James Callis at San Diego Comic Con 2009

Updated on Friday, 7th August, at 3:10 AM Finnish time.

Friday updates:

Spoke too soon. I think this update is the cutest I've seen so far, from any can. Two photos with James holding a baby. My heart just melted looking at these. Awwwww! He looks so kind and natural with the child. DaddyMan! (L) (L) (L)

And three other pictures here, here and here, all very cute, but I'm still staring at James with the baby.

Wednesday updates:

OK, looks like that's about it for the con updates. I'm not going to be actively searching anymore.

But I did find one more picture, with a very amusing if awkward grin. Is he just beginning to smile? Or joking around? Or is he like "ehh" because the fan's being odd and scary? You do the math. Cute either way. :D

Final words in case I won't update this anymore... Eeee I love his hair!!! (L) Well, I think I already said that a couple of a times. :D I think he's a bit bigger than FedCon, which is also much appreciated. One of these days I'm going to get a microscope so I can better estimate his weight situation at all times.

Next up: An Evening with James Callis on September 12. Eeee! Pedda from Caprica City has kindly offered to get me James' autograph, and I'm pretty excited over that, so there may be even more gushing than usual. So look forward to that next month.

Monday updates, part 2:

Thanks to Artemis_Neith: The beautiful James images from the SyFy party are posted here, at the Caprica City forum! I linked to the thumbnails earlier, but here are the full-sized photos. He's so charming! (L) Seven pictures all in all, scroll down to see all of them. Gush! I can't decide which is my favorite one - shyboy grin, or "Yeah, I'm alright". He looks amused at himself, and like he's having fun posing a little. Gorgeous.

Coke! Yay! I always look forward to the Coke shots, and almost thought I wouldn't have one this time around. The coffee's been there for "caffeinated beverages fetish" purposes, but Coke is better, maybe because I drink it myself.

Again with the hand-shaking! What is he gesturing? The table? Himself? "Come here"? I love the golden little spiral that his wedding ring makes. And unlike some fans, I'm not at all bugged by the presence of said ring.

And his table, albeit without him. You can see his sign, with the altered photo price of 20 bucks. I guess I should critize that or something, but all I can think of is "aww, he's written it so neatly". The fangirl is fangirling. Also, those are some nice-looking photos that you can get signed.

Monday updates, part 1:

Bear McCreary has written a long post about his Comic Con experience, including three cute James photos! Bear is the composer for BSG, and his blog is insightful and well written. (Plus I have a soft spot for him since the mockumentary he did with James.)

What's going on here? It looks like Hogan is crying, Eddie's soothing him and James is looking on, ready to burst into tears himself. Are they just hearing about Harvey Frand? Or maybe they're joking around and Hogan's pretending to be crying? Weird.

James is shaking his hand again. And his hair is looking endearingly scruffy, like he just got out of bed or something. :D I wonder what that sticker in his chest said? Does anybody remember?


Sunday updates:

Dianora's Comic Con report part one, with two photos of James. Dia's met James many times before - much fan envy, grrr! - and mentions being "strangely reticent" this time, so maybe James was really just tired on Friday evening. He does look tired, but cute. Mmm. Dia, like someone else earlier, mentions going wild over the leather jacket (who didn't?). And she calls the EVIL hat a trucker hat. It always amuses me when people make the trucker reference, for some reason.

Puppy eyes. Awww.
Posing with Eddie and Hogan here, here and here. Since James never had many scenes together with them, it feels a little more special to have these shots of them together.

There are a bunch of photos from the BSG concert, but I'm only linking to a couple that show James from upclose. He's put on his regular glasses and the EVIL text of the trucker hat is no longer hidden under the sunglasses. It makes it somehow more amusing, yet I also wish to see his hair. Here's two in color:

Mischievious-looking grin.
In thought.

I like it when he wears glasses. It makes me feel closer to him, because I wear glasses. This means we're totally soul twins and understand each other about everything and all that. And maybe it's because it's so hot right now, but I cannot imagine going to California and wearing a leather jacket PLUS a flannel shirt PLUS a boy next door shirt. Why wasn't he boiling?

For some reason, these are all black and white:

Talking with his hands. (Michelle looks damn hot and very different from Admiral Cain!)
Hand on his heart.
Looking amused.
Applauding. Hee! He has his mouth open and looks very happy here. So cute.
Looking at Michelle while smiling all cutely. Does he have a ponytail? Ahh, the hair!

Saturday updates:

A very cute picture with a very cute young fan. Awww.

Talking to a fan. His head is cutely tilted and he looks interested in what the fan has to say. Awww again. Also: I love his ear and the locks of hair over and under it. His hair looks SO GOOD right now. Guh.

There's a gigantic post here, but if you have a slow connection, you might want to skip straight to the James pictures, here and here. Somehow these are very amusing photos. He has this cartoonish look on his face in both of them. Maybe the fan he's talking to is saying something funny.

Baltar. Nuff said. Slightly blurry, but I love these frozen moments - again, it looks like he's making "signature" movements in the air. Maybe he air-signed for some people who didn't want to pay? ;)

That seems to be all for now. I'll keep an eye on the reports at least for a few more days. I'm working again, so there may not be as frequent updates, but I'm still searching.

Friday updates:

Video linky! DEWDcast had a nice little chat with James about Comic Con and how fans approach his character. Apparently they got a little more positive about Gaius by the end. "After the first season they were like, 'Oi, you', and after the second season they weren't too keen either." :D He looks and sounds lovely and I can't get over how second season Baltar he looks! *loves*
(Also, it seems like they caught him while smoking, since there are others smoking in the background. That just adds to the cuteness in my book! ;) )

A lovely meeting story from verymiao:

I happened to be walking by and did a double-take when I saw him and EJO posing for a picture. I gawked for a bit, then he sat down and I realised he was signing autographs. I thought there must be a long line, but no, he was just... there! So my man & I went up and started chatting to him. We talked about Sex, Chips and Rock & Roll. I was like "You were brilliant... with your, like, 2 lines" and he looked a bit miffed and said "Did I have 2 lines? I think I had a few more than that" and then I said something about how he was mostly looking pretty with his long hair. Hopefully I didn't offend him! He asked me if I was drooling over Dallas and I just kind of gave him a weird look and said "Uh... no". Duh, James, I was drooling over you?

