#The Blacklist location shoot Oct 25 2018

[scifi-gk]

#ChesterBear and I went on an adventure to NYC today. My plan was to take pictures of South Street Seaport Museum (exteriors) and Titanic Memorial park and, if I was really lucky, maybe some shots from the location shoot of the Blacklist. When I got off the bus, I got my subway pass, figured out my correct subway route, got lost on the way (don’t worry, this is a family tradition for the first hour or two we’re in the city, LOL. Besides, it wasn’t so bad this time. I just got off a little early and had to wait for the next train 😉), and eventually found my way downtown. Once I was in the financial district, I caught a glimpse of the Freedom Tower and then hustled on over to Beaver Street and, bam! Ran right into the filming site. It was set up with lights outside the building pointed to shine in the windows. This lighting technique is to simulate daylight streaming in. Now, it was morning and the light outside in the sun was sublime, but we’re talking about NYC and the looming buildings tend to make it pretty dark in there. If they are supposed to be anywhere else, light would probably stream in. It’s probably not something you’re going to even notice in the scenes or episodes unless you look for it. Anyway, I was having a running commentary with a friend about what was what and I was sharing pics and she was telling me what all they were. I must’ve walked around those streets dozens of times. I found Craft Services 😁 but no one I recognized was there. By the time I located the cast and crew trailers on surrounding streets I was pretty cold (texting required me to take off my gloves and I’m a California Hot House flower these days, lol) so once I found the trailer my friend said was Hisham’s I took a quick pic and then headed around the corner where there was a nice ledge to sit on in the sunlight. In front of me was another trailer. I thought, “Oh, this must be Wardrobe because look at the rack holding the clothes outside that door.” So I jokingly sent the picture to my friend and she comes back immediately: OMG that’s James’ trailer! 😲 So I park myself there long after the sun gets blocked by buildings and I hope fervently for an opportunity to speak to him. I ask my friend if she thinks he’d sign one of my Inktober art pieces and she’s all, “he’s a very nice guy, so probably yes.” So I’m psyching myself up to ask this whole time. And then… He comes out of the trailer looking SO GOOD, in his hat, glasses, suit, and long coat, and he sees me sitting, well, standing by then, AND HE SMILES AT ME and nods in, like, acknowledgment — and, well, my brains leak out of my ears. I pop up and mutter some doofus variation of “would you please sign my art?” that was obviously too low for him to hear because he leans in (oh, yes, he does smell nice!) and says “sure, what is it?” and I babble something about Inktober that I’m CERTAIN he didn’t understand and I pull out my notebook and the Inked drawing I had picked (of “Drooling” which is him eating that polish doughnut, because OF COURSE I’M GOING TO CHOOSE THE ONE WHERE THE LINE IS “Mmmmm, tastes just like Patty Sutton.” Duh. 😂) But apparently I don’t have the stones to tell him that so when I say it’s one of my favorites (meaning the drawing I did, not the doughnut eating, though that’s great too, tbh) he gives this wry little chuckle and a shake of his head and HE SIGNS IT!!! Okay, so now I’m completely a gibbering idiot and on cloud nine so much that I FORGET TO ASK HIM FOR A PICTURE, too. (If I had backup I SWEAR that would never have happened!) So as he’s walking with his posse to the set, I drag myself from my stupor enough to smack my forehead and grab my cell phone and snap a pic as he’s walking away. Guys, I swear, in my minds eye, when I imagined meeting him, I was WAY cooler. Instead, IRL, I turn into Insta-Dork. Whatever. Today, I smelled James Spader and there’s no picture that can capture that, so there. LOL. Many thanks to @alyblacklist for letting me spam her with images while I slowly had my mental breakdown and who, in great affection, laughed at me for not asking for the picture. It made me feel more like laughing and less like crying because of my dork-ness. 💋

EDIT: D’oh! I meant to include the filming addresses... (the teal pins with the white squares in the middle)