Random Googlebits, Part Dis

Is it dix...? Heh heh, dix! OK, it must be dis. Either way, ten. I'll stop with the French numbers after this, if only because I can't count very far in French.

Of interest: There's a new project on James' imdb bio. It's not FlashForward. It's "The Scholarship - details only on imdb pro." I'm very curious about this. Anybody here have imdb pro? *M reports that this movie has something to do with Nick Cohen. Interesting. It's apparently not a James co-write/co-produce thing this time, though.

This site seems to have some protection issues but the cache version works. It's an appreciation thread from 2008 and there's some meeting James stuff when you scroll down.

As someone who dislikes his character, I was thinking that I probably won't like him, but James was awesome to talk to. He was friendly and funny.

I mentioned that we were from fanforum.com, etc and he was interested in it...but the idiot that I am, me and my gf were kind of caught in the moment of "talking to a famous person" that we forgot to write it down for him. He was like "I'd like to check that out, I told him what it was, the site in general, and that he's got his own appreciation thread.

...

James said he enjoys lurking on BSG forums, etc reading what the fans have to say.

...James, are you reading this? :D I'm not super-surprised, because he reads the Unofficial site and recognized Matt and Nat of GalactiCast, but it's nice to know he reads fan sites. It's amusing to think of him lurking in forums. While I'd love for him to post more online (say in his own personal blog), I think it's wise of him to lurk and not start defending Baltar in online conversations. That would be messy.

Hilariously, someone said he was like Baltar, and someone else asked for a clarification:

Some of the mannerisms are like him. I asked him how it was to work with Lucy Lawless and Tricia and he said that they were totally in love with him. That's what I thought was like Baltar. But he was very nice and great to talk to.

LOL! That's called being facetious. And it's not like Baltar at all. Baltar would have said that and meant it. It's amusing that some people apparently can't tell when James does this.

Triniroslin found some promotional pictures of The Hub. Drool! I know he's supposed to be injured and all, but he had a little tummy. What can I do but gush? Also, The Hub is probably my favorite Baltar/Laura episode evah and contains some stellar performances from both James and Mary Mc. Plus it has Lucy. So James+Mary+Lucy plus a bunch of people touching his belly. I mean, is this episode designed to please me or what?

In a similar vein, there's also this full image of a distraught Gaius on the destroyed Earth. And a few other pictures from the shooting. OK, this is old stuff, but it's still nice to see it.

A very cool video of BSG vs. Beastie Boys song Sabotage. The link also contains a very cool mention of James:

No lie... James Callis sang part of Sabotage to me at Megacon last year, when he saw that I was wearing a shirt from that video. :P

Awesome! Maybe he likes that song? (*goes and listens to Sabotage several times just because James knows it*) (seriously speaking, it's not my favorite music style but the video is really cool, what with the monikers and great sync of BSG scenes.)

Christina Schild, who played Playa Palacios on BSG, recounts working with James on the bathroom stall scene:

Oh, it was so much fun to work with him. I remember walking back into the bathroom stall -- when he goes in and I follow him in -- I remember we had to try and keep ourselves from giggling, because we were squished into that bathroom stall. Waiting for the director to yell cut. We had a really fun time.

Hee! Actually, it's too bad she wasn't really seen after that. It might have been fun. Or not. Um, we didn't really get a very good idea of who Playa was.

Some 2008 Starfury stuff.

James Callis is absolutely stunning, and I didn't expect him to be so down-to-earth and thoughtful towards the fans. He really made an effort to write a different dedication on every autograph.

....

Tahmoh, I don't know, he is nice and intelligent and everything, but he doesn't have that special presence on stage that captivates you, especially if you compare him to James Callis. James starts talking and you can not NOT listen to him.

....

James - Seemed laid back and funny. Also commented on the pronounciatino of my name...

Awww. People often seem touched at how much effort James makes, and it does a fan's heart good. And - he was interested in someone's name again? It really does seem like he loves names. (L)!!!

Another cute fan meeting:

- HUNG OUT WITH JAMES CALLIS (BALTAR!) AND TAHMOH PENIKETT (HELO!) AT THE MARRIOTT BAR!!! Both the dudes were really cool, and James told us to watch what happens in the second part of season 4 - he said it's pretty heavy. He also told Anna she was very beautiful and that she should find him when she's dressed as Six, lol!

Hee! I bet he enjoys hanging out with the girls dressed as Six. ;) (I'm not jealous of Anna. At all.) (Not AT ALL.) (Hmph.)

A lovely discussion of the Bear McCreary concert (2008).

Me: Um. This will be a bit spooky but I have in my possession a large picture of your head.

James Callis: Ah. Well. That's all right.

Me: Uh. My roommate gave it to me. It's been hanging awkwardly in my room since, advertising your show. But um. Please don't think I'm creepy. I'm not trying to be creepy. Honest!

Gaius Baltar: o_o

LOL!!! Yeah, I imagine being pretty much that awkward if I ever meet him. "I write a blog about you. It's all about you. I think about you a lot. But I'm not creepy, I swear!"

Seriously though, there is nothing creepy about having his poster on your wall. But I have a feeling that if the fan gets incredibly defensive about it, it might begin to seem creepy. There's really no point in constant "I'm not a stalker, seriously" apologies, but I realize I make those on here all the time. I should probably stop. If James thinks I'm a stalker, there's nothing I can do to convince him otherwise, but really why would he? (He wouldn't, right? Right?)

On the other hand, there's this:

Grace Park, who plays a collective of Cylon characters (Sharon/Boomer/Athena), said she recently got "a box big enough to fit a golden retriever in" that was packed with intricately assembled scrapbooks. "This fan had clearly spent hours and hours putting this together, and every page was about me, all the places where my name has popped up in a story or on the Internet. This story will be in the next one, I'm sure of it. It's very nice, but it's also a little . . . much."

Note to self: don't send James scrapbooks. Ahem, not that I have scrapbooks. Seriously though, even I think that's a little much. Assembling a blog for fans to find the links, okay. But sending a scrapbook to a star..? Hmmm. Reminds me of the fan who gave Tahmoh Penikett a casket of fake money at a con, "for all his services". That was a WTF moment for most other fans. But that's not on James, so I digress. Also in that article: Ron D Moore apparently very much enjoyed the black-screen ending of The Sopranos. I did too, but I'm kind of glad they didn't do quite that with BSG.

OK, back to James. A cute little encounter story:

I met James Callis (Dr. Baltar from the new Battlestar Galactica) @ the same con. He saw my friends and I in Red Sox gear and mentioned he had attended his first baseball game a few weeks ago. He said "I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I kept drinking and booing Barry Bonds".

