I love that line from Despicable Me. It's one of my favourite moments in the whole film, and it's not even the words so much, it's the pure, uninhibited sheer joy that's in the tone of those words that little girl says that gets me every time. Any time I come across people, places, ideas, food, stuff, animals, amazing talents and incredible actions that just make me feel EVERYTHING at once I just want to announce with a complete lack of self consciousness - IT'S SOOOOO PRETTTYYY!!!! exchanging the it for he or she or they and the word pretty for shiny, happy, dorky, cozy, fuzzy, geeky, friendly, sunny, snazzy, funny or fancy; whatever the situations calls for - so pretty much any adjective that ends in Y.

I get that feeling whenwolfpup2000 posts her photos. I love em, not gonna lie they make me DRIVEN. I want to do better with my photography because of her shots. THEY'RE SOOOOOO PRETTTTTTTTTTYYYYYYYY!!!!!

I've saved a few that I wanted to play with. Here's some I've chosen that are my favourites of the J2 ones she posted:









Love Jared's expression here, pretty sure this was the start of the whole Cherry Pie incident I spoke of in an earlier post. When Jensen first says Yumm Jared turns to look at him like WHAT EVEN?? I love how Jensen is not even trying to defend it, retract it or mumble something else to cover it. Yep I said "Yumm" to a fangirl dressed as pie. Clearly I have no brain mouth filter right now.


Imagine the vocal tones of a David Attenborough as he observes two creatures in nature on this one shot above:
Over time when a pair of homosapiens have bonded over a sustained period up to eight years or more they start to exhibit behaviours that mimic each other, often in a synchronised and completely subconscious manner. The bonded pair are not even aware of such actions however it is an adaptation that has allowed them to flourish and cope with all manner of stressful situations.

I know this happens amongst many couples (platonic or otherwise) who have been together for sometime, I just think it's neat when the moments are caught on camera.

Totally set an episode of Supernatural in Yellowstone. The story ideas are ABUNDANTLY RICH in choice. But mainly just because I am here in Yellowstone, just having finished another epic long day seeing ALL the things and it was awesome and I love it and then I come back to motel room to discover the talented Ephraim (@eeecat on Twitter and elsiecat here on LJ) has released her Van Con Breakfast photos and I couldn't help but go all Ahhhhh!!! and Eeeeeeee!!! and Ooooooooo!!!! all over them interpsersed with fits of giggles at the memories these images brought back. So you see Yellowstone and Supernatural - they're like a freaking hand and a glove right now for me.

Anyway have some played with/mildly edited/mostly just adoringly gazed at Van Con Breakfast shots by Ephraim.






Sometimes, very briefly I wonder if "Moose" is indeed a fair term of affectionate nickname for Jared. And then I see photos like this and I go "OOOOOhhhhhh I see now." Mark Sheppard knew you see. He's seen the resemblance.


I swear he's looking at Jensen with this whole - "Did ya see Jackles?? Did you see how I knew ALL the States? Aren't ya proud of me buddy?" expression of look what I did!! Ahh Jared, you are such adorkable goodness.



Because I can never ever resist an entire body/every facial muscle Jared laugh.



You know when Jared stays in those fancy hotels I BET he has to use the entire teeny bottle of fancy hair conditioner in one shower because hair that good takes the serious maintenance. And then housekeeping is all "He is just ONE man, how does he keep using up all the hair products??" Ahh housekeeping. How little do you know - Jared is never JUST one man. Jared is THE man with THE VIDAL SASSOON Hair. Just keep replenishing his hair products and the world will be just fine.

It doesn’t seem to matter how many photos we get of this guy smiling or laughing I NEVER get tired of looking at them. I literally feel my mood getting lighter and happier every time I see his smile.

So it is possible to replace Xanax and Prozac with Jared Padalecki’s face.

I’m gonna start prescribing it to sad friends. Hand them a flash drive full of photos and say here Rx: Take one morning and night or as required. Possible Side FX include: Finding yourself grinning stupidly at your computer screen for hours on end and a totally Enjoyable Lightness of Being. In case of overdose - share joy with other friends.


Source: elsiecat

So to recap... in the past few weeks we have had from this wonderful show and it's fandom: (I just had to put all the awesome linkage in one post you see)

Jared's first ever music video - I Am Human



Photos of VanCon from wolfpup2000


Photos of VanCon from the lovely elsiecat


HQ Stunning photos uploaded by growyourwings




The Supernatural Gangnam Style Vid of unceasing grin provoking wonder

The Supernatural Season 7 Gag Reel

The JIB3 Con vid filmed by Richard Speight and Jason Manns

The Forever Now Known as the Supernatural/Jensen Ackles Power Ballad Rendition of the Century - All Out Of Love

The release of Jensen's song on Steve Carlson's album - Angeles

And now the Jensen Ackles Music Vid - Angeles
This vid really does make me wanna run out and get the iphone. Can't believe it was shot on an iphone, it's just brilliant quality. But alas iphone has other things of suckage about it. My HTC is pissing me right off right now. And Mr Redteekal's Samsung is showing weaknesses. Why is it so hard to have a smartphone with the cool HTC Android OS, with 64GB storage, with Beats quality sound AND the most fantabulous 8mega pixel camera out that makes you as good as Annie Liebowitz and Ridley Scott combined???? Oh and a battery that lasts all day even if you are using internet and camera for 8 hours???

AND (why yes there IS more) the Season 7 DVDs are out now here in the USA. Of course what totally and utterly sucks is that I can't play Region 1 USA DVDs on my laptop here and neither does my little MacBookPro cope with Bluray. WAHHHHHHH!!!! Why can't I watch my hours of extra features NOW??? I will be buying my bluray copy though before flying home, damn sight cheaper than Bluray buying back home that's for sure!

Just heard about some upcoming Season 8 guest stars which makes my little heart do a humungous happy dance!!

Dallas Con begins on Thursday WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! VIP Backstage passes mean we'll get to chat with all the guests and plus I have a Jared Meet and Greet to look forward too! SOOOOO many questions I'm gonna have to try and whittle them down!

Then it's only DAYS till Season 8 starts....have worked out will be somewhere between Houston and New Orleans by then so hopefully it will be somewhere we can get the show or at least get wifi connection good enough to stream it.

