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accomplished

LOST DVD RELEASE PARTY 8/16/05
Part 1



I’m going to do the report in 2 parts. Just because there are so many freaking pictures and just because.. spam is good YAYE. Part one will be my story/experience and part two will be most of the cast pictures. So if you are only in this to see pictures of the cast, by all means, just skip on by to part two. but like omg, I spent a lot of time on this report and it would mean the world if people read it. lolz.


First of all, hi there. My name is Christine and I’m addicted to Lost press junkets. You may remember me from previous fangirl escapades such as the Dominic interview (which was like a year ago today, how funny!) and the Sunset on the Beach adventure. Sometimes my luck freaks me out. Seriously. It’s all because of my mom, really. If it weren’t for her and her kickass connections, I would be a very sad little girl. Oh and living in Hawaii kind of helps, too.

So, right. The party.

It was on Tuesday, August 16 at the Turtle Bay resort at the North Shore. Here’s the invitation for those who didn’t see it.



My day was extremely hectic. School ended at 1:45. I had to go home, change, find my camera, go buy batteries, get gas, calm myself down, shower, and then go pick up my friend, Vicki. Oh yeah. Vicki, btw, is my bestest Lost friend everest liek omg she rocks everything. She gets excited about anything and is the funnest person you could ever take with you to something like this. So after I picked Vicki up from her house, we went to get my mom at her office. We started our drive to the north shore at around 4:30. It takes about 1.5 hours to get to Turtle Bay.. it’s pretty much on the opposite side of the island from me. But that’s fine and dandy, this was all for a good cause. So we drove. And drove.

Saw this outside my window for 92738 miles.



Finally, we arrived. It was around 6:10. Most of the press was there already. Everyone was getting their passes and waiting in line and conversing and etc.

This was the sign outside, lol.



That was basically the theme of the whole event. We got our press badges the way you would get a plane ticket. We boarded the shuttles like you would board an airplane. As we rode, there were “flight attendants” warning us about turbulence and things catching on fire. It was quite amusing, actually.

Our "boarding pass":




Oh noes! We're on Oceanic, we're all gonna die omgz!


The actual party was held a mile or so away from the resort, so the shuttle ride was about 10 minutes long. I rode with the press because I was representing my school paper (my mom and Vicki had to take the later shuttle with the normal guests). When we got to the site, there were these giant, helium-filled.. moon-looking things that said Lost on them. I’m still trying to figure out what they were exactly, but whatever.



Now this part was the cool part. They purposely had the party at this location because it was one of the areas they actually filmed the show. So as we were walking toward the site, it really was like walking through a scene of Lost. They played scary, jungle monster noises and everything. I was like whoa cool.

Walking to the site..



When we arrived, they had the “red carpet” right on the grass.. with jungle-themed railing and everything. The press people were told where to stand by the cards on the ground. The monster noises continued.





This was when it got kind of slow. Obviously, the cast was going to be late. Because that’s the cool thing to do. So I was standing around for a good hour, just fiddling with my camera and twiddling my thumbs.

The press can get very noisy and impatient.



But it was good for me because I had time to calm my nerves and think over the questions I was going to ask. By the way, since I was covering this for my school paper, I decided to take a different angle and, instead of asking the cast their one-millionth question on ‘how their life changed because of Lost’, I decided to ask questions about what they were like during high school. I figured that would be a lot more interesting.

oh btw, this is where the party would actually take place. Under a giant banyon tree. Pretty cool, huh?



Anyhoo, I waited. The sun went away. It started getting dark. The monster noises were still there. By this time, my mom and Vicki had arrived on their shuttle. So they were hanging around scoping things out. THEN FINALLY SOMETHING HAPPENED OMG. There was a rustle and everyone started getting their cameras ready and migrating over to the right side of the press line. Daniel Dae Kim had arrived! See, I was pretty far down towards the left side. They divided the line so the television press was on the right and the newspaper press was on the left. So when the cast arrived, I had to wait a good 20 minutes for them to reach my side. lolz. But it was ok, because I had a great spot right in front. And it’s not like they get any less prettier as they walk down the line. So yay. Daniel Dae Kim came, then Yunjin Kim, Emilie de Ravin, Matthew Fox. Actually, I don’t really know the exact order.. because I didn’t actually see them arrive. But that’s the order they came towards me.

