The sad side of Autograph collecting

Its days like this when you wonder why you bother sticking with a hobby for so long. I have been collecting autographs since the year 2000, it started out as just some way for me to express how much I love an actor’s work but I didn’t think it would turn into the hobby it has. At last count I now have well over 1000 autographs in my collection and at least a third of them are from actors I admire. Whether it be background actors or your A list headliner I appreciate all of them for what they bring to the screen. It disappoints me when incidents like today happen, I received my photo back from Once Upon a Time actress Ginnifer Goodwin and my heart sank. I have been a fan of Ginnifers work for a very long time but when I saw she had switched agencies to Spanky Taylor I knew there wasn’t a chance that Ginnifer had even seen my letter.
When I opened up the envelope I wasn’t too sure at first, but after seeing an example from someone else who got theirs back a few days earlier my original doubts were realised that a machine had signed my photo. People have asked me how I know this. How can I tell? Well it’s pretty easy once you know how. Have you ever signed something and tried to replicate it exactly? Doesn’t come out exactly the same now does it? And this is where it’s obvious a machine has done it because every single autograph is 100% exactly every time. Every brush stroke, every mark all identical and when only one photo comes back signed it’s another obvious sign because 2 coming back would make it easy to compare. This is what’s called and Autopen, when a machine automatically does it for you. Of course many celebs do it and over the years I’ve learned to avoid writing to them.
Machines are not the only way celebs get around fan mail & autographs, preprints & secretarials are another. Preprints are obvious and easy to spot, you could rub your fingers all over the photos and that autograph is never coming off & a secretarial is where a celeb pays someone to sign their autographs for them.
I personally find secs worse than autopens because they even more so give the illusion that the celeb actually gave a crap. You could pour your heart and soul out and the celeb you are writing too may simply never see it. Of course you could be reading this thinking how on earth does she know? Celebs might get gifts etc or they might be too busy whatever. And of course sometimes that’s true; another Spanky Taylor client is Johnny Depp. Now you can only imagine the amount of fan mail that man would get, Orlando Bloom is another. But when mail is sent to these types of agencies gifts, heartfelt letters etc never make it to the celeb and so the only way you might catch them is in person or via a movie set.
What annoys me more is that I am prepared to wait; I am not one of these demanding fans who expect celebs to answer their fan mail around the clock. I know these people have lives and need breaks etc but would it kill them maybe once in a while take 5mins out of their day to appreciate their fans and not send these things back knowing full well they are fooling people? For me it’s now a simple case of adding another person onto the don’t bother writing to again list. People wonder why I am angry, well i'm not I’m just disappointed, it’s not fun knowing your letter that you put so much effort into never made it to its destination. People are also entitled to their opinion but this is mine and it isn’t going to change.

A reply to some of the Sanctuary negative press

On one of those rare days that I have had free in recent weeks, I spent most of it in front of my computer or phone checking tweet updates from the Leo Awards. These awards hosted by Amanda Tapping & Robin Dunne were the icing on the cake for Sanctuary. It pains me then when I read negative articles about the shows cancelation such as that written by Brody Gibson for boomtron.com (http://www.boomtron.com/2012/05/no-sanctuary-season-5-for-syfy). I didn’t want to write this reply and the chances of Brody actually reading this is slim but I thought it was necessary to point out a few things. “The Canadian-made series hasn’t been the most talked about science fiction program” What exactly do you consider most talked about? And where? When Sanctuary was at its height it was the only TV show of its kind that I saw people talking about. But not by the traditional means either, people would tell one person to watch it and then tell their friends to watch it and so the show spread. By originally starting on the internet before progressing to television it didn’t exactly have the same level of press traditional shows would either. But it had the fan backing from the beginning and that is all the actors & producers/writers ever cared about. Which brings me to the second point: “lacking the fan-support of such shows as Warehouse 13 and Dr. Who” Lacking fan support? Are you kidding me? Clearly this guy doesn’t look at the world wide fan support this show has. Not only that the two examples he has listed are completely ridiculous for a number of reasons.
Sanctuary would never be able to compete with a show like Dr Who in particular because that show has had nearly 50 years to develop its fan base. Of course Dr Who went off the air for a very long time before restarting in 2005 but even so the show had entered popular culture and was already a household name. I had never seen an episode of Dr Who in full till 2005 but I already knew what it was, which was always going to give the show the kick start it needed. Warehouse 13 heavily promoted by Syfy and is a mainstream show. It has a wide appeal but so does Sanctuary, & unlike Sanctuary Warehouse 13 never was moved from its timeslot, giving it a fair chance. On a global scale this show is highly popular; to give an example from here in Australia when Amanda, Robin & Agam all came to the Armageddon expo in Melbourne in October 2011 they were some of the most popular guests at the event. The show was screened and is still screened in many countries around the world and long after the show has ended its fan base still grows. And thanks to DVD sales the word of mouth from fans will still keep this show well and truly alive.
“Sanctuary should feel great pride for having lasted four seasons when by any stretch of the imagination they shouldn’t have even gotten one”
How are you to judge? Sanctuary pushed the boundaries of what you could do in television. The amount of awards and nominations this show has received especially in the technical side proves that it was a show that more than EARNED its 4 seasons. And to add to that the awards that it won today.
“You beat the odds” When I read this I thought of a saying my mother always uses “You create your own luck and forge your own destiny” And you know what? Sanctuary certainly did that.

