James Callis at MegaCon (check back for updates)

Edited Monday, 16th March, at 5:30 PM Finnish time.

-Yay, some transcript/paraphrase bits from the panel! And a couple of cute James photos - in this journal here. The post is James-gushy, but the author also calls Baltar "utterly unlikeable". What? I love Baltar! I know I may be in the minority, but I definitely wouldn't call him that unlikeable. OK, but that's a minor point. A brief excerpt:

My fav. question was when one press chick asked James Callis why Baltar always seems to be crying on the show in situations or when he's talking. He replied that Baltar knows what he has done in playing his part in the destruction of humanity so he cries for himself but also for humanity and where they are, their struggles and what they have become. When so many persons have to be strong and confident, he weeps for them too (something to that effect).
Then the chick who asked the question was like "Ohh, now you make me feel bad since there's a drinking game based around Baltar's crying" Haha~

Awww, what a beautiful answer! It really shows how, when James is playing Baltar, he really becomes Baltar. I didn't know people focused so much on Baltar's crying. It's always been one of the things I like most about him.

-A lovely story of a James meeting here - and another addition to the money discussion. Basically you could talk to him for free - and get a hug:

I walked up, rather timidly, and shook hands with with James Callis and introduced myself and began with something along the lines of, “I just wanted to let you know what an amazing performance you do…” and continued to babble with things like “The show is just fanastic!” and “You’re my favourite character!” and, at the end of my gushfest, James Callis looked at me and said, “Thank you!” and came around the table and gave me a hug!

Awww, James! (*faints imagining that was me*)

-Two new photos:
Amused at the panel
Eating his fist at the panel (difficult questions?)


-A totally sexy photo of James cuddling with a girl. Eee! (Yes, I'm imagining myself there. I don't care if it's lame.)

-Two new photos:
James with a fan
(I'm not sure about that shirt, but he looks totally cute. And tiny, even if that other guy isn't even big. Yes, I am imagining his arm around me.)
James in the panel - taken from afar, but he looks cute anyway.

-An interview with James at SFX! (Which, I realize, is from Starfury, but whatever.)

SFX: Did you keep any souvenirs?
Callis: "Not really. They gave me some clothes I've worn in the show. They wanted me to wear the suit that I wore in the miniseries and I wear as Head Gaius, and whatever. And I was like, 'When am I ever going to wear that? Am I gonna like go to a nightclub dressed as Head Baltar?' [Laughs] So I didn't take it."

:D :D I think he should totally go to a nightclub dressed as HeadBaltar. And go around taunting people like only HeadBaltar can. There are also some interesting comments about The Hub, but I won't quote the entire thing.

-This fan made a beautiful painting of the various sides of Baltar - it's really pretty impressive. Then they posted on twitter, amazed that James already knew the painting:

Back from MegaCon.OMGs, JAMES CALLIS KNEW I WAS COMING!! :O He'd already seen the painting online! HOW?? XD He *loved* it! I'm so happy!! <3>

Gush!! ! I'd say there are two options - James goes to deviantArt and searches for himself. Or he goes to Google blogsearch (where I found this post) and googles himself. Incidentally, Google blogsearch might or might not also find my blog. (!!!) Edit: here's a link to deviantArt with more on the story. Apparently someone told James about this, and he had also seen it online himself. I have to quote a little more because this is so sweet:

He asked me how I made it/what it was made out of, ect, and I took the original out of the tube, saying it was acrylic, letting him get a closer look. He covered his mouth in awe (*squee!*), then said he wasn't worthy.
---
I said he could just put "To Wolfie" at the top and "From James" at the bottom, and he was all "Oh, but I want to write a message!" So there was a strip of white at the bottom (where the printer couldn't reach), and he wrote "U R seriously talented! I love it! Thank you so much. Love James", and then signed his full name (and Gaius Baltar) on the picture itself. And then I got a hug.

Awww! The painting is beautiful, so I'm not surprised at his reaction. But I'm still going to gush over just how sweet he was. What a lovely story.

-The first video from the BSG panel is up on Youtube - thanks to M for finding it! You can see a part of James' answer about auditioning for Baltar. It's a short video with shaky quality, but it gives us another piece in the puzzle of What's That Hairdo.

-Two new photos: here - and here (the second is a forum page, so you need to scroll down a bit). I'm baffled by his hair - that do looks a different shape in every picture. Is it flat? Is it puffy in the front? Is it magical hair that changes every time he turns his head? Either way, it looks like he is/was having fun.

