Rocky Balboa London Premiere

I am running behind with my movie premiere posts, but I have always wanted to take a leaf out of my friend Hughe's book and post one the actual week it happens. So here it is...

Last night (yes, I'm on the ball) was the premiere for 'Rocky Balboa' at the Vue Cinema in Leicester Square, London. I arrived at about 4pm after work and my friend 'D' had saved me a front row spot. There was no one else behind me until about 10 mintues later, so I didn't feel bad going to the front. We weren't standing in our regular spot, we were down the end near where the cars stop. It's usually a good spot if you want autographs, but you can never be sure. If you just want photos, it's probably not the best spot. Usually I go for photographs, that way, there's no disappointment. That said, I do usually print up a photo... just in case.

At about 6:30pm three cars pulled up and Sylvester Stallone jumped out of the middle one. When he got out of the car, he did a full circle and waved to the crowd. We had a great view of him, but unfortunately my basic digital camera decided it was too dark and wouldn't take any good photos. I am only putting up the two good ones I was able to take and yes, that's another watermark for CitizenImage.


After giving the crowd a wave, he then proceeded to walk around the barriers at the end of the red carpet and went and shook hands with pretty much everyone in the front row, which I thought was nice of him. The dealers (ebayers and such) went into a bit of a panic wondering if that was all he was going to do.

He then went and gave and interview for about 5 minutes, doing a couple of arm muscle poses and stopping to wave to the fans as he spoke. After the interview, he then went over to the barrier and started signing autographs. And that's when the pushing began - fans, dealers and tourists who'd just stumbled into Leicester Square and were trying to ge that perfect photo on their camera phone.

He was very quick and by the time he got to me, I had just enough time to get a quick photo of him signing as well as hold out my photo to get signed. It's not a big photo - about 10cm x 15cm - and his autograph pretty much takes up the whole photo, but I don't care, it's just for me, for a frame, it's not for sale. Ever.

He basically signed for everyone that was in the front row and even knelt down to put a nice full autograph on some of the poster boards. The autograph my friends and I got was very rushed and I think it says 'Sly' because I can't make out that it says anything else. I was impressed at him signing too because he was weaving back and forth between the barriers, but he'd always remembered where he'd stopped signing. I guess he's been doing it for some time now. A couple of the dealers thought they'd hit the big time when he started to make his way back but then he stopped and walked off just as he got to them. I could only smile.

He was very friendly and even though he was rushed, he greeted everyone with a big smile as he shook their hand or signed their photo. I wasn't sure what to expect of him, being such a well known celebrity, but he was really very nice. I had heard only good things about him and now that I've met him, I can only add to those comments. But my gosh, he's showing his age (60 years).

There were a couple of other celebs that turned up, but I think they were boxers and as I don't know them, I figured there's no point in posting their photos.

Last King of Scotland Premiere, London

On Wednesday, October 18th (yes, over TWO months ago - I am so far behind with the premieres... sorry readers!) was the opening night for 'The Times BFI 50th London Film Festival' which, as I was about to find out, was a busy two weeks to have a hobby like mine! It started on the Wednesday and finished on Thursday the 2nd of November.

The opening night movie for the festival was 'The Last King of Scotland' starring Gillian Anderson (The X-Files... umm... and yeah... that's pretty much what she's remembered for), Kerry Washington (Save The Last Dance, Mr and Mrs Smith), James McAvoy who's set to be the next big thing (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Forest Whitaker who I really liked and was waiting to see (Panic Room, Phone Booth and he directed Sandra Bullock in Hope Floats). He is tipped to be in the running for the Oscar come February 25th.

I arrived after work and secured a spot near where the cars come out and totally not where I normally stand. I was with a friend of mine and we were waiting patiently for the celebs. They all finally arrived and I managed to get an autograph of James McAvoy only. Kerry Washington walked pretty much past us, said she'd come back then went off to do interviews. She did come back, but not as far down as we were. Gillian Anderson got out of the car, looked at the ground and then walked halfway up the red carpet before stopping to do interviews. I didn't really want her anyway, because I met her when she did a shopping mall appearance in Australia at the height of 'The X-Files'. Plus, I heard she doesn't sign X-Files stuff.

James McAvoy was the loveliest of all the film stars and walked up and down the barrier signing for everyone that he could. He spent the most time with the fans and when I asked if I could take his photo, he was happy to oblige.

