Ladies and Gents, everybody is officially home from NYC and after several sixteen hour sleeps, mostly caught up on sleep. This means: PHOTOS!!!
In the wee hours of Monday the 31st, Laura, Brandi, and I made it back to PA after a stop at Denny’s for food and a stop at a WaWa to get a picture of Laura. Once at my house, we pretty much crashed. Brandi left later that day and Laura and I swam and ate – gasp! – real food, thus ending our diet of ramen, bagel bites, and taquitos.
At about 5 am we left for the BWI Airport AmTrak station. I forgot my ID but was still able to get on the train, thankfully. We did plan to stay awake and pretend we were on the Hogwarts Express, but alas, we slept through most of the ride. When we got to NYC, we met up with Shawn (Laura’s AWESOME friend) by the Paramount and then went for McDonalds. Specifically, at a two-story McDonald’s restaurant. I should have taken pics.
Shawn and Laura went off to site see and since my feet were dead from Vegas, I parked my butt at Hotel Pennsylvania to wait for the lovely, wonderful, Speth to check us in at the Paramount. When the time came to go check in, we had a neurotic cab driver. Speth sat in the front seat and Laura, Shawn, and I took the back. When Speth tried to talk about the hotel with us, the driver literally freaked out. “Do not do this! Passengers in the front seat must not talk to passengers in the back seat! Passengers in the back seat can talk to other passengers in the back seat but not the front seat! It is disruptive! It disrupts me! It is dangerous!! Do you know how many people that has killed?”
It was REALLY hard not to laugh. Anyway, we got to the hotel and our room was aproximately the size of (and Emerson will like this analogy) a cereal box and had a creepy painting for a headboard. The bathroom was marginally larger than the closet and had no lock, yet it was easy to get locked in. The toilet was like a demon and the sink looked like some sci-fi urinal. The shower curtain was touchy-feely, thus we left the curtain open to shower. (NOTE FROM LAURA: Jess may have showered curtainless, but I’m a bit more modest.)
Meeting up with everyone in NYC was amazing and I miss everyone already!!! I can’t wait until the next time we all get together. (I shall spare you the angst!)
As for the readings, I was bad on the first night. I slept through John Irving completely and being the biggest Stephen King fan ever, it was my duty to nod off a couple times during his reading. So sue me. Personally, I can’t say the first night was that great. It was okay, but not spectacular. Some of the questions for Jo were wasted on inane things like, “If Muggles had the ingredients could they make potions?” GRRR!!!!
The second night was EXCELLENT. The audience was better and more responsive, I was awake the whole time, all three authors improved in their reading (they read the same pieces both nights), I found that I nodded off more during Stephen King on the first night than I thought I did, John Irving is hilarious and I need to read some of his novels, and Jo is just… wonderful. I loved her shoes, her voice, her… just everything. Jooooooo! (Sorry for the run on!)
As you’ve probably heard, Dumbledore is… DEFINITELY DEAD. MWAHAHAHAHA. TAKE THAT DUMBLELOVERS.
Har har har….Rachel here with the latest and greatest news of all! Well, not really…but still! LOL. I’m here at home once again. My time at Lumos was the greatest and I will never forget all the wonderful peope I met and the exciting things I did. Truly fantastic. So here I am, with some *EXCLUSIVE* photos that I took while in Vegas. I won’t be adding all of them here since it would take ages to upload, but I will put up the ones I think are pretty neat-o!
This was during the podcast. —^
Mr. Simz!
One of the many hallways of the JW.
Oh no! It’s the Dark Mark on Eric’s hand!
I swear to god I love this picture…. ^.^
Alex from the Remus Lupins! I love this guy….
Where you going, Ben? o.O
Emerson…..what a guy!
*sigh* Boys….
And that’s all for now, folks! I have lots of other photos to share but I’m ridiculously tired (work wears me out). But I hope that satistifies you guys for now! I’m outties, peeps!
Filed under: Posted by Laura
Hey all.
