Tent City Warriors Part 2 – Yep, That Was Me Sleeping On National Television

By day 4 of Tent City hobo life, I could officially say that I had seen the Breaking Dawn trailer at least 1,000,017 times on the big Nokia screens and spent way more time at Starbucks than I ever thought possible. However, I still hadn’t figured out why Summit wanted to know my blood type when I registered for my Breaking Dawn premiere wristband. Seriously, they really did ask us that. I speculated that it was either because Tent City residents were being considered as a vampire food source or they were preparing for emergency transfusions in case of blood shed during the frenzy to get close to Robert Pattinson at the premiere.

Me (on the right) with my best pals and partners-in-crime, ZAnyMouse and Twifixx - The BookClub.

Our camping mates (aka the HBG Girls, named in honor of Kristen’s hot bodyguard) were in charge of “media relations” for our group. Here’s Lyn_sey_Gail being interviewed while looking through our face-in-hole stand. I love it that Edward/Jacob/Faceless Bella were featured in lots of interviews and photos.

17foreverLisa, TwiloveSue, DangrDafne

TwiloveSue and Director Bill Condon

Our second to last full day of camping ended with a showing of Eclipse on the big screen and then, around midnight, we had to relocate camp (Tent City #1) across the street to the Staples Center Plaza (renamed Tent City #4 - don't you love their creativity?) so they could take down the ginormous tent and set up for the premiere. It was hard sleeping through the overnight construction noise (beep, beep, beep….), not to mention that it was soooooo cold. Yes, I know I'm a wimpy Southern Californian and anything under 70 degrees seems chilly to me, but I literally woke up a few times because my teeth were chattering so loudly. Imagine the Eclipse tent scene without Edward or Jacob and that was me.

We pretty much got used to seeing (and dodging) the media who were constantly wandering around camp, but they were especially difficult to avoid when we awoke to hoards of them on the morning before the premiere. Summit provided breakfast and brought several Breaking Dawn cast members to visit camp for one last PR opportunity.


Jackson Rathbone

Jackson cracked us up when he signed ZAnyMouse’s poster because he giggled and pointed out "I signed on Bella's butt! Shhhhh....."

We also met the actresses who play new vampires Tanya and Kate Denali. They were both super nice and quite beautiful, and took their time visiting everyone who wanted to meet them. I think they were a little surprised by all the Twilight love they were getting.

Twi-daughter Nicole and MyAnna Buring (Tanya)


TwiloveSue and MyAnna


Twi-daughter Nicole and Casey LaBow (Kate)

It was great seeing Boo Boo Stewart again because he is always so friendly and genuinely adorable. I swear to you, he IS Seth.

TwiloveSue and Boo Boo

Twi-daughter Nicole and Boo Boo


ZAnyMouse and Boo Boo

After Boo Boo finished pictures and autographs with us, I was talking to his Dad (a huge, scary looking guy who also functions as his body guard) and complimented him on what a sweet, friendly kid he has and how he wins over everyone he meets. His Dad smiled and said, "That's because he's drunk." So funny.


Peter Facinelli was super handsome, but you could tell his heart really wasn’t in it. Maybe he was mad that someone made him wear a bunch of make-up.

Apparently Peter was having some sort of a dilemma deciding where to sign my poster.



Twi-daughters Nicole and Megan with one of the new Wolfpackers (couldn't find his name on IMDB, but he plays either Brady or Collin). While they were having this picture taken, his Dad (trying to coach him on proper fan etiquette) reminded him, “Both arms, son.” The girls later said they felt just a little awkward and creepy cause he was so young. Yeah, right. Welcome to my world.

By the time afternoon hit, we were exhausted from the excitement and general lack of sleep of the past several days, so decided to just relax for awhile. And that is how ZAnyMouse and I ended up sleeping on television.

So much for my efforts to avoid getting caught on camera, because several people emailed me by the end of the day to say they spotted me on the news and various websites in this and many other shots. CullenaryCurser even sent me a link where our sleeping picture won the dubious honor of being one of the “16 Most Unsettling Photos from Twilight Premieres”. Yay us. At least I held on to my last shred of dignity and declined to put on a wedding dress in the Yahoo Twilight Lounge and have my picture taken with cardboard Edward.

