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)
From the viewer's perspective, it's also nice to know the people involved with the show believe in what they're doing.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 …!
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:
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.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"
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. OMGHee! 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.
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