I’m at Jess’s house right now; we stood on the front porch and waved goodbye to Brandi as she drove away in the ghetto car. It’s so hard to believe that this trip is nearly over… it feels like just yesterday I was tackling all of my fellow MuggleNetters upon meeting them. Luckily, I’ll be seeing most of the staff again tomorrow in NYC, but sadly, the trip is over for Elysa, Brandi, Rachel, and Kay. *tear*
Jess and I are getting there around 10 AM, where we’ll be meeting up with my friend, Shawn, and getting all situated. Then it’s off to explore, and see Jo Rowling!
From what I hear, people enjoyed my WTF facial expressions during my attempt to can-can with my fellow podcasters. Glad to be a source of entertainment.
Anyway, just thought I’d update. Time for bed!
Love, hugs, kisses, and all that junk.
Lumos and the whole Vegas trip went by SO fast!! Thursday night I spent most of the night having an allergic reaction to yellow dye, but I had such a great time. The podcast on Saturday was interesting, although I do wish less covered topics had been chosen to discuss. I also had trouble not screaming out answers during the trivia contest. The highlight of the contest for me was Emerson smacking his head into his microphone.
Earlier on Saturday, Kay and I went to the wax museum and had an excellent time harassing the wax celebs. So, without further ado: pics AND video of the podcast, the wax musuem, and lots of other stuff as well!
Photos: Kay and I at the wax musuem, miscellaneous pictures, The Remus Lupins open for the podcast, and the podcast!
The Remus Lupins Live
John Noe sings New York New York
As usual, comments belong here and not on the hosting site. :) More videos and photos to come soon as Laura and I are heading to New York on Tuesday for a night (well, both nights) with Harry, Carrie, and Garp! She is currently asleep on my bed and Brandi is out cold in my other chair. Brandi and I had excellent flights back into Baltimore, but Laura’s sucked something awful, and then we had a big scare where we thought she lost her bag. Thankfully, she didn’t!
I’m off to bed now too! <3
Ahh, what an eventful day, and sadly, our last one. It’s currently 5:20 a.m. here [8:20 a.m. EST! Dayum.] and we’ve stayed up all night. Let’s recap:
1. We got to the Marriott at around 4 p.m. and shuffled into the staff rooms where we did absolutely nothing for a solid hour and a half. By “nothing” I mean “toss around blue bouncy balls while quizzing Laura for the trivia contest.” And Emerson got yelled at by some older lady for throwing the balls at the ceiling.
2. I ran into Abby again, which was nice, then went into the podcast room and waited. Alex [The Remus Lupins] opened up… funny guy. Good artist. He played for… 45 minutes? Something like that, before the first panel came out and discussed whether Harry was going to live or die. [And yeah, for those who asked, the podcast was going live over the internet. MuggleCast.com has the details.] That conversation was kind of… dull. Honestly, anything one can say on that topic is pure speculation and interpretation. Almost nothing can be backed by hardcore evidence from canon. The second one, though, [Laura's panel!] on whether Snape is good or bad was much more insightful. I kept wanting to add something to the conversation but there weren’t any mics in the front rows.
3. Ahh. Trivia. Well, for what it’s worth, Laura pimped the Monty Python question. Leaky won 19 to 12 [and they really did know their stuff-- nice job TLC] but in all sincerity, almost nothing about it was fair. For starters, they asked a ton of NON-HP RELATED QUESTIONS, stating that WB wouldn’t let them hold an exclusively HP trivia contest, so they had to ask random questions about Greek mythology, LOTR, and Wicked. … That’s fine, if that’s what WB said, but a bit of notice would’ve worked wonders, especially considering that the Lexicon specifically told us that there would “only be questions from canon.” ?!?!ONE. Secondly, the MuggleNet buzzers were not working properly. There were several instances where Emerson, Laura, Kevin, etc, held up their buzzers and clicked, clearly displaying that the light didn’t blink when they pushed the buttons. No one cared though, and consequently, TLC’s side got the first go nearly every time. Oh well. MuggleNet still gets more hits. HA. *throws signs*
4. ANDREW WAS SO CUTE AND HAD LAURA STAND UP AND SHE BLUSHED AND HE SAID TO SHOW HER “BEAUTIFUL FACE” TO THE CROWD AND I SQUEE’D LIKE THE FANGURL I AM AND ZOMG!!!!!!111 [I now call upon all L/A shippers to make banners and avatars.]