Hee! :D That's hilarious! It's especially funny because of baseball commentator Jim Callis, who I suppose is also named James Callis, but never goes by that. I wonder if James is a fan of soccer like most British men seem to be - or if he's just not that into sports? I know Aaron Douglas talks about sports a lot. I was going to add him on twitter, but he seemed to talk about nothing but ice hockey. Nothing personal, Aaron.

This was also the second story where James found a discussion topic just by looking at someone's shirt. It's a nice way of breaking the ice and giving the fan a story to tell. Plus it gives us more trinkets about James' personality, which is always welcome.

San Diego Comic Con 2008: A pic where James "chats with Eureka creator Jaime Paglia". He looks kind of nervous, like it's a fan meeting for him. So cute!

Random stuff that comes up in these searches

I won't link to this because it's obvious spam, but once again, this type of thing amuses and baffles me.

James Callis, best Naruto complete series dvd box set known as Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica dvd box set, has been cast in a recurring mad men dvd box set role on FlashForward, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

You know, I just don't see how adding "naruto complete series dvd box set" OR "mad men dvd box set" into the text accomplishes... well, really, anything. Does it sell something? Does it put a virus in your computer if you open it? Is it designed to get as many hits as possible through any means? There's a LOT of this stuff on Google blogsearch now. Maybe I search for James too much and spammers have realized it's a common search term.

Another constant result in Google searches is Game of Thrones, which HBO has apparently greenlit. Pretty much everyone thinks James should play "Littlefinger". I don't know anything about Game of Thrones, so I don't really have an opinion. However, I'm not sure how anxious I am to see him play "little" anything - not that he isn't adorably little, but if the character is specifically meant to be short or British or scifi/fantasy or villainous or whatever, I worry that it's just typecasting. Lots of people online haven't seen James as anything but Baltar. Most every week, there are tweets like "Hey! Gaius Baltar is on Bridget Jones' Diary!" Yes, James had a life and career before Gaius. It's odd how everyone is thinking this stuff at the same time.

Gaius Baltar was great and probably his best role so far, but I worry that people will only want to see him as another version of Gaius Baltar from now on. He's so much more than that. But if you've never seen Going Wrong, or Sex and Chips, or even Beginner's Luck, you wouldn't know. I hope he's going to get roles that exhibit different sides of him as an actor.

I know James is careful about typecasting, so if Littlefinger is anything like Gaius Baltar, I suspect he's going to disappoint a bunch of fans and just not do it. Like he did with Dr Who. (Although I don't know if they actually offered Dr Who to him.)

Random Googlebits, Part Neuf

An awesome photo gallery of James without a shirt on - all of the pictures are from BSG, so we've seen it all, but it's still great to see the stills. Beautiful. *drools* Also - I love how his chest hair rises so high and he has basically no hair elsewhere. It's like one unrufly tuft of hair pretty high up and then a hairless belly. Some of the pictures show a little donut belly as well. (L)! Thanks to M for the link. :)

Oy! I almost missed it! They have screenshots of the naked scene where Lucy Lawless cracked up - nice bum, James! :D If this link doesn't take you straight to it, it's in the thumbnails there. Hilarious AND hot! *drools*

Note: I wrote the rest of this post before this first bit. I didn't just casually move from naked James to other random bits. I'm not sure how well the post works, but the most important stuff should go first... do read the rest of it too though, once you're over the heat. :D

I was re-reading the Crave Online article from summer 2008, and there are some interesting tidbits:

You'd be so surprised, you show somebody a face which we call neutral mask which is showing no emotion whatsoever, half the audience will go, "He's about to go hysterical laughing." And the other half will be like, "He looks terribly sad." There's a certain element, a huge element of audience participation with any medium like this, with any mirror. I'm going a long way around to say the less said the better.

Do you ever not go a long way around it, James? :D It's a fascinating point though. I always like scenes where something is left to interpretation. Like a scene doesn't seem to make a point but it's just there. It's never explained. (Well, it doesn't always work; I'm still not sure what to make of Lee and his pigeon.)

About knowing beforehand what is going to happen:

You make up things on the moment on the day and there are repercussions to the things that you do. Then somebody's written something like, "Hey, next week, guess what? You go off and kill mice." You're like, "What? I haven't even prepared. I didn't even know." So it's really important that you get a through line and that keeps you honest.Although, with these guys, David and Ron, they don't want to tell you all that much. They're wise as well. They don't want you getting the whole thing. Part of the excitement is laying a kind of cable. It's like how much are they going to give you? Enough rope to hang ourselves with essentially.

A couple of snapshots from some Russian photo bank, of filming the miniseries. You can barely see them from the watermark, but I still love them.
James opening Tricia's bra - I love this one because he looks like he's fumbling, out of shyness or insecurity or perhaps being too turned on. Or maybe he's just being extra tender?
A tender kiss. They both look tender and careful here, like they're just getting to know each other. (Which they were.) L!!!

A 2006 con mention. Katee and James appreciated the candy they got from a fan:

They both showed they're appreciation by writing a personalised message on the photos thanking me for the candy, not some 'To X' and/or with some generic message. None of the other 4 that i gave candy to on both days did that. Not that i mind, but it really cheered me when both Sackhoff and Callis did on their own accord.

Awww, how sweet! Our considerate man! (L)

Behind the scenes photos from season 4.5:
James chatting with David Eick and Jamie Bamber - looks like they had fun. (But what's in his hand?)
And:
James riding a stage cart of some kind, looking incredibly boyish (L).
I'm too lazy to link to the individual photos, but you don't have to do too much scrolling in that link. (There's also a picture with Jamie and his wife Kerry. They look lovely together.)

Interesting mention of James:

I have simulated oral sex with Gaius Baltar...


...by way of some explanation, I should perhaps explain that this was me acting alongside James Callis when we were both EngLit undergrads at York University. We were both performing in a fab produciton of Ben Jonson's play Volpone. James was playing Voltore, the lawyer, I was playing the hermaphrodite freak in Volpone's household.

How comes he ends up playing Hollywood sci-fi parts and I'm a priest in south Essex?!?

:D :D :D WTF? We know so little about James' past... it sounds exciting and strange.

I don't know if I've linked to this before, but the Unofficial Website has an article with James, Sally Phillips and Shirley Henderson (castmates from Bridget Jones' Diary) answering some women's magazine's relationship column. Or something. They're really drunk, the pictures are hilarious, and James is hilarious (and a sweetheart). My favorite piece of advice (to a girl whose boyfriend speaks on the phone too much:

James: Or you could just say, “Do you know you’re getting excess radiation and brain-cell depletion because of how much time you spend on the phone? Since we started going out you’re getting a lot less interesting, and you’re probably in need of a frontal lobotomy.”

