This Is Not A Democracy

So, I know I've been quiet for a while, but I return to promote something awesome.

Those of you familiar with X-Men: First Class (or Miley Cyrus *cough*) will know Lucas Till, who played Havok. Well, when he's not hula-hoopin' like a boss, Luke and his friends -- primarily Jason Trost, who writes and directs -- make indie films. To date, they have put together VS, a superhero movie which is described as Kick Ass meets Saw, and Vacation 8, which I affectionately dub 'The Beachception'.


Luke (Cutthroat) & Jason (Charge)
Official VS Promo Poster

Prior to making either of these, Jason and his older brother Brandon also made a film which is currently doing the rounds at festivals -- if you're in New York you can see it on October 14th. The film, called The FP, is a parody played 100% straight, in which rival gangs duel for supremacy of their shit mountain town via the medium of Dance Dance Revolution (or, officially, Beat Beat Revelation).


Jason as JTRO in The FP

In short, these kids are amazing and hilarious and awesome and I have a bit of a massive crush on Jason. I admit it. I truly do. He's precious.

BUT HERE'S THE THING!: In order to make their next film, There and Back -- directed by Jason and produced by Luke and fellow Disney boy, Tony Oller -- they've been raising money via IndieGoGo. With just 11 days left, they are down to the last $750 or so. I've personally donated $100 to the cause, but they still need more or the project will strike out and they won't receive any of what has been accumulated so far. They have all of their own kit and will do all of the work themselves, all they need is the help to get to Asia to make the film.

Each value of donation comes with a reward. You might get a signed postcard thanking you, or a download of the finished film -- if you can donate $50 or more you'll be credited on the IMDb page for the film. BUT THERE'S MORE! If you make a donation of any value, and then let the boys know, they will personally Skype you to say thanks. Genuinely. Here are some videos of them being goofy and explaining how.

If you can't personally donate, then please help spread the word. This is something I really want to see succeed and they're so close to making it -- it would suck to see them fail at the very end.

DONATE HERE!

Thank you! ♥ ♥ ♥

Ages ago, kenix was taking commissions between professional work, and I asked him to draw my favourite band for me. I gathered a bunch of pics for reference (along with a couple of probably fairly hilarious pointers for someone not as familiar with the band as many people on this LJ are) and he created the awesome piece of art below.



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This was all way, way before I got to know Andy and before Andy knew who Jamie was. It's all kind of a surreal fluke, really, because one of my first interactions with Andy was him fanboying over Jamie.

Regardless of any of that, what I've been left with is a fucking awesome pic of some awesome dudes by a genuinely great artist. Every time I look at it, I feel like I notice something else in the detail.

The guys I work with totally fangirled about it, too.

The Geeks shall inherit the Earth.

This is pretty fucking awesome. Matt and Ryan from Fuck City, playing Megadeth together, with two guitars and one hand on each guitar. Plus! it looks mildly homoerotic.



Enjoy.

Yesterday was amazing.

Julie and I got to Hammersmith around noon, with cakes for the boys and a pair of pink panties for Patrick. We queued for a bit and hung out with some other fans until it was spotted - far beyond at the bus stop - that a tour bus had pulled up.

Some people ran up to check things out, and then I spotted Andy, so we ran up to join them. We saw Patrick (who was very cheery) and Joe and then had to wait for ages for Pete.

When he finally crawled out of the bus a bit later someone asked him if we could have a picture, and he kind of jokingly croaked, "But it's so early!" and was ushered inside. Chris took a picture anyway. It's hilarious. He also then took a picture of me imitating Pete in the picture, and you can see the image in the camera phone, and it's... scary. I only have a hard copy (we went to a Kodak kiosk) and Jason has my scanner, so I can't post it yet.

We waited around for hours and hours - which was actually really funny because we met a nice bunch of people - and passed the cakes on to Korean Tom Cruise or whatever people call him. He didn't pass them on, which we knew, because Charlie said he hadn't seen them (we'd been to Soho to specifically get vegan cakes as well, dammit!). He did want shoes, though, so we pointed him in the direction of the shopping centre and off he trundled.

He was a bit gruff and down-played the polite, "I just wanted to say I think you're awesome after what you did at New Mexico" speech. But I think he was quietly pleased. He was nicer to me after that.

The boys came back out again later (they'd been doing an interview) but by that time the queue was pretty big and approaching the doors we were hanging out at, so they were rushed off to a TV studio, with barely time to say hi - although Patrick tried valiantly and sat in his car waving at us all. Pete and Joe just hid in their hoodies... Joe and Andy were actually in a second car, which was odd. Pete and Patrick were in a people carrier thing together.

The show itself was awesome. The Palais is such a beautiful venue - all balconies and bars on several levels. It's so sad that they're knocking it down...

The boys played some brilliant songs - Golden with just Patrick and a guitar, plus Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy and Growing Up. If they played the Music and the Misery, as they'd previously said they would, I blacked out for that one...

Arms Race was excellent - it had a really good vibe and a lot of people were singing the 'Also Into Cats' line. Dance, Dance was one of my favourites - although by this stage I was at the side, rather than down the front, because my rucksack had ripped and I was in danger of losing all my stuff. Dirty did the dance, which was pretty cool - I watched it from behind!

At some point early in the show I threw the fabled pink and blue panties on stage and by some miracle they landed right in front of Patrick, their intended recipient. He did a double take, looked vaguely shocked, and then pouted at the crowd as if to say, "Ooooh, you're so BAD!". That was the best moment of my life for a while. Apparently, according to another boardie, Charlie picked them up and tried to give them to Jeanae, and eventually Dirty took them and sniffed them. *cackles* I can't imagine that guy being someone's daddy.

After the show we went back outside and hung by the door again, meeting some other fans from across the UK - and finally, after a very long time talking to the guitarist from The Pink Spiders, the support band who stole the cakes we bought, Charlie appeared and said, "So do you all want autographs, or what?"

Personally, I wanted to pick up Patrick and run, but I thought I'd better not tell him that, so we said 'yes' and were ordered to line up in his usual manner. He wouldn't tell us who was coming out, but everyone was SO FUCKING PLEASED (seriously) that it was Patrick. It's as if, aside from being the second most popular member (probably the most popular full-stop with guys), he's also the most 'value', because he's always pretty up beat and dorky - and seems to enjoy meeting people.

I got him to sign my Infinity on High armband (which meant he had to hold my hand - haha!) and asked if he liked the pants. He said, "I saw them and was like, WHAT THE FUCK?". I explained about the Kerrang! thing and that I thought it would be funny, and he giggled. Then I asked for a hug, and he obliged, and I told him he was lovely, and he was all coy and said, "D'aww... thanks." It was possibly one of the happiest moments of my life.

He actually seemed to want to stay and talk to people, but Charlie bundled him on the bus... He turned back and kept waving at everybody... I really fucking love that kid. ♥ He's so tiny, tiny, TINY and beautiful. ♥

And then, today, I recorded the soundbite for the HIT40 on CapitalFM. They posted a request for a boardie to record a short intro thing saying why we should buy the single (I bought five, today - although I made Julie take two to the till, so they would count in the rankings for the chart). Arms Race already made #6 in the UK chart on downloads alone - with the extra sales from hardcopy purchases, we could easily be looking at a number one. I will be so fucking proud if they get that. The soundbite should be used tomorrow and possibly over the next few weeks. Famous for fifteen seconds.

Oh yeah, and Tom, the guy from CapitalFM, asked if he could keep my number to use me as a Fall Out Boy Fan Correspondant. o_O

That would be so awesome.

Oh! And for those who care, I SAW NOEL FIELDING in Virgin. I do PWN.