August 1, 2011

• Spiked

  So unexpectedly, on Friday evening, I got Spiked.  I know what you're thinking, and no... that's not it. I did not get hammered drinking stuff that was, unbeknownst to me, alcoholic.  But it was an evening of serendipity.

  Friday evening, I met up with bucaneve and to attend the General Idea launch party at the AGO.  I think if I had known more about the General Idea movement I would've appreciated it more, but it was fun nonetheless.  We decided to go get some dinner since wine and chips just didn't seem like a proper dinner.   After some deliberation, we decided to head over to The Dumpling House in Chinatown.

  As we walked along Dundas, we saw a film crew at the jade store.  We stood around for a bit hoping to see who the star was and some girls behind us said something about Colin Farrell being around.  Neither of us were too interested in seeing him, so we continued walking.  As we approached CIBC, just east of Spadina, we spotted two black SUVs, one with a giant crowd of girls at the window.  Looks like we found the celebs.

  bucaneve said she was going to go to the bank machine, just as I exclaimed, "Ohmigawd! They're filming Flashpoint!” Flashpoint, for those of you who don’t know, is one of my favourite shows.  It’s got a bit of action, psychological analysis *and* it’s in Toronto.  It’s not just filmed in Toronto, but the show is actually set in Toronto.  So it’s not Toronto, posing as the streets of Chicago or New York.  Did I mention it’s a Canadian production?  Anyways…it’s very intelligent programming.  I just love it.

  

  I walked closer to both cars, but not close enough to be in the throng of things and saw that Hugh Dillon (Eddie) was sitting in the passenger seat of the first car and Sergio Di Zio (Spike) was in the passenger seat of the second car.  And of course, the girls were around the second car.

  

  As I walked by the second car, the crowd thinned out and Sergio looked right at me.  He smiled and waved back when I waved at him.  I thought I was going to melt into the ground…and not just because it was boiling hot outside.  This brief, fleeting moment was then ended as another crowd of girls rushed the car, so I walked up behind them and took a couple pictures of Sergio with my phone.  I saw that David Paetkau (Sam) was in the driver seat next to Sergio, but walking around to the driver side on already narrow and busy Dundas seemed like a stupid move – so I headed over to the first car.

  I asked Hugh if I could get an autograph and he was incredibly friendly.  He asked me my name and said he loved it (my name isn't that common these days).  He was so nice!  He asked about my evening and asked me to tell him about the General Idea movement.  This is what I love about meeting Canadian actors.  So many of them are so normal and down to earth.  He talked to me like I was the only person in the world and that everything I said was important and mattered.  I’m not just some fan of the show, I’m a person.

  

  After our brief chat, I saw that the crowd has dissipated around the second car.  Having sufficiently conversed with Hugh without having a Malcolm Gladwell moment (you remember -- that time I babbled like an insane fangirl when I met him?), I felt brave enough (and more importantly, composed enough) to go talk to Sergio.  Sergio plays the character Spike.  And Spike, is my absolute favourite character on the show.  When I first started watching I liked Sam because he's the pretty one.  But I’m not really into blonde guys.  And Spike’s techno-geekiness started to get to me.  He’s *SO* cute when he geeks out and gushes about robots, or his techie strategy for getting information or solving a problem.  And of course it helps that Sergio is quite good looking too (he's just not a pretty boy).

  I very calmly walked over to the car and said hi.  He smiled that same warm smile from before and looked right at me as we spoke.  This is a big deal, like I mentioned earlier, because it means that he actually tries to connect with the people who appreciate his work, even if it’s only for a brief few minutes.  I asked for an autograph, but he said he couldn’t because they were being told to drive off.  But he quickly added that he would come back and give me an autograph if I waited.  Since bucaneve and I were going for dinner, I knew I wouldn’t be waiting, so I said, “It’s ok. I understand.  I just wanted to tell you that Spike is my favourite on the show.”  And that’s when he smiled very warmly, flashed his cute dimples, touched my arm and said, “Oh thank you, honey!”

  He. Called. Me. Honey.

  He. Touched. My. Arm.

  OMG!

  I. Was. So. SPIKED!!

  I did not freak out.  I just smiled back, squeezed his arm and walked away.  I know that he likely didn’t think much of the moment other than the fact that a fan of the show said his character was her favourite, but for a short moment, he was smiling at *me*.  He looked right at me and smiled.  I know…I sound like a ridiculous 12-year old fangirl right now...but I swear I’m not.

  I will admit there was a torrent of tweets following the incident about how much I love Spike and how sweet Sergio was, but I don’t think I’m being weird.  I was just very happy.  Even happier than when I met Michael Bublé…even though I got a kiss on the cheek from him.

  I hope I see them filming again.  There have already been several episodes filmed around my workplace and my high school but I’ve never seen them.  When I saw the trailers behind my office at lunch time, I had thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if they were filming Flashpoint here?” but I never once thought it might actually be them. I’m so glad I was wrong.

  Anyways, that’s enough girly chatter for one weekend.  We now return to your regular scheduled blogging.

  • 3:34 pm
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