Random Googlebits, Part Sept

I was going to get this done when it was still SEPTember, hah hah, but now that joke is not only unfunny but also untrue... I'm still saying it though, because I think James would appreciate the pun.

Random James-related links is leading the poll, and I freaked out for a moment thinking I'd linked to everything I can find, but browsing through the previous random googlebits posts, I've spared some. Whew. There may be a time when I run out, but there's still plenty of material for this.

Some lovely James pictures, mostly from the 2006 Comic Con - we've got beard, cap (not the "evil" cap) and James and Aaron being very chummy once again! I thought for a moment he was wearing some kind of cape here, but then I realized it's a long-sleeved shirt thrown over a t-shirt. It must be the Jesus beard that led me to thinking he looks like a cult leader. :D

Beach Blanket Battlestar - apparently someone went to the beach while BSG were filming there, and they got to meet some of the actors, including James. Not that many details, but there's a cute little side picture where you can see James smiling.

An interview with James and Bear McCreary at the BSG concert in April 2008 here. James is very excited about the music on BSG - and the interviewer is very excited about James, so much so that he included a couple of audio clips.

I’ve been acting…professionally at least, for…twelve years, or something like that. I’ve never felt more proud about being involved with this show. It does so many things. It says so much. The caliber of performance, writing, production value, graphics, the music, it’s almost more than the sum of all of its parts. I’m also very proud to be part of something which is in popular culture but is also a cautionary tale. We are looking at a very similar society to our own who have already screwed it up for themselves. There are lessons you can learn from this. It’s quite didactic!

Nobody can take that away from us. We’ve been involved in this superb phenomenon.

Well, that's him praising BSG once again, not him praising the music, but read more in the link. I love hearing him say how much he loves BSG - it almost sounds like he's one of us fans marveling at the show.

A lovely review of said concert, including two mentions of James, here.

Towards the end, during the encore, we noticed him standing on this balcony and completely rocking out and clapping like a fangirl to the music. It was fantastic. And he SANG. He played this song he wrote on the keyboard (the band played as well) and sang this song called "Spooky". I'm pretty sure Michelle recorded it, so it'll be up at some point. James compared playing for Bear as the guy who invented Chopsticks playing for Beethoven. It was brilliant, I don't remember the last time I've laughed so hard.

We told him where we were all from (England, Texas, Louisiana, and Australia) an he just stares at us and says "Fuck." Hee! He was very sweet, took a picture with all of us. When the camera was about to go off he says "This is Baltar's dream come true!"

A TV Squad reporter met James at a party and James knew who they are:

I said, "oh, you've read us then?" and he replied with: "Yes yes. I own a ... what do you call it ... ah yes, a computer." To that I could only laugh and say, "Touché, sir. Touché."

And a picture from the same event here. I must admit I'm not a huge fan of the hair gel. Let your hair run wild and free, James!

Others mentioning James...

I haven't done a lot of this yet, so let's get in some other people's mentions of James. Firstly, from a recent Tricia and Katee interview, this was a lot of fun. You can listen to the audio here. It's also transcribed here by Elizabeth White, so I'm just going to quote conveniently.

Firstly, some James love from Katee. The question was what they envied about each other's characters:

I was always envious of that and I think that working with James — I never got to work with James but I think once or twice. And he’s just absolutely amazing so…and I never had you know, but maybe fifteen, twenty scenes with him like the whole entire series. Not a lot.

Awww! I must admit I envy Tricia for that reason too. It's nice to see this for a change, after reading umpteen times how lucky James was to work with Tricia. I mean, Tricia is beautiful and awesome, but James is pretty awesome himself, so let's admit that Tricia was lucky too, shall we?

Q: If you could choose just ONE former BSG castmate to be stranded on an island with, who would you choose and why?
- Cainsrazor

For giggles, they'd pick each other, but for procreation? "The young studs" - James is mentioned by Tricia, and Katee seems to agree, so thumbs up - but which one? Who could survive in the wild..?

Katee: Trucco and Tahmoh. Yeah.

Tricia: Yeah.

Katee: None of the English boys…[laughing]

Tricia: None of the English boys…[laughing]

Katee: They’d be like…[in an English accent] “You want me to do what?”

Tricia: [in an English accent] “What is that?”

Katee: [in an English accent] “You want me to build you a fire? I can’t build a fire. [laughing] Bring out that thing you call — what do you call that? Like a zippo.”

[both laughing]

Tricia: We’re making fun of James [Callis] and Jamie [Bamber]. We love them…

Katee: We do love them but I don’t think — I’ve seen Trucco actually like fix a motorcycle, so I think I’d pick him.

:D :D :D Heee! I can just see James not making it in the wild. (How long before he'd freak out over the lack of cigarettes? An hour or two?) But if you needed a professor to keep you civilized - or a class clown to keep you entertained - he might be your pick. (I always talk like I actually know him, so I feel compelled to mention that I don't.)

Here's something from 2007: a lovely Q&A with Tricia, where someone asks about James, and she praises him:

¨James is... I adore James. He's one of the most talented, funniest guys I've ever met. He's very self-deprecating, he's very... he's very well read. It's funny cos half the time I have to ask him "What's that, James? What does that word mean, James?" He has a vocabulary that is way beyond my scope of English. But um.. he's just lovely. He's a very good actor, and I've been fortunate to be able to work off of him. I'm sure he has brought out better work from myself than would maybe just acting on my own. He's a bit of a klutz. He's the kind of guy that will get out of the van, on the way his hat will fall off, and while picking his hat, his backpack will fall off and hit him on the head. He'll trip over anything and... but he's very passionate, very focused on his work and.. he's wonderful.

He's got two cute little boys. One, he knows me, Joshua. And when he sees me on screen, he'll be like, "Tisha! Tisha!" but he has yet, in four years, to smile at me when I meet him in person. He looks at me like this, he goes, [frown] I'm sure he doesn't watch all of it, but he knows enough and he knows something... "My dad's with you but my mom's there... You know what, I don't like you!" But James is lovely."

Joshua sounds just adorable! And so does James. If you want to see him be a klutz, see the third season gag reel with him trying to get into a plane and hitting his head on the door. He's wearing a helmet so nothing happens, but it's.. heee. :D

Tricia and Lucy Lawless discuss James/Baltar here. I have some trouble hearing what they're saying, but they describe him as a "good soul", kind and generous. (L)!

I do wonder, though, why every time Lucy mentions James, it turns into the "Lucy sees James' penis" story. Tricia actually brings it up here. If you haven't seen it yet, it's in the third season gag reel - the scene, not the penis - and I think it's noteworthy that Lucy chokes up at the words "how long". It's at about 7:50, but my favorite bit has to be at 7:40 where James is lying naked on the baseship sofa and talking to the people on set: "Good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the show! Tonight on Baltar's Basestar, we've got some fascinating people joining us." I wish the gag reels had more James in them.

That's about it for now. I'll save more for later.