was a roar of laughter...he said he just realized what shirt he was wearing and was afraid that we would be able to see his nipples through the shirt. I thought, if it's not mesh...we won't see them.

Well, ok, I get now why he asked. Apparently there are types of materials that pretty much become transparent when a lot of light is flashed at once. Of course, there were LOTS of flashbulbs going on throughout his time  on stage, so yep...his shirt was slightly transparent.

Since I was there during the entire conversation of the paparazzi, I decided to submit questions to both Peter and Kellan, "how is life with the paparazzi?". Well, it was asked, via Drew (aka. Jasper) to Kellan. He said that they're not too bad...he doesn't mind the ones who take a few pictures and are on their way...he doesn't like the sneaky ones. He said that there was one guy in a mini-cooper and he was sorta like the cars in "The Italian Job"...those suckers can get anywhere!

Lots of questions about the love of his life...Kola. But someone asked him about the new "old man" in his life, Kevin. He and his roommates adopted a 1 year old chihuahua that they found on the street. When I saw him at Jimmy Kimmel, he had just taken Kevin to the vet and found out he had Parvo. Luckily for Kevin, he was strong enough to take the treatments. Then they took him to get fixed...or as Kellan put it (and sorry about the language, just quoting here) "cut his balls off" they took the cone off too early and he started chewing on the sack. They had to put the cone back on and Kevin is really clumsy with it...he said that he'll jump on Kellan's lap and lick his face and the cone would literally bonk him in the head...and that when Kevin goes for a walk, he'll put his head down to sniff the ground and ram anything and everything so you can hear him coming down the street.

Another interesting story that Kellan had to share was regarding Kola's adventures. Kola has a knack for getting out of the yard and escaping to other people's houses. He said that the neighbors all know him and Kola by now because he'll get calls from his roommates/brother telling him that Kola is gone and a neighbor found him. The really odd part is...Kellan actually went to pick her up at a few houses! Could you imagine?! Well, one lady had Kola but served up a nice dinner by candlelight...and can you believe he actually stayed??! YIKES! One other time, Kola got out and Kellan asked his brother/roommate to get her since he was filming Eclipse and the roommate/brother called after getting her that the lady literally answered the door in full-on lingerie...OMG!! DOUBLE YIKES!!

One last tidbit...someone asked Kellan what type of music he listens to while he works out. He said that other people will say rap, rock, hip/hop or other high energy music...but his choice is Christian music. I turned to Jessica and asked her, did he say Christmas music? I wasn't expecting that answer...Christian music didn't seem like workout music to me...but he said it's calming and refreshing...as is church. Way to go Kellan!

All of a sudden a high-pitched voice filled the room..."Ummm, this question is for Kellan"...and then out popped Peter Facinelli in a white riding coat.

Peter was a bit disappointed that he couldn't see us because the spotlight blinded him...so he asked that the light be shined on us and that he be in the dark. Unfortunately, the lighting guy listened to him and 1/2 my pictures didn't turn out well. That is, until they re-adjusted the lights :)

To be fully honest...unfortunately I don't remember too much of Peter's interview :( nothing really stood out...he's just an actor who calls himself incredibly lucky to have his life, his wife and his family.

Someone asked how his daughters are taking the fame, if he's the best thing for show and tell. He said that his 12 year old thinks it's cool that he's part of the Twilight saga but really won't bring it up. He said they got some really cool, leather Twilight jackets and he asked her if she'd wear it...she said no. LOL!

Jenny Garth and his family did make a VERY brief appearance...so brief that if you blinked, you missed it. He mentioned that they should be on their way to visit...and later on, the curtain opened to the right of the stage and a blond woman and little ones were sorta looked like they had totally walked into the wrong room. They quickly turned around and went backstage. That's when he realized that his family had just shown up.

Team Pellan! Yes folks...Kellan and Peter have a rumored bro-mance and they have their own team. It looks like they really have a great friendship...they can fire back at eachother with no problems...takes a good friend who can take it and fire back at ya :)

Leave it to Peter to tell us an embarassing story about Kellan. During Eclipse, they were working on some serious fight scenes (by the way, these were the only 2 cast members to give us any details on Eclipse) and during one scene that Kellan was totally into it...he fell backwards over a bush.

Another interesting Eclipse tidbit...they came up with another way to make it look like the vamps were running with super-human speed...so they had to run on treadmills that were being pulled by some kind of vehicle. Kellan and Peter said that they were totally running as if their lives depended on it for quite some time...and it turned out that they weren't even filming yet!

The crowd broke into a heartfelt rendition of Happy Birthday for Kellan since his 25th (OMG I'm old) birthday was the next day. He sat there like a 5 year old boy and then afterward...he wiped his eye and said, "you guys are going to make me cry!" and if you look closely...he is a bit misty!! Awww...soooooo cute.

There ya have it...the Los Angeles Twilight Convention 2010. It was tremendous fun...everything I expected and more! Met some amazing people (castmates and attendees) and got some amazing pictures...will I do it again? In a heartbeat...already scoping out The Twilight Convention - Anaheim in October ;)

Please read: I don't mind if you use my pictures...just please don't forget to site my blog as your source :D

Catch ya on the flipside!