Monday, January 25, 2010

Near-Brush with Celebrity (Photo)

I was working at the video store last night, and had an interesting interaction with a couple of customers.

They were sisters - they both had the same shade of dark blonde hair and similar facial features, but one of them looked a little bit older. They were renting a copy of "Seventeen Again," and the younger one said: "We saw him today!"

I wasn't planning to respond, but the older sister glared and said: "You weren't supposed to say anything! He's trying to stay on the down low."

They proceeded to relate a story about seeing a limousine that they hadn't seen before in West Lafayette, walking up, and coming upon Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens, as well as some Purdue students. I was shown a picture, obviously taken in a car, of a guy slightly obscured by shadow. It could have been Zac Efron - I didn't really look that closely, to be honest.

I thought it was great that these two girls were so excited by the prospect of having met the actor and his girlfriend, but I just...don't really care if the two rich young people were in the Lafayette, Indiana area.

Part of this might be due to the fact that I'm not personally very attracted to Mr. Efron. Yes, he has nice abs in "Seventeen Again." I guess he's actually about my age, but he tends to play younger guys in his roles, so I think of him as younger than he is. And teenage boys aren't really my type of guy, as I'm not a teenager myself.

Part of this might be because I have this feeling that meeting someone whose artistry you admire seems like it could far too easily result in disillusionment. Examples in media have been made that portray the importance of idealism (Rob, of robwillreview.com, did a particularly good job talking about this in his review of "Julie & Julia"). For me, however, idealism can very quickly turn sour. I didn't really have an opinion of Megan Fox, other than that she's pretty - then she began making stupid comments, and now, I don't particularly care for her.

So, what do YOU think? Does the prospect of meeting famous people excite you or would you rather appreciate the art without meeting the artist?

2 comments:

Possum said...

That'd be weird if Zac Efron AND Vanessa Hudgens were in Lafayette, Indiana. But I don't really know too much about Lafayette (as in my head, I imagine it SMALL) but still.

I bet those sisters were LYING of their "encounter". Call me a cynic, but it seems like a HOAX. However, I find you as the person working at the video store amusing. It's something you'd see in Clerks, or something. I think the line that gave it away was "I didn't really look that closely, to be honest." And you know who else who is AWESOME that works at a video store who could just care less about a celebrity being in her city? Sam, from a Meg Cabot novel!

Speaking of Meg Cabot (and the question to this entry)... I wouldn't WANT to meet her, the celebrity. Even though in my head I image her to be this AWESOME person with her blog entries and amazing books, I would kind of keep her behind the words. Because as you said, my image of her can be SHATTERED.

When I was watching a video she made, she wasn't the way I pictured her. I mean, I saw PICTURES of her, but when I was hearing her talk, the one person who I thought of, was my school librarian. And she kind of annoys me. Association SUCKS. So now that's just kind of in the back of my head.

But on the other hand, if I were to MEET her, she might bring back my thoughts of her being amazing. In truth, all I think it takes is for me to read a new blog entry by her.

However, in the sense of "famous people"... I don't know. Yeah, I've waited in the cold to try and meet a band, but in the end, I just end up giving up because it's too cold. And I'm tired.

But I can see why'd you be "meh" about Mr. Efron. xD

Shelly Quade said...

Hi, Possum. *waves*

Lafayette, Indiana is actually fairly large for a town with nothing to do. The reasoning was that Mr. Efron had friends from CA attending Purdue University, I believe.

I, too, tend to be of a cynical nature. I am trying, however, to give people the benefit of the doubt, and to be a more positive person. That said, it seems odd that Z.E. & V.H. would be in cold-ass Indiana, but I think it's possible. (I have long been of the opinion that anything is possible...after all, who would have thought I would resemble someone in a Meg Cabot novel? ;))

From what I've heard, Meg Cabot sounds like a really cool individual, who is really nice to fellow writers. However, you never know a person until you've spent time with them, and I prefer my mind's view of someone rather than reality, which can be harsh.

I actually think that Mr. Efron's acting ability is probably above that of the Disney "stars" that have been churned out recently. As a person, though, he's probably just some asshole with a slutty girlfriend who likes to take nude pictures of herself.