Did I mention how totally IN LOVE WITH THIS SHOW AND FANDOM AND EVERYONE INVOLVED WITH MAKING IT I AM??? It may have slipped my mind. But if I could group smish hug the entire entity I would right now. I am psyched about everything!

For now we are in NEW MEXICO!! Santa Fe to be exact. We drover here from the Mesa Verde National Park this morning which was FASCINATING. And now we are staying at....wait for it - at The Silver Saddle Motel. I kid you not, that is the name of this epic motel! I walked into the office to get us a room and there's signed framed photographs from Clint Eastwood and Chuck Norris on the wall. The manager was out the back patio area chasing off some drunken and/or high louts from his property as they tried to use the motel to cut through. Came in muttering about how they broke me fence and I'm gonna get my mace. Good times! Look I even took pictures!




This is the outside of our room. We have the door on the left of this stunning object d'art.


This is one of the lamps inside the room.
The whole interior screams Sam and Dean notel Motel to me. I just LOVE it.

Righto off to look for uploaded S7dvd extras clips...I have no patience really. I have to save it all for when I'm teaching teenagers.

You all know he looked like this right?


So I'm not going to try and do any kind of justice with words describing how fine Jensen Ross Ackles was looking today I'm just gonna jump straight in to the 15 minutes we got with him backstage today:

He was asked about a particular storyline that got dropped, never resolved? I wasn’t sure which one but he talked about how they’ll throw a lot of things around and see what sticks and that they also assess the reception a particular storyline gets in terms of the viewers and if it’s well received then those storylines tend to be more long lived and seen through.

Was asked about acting coaches – they don’t have one on the set of Spn and he found it unusual that there was one on another show. He personally didn’t think LL Cool J and Chris O Donnell would need it! He said Jared had one on set for the first couple episodes but he didn’t know why as he felt Jared didn’t really need him. But he asked if he could get some tips and advice from the guy and so they ran through a script together and halfway through the session Jensen basically walked out – he explained to the guy that he was gonna get too much inside his head and mess him up too much when it came to his take on Dean because this acting coach was being super analytical and breaking down ever single scene, trying to get Jensen to think about all kinds of things to do with Dean and where his motivation comes from for this expression or that expression, he was all about method. And Jensen’s like Errr what? He didn’t go to acting school, he never took acting classes, never studied a particular method/approach. So he basically told the guy yeah this is not helping, you’re messing with my head here. So he left. I got the feeling that Jensen’s acting has been developed just through his own gut instincts most of the time as in he is a very in the moment kind of actor, I felt that he very much read Dean as an uncomplicated kind of guy and just played him very surface.

Also was asked about a particular storyline that got dropped, never resolved? I wasn’t sure which one but he talked about how they’ll throw a lot of things around and see what sticks and that they also assess the reception a particular storyline gets in terms of the viewers and if it’s well received then those storylines tend to be more long lived and seen through.

Asked about what his song would be, the one he would want playing whenever he walked into a room. Depends on what room first off, so we narrowed him down to rooms with family or friends then he laughed and said the first thing that springs to mind is probably silly but The Final Countdown although he could think of some situations where that wouldn’t work – such as his funeral.

How are his dogs? His dogs are doing great, happy and well.

Was asked about the person on the set who is always there with a script to feed lines to actors when they need it when they are filming a scene, what’s their title and how do they get to that job? He smiled at this one when he thought of the Supernatural situation which is quite different from other shows he believes in this respect. They’re called a script supervisor and they not only do that but also are standing on set behind the director and watching the dailies and making notes about continuity in scenes shot from multiple angles etc.  Making sure that if he has his left hand in his pocket on one take that it’s back in there when they do a take from different angle. However on the set of Supernatural their Props Manager Robyn has taken over that job of feeding lines to the guys if they need it, also she runs lines with both Jared and himself, and also she will read the lines out in terms of when a phonecall scene is shot and say Dean is in the impala and Sam’s at a gas station and dean’s on his cell but Jared’s not even there so Robyn will lie across the back seat and read Jared’s part to him so that he can do his take. Thi is not in her job description but it had just worked out that she’s stepped into the role since she’s always on set floor anyway with the props management and stuff and it’s easier for them to just say quietly off to the side to Robyn “Hey gimme that line, or what’s that line again?” Rather than them just yelling across the set floor to the script supervisor who is behind the camera with the Ads “Hey what’s my line again??” Jensen said that this happens a lot with the crew – you’ll find everyone stepping in at some point to do other people’s job titles because they’ll see that it will be better, or more efficient or is helping out more as the other person is already doing something  else. You don’t get that “Nu uh I’m not doing that, that’s not my job” mentality that you’ll see on other sets. And Robyn doesn’t care that she’s not listed on credits in any script capacity because it doesn’t matter – they’re all pulling together for the same thing and it really is like a family helping each other out because they know it’s about the end product being as good as possible.

A discussion arose about the Impala parked out the front, two of the fans at the table actually own it and described to Jensen how it was fully kitted out with help from the Supernatural props department to make the arsenal in the trunk look exactly like the one in the show. Jensen looked through photos of this and then asked Jamison what was under the hood and then there were some numbers and an engine type/model mentioned which I didn’t catch which Jensen got all gleeful about along with the spot lights fitted to this one and then he explained how they’d removed the spotties on theirs and have now put a souped up much bigger horsepower engine in there and how the rumble is so deafening that they have to tone it down in order to do any acting in the car otherwise you can’t even hear the lines being said. So it was pretty much a very sweet mutual Impala loving exchange that had Jensen grinning from ear to ear saying he’d love to check it out if there was time. Rock on Ariel and Jamison – you did a great job with it!

And then he had to go :(

But have to say he was completely up and happy and seemed excited to have his family with him, he’s psyched for Season 8 and as per usual Jensen style – was just the epitome of a thoughtful, intelligent, articulate gentleman who just so happens to have won the genetic lottery and is just very, very VERY easy to look at.

So my hubby calls me freaky when it comes to remembering this stuff - I'm just annoyed it doesn't cross over to whenever I read anything - I'd like Spencer Reid's talent please, but I have this talent for recalling when stuff has been spoken to me and when I repeat it, in that I can pretty much retain much of what has been said. Example I can still list off all the names of the 12 dogs that pulled our sled in Swedish lappland for a day back in 2009 and tell you what their diet is and probably their parentage and what breed mixes they were. It's also a great skill to have as a teacher. But anyway - here's my recollections of the Jared Meet and Greet (I'll admit to being probably even more motivated to remember stuff he says - when it's people I respect and admire and just know are smart people I tend to listen even harder). Enjoy.

