Saturday, October 22, 2005

Celebrity Sighting

Its been a little more than 3 months since I moved to Los Angeles, and a celebrity sighting was surely overdue. On my numerous jaunts to Hollywood, Burbank, Malibu and Beverly Hills I have failed to catch a glimpse of anyone resembling a movie star. Although, I have spotted numerous silver screen characters when I went for the filming of Jimmy Kimmel Live & Hot Properties.

On an overcast Saturday afternoon, I was doing my usual tourist guide job and roaming around the area of Hollywood "Walk of Fame". As always, I made a trip to the Kodak Theatre, the auditorium where Oscar's are held. On my way down the 4 storied complex, I sensed a little commotion outside the Virgin records store. Suspecting that there might be someone really important, I ambled to the glass window of the music store, and I saw Ashlee Simpson standing on a podium 20 feet away. Now Ashlee Simpson is not even half as hot as her sister Jessica, probably even less after she turned brunnete, but even at that distance she looked stunning. But my ogling didnt last long, as the guard pushed everyone aside, except those having special armbands and allowed them to enter the store. As I left the building, I saw a mass of people rush in as the news of her arrival started spreading, but I left the place before there was a stampede.

I have seen bigger personalities at rock concert and various international sporting events, but you dont expect to spot them when you are doing shopping at a popular tourist spot. I have even seen Kamal Hasan and his wife Saarika upclose at Landmark Book stores in Chennai, and was probably 6 feet away from an autograph, when they were whisked away by their security.

I often wonder why we get excited over a celebrity sighting. Is it because we get to tell our friends about it and feel a little special that they were unable to do so. Or is it because it is a very rare occurence. Or is it just because they are more important, more popular and much more wealthier than us. I guess it's a combination of all of the above. Some people call all the friends on their phonebook to brag about their luck, while others write a blog about it !

14 comments:

Susu said...

I saw Dr.Luca Benini in a conference.. he published more that 300 papers.. I saw Dr. Peh in a conference one of the hottest profs I have ever seen, from princeton..... Guess what.. they are a grad student's celebrities.. sad .. isn't it... I was once in a discussion with an american friend at one of the biggest CSE conferences, on how we were relishing watching some fundoo profs from different univs.. :))

totti said...

yeah! i had written a post about celebs sometime back called celeb euphoria. There was this guy, who had shared a booth with andre agassi and steffi graf!! and he acted as if he didnt know them! you know what he said! damn it! i am an intel employee! why should i show as if they are big stars.everyone was like, "What! what the heck are you talking!" i had seen sachin hit a six at chemplast.:)

Rohan Kumar said...

U are hereby banished for referring to spotting Ashlee simpson and referring to that as a celebrity sighting and calling her stunning. She is the worst ever singer and performer in he past decade to have been refered to as a potstar.

Point 5 said...

@Susu..give up da...u r leching at Profs and their papers...Get out of ur Phd soon, b4 it gets to ur head

@Totti...as always, u used ur clairvoyant powers to plagiarise my post...

@Rohan...I dont care how she sings, but she looked great...By the way she must have gatecrashed into the store..cos the store name was Virgin records :)

totti said...

Or in other words, you are the one who always copied "my work" :P
Does paris hilton own virgin stores, btw? then it would make sense for ashlee to show up there :))

Casablanca said...

I totally know what you mean! I saw Jackie Chan and Malika Sherawat and felt excited, though neither of them were 'wow' to me. Even blogged about it.. hehe :)

Anarkist said...

My closest brush with celebrities was ofcourse at chemplast in IIT when we scaled the wire fence and entered the dressing room of the Indian cricket team. We even knocked down Zaheer's coffee cup! Sachin then asked us very politely not to click any pictures in the dressing room. Since we love Sachin so much, we obliged. So unfortunately, no record of my exploits but definitely some great memories. The cool thing was none of the team members even attempted to throw us out. It was only after 5 mins or so that security came and spoiled the party.

janani said...

You saw Kamal Hassan? You actually saw him???? Life is unfair, I used to hang out in Landmark oh so often, I never caught sight of him! :-(((

Point 5 said...

@Anarkist...oh thats cool...even I saw Tendulkar, Zaheer et al. But unlike u, I was on the other side of fence ....

@Casablanca....Mallika Sherawat..ooolala...how many square millimeter of clothing was she wearing ?

@Janani..Yup it was Kamal Hasan..I used to go to Landmark every forthnight during my 4 year stay in Madras...it was a cool place...

M (tread softly upon) said...

I really don't know what it is about celebrity sightings that gets us excited. I've been guilty of that too. Saw the little copyright thingy on your blog...have people been ripping you off?

totti said...

copyright thing on your blog? man!! pointy you have some guts!Copyrighting plagiarised stuff is a touch of genius.It befits well that you should come up with an idea! *shakes head in disbelief*

Anonymous said...

Wow...Sighting a celebrity sure does give u kicks...pretty momentary though.Guess its just a perception.The last time i travelled to Chicago..i had Sunil Shetty on my flight..and he was standing right behind me at the immigration..Sure did recognise him..but didn't make much of a difference..ultimately realising 'hum to sab ek hee mitti ke bane hain'..if you understand that! Any other interesting sightings? ;-)
Acca

Point 5 said...

@M...The copyright thingie has existed from the day the blog was created...I donno abt people ripping me off...but I am really scared of this guy named Totti...

@Totti..read the above response...

@Bob...hey nice to hear from u...how r things in Richmond...

@CG...hope things r going great in Dubai..I am sure Sunil Shetty must have been really insulted by ur lack of excitment...

M (tread softly upon) said...

:))))