Welcome, Anthony Rapp! (part four)- Page 31

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 8:05pm

A year ago right now, I.... was really hungry? heh. Let's all share!

It's... been such a pleasure. *won't babble*

Updated On: 3/10/06 at 08:05 PM

[Silence = Death]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 9:42pm

I went to the Hollins booksigning last night, also. I had gone to the signing in D.C., but I was much more nervous about this one because it was the last one that I could really go to.

Erm..I'm trying to think of certain things that stood out about the night. When he came out, he said that he didn't want to stand behind the podium thing, he didn't want to feel like the president. And someone said that he would then have to lie and then Anthony then had a little schpiel about Bush, lol. People cheered and he said 'Well, I guess this is an okay place to say these things then.' or something to that affect. He pulled the mike to the side to talk and then when he went to read, he pulled it so he was standing behind it. It made some really odd noise so he played with it awhile so that it would keep doing it and then got all excited that there was a little book light type thing. He made a hymnal joke again and then read about his bday party, the Peasants Feast, and about meeting Cy from Friends in Deed. My mother was with me and her mom is fighting off cancer right now and I think hearing what Cy was saying in the book really got to her. Afterwards, she was really happy that she had come and she really wants to read the book now. In the middle, the mike cut on and off and he was joking around saying 'this is a heartfelt memoir! haven't you heard!' talking to the mike guy.

Once he was done reading, he played with the mike again for a bit and then went into Q and A. Most of the questions were normal but there were a few good ones and there were a lot of great responses from him. Someone randomly shouted out a question and he gave her an odd look and said 'You didn't raise your hand!' and when asked about his advice for actors or writers or whomever, he said the 'There's only one you for all time. Fearlessly be yourself.' quote, which I have loved since the first time I heard it, so I taped it. And a girl told him that she hadn't had a chance to finish his book and he was like 'Well, this conversation is over then!' But yea, I'm sure a lot of this isn't as entertaining to you guys, especially if you weren't there, but yea. The whole time, I had wanted to ask a question but I was really afraid to but I got up the courage and was the last one to ask a question. He pointed to me and said 'You...in the floppy hat.' After blushing horribly, I managed to get my question out, which was whether or not he would've done the Spike Lee version of the movie if asked, considering how the script was written. He said that he hadn't read all of it but it seemed not like Rent very much and that it was trying to hide the whole 'being a musical' thing. The whole time he talked throughout the thing, it always felt like he was looking right at you and talking only to you, but it was kind of intense when I knew he was actually talking directly to me. But yea. He sang Losing my Religion and Seasons of Love and then went to sign.

My friends, my mom, and I all waited for the line to die down a little bit and then got in line. While in line, my friend pointed out that under his chair, his feet were all wrapped up and it looked like he was trying to float. I had a good laugh at that and then it was my turn to go up. I took a picture of the girl in front of me with him for her and then walked up with my little group of people. I felt bad because I had brought a lot of stuff. I brought it all so that I could decide what to get signed later but my mom just pulled it all out and I didn't protest. My mom knew that I was really embarressed about how I spazzed out last time saying 'I hate people!' so she made it a point to asked if he remembered it and he was like...oh! yea! you didn't have your floppy hat on last time though. I told him that I did have it on last time and kind of blushed and he mentioned that I seemed a lot more calm this time. I told him that it was because people weren't all staring at me and sort of blushed and he looked me straight in the eye and said 'Hey, no judgements.' These are words that I have NEVER heard from anyone and to hear it from someone who has inspired me like he has was so incredible, but naturally, my defense went up and I just smiled and chuckled and said 'That's reassuring..I think...' We talked about the fact that he was going to a lot of places in the south that I wouldn't expect and to Laramie and he said he was curious as to how everyone was coping with the whole Matthew Shepard thing and we talked about the Laramie Project. I thanked him for coming to Virginia because no one ever comes here and that it meant a lot. My friend also commented that his head had to hurt because he nods so much and he just nodded very enthusiastically. I apologized for taking so much of his time and then my friend was like I WANT A PICTURE WITH ALL OF US! He smiled so we got behind the table with him and he looked at me and was like 'move closer!' so I got closer and laughed. My friends camera died so I had to get mine out and that took a minute and then we got it done and I apologized for taking so much time and thanked him.

Considering I had been so shy the last time, I was so happy that I had been able to actually talk to him but I hate that I had put up my guard and hadn't been able to really thank him. I hope that he didn't mind us taking up so much of his time and though I'm sure he was just being nice by saying he remembered me, it was awfully sweet. Many things that he said last night completely reaffirmed many of my convictions about some of the things that I've been doing with my life and it was amazing to hear.