Eventually we decided that rather than wait to tear down camp at 6am the next morning, it would make way better sense to check into a hotel to get a good night's sleep before the premiere (although I was just a teeny bit ashamed for abandoning camp early). There were no more activities scheduled at camp and we weren’t due back until the next afternoon to be herded into metal pens on the black carpet.

If there were an award for the best tent sign, it would definitely have gone to the gals from Robsessed for this one!

See you next week for my next post… the Breaking Dawn premiere!!

TwiloveSue XOXO

Tent City Warriors Part 1 - Say Goodbye to Reality and Proudly Wave the Twilight Freak Flag

If you think I told many people that I know in “real life” about my plan to live in a tent for a week crammed into the center plaza of a downtown LA entertainment complex with hundreds of other people just for the privilege of watching some young actors (whom I may or may not actually get to talk to) walk into a theater to see the premiere of a movie about vampire and werewolves (that I may or may not actually get in to see), well, then you would be wrong. I made all sorts of vague excuses to friends and clients as I packed up my Sharpies, Poptarts, and Edward blanket and escaped reality with my little gang of 14 warriors.

Camping out for the premiere was both an exhausting emotional roller coaster and an exhilaratingly awesome celebration with friends of all things Twilight. True, there were a few dark times that I passionately wanted to hurt someone, but I still consider it to be one of the best weeks ever. Once we got past the ridiculously unfair wristband distribution process (believe me, Summit heads should roll for that) and finally settled into our cozy little campsite, life was good. We were very bummed, though, that part of our group got separated from us in the wristband inquisition and we weren’t able to camp right next to each other.

Twi-daughter Megan, Twifixx, TwiloveSue, Twi-daughter Nicole, 17foreverLisa (yes, that really is my tent with the Edward sheet draped over it. Don’t judge.)

Because the premiere was scheduled on one of the two weekends per year it actually rained in Southern California, they built huge tents over the three Tent City camping areas for us.

Home Sweet Home (I spy Twi-daughter Nicole, do you?)

Over the course of our time camping, there were surprise visits from 12 cast members and other people associated with the movie. Every single one of them was very friendly and gracious, taking time to meet and thank us for our support of the movies.

Tinsel Korey with TwiloveSue

… and with Twi-daughter Nicole

On the first night of camping, Kellan Lutz brought 40 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts to hand out to fans, but the Nokia Center security wouldn’t let him because they said it was some sort of a food violation. They must have feared that either he was going to try to poison us or the crowd would be overcome by a sugar rush and attack.

I think ZAnyMouse looks awfully comfortable here, don't you?

Kellan was making such a funny face in this picture with Twifixx and Twi-daughter Megan that I had to include it.

Doesn't our gang look cozy? Each night we got to watch a different Twilight movie on the Nokia Center screen. It was hilarious listening to all the comments people were shouting out, but I could have done without the drunk hockey hecklers when the game got out at the Staples Center. I'm sure most of us have watched the movies more times than we'd ever admit even to each other, but believe me, the cafeteria walk and parking lot strut on the big screen never get old.

17foreverLisa with the lost portion of our posse: Bethth1, Mama_Cougar, TatooMickey, and Papa_Cougar

Kiowa Gordon showed up late at night to play a little acoustic music with his band, but we were so tired after being up for over 24 hours that we slept right through it (even though he was apparently right next to our tent for a little while). I'd like to think, though, that I would have sensed Rob's presence and awoken even from a coma.


The absolute coolest surprise was when Stephenie Meyer showed up to pass out autographed books and pose for pictures. She took her time to personally give a book to each person and thank them for being there. It meant so much to me to be able to thank her for the great impact she’s had on my life.

TwiloveSue and Wyck Godfrey

On the second night, we were treated to a concert by six bands from the Breaking Dawn soundtrack and emceed by Charlie Bewley. Charlie is one of those people who have personality plus and he was very entertaining, as always.




