AgtSpooky's Hangout

Three years ago today - June 8, 2007 - I saw Jensen live on stage performing in A Few Good Men.




I rememeber hearing about the play, then talking to my best buddy charityflint, going, "Aww, man, I'd love to go!". Then I stopped and said, "Why don't we go?"

And thus the most spontaneous, spur of the moment weekend of my life was born. :-)

The next day Charity had airfare for us and I had tickets to both Friday and Saturday nights of the play. A few weeks later we were down in Forth Worth, Texas, roasting in the summer sun, playing tourist at the Stock Yards and having a fantastic time.






The night of the play came and I remember my stomach was in knots. This would be the first time I'd get to see Jensen in person. And when he stepped out onto that stage, dressed in his khaki military uniform - he took my breath away. :-) And his first word of dialogue? "Sam!" Boy, did that get a laugh from the tons of Superanatural fans in the audience!

I'd always been a fan of the movie version of A Few Good Men and had seen it many times. But I've never watched the movie again after seeing Jensen in the Tom Cruise role, because IMO, Jensen's better. :-)

The entire play was simply awesome and Jensen was freaking amazing. Although he didn't come out the stage door that night, he did on Saturday night, and I nearly fainted from being six inches away from him. :-) All us fangirls were orderly and polite and we each got a turn to speak with him and get an autograph. Since at the Creation cons they don't allow the boys to personalize anything, I'll always treasure the autograph I got that night at AFGM, because he wrote my name on it. *g*

Here's a video I took at the stage door. Sorry it's so dark, but there was only one single light bulb out there. Thankfully enough people were taking flash photography so it kept lighting Jensen up.




All in all it's a weekend I'll never forget! I only wish Casa Manana would have videotaped the play and put up a DVD for sale, because I'd do anything to be able to watch that over and over again. :-)

What about you guys? How many of you were at the play that weekend? I know I got to meet several of you!


( Here's a few more pics from the play! )

Ok, I've got to get myself out of this depressive, pissed off funk I've been in for days now because of this spoiler crap.

So enough of this. I've made my stand and expressed my opinion several times now and I'm done. I want to get back to something remotely happy, so how 'bout another funny SPN related anecdote from my Texas trip? Because I'm bummed that the excitement and euphoria I was feeling has nearly faded due to all the drama on LJ now.

Since this whole Texas trip was my idea to begin with, I took care of booking the airfare, hotel and rental car and theater tickets. All charityflint had to do was show up. :-) But now I bet she's wishing she would've booked the hotel. :-)

I tried getting a room at a hotel right down in Fort Worth, but I thought they were too expensive and I was trying not to spend a fortune on this trip. So I went through hotels.com and found a Best Western only 4 miles from the theater with extremely reasonable rates. Perfect!

Now I've stayed at Best Westerns countless times across the midwest and eastern parts of the country during my childhood and young adult vacations and they were always just fine.

I had found the exception in Fort Worth.

I kid you not, it was like walking into a hotel set on Supernatural. *bg* Sam and Dean would've felt right at home! This place was just bad. From the peeling wallpaper to the cracked tiles in the bathroom to the sink that backed up and the toilet that would barely flush to the tacky bedspreads and carpeting. Yep, I should've booked the reservation under Winchester instead. :-)

But that's not even the half of it! 'Cause guess what? THERE WAS A CEMETERY RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARKING LOT!

I freaking kid you not. An actual cemetery! Charity took pictures! We about died (ha, ha) when we saw it. Could you just imagine Dean finding out there was a cemetery in the parking lot? He'd be like a little kid on Christmas. LOL!

Thank god we found something to laugh about, otherwise we'd have cried. :-)

So I dare somebody to top that as a hotel experience!

Hey all! Many thanks to everyone who suggested conversion software, I really appreciate it!

Ok, here's the video I took at the stage door after the Saturday evening performance of A Few Good Men. Again, it was PITCH BLACK back there, so you can only see Jensen when people flash their cameras.

In case you can't quite make it out, at one point someone asks him why he chose to do a play, and he answers, "I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to take on something I was completely uncomfortable with, shake it up, to remind myself what I'm actually doing. And I did it."