5. I’m in love with Alex. …not really, but he’s incredibly funny and absolutely brilliant to talk to. Though I felt like such a fan girl [*yuck*], I couldn’t stop myself from getting his CD and asking him to sign it. *blush and sigh* No one tell Harry.
6. Afterwards, Laura, K’lyssa, Brandi, Rachel, Kay, and myself went out to eat before heading up to the boys’ room. Again. I’ve been feeling so awful for being in their room 25/7, like I was annoying them or something, but they didn’t act like anything of the sort. *hugs them* We basically just said goodbye and took off, at which point we headed back to our room, laughed over random crap till our stomachs hurt, then packed. We’re all done now, and I’m getting ready to get my film developed before going to the airport.
I’m going to miss Las Vegas and all my lovely friends. :( It’s been a blast. Lumos went so well, there were so many events and we met the coolest HP fans. Emerson, Andrew, Ben, Eric– they’re all awesome, despite popular rumors. *wink* I’ll post one more time once I’m home for a final, grand summary [at which time I'll also post more pics]. Thanks to everyone who’s been reading and who attended Lumos. “Prophecy 2007″ is in Toronto, Canada next August! [You must go Lei!] Mark your calanders!
<3,
Elysa
Yesterday was “Water Quidditch” at Lumos. The guys’ [Emerson, Ben, Andrew, Eric, Jamie, etc] team won their match so they went out to a movie in celebration. I’ve heard mixed reviews about it. A couple said it was horribly boring, but an equal number had an absolute blast. I suppose it depended on whose team you were on, but I’d imagine Emerson’s gang left no room for boredom.
I MET ABBY! I was having dinner with Laura, Brandi, Rachel, Kay, Jess, Brendan, K’lyssa, and Julie when she walked by gringing her knives. ;) She’s absolutely beautiful and funny and sweet and everything I’d imagined she’d be in person. I was so happy to meet her, and it seems I’ll be running into her today as well at the podcast.
Speaking of the podcast, I’d better go… they’re waiting on me to get there so I can help out. But for the record: all those jokes about Andrew are exactly that– jokes. I’m a hardcore L/A shipper. [Hmm, who do I know with the letter "L" in their first name?]
<3,
Elysa
Just thought I’d say that… since Jess put so much time and effort into putting this lovely blog together and I have yet to actually report on any of our Vegas adventures.
I got in on Sunday, and was immediately greeted by Jess and Brandi (both of whom suffered the view of me slow motion running with my arms thrown wide open — not a pretty site, folks!). We checked into our hotel, bla bla bla, good stuff. Then we picked up my favorite badger, Elysa, at 11:15 PM (which, I’ll have you all know is actually 2:15 AM for all we poor little east coastlings) and squeed a lot.
We’ve been having a good time ever since, and probably one of my favorite parts was getting to meet those staffers I’d never met in person before. We went to the stratosphere with Eric (super enthusiastic) and K’lyssa (she is sooo sweet), and got our first taste of the Vegas cab service… Can we say… broke?
Since then, we’ve made our way over to the JW Marriott twice (both nights staying and probably annoying the other staffers very late). I was a tiny bit nervous when we first knocked on the door, but within a few minutes, I’d gotten over the fact that people who I’m used to seeing as IM boxes were now living and breathing and speaking to me. I’ll probably never say this enough, but everyone was so so so so nice. Andrew is very sweet and easy to talk to, Emerson is extremely chatty, Kevin is just… hilarious. And I would do some spazzing about Jamie’s accent, but I think I’ve done enough of that already. Ben is… amusing.
