lokisnow Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 that was so incredibly cool tonight. The only time I've ever regretted having a new job to go to tomorrow is having to bow out from the gathering early. Oh well, I think what I got to enjoy was pretty awesome even if i can't say what it was (that sounds appropriately naughty, I hope). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mblank Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 It was great meeting so many of you today at the signing and the gathering after!! Thank you Iseult and Lodey. Tonight was amazing!! Hope to see you all again soon.- Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darling Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Thank you Lodey, Iseult, and everyone else who helped planned tonight's event. It was awesome! So great to meet all of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
"Blackfyre" Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Thank you Izzy for opening up your home and being such a great host. Thank you Aggs for all the great food (mushroom soup was amazing). Thank you Cue for organizing and getting all the drinks. Thank you Cookbook for making me laugh. Thank you Lodey for everything else.Was great to see all the old peeps as well as the newbies. We need to meet up again soon.Blackfyre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 NYC fans are trying to sort out a premiere party. Why not LA fans? :)Sounds like a great time was had by all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Report on the signing from a bit further down on this page on the Terry Brooks page.GRRM confirmed that his hoped-for announcement was about ADWD, but that's been delayed until "Soon," by his illness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Any reports from the signing would be welcome! That report from the Brooks forum makes me wonder if anyone caught George's answer to the "acrobat" question. I'm fairly sure I know what George will say, but would love to have it down in something that can go onto the SSM collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokisnow Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I was at the signing and would estimate it was as large (if not larger than) as the Neil Gaiman signing for Anansi boys at Vromans. It easily outstripped the Terry Pratchett and Orson Scott Card signings I've been there for. I got there at 5 despite my intention to get there earlier and it was an hour and a half before our section even made it to the upstairs signing area, and I figure there were another 100-150 people ahead of me in line downstairs, and 50-80 people behind me in line. At 6, they announced that all personalizations and pictures were being stopped to try and get everyone through. I got my books signed at 6:40 and he finished almost exactly at 7:00. A person in front of me in line was told by a Vroman's employee that the first 500 people were kept upstairs and had numbers, but that after 500 they stopped giving out numbers. However, I think this is possibly wrong and may have just been line muttering, due to the fact we stood in the same place from 5:00-6:20 as they didn't let any of the downstairs group upstairs until the upstairs had cleared out. Another person who went upstairs at about 5:30 to see what was what thought there was only 100 or 200 people up stairs at that point, so ymmv. I asked three vromans employees for a headcount and no one knew though they all implied counts are usually done. All were STUNNED at the turnout. Some of the employees asked me what the series was all about. The downstairs line wrapped around the store extensively, it circled the stairs and wrapped to the back of the store then bent at the bargain section and wrapped around the wall of the store in that section, it never got much longer than that, though. So my report is mainly that I stood in line for a long time.otoh, I did overhear George say when asked if Osha was getting a bigger role in the series that the actor was so good he might want to write more for her in the future, or something along those lines. I'm not terribly surprised at the turnout, both recent "local" signings were actually in Orange County, the AFFC signing was halfway to San Diego in Huntington Beach, the World Con signing was also halfway to San Diego in Anaheim and I wasn't in LA for A Storm of Swords so I don't know where those signings were, a place called Dangerous Visions that has now closed, I think. In any event, this was--more or less--the first reasonably close signing George has done in the Los Angeles County area in a decade or more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Via Twitter, I was told the count was at 600 when they ran out of tickets, so .. 500-600 people. Pretty massive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telisiane Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Thanks, Iseult, Loady, Cuellar, Aggie, Blackfyre and crew - it was a wonderful event. Great to meet everyone and re-connect with the BWB. And GRRM is just the biggest sweetheart. It was good to see him looking so well after reading about his holiday on his blog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuellar Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Was definitely a great BwB event. Thank you so much for hosting the event Izzy!I actually made it over to the signing around 4:45, and the line was absolutely massive. I waited in the same spot from probably 1:20 (the line quite literally did not move that whole time), then decided to bail since I was with a bunch of BwB snobs that had all their books already signed. Turns out the line started moving a few minutes after we bailed. Quick report on the actual party (your actual experiences may have varied, since I had a few drinks and I can't remember names worth a shit):- Izzy's place was awesome. She has this huge badass kitchen, including some automatic bulletproof shield or something that rises up to protect the stove (not really exagerating). He back yard is massive (enormous for LA), and she has a cool fire pit thing, and Blackfyre's buddy brough over his fire pit as well. Izzy also had a huge patio right outside the house and a little gazzebo thing, and plenty of space for the shindig. We set up some chairs around the fire, and had some white lights and lanterns up.- There were about 10 of us that showed up early and got things set up. Izzy (obviously), Blackfyre (plus friend and his son), Aggy (plus friend), Ser Elgernon (plus wife), Chanel (not sure her board name), and Jenna (Darling). - Pre-party and set up was pretty quick (besides for the cooks). I'll admit I was pretty worthless after I arrived, but everyone else did a great job getting everything set up. We were probably done setting up by about 3:30, and had a beer while we killed some time until the signing.