Good for you, Jensen! :-)

Hey everyone!

I only have a few minutes here, as charityflint and I are heading out to enjoy a second day here in Fort Worth, but I had to make a quick post about the play last night.

In a word, Jensen is freaking AWESOME!!

I was so blown away by him I swear I forgot to breathe during most of the play. Plus the fact that he was 10 feet away from me! God, people, I just can't put into words how he looks in person. It was so SURREAL to see him right there, you know?

When he first came out on stage and yelled "Sam!" I had to chuckle, as did most of the other SPN fans in our section. :-) Plus the fact that Kaffee doesn't like to fly, as does our dear Dean. *g*

And I swear, if I ever hear another person say that Jensen is just a pretty face, I will hit them with a baseball bat and make them see this play, somehow, because holy crap, Jensen can ACT. Not that I didn't already know this, but damn, to see it in person and how intense he is - you'll be absolutely stunned.

Jensen had this part DOWN, let me tell you. From the serious stuff to the comedy, he was fantastic. Yeah, he flubbed a couple lines, but so did the other actors, and really, with the amount of dialogue he has, and how fast he has to say things, it's no wonder a few words came out a little garbled.

But he looked really relaxed and it was incredibly obvious that he wanted to make every performance his best. His facial expressions during the entire play were fantastic.

Shall we take a second to SQUEE over Jensen in three different military uniforms? [Barb falls over dead] OMG!! LOL! And where our seats were, Jensen had his back to us several times and I got to appreciate his...assets. ;-) He really does have an amazing body - nice shoulders and slim hips. They wear so many layers on SPN that it was nice to see some more form fitting clothes on Jensen.

The first half of the play was great, but the second half was amazing, since these were the courtroom scenes. And Jensen BLEW ME AWAY. Again, I forgot how to breathe as Kaffee gets more and more intense, grilling Jessup before both of them are just yelling at each other. You could've heard a pin drop for the last hour.

And then, at the very end, as Kaffee is walking off stage to end the play, right past our seats, JENSEN SANG! My jaw just freaking dropped as he started belting out "I don't know, but I've been told..." SQUEE!!

Needless to say, the applause and yelling for Jensen when he came out to take his bow was totally loud, especially from our section. :-)

I'm SO glad I get to see this again tonight, because once was just not enough. *g* I wish all of you could have been down here to see this, because it's something I'll not soon forget and I feel very, very lucky that I got to be able to experience. It will be so strange to go home and see Jensen on TV and think "I saw you in person". God. :-)

We did the stage door thing, but a person from the theater came out and specifically told us that neither Jensen or Lou would be coming out, so that was a bit of a disappointing end to the evening. :-( And with even more fans there tonight, there's just no way Jensen will be coming out, either. Bummer.

But hey, at least I was thisclose to him and he even looked right at me at one point, and wow, to have that intense gaze focused on you, just for a split second? Yeah, I was a puddle of goo.

Charity and I need to leave a oh'dark thirty tomorrow morning, so no report on the Saturday night show until after I get back home.

Ok, people, this is it!  I'm about to leave for charityflint's house, where I'm spending the night, then we catch our flight to Dallas bright and early tomorrow morning - to go see the awesomely talented Mr. Jensen Ackles, from the third freaking row!! SQUEE!!

Thank you all for your wishes of safe travel today and for keeping your fingers crossed that Charity and I get the opportunity to meet Jensen after the play.

I can't tell you how excited I am to be doing this!  :-)

I'm taking my laptop with me and will surely report on the Friday night performance, but we're leaving at  oh'dark thirty in the morning on Sunday so a report on Saturday night's performance may have to wait until I get home. And of course I'm taking my camera and will post pics if I get them if Jensen does come out the stage door.

All right, gotta run! The suitcase is by the door and I've got my cowboy hat in my hand (yes, I really do have one!) and I'm ready for my Texas adventure!

I get to spend all day today at a trade show for work.

Oh joy.

