Celebrity Watch

People sometimes ask me, "Have you seen anyone famous?" The short answer is, no. And that's surprising. Even before we moved out here, we heard stories about how common it was to see celebrities in this part of California. My college is located in the same neighborhood where Oprah, Rob Lowe, and John Cleese live, and Christopher Lloyd frequents our favorite Italian restaurant. George Clooney and Salma Hayek were in town last spring for the annual film festival. Yet, alas, we've never seen any of these people. Heck we've got three points of contact with Julia Louis-Dreyfus: she buys olive oil at the same Farmer's Market stall where we get ours (we just missed her one day); she dropped her kids off at my college for a summer day camp thingie; and she apparently can be seen at our parish once in a while. No dice.

In fact, before this week, the only celebrity I had seen out here was Dennis Franz, also known as "Detective Sipowicz" and "The Butt-Ugliest Man on TV." I don't count him, though, because he was the marshal of the Christmas Parade. And because I find him annoying.

I saw George W. Bush at Commencement 2005 when I lived in GR, so I actually saw more famous folk in Michigan than here in CA. Ridiculous!

Well, the Golden State has now pulled up even with America's Giant Oven Mitt. On Tuesday, Watoosa and I were at LAX to pick up some people who were coming in from England. There we had our first genuine celebrity sighting: Mr. Copa, Copacabana himself! As he walked past, I nudged Watoosa and nodded toward him. Once the realization struck, Watoosa was out the door in a flash to confirm. She slyly walked past and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye--very smooth! Bingo.

I thought he looked a bit like a hipper Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz: skinny, spiky hair, leather jacket. Watoosa thinks he resembled Victor from Corpse Bride. In addition to being suspiciously tan, he was also very well-coifed, which just goes to show you that those fatcats who fly first class across the Atlantic get everything!