The worst part was that we realised as he was signing a pic that we'd just spent most of our cash, and he didn't take credit card. We paid him with our last $17 and a £5 that we randomly had.

Anyway, there you go. I was kind of randomly insulting, stiffed him on his fee, and he was still nice to me.

SORRY JAMES!

Awww! Maybe he thought you were drooling over Dallas and didn't even notice he had more than two lines? I actually thought his role was pretty central, but I can imagine choking up like this in front of The James. And I don't think that was very insulting at all. I love the haggling bit - when I saw that on twitter, I thought the guy was just a haggler in general. :D

A lovely photo and meeting story here:

He was extremely friendly / funny. The guy who was before me asked what he was up to now and his first response was, “Well, sleep mostly.” After taking the picture he told me to make sure I liked it, then looked at it and said, “I think it’s pretty cool actually.” He too kinda seemed like his character, again, without the sociopathic tendencies.

Hee! I thought he was having sleepless nights in the suburbs? Maybe Anika is sleeping all night already.

And a very friendly smile here. Awww!


Thursday updates, part 2:

Baltar's babes. *drool* *stares* OK, I have a new favorite. It keeps changing, but this is just... *drool*

With Nicki Clyne. Baring his teeth, which looks adorable.

And uh... that seems to be all for today! We'll see if there's a bit more stuff coming in tomorrow, or if it dwindles down for now. Stay tuned!

Thursday updates:

Some new photos!

Gorgeous thumbnails on this page, with James showing up at some gala or other. However, when you click on them to enlarge, it tells you to log in. Blah. Still, the thumbnails are big enough to see his beauty. Thumbs up!

My new favorite, looking up at a fan so happy and animated. (L)! And the hair! So pretty.
Closeup. I love how his chest hair just creeps up and won't be hidden. It has a mind of its own.
Talking about something, which always looks cute when frozen in a picture. That's one gigantic cup of coffee he's got there.
Looking down. Chest hair, again, creeping up. Between that and the hair parting... guh! Had to turn on the fan.
A funny face. He looks grief-stricken, but maybe it's just the way his face happened to be at the moment the camera snapped. Hee.
Talking to EJO and Nicki Clyne. There's a bit of a blur here, but the hair can be seen.
This one only shows his arm, but Nicki looks lovely, so I'm going to include it.
And a couple of more photos with him talking to EJO and Hogan, here and here. And talking to... someone else here.

Again, a bit blurry. I'm not sure if I endorse snapping a photo of someone else's photo with stars. But James looks gorgeous, so linkage.

I wonder if the blue shirt is the same one he wore at last year's Dragon*Con. It looks the same. The white one could be the shirt he had on for The Music of BSG, but he's ditched the suspenders.

Edit: There was a bunch of back and forth between me and Dan Radke, but since he published it all in his own blog, I've decided to delete it from here. I consider the matter closed.

Wednesday updates, part 3:

James with a couple of cosplayers. The hair of it all! (Hmm, maybe bigger than FedCon after all..? *drools* *slaps self*)

A picture with a fan. I think I already linked to this blog earlier, but it's a bigger photo. You can see James' eyes well here, and he looks great! I wonder why he was wearing two shirts though. Isn't it hot in California?

James Callisto. Looking very cute as he's signing an autograph. He looks downright tender. (L)!


Wednesday updates, part 2:

More photos! James can be seen in the background in a few, but my absolute favorite is the one with him in the blue shirt posing with a fan. I.e. this one. I'd say something witty or intelligent, but... I dunno. My brain seems to have melted.

From another blog post:

Just as K and I were looking at James Callis, he gave us a "oh yeah, the chicks dig Gaius" look. He instantly switched into the character and sent us into giggles. So much so that we bolted, not believing we'd been reduced to such behavior. I still giggle when thinking about it.

LOL!! :D That's so... I'm glad he's used to the fangirling and can play it cool like that. It must amuse him after a while that girls stare at him and giggle. I just hope this blog doesn't come off that way (especially this post and some donut-related ramblings). I want to at least appear intelligent, but sometimes it's hard.

Observations... hmm... Observations... umm.. he's hot! So hot! Oh god!

Some photos of James talking at a BSG concert. I wish I knew what he's saying.
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
He's probably talking about Harvey Frand, and he has that warm look on his face that tells me he's saying something beautiful.

And here he's looking cute listening to someone else.
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
Part 4.
Part 5. Awww, so adorable!

Clapping, although the motion blur messes it up a bit. He just looks so happy that link I must.
And part 2.

This outfit isn't so much "trucker" as it is "boy next door". It's cute how he dresses down. I'm not sure which I prefer, this one or the stylish white shirt the following day.


Wednesday updates, part 1:
(I apologize for just gushing and not having much to say, but I just woke up and James is just really gorgeous in these.)

A blog post about Comic-Con, including two lovely photos:

This is my favorite moment of the whole con, I got my picture with James Callis who is Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica. He is my favorite character on the show and the picture with him was only 10$ so wahoo! He was really cool and nice.

Awww! (L)

SyFy party arrivals: James Callis. How beautiful is he? He's SO beautiful. The hair! The face! The glasses! I... I'm running out of comments. *gush!*

Gush, part 2: The son of gush.

How is he so beautiful in every picture? It's just... wow. Hmm, it doesn't really look like he has a donut belly here. Maybe it was just the shirts. *sigh* Well, if he's gonna be this gorgeous, it doesn't really matter. Mmmm.

And then there's the leather coat. That's... It really... Oh my god. These seem like another set of sneak photos: getting set up, eating something (awww), talking?...

Did I link to this one before? He's talking to the guy next to him, and I love how he puts his hands in his armpits. So cute.

In the series of "I'll take a picture from afar so no one can charge me": OMG Baltar. Does he have a backpack on?