Fandom Wars are Pointless

Sometimes you overhear the most random things when you are travelling on public transport. Two high school girls, no more than 16 got on the bus and sat in front of me. I wasn’t intending to listen but their conversation; well actually they were having a debate. But the fact was it was so loud I couldn’t help myself. Their debate was and probably is one of the biggest problems for anyone who loves their TV and that is fandom wars.
For anyone who doesn’t frequent the internet a great deal or simply avoids social media, a fandom war is where people on two sides fight for the TV show/book/movie etc, they love. In some cases it’s simply to prove their show is better than another or in another case where one group of people will be little another because they believe the rival show is a copy. Sadly for people like myself when you love more than one show it can be hard to take one side or another.  So instead you stand on the sidelines watching as friends become enemies and internet and social media forums destroy each other. Both these girls though were making valid points, one could see a value in debating differences and similarities in shows while the other could not see a point at all, and I tend to agree. Too many times over the last 5 years have I seen a show fans attack another when they see one minor plot similarity and claim it as their own. Too many times have I lost friends when they try to drag me onto one side of the fight or another and too many times have I just sat back and shook my head simply asking why?
What I have noticed is that the attacks have become a lot more personal in recent times, and no clearer example of this is during the Bones vs. Castle fandom war.
Now before I go any further I am not saying all Bones fans are bad, far from it. But there is a small minority who are giving the rest a bad name. This war has bothered me from the start, I’ve always liked Bones, I used to religiously follow the show for 5yrs until the show fell off the wagon a bit with the infamous dream sequence sex scene (could have been earlier but my memory is hazy). I still watch the occasional ep now & I still love many of the cast members but the show is not the same for me. So by default I have found myself on the Castle side of this war and have copped a lot of flak from people because of it.  But this is my thoughts on it, I cannot see how these two shows are similar, even my mother who watches both shows can’t see the similarity. The only thing that is similar is the chemistry between the two leads, nothing more. My mother last night gave me a different view point, she said Castle was more similar to The Mentalist and I can see that more than Bones.
The bus debate ended when one of the girls got frustrated & ended up getting off at her stop clearly disappointed that the other girl had not relented in her opinion at all. And that’s the thing about these wars, they frustrate, they annoy and in the end will make it impossible for people to remain friends. But like anything they are a by-product of the internet & TV and probably will never stop but sadly increase.  