Jared Meet and Greet at Dallas Con Sunday September 23rd 2012

This was a real treat, Jared walks in and immediately introduces his Mom and Dad who walk in the behind him with a big grin on his face. His Mom and his Dad both look very well and pleased to be there. I know the guys say this is something they do because it’s fun and they love the interaction but I got the feeling his parents’ were happy to have the opportunity to watch their son ‘work’ so to speak. Some tangible proof that what he does as work has a huge impact on so many people.

Please be nice to my parents, and make sure you turn and ask them some questions so they can understand.

Welcome there’s a lot of familiar faces and some I haven’t seen in a long while, so how’s it all going guys?

There’s a chorus of great, awesome and one How’s Thomas? Which of course JP hones in on immediately.

Oh he’s great, awesome I just got another video from my wife…so (Cue big dorky proud grin!) And a chorus of Awwwwww.

Yeah. (still smiling huge)

Fan: What was he doing?

Well I call it crawling but it’s not. It’s scooting but it’s the funniest, it’s really not very cohesive movement? It’s kinda like a stretch and then he’ll just ball up and then he’ll stretch and ball up I think they call it the Shrimp or something…

Fan: Like a caterpillar?”

Yeah! Caterpillar I guess that’s probably exactly what it is. Like a good old inch worm type thing. But it’s very cool, very very cool and touching.

Fan: I have a question for your mother! One grandmother to another - how is Thomas like Jared as a baby?

Yeah! Jared chimes in, Don’t tell em too much Mom!

Mrs P: Well he’s really messy like Jared. He’s very alert, he’s always watching what’s going on. He’s very attentive to his father.

Fans: Awwww So are we!

Mrs P: He hears Jared’s voice and he follows him and Jared was like that. He always wanted to know what was going on, he didn’t want anything to get past him.

Jared: Gen and I joke that he’s gonna think that I’m an iphone cos being away from him so much with work I’ll grab my ipad and talk and blah blah and so now he’s reaching for it so it’s difficult. But I think he’s just reaching for it not cos it’s me or anything. So now we joke that when I’m in a room with him and I’m like ‘Thomas…it’s your Daddy’ he’s looking around for this thing, where’s the phone.”

It’s funny cos when the season wrapped and he was only one month old I did Rome and then Brazil and we would have taken him to Rome but then to Brazil they need to get all these shots and being a one month old we didn’t wanna do that. I had to leave him for 10 days. So I was great in Rome, I was gonna look forward it’s part of being an actor it’s part of your profession, you gotta put away the real world and be in the fake world, forget what all is going on, took a deep breath and I was doing well. So I ended up in an airport and it was a Wifi lounge so I did the Skype thing and as soon as he came on, I mean, I’m almost crying just thinking about it, and there I was just sitting there wahhhhh on the internet and it’s like Heathrow so it’s very like multinational, people there from Japan and there I am just like this giant Texas guy (mimes tears rolling down his face) wahhh and they must have thought I was watching Marley and Me or something.  I mean just unabashedly crying, at first I was all trying to keep it in ad then I was like ahh hell with it I can beat all these guys up so I just wahhhh.

Fan: What does Sadie make of Thomas?

You know what? Sadie was really funny, when Gen was pregnant she followed her everywhere, all around, she was very protective of her, she knew something was different. Since Thomas was born, is born, I think Sadie, who is very very intelligent, has noticed how gentle we are, how cautious we are when she is running around because now we’re trying to get him to crawl and roll over and play and he has a little circular pad on the ground with these things hanging over it and Sadie is very cautious of him and she’ll look up almost like she thinks in trouble,  and we’re trying to get her in real close and she will but she’ll kind of look at me and I’ll go “Sadie” and she get a bit closer so she’s very cautious but every now and then she’ll get there and give him a little lick. Indy is a bit cock eyed and we think she’s just confused cos she kinda looks like out to the sides and she’s kinda scared. she can see you out there but if you get right in front up close it’s like she can’t see you cos (Jared holds the flat of his hand up to his face pressing on his nose) so we thinks she’s a little nervous. But they’re both great, they’re both very respectful and very cool….ok Who else? Before I go on jibber jobber

Fan: Not that I want you to but if you ever for a TV role or movie would you ever cut your hair?

I’d love to! I would really love to…I mean I think I look terrible with short hair…

Fan:I would cry.

My Mom would cry.

Fan: Have you seen the pictures where people have switched out your hair for Jensens?

No! It sounds like the Conan O Brien thing where the mouth talks…

Fan: Chorus of it’s not good, bad bad idea.

Actually my cousin sent me this video of his Uncle where it starts off with this frowny face and then this goofy voice comes on…. Yeah. I think definitely and especially we do plan on coming back to Texas in the long run and it gets very hot here. And this is like an extra (gestures to his hair), it’s like wearing a beanie which I usually do anyway to try and keep my hair down and so it’s like wearing one, two layers, I’ll probably cut it, just a little bit. And my head has changed since I started having long hair, someone asked me…

Fan: What do you mean?

Well I looked back on season 1 and I was like a boy and now I’m kinda filled out a little bit and I ‘m curious to see if my head was altered back there or not…I was in San Francisco a couple weeks ago or was it last week? Yeah last week and I was in SF with my sister and Gen’s family and Gen and Thomas and we were sitting in the park. And I went across the street get a chicken salad and a drink to go and take to the park. The first thing that happened was SF was playing Green Bay and there’s these guys in 49er outfits and they’re all looking at me kinda really weird. And I’m like okay well they know the show whatever (Pretends to be all puffed up famous movie star rubbing his knuckles across his chest) but they’re all giving me a look and whispering and hitting each other and they’re not being very subtle about it. Finally one of the guys comes up and he goes “Man I know you’re not cos you’re playing football right now but we all thought you were Tom Brady.” I was like oh…all right, I’ll take that! And he’s “Did you grow your hair long cos Tom Brady grows his hair long?” I’m: No I’ve had this hair for 8 years and I have video proof of it!” Then the lady who brought me my food, and she’s “Uhm I know this is probably impolite but the owner wants me to ask you if you’re Halle Berry’s ex-husband?”