Tomorrow is the live show… yes, I am nervous. It’s going to be AWESOME stuff though, so you MUST go.
Much love!
Laura
Okay, so Lumos seems to be going well. But first: adventures at the Venetian. Rachel, Brandi, Laura, and myself took a trolley to the Venetian to ride the gondalas. After a 40 minute ride and about an hour walking [we got lost... a lot] we finally came across the boats. But as fate would have it, the tickets were sold out for the night. However, believe it or not, that was not the worst part of our Italian adventure.
I had the brilliant idea of going to this restaurant, which seemed perfectly innnocent from the outside with its fancy slogans of “the only restaurant in the Venetian to overlook the canal!” For starters, we didn’t even get a table looking over the canal. Worst yet, the whole freaking menu cost more than my life. Stuffed shells [which they condescendingly refer to as some 'zaffron bake'] cost $40! And did you know there’s four types of water? Tap vs. bottled, and sparkling vs. still. WTF. Just give me something from a watering hole, so long as it doesn’t bankrupt me. Not to mention, we were all dressed inappropriately. I was wearing my “Led Zeppelin: Hammer of the Gods– WE ARE YOUR OVERLORDS” shirt while everyone around me was in effing Versace. Long and short of it: we all ordered soup. Yes. Soup. Nothing else, just… soup. Note of interest: never, ever let Elysa choose the place to eat.
Anyway. For the record, Jess and Kay opted to hermit in the room last night, so it was just Brandi, Rachel, Laura, and myself. After the disaster with the Restaurant from Hades we ventured to Eric’s “popcorn reading” of PoA in one of the lobbies of the J.W. Marriot. Quite a few people showed up, all of whom were extremely enthusiastic– they used British accents for the dialogue and everything. The reading lasted around two hours or so, and didn’t finish till around 1 a.m. It was odd introducing myself as MuggleNet staff to a bunch of people wearing a ton of MuggleNet fan gear. I felt very… uppity. : / But they were all incredibly sweet. [TWO OF THEM WERE WEARING HUFFLEPUFF ROBES!!!!ONE] Oh, and by the way, remind me to tell you guys about Emerson making fun of my badgerness. -_-
K’lyssa was at the reading as well, and afterwards we all went up to the boys’ room and hung out for a while. This is where it gets truly interesting, as always. Most importantly, Ben hit on Brandi. YES. I KNOW. I died laughing too. It went as such:
Ben: “What’s your name again? Brandi?”
Victim: “Brandi, yeah…”
Ben: “Brandi, you’re kinda a cutie.”
Victim: *blush [or as Brandi puts it, "hangs head in shame"* "Thanks."
Ben: *holds up shot glass-- begins to sing* "This one goes out to the one I love-- uhh...to Brandi!"
*Ten minutes pass*
Ben: "Brandi, you remind me of a James Blunt song. *singing again --->* Ooooh you're beautifuuul..."
Elysa: *FACEPALM*
Brandi: *HEADDESK*
Emerson: *DIES LAUGHING*
Andrew: *CONTINUES TO BE HOT*
That was definitely the highlight of my evening. Alex of the Remus Lupins was there again. Jamie and I talked a bit about MNFF before Ben stumbled out the door and insisted on 495784564 high-fives. Oh, and Kevin is absolutely lovely. We talked a little, mostly about espresso beans. We didn't leave the party till around 3 a.m... that's 6 in the morning according to our ridiculously messed up body clocks.
When we got back to our room, Jess was sick [but she's all better now] so we let her rest, while the remaining mnetladies laughed our arses off over Ben/Brandi shipping. For the record: Brandi’s not all about it. She’s sticking with Ron.
The guys from Harry and the Potters were there too. I didn’t know who was who, but found out later in the night that I had been talking to the guitar player. Very cool guys. Tonight we’re heading back over to the Venetian to give the gondalas another try. Jess wants to visit the wax museum as well. Afterwards, it’s back to Emerson’s/Ben’s/Andrew’s/etc’s room, but only for a while. Laura’s staying the night there because the podcast show is tomorrow and they have some preparation work to do, or… something.