And I know that I will never be able to fully thank him to where he could really understand everything that he has done for me and my life, I just wanna say THANK YOU! just incase he ever does stumble upon this. Thank you, Anthony, you've done much much more than you can ever imagine.

And yes, I'm sorry this is so long! I have video of him reading and singing (full of both) but I can't upload until tomorrow probably and I have pictures if people are interested. Just let me know!

Edit: I hope this makes it a little bit easier to read! Sorry about before. Once I get rambling, it is hard for me to stop!

Updated On: 3/10/06 at 09:42 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 9:45pm

aw, I'm glad you got to meet him again!

Your post my be a little easier to read if you break it up, though, so it's not one huge paragraph.

[opiv]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 9:59pm

Ah it sounds like it was great S=D.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:00pm

Thanks for posting such a detailed review, S=D. I was there, but I'm awful at recounting things and remembering everything that was said, so I'm glad that someone else from here was there. I do agree with Emcee on the paragraphs bit, though.

[Zyla]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:05pm

S=D, I'm glad you had such a great time!

Thanks everyone for posting their reviews. It's wonderful to read your guys' stories and know what great experiences you've had!

Hmmm...living vicariously? Who, me? :)
Updated On: 3/10/06 at 10:05 PM

[drumtilyoudrop]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:07pm

Whoa, I leave for a week, and we're already on part four!

Glad to know everyone had a great time meeting Anthony.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:12pm

Great review SD! Ditto on thanking you for taking the time to put in lots of details.

Skittles, tomorrow will be the one-year anniv. of me first reading the Adam thread too. Probably applies to quite a few people.

And I have my 1-year anniv. of first meeting Anthony in exactly a week.

And Idina.

And Emcee come to think of it...

[opiv]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:15pm

I wish I could've gone to the set in SF, my parents wouldn't take me

But I did get to meet him, so thats good.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:22pm

hah, I feel oddly powerful.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:31pm

Well I did just include you in a group of Anthony and Idina, so that's pretty understandable I was with you when I met Anthony...ohh, but not Idina. You and everyone left me to approach her all alone. Thanks. :-P

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:37pm

Hey now. You know you're actually proud of that.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:42pm

Well...yeah. I've been collecting all my "long" posts where I recount great nights like that, or nights like Elvis Costello, or fun times at DRS, so that's the first one I ever made. So I reread it recently. Really funny, I did write I was so proud because "I'm usually so shy." Talk about a lot changing over a year...

I wasn't thrilled at the time though, you guys made me more scared. I still remember that convo...

Me: So do you think WE could like go over, ask her for a picture?
Response: Sure, sounds like a great idea. YOU go.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:43pm

Yeah, I'm not gonna deny that.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:48pm

Well, Em, it WAS the first day of filming. We were all desperate for any news about the movie and you posting all these details about everything we were biting our nails over (Adam's hair! ), so your post was just like this giant magnet for us. Remember how many website servers we crashed over pictures from the Rent set?

Updated On: 3/10/06 at 10:48 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:50pm

hee. I think I was actually there on day two or three, but it was one of the first times it was very accessible, I think. It's still kind of amazing to start talking to people who happened to be lurking back then and to hear things like "I read your post that day; it made me cry." That's just.... that's really flattering.

[CanadianSnowbird]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 10:59pm

I didn't even know Rent existed until last August.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 3/10/06 at 11:01pm

Aww.

Heh, I remember being very curious to hear about "the hair."

I bet there would be a lot of us in the group that I'm in of joining the board around the time Anthony started posting, and reading the Adam thread for the first time to hear Em's story of the night

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 3/11/06 at 12:02am

*beams with happiness*

[opiv]

Posted: 3/11/06 at 12:12am

How was it Rogue?

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 3/11/06 at 12:25am

Amazing. I was a little worried that our seats were in the Front Balcony, but the theater was quite small and the balcony was actually the best seats, from my view. I'm making up a post about it for the Adam thread if you want to hear more.

[One Song Glory]

Posted: 3/11/06 at 7:46am

Good morning, board members. It's Saturday, enjoy it. Kind of off-topic, but on the Today show that I'm watching right now, Idina is on talking about the movie 'Ask the Dust'.

[opiv]

Posted: 3/11/06 at 11:46am

This is kind of random, but for a research project im doing in English (Im doing Anthony) we have to give a presentation, and pretend to be the person and answer questions from the audience. Should be fun

[RachLaura]

Posted: 3/11/06 at 12:10pm

Ohh that does sound like fun!

I watched David Searching last night I thought it was really good but I'm going to have to watch it again because I had to make the volume really low and missed some things. I liked the end and I thought Anthony did a great job portraying that character, I completely forgot he was Mark Cohen.

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 3/11/06 at 12:12pm

Wow, S=D, I'm glad you had such a great time! Sounds like an amazing experience.