This was the surreal part. It totally didn’t feel like I was actually there, it felt like I was watching through some extremely high-definition television. Every single one of them came right smack dab in front of me. I could’ve reached out and patted their head if I wanted to. But I didn’t, don’t worry. Evangeline Lilly definitely smelled the best. Gosh, it was intoxicating.

omg, Jorge was the funniest. I was kind of distracted by something else, and all of a sudden he just.. APPEARED. I was like wtf where did you come from? lolz, and then he just said ‘HI!’ and then everyone shoved their voice recorders/microphones in his face and started asking questions.

Ok, about my questions. lol. I’ll have you know, when you are surrounded on all sides by impatient, aggressive press all desperately trying to get their questions answered like it’s a life or death situation.. well, it gets kind of intimidating. One little, tiny gap in the conversation and they just jump at the chance and scream out another question. It’s madness, I say. I mean, when I was at Sunset on the Beach last year for the season one premiere, holy shit, it was so different. No one knew who any of the cast was (except Dominic and maybe Matthew Fox), so there were probably less than 20 members of the press there.. all trying to match faces with pictures on a paper. It was 50 times less hectic. When I was in the press line that time, I talked to everyone that came by. Fuck it, they came up to ME and asked me questions, lol. I remember Ian Somerhalder shaking my hand, looking at me with those gorgeous blue eyes, asking what my name was and everything. I know, wtf. I remember Naveen Andrews talking to me about his character. And then my conversation with Dominic, of course. It was so easy, too. It’s amazing what a year and a hit show will do for some people. Fast forward to Tuesday and it’s just mayhem. The cast are definitely stars now. Crazy.

So anyway, here I am, this innocent, scared little girl trying to ask one teeny question. And I totally can’t. It’s horrifying. I’m not an assertive person by nature. This continued with most of the cast. They would be right in front of me and all I could do was listen to other people’s questions being answered and take lots and lots and lots of pictures. But I never actually asked any of my own. Heh, I didn’t really mind. Hello, just staring at the cast was more than wonderful.

But my mom thought I was being a wuss, so she went up to one of the producers of the show, Bryan Burk, and told him that her scaredy-pants daughter was in the press line and not getting to ask any questions. So then Bryan went up to Evangeline, who was next in line, and apparently he told her about me. And then he came up to me and whispered in my ear, “Evangeline is coming directly to you next. Be sure to ask her a question, she’ll be expecting it.”

So I’m all omgwtf. My heart was all racing and everything. I wasn’t prepared for this, gosh. But sure enough, here comes Evangeline.. all smiley and glowing and happy. She stands right in front of me and looks expectant. So I just blurt out, “hi. I’m from my school paper and I was wondering what you were like in high school.” lolz *proud*. And then she just smiles even wider (gosh, she’s beautiful holy crap) and goes into this wonderful, long-winded answer about her whole high school experience.. how she was a goody-two shoes and sucked up to the teachers and always had to drive people home after parties. And omg. It was just perfect. I love her for the rest of time &hearts

LOOK ITS ME BEING A GIDDY DORK.



All of a sudden I had this giant boost of confidence. If Evangeline could answer my question, surely others would too, right? So the next person up was Naveen. I totally asked him. He totally gave me a great answer. Man, I was on fire.

(lol, this is after I talk to him. I'm just checking my tape recorder in this picture because I had a moment of near-panic when I thought I forgot to press 'record')



But then, oh shit. I kind of realized pretty much the whole cast already went by. The only ones left were Dominic and Harold. And by this time, it was getting really late and they all just wanted to get inside the party already. So Dominic came by, but he only stayed in the press line for a short time and I didn’t get a chance to ask him anything. Same thing with Harold. I got great pictures of both of them, but no talking time. lolz... or so I thought.

So I finally leave the press line and go into the party with Vicki and my mom. We scope out the scene. wtf, it was amazing. They had this giant fuselage set up as a stage where there was a live band and official Lost dancer girls.



There were tables and chairs scattered about. Everything was dark, but the ambiance was awesome. There were pieces of rope and barrels and hanging things and other Lost-ish props. Oh and the food was amazing. There was sushi and beef teriyaki and chicken on sticks and MUSHROOMS OMG. There was a bar too, but I could only have sprite lol, I suck. The dessert table was my favorite table by far.



