I got to Griffith Park around 6:45 and went looking for the yellow signs with the black V's on them. Fortunately, I guessed right on the direction when I first entered the park and started seeing signs right away. I also saw a yellow sign labelled "Base Camp," which I thought was rather ominous.
At first I thought they were back at the merry-go-round, because that's where the signs were leading. I parked my car and got out. It quickly became apparent that they weren't at the merry-go-round ('cause it was closed... ), so I wandered some more. In the midst of my wanderings, Shanie caught up to me, and we went looking together. Our meanderings took us to two sets of trailers, parked in two adjacent but definitely separate spots - one at the bottom of a hill and one closer to the top. We wondered what could be going on.
After a few minutes, we saw a group of people huddled near the trailers at the top of the hill. Figuring they might be fellow Buffy spectators, we went up to join them. As we did, we saw three or four little girls running over to the tables near the craft service truck. Some of them looked like they had comic books in their hands. As we got closer, we saw that sure enough the little girls were carrying copies of WannaBlessedBe. They were gathered around someone - at first we couldn't tell who, but then the person stood up and the very distinctive ear-poking-out-through-the-hair told me it was Amber! She was wearing an orange shirt and jeans, with orange flip-flops, and she was signing autographs for the fans. A production guy came up and tried to chase the fans away, but Amber talked to him and then he waved the people back so Amber could sign more autographs and take some pictures. Shanie and I were tempted to go tell Amber that Xita said hi, but alas we did not. Amber grabbed some food from the truck (something she was putting mustard on) and went back to her trailer.
As we were standing there with the other fans (one of whom is an even better stalker than we are! ), we soon saw someone coming down the hill walking a dog. As the figure emerged from behind a truck we saw that it was Alyson! She was wearing a red shirt, gray pants and sneakers. Aly's hair is longer this year, maybe a touch longer than it was in Season 3, and it's once again straight. She gave the dog to someone else and went to her trailer as well.
While we were waiting for Aly and Amber to reappear, along came two biker-vamps in full makeup. One of them was nice enough to go over to the gaggle of girls that were there (waiting for SMG, I believe, who unfortunately was not working tonight) and have his picture taken with them. The biker-vamps settled in at the craft service truck, and it was pretty amusing to watch them drinking coffee and chatting with each other.
About this time, someone else showed up - it was Nick! He was wearing cargo pants and a blue shirt, and his hair is shorter than it was through most of last season. The girls all flocked around him, and once again Security tried to chase them away but he overruled them to sign autographs and pose for pictures.
By this time, Shanie and I decided to talk to one of the Security guys and find out what was going on. That was when we found out that SMG wasn't there - although we did see at least two stunt-Buffys (and a stunt-Willow) hanging around. We were not allowed to watch the filming tonight - it was primarily a stunt shoot with motorcycles, and the crew had blocked off an entire street inside the park to do it.
By now it was dark, there were vans driving around, and a production assistant was running back and forth among the trailers. We figured sooner or later the cast members would come out and get into one of the vans to be taken to the shoot, so we settled in to wait. Sure enough, eventually they all came out. Aly-as-Willow was wearing a long purple dress. Amber-as-Tara was wearing a dark colored top of some sort and these light purply pants. I didn't pay attention to what Nick-as-Xander was wearing....
As the gang drove off, it was time to head home. There's another shoot in Griffith Park tomorrow night. Shanie should be along with the directions later on. We don't know who will be there, but it still is probably worth checking out. We'll see...
Oh, and then I got home to find a message from Halcyon saying my pics of Amber and Terry Moore have been posted at The official Strangers In Paradise website. And I actually wrote today, too! 500 words! All in all it's been a really good time.
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Remember the Kitten Board Mantra: "Joss is nuts about Tara, Willow/Tara and Amber!"
"Nothing excites me more than the possiblity that I might fail." - Joss Whedon