Tuesday updates, part 3:

Hey, I forgot to check flickr for Baltar! SO HOT.

ZOMG indeed! When I saw this, I had to get some ice cream with chocolate chips. (interesting reaction, actually.)

Intense, if a bit tired. Hmm, I wonder if James took this one himself? It seems to be that close up.

OMG, the hair. So beautiful. On Friday he had a scruffy chin, on Saturday he was clean shaven.

Is it just me or is he looking more like Baltar than he has in years? I mean early seasons Baltar. Is he getting younger-looking lately? Guh!

The ladies love Baltar.

The cap AND the boy next door shirt from FedCon! (They actually go together!) He looks very thin in some of these pictures, but not so thin in others, so... OK, have I become one of those annoying people who comment on how thin he looks all the time? I think I'd rather be the annoying person who thinks he looks fatter in every picture, just because I hope so. So I give you this picture and my assessment that while the shirts seem to be bunching up, the shape of his body does look different from FedCon.

A new picture on Flickr.. hmm, damn, that is a lot of shirt. Maybe I'll just focus on his hair again. Mmm, hair.

Baltar face. Hmm, not exactly what I looked for but very cute nonetheless. I knew people were naming their dogs Gaius Baltar left and right, but this is the cutest one I've seen yet. This one's pretty good too though. It looks soo guilty!

Tuesday updates, part 2:

An article on BSG at Comic Con. James is quoted talking about Harvey Frand, a BSG producer who died recently. RIP, Harvey!

"He always made us feel like he was looking after us, which is rare in this cutthroat business we're in," James Callis said.

I can't remember offhand where I got this idea, but I had the impression James is quite fond of Harvey. I should look into this more later. Edit: Just to avoid confusion, I'll add that the quote does sound like he likes Harvey a lot; I just can't remember why I thought so in the first place.

A picture from the concert, with James wearing the leather coat and the trucker cap!

From this Livejournal, some cute pictures. James sipping coffee! (No Coke pictures this time, but there was coffee and water next to him.) And - wrestling with Hogan? Hee! :D I don't know what they're doing exactly, but it looks hilarious!

An interesting meeting story:

James Callis was sitting there all alone so I thought, oh what the heck, dug out my $30 and approached. "A fellow Brit!" he exclaimed "where are you from?". Bless my sausages, he'd heard of Woking, and even done some filming there (unless he says that to everyone about their home town!). He actually took time writing a message, and spelling my name right "what a lovely name!" - very smooth, very polished, very - to be honest - fake.

Hmm. That's one I haven't heard before. Maybe it's impossible to be genuinely excited over every fan who comes over to talk to you, but still. It could be a cultural difference, since James has spent a lot of time with Americans, and mentioned he prefers their courtesy over the British behaviour. I guess it's one of those "can't believe this of MY James" things. I won't believe he's fake, sorry. He'll have to be fake at ME before I believe it.

A blurry photo of James here, talking to a woman at a bar. (Second picture in the second row... I think that's James, judging by the hair. :D)


Tuesday updates, part 1:

Wow, it feels like it's been a while. I did quite a bit of searching on flickr and twitter with my mobile phone, but not all pictures load up on my mobile. And of course I couldn't update the blog bc linking didn't work. So good to be back. I think I'll divide today's updates into text and photos.

Text updates (mostly from Twitter):

Blog updates haven't really started coming yet, but I want to thank FanGrrl Magnet for their lovely linkage to my blog. (They also have lots of links to Comic Con items, but I have yet to go thru them). Welcome to any new readers - I love James Callis, is pretty much all you need to know. Hope you enjoy the blog!

frogs_breath: I met James Callis at Comic Con today after my friends had him call my voicemail to embarrass me. It was amazing!!

*bristles with fan envy* James never called my voicemail. I don't have a voicemail, though, so maybe that's why.

RejectRobert: Mark Hamill and James Callis just shook hands. Nerd moment! Col Saul Tigh is here too

That sounds awesome! I hope someone got a photo.

s5: just haggled James Callis for a signed photo from $30 to my last $17 and a £5 note. #comic-con #bsg

Hee! Haggling at a con! :D

adorkablegrrl: James Callis (BSG - Dr. Gaius Balter) just lit my cigarette. Who knew smoking would pay off? He's hotter in person & very sweet! #BitchBuzz

Every con has a random cigarette mention, and this is it for Comic Con. I always feel warm and fuzzy when people are surprised at how sweet he is.

adorkablegrrl: James Callis, "Comic Con has been great, but I'm kind of ready for it to be over." (We all are, James! Well mebbe just me & you.) #BitchBuzz

Awww, maybe he was looking forward to meeting his baby girl again *gush gush* But yeah, it must be stressful for the stars to be at the con. I'm kind of impressed he's even doing it this year with all the family stuff going on.

cynicgrrl: Of course TODAY James Callis looks super hot in a leather jacket. I got him in a trucker hat. Sigh.

LOL! Glad I'm not the only one who got a trucker vibe!

GeekParenting: Just saw the Mighty Boosh live. James Callis (Baltar from Battlestar Galactica) was standing next to me in the balcony! I didn't bug him.

Good for you. He probably wouldn't have minded, but it's still nice to know he got to do something without fans clinging onto him.

seiken1: only james callis, aka "gaius baltar" can sport a trucker hat saying "evil" and get away with it and still be cool.

Hee! I know!

candacetwilson: I got to hug James Callis!!!! I got my Baltar sandwich today!!!

I'm not envious. *grumbles and turns green*

geekgirldiva: I have a feeling James Callis may be the most patient man in history. Took 3 tries to get this shot. http://twitpic.com/bi53p

Awww! He is a sweet guy. I've heard that he wants to make sure the photos turn out right, and is willing to have a new one taken if it doesn't work. Also, he doesn't look annoyed or bored at all in that pic. Gush!

geekgirldiva: Squeeeeeee! Just got pics, vid and cheek kisses from Michael Hogan, James Callis and Adam Baldwin.

