Thursday, 28th March 11.00am GMT

Click here to return to main TORn party web site

Sunday, 24th March - Inside The One Party, Special Guests Arrive

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this report are those of Ian Smith, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the official fan club, its staff or any of its members.

On the pictures below, hover the mouse over a picture to see a description, or click on the picture to see a larger version

"If any celebrities do show up, they are there to relax and enjoy themseleves" ran the official Party FAQ advice. Fat chance, with us lot there! Fortunately Sir Ian took the screaming, cheering and occasional jostling in very good part and pushed through the crowds to the main screening area where he opened with an impreseive delivery, in his deepest Shakesperian tones, of a slightly altered line from the movie's most-screened trailers "You... shall.. not.. win" to much amusement and applause from us all. I would like to go on and give a transcript of everything Sir Ian had to say. Unfortunately I can't. I know he must have said quite a lot because I have several photo's taken over what was, for me, a fairly traumatic 5 minute period. They show Sir Ian holding a microphone and smiling a lot, but it was at this moment that a previously well-behaved camera started refusing to auto-focus or even allow its shutter ro be pressed. As a result, I have no memory of what was said (just a lot of very blurry photo's and memories of utter panic and incredulous belief that now, at the worst possible time, my damned equipment should start misbehaving!).

With the benefit of hindsight, having Sir Ian appear a good half hour before the other special guests was a spark of genius, as it let the pent-up excitement of fandom (shrieks and jostling) get released before the main party arrived to a thankfully less frenetic reaction. As a mere observer I found the jostling for viewing that accompanied Sir Ian's arrival a little scary, even if this were from a very well-behaved audience - Lord knows how these people (celebrities) live with it as part of their everyday lives or when appearing at events with a less well-behaved audience!

I do recall that at some stage Sir Ian walked around to the back of the hall and made himself available for photographs with the fans - what an utter professional! - but all too quickly he was gone (although not for good, as we were later to find out) and the party started to return to normal. One last photo (left) I do have to include in this first Sir Ian section is of Calisuri. This was a test shot - I was trying to work out if the shutter would fire again on my camera after changing batteries but didn't want to blind Sir Ian with my flash while he was talking. It shows TORn's Calisuri with that kind of glazed "Who'd have thought it?" expression a lot of us had on our faces that night. Sincere congratulations and thanks to all the TORn folks, who instead of enjoying the fruits of their labours as many others might have done, worked constantly through the night (and following morning) to make sure we all had a good time. When Sir Ian had seemingly left, the corridors thinned out again and, after what had been a long night (with all the commercial breaks the oscars really are a feat of endurance), some people started to leave, thinking the special guest appearances of the evening were over. This gave the rest of us a chance to do a bit more socialising.

One disappointment, arising from my camera equipment problems, was that I didn't get a chance to talk to the fan club president Dan Madsen (pictured right) - unless you count repeating the phrase "it'll be working in a minute" as talking. Fans who did meet him are full of stories of what a nice guy he was and how pleased they are that he's involved with running the club. Admire this photo carefully - behind its surface charm is hidden the agonies of a man who has been forced to hold a grin for an inhumanely long period of time while I kept stabbing my shutter release button willing the damned thing to release!

Actually it might not have been that difficult for Dan to hold his smile, since I think most of us at the party were walking around with permanent grins on our faces because we were having such a good time. Shortly after Sir Ian spoke, a very special director and his entourage had arrived and we were advised that they too would be talking to us in the main screening room. With a huge cheer the oscar entourage arrived and enthusiastically raised their oscars in their air - no mean feat, as anyone who's held one (most of us there I guess!) will attest - these things are REALLY heavy!

Peter Jackson introduced each member of his team, explaining their role in the film-making process and heck, I wish I'd taken notes! Continued on next page

Email the web master at:ian.smith@irascian.com