Remember, if you’re here in Vegas– you don’t need to be registered for Lumos to come to the LeakyMug podcast. It’s tomorrow around 6:30, I believe, at the J.W. Marriot.
On a random note: we saw Clerks II earlier today. HILARIOUS. If you’re mature and/or over 17, go see it. Possibly the best way I’ve ever used $6.25.
<3,
Elysa
So, Elysa is writing a post about our day yesterday, so I’ll go at it from my point of view.
We went out onto the strip via the Trolley and hit up the Venetian, then went to this really poofy restaraunt, then couldn’t get on the gondalas. Yeah, so if that didn’t suck enough, I was majorly sad because I didn’t get to see Harry and the Potters or Draco and the Malfoys in concert which was the ONE thing I was looking forward to on this whole trip because of my work schedule and stuff, I probably won’t have the chance to see them in concert again. BOO. Oh well. That’s okay, cuz it was semi-made-up-for when I got to take a picture with Billy from Draco and the Malfoys and sorta met the Harry and the Potters. That was nifty.
Apparently, I’m also “sort of a cutie.” That was interesting to find out.
Met Emerson, Andrew, Kevin, Jamie, Ben, Eric and Melissa. That was fun. Emerson is really nice. Kind of random and crazy, but nice. Kevin and Andrew area also really nice. Kevin’s really easy to talk to. We went on this tangent about accents and it started this whole thing about how words are pronounced. It was crazy. Eric is such a sweetie. He’s really nice and pretty funny. Found out he loves one of the roller coasters I supervise. That was interesting to hear. Fun guys all around.
I also met Brendan last night and his friend Julie. They’re really nice as well and also really funny. Omg, they cracked me up.
Ummm…other than that, we just kind of congregate at the end of the night and watch House. I love House. Hugh Laurie = *le sigh* :) That’s about it. I’m sure you’ll have PLENTY of update today. I’ll post some pix later when I can hook up my camera. I also have a wicked video of someone playing DDR. ;)
Ahhhhhhhhh! I am having so much fun here at Lumos. It’s so great to FINALLY meet everybody. For the juicy details……
1. I went to Emerson’s suite and finally got to meet the boys. Emerson is actually A GREAT GUY. *gasp* I kid. :P He is really nice and I got to snap a few interesting pictures of him and Ben. *wink wink* LOL. I promise to update the blog with the photos I have.
2. I met the infamous Eric Scull and he’s also a really great guy. He gave me a flower people! Awwwwwwww….what a sweetheart. He had a special “popcorn reading” last night that Laura, Brandi, Elysa, and I attended – it was quite fun and interesting. So that was fun.
3. I met K’lyssa and Brendan!!!!! *dances* They are teh awesome, you guys. No really, they are.
4. Andrew Simz! I met him as well…..and guess what he had to tell me! I am officially a SENIOR STAFFER on MuggleNet! *dies* I love that kid. :D OOooh, and who can forget our favorite Brit? I met Jamie as well! Wheeeeeee! He’s so *British* and so polite.
5. I’ve been taking photos like crazy and hope to take a picture with at least everyone on staff and then have that as proof that I met the boys that every little fan girl dreams of doing…..LOL. I’m quite wired (with having a bunch of coke) and I may sound a bit crazy right now, but I’m sure you’d be exactly the same if you were in my shoes.
6. I love our hotel room….For the past two nights, I’ve been sleeping with the lovely Laura Thompson! :D How many people can actually say that? Not many…and that’s what rocks. The girls and I have been out REALLY late and have pulled all nighters since we got here. No joke. But you know what? It doesn’t matter! I’m in Vegas, baby! Woooo!
The podcast is tomorrow and I am going to take as many pictures as possible! So keep an eye out ladies!
