Well hello there. You must have thought this post was done for. I certainly did. But as it often goes, the best con updates come later, and here they are: THE FULL PANEL WITH JAMES IS ON YOUTUBE!
It's all here at ProiezioniMentali's Youtube channel. THANK YOU SO MUCH! If I find the time and/or energy, I might provide a transcript. James' voice is not dubbed, thank the gods, but there is a translator, so every time he gives an answer, there's the Italian translation, and it's slightly awkward.
Highlights: he talks about the angels in BSG, and he says it's more like the Western idea of angels. He explains how in the Western world, we think of people as separate, and therefore God is a separate being, angels are people with wings, etc. But in the Eastern view, which he leans more to, people are connected instead. Thus it's not the same idea of God. (This is in video 4.) When I heard him say that, like an epiphany about how he sees himself and fans. If we're all connected, then he's not "the star" and he doesn't try to be higher than us, and maybe I could even be on the same level with him, or on every single level, and not embarrassingly obsessive about him and so much younger and dumber etc. etc. I tried asking him but I fumbled it and deleted the tweets, because maybe in the end I was asking if he sees me as inferior or not, and it's not fair to ask him something like that. So now I feel mighty embarrassed, because he might have seen the tweets anyway. But it felt GOOD, is the point. Like I saw his approach to humanity and it was very connected and not separatist. But um. I'll get back to James and out of my own issues and oddities.
Anyhoo, I thought it's very interesting. Since his wife is from India and he's visited India a lot, he probably has a pretty good idea of the Oriental way of thinking and the sort of religions they have there. Without bringing it back to my own issues, I think this understanding of being connected could be helpful in finding empathy for other people, something that it seems western culture lacks lately. It's like there's better people and worse people, whether the division is rich/poor, able-bodied/disabled, white/black, male/female, straight/gay, whatever. I wonder if that comes from this sort of separation thinking. Like it's the dark side of individualism or... Or maybe that's just capitalism and I'm projecting my own thinking to this.
I was also glad to hear he doesn't see Gaius as limiting to his career, and that he saw Bridget Jones as a lot more limiting, because they wanted him to play the gay friend every time. "I'd go to a meeting and they'd go, 'Right, it's an alien movie, but the alien has a gay best friend.'" LMAO! I hope that's not a real example. (I seem to recall a movie in The Simpsons universe called "My Best Friend's Gay Baby".)
He mentions working with "people who made Napoleon Dynamite", so that's Jerusha Hess and Austenland. Interesting. He doesn't go into detail about the movie, but mentions that it's a role he got because of BSG. Also, Hollywood people apparently think BSG is called "Battlestar GalactiStargate". :D
The first couple of videos have some of the old questions about auditioning, but I think it's cute how he retells the same stories, it's never exactly the same. The philosophical stuff is in videos 3 and 4 mostly though, if you want to get right to the new stuff.
He's wearing the tie and the plaid shirt and I must admit it looks oddly suave, especially with his glasses on (which he removes quite early on though). It's hard to make out his contours under the shirt though, which is obviously a drawback. Some tighter clothing would be nice, but other than that, this outfit is growing on me. (Not literally though.)
Tuesday, 8th November
LOL!!!! OK, here's the video and.. heee! "Buga buga!" Oh James! How obnoxious, you go to Italy and first thing, you compare their president to Gaius Baltar. How rude! :D Thanks to ProiezioniMentali for the upload.
*rubs his hair nervously* You know, I think I have a James-touching-his-hair-fetish. I keep finding new fetishes, it's a bit worrying really.
Monday, 7th November.
There's another photo on Twitter, you can click to enlarge the new profile picture of Tommy_The_chef. Very nice indeed! The tie gets curiouser and curiouser as you look closer at it, because apparently it's made up of tiny black dots on a white base or something. Which makes it look brown or beigeish? Interesting. Or maybe I just zoomed in so much that the picture became overly pixelated. Hard to tell. Also, Tommy sounds like another very happy customer (if you can say that).
Someone promised to put together a video of James talking about Baltar and Berlusconi (??!), but Twitter search refuses to show that entry right now. I'll link to the video if/when the link shows up. I must say I'm quite curious - what does Baltar have to do with Berlusconi? (Maybe the Italians don't like their president very much?)
James' hair seems like it's bigger from the front than the back. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or an incredibly hot thing. It's often hard to tell.
Don't you love con time? So many people loving our boy. Ah, James' be.. I mean, James. Ahem.
Sunday, 6th November.
First fan pictures! Ah, so the tie is BEIGE or brownish! Not yellow. The plaid shirt is growing on me, actually (not literally). I like the way it looks on him, kind of a casual yet neat look. But the tie is a mystery for the ages. There's some stubble on a closer look, which always adds to his sexiness. Also he looks friendly and relaxed, so that promises good things for fan satisfaction. (Did that sound dirty? Or not dirty enough? I'm a bit ill, so my writing's not top notch but who cares.)
From the look of the tweets, it sounds like James did great.
PILO7980 PILØ
It was a pleasure lunching and talking with @jamescallis , a great actor and a wonderful person.
Natychan11 Nespola Plebea
comunque James Callis(Gaius Baltar) è una persona fantastica!!abbiamo chiacchierato tantissim *__*
According to Google Translate (I know), this means: "However, James Callis is a fantastic person! We talked a lot." :) :)
More updates as they come in. I'm feeling more mellow now that we have a few pictures and I know what James is looking like Right Now. (And I know the look is to my liking.) (Although it's never NOT been. I don't know why I always feel nervous about this.)
Saturday, 5th November 2011.
Yay! James at a con! This is so exciting! It's been over a year since the last time, so my googling skills may be a bit rusty, but here's the first photo!
And he's wearing - a flannel shirt and a yellow tie??? O.o Oh James' con fashions! I've missed you. In fact, there seems to be a fancier shirt under the flannel shirt, but then he has the flannel shirt and the sleeves rolled up, so maybe he's cold.. or hot? I... Heeeeee.
The hair looks very short still. I had somehow expected for it to be longer by now. I wonder if he's doing shorter-haired roles, or if he just prefers it short on his off-role time. Fascinating. Hopefully more updates (and deep analyses) soon!