So I go back to the park and I was like Well got recognized twice and neither time was actually me but I’ll take it. Those are two like hunky dudes I’ll take it. It’s better than someone coming and asking me if I’m like Steve Buscemi or something. But yeah I probably will cut it…I mean I don’t think I’ll ever be a short haired guy just because I’m so used to this, but yeah.

Fan Question: I’ve watched the S7 Gag reel and that moment when you come up to the counter and say “Look Scott” and then fall about saying Terrible Acting…does that happen often?

(Laughs) Every now and again, I forget why they wanted it to be that firm in that moment, there was one time, I remember it was the worse moment there ever was, the scene in Heaven and Hell in S4 big fight in the barn and the director wanted to run it as one huge scene but you can’t really because you got like VFX angels dying and there’s an angel knife and so he wanted to run it as, just to get an idea of flow which usually you can do it’s just a big long scene. But there was too many things going on in it and he’s just put it in this massive wide shot and he’s like I’m gonna run it, we’re gonna be rolling and you all just run it like a scene and we’ll see if something works, anything maybe like the connective tissue of the scene. And so we did it and I remember there was a part, it was like really awkward, it was like horrific bad community theatre or something because there’s a part where Jensen and I have to kind of cower and we have to wait for something over there to happen before we can start and so we’re shielding ourselves, we’re kinda peaking over the top to see what’s going on and the whole time we’re being filmed it’s on a camera and then Robyn, our prop master had to walk in because there’s a part where Misha produces an Angel blade but he had no way to keep it on him and so she’s on all fours coming in from off screen to like hand it to him. (Jared’s miming all this with actions at the same time). And I think. I think they didn’t print it. So you have to print something to get it copied, like even if it’s on camera. And we were all like We have to see this, that was the worst moment of acting in Supernatural history and we’re all laughing in the scene because it’s soo awkward and Jensen and I were like just cover your face man cover your face. And Uriels fighting Castiel and it was just sooo soo bad. And I begged and pleaded to try and get a copy of this but I don’t think it exists. Sometimes though, sometimes like we do call each other out. Jensen and I have known each other long enough to go like ‘Dude…wake up’ Especially when he was directing, I mean he’s not kidding, I mean he’s a great actor but there were parts when he was directing where he’d be like, blanked out (Jared mimes Jensen’s face zoning out completely) it would be Sam is saying seriously “Blah blah bla” and looking at Dean, and he’d be (shows blank face) I’d be like ‘Dude!’ (Swiping a hand in front of his face) ‘Anybody there? What’s going on?” And so there are certainly parts it ends up lacking. And there was a part, one of the most, we have a joke and it’s really unfunny. And it’s called Dead Puppies which isn’t funny but the reason it’s bad because when we were shooting Skin Jensen was saying his part and it was really cold and for some reason he couldn’t get the words ‘Shapeshifter’ out. He was sposed to be saying something to the effect of ‘We gotta go to the shapeshifter’s lair blah blah blah’ But he kept going Shhherrr shaaa sh and couldn’t get it out and we kept taking and then eventually he had to give his line with like a pause between his usual dean tone and then SHAPE SHIFTER blah bla and he had to stop and I just busted out laughing because it was like the worst, we can’t have you do that. And I just couldn’t stop laughing and we were losing light and our director was trying to get me to stop laughing and so he was like Uhhh think of Dead Puppies. So I was like, at that point I was like WHAT? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard and just started laughing even more. So now when whenever we get the giggles and it’s not funny but we refer it to dead puppies but it was when Robert MacNeil was trying to get me to calm down so there are certainly moments like that where you can’t get words out. We had it going who was gonna have to say ‘lore’ in the episode whether it was gonna be Sam and Dean. So stuff kinda like that, I still, I still laugh at, I watched the gag reels the other day, just youtube em, and the scene in the episode with the snake in Yellow Fever? But I was so uncomfortable in that scene…

Fan: You kept leaving!

I couldn’t! I mean literally the scene was sposed to be a Sam and Dean in a two shot blah blah blah I was sooo nervous. I’m not. I’m like so when I walked off I’m like you’re not getting me back on that couch come hell or high water! I go back and watch it and I can remember laughing hysterically out of feeling really REALLY uncomfortable.  I was like am I really doing this. I mean even the bees, like if a bee stings and it hurts but that’s it. But with the snake the guy is lying on the ground behind the couch and this huge snake, it’s like a 150 pounds of muscle, it’s just muscles, it’s like a huge scary muscle and the guy is like trying to hold it up and he’s kinda agitating it to try and make it go over the back of the couch, the snake wasn’t coming over and I was like I don’t like this. And Jensen, after it was over, was like okay (claps his hands together) I just blacked out for like two hours, you have to ask him about that some time, but it’s fun to watch the gag reels. Anyways…who else?

Fan: I like the part where Dean’s running off and you run out and you said “Jensen!”

Oh yeah! (Laughs loudly) Yeah…. JENSEN! Oh that’s your …actual name…errr”

Yeah those are fun…

Fan: I’m retired military and I live in San Antonio and I was wondering if you ever considered joining because of the big presence there?

Wow. You know that’s a multifaceted question. First off thankyou for your service, thankyou for contributing to our freedom, but I feel if there was a threat like WW2 where there was a guy trying to take over the world and invading then I would absolutely be willing to take part in protecting our nation especially the fact that I’m a husband and a father, I mean it’s been protected for me so I would want to protect it as well. Outside of that, my grandparents worked at a military base, my grandfather was in the Korean war so we do have a military presence in our family, but I gotta say I always thought I was gonna be an actor, for whatever reason, I really did, sounds cheesy I know....

Fan: We’re glad you did!

Yeah! So I never specifically thought, maybe, maybe my contribution will be able to be in a military production someday and tell somebody’s story.

Fan: You could always do USO Tours!

We tried to. We tried too many times, it literally came down to, at one point we even had flights happening and then our strike happened and our season got pushed out of time, but I fully, fully intend to do that. Gen’s step brother is in Afghanistan right now, and so we send him DVDs and just thankyous and stuff just like that. And also like through charities, like Wounded Warrior.

Fan: That’s what I wanted to say, I wanted to thankyou for that because I’m involved in working with that project and I wanted to thankyou for that because you are making a difference with that.

