Whedonesque : Comments on 8629 : People Magazine Celebrity Spotlight on James Marsters.

"It took her six months to call all of the different combinations."

How adorable is that?

Solidarity, James ;) (on the LD thing)

Wow, I had a similar thing with phone numbers here in the DC area back in 1988, and it also involved a student I had a fling with in Germany several years earlier!

Very nice article. I didn't know he was married, divorced, and has a son...which, come to think of it, was my situation when I reconnected with the girl I, ahem, studied with in Germany...

Chris inVirginia | October 27, 18:31 CET

Let's hope its not the same girl still at university...

zeitgeist | October 27, 19:13 CET

It's not, but in Germany, it's possible!

Chris inVirginia | October 27, 19:41 CET

He doubts the Spike movie will pan out? I'm not fussed about the character of Spike, but I need more of the verse!
Not good.

lone fashionable wolf | October 27, 20:03 CET

Oh piffle to the time zone problems! If I can do it to Holland for 3 years, come on....and there's also email!

Interesting that he says Joss has no plans for a new 'verse project. We've heard non-stop buzz and pre-planning stuff.

BTW, is it too much to ask for a more recent pic of him?? Maybe one with that Fine hair!

Rogue Slayer | October 27, 20:26 CET

Yeah, Rogue Slayer, a recent photo would be nice.

Chris inVirginia | October 27, 20:35 CET

Some of the comments seem to be dated as well as the pic. Or recycled.

Grace | October 27, 20:39 CET

You know, the more I read it, the more it seems like someone could have just taken these quotes from various other interviews and pieced them together to seem like their own interview.

Very well could be old info!

Rogue Slayer | October 27, 20:46 CET

It's probably from one of those mass interview thingies so the rep from People didn't actually get to speak with him personally.

At least he doesn't have the bleached hair in the photo - and a lot of the press surrounding Smallville has been using those old pics!

Ruadh | October 27, 20:53 CET

Grace and Rogue Slayer, i had the same thought. Nothing he said in this interview was particularly new to me. The so called "doubts" he has with regard to the Spike movie happening was simply him stating that Joss had not given him any firm information as to when or if it would happen. Something we all already knew to be the case. Not so much doubting it will happen as being uncertain as to when Joss will get around to it.

WhedonTrivia | October 27, 21:19 CET

Well coverage in People Magazine is always good.

Simon | October 27, 21:20 CET

From the staff editor at People.com:

"Thank you for linking to my James Marsters story on People.com! I wanted to respond to two members' comments that the quotes seemed to be old or pieced together from other interviews.

I can assure your members that I spoke with James at length on Monday, Oct. 24, and every quote in the story was said by him in that interview. Also, I spoke with him one-on-one, not in a conference call or at a junket.

That said, thanks again for linking to us!"

Caroline | October 27, 22:19 CET

Oh, that's very cool :) Nice to know.

zeitgeist | October 27, 22:21 CET

Yeah, that was actually pretty cool of them to clarify that. They really had no obligation to do so.

Having said that, i still hold to my earlier comment that it wasn't entirely accurate to say that James had doubts that the Spike movie would happen. He apparently just said what he has said many times before, that Joss hadn't given him a firm nod that it was a definate go. That is a different thing altogether.

WhedonTrivia | October 27, 22:29 CET

" It took her six months to call all of the different combinations."

Is she kidding me?!?!? I can barely manage elementary school math but I'd be wipping out wicked-fierce-on-the-glass-Good-Will-Hunting-numbers-theory-with-advance-permutations-and-combinations out of my arse and mad-dialing from an extensive bank of high speed phones to get the right order if I had even a handful of James' digits. (And, of course, an invitation to call. I'm not that scary. ;D)

So, where's the enthusiasm? Where's the love? And for God's sake, where's the damn Lurve?!?

[ edited by barest_smidgen on 2005-10-27 20:50 ]

barest_smidgen | October 27, 22:42 CET

"I can assure your members that I spoke with James at length on Monday, Oct. 24, and every quote in the story was said by him in that interview. Also, I spoke with him one-on-one, not in a conference call or at a junket."

I stand corrected and certainly didn't mean to offend or question it's authenticity. I guess, just being greedy, we all want MORE! :) Being such loyal Whedonesquers we pretty much stay on top of things and it's hard to surprise us with new info! I guess part of it is seeing several interviews lately that contain many of the same or similar elements. Obviously, the guy can't reveal new info in every interview or he'd have NO privacy at all!

I will say it's pretty rare for there to be such specific mention of James' family or anecdotes about his private life.

I think it says a lot about the power of Whedonesque that PEOPLE felt the need to clarify. :)

[ edited by Grace on 2005-10-27 21:03 ]

Grace | October 27, 22:52 CET

*shakes head and smiles at barest_smidgen* You can do sales math, too, don't forget that... and you know full well where the love is.

zeitgeist | October 27, 23:16 CET

Is it getting hot in here?

newcj | October 27, 23:39 CET

barest_smidgen - I was wondering about that too. If I had some of his digits and an invitation to call it would not have taken me six months to reach him!!!