Thank You Sanctuary

When I decided to write this post today I had planned a totally different subject. But when I woke up to the news that the Syfy network had officially cancelled Sanctuary that all changed.
I will admit I was late to the party somewhat when it came to Sanctuary I started watching the show after both the first two seasons had been released on DVD here in Australia. At the time when I bought season one I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into, but it took all of 15mins for me to realise I had started watching a piece of  genius. I had always been a fan of science fiction style shows but Sanctuary took that to another level in the creativity it showed. It was a show that pushed the boundaries and could keep people guessing at any moment and that was one of the main reasons I loved it so much, you never knew what to expect next.
This show won’t die though; it shall live on for many years to come if nothing else for the legacy it’s created. Helen Magnus is going to go down as one of the best TV characters in history and not only that, Helen is probably one of the strongest female characters to grace TV screens in the last 5 years. It’s sad though, with so much depth and so many layers to the character we will never get to see them all. The acting on this show was incredible, Amanda Tapping stole every scene she was in, Robin Dunne took my emotions from wanting to hug him to wanting to slap him and back again. Ryan Robbins played Henry perfectly; Agam Darshi gave the show an extra dynamic it needed from season 2 onwards. Christopher Heyerdahl of course in his dual role as John/Bigfoot was outstanding and then of course there were Emilie, Jonathon, Robert, Peter & Ian who all played their part over the 4 seasons and without them the show would not have been what it was.
Of course the writing & direction made a huge impact, Damian & Martin and everyone else behind the scenes deserve all the credit for giving this show an air of quality that many shows on TV lack these days. And it makes you wonder how a quality show like this can get kicked to the curb while others live on.
I sometimes wonder what must run through the heads of the executives of Syfy considering this isn’t the first time they have killed one of their top rating shows. Eureka one of my other favourites was cancelled unjustly and even as its draws to a close it is still one of the highest rating shows on their network. I have lost all faith in television networks now; it’s going to be hard for me to get enthusiastic about any new show knowing that there is a strong chance it could get cancelled before we get an ending. Warehouse 13 is one of the last decent shows on Syfy left standing; let’s just hope it doesn’t suffer a similar fate.
But finally I say to everyone involved in Sanctuary thank you for giving me so much joy over the last four seasons. Through all the highs and lows, the smiles, tears & laughter you shall remain in my heart for everything you have done. A show gone but certainly never forgotten, you shall be sorely missed.  

Online Friends are just as "Real" as any friends

It’s funny, you have these random conversations online and the old topic comes up again, how can people you meet online be considered real friends? The amount of times I have been asked that by people I knew at University is incredible; I even copped a fair bit saying I had no social life when in fact I consider it the opposite. I will admit when I first went to University back in 2007 I didn’t go much online or frequent social media, I did sign up for Facebook but didn’t use it much.
It wasn’t until early 2010 when I was having problems in my real life that I started to frequent the social media space more often, I joined Twitter and in a very short space of time found people who wanted to get to know me. And that’s when fandom came along, when people started learning I was a fan of the TV show Castle and that I was big into sci-fi shows such as Stargate I started to find somewhere I could belong.
These shows caused a chain reaction of sorts because through one person I met another & another and another. I have now spoken to so many people from the four corners of the globe and we are all connected by our love of similar things. And as time has gone on some of these people I now consider more important to me than anyone I have ever met in real life because they genuinely care.  You’re probably sitting there reading this thinking I am completely mad, that these friends I am so willing to defend are probably nothing more than creepy middle age men in some random country. And of course there are plenty of those freaks out there who are willing to woo children to an early grave but not always. At last count I had about 730 people following me on Twitter and from those 730 I have met a good 20 of them, ok that isn’t much but it’s enough of an indication that there are real genuine people out there, it just happens to be they live too far for you to see them all the time.
Take my friend Tasha as an example, I started speaking to her online mid 2010 but it wasn’t until early 2011 that I finally got to meet her. It happened to be that Adelaide was holding a convention and she was able to fly over. It’s been over a year since I have seen her in person but thanks to sites like Twitter, Facebook etc I speak to her nearly every day. But that memory of saying goodbye to her at the airport really sticks out in my mind, even now.
And that’s the other thing I am thankful for, going to conventions started thanks to speaking to people online. I went to my first convention in late 2010, and I have gone to another 4 since then & another is in the works for next month. I now have friends who I consider part of a giant extended family all because it started online. People outside of the social media space don’t understand the fuss; even after you explain all the good points to them it doesn’t seem to change their mind. Even people now give me an odd look when I say I met my best friend online, even though it’s true. I met my best friend Michelle online through our mutual love for the TV show Sanctuary & our respect for actress Amanda Tapping. After we met in person in January 2011 we have virtually been inseparable ever since. The highlight was when we both got to speak to Amanda together thanking her for what she inevitably did.
 I don’t bother explaining myself anymore when the question gets posed to me about online friends being not real. I just simply say “They are” and move onto another topic because they never will understand because this isn’t their world.

