This made me think of what it must be like to be a celebrity. To have people fawn over you, whilst you can barely recall a fan's face for having seen so many.
So when I did run into him in the local community space, I had a thought: I could be another fawning fanboy, interrupting his shopping and day in general, or I could just think to myself "Hey, that's Satch!" and not bother him at all.
So I didn't bother him. I've long wondered if I made a good choice or not, now I think I made the right one.
My theory is, why bother people just because they're famous? Unless they're looking for it, which is why I had a nice conversation with Moon Unit Zappa on Broadway in Seattle at the 76 station, where she was camped out promoting her movie The Spirit of '76.
Except this once.
Meg Ryan was throwing a birthday party for her then-boyfriend, Dennis Quaid, and actors, musicians, and celebrities came to have their cars parked. Most of the valets were gushing and wowing over this or that celebrity or actor, but I tend not to care too much about star sightings and don't really go for celebrity worship.
A gray, older Citroen rolls up and it's my turn to park. Citroen are pretty low to the ground, only a little bit taller than Porsche roadsters, so even though I'm medium height I stood high above the car's roof with a good view into the driver's side.
The window rolled down and there he is, David Bryne, looking up at me and handing me his keys. His eyes seemed really big from that angle and I don't even remember him getting out of the car. I do remember that I had a feeling of awe and admiration (The Talking Heads had broken out on the Stop Making Sense tour and Byrne was known to be an engaged and consummate artist.)
Though our interaction was brief, Byrne's look suggested he understood I'd recognize him (I did!) and he looked at me directly and treated me as a fellow human providing him a service. No haste, no self-absorption, just a courteous exchange of pleasantries for service.
Or maybe I'm simply susceptible to being star struck by artists whose work I admire.
That doesn't strike me as so odd. There's lots of stuff I might read or watch in the comfort of my home that I might be embarrassed to read or watch on a plane where people will use their own preconceptions to judge me, accurately or not. For example, some Anime (and nothing all that weird, it's just the preconception that cartoons are for kids). I can't even get my wife not to judge me for that, so I might forego watching it on a plane just so I don't feel self conscious. I'm projecting an image of a responsible adult, Kim Kardashian is projecting and image of someone who likes X, Y or Z.
At this point it's not the age issue. I think most people get that there are animated shows for every demo at this point.
It's the fact that you had to preface with "nothing all that weird".
And the fact that I've heard that so often on the internet only to find out that "well, except for that, but she's not as young as she looks, she's actually a 5000 year old dragon. But they're all flirting with her because of her magic powers, not because she looks 8." Oookay...
Yeah, but given the market it comes from and how prevalent it is there, that qualifier is really only used because some people don't realize saying "I watch anime" is sort of like saying "I watch a category that's a significant subset of Japanese mainstream television" when all people know is that the Japanese have some eclectic television by U.S. standards.
> And the fact that I've heard that so often on the internet only to find out that "well, except for that, but she's not as young as she looks, she's actually a 5000 year old dragon. But they're all flirting with her because of her magic powers, not because she looks 8." Oookay...
I hear you, and agree. That said, it's sort of like 5 years ago mentioning you use Reddit. Some subset of the public might only have heard about it through news reports/articles about some of the more problematic subreddits.
For what it's worth, my own tastes go more for the stylish and interesting stories that are harder to do when using live acting. There's some excellent (in style, story, or both) Science Fiction and fantasy that comes out as Anime (Steins;Gate, some of the Netflix series that have come out). Also, there's some really accessible ones I can watch with my son, such as Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (which we just finished watching together, and is excellent).
Such as mainstream Studio Ghibli anime "Pom Poko" which includes many songs and sight gags about testicles.[0] Or the Penis Festival.[1]