Guess and Check

As some of you already know, last Tuesday I made my way to New York University‘s Kimmel Center for an appearance of Homestar Runner‘s own Mike and Matt Chapman.

I first went at lunch time to stand in line for an hour to buy tickets, only to find out that all of the tickets had been pre-sold to NYU students. This did not daunt me, as I returned an hour an a half before the talk was scheduled to begin, as I had it in my mind that I could purchase some person’s ticket for several times the purchase price. Upon arriving once again to the Kimmel Center, I met Issac, Rachel, and their Issac’s mom Marilyn standing on the sidewalk with a poster informing the passers by of their need for tickets as well. We discussed our common situation, and I joined them in our quest to get some tickets. We talked about how we ended up there, and I found that Marilyn had spoken with the NYU Program Board and was told that a certain amount of tickets would not be sold until the day of the event. Of course, this was a bit untrue, as evidenced by our current situation.

As show time grew near, Marilyn again called the Program Board. Here’s where the excitement beings. The Board had Marilyn speak with Anna, the girl in charge of the event. During that call to Anna, Mike and Matt somehow learned of our plight and agreed to come down before the show began to meet us. We entered the building, and waited in the lobby for what seemed like a very long five minutes.

Mike, Matt, and Craig Zobel then appeared. They spoke with Marilyn about what happened, and then took pictures, signed stuff, and hung out with the group that had assembled. I managed to get the first twenty minutes of this on video before my battery died. This gathering went on until they were pried away from us because they had to do the show.

At this point, it was back to the sidewalk for us. Issac still held the poster, and I found that now they only needed one ticket, as some student had given them one already. Suddenly, some generous soul ran up to us, handed Marilyn another ticket, and ran off. This clearly excited the bunch of us. Marilyn, Issac, and Rachel went in to the building, and I managed to convince them to give me their poster in the hope that it would continue to work its magic. At this point, my friend Melissa arrived and I began to tell her the whole story.

Soon, a gentleman came out of the building and quickly approached me. “I’ve got tickets. They’re stubs, but they won’t give you any trouble,” he said. He pulled out a stub, and I pulled out my wallet. “Is twenty bucks too much?” I asked. “Uh, that sounds great,” he replied, as the exchange was made. “I have another one,” he told me. “Okay, well here’s another twenty. Thanks so much.” I replied. He then ran back in to the building, and was able to get right in with his NYU ID.

I handed the poster to another girl that was waiting outside and wished her luck, handed Melissa her ticket, and proceeded inside. As we approached the room on the eighth floor where the event was, we saw Marilyn waiting outside. She was excited to see that we got tickets, said that Issac and Rachel were inside, and told us to enjoy the show. We went right in and found a seat. Lucky for me, it was right next to an electrical outlet. I plugged in my camcorder, and began recording.

I’d love to go on and on about what happened during the talk, but I figure you can just watch it for yourself (torrent for 1.66 GB avi). If you aren’t one for watching, then head on over to The Homestar Runner Wiki article on the talk, and you’ll be able to read about it there.

After the show, I managed to get a photo with Mike. After it was taken, he told me that he liked my jacket. Very cool.

So this turned out to be quite an adventure. Mike and Matt are the greatest.

Here are some of the better photos I took:

Edit: Brian Jaworski, another guy who was waiting with us for a bit (the guy from Rutgers in New Jersey) did a write up on the event. Check it out.

Edit: (09/10/2005) New torrent file available.

Edit: (09/11/2005) Better torrent file available.