Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Hero of Time - Link's Adventure Through NYC

OK, so I already fail at Blogging... it's been two weeks since I last posted. :-P
Anyway, I've been debating how I will talk about the LoZ Fanfilm "The Hero of Time". If I were to give a full review it would ridiculously long... so I decided to go ahead and just link to
my long-winded review that I posted on Legend's Place. Oh, and if you want a Spoiler-free review... This one was just posted. Here I will talk about the day itself. ^_^
I was so beyond gitty about the whole experience for multiple reasons. One - cuz it was a LoZ movie, duh! Two - I would meet at least part of the cast and crew (so this was the closest I'd be to a "con"). And three - although going to NYC may not be a huge deal for most mid-20-year-olds, I pretty much don't go ANYWHERE, so it was big.
As bad as this is about to sound, September 11th was like Christmas Eve. You remember, when you just COULDN'T get to sleep because you were too excited about the next day? I don't think I actually fell asleep until about 4am. And then the next morning I was up at about 9am even though we didn't need to go anywhere until about 2pm. I spent my time sorting everything out, making sure my sister's boyfriend Peter would be here on time... generally freaking myself out and worrying that we'd miss our bus or something. Really shouldn't have worried since the bus was actually about 20 minutes late. :-P
Our driver was INSANE I tell you! He would randomly jump onto his mic; which he held too close to his mouth and made him sound like a fast-food attendant talking through those drive-thru order speakers.... Anyway, he's on his mic and explaining the "rules" of the bus and Celia and I just look at each other and chuckle at the fact that we already broke about 3 of them... No eating on the bus, no non-water drinks, and don't take up more than one seat (I had my Link doll sitting cozy on the chair next to me). Well, getting back to the INSANE driver... Just as we were heading into NJ the driver starts yelling about someone's headphones. "If I can hear your music you not only have your headphones up too loud for the other passengers, but you might blow out your own hearing and I bet you can't even hear me tell you this." Well, since the three of us were in the very back of the bus we didn't hear this supposed music, and apparently none of the other passengers did either. The driver yelled a couple more times via PA about lowering the music on the headphones. Finally, he pulled off to the side of the highway and actually stood up and scanned the passengers. NO ONE had on headphones! And no one seemed to hear any music! The driver looked confused, but eventually sat back down and continued on his way. The rest of the drive went smoothly. I have a cute picture of Link snuggled up to Celia and Peter as they slept on the bus; you'll have to imagine my guerrilla tactics ^_^
Once in NYC we went to find a place to eat (and somewhere Peter can use the restrooms :-P). After much indecisiveness on Peter's part, Celia and I gave up and just randomly pointed out places on 7th Ave. We ended up eating at this weird Chinese place. It was kind of like a fast-food restaurant, sort of like Panda Express, but instead of all of the food pre-prepared and sitting out for the customer to point to, this one was more like a McDonalds, where you order, they prepare in the back, and taadaa! you have food... I actually liked it, but apparently it didn't sit too well with Celia. Peter tells us later that he knew it wouldn't sit well with her, but we seemed excited about it and he really needed to pee, so he held his tongue. Gee, thanx Pete! :-P
After our meal, we wandered over to Time Square. I embarrassed my sister by pulling out my Link doll and took a picture so it appeared like he was standing in Time Square. I quickly rebuttaled that NYC and Tokyo are probably the two places on the planet where you could do something like this and not a single person would take notice. ^_^ We then followed Celia to the Broadway Store where she was in true heaven. I had another cute picture of Link nestled in with the stuffed animals underneath the Broadway songbooks. However, that, the Time Square pic, and later the Ladder 8 and Madison Square Garden pics all didn't save or got corrupted or whatever, so I don't have them T_T
After our Broadway wanderings, we headed back to where our bus to Tribeca would be. Could not find it for the life of us - the map of bus stops I printed off the internet was lame! We went into this one fancy boutique, thinking maybe someone would notice where the bus picked up, since it was supposed to be right outside their store… The guy we found was VERY posh (and a little effeminate). His response was “Oh, honey. I don’t TAKE the bus…” That’s when I realized that probably 90% of those who DO take the bus are out-of-towners, so asking “natives” might not be helpful. We then went into the Subway station (as in trains, not sandwiches) on the other side of the boutique and asked there. Apparently we were at exactly the right spot (the bus picked up at the Red Lobster right outside the doors). Er, go me? However, it’s a good thing we needed to check, because even though we all had cash on us – exact change in fact – the buses only accept COINS! No bills!? At all!? WTF!? So I bought a metro card with 3 rides on it – one for each of us. We can refill down in Tribeca…
We then waited a LONG time for the bus (another one like 15 min late!? WTF Buses!?). In the meantime we were amused by the fact that it was apparently unofficial–Swedes-visit-NYC day. Seriously! They weren’t all in one large touring group. They were in groups of like 3 and 4 and we would randomly run into these groups all over Manhattan. Anyway, Red Lobster was having some weird promotion (or some weird promotion group decided to sit outside Red Lobster since a tour-bus stopped there…), and anyway, there were two people in (really bad) Mickey and Minnie Mouse costumes. A group of three Swedish women (I’m talking like 40+ year-olds) were all taking pictures with Mickey and giggling like children. It was amusing to see. I had Link take a picture (well, I had Mickey in the background…).
