San Diego Comic Con 2004 - Amber, SMG

[WebWarlock]

I have to admit.



The more I hear SMG talk the more I like her.



She is going to go all Bill Shatner on SNL at one of these cons one day (if she does another one) and I am going to laugh my ass off.



Would I like her n real life or as a friend? I have no idea, but to sit back and watch is funny.



Warlock

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Web Warlock

Coming Soon to The Other Side, The Netbook of Shadows: A Book of Spells for d20 Witches

Me: I think I'll have a mid-life crisis and bring home a little red convertible Vette.

My wife: Fine, as long as you don't bring home some little red-head.

[3peanuts]

Goddess, those pics, every pic, are cute.



Thanks people...



Amber: could you ever have more cuteness? *sniffles*

"I like Amber Benson 'cause she's a proletarian" Sarabiga

Keynes was right

[Rally]

Storm and I thought that SMG was the best panel we saw all weekend. She was quick and funny, but also quite nervous. She stated her nervousness when she came our and her hands were shaking. She was obviously quite good friends with Jason Behr, they had good chemistry and she had a tendency to face him when talking.



They did share a lot of in jokes, but the Season 2 joke was driven home, because, it appeared to us, that very few people in the audience got it. We were looking around and were amazed at how few people understood what they were talking about. It made it that much more funny for us, and obviously for SMG and JB as well.



We basically saw two types of panels that weekend, the funny ones where the panelists just had fun. Trey Parker and Matt Stone were the same way, Eliza, also the cast of a certain starship panel.



Then there were the panels that were just about patting either themselves or their coworkers on the back. Skycaptain, Smallville, Dead Like Me, those panels were sounding like award shows, there was so much thanks and love going on.



Part of what makes a panel flow or choke is the questions asked by the fans. Eliza (all Faith questions, really nothing about Tru Calling) and SMG (Wacko Buffy questions, very little about the Grudge), and all the Skycaptain questions directed at Jude Law (when are you going to have a such and such co star) ruined the QA parts of those panels. The most intelligent questions by far, that delved into the show and it's characters, were in the Smallville panel. John Glover was on that panel and was also very quick to quip much like SMG.



It's really hard to keep a panel flowing when cannot stop the fans from first spending about 5 minutes telling their life stories and then asking a bunch of repetitive questions. Eliza was especially bad, the same questions were being repeated over and over. When are you going to do a Faith series, etc. We were like, HELLO, she is on a series right now, she has a job.



Anyhow, as a final note about SMG and JB, they obviously wanted to talk about their movie, that was what they were promoting, after all. But I do not feel they were any more or less rude or otherwise than anyone else we saw that weekend. In fact the folks that most looked liked they really wanted to be somewhere else were Trey and Matt, and Robin Sachs after he thought we were stalking him.

[TKOLove]

Hi everybody! It's been so cool reading about the various experiences you had at Comic Con. I also attended...it was my first convention and I'm pretty sure I behaved like a total dork. But hey, I didn't get lost or arrested, so all's well. Here's how some of the Amber-related portion went.



Friday afternoon:

I stood in line behind two very funny girls who made me giggle the whole time. James Leary (who played Clem) was talking to all of us in the line and he was soon joined by Camden Toy (who played one of the lead Gentlemen.) Both men were super pleasant, and Mr. Toy made his “scary Gentleman face” for the group.



The girls in front of me were so enamored with Amber that when they finally reached her, one of them was so nervous she couldn't hold her camera steady. Amber asked if they were sisters and they told her that they were friends. Close friends. Really close friends. Girlfriends, actually. To which Amber's response was classic. "Oh, girlfriends. OHhhhh...girrrlfriends! Sweet." I swear they were one step away from saying "lesbian gay-type lovers." So much fun.



I got up next and met Amber for the first time. Just as I’d always heard, she was warm, funny, and gracious. I told her that I was saying “Hi” on behalf of many kittens that couldn’t be there and that I wondered how many I might meet while at the convention. She grinned and said something like, “Ooh, really?! Are the kittens out in full force this weekend?” She asked a question or two about fanfic and she was so enthusiastic and tuned in to what I was saying...I was pretty well blown away.



