Quit Following Me Around You Damn Celebrities . . .

Haven't been blogging lately, that'll change, no reason for the non-blogging, and no reason behind blogging again, either, I'm just not reasonable.

Been noticing more celebrities in odd places lately, thought I'd mention it. A few weeks ago, saw Synecdoche, New York, and actually enjoyed it quite a bit, sort of, also kind of thought it was pretentious nonsense, but at least it was well acted pretentious nonsense, even as it was nearly completely directionless. Notably, very strong female roles in that film, and at its core a remarkably engaging performance by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, even if he was playing a version of the same character he nearly always plays. What's that have to do with celebrity sightings? After the film was over, while standing around waiting for my friend, saw a very attractive woman pass by, and dammit if it wasn't Madeleine Stowe. If I were to describe the look on her face as she left the theatre, I think it would be the look one would have while thinking, "Why the hell didn't I get that Catherine Keener role, I'm a lot hotter than she is, and at least as good of an actress, I totally could have pulled that off, why aren't there more roles that meaty out there, refuse to do the Lifetime victim of the week film, and you don't work in this town if you're an actress over 45, oh well, screw this town, I'm headed back to my ranch". It's amazing how much of her inner thought process she was able to convey with just a minor furrow of one of her brows.

Tuesday, while foraging for Kirkland brand yogurt at Costco, I was surprised to see a familiar face. Oddly, this wasn't the first celebrity I've spotted in the parking lot at this Costco, months ago while getting out of my car I saw non other than Bernie Casey, which was cool and all, but that doesn't compare to seeing David St. Hubbins, his own bad self. It's nice to see that even with great success and fame, even the David St. Hubbinses of the world still like to do a little membership bulk shopping.

The most recent brush with celebrity happened tonight while finally getting around to seeing Vicky Christina Barcelona, as far as late period Woody Allen goes, this one wasn't bad, the acting was quite good, and the film is well paced with interesting characters. Saw it in Westwood, it's amazing how uncrowded Westwood is on a Friday night compared to what it used to be like back in the late 70s through to the mid 80s. There are too many better choices for places to hang out and the number of screens in Westwood has dwindled, it's mostly just a place for UCLA students now, and that's not a bad thing, but it's not like it used to be. The celebrity in this case was Fisher Stevens, which as far as random celebrity sightings goes, it's about as random as it gets. Had he not been on four episodes of Lost last season, I probably wouldn't have recognized him as I've only seen three pictures he's been in, and don't remember him from any of the other numerous TV guest spots he's done. I was more interested in who he was with, though. He was with a young woman, not so young as for it to be totally creepy and inappropriate, but young enough for an age difference to be noticeable. I can't help but wonder if this young lady brags to her friend about hanging out with Fisher Stevens, or is this a source of some shame, or is she completely indifferent to his level of fame. He's just famous enough for any of those answers to be right, if he was super famous, than you'd lean towards bragging as the only possibility, if he was at one time only sort of famous, but not in a good way (say a Kato Kaelin type), then it'd just be embarrassment, but sort of, but not kind of famous, but famous enough to be recognized most places is a tricky middle ground. They seemed happy enough in each other's presence, and no visible oddness going on, they just seemed like your regular guy a little too old for a gal who is a little too young couple that you see running around all over Los Angeles.