:D Not a believer in subtlety, it seems.

I somehow really liked this answer as well:

James: Sex is a crazy, intimate thing and people behave in different ways afterwards. Even though a guy can hint that sex is not all he’s after, sometimes it is all he’s after and he runs away or fobs you off afterwards. That’s his problem, not yours.

Maybe it's the way he calls sex a "crazy, intimate thing".

He does make a joke about golden showers, but I think he was just that drunk. :D His actual replies are thoughtful though.

And now for something truly random, which I won't link to because it's obvious spam. This came up with the search "it was James Callis", which returned nothing interesting.

"News about: James Callis"
It was james callis all you can tell. I will show you. Have you got the house the entire. Sounded calliw to the gravely
There I james callis relief sallis

I don't know about you, but it's a big relief to me that he relieves sallis. Mine is driving me crazy.

Random Googlebits, Part Huit

I wasn't planning to do this many of these, so maybe I should ask - should I use English numbers instead of French, in case some people don't know French? :P

I tried, but I couldn't find any new exciting quotes from James. It's going to be very photo heavy this time. So get your drool bibs ready and prepare for some cute!

A tiny news bit: James will be at the Scream Awards on the 27th of this month, where they're having a cast reunion. The Awards will apparently be held in New York. Hopefully some more lickable pictures for us then!

Stalkerism

Conflicting reports about James sightings. From Facebook:

13 tuntia sitten - I live near Hollywood, but I don't know anyone who works on the show. My friend was behind James Callis (Baltar) at Ralph's food store the other day... :-)

So he's in LA?

From Twitter:

gingersnaprobin: ok. we just passed gaius baltar in a cab on 18th st. today is a special day.

3 days ago

This person is in Boston. So - he's in Boston? He can't be in both places at once, can he? It's not that I'm planning on stalking him or anything *whistles innocently* Maybe that really wasn't James in Boston... or that wasn't James in LA... or he's duplicating and everywhere at once and an angel, in which case send a clone my way, God!

But the obvious question is: what foods/drinks did he buy?! People, remember to mention essential details!

Another Tricia Helfer/Katee Sackhoff interview video. Nothing much James-wise, but Katee does mention that James liked to goof off by wearing Tricia's wig around the set. Hee! :D Judging by the last days pictures, he also liked to go around wearing Mary's wig. Not enough hair on your own head, James? ;)

Photos (mostly from cons)

New York Comic Con 2007, with Tricia: gorgeous smile - slightly blurry but so cute - kind of chubby actually. Slurp!! There are many pictures in that last link, which is from the Livejournal James Callis community. Which seems to be kind of dead. Um, anyone have plans of re-livening it up? I could join but since nothing seems to happen around there...

James and Tricia at the 2006 BSG Burbank con - some great photos in the set here. They both have such hilarious expressions, most notably in this one and this one. :D!

I love the fan pictures from MegaCon, this one included. James looks so relaxed in them. Sitting down with the fans works well for a photo like this - maybe even better than the usual standing-up photo ops. It's more relaxed that way.

A hot picture from the San Diego Comic Con.

A fun one from last year's Dragon*Con. We've got beer, balloons and Edward James Olmos - party on, James!

Comic Con party last year: OK, I know I said I don't like the hair like this, but how can you not enjoy the look on his face here? AND here? What's amusing and endearing is how much his ears stick out when he has short hair. You don't even notice them when his hair is long. Heh heh.

And from Dragon*Con signings: James looking rather bewildered by something, but what? There's some fruit juice on the table, which is a novel element and must be studied in more detail. The suspenders remind me so much of my grandpa that I still can't decide if I like them.

Still more from Dragon*Con: blue shirt and a girl by his side. And his hair is looking pretty bouncy, if controlled for the moment.

A young James models a shirt: see the photos here. It looks... weird, to be honest. I guess it's the short hair, or the youth, or whatever, but I just don't consider this my James. My James begins in 2003, when he first played Gaius Baltar. Yet he looks gorgeous, so I'm torn.

James and Ron D. Moore discussing something in Daybreak. James looks a bit like he's saying, "I hear you, Ron, but I'm not gonna play it that way." I always wish I could hear what's being said in pictures like this.

Sweaty armpits '06. Awww!

Aaron and Tahmoh have a staredown or some other such pissing contest, and James is laughing it up, here. And here.

BSG Stuff

From a Nicki Clyne/Leah Cairns panel:

The shooting starts and Olmos is away on the phone. But the director does not notice, since only Michelle is being filmed. When the time for Olmos comes to deliver his lines, James Callis does the most perfect Adama-impersonation one could imagine. After a while cast and crew burst into laughter and an angry director demands to know what the frak is wrong with those people. Suddenly he realizes that one of his main actors isn't even on set.

"Who's your favourite actor on 'Battlestar Galactica'?" Nicki and Leah counted down from three to one and answered simultaneously: "James Callis".

While I'm a bit disappointed they didn't mention him when asked who's the cutest guy on the show - I think a mention like this is something to be proud of. I might have mentioned the James as Adama story before. How could they confuse the two? James is so much smaller! :D

For the LJ-users: some beautiful Gaius icons here at nicole_anell's LJ.

In case I haven't linked to this already, check out this epic finale picspam with hilarious commentary.

Gaius Baltar? Abandoning selfishness? Sacrificing his life for the sake of humanity? Wearing a MILITARY UNIFORM? It can only mean one thing: Puberty.

Heee! :D

A thread about James, "Because his hair should be in a L'Oriel advert". Well, I have two things to say to that:
1. Definitely something I've discussed with other fans;
2. It's spelled L'Oreal.
I'm not sure what this forum is and who these people are, but it would seem that they haven't seen season four yet. So perhaps a European forum? Not all that much conversation so far, but some lovely pix on this page.

Conversation about Baltar supposedly dropping the F bomb when he yells at his Dad. He said frak, I think. It's an accent thing. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I hear.


Observations from searching for James stuff:
-Jesus, "James Callis would" really brings up a lot of Dr Who speculations!

-A lot of James bios still say he has a son, Josh. What about his son Sacha and daughter Anika? I can see why a five-month-old wouldn't have made it, but Sacha is what, four years old now? Those bios sure don't update too often.

-"I love James Callis": 140 hits. (Only two of those are me, I think.)
"I hate James Callis": No hits.

