himyf (ep. 2)

the year 2035

kids, as i was saying, this is the story of how i met...
joseph-gordon levitt.

who is he?!? you know who he is. he's that actor from "inception" and "(500) days of summer," those classic movies of mine that you like to watch on the vintage dvd player.

well, your aunties and i are fans. that is why when we heard that his online arts collaborative was having a show in the city, there wasn't much debate about if we would attend. a few weeks before the show, i bought the tickets from a curt box office attendant who thought the show was general admission. it worked out well though because our random assigned seats were not bad at all: a third of the way back from the stage and one seat away from the center aisle.

we were giddy with anticipation waiting for the show to begin. the opening titles finally roll on the screen. as they end, he rushes out on to the stage with his squinty-eyed smile, a video camera in hand, and an enthusiastic, "ladies and gentleman, are we recording?"

the fear that the celebrity wouldn't live up to our idea of him completely dissipates in those first few seconds. the three of us are taken aback by the fact that we are actually in the same room as him and (as your auntie frances put it) that he is "as cute and charming in person as he is on screen."

after playing a few short films, he introduces the next segment of the show: the tiny stories collaboration. it's exactly as it sounds. writers contribute 1-2 line stories and artists make illustrations to accompany them. in some cases, they turn these tiny stories into tiny films with animated art, music and sound effects.

he jumps off the stage to choose people from the crowd to provide the voiceover for a couple stories. instead of picking people who are screaming for his attention, he tells us that he will be taking "recommendations" from other audience members on who should get a chance to read. at first we are excitedly pointing at each other but as he approaches our row, we completely freeze.

in our star-stricken state, he selects two people and returns to the stage. considering our mediocre seats, we cannot believe that he even came that close to us.

the first girl who reads is good. she's kinda irritating but adds personality to the story. he is slightly disappointed with the gentleman who reads the second story. in search of a new reader, he jumps off the stage again and walks down the center aisle scanning the crowd. determined not to miss a second photo opp of him 5 ft away from us, i whip out my camera to the ready-position.

focused on getting the shot as he approaches again, i don't realize that bev and frances continue to point at me to be chosen. he gets to our row and looks directly at me and says, "you with the camera!"

before i know it, i am on stage with him reading a story in front of 700+ strangers.

and that, kids, is how i met joseph-gordon levitt.

obviously, he is not your father. at the time, though, there were a lot of people that wished that he would be the father of their children (myself included). also at the time, i still didn't know that your father would be your father. that he would be the one to really make my dreams come true.