Cheek kisses?! *turns green all over again*

Mindbomb2000: #sdcc Standing about 10 feet from James callis, They won't let me take a picture. Charging 10 bucks. But I'm absorbing the vibe for free.

Like I've said before: if you're not willing to pay the price, you might not be all that into the star. (With the exception of Mark Hamill who charged a HUNDRED bucks for an autograph. Poor fans!)

emperorjb: @EvanCudworth I'm expecting James Callis to play a drum solo with his penis tomorrow to compensate for Katie playing your show.

Bwah! Sadly, he didn't. Or if he did, I haven't found the mention yet. (I think I would have found it by now.)

janewiedlin: OMG. Gaius Baltar sitting in seat behind me on train!!!!!!!!!!!!! Swoon.

*imagines being in that situation* Eeeeeee!!!

dustchick: Giggled like a member of his harem in the presence of Gaius Frakking Baltar.

*imagines being in that situation* Giggle!!

I wonder if I'd be less giggly - or more giggly than the average fangirl at these cons?

Photo updates:

Lots of new photos on Flickr!

Firstly, let's drool over this - a tiny donut belly! (L)! It's not big, but it does look bigger than at FedCon, so I'm a happy puppy. He looks vital and beautiful. Drool!
Edit: M noted that he's wearing two shirts in this picture, so that might explain it. I need to look more closely at the pictures with just a T-shirt on, but at least I was happy while looking at that picture.

Not sure what's going on here, but it seems to require a lot of concentration. Besides a trucker vibe, the cap gives me a little boyish vibe, and I'm going, "Awww" while watching these.

The pose. Calm look straight at the camera. And we're looking lovely. It's surprising how many photos are of James alone, since it was only ten bucks for a photo WITH him. I know which I'd rather take.

This is off topic, but as soon as my girlfriend saw this outfit, she said, "LOL, he looks like Travis!" Apparently in Silent Hill: Origins, Travis wears something very similar. It's the same shirt, the only difference is that James didn't tuck it in his pants. Hee!

Then for some more hair drooling! On Saturday, James had ditched the EVIL cap and was showing the top of his lustrous hair. Very second season Gaius Baltar, very sexy. I think this has to be my favorite hair length and curliness. A stylish white shirt plus the rare treat: glasses! I do wonder about those glasses. Does he wear them on a regular basis or can he pick and choose? Does he wear contacts when he doesn't have them on?

Signing. Again very focused. OK, maybe it's not the cap, maybe it's just James. When he's really focused on something, there's this little boyish vibe to him. Awww.

Speaking of awww. Gorgeous! This picture had me wondering if I actually prefer him without glasses. I'm not sure. Some of my favorite Baltar pictures are with glasses, but Baltar is not the same as James. They do add a certain je ne sais quoi, but on the other hand... drool... I must ponder on this further.

This photo looked really awkward on my mobile, and looking at it on my screen, it... still looks pretty awkward. It doesn't really even look like James. Judging by the text, someone just snapped it instead of getting an autograph, so that explains it.

The only one I've found so far of Sunday: James with Eddie, Hogan, Bear and... some other people I don't recognize. Sunglasses again, but no cap! Love his smile there. (And with his arm around a beautiful lady, of course!)

Saturday updates:

Just a quick update before I go (I'm not feeling well so I might postpone it, but no promises.)

Two new photos: here and here.

And a meeting story!

He was friendly as ever but seemed pretty tired. I showed him the picture of the girls and I from LA and asked if he'd mind signing it, and he laughed and said of course - he held it up to the guy sitting next to him dealing with the money and said "Baltar's babes!" I told him we joked we were Baltar's "nymph squad", as Laura put it, and he laughed again. I asked if he was going to the concert, and he said yeah, but not tonight, and asked if I was - I said no, I'm not 21 yet, but I'd really like to. He said not to do anything illegal, haaaah! Oh, I'd do illegal things with you, James Callis ;)

Hee! I'm thinking of this picture, and I wonder if it's the same one. And he signed it:

"Dear Avery - Baltar's Babes Live 4 Ever! Love James Callis."

Hee! :D I love "Baltar's Babes". And somehow I love it when he uses 4, 2, u r and all those netspeak things. I'm not saying it makes him hip and cool but... well, I guess I do think it makes him hip and cool. :P

And he apparently went to see Diablo Cody's new offering, Jennifer's Body, which sounds incredibly weird, even more so than Juno. A picture here and - seriously, what's with the cap? He looks about to fall asleep in this picture. I wonder if Anika is keeping him awake at night. (L) (Curly chest hair!!)

Friday updates:

The first closeup! He looks beautiful. His eyes so brown and soft and the hair... Ah, the hair...

Also on twitter: some people saw him eating a sandwich. No details on the type of sandwich. I will report later on any food/drink items if details should come in. ;)

Another picture from the second autograph session. Different shirt, same cap - same sunglasses over the cap. Hee! I'm in love with that lock of hair over his ears. It's gorgeous.

First picture! Guh! So hot! Long hair! Chest hair! He's pinching his own arm! Awww! (Also in this picture: his sign with the fees - 30 bucks for an autograph, only 10 for a picture, very modest in my opinion. The noteworthy thing in the sign is that it lists Relic Hunter and Soldier, Soldier as some of his previous work. WTF?! Soldier, Soldier is like worst show ever and only Brits would know it. Relic Hunter - he was in it for one episode. Why not list Sex and Chips, Ruth Rendell Mysteries, or even Numb3rs? Who writes these signs?)

OK, I see there's a whole bunch of photos already. See the flickr search. He looks adorable and very sexy. He's wearing his "evil" cap, and sunglasses over it. And a flannel shirt with the sleeves bunched up at the elbow. Does anyone else get a trucker vibe of this outfit? :D

He seems to be shaking his hand in many of the pictures. As if he's making "autograph" motions even when he's not signing. Maybe it's an involuntary movement that hits him when he's signing? :D So cute.

Mini edit: No new links, but it took me a while to get that in the "James Callis and Alice" picture, it's not a woman named Alice who likes to dress weird, but a cosplayer pretending to be Alice in Wonderland. Duh! :D This is quickly becoming my favorite new picture. James looks happy and amused at the costume. And his HAIR! Long curly hair! *gush*

Bridget Jones 3?

