Montepulciano randomness...

Ok, so such is my life, right?

I'm in Montepulciano, which I realize is the site of Voterra for New Moon, but really I'm just thinking of it as a great place to have some great wine with my parents while they're on vacation. It's only a two-hour flight from Wales to get here, and I hadn't seen my folks in awhile, so it was just a nice hill-town for me to break away from work and see my parents. A vacation, right?

Of course I should really know by now that all things Twilight follow me no matter where I go...

So I'm sitting in the Grand Piazza in Montepulciano having a glass of Noblie (a wicked nice red wine here), and I notice a sign next to the information center with 'New Moon' in bold. Of course I have to look at it. It's a notice about casting for extras for the film (I'll upload the photos as soon as I'm back in the UK, Monday, but will post the info here). So I notice the New Moon casting, and go into the info center to chat to the staff about it.

They are horribly unaware of the wave about to descend upon them. They're excited about the prospect of more publicity and tourism, but I don't think they quite realize the following that Twilight has, and the possibilities that may arise with New Moon tours. I'll try and have a full transcript of my conversation with them, or at least something like it, when I'm out of Italy, but it was funny. I just can't escape! (Not that it's a bad thing).

The woman that worked in the information center was brilliant, and encouraged me to check out a wine shop up the street because a woman that worked there knew a bit about locations and whatnot. So I wandered up there, forced myself to taste another few sips of divine red (oh the things I suffer through for my work... :-p), and I asked her about locations. She gave me another spot she's heard of as a filming site, so I'll try and check that out in the morning.

So tomorrow is checking out this location, and climbing the clock tower (yes, the one that Kristen Stewart will run towards in order to stop Edward from stepping into the sun. And I've been taking pictures of every alley that I think may be a contender for that scene, although the alleys right next to the tower-building aren't that great. Both are picturesque, but one has a public bathroom at the end, and the other has a cash point/ATM at the end... not so cinematic...) to take a panoramic view of the area. It's just gorgeous here. Yes, I can see the Twilight elements happening here, but it's just a stunning piece of geography and history as well.

More soon, hopefully with many pictures :)

Casting Info:
28-29 April Donne and Bambini: 9:30-1, 2:30-7 (Women and Children, I think...my Italian is not so stellar)
5-6 May Uomini: 9:30-1, 2:30-7 (Men, I think, see note above regarding my Italian :)

Oh Italy...

So just a quickie... sorry I've been rubbish at updating this, but I've been ridiculously on the move in the past four weeks (I live in Wales, but I went to Portland Oregon for 10 days, San Francisco for a week, Boston for a week, New Hamsphire for a few days, three days back in Wales, a night in Liverpool, and now I'm in Italy visiting my folks whilst they are on vacation- life is tough, huh? :-p)

So I'm in Italy, and I'm heading to Montepulciano tomorrow...yeah, the place that will be Volterra in New Moon. I don't even plan this stuff; I think Twilight just follows me everywhere I go now. I knew I was meeting my parents in Siena, but beyond that I didn't know where we were going; and yes, it's the make-believe Volterra.

Anyway... I'll take a bajillion pictures, I'll have a glass of red (or four) in the square and take notes, and hopefully have some more rockin' posts coming up when I've stopped moving for more than 4 days and can finally get some of this work, analysing and research up!

Arrividerchi (yes, I know I spelled that wrong... I'm in a rush, at an internet cafe!)



UPDATE: So I'm in Montepulciano and daaaang I can so see the Volturi inhabiting this place. I took a good 100 pictures before the rain rolled in this afternoon (I killed time when it started raining by going to a wine tasting. This guy named Adamo poured for me, and he's amazing. He's 71, he's been working at this wine cellar since he was 15, he knew very little English, but a smattering of Spanish, and I know a bit of Spanish, so somehow we managed a conversation over many mini-glasses of wine... it was brilliant).

Anyway... very cool city, very Volturi-like. And I'll try not to follow any gorgeous women down any dark alleyways... especially if they're named Heidi. I'd rather not end up as someone's snack... ugh, especially not Caius'...I bed he has horrible table manners.

More soon :)

College Fairs...

So I'm back in the States (yay!) and thus far I've spent a week in Portland (so much fun; I think I may need to move there full-time), a week in San Francisco (gorgeous every single day), and tomorrow I leave for a week in Boston. Yay all around :)

So I'm actually here to do some college fairs for my University, and the first one was yesterday. It was uber busy and slightly manic (not to mention they spelled Bangor, Wales with an 'h'... yeah, they spelled it 'Whales' on my sign... really, Really??), but it was a ton of fun to talk to high school sophomores and juniors who were thinking about coming to Bangor for their undergraduate degree.

It was very cool to talk to all of them, and share my story, but there was definitely a huge chunk of the people that I talked to because of their interest in Twilight and my work with it... funny. I'd start talking about my university, and how it let's me study what I'm passionate about, but that they make sure it's got the academic chinks to stand up to a PhD review board, and then I'd get... "Wait, Twilight? You're studying Twilight?!?" It was kind of great. And it's certainly a great conversation starter when the person that approaches my booth is wearing a 'Team Edward' t-shirt. Heehee...

So I'm going to Boston tomorrow, and the fair there is on Tuesday and Wednesday if there are any high school students looking to attend and find out about some colleges, or if anyone is looking for grad school and is going to this fair to check them out either.... I'll be there! Come find me: Here's the info.

In other news... it's not looking likely that I'll be on New Moon (insert horrid groan here). I still can't really believe it went from me possibly being on the crew of the film, to not even getting a set visit..... They're being massively protective of this set, as I'm sure most of you have realized as there are no stories or pictures of the filming out there thus far, really, and it's pretty much just mainstream entertainment that is getting access. I think that kinda blows, as the first one was so exciting because it involved the fanbase and the periphery elements (like academics like me!).

One of the high-ranking crew has offered to help me with research though, so hopefully I'll still get some sort of information; granted it won't be my own observations and therefore I'll have to take them with a grain of salt, and they'll probably have a 'studio' spin on them, but still... I'm glad they're still talking to me and not just banning any aspect of my work and New Moon, and I'll take whatever info I can get at this point.

Bugger.

Anyway... I'm gonna keep truckin' along. I am working my way through the DVD, so hopefully after my week in Boston I'll start posting some scene by scene filmy-analysis-type stuff. Keep an eye out :)