Whoa. Today was an eventful day. There was Richard arriving in Seoul, thoroughly documented by the Korean fans *gomabseubnida*, and then there was a bit of a controversy that I am putting down to cultural differences. It’s regrettable when it’s fans vs fans, no matter who started it. I so wish that issues and differences in opinion could be discussed openly, respectfully and without drastic consequences. More positively from my perspective, though, were the further developments of the auctions.
When we slipped into the final 24 hours of the auctions, I was actually out with my kids for a cup of coffee. I left the house for two hours, and when I came back, the bid total had made a massive jump. There was a mini-milestone, worthy of celebrating. An auction item had moved well across the 200 € mark 😯.
Amazing result. To say I am stunned, is an understatement. Speechless, more like. A big thank you already!
Secondly, I’d like to mention that there have also been donations coming in via my Paypal that are independent of the bids. Rather than bidding on an item, money has been transferred that will go into the final total. This is especially welcome in view of the eBay fees we will have to pay. They are 10.7% of the final price (see screenshot right) – which will amount to a good chunk that will be taken out of the final auction proceeds. So, many thanks for the donations that will make up for the eBay fees.
Also, my thanks for the contribution that has been sent in specifically to help with postage costs of the auction items. I will have to send 27 items to the winners, the contribution to the postage costs is very welcome indeed.
Separately I would like to UPDATE you on the bids for the custom shrine. This is now at 100 €. Thank you for that bid! If you would like to bid for the custom-made shrine, you can do so by e-mail to guylty@photographer.net
So, with 20 hours to go, we currently are at a grand total of… *fanfare* – 1,344 €, translating into 1,490 US$ or 1,228 £. Fantastic result so far – thank you to everyone who has sent in a bid, checked on the auctions and/or signal-boosted the auctions online. You rock!
But hey, look…
Daniel Miller has a dream. He is looking for a milepost. I don’t think he really needs a tower viewer for that. It’s really close. Do you think we’ll make it to 1,500 € tonight? It’s not completely unthinkable. I mean, just look at it this way: We would need to move by 156 €. Theoretically, if every bid were to be increased by 5.20 €, we’d get there…
In any case – great, great bidding so far. A thriller. Almost as good as Daniel Miller. 😉
Guylty Pleasure 
This is awesome.
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It is 🙂 Kudos to the fans!
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Is that Daniel looking for his character development? 😈 thankfully our fandom is more numerous and inventive than there are good screen writers:-)
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that was my big issue with BS-there were so many characters and they flip flopped about so much in general-you never really got to know the characters-except maybe for Hector
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I think Hector was the only sort of more developed one and maybe Valery, but my opinion of the series in general is as low as it gets. Haven’t even watched series 3 beyond 1-2 eps and don’t plan to. Bleh.
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😂 LOL
That’s great, Hari. Made me snort my tea. Well done!
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I mean i just couldn’t resist the trap 😉 Guess it will always be a sore spot, well apart from that Capotondi episode with the wall activities which was pretty much the only well filmed one and worth watching.. and maybe the shenanigans with Hector in Ronda.
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I hope the main takeaway from today’s kerfuffle is for Armitage (mostly because after approaching a decade of this I don’t think fans will get any more self-aware or self-critical, at least not as a group), namely that he shouldn’t announce where he’s going if it’s relatively obvious what flight he has to be on, or at least not until he’s arrived.
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But he pretty deliberately sent the message for them to be there (twice) don’t you think? He cannot be that naiv (or can he?) surely.
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I assumed he ‘telegraphed’ his plans with regards to Seoul so fans outside Europe and America felt a little more included. He doesn’t do that as a rule.
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I’ve never seen it like this but it’s worth considering that the plan announcement are meant that way. I just assumed he wanted his Korean fans to know.
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This was my read — he wanted to say “I’m going to Korea now” for everyone’s benefit (and possibly to forestall the stream of “where are you Richard” tweets) but didn’t necessarily expect that it would generate the same response as last time. This time he looked rumpled, and I think he would have been less disheveled had he expected fans at arrival.
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He almost never tells where he’s flying unless it’s part of a scheduled trip, but has done it before (Vancouver 2015) — telegraphing his intent to fly from San Diego although it became obvious upon arrival that he didn’t expect or want to be greeted. I think there’s a difference between announcing your arrival by taking a picture that reveals the airline you’re on, which says “meet me at the airport” and just saying you’re on your way somewhere, too. If he really did end up hiding in a bathroom I hope he has finally learned his lesson.
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Without having been there, it’s hard to tell whether he really sought refuge in the restroom – or whether he genuinely had to do a poo 😂. He didn’t really look distressed in the pictures. But yeah, I am surprised that he is making it a habit to announce his arrival every time – and only when – he goes to Korea. Why? It looks like he is actively courting the attention of the Korean fans.
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Yeah, I think there was a communication problem there in that no one knows why he did what he did, and the person who reported it is not a native speaker and so probably didn’t understand all the connotations of the words she used in the report. I’d put that piece of it into ‘cultural differences’ or at least ‘linguistic understanding.’
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oh — and I can imagine that the production company wants the whole “celebrity arrives at airport” thing that Hiddles and others have performed. Maybe the chauffeur was unavoidably late.
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Wonderful news!
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Indeed. Very happy already.
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I’m out of any controversy loop, which is good, but yeah, too bad people can’t just enjoy the fun and not find something to disagree on.
Congrats on another successful auction Guylty! I missed most of the set up, (as usual) but am thinking I’ll have to touch base on a few things to donate for next year? After this year’s auction is all wrapped up. I’ve made a posty note on two items I’d stoopidly purchased twice when ordering before everything I’d already ordered arrived. (Does that make sense?) Anyway, excellent work! 💕
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It’s always the same thing. I suspect it has also got to do with jealousy. But well, let’s forget about that.
Auctions still running – it’s as exciting as every year. Funny how that feeling never rubs off.
As for donations – sure, I’d be delighted to! Thank you for thinking of the auctions 🙂
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I don’t think it has much to do with jealousy, judging from the people involved. I’d subscribe to ‘cultural differences’ and ‘failure to understand how social media works’ and also ‘more than one judgment of a situation can be accurate.’
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