Right, so they're making another Bridget Jones movie. I don't think I ever joked about it on this blog, but I actually had this question in mind, if I ever got to interview James. It was something like this:
"If they made another Bridget Jones- like Darcy vs. Cleaver - The Final Battle, would you play Tom in it?"

I always wished he'd say NO. But now that there will be a sequel, I have mixed feelings about this.

Luckily, it seems like BJD III won't really be about Darcy vs. Cleaver (I hope), but rather about Bridget looking to get pregnant in her forties. It's likely James will be approached for the role of Tom. On the other hand, since the films have barely even showed the friends anyway, they might just drop them altogether.

I've got to give BJD some credit. It made James a bit more well known, and apparently many people still recognize him as Tom, not as Gaius Baltar. He made Tom charming and was funny in the role. It's not the worst movie ever, there was nothing directly offensive about it, and even if his role was a bit token, he did it respectfully.

But but but. He was barely in it! Tom was an awesome character in the books, and so much more could have been done with him. But that's also true of Bridget and everyone else in the film. As far as romantic comedies go, they (or mainly the first movie) weren't all that bad. As far as adaptations go, however, absolute BS.

To quote James himself (from a message he wrote while making the first BJD in 2001):

I've been BJDing for quite some time but in effect am not so seminal to main story line, there is of course another storyline that is whipped up every day, impromptu like, by myself and the other delightful lesser mortals whom malign fate has called upon to be B's "friends", as we sit in the spooky caravans and dream of one day getting onto the set, and perhaps (and I know this is crazy) that someone might make a mistake and we might actually end up in the film after all, but at the moment the caravan storyline isn't being shot.

Bwah! (Did he just use "spooky" again?) This is so self-ironic and delicious, it might as well be James Callis Quote of the Week.

Do we really want him to go thru that all over again? Do we?

On the other hand, what if they don't ask him at all? Wouldn't that be more offensive?

It would mean James on the big screen... Hmmmm.... Ah, James... *dreams* Mmmm.

*slaps self* OK. I'm giving it a thumbs up AND a thumbs down. It's below his level at both acting and stardom. If he does it, I hope they at least pay him well. But like Nicole Anell suggested, maybe he's doing it for the children?

After all, he's got to make a living too. (And at least it's vastly less embarrassing than the Audi commercial.)

OK, Probably Not Going to Meet James Callis.

It really looks like I won't be able to afford the Bonn con in September. I might still, but it's a pretty remote possibility. The con is on September 12 and I'm paying the last of the laptop on September 15. Also on Sept 15: my loan payments which come up to - about as much as the con would. Starfury in London in November - probably even more expensive and not all that much further ahead, so... a pretty definite no on that as well. I'd best just accept that I probably won't go there either.

I'm not sorry I bought the laptop. I really need one, and it's something I will be using every day for many years. It was a mature thing to spend money on, rather than spending on one day abroad meeting an actor.

And because I'm mature and 30 this year, I did not cry over this. And I didn't feel crushed by the thought that I might never meet him. It's understood when you're a fan that you might never meet the person. It might even be better that way, because how could it ever live up to your dreams? I told myself this over and over.

So why am I so disappointed? My brain had gone thru all the scenarios and ended up with "things are fine the way they are", but my heart was already onto "Eeee I'm going to meet James!!!!"

When I was considering going, all I could think of was the myriad ways in which it could be disappointing and awkward. Now that I know I probably won't go, all I can think of is how OMG awesome it could have been. I guess that proves that under my self-doubts, I had this vision of stepping in front of James, and at that moment, all the clouds of doubt and anxiety would vanish. There'd only be him, Real!James in the flesh, shining at me personally. And that dream did give me some kind of hope and joy.

So - I am sad. If I don't post about this again, assume I am not going to either con. I'll still post others' reports and links, and hopefully there'll be a lot of fun details. It's still an all-James con, which is awesome, whether I can be there or not.

WTF: Plagiarism?

What the frak?! Someone's apparently already re-posted my latest "James Callis quote of the week" - in completely incomprehensible gibberish. I mean, look at this!

Or maybe I was just really high last night and actually wrote this:

From the dignified Onion AV Club talk. It’s from 2008, positively extended, and if you haven’t pore over it, pore over it right away every so customarily. In-depth, with extended James quotes, playing it cool pleasing.

Wow, I must be a lot more ill than I thought I was!

Also, I see the James quote is also nothing at all like I remembered:

And this man-it’s playing it cool, openly, reading it, I was like, Christ, this bloke is Gaius Baltar! He’s a ground. And he said, Stay nevertheless, everybody, you’ll be dainty, and playing it cool ran! He ran benefit of his nourishment, without any of the kids who he’s presumed to be looking after.

"Playing it cool" seems to be a phrase James uses a lot - how weird that I never noticed.

Yet this must be by me, right? It even has my name on it:

I nevertheless about that awarding is an dignified means of thinking albeit.
Posted by
Deniselle

OK, so wtf is going on here? Does anybody know? Is this some bot that has translated my post into gibberish and added random links to other things?

If you want to plagiarize, why would you use my name and my blog's name?

What the FRAK?

James Callis Quote of the Week: The Gaius Baltar Award for Moral Cowardice

From the awesome Onion AV Club interview. It's from 2008, quite long, and if you haven't read it, read it now. In-depth, with long James quotes, just beautiful. (Also he references to Shakespeare, Plato and Chaucer within the same interview. Which amuses me a little.)

I might pick another quote from this interview another time, but for a little light relief, I really liked this:

"I think that there should be a Gaius Baltar Award for Moral Cowardice given out to people every year. And this man—it's just, seriously, reading it, I was like, "Christ, this guy is Gaius Baltar!" He's a schoolteacher. The earthquake hits. And he said, "Stay still, everybody, you'll be fine," and just ran! He ran for his life, without any of the kids who he's supposed to be looking after. And the miracle of it is that the earthquake didn't touch his school in the same way. He went back to the class, and they're all alive, thank God. And they were like, "But teacher, why did you run away?" And his replies are just extraordinary. It's like, "I'm not a brave man. I am a coward. And in situations like this, it's every man for himself. I don't really feel very guilty, because I didn't cause the earthquake, and quite frankly, if it had been my own mother sat next to me, I would have left her as well."