So everyone behave while I'm gone! :-)

P.S. - I hear Jensen ROCKED the performance last night. Here's what the Dallas Morning news (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-men_0606gl.ART.State.Edition2.437258e.html) had to say:

Interestingly, it's Mr. Ackles who really sets off the fireworks in this A Few Good Men. He's slick and funny, but human underneath. His stage technique is nigh onto perfect – and this is a guy who's been working steadily on large and small screens for a decade.

And from the Star Telegram (click the link to see Jensen in his Navy whites! http://www.star-telegram.com/live//story/126894.html)

The better news is that this hyped production -- thanks to stars Lou Diamond Phillips (as Col. Nathan Jessep) and TV actor Jensen Ackles (Lt. j.g. Daniel Kaffee) of Supernatural in his professional stage debut -- lives up to expectations...

...Ackles started off nervously but quickly settled in and handled the military and law jargon (and a few comic lines) like a pro, with minor bobbles.

Best news: This production erased, temporarily at least, the memory of the movie, which happens when stage actors make the roles their own.

~~~~

Awesome job, Jensen! I pulled out my suitcase last night and will start packing tonight for Fort Worth. Can't wait!

There's another write up about A Few Good Men in the Star Telegram (http://www.star-telegram.com/408/story/124549.html) this morning, this time an interview with Lou Diamond Phillips, but he mentions Jensen:

"We liked each other from the get-go," Phillips says of Ackles, who grew up in Richardson and will play the role made famous by Tom Cruise. "So I was able to get in his face and yell at him. In rehearsal today, I threatened to kill him. ... No big deal. And he was like, 'That was great, thank you.'

"The hardest thing to do is to play antagonism and anger and aggressiveness with someone you don't trust," Phillips continues. "As an actor you gotta know that the other guy's not gonna take a swing at you. There's a huge amount of trust in playing love scenes, but also in having this passionate a relationship.">

Here's another good article/interview with Jensen (complete with new pics) from the Star-Telegram:

Ah, another glorious Monday. Not. The hubby and I need to go to the DMV after I get off of work to get our driver's licenses changed with our new address on them. SO not looking forward to that.

Spent 4 hours on the computer last night trying to get caught up with answering back comments. Knocked out 62 but as of this morning I still have 35 left to answer back. [sigh] Sorry, guys! I'm not ignoring you, promise! You all are just a chatty bunch with me lately. :-) And I love it!

~~~~~

Had a chance to sit down on Saturday with my bowl of popcorn and watch A Few Good Men. I wanted to see if I could visualize Jensen in the role of Lt. Kaffee.

And BOY, could I!

Holy crap but Jensen is going to be freaking amazing in this role. I swear to you, by the end of the play there will be nothing left of me but a scorch mark on my seat from the hotness Jensen will bring to this part. (Especially since we get to see him in Navy whites, khakis AND dress blues!)

It's been years since I've seen A Few Good Men, and I forgot what a cocky smart ass Kaffee is. We know how good Jensen is at portraying Dean that way, so it was no stretch at all to imagine the words coming out of Tom Cruise's mouth coming out of Jensen's instead.

And like Dean, we know there's a heart beneath that tough guy exterior, just like with Lt. Kaffee.

The only problem I'm having is imagining Lou Diamond Phillips in the role of Jessup. Jack Nicholson just ate the scenery in the movie, and I don't know...Lou just doesn't seem tough enough for this role. And I don't think there's enough of an age difference between Jensen and Lou like Tom and Jack. Jessup was one tough asshole who people feared and Jack pulled that off no problem. I'm just wondering if Lou can do the same.

A couple of scenes that I just cannot wait to see Jensen perform - Kaffee meeting Jessup for the first time, getting drunk and losing it in his apartment and of course the final courtroom scene.

Man, after watching the movie I cannot tell you how freaking excited I am to be going to Fort Worth to see this! Squee!

Because I'm going to Forth Worth to see Jensen in A Few Good Men (I still can't believe I'm doing this!) I joined the one_good_man community.

They were asking for graphics for a banner, so I gave it a shot. Don't know if they'll use it, but it was fun to make! I just found a pic of a Naval officer and then put Jensen's head on him instead. :-)