I was buying a gatorade, peanuts and The Economist at a magazine store near Union Square and two male model looking guys, and a tall, gracefull but plain blonde girl came in out of the rain. The blonde looked at a magazine next to me and screams, "you're on the cover!" and one of the male model guys ran up to read it. I looked closed and figured out thatthey were Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin from Coldplay. It was hard to believe because I've become worse at recognizing faces due to how crowded NYC is and Chris Martin looked 20 years younger than he does on tv and Gwyneth Paltrow looked like a theater student but not as pretty as she does on film. The celebrities I see are not as arresting looking as alot of the people walking around.
This morning the Jews for Jesus were handing out pamphlets of stupid facts about the Empire State Building. The back page said: "Yeshua (Jesus) can lift you higher than the Empire State Building." Then, I came to work and met this little guy who wants to invest in our company who owns a third of the Empire State Building.
josh [email] said at 1:01 PM 07-13-2004: Really good lighting & styling makes people in photos and movies look good; I imagine that they are easy to miss when not lit and styled, since you expect them to look like they look on screen.
nathan [email] said at 2:20 PM 07-13-2004: That was what I was thinking as well, celebrities look alot more detailed and thereby less iconic in person. Maybe bright lights put more emphasis on facial structure and less on some details. Also, my recognition of faces takes longer after looking at 1000s of faces a day - once I stared at Evan and Michele for 15 seconds before I recognized them.
myriam [email] said at 2:23 PM 07-13-2004: it took me a second to recognize natalie portman in that link ed posted a week or so ago--she looked like just another girl on the B-line train i take in the mornings.
ed [email] said at 2:27 PM 07-13-2004: I was so stunned by the mummification of Hillary and the obvious chill in the room, that by the time I got to Natalie's face, I wouldn't have recognized anyone.
julie [email] said at 2:41 PM 07-13-2004: I once stood in line behind Timothy Hutton in the Starbucks on Newbury Street in Boston AND rode the Eurostar to Paris in the same train car as Kristin Scott Thomas, within like 2 months of each other. They both looked old and tired.
I'm not counting all the dumb DC "celebrities" around town. No fun.
julie [email] said at 2:43 PM 07-13-2004: Oh wait! I forgot about the time that Reggie and I had a run-in with Chelsea Clinton and her boyfriend. That was pretty cool.
julie [email] said at 2:58 PM 07-13-2004: Oh yeah, I also met John Waters and his sister once at Visions, and I was all alone and couldn't prove it to anyone except Eduardo (who is from Uruguay) and he just laughed at me.
reggie [email] said at 7:11 PM 07-14-2004: Thanx to Visions I've now met two-thirds of those Crazy Clintons. I just wish Hillary would stop stalking me...
myriam [email] said at 2:43 PM 07-13-2004: haha i was totally gonna complain that ny gets all the celebrity fun and i *never* see anyone in boston. dude i live like 2 blocks from that starbucks
scott [email] said at 11:47 AM 07-15-2004: Yeah, I kind of like that they only have the names of the editors and authors listed on the inside front cover. Their official stance is "What is written is more important than who writes it." But sometimes in the book reviews section they will make note of books written by contributors.
nathan [email] said at 2:10 PM 07-13-2004: The question in The Transmigration of Timothy Archer is what happens to a priest who discovers that Jesus and the Apostles were nutty over psychedelics?
Woody said at 4:26 PM 07-13-2004: My little brother once went bar hopping in Toronto with Alicia Silverstone and Jason Biggs. I think I've told this story before though.
carly said at 5:07 PM 07-13-2004: the other day at the game store zack and i saw wee-man from jackass. before he got in i was like "ppssssst zack it's that midget, that famous one, the midget...from jackass."
cricket [email] said at 11:47 PM 07-14-2004: HAH! my godfather taught richard simmons rotc at brother martin in new orleans. he hated the kid. talked about him for years. hated him.
andrew [email] said at 7:52 PM 07-13-2004: My great uncle insisted that he saw the guy was opening the frog legs chain in the muppets movie. and then he spent the rest of the evening trying to remember the guys name. august pendleton or something like that. we were at a play.
also, i played soccer with hootie and the blowfish on the parade grounds at lsu.
andrew [email] said at 11:42 PM 07-14-2004: also i saw garth brooks in the parking lot behind the pentagon dorms at lsu one time. now i live around the corner from rosie perez. she gives me nasty looks.
amy [email] said at 12:49 AM 07-14-2004: Let's see. I saw Trent Reznor at a show when I was like 19. The lead singer of talking heads shopping in New Orleans(brain farts for names right now). At a Pj Harvey concert in LA Courtney Love told me I had a nice dress in the bathroom but them maybe she wanted me to come home with her. At the same concert I saw that guy that made Buffallo 66. At Chicago's in New York I sat next to Dan Ackroyd at the bar and he bought me a drink. Just north of Taos at a small ice cream store we saw Julia Roberts and her husband get ice cream. She's way prettier in person. Once while I was waiting for the bus in front of my house on Azalea Street the REM tour bus pulled up and waved me on to ask directions and I saw them in the back of the bus. I, along with friends, stalked Marky Mark and Paula Abdul. We chased Marky's bus so long he pulled over and took pictures with us. Of course my best friends Carmen couldnt aim for my pic so I have no proof. She has a nice picture tho. Paula is extremely short. At the last U2 concert in Pheonix we sat next to Steven Soderbergh. Hmm. Thats all I can think of right now. And I did not make up a single one. I just know faces bc I am a stalker.
amy [email] said at 1:06 AM 07-15-2004: People I forgot. Tom Ford-designer for Gucci at the Borders in Albuquerque. He lives in Santa Fe. Willem Dafoe on the beach in Santa Monica. Mike Tyson at the mall in Pheonix. He is extremely short. I think thats it. Maybe.
amy [email] said at 1:20 AM 07-15-2004: oh yeah, there was jon stewart way before the daily show in new orleans trying to get girls to make out together for the camera. he propositioned laura(headed), our friend julie (of the topless julies), and i, but we declined.
reggie [email] said at 7:25 PM 07-14-2004: Famous Run-Ins:
Jeff Tweedy, Ian Mackaye, Guy Piciotto and Law & Order's S. Epatha Merkerson all at my old Borders in DC.
Seth Gilliam from "The Wire" was at our party last year up herre in Philly. Also met the guy who played Orlando on "The Wire" at Borders in DC.
I rang up former Caps coach Ron Wilson as well as writer Iyanla Vanzant at my old Borders in Bowie.
Saw Trent Reznor at Mardi Gras w/Ben & Angele.
A couple of months ago I ate waffles a table away from Black Thought of the Roots.
And, as aluded to by Julie earlier, I gave Chelsea Clinton and her beau a free pass into their movie at Visions.
A few weeks ago I apparently missed M. Night Shymalan by about an hour at my current store. GRRRRRRRR....
jeff [email] said at 1:18 AM 07-15-2004: That reminds me of the good old days. I had Lisa Loeb draw me a picture and talked with Jill Sobule about a girl she had a crush on in high school and the untold results that never made it into one of her songs. Abra Moore surprised me by getting rather chummy for a photo.
In the computing realm, one of the most important people I've met on several occasions is Jon "Maddog" Hall. Eric Allman, often considered the creator of "Sendmail", started kissing me on the cheek at a party (no one will find this photo...ever).