Well I appreciate that, thankyou, thankyou for that because it seems almost mindless how much we could help and we don’t so it feels like it is just such an easy decision to be a part of that . I enjoy my freedom and I hope it’s still around for Thomas and so these guys are doing that.

Fan: Think the Rangers will go all the way this year?

I sure hope so. I mean we had it down to the one pitch and I certainly hope and my old man probably hopes too (he’s nodding away in the back there, smile on his face) I mean, I hope the Cowboys do well too, but they’re not looking so great. I was at the game in Seattle…

Fans: yeah we knew you were there!

I was wearing my Novacek jersey, I was like I’m gonna go old school, I have a Romo jersey but decided on this one, and we were walking to the stadium, I was like Seattle is pretty mellow, it’s not like going to an Oakland game where someone is gonna murder me, I was like this is gonna be fine, I’ll wear my jersey, I’m a big 6’4 dude, I’ll wear my blue cowboys cap, and right as you’re about half a mile from the stadium everyone’s walking around, sportsbars are open, first half walking from downtown it’s quiet, nobody around much, right as we started to get to the populated area I hear ‘Novacek Efffing Sucks!!’ I was like, I wasn’t like, I’m not a douche where I go ‘Let’s FIGHT!’ and I just a kinda hear not sniggering, just more noise and I wanna turn around make sure I wasn’t about to get jumped so I turn around and say (he’s holding up his arm straight up finger pointed) ‘That is PATENTLY NOT TRUE! Novacek is fantastic’ and he guy kinda looks at me and he’s like ‘Hahhahahaa ‘ and he comes over and gives me a hug in a Hawks jersey and he’s like ‘I was just teasing man, Novacek is awesome he’s a hall of famer for sure…alright enjoy the game!’ And I was like alright so for most of the part it’s easy to kinda defuse it because they want you to go You suck! And We’re gonna win! Listen I’m a huge cowboys but I’m not gonna get in a fight…

Fan: Not like Houston..

Yeah I know. We were at a Giants game in Jersey but we were saved by the fact that it was raining and I had a jacket on and I had my jersey on there too and I was like (mimes wrapping his jacket very tightly around himself) luckily cos giants fans are pretty intense..and all fairness it was huge game where whoever wins goes to playoffs. And actually I was wracking my brain  I’ve been to many Cowboys games, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them win! Jensen texted me during the game last week “Dude you’re never allowed to go to a Cowboys game’ I was like I know what’s wrong with me? I mean I saw them lose to the Oilers when I was a kid. I seem to be their Kryptonite.

Fan: First convention here, was wondering whether to tell you this about 3 years I ago I was really sick and locked in a hospital for three months over thanksgiving and I couldn’t see my kids and I gotta tell you it was Supernatural, it was the fandom, I could look on my Facebook at three in the morning and find someone to talk to.

Another Fan: We’re all like family we really are.

Fan: And it’s because of you and Jensen and everyone else on set, it’s because of what you do, we appreciate your hard work all those long hours, to bring us this show.

Awesome, I’m glad you’re out and thankyou all of you.

Fan: We’re on a facebook page dedicated to you and Jared…

Fan: I mean Jensen. Sorry! That’s Jared.

Two of me is better! No that’s awesome thankyou.  That’s actually been the best part about doing a type of show that is considered cult where you have the most devoted fans, I mean you can meet them , I don’t think David Caruso is walking round with ‘Dude CSI Miami help me out’ It’s just you know. But to hear stories like that are amazing and helps us to remember that what we do is hopefully helping, I mean I wasn’t able to help out with the military and I probably won’t be able to help out with my age and what not, but that’s awesome. Thankyou

Fan: We reached 5700 members on our FB page the other day.

Wow!

Fan: The family wanted me just to say hello to you.

Well hello back!

Fan: So I’ll tell them you said that!

Thanks guys, that’s really really awesome. And keeps us, it reminds us, because sometimes you get, I mean everybody does and we’re by no means above what we do, don’t get me wrong. But you lose track of what you’re doing and sometimes you wake up and just go to work and you forget that you’re sharing your job with so many people. I mean we don’t do it for ourselves we do it for y’all.

Fan: I’m glad you do.

Well we’re only telling the stories cos y’all are asking for the stories.

Fan: The Moosekateers say they love you!

Yeah! I love it!

Fan: I wanted to ask about the music video you did for Brian?

Yeah!! Cool!!

Fan: So how many tweets did you get? Do you smoke?

Oh yeah! You know…what’s funny I don’t smoke. And I’d have to, I didn’t have to but it was a story. Brian Buckley does and it’s partially autobiographical about him, and he was like I love….I mean I don’t drink coffee a whole lot and for a non smoker to sit there and have to be around smoke for a while, I was really woozy I had to walk away. Luckily it was at my house so I was like I’m gonna go to my bedroom and sit down cos I am…it’s funny as a young, young artist I went to New York City and I talked to, I went with my school, with my drama class and we went to, my drama teacher had graduating students who went to Juilliard and places like that for drama and he had them come out and meet his current high school students and we were having a talk with a guy and he was saying, we were talking about playing characters whether they are gay or straight or religious or not or they were just a demon, I mean I didn’t have any ideas about supernatural, but he was saying, let’s say you’re an actor and you’re doing a a scene and you’re eating an apple. It’s not Jared saying I like apples, you’re telling a story and I remember, it was one of the things where I got to really do it purely for a buddy you know? And to help tell his story. I mean we used our house, we used, I mean I used my suit.

Fan: Your bowtie?

(Laughs) You know what that tie was given to me! I have the tux. That was the tux I got married in.

Fan: I was gonna say that looked like your wedding tux!

Thankyou very much! Carry on, don’t let me interrupt!

Fan: Every thing we know, all these personal things….sorry.

No that’s cool! No no they enjoy it as well, they’ve become part of the family as well. But yeah that was cool, thanks for y’all support for the work. Very cool. It was really neat to do it, and kinda a feel a part of it, we did it at our house we flew in from Austin, we just got and we were working with five crew guys from the film academy making 25 bucks a day basically just for their gas money, I mean I didn’t, there was no money changing hands it was just like to do it to tell the story of a guy that I love, of a band that I love.