That says something, right?

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.

Random Googlebits, Part Six

(It's French. It's pronounced "sis". I checked.)

A couple more photos from Comic Con.
Blueshirt signing. James looks thoughtful and kind of nostalgic.
Did I already link to this one? Again with the shaking hands! (Maybe he was drunk?)
James talking to Mark Hammill. Not the handshake pic, and Mark's from the back, but still pretty cool.

And a few more con photos:
2008 Dragon*Con BSG party: James and Eddie. There are, uh, quite a few buttons undone on that shirt. Slurp. Hairy.
James Callis is way too skinny. Well, to each his and her own. I think he looks cute there. Since there's some beard scruff, I'd say this is Dragon*Con 2008, not Comic Con 2009. And I guess it's there in the url too. Is it bad that I recognized it just by looking at him? :D
Little man and big man at Farpoint.
FedCon photosessions.

An online chat with James and Jamie Bamber from 2006. I'm not sure if there's much here that is relevant for 2009...

EventManager Hi guys, welcome to chat!
JamesCallis Nannu-Nannu!!
JamieBamber Hello………

I'm not sure what nannu-nannu means :D I remember he used "nanoo nanoo" in some old message, so maybe it's an Indian greeting? Edit: M thinks it might be a Mork&Mindy reference. I'm too young to remember the show. Mork apparently greeted people with a similar noise. All the things I've learned from James!

scott1975 do you think us as humans are pushing the boundaries of science to far when it comes to machines(robotics)

JamesCallis No…
JamesCallis … we are destined to constantly update what we know

...

JamesCallis Watching a show back, I thought Pegasus was pretty outstanding…
JamesCallis … in a sense of being IN the show and also watching from the sofa

Pegasus is one of the best arcs, I think. It also brought out a lot of new stuff in Baltar (more empathy and a deeper connection wtih the model Six) so it's nice to see that James likes it too. As for robotics or science, he did express some concern about going too far in the Jules Verne interviews, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who's scared of new technology just because it's new.

Nightsky What was it that initially attracted you to the characters?
JamesCallis Somebody who had so many sides and was seemingly so complex and duplicitous…
JamesCallis … someone who may be on the wrong side but is trying to do the right thing.

It's interesting to hear James describe Baltar like this, because many viewers have seen him as such a villain and doing the wrong thing the whole time. The aspect of him that he tries to do the right thing is interesting and kind of reminiscent of shows like The Sopranos. If Tony Soprano kills his cousin, is he doing the wrong thing? He's doing right by the family because the cousin was working against him; they're soldiers so it's ok if you have to kill someone; but from another point of view it's completely inhumane and wrong to kill someone, especially someone close to you. In the character's inner reality, something may be right even if the viewers consider it to be wrong. There are similar situations with Baltar (was it right to let Gina go, because she ends up killing Cain? Was it right to give her the nuclear war head, because she ends up blowing up Cloud Nine? and so forth.)

geordie11 What aspects of yourselves did you bring to the characters?
JamesCallis My definite sexiness, otherwise there might not be a 3rd series!!

Hee! You're a lot sexier than you think, James!

JamesCallis Perhaps a product of intelligent television is that the audience is supposed to decide what’s going on…
JamesCallis This is simply presented to you — so you’ve got to work it out — so it engenders debate.

Hmm. I guess there has been some debate on whether BSG is "preachy" or whether it just presents things without moral judgement. Some of the aspects of the finale could be said to comment on modern life (robotics etc.) But I think the show as a whole is still pretty open to interpretation. Is Baltar evil or good? Is Laura Roslin better than Baltar? You decide. I like that about the show. You can have endless discussions (that easily turn into endless fights tho, if you don't watch it :P)

Traveller Are you both surprised by the very positive critical acclaim the series has got?
JamesCallis I am surprised, only in the sense that people appreciate the show as much as we who are making the show appreciate it.
JamesCallis Sometimes that just doesn’t happen …!

From the viewer's perspective, it's also nice to know the people involved with the show believe in what they're doing.

In case you missed it, James held a baby at Comic Con. You can tell he's experienced at holding babies, because he looks totally comfortable and happy, and the baby looks safe and happy in his arms. Awwww. These photos really warm my heart, especially knowing he has a little baby himself at the moment, so I just have to re-link.

An old interview about Bridget Jones' diary:

"I suppose I shouldn't admit that I haven't read the book", says the dashing 29-year-old Londoner, "but I've seen the film and it delivers a lot of laughs. It's also touching and Renée is brilliant in it."

Hmmm. Well, i did like the first movie. I like the word "dashing" here, especially considering how many dashes he uses, hee hee. (No, I will never let that go.)

"Renée's got a degree in social anthropology or something and she's a very bright cookie," he says. "I remember one day her telling me that the reason I feel tired after a turkey dinner is because of an enzyme in the meat called tryptophan. I was like, "Oh, right, I thought it was because I got sloshed at Christmas".

I knew about that, but only because Seinfeld had an episode about it. Jerry wanted to play with this girl's toys, so he fed her too much turkey and then she fell asleep and.. actually that sounds really perverted, but it's based on the same facts. It seems more medicine than social anthropology though.

"Well not so much mine as my sister's", he explains. "A year beforehand my sister rang me up and said "I've had a dream and you are going to be starring in Bridget Jones's Diary and a year later I was!"

Kinda creepy/awesome. You could call that a premonition, because it's a specific movie. I'm not sure about "starring" though, as Tom's role was made so small.

"I write music and play the piano and when I was younger I really did want to be a popstar", says James. I still write music but I've no desire to perform it. I'd rather act. Some people do both but then you get that thing, "Fucking hell, what does he do? Does he act? Does he sing? Does he work for Cable & Wireless?"

I'm really curious to hear more of his music. I hope he plays it somewhere sometime again.

I've got to quote this old gem - a 2007 message from James, where he's apparently gone a little nuts from the heat of Delhi sun:

That doesn't stop me running my morning "chukka" for half an hour to an hour -in the mid day sun (C'mon! I've got a rep to keep up here!) {Mad wolfs and englishmen..da da da etc.}

What is a morning "chukka"? I've tried looking it up, but the definitions are so diverse.

A short, ankle-length boot having two or three pairs of eyelets.

Polo a period of continuous play, usually 7¹⁄₂ minutes [Hindi cakkar]

one of the portions into which something is regarded as divided and which together constitute a whole; "the written part of the exam"; "the finance section of the company"; "the BBC's engineering division"

So he runs his 7½ minute/half hour to an hour ankle-length boot, in which something is regarded as divided and it constitutes a whole..?

