Inverkeithing superfan jets thousands of miles to see Hollywood star's premieres

Seeing that some of y'all are angry or disturbed by other Gerry fans, I'm very happy to be ignorant of all that.

PMs...off the top of my head, my PMs here involve comments and complaints about this forum, and "What the heck are y'all talking about".

I think I got blocked and unblocked on Twitter again. I'm not positive, but I think I know who it was...another fan. This makes, what....at least 2, maybe 3 in less than 3 days? Wow, somebody's working overtime. Gerry, you've hidden long enough. Please show yourself...I'm tired of being a diversion for your fans because they're bored.

When I got on Twitter, I didn't add all the Gman fans, because well, it was nice to be somewhere they hadn't heard of yet. I still don't connect to a lot of just G fans on Twitter, but sadly I did on Facebook and now, I really don't communicate with most. Really, my only communications about G are here. I notice that some of the fans I am connected to, seem to worry about not having a lot of followers...and I say, connect with other people that have other interests...not just G.

hmmm. i'm not connected to too many g fans on twitter, facebook OR myspace. (mostly just the ones i know personally) that was on purpose and y'all are making me glad i made the decision. most of my connections are thru my yahoo group (which i am now distancing myself from) and here now!!

wonder if i got blocked on FB as well as twitter??

i think i agree nay!! too much time and energy being wasted on her!

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60E0XN20100115

Globes a Golden destination for movie fans
R.T. Watson
Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:37am EST

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Like a seasoned hunter, Ruth Turpin carefully awaits her quarry. She knows that if she remains calm and patient, the big game will come to her. It's all about being in the right place at the right time.

Film | Lifestyle

In this case, the right place is the Beverly Hilton during Golden Globes weekend every January. But Turpin has no intention of harming her prey. She has traveled from Fort Worth, Texas, to the site of the Globes for the past 17 years to get a rare inside peek at showbiz and to snag a few trophies -- up-close snapshots of her with her favorite stars.

"It's something you wouldn't be able to see in your wildest dreams," she says.

Turpin is one of the small yet loyal cadre of superfans who take up residence in the Beverly Hilton each year for their own personal taste of the Globes. The hotel offers about 100 luxury packages annually that include a two-night stay, reserved bleacher seats along the red carpet and a gift bag including an autograph book and binoculars.

The packages range from $2,800-$3,900 depending on what type of room you book and what row you reserve in the bleachers. Certainly not cheap, but guests get a lot of celebrity bang for their buck.

"If you're a big entertainment fan, this is the best awards show because it's got the best of TV and film," says Moira Fraser, a bubbly civil servant who operates a Gerard Butler fan site and travels to the Beverly Hilton each year from her home in Inverkeithing, Scotland. Plus, with the Globes afterparties mostly contained within the hotel, stars tend to linger, rather than being whisked away behind velvet ropes.

Turpin was first drawn to the Globes by accident. Staying at the Beverly Hilton on a business trip to Los Angeles, "As I was going to one of my evening meetings I got off the elevator and there was Kevin Costner!" she recalls.

After seeing several more stars, Turpin knew something peculiar was afoot. She questioned hotel staff and discovered the Globes were being held that night. "At that time it was a dinner, it wasn't a big presentation at all," she says.

Back then, lucky hotel guests could mingle with stars in the hotel lobby for the price of an average night's stay. Turpin recalls a pleasant chat she had with Renee Zellweger in the ladies' room about their shared love of Austin.

But things have evolved as the show has grown. Bleacher seats were added along the red carpet, and because demand to stay in the hotel skyrocketed, the Beverly Hilton began selling seats along the carpet to nonguests.

One year, things went decidedly sour. "People who paid the $100 for the bleachers but were not guests of the hotel were actually camping out in the hotel," Turpin recalls. "It was a nightmare. People would push and shove and try to get autographs."

Chris Beachum, a devout film and TV buff from Tupelo, Miss., remembers that year well. "A bunch of people that had never been there before heard that they needed to get there early," he recalls. "That forced people who wanted a good seat to camp out for 12-14 hours before the event even started."