Fan: I forwarded the video to so many of my friends who are struggling with being human and that the fact that in relationships this is what happens.

Yeah.  Sure.

Fan: We loved the song, before the video, but when the video came it was..

Cool. And Brian was talking about he how he was made aware of this line of people having signs saying I am human you know I lied to my Mom. So it’s cool and that’s one of the neat things about this profession let’s us do, it allows us to connect to so many people.

Fan: And you filmed some of Jensen’s music video?

Oh yes! That’s right!  On an iphone…

Fan: Is any of that footage we see what you took on your iphone?

All of the stuff of them inside the sound studio. So we, so they, where Jensen was singing was literally in the same room that we do ADR. So our sound mixer Don Pinchot has a truck and it’s really funny, it looks like a uhaul van or something and you open the doors and you’re all like are you working for the CIA or something? It’s all sound deadening equipment on the wall and it’s made to do ADR. It’s like a mobile ADR truck, he was the first guy to think of it in Canada and it’s brilliant because it follows. So if we’re on location somewhere we don’t have to drive all the way back to the studio to do ADR we can just walk outside and get in the truck. And so when Carlson was up in town they were gonna shoot it and I was like Can I help? Can I film? I mean if you don’t use it you don’t use it and I’ll walk really quietly. So I had to, I mean I’m no cameraman but I was trying to like get really low (mimes holding his iphone filming as he squats down close to the floor) I’m really tall I can get really tall (goes up on his tiptoes arm stretched up high –  Writers note: dude can get a true bird’s eyes view with that long ass body of his by the way) I got to exercise a part of me that’s not very exercised or not very existent! But no I got to be a part of it and I always tell Ackles to sing, he’s got a good voice I tell him to get on with it…

Fan: We’re waiting for you to sing!

(Laughs) Naaa…you’re gonna wanna keep waiting!

Fan: Isn’t that the trailer/truck that burned?

It is. It was the truck that burned. There was a malfunction of some electrical equipment in there and so this trailer in which he had put something like 200 thousand dollars worth of equipment into burned up luckily it was insured but it caused a big fire and the alarm started going off on stage. And funny enough the initial reaction, I should probably know better, especially being part of House of Wax where a stage burnt down, your initial reaction when an alarm starts going off on stage is like COME ON!!!! What idiot set the alarm off!?? Because you have to wait, production has to shut down and you have to wait until a fire officer comes along and clears it and turns it off cos something of that size you have to get a special permit to make sure it’s correctly wired. SO the fire alarm was going off and initially we’re all Ohhhh (groans) this is gonna take an hour, we’re gonna be behind I wanna get home to my kid, erhhhhh and then we’re like wait a minute, you mean there’s actually a fire? Cos normally it’s an accident, some guy will be smoking outside and some will have got into the vents ad set it off, or someone’s triggered it by accident. But it was a legitimate fire and luckily no one was hurt and he has it fixed now, he had it fixed over the holidays. And I’ve already done ADR in it on the first of May. It looks a little different inside now.

Fan: I just wanted to tell you that this is my 2nd convention. It’s my husband’s and I 28^th anniversary yesterday and he let me come to this and I just wanted to give this to Gen, it’s something that supports dogs in our area.

Jared received the little gifts thanking her and saying I will call her and tell that he’ll pass it on, give her the message.

Fan: Just so you know I love Gen.

Yeah! I do too!! I think she’s alright! She’s a heck of a catch! Congratulations! I can’t wait till those years come round for us.

Fan: Russ mentioned about a crew member who had a heart attack? Is he okay?

Yes! He is fine, well he’s not obviously fine but he is alive. Dave Driscoll had a massive, massive heart attack and they, as many hours as we work as actors, they work insanely more. Because especially our transportation guys, we are such a mobile show, like vagabonds so when we move locations, they… so let’s say Jared wraps at midnight and the next day we have to start shooting somewhere else, Jared has to come in at noon because Jared…(cracks up a little) this is really funny talking about myself…but anyway Jared has to come in at noon, so Jared will probably get up at 10 to work out, read lines and go to set, but they…so I go home at midnight. But they have to stay, close everything up, pack everything up by the time they get everything to the next location, because we don’t have extra drivers, they don’t hire extra drivers just to come in at night time to do it, so they might have to do a few runs to get it all done so they won’t be finished till a few hours after we’re done. Then they have to come in a couple hours before we start to make sure everything’s been set up cos everythings been moved, it’s now been driven for ten miles and stuff gets dislodged and maybe broken and so they have to fix it because if we don’t find out something’s broken before we start shooting then it’s more hours on top of that before we can roll. So their turn around, I think it’s like 6 hours, meaning that by the time they leave set they are only allowed to be called back onto set six hours later. And Vancouver is so expensive and big that a lot of these guys live an hour out. I mean Clif for many years lived an hour and a half away so he would go an hour and 15 minutes to go home after he dropped us off and then leave an hour and 15 earlier to pick us up and take us to set. I mean he had it good because he was with us, he had Jared and Jensen duty not Supernatural duty, so some of these guys get literally two or three hours of sleep during the week. And it’s you know, it’s outside, pretty stressful, things are always going wrong, tires are flat or this breaks or that happens, I mean there’s never a lot of time where they can just go hey gonna have a sandwich, take a nap! So he was definitely one of the harder workers and he’s on the mend now, I think he’s got like 4 to 6 weeks off which is good because he’s one of these workaholic guys.

Fan: We’re visiting San Antonio on Monday – can you recommend some restaurants or places you like?

I would but this restaurant tweeted my credit card.

Fans: WHAT???

(He’s shaking his head and smiling)

My mother’s birthday was August 29th and we went down to visit and take them out for dinner. And a fan, who I guess they’re not allowed to ask for pictures, I wish she would have just asked for a picture I would have been happy to do it, but she served us and so to prove that she served us she snapped a picture of my credit card and tweeted it.

Fans: You’re kidding …what?? And one is in back laughing about it…it was kinda shockingly funny.

Yeah laugh it up!! I was made aware of it…a few days later, luckily somebody in the family found it and called up production (As an aside this just tickled me – I know the Spn fandom is a family but for Jared to just so casually refer to us as the family was pretty sweet) and said Hey I think Jared’s credit card is online. So we’re like that’s probably not good so yeah, we cancelled it and ordered a new one.

Fan: And won’t be going back there?