While those celebs were coming, we were treated to a few extras... Thandie Newton ('Crash'), Jason Isaacs (Lucias Malfoy in the 'Harry Potter' films), and running very late was Joseph Fiennes ('Shakespeare In Love').

Jason Isaacs was very funny. He is known for always playing the not so nice guys, especially in the Harry Potter films, but he was really nice and he was running late.



We were calling him down and he's like 'Oh F*ck... I can't I'm going to be late... I'm going to get in trouble'. We were yelling out to Jason to come down and he's like 'Eerrr.... F*ck ok, I'm coming'. We called him down cause we yelled that I was from Australia, so he came and signed for me. I asked if he liked it when he was there filming and he was like 'Oh yeah, it was f*cking great... I wanted to stay'. Mouth on him like a trooper... but a really nice and funny bloke!



Thandie Newton was really lovely, she's in town filming 'Run Fat Boy, Run' which is directed by 'Friends' star David Schwimmer (who I am still YET to see in London and he's been here for months!). I got my photo taken with Thandie and when she finished posing, she patted me on the shoulder and said 'That's going to be a lovely photo'. She was very sweet.

I missed out on Forest Whitaker, he almost headed straight up the red carpet, but the autograzzi were yelling out to him and he stopped to do a couple. I don't know why, but he signed for the blokes on either side of me, but missed me and my friend! Great... now we were going to have to try Friday night for him at the National Film Theatre (he was due to do an interview).



After Jason, I was about ready to leave and then a car pulled up and out jumped Joseph Fiennes. He was terribly late, but the dealers on either side of me were yelling for him to come over, so he rushed over and signed about 4 autographs before doing a mad dash up the red carpet. I just loved him in 'Shakespeare In Love', but then, didn't everybody?

(Sorry for the CitizenImage watermark on the James and Joseph photos. I've done another Hughe and am represented for the photos).

Seeing in 2007, Parisian Style

After my week in Italy visiting family and playing the tourist, I took a night train to Paris. This was my 3rd trip to Paris. Last time I was there for 8 days, this time I was there for half that.



This is a photo of the Boulangerie I went to almost everyday I was in Paris, it was right around the corner from where I stayed. It sold the best panini and deli rolls as well as some of the most delectable deserts I've ever had the privilege to consume!

I found a lovely hostel about a 2 minute walk from the Louvre and stayed there for 3 nights. I took off the first day without a map, only my memory, to take me to the famous shopping street that is the 'Champs Elysees'.


(The park near the Louvre)

I arrived here late in the afternoon and being a northern hemisphere winter, it didn't take long for it to go dark. The street looked really pretty lit up at night... the trees that line Champs Elysees were lit up with a hundred different lights and there was a Ferris Wheel at one end of the street. The Arc De Triomphe was at the other.


(You can see the Ferris Wheel at the end of the street)


(Sorry the photo's a bit dark - it's the Arc de Triomphe)

Also, while I was in Paris, I managed to take in the Notre Dame church... well, only from the outside. It was raining when I turned up, but that didn't stop the tourists from coming to visit one of Paris' more known sights. It turns out there was a mass on, which I didn't realise at the time, but it explains why the queue of people was so long to get in. I had just seem the Duomo in Milan only a few days earlier and walked right in there, no problems - but there was no mass going on at the Duomo when I was there.

The bridge not far from the Notre Dame Church, where I stopped to take some night photos.

The Notre Dame Church, which is sort of in the middle of this photo. The blurry white light is coming from the top of the Eiffel Tower. I do hope to buy a better camera soon, for better quality night time photos.

On the 31st I went to the Eiffel Tower with two American girls who were staying in the same room as me at the hostel. I spent the day with them and we went to find out about the celebrations that evening at the Eiffel Tower. The police told us there weren't any. We were asking about the fireworks and they kept telling us 'No, no fireworks'. Honestly, we thought, how could there not be fireworks in Paris for New Years?

We went back to the hostel for a bit of R&R and then took off that night for dinner at a little French restaurant. I left the girls about 8.30pm and headed off to the Eiffel Tower. They decided instead to go to a bar. I guess if there were no celebrations, then they wouldn't worry about it. Me, I had extended my trip to go to Paris escpecially, so I was convinced something would be happening at the tower.

So for 3 hours I waited in the cold as it rained on and off. Then, came the countdown... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... and suddenly the Eiffel Tower lights up and it's sparkling. Like diamonds. Sparkling. But that's it. No official fireworks. It just stood there, sparkling for 10 minutes - then the sparkling stopped.