Apparently he was working on some documentary stuff too:

I have been helping on a documentary here in Delhi about performers who all live in one "Ghetto" called Shadipur (literally meaning - Marriage -place) Like many things aqui - it's a bit of an eye opener! Some of the most beautiful children in the whole wide world! so many crazy things happening - being perpetrated on this planet of ours! I myself am praying - and checking the internet every time I can in the hope of reading that Madeline has been found alive and well. And then you realize that this is happening all the time - like so many other things... bewildering and feelings of being unable to help are palpably boiling under the skins surface.

It's very touching to me how much James cares about children, and you can tell he really feels their pain in some way.

Amusingly enough:

Tried my hand at some medititation here. After one session - I was singled out in the class and asked if I wanted to enter a retreat! - Neha looked dumbstruck! I couldn't work out whether this was because I was displaying a silent (certainly to me) aura of potentiality - or because I was clearly the one person in the class - who needed most help.....? I've sated myself for now with the belief that the offer was a recognition of both the above maxims.

Hee! :D

He seems disturbed by the violence the UK has inflicted upon India:

I was trying to explain to my Delhi friends - that my family - from Poland and Russia arrived around 20 years after this massacre - thereby divorcing me from this diabloic act of violence - as until my Parents - my family were not strictly speaking English (in fact most of them not speaking English at all!) - and luckily left Amritsar just in time to escape the sectarian violence that has erupted there in the last few days.

I wonder about his family. Apparently he has a grandmother in France. Are both of his parents of Russian/Polish origin? Maybe they immigrated during the war? I guess this is all stuff he likes to keep personal. I must admit it's sort of exotic to me, all of this Jewish heritage stuff. I don't know very much about it.

Still from the same message. This is just hilarious:

so as one school report of mine once read - and I paraphrase - Life can be infuriating - troublesome - crazy - dementing - unruly - (with callis in the class) - but it is never dull! (he was my favourite teacher -)

LOL! :D Sounds like he was a bit of a hellion as a school boy.

A couple more bits and pieces from James messages over the years.

Weather in Vancouver vs. London:

When the sun shines this place is pretty fantastic. When it rains (75 to 80 per cent of the time) It's not. They say the weather is like London, but I think it's different, in London we Know it's going to rain, we just sort of expect the weather to be bad, when it's sunny it's so unexpected we call it glorious... Here there is always the hope that the sun is going to shine at some point during the day so when it doesn't, to quote our Yankee Cousins"It Sucks! Big Time"

We're in for another fall and it looks like rain for the next few days. This just randomly came to mind on the bus yesterday, so I just had to quote it.

Notes about Joshua in 2005 (so he would have been two):

This is the most time I've had with Joshua since he was born and it is a mighty treat. Every moment is a new opportunity for the experimentation of (his)play/(our)patinece. He's particularly fond of animals, Dogs "woo woo" - R No.1 and he has a penchant for dancing to hiphop - And just as he's getting settled here it looks like we'll be off to Vancouver maybe in April maybe sooner for I don't know how long!

Hee! There's something utterly cute about this note. Somehow I love that he called dogs "woo woo".

Living in two continents can be harrowing:

Then there's all that home/busines stuff (bills, mainly!) to settle if your going to be spending most of your time outside the U.K... etc. And how do those mugs at the whatever ever it is depot of ineptitude/phone comp./council tax dep./electricity/gas board of the consumer incompetence division manage to get hold of u if there's a problem and u r thousands of miles away? I have a hunch I'm gonna find out...probably when I'm back in London after Nine Months!

Hee! "ineptitude/phone comp/council tax dep/electricity/gas board of the consumer incompetence division" :D :D I love that.

Still from the same note:

When I was In Canada Last I wanted to get this T shirt made which was to have on the front. "Not Responsible" and on the back "ever" It didn't get made, why? "Responsible " wouldn't fit across the chest. OMG

Hee! The random "OMG" in the end amuses me to no end - maybe he meant LOL? Or maybe he was just so shocked at the smallness of his chest. Actually, I had this mischievious idea of having that shirt made and showing up at a con in it. Because you could easily fit the word "responsible" across MY chest. I wonder how James would have reacted.

That's about it for now, I think - I never know how to end these random posts. Maybe I should say something completely random.

Green umbrella lost in the harrowed umberland. That's who sits on my balcony beating old poetry with a hammer.

Random Googlebits, Part Cinq

So, the con reports are dying out and I'm left here with quick fingers and search terms up to my neck, but nothing left to find. It's always a slightly sad feeling. So methinks it's time to have another random googlebits post. I know I've posted a lot of brief and random stuff lately, so I guess I'm just not ready yet for a huge transcript post. I'm also working on those, though, so I think they'll be making a comeback soon.

You may have noticed I've changed my subtitle. I make no apologies for being a fangirl, so it seems suitable. I might even add a banner. When I started out, it was all very basic and I was worried about copyrights, but I'm more eager to try new stuff now. Almost a year of blogging! :)

On to the googlebits then!

If you wish to see some of my screencaps of the beautiful Last Days of BSG video, head here to kixxa's blog. Basically, I was too lazy to remove the player and borders from the picture, but I might use some of these later as illustrations. I just thought they'd look lovely at kixxa's place, and they do. Dennys Ilic sure can take a James photo.

Speaking of Dennys Ilic and James photos - a must see here. I don't even know what to say about that one, so I'll just quote kixxa: Oh, my giddy aunt!

I'm not really sure what event this post is about, but it's pretty cute. It's about James at some... thing in Manchester in 2006. Apparently Aaron and Sam had an impersonation of him that he hadn't yet seen, and:

I told him to talk to Aaron about attending G2 in August, because he just has to be there to show us all his impersonation of Aaron. To which he replied, "I can show you that now." - he then proceeded to collapse in a drunken stupor.

Hee! :D For a moment, I thought James was actually so drunk he collapsed trying to imitate Aaron. I bet those guys had fun times together. It would be fun to see them interacting more at cons, but it doesn't look like they're going to the same ones lately. I miss seeing the BSG cast together. I wonder if I'll feel the same about the cast of another show, if James gets a permanent role somewhere else.

A brief clip from The Last Frakkin Special. Sniff! BSG is over!

This is one of my favorite James autographs: James Callis loves toasters. If I had that shirt, I would wear it every day. And I love how James plays with the rhyminess of his names.