Saturday:

I stood in line again and told her how much I enjoyed the dark comedy and quirkiness of “Chance.” She didn’t skip a beat and responded with, “Aww, you just like seeing James (Marsters) in a dress!”



When asked how she can keep her energy up for 4 days of meet and greet under the lights, she said, “Well, it helps that I had that lobotomy 2 weeks ago.” What a hoot!



Sunday:

I stopped by again and while waiting to speak to Amber again, I asked her mom how long it took for the Sapphic poem to be written on her daughter’s back for “Restless.” (They were selling pictures of that pose.) She said, “ohhh, a lonnnnng time!” and before I could follow up on that, I heard Amber’s voice say “Connie’ll do it!” I froze. Turned out the guy in front of me was alone and needed someone to take a picture, so Amber – remembering my name and knowing that I’d taken a couple of pictures for other folks while in line earlier in the weekend – volunteered me. Of course I was happy to do it and I thought it was incredibly cool to hear Amber just say my name like that, out of the blue.



When it was my turn I told her that I thought she had a lot of courage to play “Tara,” though I knew I was telling her stuff she’d heard roughly 88,448 times before. So I decided to ask her how fast she can run. Okay, strange question, I know. But I remember seeing “Hush” for the first time and thinking that she looked like she was totally bookin’ it away from the Gentlemen. She leaned back in her chair and sort of giggled and began to tell me that it was a whole big thing back then. She said she was the fastest runner (I think she said she was the fastest of the cast) and they had to keep telling her to slow down, that she was running too fast and messing up the shots. I complimented her on making those scenes more real and desperate. (It’s just my opinion here, but there’s nothin’ more annoying than watching some girl power-walk away from certain death and dismemberment.)



Feeling brave (or maybe just silly) I then told her that I loved that she ran into the pole in “Once More With Feeling.” She gave this cute, sarcastic, good-natured “Aw, thanks,” and then added, “and I just had to go and make it worse by telling everyone about it in interviews!” She laughed again and I teased that I'd noticed it long before I’d heard her mention it publicly. A chuckle and "Oh, great" was her response. I told her that, again, she added something very warm and natural to the scene and of course was wonderful in the whole episode.



She signed my Dopplegangland Willow doll...on the leather-clad thigh, no less...along with some other goodies for some special friends and myself.



Sunday night:

We caught up with her one more time just to say goodbye, and I’m glad we did because I was able to thank Diane and talk to Danielle about her t-shirts, Fred the Elephant, and other important matters. Those three ladies were so kind and warm – I know I’m a total stranger to them, but they made me feel much less like the awe-struck doofus I was.

...when we find That Kind of Love...

Edited by: Warduke at: 8/8/04 7:57 pm

[Lovers4ever]

TKOLove - What an awesome experience you've described!



She said your name?!? How cool is that?!? I would change my name to something like "bottled water" or "autograph" just to give Amber a reason to say my name casually and repeatedly. But that just wouldn't be the same, would it?



It sounds like you saw Amber just often enough to stay in her psyche, but not enough to venture into stalker territory. What a dream situation. I'm certain I would not have the poise necessary to speak to Amber in person. My only hope would be that she could decipher phrases consisting entirely of vowels.



Thanks for sharing and confirming that Amber is the special person and actress we knew her to be. (duh)



-Susan

[frumpycat]

Ha, ha tkolove!



A friend of mine was with me who had worked with SMG during the infamous Entertainment Weekly “Girls of the WB” when we were at the Grudge panel. I was all set to dislike her. He had nightmare stories about SMG from that shoot. …from the stories I heard she was basically positioning herself front and foremost and making VERY self serving demands- but to tell you the truth you have to do that to survive. We were all joking when she came on what kind of questions we would ask: (SMG…why do you haaaaaaaate your fans?) and then was won over by her candor. (Even tho it was kind of harsh at times…when one questioner stated she was the head of the French section of the SMG fan club SMG had the best “I smell a fart” look on her face.) To tell you the truth I still don’t think she may be a nice person in real life but she definitely deserves her star status. She is one bright, professional gal. I’m definitely going to see the Grudge.