Hee! I love the idea of that award. Who would be the first to get it? Moral cowardice might be Gaius' most dominant characteristic (or at least the one that he exhibits the most on the show).
As a news story, that's really pretty shocking, and could have ended horribly. But that's human nature - is it personality or attitude? Gaius, at least, would have felt guilty and tortured about not being the great, admirable person he thought he was. So I feel like he's above that teacher in that sense.

I think there's a similar reference to that in the 2005 TV Guide interview. Let's see:

It's fair to say Gaius is amoral. He's compassionate, he has a conscience, he suffers from remorse, but that's not really morality. His weakness is not standing up for anything, he's always trying to sidestep.

He may be painfully aware of not being a hero, but he doesn't really work to redeem himself - until the very end, when he did stand up for something. He could have left with the cult, but he stayed to fight; he admitted he didn't truly believe in what he preached. He even stood up to Cavil and protected Hera. So maybe that's the biggest personal growth Gaius had: growing a moral spine.

I still think that award is an awesome idea though.

James Callis Miscellanea

News: James will be at the San Diego Comic Con! He's signing autographs at the Official Pix booth from Friday through Sunday (July 24-26). 30 bucks per autograph. He hasn't been added to any of the panels, sadly, but I hope he still will be. James, do a panel! You're great at panels!

A set of photos from last year's Comic Con here. Beautiful James shots, and - naughty Six fantasy? Heee! Tricia's presence seems to affect James strongly!

A new James Callis fan twitter: James Callis Fansite! If you have meeting stories or photos, you can submit them there. His own story is pretty touching. He had burned his head and James was very concerned:

James Callis looked up. His facial expression turned from a smile to a look of bewilderment and he said, “My god man, what happened to your head, do you need medical attention?”

And then James let him talk for like ten minutes. *fan love and gushes* James is such a sweetheart!

EW Sci-Fi Hotties poll: James Callis! I'm proud he's in the poll. Frown and eye-roll to those who are commenting that he's short / doesn't look like Jamie Bamber. He's not supposed to look like Jamie Bamber. He's supposed to look like James Callis. Some of us love him just for that. James probably won't win the poll - he's at about 1 % - but I'm ridiculously glad he's in it. I'm not really bothered that he's not attractive to everyone, because that sort of makes him more special for us fans. I just wish people didn't butt in to say that they don't think he's attractive, as if the rest of us don't have a right to find him hot. Your taste is not the universal truth, people. (And yay for the Dennys Ilic WetJames pic!)

I've picked a picture for James to sign. It's this one from the awesome Baltar/Six picspam by Nicole Anell! It's completely crumpled and there's a surprise moustache in the lowest panel - I think my water bottle leaked. (checks) Actually, it's my Coke bottle, because there are brown stains on the other side. Fitting!

The reason I want him to sign this exact printout is that it's the copy I looked at the most when I was depressed. His smile in the third panel gave me hope. And it's my favorite Baltar/Six moment ever. I loved when Six emerged in the sweats and went in full-on nightmare-conscience mode. I'm not sure what it looks like when I bring the completely creased and crumpled piece of paper to him, but... it's authentic and personal at least?

I hope he doesn't ask me what I want him to write tho, because I can't think of anything. (Six's dress is red / Colonial uniforms are blue / donuts are sweet / and so are you? Actually that's pretty good :D)

Going to Meet James Callis! (Possibly. Maybe. We'll See.)

OK, so I'm tentatively going to Bonn. This is not a promise, but it's how I feel at the moment, so I feel confident enough to post it. If I do go, you will see a lot of reporting here about the event. If I don't, you will see other people's reports and my jealous mutterings. Rain check regarding money and mental health. I will confess that I splurged on a new laptop, but I do need it. My mental health, however, has been improving drastically lately, so I might actually be able to handle this. I feel better about myself and more confident in general. Fan meetings are a big test on nerves and self-confidence, though, so I might not be able to go through with it. But as it is right now, I can imagine going, which is a start.

Like I wrote earlier, I'm a little anxious as to whether James reads the blog and stuff. But he must have seen me post at the JC forum either way, so he has some idea that he has a fan in Finland who's a bit ... (self esteem check)... charming or at least as acceptable as anyone else. Eh.

I promise not to do any of the following:

1. Print out my entire blog. Then have him sign each page with a different witty remark (which I will later post in the blog, but no pressure!). I'd best be last in line because this could take a while...

2. "I'll be out of your hair in a minute, hahahhaaha" (maniacal laughter) *snaps a hair off James' head* *snaps a hair off James' chest* *snaps hairs off various other unmentionable places* *gets carried out by security*

3. "Have you been eating donuts lately or not? It's hard to tell with your shirt on, could you just remove it and I can palpate a bit... Don't be shy!" (I could bring a stetoscope to make it appear like I'm a doctor.)

4. Show up with a full body tattoo of his body. Or alternatively just his face on my belly. I'd tell him to sign it well because I'm going to have it tattooed on...

5. Bring him the gift of "Baltar's blood vials". Full of my own blood.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Which is that I'm really nervous about the meeting and sure I'm going to be shy and awkward, so I need to make up these random scenarios that certainly won't be happening.

I'm not sure what to expect. I know he'll be sweet and lovely and all that, but I will probably be bumbling and shy, or at least FEEL bumbling and shy, and not be able to be the witty, composed, almost ingenious blog author you all know. I do have an alternate reality fantasy where I'm really witty and relaxed with him and make a really good impression, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.

I have to stop thinking about it because my heart is beating really fast. Which might mean I'm not ready to go, but it's two months left to make an actual decision. Whatever I do, it should be something I'm personally comfortable with. James can live without ever meeting me and I can live without ever meeting him (I think), so my mental health comes first. I'll keep you posted on the final decision.

