HMNIG's Shameless Us Weekly Moment

So a movie is being partially shot in DC. It's called State of Play, and stars Russel Crowe, Rachel McAdams, and Ben Affleck. Now, I think it's clear how I feel about celebrity trash outlets. But friends of mine happen to live next door to the Masonic Temple and Library here in DC where they were filming scenes for the movie. Which is kinda cool.

The Temple, with Brian and Colleen's building on the right

And of course, Colleen, who lives in aforementioned apartment, collects Us Weekly and People magazines like they're cans of beans before a thermonuclear war. She feeds on this shit. Last week she showed me pictures she took of Crowe and McAdams standing outside her apartment. I think she's trying to sell them.

My second brush with celebrity (the first was running into John McCain outside an elevator at a hotel in San Diego) came Friday night, as I was walking to Brian and Colleen's apartment from my own. Jamie and I are walking, me carrying a twelver of Bud, her continuing a story that has already lasted six blocks. We're walking past the temple, because we have to. Nothing's blocked off, but there are trucks and equipment and people everywhere. Jamie's had a few, so she's talking like she's running out of air. I look to my left, and Crowe is walking past about six feet away. Jamie, deep in her story (and a bottle of wine), fails to notice until I ask if she saw him. By this time we're further down the street, and Crowe apparently already got in a black Escalade. Oh well.

So we get up in the apartment, and there's Colleen, glued to the window with a pair of binoculars. I promptly call her creepy, crack a beer, and start playing Wii baseball. An inning and a half later, I hear girlish commotion coming from the window, along with high-pitched shrieks of "Ben!!" I casually inquire what in hell is going on. Brian says something about Affleck being outside. Jamie, down about missing Crowe, desires to make up for it. So what better to do than open the window and yell, "BEN AFFLECK!!! GOOD LUCK WITH THE MOVIE!" To her delight, he acknowledges with a wave. Well, I guess it's hard to ignore something like that.

I look at Brian, and we share an unspoken desire to hide in a closet so as not to be associated with the drooling middleschoolers that our usually well-mannered and sophisticated girlfriends have been reduced to. Shrugging off the encounter, Colleen boldly asserts, "I wish it were Brad Pitt doing this movie." Ah, well. When you're as deep into The Industry as Colleen is, you're able to make such demands.

I admit, the whole experience was kinda cool. But those magazines still make me sick. If were any more shameless, I would post the pictures that Colleen took. But I'm not, so I won't.