Its not the look its "The Voice"

I didn’t expect to write another one of these so quickly but a few things have been bothering me in recent days. Ever since the departure of Carmen hit the internet I have seen the knives come out once again and this time for The Voice itself. I have seen comments from all sorts of people saying that Carmen being forced to leave is wrong, that people with industry experience should also be kicked out or that The Voice should be about undiscovered talent. I am sorry but are you all blind? The point of a show like The Voice is very simple, this show is aimed at people who have industry experience who want to take the next step up in their career and become the household name that they so badly desire. Of course you are going to have those people who are just naturally gifted and have never considered doing anything about it until The Voice comes along.
I felt bad for Carmen when she left, god knows how she is feeling personally, if I had been her and learned that I had to leave id be devastated. She wanted so badly to be considered more than a backup singer and the chance was taken away. Sadly though that is the nature of television, anyone out there can claim it’s wrong and unjust but when you sign a contract you virtually hand over your soul for the period of your stay. In this instance Carmen broke the rules and Channel 9 was well within their rights to force her to go. I do hope Carmen does well, she deserves all the success in the world, and even though her stay was shorter than I think everyone expected, I hope she gets something out of it.
Something else that bothered me today were the negative comments that have been flying around about how every contestant has been repackaged to fit into some corporate box or how this show has now revealed its true identity to be the new version of Idol. People are entitled to their comments but the fact remains that negativity like that only proves how close-minded they are. I personally gave up on Australian Idol 3 seasons before the show was finally taken off air, mainly because I could see the cracks beginning to show. People who should have never made it past the audition stage were making it through to the later stages of the competition simply on the entertainment factor. Those people were being put into cute little boxes by record executives who knew they had marketing gold on their hands. Yet 90% of those contestants have now floated back into obscurity because they had no idea of the industry. But not just that, contestants who clearly had a voice that could sell records were being knocked back because they were not considered “right “or could not fit into that little box.
And a perfect example of this is Team Delta contestant & one of my favourites Danni Da Ros.
When I read in TV Week that Danni had auditioned for Idol back in 2007 I was shocked, mainly because someone with her kind of voice could have won the whole competition without any trouble. And yet she was knocked back because “She Wasn’t Marketable” I actually burst out laughing when I read it because of how stupid that sounded, because if you compare her voice to those who have made it as a finalist on Idol, she would blow the majority away. And this is why The Voice is different, your look is not important; none of these contestants fit into nice neat packages, and if they did this would be the most boring show ever. Individuality & being unique makes a show great and personally that’s why I love this show so much because everyone is very different and it allows them to connect to a much wider audience.

Stop Hating on Delta!

Ever since The Voice Australia started & Delta Goodrem returned to our screams as a coach I have slowly watched as the steady stream of haters has increased. To this point I have held my tongue hoping against hope that once the show had hit the live rounds that there would be more focus on the contestants rather than Delta herself. But alas I was wrong and instead the hating has got to the point where I can’t take it anymore. I am not ashamed to say that I have been a fan of Delta’s ever since I heard “I Don’t Care” by accident in a music store back in the early 2000’s at the time I thought she was a breath of fresh air that the Australian music scene was in desperate need of.
From that point on her music has gotten me through a lot of personal turmoil and even now listening to her music puts a smile on my face when I badly need it after a long day. At the time of her own personal hell this country proudly embraced her and gave Delta all the love and support she needed to fight through her darkest hour. Yet where has all that love gone now? Sadly the other night I was stupid enough to troll through some of the hash tags on Twitter and what I found appalled me. Delta being called all the stupid and horrible names under the sun, yet she has done nothing to deserve any of them.
One of the things that has always annoyed me about Australia is our love of tall poppy syndrome, cutting someone when they are down and once they are down stamping them into the ground until there is no way they can come back. Sadly I am seeing people right across the social media space sharpening their knives trying to cut Delta down at any opportunity. Some claim she can’t sing, well if you don’t like her music simply don’t listen. Some comment on her choice of clothes, so she isn’t allowed to be an individual now? Others say she is full of herself, Have you even met her? Actually sat down at had a conversation with her? For god sake. The last one particularly irks me because to judge someone on what they see on TV is ridiculous. I may have never met Delta myself but I know plenty of people who have and what they all say is the same thing. Never has anyone been more willing to give their time & appreciate you coming to see them than Delta. After all how many musicians with her star power would stay signing autographs & chatting to people long after the shops had shut their doors? None that come to my mind. The woman has a bigger heart than many celebs I have ever seen and has changed so many lives, including mine that I think she deserves a little more respect than she has received.
The point of this post is simple; bullying a celeb on any of the forms of social media is pointless and stupid. How would you feel if someone you loved and admired was attacked and then stopped answering tweets or closed their account altogether? You wouldn’t like it. And I certainly as hell can’t stand the bullshit that Delta has been copping. If you don’t have anything good to say keep it to yourself and don’t ruin it for those people who consider themselves fans, because none of us can take it anymore.