-Photos from the panel:
James and Dirk Benedict, part one and two.
James and Herbert Jefferson Jr, part one and two. (The look on his face in that second one! Hee :D)
I'm still undecided on the hairdo, but the shirt is tight and exposes some Chest Hair of Justice, so drool I must.
And one more photo of James signing for someone, looking very serious and focused.

-The second photo of James at MegaCon! Here. You can see his hairdo better here. I tend to prefer him with long hair, but I think this do goes nicely with his general boyish look, so I'm torn. (My girlfriend and I immediately got into a debate over it, because she doesn't like it at all. But she's not a fan so she doesn't get a vote.)

-The first photo of James at MegaCon! In this thread. (Scroll down to see it.)

James Callis was awesome, had me grinning from ear to ear. It was great to meet one of my favorite actors like that. He couldn't have been cooler. And we got to take a photo for free, which was great!

You can really see in the picture how excited the fan is. James is a total sweetheart. And cute. Gush!

-The Orlando Sentinel reports about the event, and they have a nice picture of James - in which I don't like the hair; my reactions keep changing! - but also a criticism of the prices of autographs and photos:

Rates varied for autographs and photos across the board, but at least for Tricia Helfer and James Callis, the cost definitely put a sour taste in some fans' mouths. Aside from the $20 fee for an autograph, it cost another $20 to take a photo alongside the stars. While to some $40 is a small price to pay for an autograph and photo from one of the stars of their favorite show, others (including myself) would much rather spend those funds on something a little more tangible.

Is that really so expensive? I mean, Edward James Olmos was charging 60 bucks per autograph at Dragon*Con. I was surprised about the fees first, but it makes sense when you think about it. If I went to a con, I'd go ONLY to see James and get his photo/autograph/a brief chat with him. I'd definitely pay for it, because it means a lot to me. If it were free, a lot of people who don't even care about James/Baltar would line up just to get a celebrity's autograph to show off to their friends. This would make the lines even longer and make some people miss meeting their favorites, thus ruining their con. If you're a fan, I'd think you're willing to pay the price. If you don't want to pay, you're probably not very invested in meeting them anyway.

Also, if I spent the entire day talking to strangers, signing for them, posing with them, etc., I'd like to be paid for it. It's not such a big deal to talk to one person and hear their praise for your work, but to talk to a hundred or more people on the same day - it must be exhausting. And this criticism also goes for the blogger whose photos I link to below, who actually said James doesn't need his money because he must be rich already. Ok, off my soap box now.

-A second photo from the blogger below - James seems to be doing a humor pose, and looks even more adorable than in the earlier pic. Hee! Edit: I just realized how disturbing it is that some random guy took pictures of someone else's child with James Callis, probably without permission. Eh. It's still a cute picture of James, so I'm not taking down the links, but I'm not sure if I advocate this.

-Another photo from afar, but at least it's actually a photo of James. He's looking adorably kind, talking to a kid who looks too young to appreciate the intricacies of BSG - it always surprises me that they have child fans as well. I would have been traumatized, watching it as a kid! The blogger sounds a bit defensive regarding the photo. I thought James usually donates his photo money to charity (although I'm not sure if he was doing that at MegaCon). Also, I would totally pay 25 bucks for a picture with him. But to each his and her own. In this picture, I like his hair. It's confusing.

-Matt Campagna of BSG Cast reports that James was "delightful" (gush) and recognized him and Nat right away (super gush). Awesome!

-This photo is a bit like the video below, i.e. it shows Tricia looking beautifully towards the camera and James in the background looking away from it. My attention is, as always, drawn to the bottle of cola next to him - looks like it might be Pepsi this time. (My own consumption of sugary cola has increased considerably since I became a fan.) I know it's not much of an update, but just because of the bottle, I have to link to it. Edit: My girlfriend confirmed (with much chuckling at my cola fetish) that it's certainly an American Pepsi bottle, and it's not diet. This is probably only interesting to me, but just to confirm. :P

-You can see James in this video, even if it's actually a video of someone's meeting with Tricia. You can't hear James so if you're not a super fangirl like me, you might want to skip it, but you can see the exact length of his hair (a bit shorter than Starfury), and see him looking very friendly with the fans. Which made me very happy. I know, I'm a cheap date.

-James wants to have conversations with people - which is also awesome, even if this writer seems bugged by it:

It took about 45 minutes to an hour to get through that line, mainly because Dr. Baltar decided to have actual conversations with the people who had bought a pic and wanted his autograph or just wanted to have a pic with him (like I did). That was great for them, of course, but not so great for the rest of us who had to wait in line.

I'd personally prefer waiting a long time to have an actual conversation to getting in right away and just having a quick hello with him. But I guess it depends on how much you like him.