A hilarious story from the 2006 Dragon*Con, found here at the TWOP thread:

So I try to politely ask for them to leave their drinks behind. Tamoh's sweet and polite and just decides to chug what's left in his cup and he hands it to me. I had to wave down Aaron and pantomime the 'give me the cup' request. Meanwhile James goes to a plant (fake) and begins to pour the drink. I try to politely stop him without being rude, "Um..I can take that and throw it away for you... hey, let me get that..." and finally to stop him I sorta snap "JAMES! The CUP! HAND IT TO ME. I WILL THROW IT AWAY!" He blinks and smiles at me and hands me the cup completely good natured and I'm mortified because I just snapped at James Callis. The crew bops away and I'm thinking 'oh my god, I'm totally my mother.'

Heee! :D It's like drunk, drunker, and drunkest. I'm so surprised James would be that drunk. Surprised and, I dare say, horrified. Here I thought he was an absolutist! *shakes head*

A couple of random photos:

Taken at least year's Dragon*Con panel. Sexy professor James sitting down. Gush!

Lego Six and Baltar. Heee! I love the huge boobs and the lack of cheeks on Baltar. Pretty good!

The BSG hunks. It's kind of something for everyone, isn't it? Different drools for different folks; I'm drooling over James and Aaron.

All intense. And kind of donutty. Taken at a 2007 con. Slurp!

Phonebooth Galactica. I remember James writing that this campaign ran in London just as he was away in Canada or India, and he never got to see it live. It looks pretty awesome though. I've noticed lately that whenever there's a blonde woman and a man kissing on a show, I expect it to be Six and Baltar, and have to mentally correct myself. This also happens with ads and music videos. Should I be worried?

The 4.5 DVD's are out for lucky Americans, and there are lots of extended scenes added in. Nicole_Anell has written about them at her journal. A few comments below, obviously SPOILERS for those who haven't seen season 4.

Islanded in a Stream of Stars extended:

Paulla talks to Baltar about how they'll be moving their cult headquarters off Galactica soon and a bunch of different ships are willing to take them. Which leads to a HeadSix conversation about how he has more power now than he did when he was president; when Galactica's gone he'll have more than Adama. He is completely uninterested and mopey about it.

And then HeadSix says, "She's not the one." And Gaius says, "She's the only one." EEEEE SHIP!!! Why did they cut this? I just can't believe... Well, see below where I rant about the cut scenes.

Daybreak extended:
Apparently there's a random teenage boy whom Baltar teaches about life (saying basically that you can never have enough fame, women or money. Hee!).

(2) So the scene about Caprica-Six putting his dad in a home is altered a bit, because HELLO RANDOM TEENAGER is actually there with Six -- he let her into the house. (I prefer the edited-down version, 'cause you just assume she broke in. Hee.) So there's a bit of time wasted getting Calvin out of the way before they get into the important part of the scene, and I'm not crazy about it even though Baltar admonishing the kid is kind of funny. ("Don't think I'm not going to tell your mum about this. Total abuse of my respect!")

Hee! It sounds funny, but I grudgingly admit... not altogether essential for the finale. I'm eager to see it because it's more JAMES, but it's about the first time a cut Baltar scene sounds a little... well... unnecessary. I mean, the deleted scenes on all DVD's are full of extra-long scenes of Adama and Lee talking, Adama and Laura talking, Adama and Tigh talking, Kara and Lee talking. I can usually see why they've been cut for length. But the Baltar/Six scenes have almost always been gold and I've been gritting my teeth at whoever's in charge for cutting them. This also applies to that above bit from Islanded, which really would have added something to the Baltar/Six saga.

So what happened here? I suppose the reason I'm not as excited about this scene is that it's not more of Baltar/Six, just more Baltar, with some random new character we've never seen before. I tend to think it's a bad idea to introduce someone new in the finale. That said, I'll probably love the scenes because it's Gaius Frakkin' Baltar. And he's the motherfrakking shit.

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!

Random Googlebits, Part Trois

Firstly, a brand new article with the BSG cast. James on Baltar:

He's "kind of a sleazy version of Einstein," says Callis. "He is a bit scatty. He hasn't really thought about the consequences of anything. If he was capable of planning and mastering his own destiny, he would be monstrous."

"He does have a conscience. It's like drilling for oil: You will find it, eventually. Nobody has been more guilty or sad," Callis says.

I love when James mentions Gaius' conscience, especially since some fans seem to think he doesn't have one. I suspect many fans are unwilling to do the "oil-drilling" necessary to get to Gaius' good sides and would rather see him as a one-dimensional villain.

Found these a while ago: James has done a couple of audio books, two of them children's books that have short snippets online. He has a lovely, soothing voice, and he sounds so cute doing all the characters. The Kin sounds awfully savage to be a children's book, but I think I'd enjoy the other one.

Photo miscellanea:

kixxa has some beautiful new screenshots of BSG and Sex and Chips at her blog. I can't get over how sexy James is as The Wolf in the latter show. There's something animal about it. Maybe he should try having his hair like that again?

The Bear McCreary concert a year ago - Baltar's idea of heaven.
Presumably from the same event - Hi Caitlin! Hee :D He's doing the dreamy longing eyes here as well.

ComicCon - eee what a cute picture! Hadn't seen this one before.

Dragon*Con - correcting the suspender strap. I totally fetishize those suspenders.

Another photo from Starfury! I love his personalized autographs - "Will the real Gaius Baltar - please stand up?" I also love the dragon they have him hold. The full site is here, in a language I unfortunately don't know, but there are lots of Starfury photos.

One of my favorite autographs - "Dear Jessie - I've got a lot on my mind - namely a 6-foot blonde!" Heee :D (Hey, I just realized even his autographs are full of dashes!) I love his handwriting. I can't always decipher it, but it looks beautiful.

Farpoint 2008 - an awkwardly positioned photo, but he looks totally cute here also.
(I always write fartpoint at first. Unfortunate name for a con, that.)
Farpoint 2008 part 2. This is another hot pose.

Donuts, guts thereof, and sex scenes

A nice paraphrase of the 2006 BSG Burbank convention, James Callis/Tricia Helfer Q&A. I wish this were online in videos somewhere, but at least it's a good read.
Edit: OK, the link above apparently doesn't work, but try pasting this into your url field and you should be able to open it: http://galacticastation.com/Ragnar_Anchorage/lofiversion/index.php?t5546.html

This in particular made me happy:

- Helfer follows a very intensive and varied exercise regimen and will often go for a 5-mile run to keep in shape. Callis claimed the only real exercise he gets is trying to keep up with his two young children. Otherwise he prefers loaf around the set, smoke and eat donuts all day.

