So this happened.

[hannah]

Because fans love to shake hands with their favorite artists and writers and actors, assorted industry conventions booked those people for quick meet-and-greets.

Because assorted industry conventions got cancelled, alternate venues were pursued.

Because screen-based communication technology has advanced far past anything Star Trek ever imagined, those alternate venues include one-on-one video chats.

Because these are very well known individuals, these video chats are given a hard time limit of two minutes.

Because I'm not going to Con.Txt this year, I bought six minutes with James Marsters with most of the money I'd budgeted for that.

Because I had such a good time, I wish I'd bought twenty.

Because this happened almost three hours ago and I called a friend immediately afterwards to moan and wail like the happy fangirl I was for nearly as long as I talked with him - he asked me to call him James! - I can now talk about it calmly.

I recorded it, because - oh, like you wouldn't. Not the video, what with privacy controls, but I have the audio on my phone and on my computer, and I can go back and listen when I need the pick me up. I told him what Spike means to me, we talked about curly hair products, and we spent most of it talking about A Bread Factory and the language of theater as depicted on film and art versus commerce and the virtue of patience and investment in artistic endeavors. It was great. It was fantastic. I already understood why people wait in line, though now I have a greater, deeper empathy for it.

And oh, man, I'd love to talk to him again and really get into discussing the song and dance numbers in Part 2 of the movie.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

That's interesting, I hadn't heard anything about this yet. Honestly, I think quite a lot of people would prefer the video chat option compared to meeting in person for just an autograph or a photo, which rarely take more than 2 minutes either, and often offer less opportunity for 1 on 1 attention or conversation.

[hannah]

Honestly, I didn't know about it until just a couple of days ago myself. I hope it's something which happens again, though not for a while, to give the man time to recover.

I very specifically wrote down almost word-for-word what I said to him about Spike, which I checked in the recording and took me about 20 seconds. I'd practiced it to be certain that if that was all the time I had to speak to him - maybe while he autographed something - I'd be able to get it out. Then we talked the movie. But if I'd just had two minutes, I wanted to be certain to make the most of it and say exactly what I'd hoped to express.

[lilacsigil]

Oh wow, that's extremely cool! What a great way to experience a little bit of the convention and make it extra special.

[zulu]

Very cool!

[perspi]

That's so awesome!

[dine]

how extremely neat! that sounds like a really terrific way to spend some money; what a great thing to be able to remember

[ruuger]

Oh wow, that sounds cool. I've always thought that he'd be a very interesting person to have a discussion with.

[dorianmorgendorffer]

THAT IS AMAZING i handflap with vicarious joy

[serrico]

It sounds like you had a buoyant fannish experience with him! That's great. :)

[singedsun]

That is so cool!

[whisperwords]

Oh that is so, so cool! My best friend and I met him a few years back at DragonCon and he was so kind and gracious. It was one of my very favorite celebrity meetings at Con. We spoke for a little while about how we came of age with Buffy and he said we were truly the perfect age to have watched the show, and he was so glad to have been part of our formative years in that way. Truly one of my favorite DragonCon moments and I've been going for over a decade. I'm glad you have the recording to keep forever, too!

[thenewbuzwuzz]

Yay, that sounds lovely!