And, wow, just WOW that someone from People magazine contacted the site!

killinj | October 27, 23:42 CET

I'll give you all a hint on James' digits:

...A ten digit number starting with an area code like so:

xxx xxx xxxx

...The numbers are all standard numbers 0-9, some may appear more than once.

...While it could be any of: 209, 213, 310, 323, 408, 415, 424, 510, 530, 559, 562, 619, 626, 650, 661, 707, 714, 760, 805, 818, 831, 858, 909, 916, 925, 949, it is far more likely that it starts with 213, 310, or 323 (when he's not in London)

Okay, going way too far for the joke... /hides

zeitgeist | October 27, 23:48 CET

"barest_smidgen - I was wondering about that too. If I had some of his digits and an invitation to call it would not have taken me six months to reach him!!!"

I was just thinking that there's a possibility that the fact that it did take so long to connect may have reassured him that there was a less likely chance of stalkery tendencies in asking out someone who was backstage at a show...just a thought, an assumption on my part. I'm sure it was a big deal for him to willingly give out his number. Very well also could have been a case of her assuming that he gave the wrong number on purpose! Somehow I'm reminded of Elaine on a ep of Seinfeld.

Grace | October 28, 00:19 CET

and you know full well where the love is.

Speaking of which.... How did that much-talked-about trip to Scotland go anyway??
Y'all must have been back for a few days now. I've only been on W-esque sporadically this week, since work's been crazy, so apologies if you already chatted all about it in another thread... :-)

acp | October 28, 00:27 CET

There's some talk about it on this thread over at flickr :) It was absolutely blissful and if someone (not naming anyone here) had not lost his (his handle/nick here starts with a z and appears in blue) memory card from his digital camera, flickr would be inundated by pics of Scotland.

zeitgeist | October 28, 00:35 CET

On topic: Interesting that someone at People was paying enough attention to write to Caroline about the comments here. I'm sure they realize that no one was trying to impugn the good name of People magazine.

Keep those Whedonverse articles coming People!

Off topic: I've been wondering that too acp but I did not want to go that far off topic. I was going to head over to one of the attached sites when I had a chance to see if there was a discussion of the Scotland trip.

[Edited to say thanks for the info Z. This darn work keeps distracting me from what is going on here.]

Hey, maybe we should have a gossip thread over at one of those sites. We can make up stuff about each other (or ourselves) ...no, probably not a good idea. ;-D

[ edited by newcj on 2005-10-27 22:50 ]

newcj | October 28, 00:48 CET

Does People magazine have a mole here?

lycoming | October 28, 01:07 CET

No, but they have several voles, a shrew, and a llama.

zeitgeist | October 28, 01:27 CET

I'm wondering how you know a phone number is one digit off to check all combinations, unless you can tell you wrote one down a bit poorly, then it's really only a matter of 10 possible options......I'd just have assumed he gave me a wrong number on purpose! And then if he hadn't called me, I'd have been even more sure he'd done it on purpose. But then I'm pessimistic like that!

Lucky for James his girl guessed right! Well, lucky for her too, really!

Rogue Slayer | October 28, 02:00 CET

Does People magazine have a mole here?

No but I imagine they have referral logs. Or it could be just a very small world.

Simon | October 28, 02:17 CET

Or it could be just a very small world.

Now that was a cool map.

lycoming | October 28, 02:33 CET

Would a vole be a more cuddly sort of spy?

Just askin'.

The Devil's Robot | October 28, 02:47 CET

vole - Any of various rodents of the genus Microtus and related genera, resembling rats or mice but having a shorter tail and limbs and a heavier body.

You tell me :)

zeitgeist | October 28, 03:45 CET

Aw, I know what a vole *is*, after all I grew up in the English countryside--erm..after I left the robot factory, that is--anyway, I just somehow visualised voles as somehow cuter than moles and, ergo, a more friendly sort of spy that burrows into your organisation, wins your trust, then stuns you with its sudden yet inevitable betrayal. But cuter, y'see?

The Devil's Robot | October 28, 04:56 CET

LOL, its possible :)

zeitgeist | October 28, 05:08 CET

So People *could* have a global network of cute and adorable agents/woodland creatures who trawl the internets seeking fan comment on Whedon-related actors as part of their plan for world domination?

ETA: I promise to be serious sometime soon.

The Devil's Robot | October 28, 05:26 CET

llama llama llama llama llama

Sorry :)

vera | October 28, 06:17 CET

Man, if I exchanged phone numbers with a guy, and not only did he not call but the number he gave me was off I wouldn't try different numbers in a million years.

Especially if it was a celebrity. I would just assume it was a polite refusal.

I'm not sure what to think about the situation. Kinda crazy.

Regardless I am happy to see a People write-up on him although I wish there was a picture with hair (I have shaved head issues)and am totally enjoying the Smallville run.

Although seeing James on TV is making me miss Spike more, not less. Sigh.

Xane | October 28, 09:44 CET

Well, I hear vole's are rather unassuming. ;)

NickSeng | October 28, 10:17 CET

October 27 2005