I don’t know why I think this picture of Charlie pretending to hang himself is so funny. There’s just so much wrong here.

You know the rule, every post ends with an awesome picture of Rob to send us merrily along our way with a smile on our faces and a song in our hearts.

TwiloveSue XOXO

Breaking Dawn Premiere: Best Day Ever!

I have SO many pictures to share with you from my time living as a distinguished resident of Tent City and then attending the LA premiere of Breaking Dawn (plus tons of great shots from the BD convention the week before), but I’m going to start with the very best part… not only did I get to spend a wonderful week with great friends, but I accomplished my #1 goal - I had my picture taken with Robert Pattinson!

TwiloveSue and Rob

I probably should have been more specific in my goal setting to say that I wanted him to hold me in his arms and be gazing adoringly at me without the camera being right in my face, but this is good too. TwiloveSis pointed out that I don’t look very happy in this picture, but I think the expression on my face was a combination of sheer elation and shock, plus the fact that I was trying not to have crazy eyes and a jack-o-lantern smile.

And not only was I lucky enough to get a picture with Rob, but so did my dear friends…

ZAnyMouse (Z, please forgive me for unintentionally photo bombing you!)

Twifixx

17foreverLisa

Our evening on the black carpet was a total blast and we got autographs with many Twilight actors and other celebrities over the course of the evening, but you know there was one person we kept our eye on from afar… Rob! Last year at the Eclipse premiere he ran out of time and never made it down to our end of the carpet before he had to go in for the movie and we were so worried that it would happen again. We were on a virtual emotional roller coaster as we watched him inch his way towards us as time ran out.

As the movie start time passed, we were so disappointed to see Rob still working the press line across from us and only occasionally stopping to wave or smile in our direction.



So near and yet so far

We even got captured in the background of some of the interview shots across from us and were starting to worry this was the closest we were going to get to him.
I love this one of me right next to Rob’s ear

If you look closely, you can see 17foreverLisa, Twifixx and Twi-daughter Megan

As he got to the end of the press line and near the theater entrance, we were just about to give up all hope and then… he turned around and came back!! I am completely convinced that this was due to 17foreverLisa’s earlier plea to Rob’s representative Stephanie. Thank you, Lisa, we all owe you big time!




On a side note, I learned by experience that you’re not allowed to touch Rob on the black carpet. When it was time for our picture, I innocently started putting my arm around his back and the security guard quickly pushed it back down (come on, you know I had to try). I can’t remember much about what I said to Rob other than to thank him for coming back over to see us and I do believe that I told him I love him. What can I say? I was caught up in the moment. Luckily, he just chuckled and thanked me without running away in fear.




Twi-daughter Nicole has the dubious honor of being able to say that Bodyguard Dean got mad at her. She batted books and posters out of the way while trying to take Rob’s picture with Lisa and I guess Dean was alarmed by the sudden movement and thought maybe she was starting a rumble or getting ready to jump the chest high barrier. Earlier while we were waiting for Rob to get to our spot in line, we tried to get the girls around us to calm down and stop pushing and screaming every single time Rob breathed (trust me, he breathes a lot and the screeching was unbearable) because we didn’t want them to lead Rob away before he got over to us. So when Nicole was getting her autograph, she told Rob that we had tried to keep everyone calm as not to scare him. He laughed and said “it didn’t work.” Honestly, I can’t say enough how sweet, friendly and charming he was as he worked his way through the frenzied crowd.



After Rob went into the theater and we were all blissfully basking and sighing in the afterglow, security came over and gave us all tickets to the movie! There’s no better way to watch a movie than in the same room with all the actors and it was a fabulous ending to an equally fabulous day.

Do we look exhausted and happy, or what? 17foreverLisa, ZAnyMouse, Twifixx, TwiloveSue, Twi-daughter Nicole, Twi-daughter Megan


Needless to say, all of the time and effort to attend the premiere was so worth it. I had the ultimate Twilight fan experience on the black carpet with my best friends and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

TwiloveSue XOXO