a weekend where I got STONED

So I set out for another 3 day ordeal in early March. One main focus was the Amazing Spiderman 2 film set. By all reports Andrew Garfield and Shailene Woodley (the new Mary Jane) were on set. Personally I wanted Emma Stone cause I already got Shailene as a "you never know" name a couple of years back. I got this picture with Emma but as you can see it was a picture I needed to correct. 

I did bring photos for both to sign cause again, you never know. 

We arrive on set Friday afternoon with good news and bad news. Good: Emma Stone and NOT Shailene Woodley is filming. Bad: The spot was blown and there were too many people 

Additionally, Radioman was there. When I said we should stay where he does he waited a couple of minutes then threw a rock at me and threatened to throw a bigger one if I didn't stay away from him (he never did).

Neither Emma nor Andrew do anything, Andrew even sneaks out the back. Emma did tell me "I'm in a hurry we'll do it later". 

We then leave the spot to try for other stuff. I tried for Barry Manilow but he did nothing for no one (though I had a photo op already). 

By the time we got to Tom Hanks the crowd was huge. After it dwindled we waited more for Tom Hanks but it seemed like he snuck out another way. I did however get a Christopher McDonald photo op. 

So far nothing eventful and a total bust. But I didn't lose hope yet. 

After conveying with my team mates I make the decision to go back to the Spiderman filmset. There's still action, still the same big ass crowd. So there is hope. I go to park my car so it's 110% legal and come back and RUN as I see Emma Stone doing photo ops. She was going back to her trailer but after some begging and some pleading managed to score the photo op! I thank all that is holy for that photo op, as it saved my evening and would turn out to be the best thing I got all weekend. Sadly, Joresky was without the photo op. And I still needed autos from both her and Spidey. The best option was to stake it out up until the last minute. 

While it was freezing cold, there was a Chase bank nearby. The bank was closed but they had a small section where they house an ATM. One of my credit cards is a Chase card so I could use that as a "key" to open that door. By that time the crowd dwindled to about 10 teenage Asians who spoke good English. And we waited indoors in that small area. The movie crew looked at us as if we were insane (and they had a point). 

While waiting we all BS'd about life, celebrities, Spiderman, Star Wars, Radioman, among other things. While doing so we opened the door to other people using the ATM. Should also be noted that they refereed to Radioman as "boom box man" then I had to explain to them all the legend that was Radioman. Their reaction was this face  when I told them how celebrities love him. 

Here's where it got heated. At one point two people came in, and they did look drunk. One of them began to threaten and order us all to leave. Joresky and the teenage Asians began to trickle out bit by bit. But since the guy had no legal right to kick us out I stood my ground. Besides me also one of my crew members remained seated on the floor. The guy goes "oh you're not leaving, do you know what I can do". He begins to threaten both of us more with things like "do you know what I can do" and "oh you don't know who I am, do you". As I give him a stare down. But his bark was worse than his bite. After both of us refused to leave him and his buddy just walked out and then everyone else trickled back into the warmth. 

The witching hour finally arrives. More of the regular NYC crew show up and both Andrew and Emma are about to leave. It's 6:20AM Finally they begin to do stuff! I manage to get two from Andrew though one of my dark items is signed in black, sadly enough. But the Walmart exclusive figure came out well. And I got Emma on a nice 8x10, completing my combo with her. Didn't bother with an Andrew photo op as I didn't see his current look as an upgrade from what I had. It was a lot of wait and a lot of agony, but thankfully worthwhile in the end

So now it's Saturday morning and time for The Big Event. I find a free parking spot about a block away. Two members of my crew decide to mooch a breakfast buffet at a hotel, but since I'm without sleep and I'm probably not going to get another chance to sleep, I elect to take a nap in the car before the convention (as does Joresky). It was painful to forfeit free food, but sleep is more important

We then head to The Big Event. This was actually a nice soothing convention for me. Why? Because I did not have to stress about combos AT ALL. I actually didn't need anybody. I did get one photo op in Jen England just to get something, but otherwise I was just there for moral support for Joresky and to say hi to all the convention goers and promoters that I got to meet over the years. It was good to see everybody, even felt nostalgic seeing my old foes. Namely and . I was actually glad the former was there cause I had something on me that I wanted to show him for a while. I did have a chance at NYCC last year but I had to rush to a spot so didn't get to do it. I showed him my passport that explicitly stated my city and country of birth. He looked at the evidence but then said he never doubted I was born in this nation but I pointed out that he factually did after one of my earlier markedout.com youshoots. 