The only fireworks going off were the 'unofficial and illegal' ones that people had bought to the gardens themselves. Also, as they had made the tree 'sparkle' every hour on the hour it was nothing new for me. I was not impressed. I had specifically come to Paris for New Years and I was 'rewarded' with probably the lamest New Years celebrations ever. The place was filled with about 15 000 tourists all asking 'Is that it?'.

The 'sparkling' Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower from a distance. I took this photo as I was heading away from the crowds trying to find the metro station. Apparently there were riots and trouble last year at the celebrations, which is why they didn't do anything this year. As my mother says, it pays to do your research.

I headed back to the hostel at about about 12:30am and then the next day the sky was a lovely blue (though it didn't last long), so I headed off to see the Sacre de Cuor church in the Montmartre district. When I went in there was a mass that had just begun. I sat in on it for about 40 minutes and even though it was in French and I couldn't understand what they were saying, I'm sure the message of the church is universal. It was lovely to hear the nuns singing the hymns in French too. I wasn't able to take photos in there as it's not permitted, but it was a lovely church both inside and out. There are 281 steps to get to the base of the church from the bottom of the hill. There's then another 24 to get inside.

(A photo I took with the sepia setting on my camera. It's a side street near the Sacre de Cuor)

That night, I took a plane back to London, where I am now back at work and back to my movie premieres... which I'll write about when I get the chance. There's quite a few I have to catch up on aswell as those just around the corner!

Just Another Statistic...

I am at work, listening to my music through one earphone. The other sits on the desk so I am still aware of my surroundings. A song comes blaring through the earpiece and suddenly, I wonder if Jackson Browne is singing for me (except for the part about finding a girl... me, I'd prefer to find a guy).

The song - 'The Pretender'.

Words I can relate to and I question if the song was written for me... or all the other statistics out there like me who have 'just settled' into a job, a life, a way of being that I hadn't hoped for or planned yet somehow it's where I am; where I've settled. 'What happened?', I ask myself... I had visions, and hopes and dreams. And here I sit, in an office, on a computer, making sense of my work, coming back day after day, knowing full well it's not where I want to be and certainly where I hope I'm not in 5 years time.

Say a prayer for the pretender....

Here's the lyrics -

I'm going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
Gonna pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I'll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I'll get up and do it again
Amen.
Say it again
Amen.

I want to know what became of the changes
We waited for love to bring
Were they only the fitful dreams
Of some greater awakening?
I've been aware of the time going by
They say in the end it's the wink of an eye
When the morning light comes streaming in
You'll get up and do it again
Amen.

Caught between the longing for love
And the struggle for the legal tender
Where the sirens sing and the church bells ring
And the junk man pounds his fender.
Where the veterans dream of the fight
Fast asleep at the traffic light
And the children solemnly wait
For the ice cream vendor
Out into the cool of the evening
Strolls the Pretender
He knows that all his hopes and dreams
Begin and end there

Ah the laughter of the lovers
As they run through the night
Leaving nothing for the others
But to choose off and fight
And tear at the world with all their might
While the ships bearing their dreams
Sail out of sight

I'm gonna find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams
And then we'll put our dark glasses on
And we'll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We'll get up and do it again
Get it up again

I'm gonna be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie
In those things that money can buy
where true love could have been a contender
Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender.
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender.

Say a prayer for the pretender
Are you there for the pretender?
Say a prayer for the pretender
Are you there for the pretender?
Are you prepared for the pretender?

I Hope...

I have just returned from my 10 day vaction in Europe. I spent a week in the Italian Alps (bordering Switzerland) where I visited relatives. I have 33 Aunts, Uncles and cousins in this area and I saw almost all of them, bar 1 or 2. There's also 7 more on the other side of the Italian border, but I didn't get to Switzerland, so I didn't get to see them. Mind you, I was kept so busy catching up with the other 33, I didn't have time to do much else.

As you can see, it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post, so I didn't have much time to do anything besides being re-acquainted with family and playing the tourist in Milan and Paris, which I'll write about some time this week, hopefully.

I am a bit unsure of what the new year will bring for me. I hope I am happy. I hope I'm healthy. I hope I finally have the strength and the drive to see my dreams to become reality. I hope I meet a hundred new friends like the ones I've met in my travels. I hope for peace, love and joy.

And I hope the same of you.

All the best for 2007!