Yeah probably not. Um I always love, we grew up on Alamo Café, there’s an awesome Mexican place called Paloma Blanca…where else? (He’s addressing his Mom and Dad during his one)

Fan: What about somewhere around Riverwalk?

There’s a Saltgrass steak house, Landry’s…which one? Los Carnadios…Rosalito…you now what it is good food and it is on the Riverwalk, the place was called Paesanos (this is the one with the credit card incident) great Italian food restaurant. But it’s great food and it’s one poor girl’s fault I don’t think it speaks for the whole restaurant.

Fan: tell us what she looks like… (in jest this was people I’m sure!! As there was laughter)

Jared laughs.

You know what she was a sweet pretty little girl…she didn’t know any better, I mean I know, I don’t think she was doing it malevolently, I think she just…maybe wanted to show up to school.

Fan: Did she show like the whole card?

No it was a picture of the whole card except for the last three digits… I know, the funny thing by having those first digits, when you buy something with that credit card and you get a receipt all it shows is those last three or four digits!! So all someone would have to do is…but it had the expiration date it was an American Express card it had the security code, so it was everything. I was kinda like that’s uh…uh poor girl but you know…

Fans making noises like yeah bit still.

Yeah but what do you say…

Fan: You’re way too nice!

I know I know, luckily there was no harm, no foul I wasn’t like supplying someone with some overseas trip but I think she was heavily reprimanded. I was thinking, it was unfortunate, it’s one of the nicer establishments, they always have Spurs people in there I think they have a thing where staff can’t approach…I was just like just say something I wouldn’t have minded, I mean there was a table full of girls next to me and they were taking pictures, sure.

Fan: They didn’t know who you were they just wanted to take pictures with you?

(Much laughter)

You look like Halle Berry’s husband can I have a picture? Or Tom Brady! And I think on that note I am going to go take some pictures now! So thanks guys…

Fan: On the cell phone thing – he tells Jared about a photo app he can take where it looks like Jared has his hands up on either side, flat the to edge of the Iphone screen and is looking out the phone at Thomas when he sends messages.

Oh that’s a good idea, very cool. I’m gonna do that – he’ll be like What in the world? Alright..thankyou guys!

And then he left. And I was kinda sad. And then remembered I had a photo op with him so was happy again....but also thinking damn the natural light in this room was perfect - wish the breakfast was there! The photos would have been PERFECT!

Oooooh UPDATE: This is one of the best Jensen Ackles meet and greet write ups I've seen - thanks to Fangasm!!
Jensen Ackles Dallas Con Meet and Greet

Ok I’m gonna write this before I go back and read my flist’s reaction to the episode to keep me as uninfluenced as possible (it is inevitable when I read the opinions and thoughts of my bright and insightful flist that I shall go – WHY YES!!! I SEE THAT TOTALLY!! So before I do…) so here are my raw reaction thoughts to this episode.

First off overall I thought it was a really strong episode, a great opener and beautifully shot piece of television (the Purgatory scenes were STUNNING) and I am feeling very HAPPY to have show back. There was HEAPS to love about it. And I’m pretty sure all my friends will have gone into detailed length about such things. The introduction of Benny for one, Kevin Tran’s transformation into total badass hunter over the course of the year, Crowley stuck in a field with goats nibbling at his toes, Dean’s arrival back earthside, Sam’s face, Sam’s hair, Sam’s tan. GAH! So much to love so I’m not gonna go on. Except to say Sam bought Dean a burger and fries and Dean’s reaction was a beautiful moment.

Ok now onto the Elephant in the Room (or Cabin as it were). Sam’s had a year off from hunting and apparently in that year he’s had a complete temperament makeover. Temperament is probably not the right word….actually now that I think about it, Sam has taken a leaf out of Dean’s book. Sam in this episode completely reminded me of the Dean in Point of No Return.  Also Dean in Season 7 when both Sam and Bobby were worried about his fatalistic attitude towards the hunt. Dean was definitely just going through the motions there.  But that’s a tangent for more thought later.

I read this essay here:

Freedom’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose written by Bardicvoice

http://www.thewinchesterfamilybusiness.com/archive-articles/66-supernatural-university/17389-supernatural-university-freedoms-just-another-word-for-nothing-left-to-lose.html

And it’s a very long and well thought and articulated article explaining why Sam did not seek out Dean. I read it all. And these reasons here are given:

• having absolutely no trail to follow;

• lacking any useful information that could have led to a recovery, even if Sam had been able to figure out a direction;

• being totally isolated from the rest of the hunting community and having no reasonable expectation of any knowledgeable help;

• knowing from all their prior experience that bringing people back never came without a price that probably shouldn't be paid, always leading to more loss and pain; and

• hitting his personal psychological and emotional limit, losing Dean, Bobby, and Castiel virtually together, on top of all he suffered in Hell and afterward.

And I read further wanting to see an elaboration of those reasons which I definitely get in the article.

First reason: Sam having absolutely no trail to follow. I can’t agree. Winking out of existence even surrounded by bursts of power has never been an indication in the Supernatural world of a person being destroyed. I don’t think from what was said on the episode that Sam even assumed Dean was dead. He knows Crowley is still around. He knows Crowley has Kevin Tran. Even had he not looked for Dean he, being the Sam we know, would have tried to get Kevin back. Why? Because Kevin would have been a possible aid in finding Dean. The argument that there was no trail is defunct in my mind.

Second Reason: The lacking of any useful information in leading to a recovery has never stopped a Winchester in the past. His first priority would have been to find a way to find out where his brother was. As Dean said “Yeah we always promised we wouldn’t look for the other….but then we always ignored that…etc” And yeah they have always ignored that. When the “Trickster” killed his brother for a permanent six months back in Season 3 – Sam turned into a one man hunting machine leaving no stone, demon or clue unturned. He was DRIVEN to get his brother back. We see at the beginning of Season 4 that Sam tried EVERYTHING to get Dean out of hell. He never stopped trying, his whole alliance with Ruby based on him being able to bend Lillith to his will. Season 5 when Dean becomes completely resigned, weary and fatalistic Sam is the one to stand up and insist that he cannot do this without his brother and that the fight to save the world from the Apocalypse is only one that he can bear with his brother at his side. He NEVER gave up on Dean. So the useful information to lead a recovery is secondary to him finding out where his brother was at this point. It would never have mattered to Sam in the past how long it would have taken to find his brother. He just would have done it. Sam still has access to Bobby’s book collection, Jody Mills would have helped him research, he knows enough about demons to get information from any number of high level demons. Hacker Charlie could also have assisted. So I’m not feeling that I can hang any sort of rationale for his about face on this reason at all.

