NYLine Day 10 - Why We'll Be On MTV (And What Really Happened on Sunday Night)
Posted by Dave on
Number of people currently in line: 25
Well, if you can't get Carson Daly out to the Line, you'll just have to bring the Line (or at least some video clips) up to Carson Daly. But first you'll need to know what went on overnight Sunday night and Monday morning on the old NYLine...
It started out a pretty slow Sunday, Hoth-cold at night (but Tattoine-hot during the morning, as usual) with a smaller and quieter crew than on the more popular days of the week. At one point I feared we would have to eat each other just to stay alive. Eric started to look particularly tasty, but I figured we should keep him alive to cook. I spoke to him and he'd already started to come up with recipes, just in case...
The night progressed well, with several passersby and a few solid donations. Tip for those of you soliciting: Don't ever dismiss those folk who say they'll "come back later with a donation". One fellow did stop back, at 4:30 am no less, where he woke me from a light sleep under a load of blankets to give me the donation he promised, five dollars in fact!
In the morning I noticed that the Hilton across the street has an attendant come out to clean the garbage cans in front of the building. He doesn't empty the garbage, that job's for someone else, this guy actually polishes the cans themselves. As you know, we now have our own NYLine garbage cans to aid in keeping our NYLine area tidy. But we don't have any members designated to clean the cans themselves. You can't keep up with the Joneses, you shouldn't even try, because that's how they get you. Just how many of those folks in the Hilton do you think have tickets to the premiere of Episode II??!! Like WE DO!!! Another tip for those of you on line, it is easier to change the bag in the cans if you don't wait until the can is already full of twice as much garbage as the bag will hold. But I'm not bitter...
In the morning some more people started showing up for the officially "empty" Monday morning shift. Vincent dropped by on his rollerblades for his shift with his own DVD player to view the homemade DVD's he had on hand. Unfortunately we were unable to watch any of those videos on his player, because Vincent dropped by on his rollerblades for his shift. OUCH! We tried, but all the king's horses, and all the king's men, you know the rest. The good part is that Vincent was unhurt, luckily he had something to break his fall...
Things did start to pick up. We were interviewed by a freelance entertainment journalist, some brand new members showed up to sign in for their first shifts, Matt did a great "Fan of the Day" interview (look for that on the website in the near future) and business in general started to pick up as the streets filled with pedestrians and line members started to wake up (i.e. the coffee started to kick in).
And that's when MTV decided to show up to film some segments for an upcoming segment of TRL! (They were waiting for the right moment!) This will be a special Star Wars edition of TRL featuring Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen, answering questions from Star Wars fans. Those questions will be posed by fans in New York and California, previously recorded on location, but answered live by Nat and Hayden. If you figured out where the NYLine fits into this, give yourself two points (these are Itchy and Scratchy points, not-redeemable for time-on-the-line credit). Some of those questions will be asked by members of our own NYLine group, prerecorded right there on Monday morning. Matt and Rob got in some particularly good moments, especially impressive because Matt was in trouble right off the bat for having a better camera than the MTV crew. Rob actually broke his 9-hour- straight catnap on the sidewalk to provide some excellent footage.
That stuff should air sometime next week on TRL, so WATCH FOR IT! (Even if we don't make it in, you'll want to see Hayden and Natalie on the show to see what they have to say about Episode II!)
The rest of the day just got more hectic, as the Ziegfeld held yet another premiere for a soon-to-be-released film (no, not Star Wars this time) but that required us to move our base-camp a good 25 feet out of the way to make room for the celebs, the red carpet, and the paparazzi. Not a big deal until you realize that our little "encampment" now includes a live DSL line, power, a full "home theater" system with DVD, VCR, and game cube, plus about three-hundred-forty-thousand folding chairs (each with two large blankets, you do the math). Then we had to move it all back. The premiere itself was pretty exciting, and only added to the excitement of our own fans preoccupied with the quickly approaching premiere of Episode II.
BBC came by to film us as we were preparing our return to our regular spot, but I'll let someone else fill you in on the details of that and of the premiere itself, because, hey, my shift was over, and anyway you deserve to hear it from someone who was actually awake while all that was going on and wasn't busy barking orders to frightened line participants who just wanted to know where the tent was supposed to go...
I'm back in the boring outside world of work and life now... But I'll see you on the line!
Eep, Opp, Ork, Ah-Ah!!