Just as we thought we had somehow missed the bus, here it comes - late - and trucking it down 8th Ave. We get on and start off as the only riders. Well, I’m not entirely sure WHEN they got on (the next stop maybe?) but three people came on, two men and one woman. They were all about middle-aged, but the two men seemed mentally challenged and perhaps the woman was “in charge” of them – like their social worker or something. Well, the skinny man of the trio was fairly quiet the whole time, but the overweight one was VERY boisterous. And also he was apparently VERY gay as well. He would talk about trying to get the skinny man into bed with him; asking how he could seduce him. He’d then talk about this gay-only ball they were going to and how he’d ditch the skinny guy and find… well… it’s not appropriate to write that down. >_< Then there were some comments about tying ropes to genitals, and then the man started to strip! I turned to talk to Celia about the man and then I noticed him pulling off his shirt. I quickly turned and apparently Peter noticed him dropping his pants at least down to his knees before his bills slid off the seat and the three of them scrambled to pick them all up. The woman then had the larger man keep his pants on and put a new shirt on. A local woman who must take this bus frequently just talked to the other passengers about how he’s the “crazy bus guy” and to try to ignore him. Meanwhile, he’s in the back singing some show-tune whose melody I didn’t pick up on, but he re-wrote the lyrics to be about being gay. It was a few miles before the trio got off the bus. A very interesting experience.
We FINALLY made it to Tribeca, but I got nervous when I didn’t see the street sign for the road we wanted. We got off what appeared to be about 3 blocks away via the bus-route map I printed. Should have known it was off :-P We met up with a man and two boys who, we all quickly deduced, were going to the movie as well. So we all accompanied each other and talked about our excitement. We also passed by the famous Hook & Ladder 8 in Tribeca (the Ghostbuster’s firehouse for those who don’t know), but I yet again lost the shot TT_TT.
We got into the theatre at about 7pm (show started at 7:15). We were SUPPOSED to be there at 6:45 at the latest if the bus was actually on time. *pout* I still managed to talk to three cast/crew members. Two of the producers of BMB, Joel Musch and David Blane, were in the lobby welcoming people. Joel was not only the producer, but sort of the every-thing-man. He was the cameraman, editor, special effects, and a character that is supposedly loosely based on The Great Mido (in Ocarina of Time). David played Link, as well as produced, helped Joel edit, and worked with George Powell on the musical score. I talked to them both briefly and asked them to sign my shirt. I had previously (like 2 days before) purchased a new LoZ shirt and fabric pen (which turned out to be a GLITTER pen, so once it dried there was no actual ink, just condensed glitter…). Before heading out that morning I wrote on the top of the shirt, by my shoulder blades: BMB Finishes, Tribeca Cinemas, 9/12/09, 7:15pm, The Hero of Time. Well, when David went to sign my back he noticed all of the info I had already written on and he started laughing and ordered Joel to sign while he (David) took a picture. David then told me that he also orders Hannah Fierman (who played Zelda) to sign my shirt and that I need to find her in the theatre. Instead of sticking around and talking to the boys more, I went ahead in to the theatre, hoping to catch Hannah before the room got too packed… too late. There were some die-hards from a lot further away than me who already took up about ½ the seats. Celia, Peter, and I just snuggled in to the back corner of the theatre, while some 20-something man in front of us started talking me up about the movie. He freaked Celia out a bit because he seemed to have a bit of a 14-yr-old-uber-geek mentality to him. *shrug* Zelda fan is a Zelda fan. I’m sure I seemed a bit odd to others as well… Anyway, I didn’t see Hannah, and contrary to David’s instructions, I wasn’t going to just call out “Hannah!” in a ½ filled room. Well, Joel eventually came in and started talking to a woman I could only assume was Hannah, so I walked up to her and told her that David ordered her to sign my shirt. Well, there was a rather large man at the end of the row, and he didn’t seem to be willing to move, so the two of us attempted to find an alternative manner of having Hannah reach my shirt. I ended up sneaking into the row behind her. There was a woman and her pre-teen son in that row, and the son actually had the youth version of my shirt on. The three of us started talking about my shirt and my idea to have the cast/crew sign the shirt. I also told them about my Link pictures throughout the day. I could tell that Celia was glad to be still tucked in the back, away from her freaky sister. ^_^
Well, it was now time for the movie, so I snuggled back into my corner seat. Joel and David came out and thanked everyone for coming and talked a little about the film. Then Joel left (if the video of the Premiere is any indication, he filmed the screening). David had a little of a contest, trying to see who came the farthest. The winner was the large man by Hannah, who came from Nebraska! There were others from Quebec, Baltimore, Buffalo, etc.