Gaius Video and Screenshot Linkies

One of my favorite fan videos ever, bopradar's Clint Eastwood, is now on Youtube. See above or at this link.

I had heard the song (by Gorillaz), but wouldn't have thought to associate it with Baltar. The lyrics are just wacky and arrogant enough to fit him, and the edits and James' facial expressions are unusually well placed. I particularly like that it tells a chronological story, but still goes back to the first seasons in the end when applicable. All-around awesome.

Also check out kixxa's blog for beautiful Gaius screenshots from the Miniseries. Gaius' whole arc from the miniseries is captured in the shots. Also some patented Gaius experessions! Kixxa also posted lovely shots of bearded and huddling James (alpaca hat!) from the series lowdown.

Just a couple of linkies to brighten up my day, because I'm in a bad mood. Looking at Gaius always does the trick!

More Interview Snippets From the Jules Verne Festival

This seems to be Mary, Jamie, and James answering the same questions.

Transcript (James only):

I didn't want to be the character. I wanted to be Jamie's character, but he'd already been cast as Apollo. I wanted to be Apollo. I was like hey, I wanna be the good guy, I don't want to be this douchebag. And they were like.. everybody [in America?] was like, but you'll be perfect!I'm like what do you mean, you don't even know me, what do you mean I'd be perfect for this guy?

Can you imagine James as Apollo? Honestly, I don't think he would have been suitable. No offense to Jamie, but there's something very... conventional about Apollo and his father-son relationship issues and his looks and everything. I think James is unconventional and has something different about him, and he suits the anti-hero role much better.

I'd done Bridget Jones' Diary. Funnily enough, just this morning when getting on the Eurostar someone came up, "Are you on.. you're on something, I've seen you. " I said, "Battlestar Galactica." She went, "Battle-what?"(befuzzled look) And I went, "Um, maybe you saw me in Bridget Jones." (acts excited) "Oh my god, yes! Bridget!" I was like, "Yeah, well, that's it."

I get that reaction from my friends too. BSG? "No, I don't watch that kind of stuff." Bridget Jones? "Oh, THAT guy!" It's a shame, because while BJD is a decent enough comedy and James did a good job on the role, Tom is not much of a character in the film. I'm frankly surprised people remember him by it - speaks volumes of how well he played the part.

So I'd done BJD. I don't know, a lot of people thought I was gay, cause I played the gay friend. I would get a lot of offers for... not a lot of others, that's not true, a few coming through: "Hey, you could be the gay friend in this show." And then I read this script, and it was like, he's in bed with this woman, he's kissing this one.. I was like.. I'll do it, I'll do this one right now.

*Tries to imagine James playing "the gay friend" on various shows.* OK, that was not a pleasant mental image. Sadly, the token gay friend roles mostly suck, and if he had done even one more, I suspect the British audience would have forever stamped him as the funny gay sidekick. I'm glad he had the sense to keep out of that.

It's a wonderful part to play. As an actor, you want to have on some level as many different... *I* wanted to have as many different... colors as I could have in this thing. And I also was... I'm interested in acting, not interested in being a hero or being a good guy, but I get to America sometimes, I know these people who are like.. I think they think acting is all about being... (poses with a stern look) No, that's.. So I don't mind going to those places where I think you as an audience... you're revolted by this man.

I wonder if this is one of the key differences between American and British films and TV. American films will have heroes and British films will have anti-heroes. Even within the same genre, you can see a difference. Take something like Sex and the City versus the aforementioned Bridget Jones' Diary. Somehow, British TV is full of loser protagonists. I should look deeper into this sometime.

I'm actually really impressed by some American shows recently though, because there's been a break from that routine. The Sopranos is a good example: a show with nothing but selfish, petty, greedy, lying, cheating characters. You despise them and yet you feel for them and even root for them when things go wrong. Because we're all pretty rotten inside on some level. You can relate to people whose bad sides are out in the open. And when people like that do something good, it has more of an effect on you as a viewer than when the heroes do it. You expect Apollo to help people and be courageous, but when Baltar does that, it really makes you think and question who he is as a character. Which is, I guess, what James was saying in some of the stuff in my previous post.

More Jules Verne transcripts coming soon!

Random Googlebits, Part Quatre

I've missed blogging, but had so much work of late. Now I'm on holiday, for the whole of July [edited: I did mean to write July originally - stressed brain!], I will get to the transcripts I've been itching to do. Once my brain settles. But since I have some random googlebits once again, I might as well serve these as an appetizer. It's a bit meatier than just "Hat Man". (I was tired.)

James' imdb profile has added Anika - as Anika Jahan Callis. The post from James has only the first name, so this must be updated by some inside source. Exciting! Doing a little digging online, Jahan is a Hindi or Muslim name meaning "the world". Anika Jahan is a lovely combination, and looks very exotic to me (especially Jahan, which I'd never seen before). James and Neha have great taste. I'm glad I like all their kids' names, because names are very important to me. *name nerds*

His profile also lists their wedding date as 30 December, 1998. A bit of extra trivia there. (I wrote "tricia" instead of "trivia" and had to correct myself. Wonder why?) Now someone needs to update his Wikipedia article - not so keen on the picture (you can't even see his hair!), no info on the children, but it does mention his parents own a B&B and even links to the definition of "bed and breakfast". Keeping to the essentials! I'm not going to touch the article, though, because I'm still surly that it refused to keep my links to my and kixxa's blogs or even the Unofficial Website, which is the number one source for old stuff and the only source for direct messages from James. James needs an official homepage.

I doubt people are reading the FedCon post anymore, so a link to some more beautiful photos from FedCon below. Looks like professional ones, and so many of James! There are some great poses from the Q&A. Adorable. (And the suit looks grey in most of the pictures. Let's just trust that it was beige.)

And a picture of James at the JV festival, this time in B&W. With a transcript of HeadSix and HeadBaltar's final speech.