- We headed to the signing around 4:30, and as I noted above, most of set up crew headed back around 6:20 and got the party started. - People started to arrive en masse around 7, and the newbpocolypse's arrival was definitely evident. I can't even remember all the people I met, but everyone from the (oldschool) SoCal BwB was there besides Lev (speaking of, where the fuck were you man?) I think almost everyone on the original list up top was there. I'm sure blackfyre or Izzy can list everyone out that made it. - We did have some newbs show up with their own matching ASOIF shirts. Yes I was jealous, although they looked like they were freezing their nuts off without jackets.- Speaking of frozen nuts, it was pretty damn cold for us SoCal BwBers. We're not use to 50 degree weather, so the fire pits were pretty awesome. You could see your breath it was so cold. Ser Elgernon is an eskimo. For some reason was in shorts and flip flops and didn't mind the cold. - Guest of honor: - George seemed to be mostly recovered. He obviously went through the 500+ signings, and hit up our event. He stayed till after midnight, although he didn't eat/drink really because he's wasn't 100% (or really wanted some more pink's). - He arrived at the gathering between 7:30 and 8 I think. - He spent some time chatting with folks outside, and obviously we didn't swarm him. I think everyone was pretty good about it. - He spent most of his time inside relaxing and chatting with folks. - He had his assistant (Ty), HBO Rep, and a reporter with him. They mingled with the unwashed masses pretty well and were there past midnight. - He seemed pretty psyched about the HBO series (who isn't)- We probably peeked around 30 people at the event? People hung around outside and inside, although being a Sunday night it probably didn't get as crazy as we'd expect. - Something occurred that shall not be discussed. (No strippers were involved, so not that juicy)- Food was pretty awesome. I had a lot of stuff I have no idea what it's called (Aggy can probably give us the menu), but I did gorge myself of chocolate pastry things before I left, so that helped absorb the alcohol (and let me wake up at 6 AM). - I left about 12:20, and there were probably 15 people still there with George, so not sure if anything happened after that. I don't really have any other juicy details. Someone else can probably fill in the blanks on the actual conversation and anything George said. Last thing I'll mention is that this seems to have resurrected the SoCal BwB and several people (myself included) offered to host a premiere party. We'll probably sort it out closer to the date and that'll probably be a guarenteed BwB gathering, so check back in the SoCal thread! I think we may have a party/bbq every Sunday while the show's airing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chollman Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 As this was my first gathering and meeting of the BWB and George (as well as my first signing), I didn't know what to expect. I sure didn't expect the signing line to be as long as it was! But I got my copy of AGOT signed, so that's all that really matters. ;)As for the gathering, it was a ton of fun and I am so glad I was able to be there. The house was gorgeous, the food was delicious, the drinks were plentiful (although I, sadly, wasn't able to drink much as I had an hour drive back home), it was such an honor to meet and speak with George, as well as other things...I hope to be around for more of these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
"Blackfyre" Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Actually Tav, at one point we estimated the party grew to over 60 people.Jenna = Darling on the boards. New name is Cookbook, although she is quite darling. Ran please make the necessary changes.Elgernon has Karstark blood running through his veins.George and Ty left around 12:30ish, not long after you departed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nim Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 sounds like an incredible time - i can't describe my anguish at not being able to go :(the SoCal BWB sounds pretty sweet - if there are any in NorCal up for meeting up, pls let me know :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scruffy Rebel Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 - We did have some newbs show up with their own matching ASOIF shirts. Yes I was jealous, although they looked like they were freezing their nuts off without jackets.Well, considering there was only one guy in our group, there weren't a lot of nuts to be frozen ;) Actually we all had jackets but left them inside for most of the night.Thank you SO much to Izzy (?) for opening up your beautiful home. It was great meeting and getting to hang out with so many ASOIAF fans beyond my group of friends! And we were glad everyone liked the shirts my bf designed :) No, he wont ever be offering them for sale to other fans. They were something he solely designed and had made for myself and our few friends for Christmas presents a few years ago. He's not about to put himself out there to get sued for trademark infringement!The signing was really great, and pretty standard as far as signings go, and I was thrilled that Mr. Martin was up to attending the party afterward and staying 'til the end. What a really wonderful gentleman. I am so ridiculously stoked for the series to start!Thanks again for letting us "newbs" come to the after party. ~Victoria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IseultoftheWhiteHands Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 It was really an honor to have you all come to my home. And I can't wait for the next get together!Tav- you forgot to mention that Melinda Snodgrass came along, too! I LOVE her! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LugaJetboyGirl Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Thanks for all the reports, guy! Even if you are keeping secrets about something awesome that happened. Sounds like you had fun! You even got to meet the famous Ty! And glad to know GRRM was feeling better than over the holidays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokisnow Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 my god the food was really amazing. the cherry thinger and the mushroom soup, I'm still savoring that soup, sooo damn good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Lodey Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 Got home safe - it was a great time! Thanks so much to Izzy for hosting, it was a the ideal party home. Cue, Aghi, Blackfyre and everyone else who helped set up, organize, and make the evening a great success. It was a blast to reconnect with old friends, make new ones, and keep the BwB party-throwing clan going strong. Great time! Thanks again everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Melinda was along? I'm imaging some horsey shop-talk. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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