After the big event we go to try for more celebrities. We try for Barry Manilow again but again he does nothing. I end up with a combo and extra from Christpher McDonald, a combo with Peter Scolari (Honey I Shrunk the Kids TV Show), and a combo with Courtney B Vance (Final Destination 5). For the main man himself Tom Hanks, I manage to get an awesome autograph but sadly no photo op. I got the best one he did that day. Then we move to a spot where I hope to see Ben Walker and Scarlet Johansen. Of course I was not expecting to get Scarlet but I was aiming for Ben Walker. Since he had a starring rule in a Tim Burton movie, he is a good "you never know" name. Turns out they BOTH snuck out. Scarlet I expected to but Ben Walker? WTF? Really? 

It wasn't a total waste as I got a Ciaran Hinds photo op (he had roles in a good number of movies). 

Then we get to the final spot for the evening. Sadly there no big stars in that spot. I did get a photo op with Al Franken and Norman Reedus, but I decided that no one there was worth standing out in the freezing cold for. Instead I stayed in the (relatively) warm car and I got a hand job from a girl that I've frequently seen when hunting for combos in NYC. After the hand job I took a short nap and Joresky waited in the cold and got who he wanted. At this point it was 4AM and we drove to NJ and parked at the hotel parking lot for the Monkees convention. 

It was now Sunday and for the first time ever I actually did not sleep well in the car (due to the freezing cold). But it was now time for the convention. This convention would have two black marks. First off Robbie Rist decided to leave early on a Sunday. Even more painful when we found out he had breakfast early and we could have probably mooched him. And second we were told David Cassidy would do free photo ops after making his stupid boring speech, but that did not happen. Essentially that meant Joresky paid the admission fee for one scrub. I tried to get back some admission money based on that fact, but instead they kicked me out of the convention. However, by that time I got all the other names that I came for, so I had little to gain by fighting this further. 

I got photo ops with Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz from the Monkees (already have the deceased Davy Jones). And I got a combos from Susan Olsen who played Cindy Brady (my 8x10 is now only missing Marcia Brady) and a combo from Ron Dante (who sings the Suger Suger song) on my vinyl. 

Before getting ejected, the convention promoter (who actually made the announcement for photo ops) claimed that she was doing this for 11 years and I am the first complaint. Even if true, judging by the facebook page of the Monkees convention I was hardly the last complaint as a lot of people were upset. And rightfully so. At least at Chiller if someone is not doing something they explicitly write it on their website. Not so here. 

David Cassidy was LISTED on the website as a regular guest. It wasn't until I called via phone did they say he was sunday only and only doing photo ops. Eventually they did add the "sunday only" tag  on the site. But no mention of what he is or isn't doing. Then at the show we are told he would do photo ops and that the pictures would be taken with their camera and uploaded to facebook. Sounded like they had it all setup. But as we know none of that followed through. Only in the convention scene do you get ripped off then get ejected for it. 

We thought about trying for David Cassidy at a hippo but we figured if he's that much of a dick in a convention setting it is pointless to even try. As I would later find out apparently someone I know tried him at a hippo one time before and he got cursed out. So we made the right call here.

In order to salvage the day we try to go try for Tom Hanks again. But turns out he isn't even out. Then we go try for Ben Walker again. We figure out which door they sneak out from. Joresky spots Ben and I run after him and get a combo  Then we see them rushing Scarlet out. While that doesn't make up for how the day has played out, it was nice to at least get a cherry on top. After this I decide to be the bearer of bad news and tell people that both Ben and Scarlet snuck out and they won't be seeing them. This ends a grueling weekend with lots of ups and downs, but worthwhile as I got Emma Stone who I've wanted for a while and a very nice Tom Hanks autograph, among other things.

Full list of photos part 1

Full list of photos part 2

Emma Stone photo op

Ron Dante photo op

Look whophotobomed the single photo op I got at Big Event

Now for some autographs:

Walmart Exclusive Spiderman signed by Andrew Garfield

Photos signed by Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone

Tom Hanks, Christopher McDonald, and Ben Walker signed photos

Archies vinyl and Brady Bunch 8x10