The incident prompted the Beverly Hilton to clamp down on Globe trotters. From then on, only guests of the hotel got bleacher seats, a privilege that came with a substantial price hike. The Globes package rose to roughly $800 for a two-night stay for two people before eventually settling at its present rates.

Despite the price hikes, Fraser can't resist the lure. "You keep on thinking, 'All right, I'm not going to do it next year,'" she says, "but there's just something that draws you back."

That something now includes lasting friendships among loyal Globe-crashers.

"Through the years, I've gotten to know people," Turpin says. "There's a camaraderie between the people that do this."

"It's the same people that go year after year," adds Fraser, who is now friends with both Beachum and Turpin and will be sharing a Globes package with Turpin this weekend.

They enjoy the hotel gifts, of course. But the ones that carry the most value are those they've collected on their own. Beachum has accumulated more than 1,000 autographs, while Fraser's favorite item is a brochure personally given to her by HFPA president Jorge Camara, a keepsake only given to attendees of the Globes ceremony.

Turpin might have the choicest Globes trophy of all. Several years ago, she managed to corral George Clooney as he was exiting a party and ask for a photo together.

"His comment was, if I guaranteed him it wouldn't be in the National Enquirer, it was OK," she recalls. "We all laughed and I got a great picture of George. That picture never was in the National Enquirer, but it is on my desk and has been there for several years. My husband's is on the desk in back of me."

(To read more about our entertainment news, visit our blog "Fan Fare" online at http:/blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/)

"operates a fan site"???

I didn't realize her fan site is huge and a business endeavor. I didn't know civil servants make enough money to jet around the world all the time, or have that much time off.

A moderator doesn't "operate" the web site, the administrator does.

So she not so truthful.

I wonder what the owner of the site thinks about the mix-up.

DonnaKat wrote:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60E0XN20100115

Globes a Golden destination for movie fans
R.T. Watson
Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:37am EST


Turpin might have the choicest Globes trophy of all. Several years ago, she managed to corral George Clooney as he was exiting a party and ask for a photo together.

"His comment was, if I guaranteed him it wouldn't be in the National Enquirer, it was OK," she recalls. "We all laughed and I got a great picture of George. That picture never was in the National Enquirer, but it is on my desk and has been there for several years. My husband's is on the desk in back of me."

Being a fan is one thing, but I just think it's sad if a celebrity's picture gets a place of prominance over someone's husband's picture.

makes you wonder how these women would feel if their husbands move their pictures in favor of a female celeb????

EXACTLY, Sami!!!!

i had an aquaintance years ago who used to follow bon jovi around. she would go on HOLIDAYS to see them. (i'm talking out of state trips!) this woman was a wife and mother. i used to always joke that her husband must've been having an affair, because he didn't seem to care that she spent holidays with her stalker friends and not him and the children.

I'm sure that the owner of the site, having had things written in error about her, would probably just shrug it off. Mistakes like that don't bother her, unless it said that so and so was the owner of the so and so site. That would probably require a correction.

As for the other fan, there is something wrong when you replace your partner with a celeb. There's no arguing that one. Even if it's only a picture. There's already something subconscious about that.

I don't know how that woman is not embarassed that she does that with the pictures and then broadcasts about it. Nothing to be proud of, I say.

There are a lot of fans who do that, unfortunately. I'm not saying someone can't be married and be a fan of someone, or even have a crush on someone...but when they come before your real life man/woman, there are some deeper issues going on.

I guess it's the difference between a married man ogling women in girlie magazines, for example...and going beyond that into engaging in phone/internet sex with a real woman. There are boundaries that must be drawn. I can't tell you how many so called "happily married men" hit on me on the internet. Harmless flirting is one thing, but some have progressed into propositioning...and that's not cool. You got a wife and kids at home, don't bother! Some of the worst "private" messages I have gotten have been from married men. And they always come back with "I'm only joking, it's all in good fun I didn't mean any harm". Well then, why did you feel the need to contact me privately instead of where everyone else could read what you said?

Grrrr....