How much do I love this man and his gleefully unhealthy lifestyle? A lot. For those who don't know me: I love junk food, I love people who love junk food, and it makes me very happy that James apparently loves it too. And you can replace "junk food" in the above with "sedentary lifestyle" and get the second reason I liked this so much. I'd love to pig out with James in my favorite burger place sometime, then slouch home with him on the bus while snacking on candy. Well, I can always do it alone and think about him. Like I did today.

There's a slightly more detailed account - and beautiful photos - of the same Q&A here, but the site apparently has some kind of code loop problem, and it keeps cutting off halfway. If you reload it several times, it might show more text, but it's pretty frustrating. I was able to catch the donut paraphrase here though:

What do James and Tricia do to stay looking so great? James’ regular regime involves smoking and donuts. The only things that keep him fit are chasing after his children and looking at Tricia.

Gotta love his horny Tricia references. I also loved these bits:

When they came back to continue the scene for season 2, Tricia had to lie still on the freezing, filthy floor of the place in her skimpy costume with rats scrambling by her head, though James declared that it was actually Jamie she heard scurrying around next to her.
...
Baltar is also reminiscent of the tragic Greek Sisyphus, (James briefly had a Freudian slip with the word “syphilis”) who was doomed to always be trying to reach for something that always kept moving out of reach.

Hee, syphilis! Professor James brings up ancient myths, with a little subconscious idea that Baltar might have contracted STD. Lovely.

But here's something bizarre. This report about the same event is written in a very confusing way, and this bit in particular made me raise my eyebrows:

(such as the call for a pickup scene consisting merely of gauis taking off six's pants so they can have sex, and him doing everything he could to hide his doughnut-gut while simultaneously thinking, "every man dreams of getting a call where they 'have to' remove tricia helfer's knickers!")

Hide his donut WHAT now? Is this really what he said? Because if he has a gut, he's doing a really good job of hiding it. My body image isn't great either, but seriously. A little self esteem, James?

Edit: I got so fascinated about this that I searched for a little more info. It's apparently something he said about that specific reshoot. Courtesy of TWOP forums:

Callils told a funny story of always eating donuts so that by the end of the mini-series he had gained a few pounds. Then they asked him to come back and film the scene where he takes off Six's knickers so he kept trying to place Tricia's body in between him and the camera so it would not be obvious he had gained weight!

Heee! :D That's hilarious - and hot! I must admit I have a bit of a weight gain fetish, so this makes that scene so much hotter for me. The loop-challenged link above seems to contain more info on this, and it comes up in a google search, but when you load the page, it doesn't get that far:

James said he’d unfortunately been indulging in donuts lately,

...I am going to spend the rest of the day trying to reload that page.

I seem to remember him saying something very similar in the BBC Cult interview in 2004. Yup, there it is, in "What is it like to work with Tricia Helfer?":

The Americans have this, you know, ideal of buffness. Me, we don't, we're not like that! It's not so important, you know, if there's doner kebab to be had or Wimpy by the side of the road. It's a different.. you know, whatever. I'm next to mister... Miss Drop Dead Beautiful, gorgeous, and I have to take my clothes off. And I'm like, "What am I going to do? This is a bit exposing right now!" And I said to the camera crew, "When I take off all of this stuff and I'm standing here in this..." rather revolting flesh-coloured thong, for the viewers... I said, "Please try not to laugh at me, my physique, or the way I do, please don't..." And the camera looked at me and quite honestly went, "Do you honestly believe we're looking at you? We don't even know where you are in the scene. That's because Tricia is getting her clothes off, why would anybody be looking at you?" (laughs)

Hee! Some of us were looking at you, James - and we think you looked amazing.
He could be just saying he's too skinny for the ideal, yet he mentions the food again like it shows somehow. It's strange. I've never heard a fan complain that James is too fat, more the opposite. But nobody's happy with their own body (even if they're as hot as James). Sometimes it's healthy to be reminded of that.

My personal taste in men is limited to either fat or thin, so I love the way James looks now, and if he did grow a donut gut (hee!), I'd still love it. Either way, beefcake does nothing for me, so I'm glad he's not that athletic. (Now I'm really turned on, trying to imagine James with a donut gut. Mmmm.)

In the same bit, there's also this:

I had lunch after the miniseries with my mother and one of my mother's friends, who (laughs)... I thought this lady, you know, she's got some kids, a lady of the world... She just asked me, [in a very serious voice] "I always meant to ask. When you do the sex scenes, are you really making out?" [adorable smile] And I said, "I am. Yes, I am. I'm knackered by the end of the day. It's very, very difficult." I just can't believe what people only believe! It's telly, it's not real! It's like 70 people watching you with cameras.

Hee :D He sounds so amused at the question and the underlying assumption. I think sex scenes are one of those things that come with the job, but are hard to understand for someone outside that circle. Like how can you not be turned on when you're kissing Tricia Helfer?


James loves names

Am I the only one who feels like being a James fan is a constant first date with "me too" moments? It's not enough that he loves books and junk food and studied literature like me, he apparently also loves names. Also, this is a totally cute meeting story, and I love when people actually transcribe a conversation with the star. (Mind you, I don't expect everyone to, because it's a personal one-on-one conversation, but I really appreciate it when people do this.) I'll reproduce a large part of it, hoping the writer doesn't mind:

James: Well, I want to write something funny but I wouldn't want to offend you.
Me: Tell me.
James: I want to write "Randi, I am." Is that crude? Is that over the top?
Me, laughing: No, that's perfect.
James: What is Randi a short name for here?
Me: For me, it's Randeana.
James: That's beautiful! I love it! (while making a very sincere face. But then again, he IS an actor.)
Me: I think my mother was evil.
James: No no, I like it. Where does it come from? I've never heard that before. (later I learned he's really into names and name meanings, etc.)

"Is that crude? Is that over the top?" No way, it's just hilarious! But I love him for being a gentleman and asking. Randeana is very rare and, while I'll admit it weirded me out at first, actually very beautiful.

I'm personally quite intrigued by James' wife's name, because I had never seen it before (which might just show how little I know about Indian names). For others unfamiliar with it, here's how to pronounce Neha, which means "loving" in Sanskrit. Beautiful. I've been pronouncing it with an e like in "bed", because I seem to default to Finnish pronunciation rules when unsure.

In case you wonder, I don't want to post my real name here, because there are only 84 of us with this exact combination. Once I bumped into someone with the same name, and I felt like I'd seen a ghost. I'm sure James' experience is the exact opposite, as the world is full of Jameses, and he's not even the only James Callis out there. (By the way, Google, I have absolutely no need for James Callison's tractor supplies, so please stop suggesting it.)