After David handed the winner his autographed movie poster, the movie started. Again,
see my review if you’re curious. For a Play-by-Play, check out the start of the thread, written by Macadameane.
After the movie concluded I talked to Joel and David for another moment, but unfortunately we had busses to catch, so we couldn’t stay longer than a short “you guys are my heroes.” What really upset me was that Joel, David, and Hannah were having an after-party after the 2nd showing (so party started at 11pm). I wish I could have went! Gar!
Well, here we are, outside the theatre, and needing more money put on our metro card… and no Subway station to do so! Crud! I should have put on 6 rides! Well, none of us had the COINS (stupid buses) to pay for the trip, so we sucked it up and hiked the 2.8 miles back to the Port Authority! We ended up missing the 9:30 bus, and apparently there wasn’t a 10:30 bus, so we had to wait for the 11:30 bus ride home (which happened to be the last one home that night! Holy!). Well, aside from our thighs burning and being a bit out of breath (because Celia and I are out of shape), we enjoyed our speed-walking hike back to the Port Authority. We walked by Madison Square Garden, but as previously mentioned, the picture didn’t take! I think I ended the day with 5 or 6 pictures that didn’t save/got corrupted/whatever… T_T
Well, we got back to the Port Authority a little over an hour before that last bus, so we chilled at a place called Pizza Villa. Nice place, food looked good, but I wasn’t particularly hungry. I had just realized that I hadn’t had anything to drink the WHOLE DAY, and so I just stuck with a bottle of apple juice to re-hydrate.
The bus-ride home wasn’t nearly as interesting as the one up; this driver actually seemed sane. Amusing little side-note: the bus to NYC (with the crazy driver) had seatbelts on every seat, whereas the one home (with the non-crazy driver) had the traditional non-seatbelted seats… just some food for thought ^_^
And thus ends my telling of September 12th, 2009 – the journey to the Legend of Zelda fanfilm “The Hero of Time” and also ends my telling of the Week of Win, September 2009.

UPDATE! PICTURES!
Link sitting in his bus seat.
Link enjoying the ride into NYC!
Link got bored quickly. Good thing he had his DS. Playing Phantom Hourglass, FYI...
Even the rain couldn't stop Link's excitement about being in Manhattan.
Link finished all of his Chinese Food lunch. Too bad we couldn't find a Japanese Cuisine nearby to really make him feel at home... (psst... the joke is that LoZ is developed in Japan...)
Link and the scary-looking Mickey-Mouse-Wanna-Be outside Red Lobster.
GASP! The Hero of Time movie poster! We're here!

A better look at the movie poster itself. Yay!
Link's enjoying his arrival at the cinema to see his movie!
Link working his way to his seat in the Tribeca Cinema.
LINK! SIT DOWN! I CAN'T SEE PAST YOU!
Much better... Link finally settled in.
Link making his way back to the Bus Authority after the movie.
Link outside a HUGE comic book store... it's like, what? Three? Four stories?
Link finally rehydrating after a long day.
Poor Link fell asleep on the bus ride home...
David Blane and Joel Musch of BMB Finishes, and Hannah Fierman (Zelda) signed my shirt.
Better look at the shirt and signatures! YAYs!
UPDATE NUMBER TWO!
BMB Finishes updated their Q&A/Next Screening posts. And my question was the only one answered! YAY! Too bad Karla can't pronounce LycoRogue... >_<>


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