This girl bought Gaius Baltar's jail clothes, but they turned out to be unworn extras. But no worries, she can still wear them, because James is so tiny. Our widdle man! *coos* I think the clothes look pretty hot on her, actually. They did look hot on James too. There are worse prison outfits.

A review of the Merlin movie, which - well, pretty much captures what I wanted to say about it. I'll be honest: I didn't like it all that much; it sounded like it could be cool, as a concept, but seeing the thing was... not completely cringeworthy, but not that enjoyable either. The deep voice thing doesn't work at all. I don't mind the accent; I can understand it pretty well and might even transcribe the most important lines. But the voice - it's just not James' voice. I felt the same way with One Night With the King. This is just my theory, but I think keeping his voice that way sucks a part of his energy that he needs for the performance, and the performance therefore feels a bit like he's holding something back. It could be the voice or something else. There are great acting moments, but as a whole, it's not really his best work. I'm not super disappointed, because it's just a TV movie, and I've never been into medieval films anyway. I just wish he got roles that were a bit more noteworthy in the media. I wonder how Rubins will be distributed. If it comes out in theatres here, I'm definitely seeing and reviewing it!

In case I haven't plugged them yet, the final David Eick video blogs featured James pretty heavily. They didn't load for me today for some reason, but shouldn't be geo-coded, because I was able to watch them before. They were filmed during the making of the finale, so lots of shots of the open air for once.

I particularly liked the final readthru. RDM is crying; Eddie is crying silently and others look at him with respect; Tricia is teary and James sounds like he's on the verge of tears too. You can see them reading the final lines. It's really very touching. It's odd to watch that and then read the fan fallout at Syfy where so many people were angry. I have to side with the cast here; even if I wasn't happy with everything, the finale moved me and made me feel a calm sense of gratitude. It's over, and that hasn't really sunken in yet (I wonder if it has for James, a year after they finished filming?) - but it was damn good and I'm grateful.

Older stuff:

Lots of people are googling "James Callis Spooky lyrics". I'm sorry, but I've tried listening to the Youtube videos and so far, haven't succeeded in putting together coherent lyrics. Basically they're not online anywhere, and you'd just have to piece it together. If anyone's interested in helping out, here's what I've got so far:

it's spooky
how you know
we haven't been introduced
? understand
?
maybe you're pscyhic
maybe I'm almighty
maybe we're exactly the same
? way of two dogs

? ? expectations
? ?
special reputation

I don't do voodoo
I don't know if you do
but if you need a sacrifice
I'm your man

So that would be the first verse and the chorus. The videos online are fan recordings, and it's almost impossible to hear his voice at some bits, from all the instruments. So um, I'm not sure if I can help people with this. I wish I could; I loved Spooky, it was crazy and creative and a positive surprise. I did expect it to be bland and typical Brit-pop, but it's not at all.

Helpfully, someone stole the lyrics sheet (WTF?`Who does this?), and has posted a short excerpt (this is from the end of the song):

It's too spooky, too spooky,
Too spooky how you understood me
Now I don't got…I said no words
You looked at me as plain as verse
What the hell am I supposed to do
When I get my paws ahold of you
Stumble, tumble, fumble, bumble
Took you for a ride, kiss me…

Like I've said before - insane genius. This is kind of how I imagine James' brain stumbling, tumbling, fumbling, bumbling with words and ideas. He just has so much stuff in there, it's like a bolt of lightning to hear a bit of it.

There are some nice photos at that link, and I do appreciate the lyrics excerpt, but um, you stole something and then say you won't repost it for privacy reasons? I don't consider lyrics to a song sung in public particularly private. It also mentions the song was going to be used on BSG but wasn't. Maybe James was playing on that in the mockumentary with all the "Ron loves it, he's definitely going to put it in the show..." It's a shame. I hope we get to hear a better-quality version of Spooky and perhaps some other songs later. James originally wanted to be a musician, and I wonder if he ever misses that dream. I don't see why he couldn't do both acting and music.

I found a version of the BSG Burbank 2006 James & Tricia panel article - wow, what a long phrase - that doesn't have a coding problem. (I linked to a version before that had pictures, but kept cutting off the full article at various places.) While it sadly doesn't contain more info on the donut story, there are some other very interesting (and perhaps more important) points to be found. No direct quotes though. Some samples:

James thinks that one of their key strengths on the show is the unique nature of their relationship, and that nobody else on the show has anybody that they confide in. Only Baltar and Six really express what is going on inside their heads.

That's very true, and probably one of the key aspects that drew me to the characters. I've always loved being inside someone's head in that way. It's the main reason I love fiction, and if a character doesn't have a rich (and preferably hidden) inner life, I easily find him/her boring.

Baltar was never conceived as a cold, calculating man and one of the things that James tries hard to show is that Baltar has warmth and compassion. He is used as a benchmark on the show in a way, that although he can be incredibly self-serving, even he feels upset about certain things (such as the manner in which Gina was treated) and if something bothers even him, then it must be truly significant.

I'm probably going to quote every article where James says something about this, because this is an aspect of Baltar that people tend to completely overlook.

James said that in a scene it’s typically one person’s task to be emotional, and somebody else’s task to be the foil. The person who has the emotional task is frequently hiding away in solitude before a scene, while everyone else is kicking back and having fun on the set. James typically prepares himself by going out for a smoke break and loading up on caffeine. He has also found that to play a scene where the character is exhausted, you yourself can’t be exhausted. (Not a method actor then huh?) Acting requires energy, so performances are always better when the actor feels well.

It's cute to hear him mention caffeine, although it's hardly news that he tends to load up on it, after seeing all the coffee/Cola next to him in pictures. Tricia, on the other hand, likes to hop up and down to get energy for scenes. It's interesting that Tricia loves sports and being physical, while James seems to like to... well, get high on various addictive (if legal) substances. I love how gleefully indulgent he can be. I can definitely relate to his lifestyle more than Tricia's.

Slightly off topic, two pictures of me with baby James, my cousin's baby. Gush both about the name and the fact that James' Anika is about the same age, two months. *Double gush!!*

OK, this turned out quite long as usual. I enjoyed writing a long post again. More coming soon!