And the best part of all: to see the cast just hanging out. It was so.. normal? Terry was just talking with his buddies. Matthew was at the bar. Maggie and Emilie were conversing. Harold and Daniel were all joking around. It was great. I was going to take pictures of some of this, but then after I took one I felt weird. It was too private, I guess. So I didn’t.

And for me, this was the real exciting part. The cast was so approachable. I just went up to Jorge and said “hey, can I ask you a quick question?” and he was all “SURE!” So I got out my handy dandy tape recorder and gave him a real fast interview. Of course, my mom had to go and take my picture while I did this. She told me it’s for the people who wouldn’t believe me. lolz.



So anyway, I approached a few more of the cast members. It was soooo much easier than interviewing them in the press line, here they were so laid-back and willing.

I talked to Terry.



Emilie.



Harold.



And my favorite, of course: DOM.



He was so adorable, I can’t even tell you. And because the party was so noisy, he had to lean in really, really close to talk to me. I was in heaven. His interview was great, too.

And the best part of the whole, entire night: HE REMEMBERED ME FROM BEFORE LOL. Gosh, I was just in pure bliss. He was like “yeah! I met you before, hey!” *swoooon*

And because they were all so eager, I just had to ask for pictures. Wouldn’t you?

Me and Terry



Me and Vicki and Harold



Me and Vicki and Matthew



Me, Vicki, Emilie, and Maggie



Me, Vicki, and DOMINIC.




So after we hung out for a while and ate lots of food and watched the band perform, it was around 10:30 and we decided to head home. I mean, I had school the next day, lol. So we caught a shuttle back. Vicki and I looked at the pictures we took and squeed and reminisced and etc. Anddddd then we went home! That’s really about it. :D


Some random notes:

- I’m still typing up the stuff I recorded. So I’ll post the answers they gave to my questions in another entry.

- Most of the questions asked by other people in the press line were pretty standard, boring questions. Like omg, “how has Lost changed your life?” “Do you like filming in Hawaii?” “Can you tell us anything about the new season?” NO THEY CAN’T TELL YOU ANYTHING ABOUT THE NEW SEASON FOR THE 8261 TIME, GOSH.

- So anyway, there were a couple things of interest amidst all the boring. Like.. hmm, oh! This dude from some paper kept asking the same question about how there are a lot of strong women on the set, which girl is the toughest? or something. And everyone said Evangeline. Everyone! Jorge was like: “yeah, I would probably want to fight Evi the least. She’s got guns.” lol. Terry said: “she would totally kick my ass”

- Did I tell you how good Evangeline smelled? OMIGOSH, for real.

- MAGGIE SHIPS SAYID/SAWYER. SHE SAID SO, I HEARD IT WITH MY OWN EARS.

- When asked about music, Terry said he likes stuff from his era.. Neil Young, etc. But he also loves when Naveen plays his guitar. He said a lot of the cast is very musical.

- When asked about what it would be like if he got the part for Sawyer instead of Hurley, Jorge said “well, it would’ve been cool, but I probably wouldn’t have sold as many tv guide covers as Josh did.” heeeeeee.

- The nicest cast member? EVANGELINE. LOLZ, CAN YOU TELL I’M IN LOVE WITH HER YET? Though Harold was pretty awesome, too. He was so eager to answer my questions and he seemed to love taking pictures. Gosh, the whole cast was nice.

- Sorry, snellios, but I didn’t see Dom and Evangeline together much at all :/ (I failed you, I know)

- Funniest cast member was definitely Naveen. He was so random and laughed at everything.

- Right before we left, when everyone was still in the party, Vicki and I took our ‘we are movie starz omgz’ pose. I know, you’re jealous :p



- One of the best perks?



Doesn’t really have the pretty covers and everything, but it’s all 6 DVDs of season 1 right there. Special features and everything (the bloopers kill me, omg). Yay for free stuff &hearts




Anyhoo, I had a great time. I’m still elated. The cast is the most amazing cast. I CAN’T WAIT FOR SEASON TWO! YAY!

lolz, thanks for reading.

ps. I’ll try to have part 2 of the report up in a few hours. I’m still resizing pictures and stuff (which is taking forever and a day!)

edit: lolz, I put that Maggie shipped 'naveen/sawyer'. LOL, HOLY TYPO, BATMAN. lolzlozlolasdfdklsa. Yeah, correction: sayid/sawyer. *headdesk*

[part two is now up]