Third Reason: Yes he is isolated from the hunting community. Has been for some time. This has never stopped him in the past. Plus his stint as Soulless Sam also would have confirmed his tenacity and resourcefulness when working on his own. Sure he teamed up with the Campbells at some point but it was very clear he was quite capable of looking into and handling jobs on his own. Not getting any knowledgeable help from hunters is not a strong enough reason to explain Sam’s complete turnaround in feelings towards his brother. And this is what this whole thing boils down to. Sam’s feelings towards his brother have completely changed in this episode from the last 7 years we have known him.

Fourth Reason: This reason excited me because it definitely had some potential. BUT IT ONLY WORKS IF SAM KNOWS THAT DEAN IS DEAD. He didn’t know. In fact if anything, winking out of existence in the Supernatural experience simply means someone’s been banished to somewhere. They exist alive somewhere. If Sam knew that Dean had been killed OR rather Sam had seen Dean killed with his own eyes before he vanished then this would be the BEST AND ONLY reason I would need to explain his behavior. If Dean had been exploded ala Lucifer/Castiel style in Swan Song then yes, Sam would most definitely be confident that Dean would be in heaven and that he should just leave him there. I almost wish it had played out like this because this reasons would ABSOLVE all the wrongs I’m feeling about Sam’s transformation. But then no Dean so it totally doesn’t work at all but you all know what I mean!

The Fifth reason: This is the one I have clung to the most. This one, to me, makes the most rationale sense. And you know in a way I still do kind of cling to it even now, despite having watched “We Need To Talk About Kevin”.  Sam hitting his personal psychological and emotional limit and just slamming into a wall when he was all alone all of a sudden. He had indeed at that moment lost everyone. And fandom has always talked about how with lesser mortals, normal average joe blow type people they would have had total mental breakdowns by now. It’s the Winchesters so we have always assumed they are unique, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t ever wondered if they would ever reach that breaking point, where the cracks will have widened to gaping chasms leaving less Winchester and more of a sobbing, howling wreck in a foetal position on the floor. It’s still a very tenuous and fragile reason though. Watching Sam in that first episode I sensed a huge weariness in him, a veneer of going through the motions, and a growing realization that he had done wrong by his brother. This made me ache for him greatly. There’s a huge difference between the wrong he has done by his brother this time and the wrong he did by going with Ruby. The wrong with Ruby was borne purely out of his misguided but inherently good intentions. He truly felt he was doing the right thing.

More On The Episode Now...

This time it was like I was seeing a completely different (and indifferent) Sam on my screen. When Dean asks him “You did look for me right Sammy? Even a little?” And it was a plain as day that he had not, it was at this point I actually felt sorry for Jared. Because this is not the Sam he has played for the last seven years, or the Sam we have seen who would stop at nothing to save his brother. This lack of trail, no one to call on excuse, is flimsy and weak. And I cannot help but feel that Jared MUST have questioned that writing. Publicly in interviews with bloggers etc he is toeing the party line of course and throwing his full support behind the reasoning for this abrupt change in his very core feelings behavior but I honestly think he would have been on the phone to Carver straight away when he read they were putting Sam in that position. And I’ve thought about why. And it was a Jerry Wanek tweet after the airing that gave me a clue. He made the comment that the show was very “fresh emotionally”. It wasn’t just fresh Jerry, emotionally speaking the brothers are complete newborns right now. It feels like they have taken the seven years of the “deep, unabiding, psychotically, erotically co dependent soul mates” kind of bond and thrown it completely out the window in the space of a few dialogue heavy scenes that use Sam as the scapegoat to keep the show “fresh emotionally”.

They didn’t have to go this far to keep it “fresh emotionally” It would have absolutely worked with the reset to Sam Season 1 (which they have done by bringing back his desire to get out of hunting). I can totally understand the not hunting, the wanting to get out of hunting thing coming back, mostly due to Reason Five above! The whole time Sam was explaining all that to Dean I was cheering and on his side. I don’t begrudge him that for one second and everything he said was entirely true. And this is something new for Dean to deal with. It keeps it fresh because his reasons are different now, the idea that there are other hunters out there, that people will still die anyway, that he’s given enough of his life and his family are all perfectly acceptable in my books. All great material especially given Dean’s current mental state and his clear “need” to hunt, to feel the "purity" – the conflict ammunition is locked and loaded for plenty of clashing there.

It was unnecessary and also counterintuitive to undermine the brotherly bond in such a way as to throw long time fans of the show OUT OF THE STORY. When a fan is watching and the moment is so utterly out of character that said fan skips over the whole usual engagement with the show (eg like we always yell at the boys whenever they decide to split up) straight into "what are the writers thinking making Sam say this stuff?" (please see icon above for my thinking) Then it’s been a damaging counterproductive move to have a character suddenly become so NOT his character.

But in the end, like I have said before: SO WHAT?

Indeed it doesn’t matter what epic posts I make about what I perceive as such a huge flaw in the decision of the writing, I will still be just as fanatical about my show next week. It’s done. And it shall not be undone. I cannot see how it could ever be written undone. It’s out there now, Sam has said it and it would be a very lame, pathetic, clichéd device such as amnesia, a brain tumour or it was all a dream that could ever undo the damage that has been done and our show would never stoop to that. I am dying to have a chat with Carver right now though ;) In the meantime I will just get on with loving show, being in love with Dean’s “I’m impressed with my big brainy little brother” expressions, loving Sam’s looks this season, hoping the stubble stays, praying for more brilliant Crowley moments, going awwww in all the scenes with the dog, and posing this final essay question to you all because ultimately this is where all this thinking has lead me.

“Dean Winchester has always emotionally needed his brother more than his brother has needed him.” DISCUSS.

Eta: I will add that I am very curious and speculating wildly and somewhat hopefully that Sam's ending of the Amelia relationship has something to do with the unSammy behaviour. I'm not sure how it could be connected but no doubt my brain will not let up until I come up with possible scenarios here.