So, I'll reveal under a link that my name is this hyphenated with this. I was named after my paternal grandmother, Margareta. And yes, there's a dash, which I'm sure James would appreciate.

Finally, speaking of dashes, I think I've figured out the reason for James' dash addiction. His psychological addiction to nicotine is simply so severe that he has to reproduce cigarettes in writing - and what better way to do that than by adding - - dashes here and there? The horizontal lines must soothe him mentally, and he can imagine smoke coming from them. A little link for James: The dash.

Random Googlebits, Part Deux

Just some fun James-related things I've found to cheer myself up. Warning: warm and fuzzy feelings might result from browsing through these links.

I'm not sure if I've ever linked to this before: "Gaius Baltar is the teflon scapegoat". It's one of the first interviews I saw. James looks very cute, but sadly red-tinted, in the video. There's also a transcript.

I actually realize now that I'm so much more fond of him than other people. No, I really care about that man. I feel so sorry for him.

Aww, but there are lots of fans who feel that way too, James! You're not alone!
Apparently, if the video doesn't play for you, you can listen to it in audio clips here.

An adorable interview with James from back in 2006, from the Emmy afterparty. My favorite part is where he's asked about working with Tricia and their chemistry together:

James: "I use an analogy whereby.. people like to say, 'Oh, isn't so-and-so good at arranging flowers? The flowers look beautiful.' Flowers do look beautiful, and you have to be pretty ham-fisted to make them not look beautiful. So when you act with somebody who is utterly gorgeous all of the time, it'd be kind of like, you know... Tricia will have chemistry with a plant pot, and similarly also luckily with me. I just happen to be the sidekick to her affections, and I'm...damn lucky."

Interviewer: "You're being far too modest, James, I know for a fact you have a huge following on the internet among female fans... (James' face: "OMG, people like me? I was totally unprepared for this!") Don't you know it?"

James: (totally flustered) "No, I really don't know it! Just direct me to the sites!" (looks down, embarrassed but, I dare say, pleased)

Interviewer: "Just go on Google and type in your own name and you'll find more information than you want to know about yourself, I think."

James: "Wow! That's something that I really might, like, do. [gets back on topic about Tricia]"

Yes, James, we are out there. So did you Google yourself and find us? :) I love how he can't handle the praise. You'd think he'd be used to it by 2006. I totally should blog more about his looks and title every post "James Callis is gorgeous". I hope his analogy doesn't offend any florist fans though! And I'm not usually a fan of the bearded Jesus look (see below) but he looks very cute indeed in this video. Gush!

These seem to be photos with fans from Starfury - the only ones I've found - but they're being used to measure his height, which... OK. James is looking cute, but kind of tired. I see he's wearing The Vest, as seen on the Audi S3 Sportback ad. Most of the conversation is people estimating exactly how tall James might be, which, even to me as a fangirl, is not particularly fascinating. But then there's this, also about Starfury:

Anyway, at one point we were standing in the foyer of the hotel and saw a Man with a beard go into the gentleman's toilet. Nothing out of the ordinary, well, except for him wearing high heels, tights and a black leather mini skirt. 30 seconds later James Callis walks in.

A couple of minutes later james walks out and the look on his face was priceless, the kind of look that Gaius Baltar would give - 'That was the men's room, right?'.

LOL! :D Hey James, it's a con, surely you've seen weirder than that.

James is asked about gendercide, and actually tries to give an intelligent answer. Hee!

James is asked about zombie apocalypse, and totally doesn't know what to say. Hee!
(Unfortunately, with both videos, you have to watch an ad for the Sex Drive DVD. The same exact ad. Blah.)

Another 2006 interview - IF Magazine.com, an interesting article. Too bad there's something wrong with the special characters like ' and ", because there are these broken-looking images all over. Part 1, Part 2. I tried to quote more but it comes out looking weird, so just a brief quote on his look for season 3:

I look very different right now. I'm wandering around Los Angeles, and it's a strange thing. Is it every person with long hair and a thick beard called Jesus? Everyone I meet is saying "Oh! It's Jesus - hello." I think I look a bit more like John the Baptist to be quite frank; I've been out in the desert eating locusts and honey for a while. I'm a cross between humanity and the missing link, which I kind of like.

He really did look like Jesus though. It's not every person with a long hair and beard - it's just you, James. Of course, some scientists claim Jesus actually had a wide face and short hair, so maybe it's more the popular idea of how Jesus might have looked. If that's any consolation.

Tricia shares an embarrassing story from filming (probably Taking a Break From All Your Worries):

"I was filming underwater with my [Battlestar Galactica] costar James Callis and I was supposed to surface right in front of him. You've got to start breathing out before you get there, but the water just slides up your nose and everywhere! So basically I was snorting and burping and everything right in his face.... It wasn't exactly the prettiest situation!"

Hee! That's not directly about James, but I just had to add it.

A very old interview with James about an imaginary dinner party. His guest list is very interesting, but what amused me the most is this terrible after-dinner joke he'd tell:

"An old woman keeps hassling the police. Every night she rings them and says: `I want to report a man who keeps exposing himself. I can see him from my window and it's disgusting'.
But the police don't come round, so she rings them again, complaining: `He's still doing it. Come and see'.
After months of phone calls, the police finally give in, go to her window and look for the man.
`I can't see him,' said the officer. `No, you have to stand on the wardrobe', said the old lady."

That's like one of the worst jokes ever. :D Hee. Also check out the rest of the First Unofficial Website's Article Gallery.

This is supposed to be a page with James Callis quotes, but there's only one - "We are all products of the age we belong to." Couldn't agree more, but it'd be nice to hear a context for this quote. I'm not a big fan of random quote collections, because they tend to ruin the original meaning.

Who's Fulvio Cecere? Whoever he is, here's a cute (and from the looks of it, old) picture of him with James. Wow, a shocking picture of Tricia as well. I think it might have been the Gina days.

Finally, can I just say that I don't think James Callis looks anything like Alexander Siddig? Maybe a slight similarity but... Seriously, why is that one of the main things google suggests for a search? "James Callis Alexander Siddig". "James Callis Star Trek". WTF? "james callis glasses" is apparently also a popular search.

Even more bizarre are some of the combinations Google suggests that it's apparently saved from my searches. I can see the logic behind "James Callis"+"chest hair" or "James Callis"+ Jewish, but when did I ever search for "James Callis"+banghra? "James Callis"+saw? "James Callis"+chocolate? "James Callis"+"stalker info"? :D (Unfortunately, there is no stalker info page. Yet.)