BLANE!? his name is blane?

that's a major appliance, not a name!


i'm not sure what's going on w/ blogger lately, but it's been tough getting pics and comments and all manner of blogging nonsense to work for me and with a two year old - time is a luxury i don't have and so begins yet another fruitless attempt at posting...

so, last week i learned (from the chicagoist) that andrew mccarthy was going to be a (olympic, herculean, slightly behemothic) stone's throw away from my house.

he was in town promoting his short film, "news for the church". after the screening, a reception was being hosted by "popzilla's bar" the cork and kerry. (i'm not sure when it became "his" bar since he didn't start going there until - i dunno - december? maybe?

anyway, this is where i admit to one of my guilty geek pleasures - i am a john hughes geek. i love most of john hughes' earlier movies, specifically the ones that starred the actors and actresses who would be forever traumatized by their "brat pack" label - sixteen candles, the breakfast club, pretty in pink, ferris bueller's day off, some kind of wonderful, she's having a baby.

in 1985, when i graduated primary school and moved away from my familiar north side ghetto to a sprawling mostly white suburb to go to a sprawling mostly white high school, the hughes' movies were messages in errant bottles lying on the beach of my teeny tiny ghetto island. it was as if john hughes created these characters just to comfort and inspire lil ol' me. they were unexpectedly flawed in so many ways but also unique, strong, courageous and treasured. it especially helped that they were usually based or filmed in illinois. the breakfast club was actually filmed at our sister school, maine north, which was empty & closed. friends of mine snuck onto the set and learned how to spit in the air from judd nelson and were present when the cast carved their names into the basketball court.

anyhoo, after reading that andrew mccarthy was going to be in town - i HAD to see him. we hastily set up a baby sitter and a plan of action - sing baby to sleep, let in babysitter, get all dolled up, catch ride w/ popzilla after his game, force popzilla to find andrew mccarthy (it's HIS bar) and VERY quickly introduce me to him, get his autograph, take pic, and rush home before babysitter can finish an NC-17 movie or call every friend on the planet to party at our house.

well.... all our (my) plans were dashed when kidzilla came down with a 102.5 fever about two hours before i'd planned to leave. (she's fine. her fever broke a day later. she's got a touch o' herpangina per her ped - but really she's fine.) BUT! popzilla was willing to get an autograph for me. so, with the liner from my joy luck club dvd in one pocket and a black sharpie in the other, he was a man on a mission...

apparently, the bar was pretty crowded but he spotted him easily. andrew was talking to a small circle of people, a woman turned and made a beeline for the bar to freshen her drink and popzilla swooped in to take her place. he was happy to report that he is taller than "BLANE" (popzilla is 6') they made with the intros & they shook hands (yes, i touched the hand that shook andrew's hand). popzilla thought he could bond with blane on the LA connection - a connection that blane doesn't seem to share since he mentioned that he moved to new york a while ago and is much happier living and working there instead of LA. that was when popzilla got out the joy luck club liner and asked for the autograph below. that's my popzilla, no one disses LA.

i should mention that a LONG time ago, i read an article in giant robot written by margaret cho (who was in town the following evening) about andrew mccarthy. she said something like he's everything asian girls like about white guys including being extremely good at looking bewildered. after reading that i polled some of my asian girlfriends - they all seemed to agree. i don't know what kind of research margaret cho did to come up with her conclusions. so, popzilla mentioned that blane gets the thumbs up from the asian ladies. blane was bewildered, modest and grateful about it. and with that they said their goodbyes.

so, mega big props to popzilla for going above and beyond the call of duty. not just for the autograph but for the laundry, the babysitting, the take out, the flowers, the feminine products, the humor, the patience and especially the love.