Meeting Mr. Mortensen
Finally, I’m closer
to the front and take pictures of Mr. Mortensen, even if he is slightly hidden by the backs
of his fans. I'm thinking I'd be lucky to get one good
picture. I turn off the flash for most of the pictures. Thank you to Gail who took this picture while I was meeting Mr.
Mortensen.
I shake Mr.
Mortensen’s hands and tell him I’m glad to meet him.
His hands are warm, soft and firm.
I’m thinking this when I should be introducing my name, in
retrospect. My hands were
probably freezing.
He asks, “What’s
your name?” as he opens one of the books and looks for the page where to
sign. I tell him it’s
Marina Rundell. He asks,
"How do I spell that?" So I
spell my first name for him.
I knew I had to ask my
next question or I would have regretted the trip.
So I had to ask him. I
say, “I don’t know if you know, but I wrote a book about you that your
fans have appreciated.”
He replies, “Someone
told me they’ve seen it. I
know.”
I ask, “You don’t
disapprove?”
He says, “No.”
I reply, “I’m glad
to hear it,” relieved.
He crosses out the
extra word in Linger. I’m
surprised because the overall quality of the book makes me, the fan, be
forgiving of one little word. I
tell him, “I saw that but I didn’t want to say anything.”
I completely understand. I
have had to do the same with my book about him in updates.
He wraps up signing the
books and gives them back to me.
I thank him and tell
him again that I’m glad to meet him.
Afterwards
I stay a bit longer to
take a few more pictures because for the first time, I can have my own
pictures such as the ones shown on this column and not of ones others have taken.
I switch my camera from
picture to video. From a bench near
the signing table, I video
him, as a lady next to me starts a conversation.
I’m excited that’s
why I stay a bit longer, even though the ladies I’m happy to have met
are ready to go out to eat. So
we exchange cell phones to get directions to the restaurant because the
ladies want to go. Susie and I stay.
Thanks to cell phones,
we are given directions on how to get to the restaurant.
There’s something about walking in big cities that make it a
novelty. We make a few wrong turns, retrack and eventually make it.
The restaurant is not far from the Center.
At the restaurant, our
drinks have already been ordered. We
place our meal orders and we are lucky to have had friendly waiters.
One of them takes the picture shown below.
The ladies said it was all right to post this picture of them
online. One of the ladies requested her picture not be shown simply
because she prefers her picture not be taken.
The conversation
centers on Viggo at first before we move on to other topics.
Kim says she bought Ms. Brice’s book as an alibi so that her
husband would allow her to make the trip.
I tell everyone that I should have told Mr. Mortensen that because
of him (and thanks to you, his fans) the funds from sales of my book on
him paid for two years of preschool for my younger son and one year of guitar lessons for my older son, who has decided to move on to other
things. The ladies are
shocked to hear my book has actually sold.
From three years ago to now, it has been an enriching experience writing,
updating the book, keeping in contact with Viggo's fans, and meeting Mr.
Mortensen himself!
In good humor, we agree
and conclude that the real reason Mr. Mortensen is gracious to take
one-on-one time with each fan is so that he can rest his signing hand. In truth, the way he is makes sense how gracious he is toward
his fans.
The line at the Center
was pretty long and because we were toward the front, imagine those at the
back who must have completely turned into icicles by the time they got
inside.
My trip to New York for
the Viggo Mortensen book signing was a worthwhile experience.
Not only was I happy to meet Mr. Mortensen in person, I was also
happy to have shared time with these ladies while standing in line and
going out to eat. Having to
stand in line made it seem a lot shorter.
We prepare to leave and
we say our goodbyes. The
ladies helpfully let me know that the restaurant can get me a taxi to my
hotel. I arrive at my room
safely.
I turn on the TV and
the very first thing I see is the tail end of the trailer for A History
Of Violence. I find this interesting.
Was an HBO premiere being advertised or the DVD?
I turn off the TV and
start writing what you have read here.
Thank you, Mr.
Mortensen. Thank you, ladies.
Go
to page 1.
Go
to page 2.
_______________________________________
If
you wish to use any of the pictures from this column, please credit this website.
Thank you. For the ladies who sent in their pictures, please obtain
permission from them.
Great collection of photos at
Viggo-Works:
More pictures of
Viggo at the ICF Book Signing: http://viggo-works.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=930&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Pictures of Viggo from news page at Viggo-Works:
http://www.viggo-works.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=59424&highlight=#59424
   
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