Although there was a lot of love and mutual self congratulating going on in the Sky Captain panel I still really liked that one b/c the guy who wrote it was there and this was his first project. You could see how obviously shocked he was to be where he was today and how grateful he was to Jude Law that he had signed onto the project. (I got the feeling from the panel that the movie would have been DOA if he hadn’t signed on.) I also was cringing whenever someone announced “I have a question for Jude” but I still liked it. I still thought the “Hi SMG, let me tell you how my life was changed by Buffy, blah, blah, blah, so how was it to be Buffy?” questions were much worse.



I thought the panels broke out into:



(1) We have an agenda…here is the movie, here is a special announcement that no one else knows until now (here’s the official name). Here’s a bunch of background stuff…and the video game that’s tied in with it. Worship us. (Star Wars).



(2) “Hey, this is cool and we love our fans…you guys rock and we’re having a great time”. “Tape this upcoming clip and we’ll sue”. “Sure, give me a copy of your home movie…I’ll check it out”. (Sin City). Rodriquez rocks.



(3) Wow. I can’t believe its getting made. I love you all. I love all my cast. Jude, say something (mm..what?). Here’s a freaking kick ass clip. It looks so great b/c the movie has been finished months ago b/c we didn’t want to go up against Spiderman 2. (Sky Captain – and I’ll still be first in line to see this movie.)



(4) “Hello, hello? Is this mike on?””What do we do?” (The Grudge)



Matt and Trey’s puppet movie: I totally forget to mention that. It was great for about a minute and then you got the feeling that watching it you’d get tired of it after a minute. I love South Park but still…90+ minutes worth of puppets? I’ll rent it. It was pretty telling that they mentioned when they showed it to executives the executives were convinced they were having their leg pulled.

Edited by: Warduke at: 8/8/04 7:58 pm

[Culzean]

Another excellent panel was the Wonder Woman panel. There were three people there - a fellow who acted as moderator and two women. One was Jeannie Epper, who was the stuntwoman for Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman (also Lindsey Wagner in The Bionic Woman, Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone, etc. etc.) and Zoe Bell who was the stuntwoman for Lucy Lawless during Xena, and for Uma Thurman in Kill Bill.





They did promote the upcoming DVD release of Wonder Woman and showed some clips. They were hysterical. They were also there to promote a documentary called Double Dare, which stars Jeannie and Zoe and delves into their lives as stuntwomen.



They played the opening sequence of the film. We see Zoe in a rather elaborate costume (from Kill Bill? I didn't see that movie). She's lying on the floor, looking kind of bored, and chewing gum while a bunch of guys strap her into an elaborate harness.



She gets lifted a little ways into the air, still looking very calm, and puts some lotion on her face. I'm thinking, I guess they're going to shoot arial wire work.



Next thing, they light her dress on fire. Then they do something with the cables so she's spinning like she's in a cyclone, then she's shot like a bullet through a window.



Next, the camera follows the crewmen running toward Zoe with fire extinguishers as they put out the flames.



It was a very visual scene, so I'm sure my description is wholly inadaquate, but I'll tell ya we were all gasping.



The panel discussion was great. Jeannie has a lot of great stories. I think Zoe did too, but I may have been a bit distracted by her phenomenal abs and arms and her cute Kiwi accent.



Double Dare is still making the film festival rounds, but I will definately see it when it comes out. They do have a really cute website up - http://www.doubledarethemovie.com.


Another good, and very small panel, was Terry Moore's who discussed his Strangers in Paradise comics. Terry is always very entertaining.



And what can I say about Amber that hasn't been said a dozen times already? She was great. Very gracious and warm. It's always such a pleasure to see her and get to speak with her.



As always, I really enjoyed Comic Con but it really is getting too damn crowded. I heard there were a 100,000 people there this year.





deb

[vamp xander]

Did anybody happen to see who was on the freaks&geeks panel?

When Amber says jump,I ask "how high?"