I always thought it was cliched that New Yorkers always saw celebrities on the street. "I go to New York all the time and I never see anyone" I'd grumble. Suffice to say, that's all changed in the past month that I've spent in the city for my first year of college.
The past spring, my friends and I were blessed at the sight of James Gandolfini bumping against the window of the cafe where we were eating. It's a bit of shock to turn your head in annoyance, only to find Tony Soprano's face exactly six inches away from yours, with only a smudgy window in between. I freaked. I freaked in a very un-casual way, not at all like our nonchalant waitress who breezily pointed out the back of Meg Ryan walking across street six minutes later.
Gossip Girl films frequently near the campus, so a large and very un-hip (screaming, excitable) fans gathered to watch Blake Lively in the first week of college. It's pretty difficult not to miss her. I did watch, but managed to roll my eyes when Blake briefly turned around and a couple girls started to scream and wave at her. In my opinion, she kind of sucks and I would rather drool over the magnanimous presence of her superior co-stars, Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick over that literally part-plastic Barbie doll any day.
A week later, we were blessed by the appearance of an elusive Joseph-Gordon Levitt, who was filming for his new movie, "Premium Rush". He managed to throw people off by being not six feet tall and impeccably dressed, and having a doppelganger stunt double who diverted a great deal of attention. I think I may have made eye contact with him, though. Sigh.
Less than a week later, I went to see American Idiot in Times Square, and I got incredibly lucky - there was a rare call-back that night, and Bille Joe Armstrong came onstage. I gazed lustfully at John Gallagher Jr. instead, and my friend found it highly amusing when, afterwards, I waited anxiously for twenty minutes for JGJ to come out of the stagedoor, got Bille Joe Armstrong instead,, and promptly roared "I don't want Billie Joe Armstrong! I want JOHN GALLAGHER JR!". I've read that he rarely appears at the stagedoor for AI - that he naps instead from exhaustion after such a strenuous show. As a person who gets tired after climbing three flights of stairs, I don't blame him at all.
After that, the rest of the Gossip Girl cast supposedly came back to film, but I didn't see them. I did see Stark Sands, the third lead in American Idiot, in front of me this morning when I was in Times Square getting a Jamba Juice. When I realized it, I trembled and gaped like an idiot since it was so unexpected (Jamba Juice, really!) and spent the next ten minutes debating whether I should approach him or not to tell him how much I had liked American Idiot (he has a fantastic voice, too). For hard-working, relatively obscure actors like him, it's a real treat when people recognize them on the street and cite their work. Even James Gandolfini was visibly pleased when I told him I had liked "Where The Wild Things Are", probably because he's so accustomed to Sopranos-related heckling.
Certainly no one else was throwing themselves over Stark Sands in Jamba Juice. He's great-looking, with a completely symmetrical face and a perfect nose, but still not exactly dazzling A-list, handsome-standout, unlike Blake Lively. He left, and I chided myself for my cowardice as I left.
All in all, a pretty nice month for spotting. I've learned to be cooler (I've taken very few pictures with my phone and haven't asked for any autographs since the Gandolfini tryst) but for this actorphile, I don't think celebrity-spotting will ever get old.
