Crash landing in the Mid 80's
I have been in Dublin for work the last two days. Yesterday morning I went to a customer meeting south of Dublin in Cherrywood. Afterwards, I hopped the tram system called Luas back in to town. Dublin is a pretty small city but it has a very concentrated city centre that is chock full of people and life and action. It seems as though everyone has to pass through the centre for something or other - like there's nothing worthwhile in the outer parts.
I jumped off the Luas at St. Stephen's Green, I headed for the top of Grafton Street where my Dublin office is located. As usual, there was a maze of pedestrian and taxi traffic all around me. As I was looking to cross the tram tracks safely, I crashed right in to a man and his little kid - It wasn't a hard crash or anything -just a slow, but full-on collision.
I looked down at the kid and mumbled my apologies and then looked up at the man.
Within a nanosecond, I was transported back to the early 1980s. I was nose to nose and toes to toes with Andrew McCarthy.
Instant recognition - images of the Breakfast club, brat pack, Pretty in Pink, the stupid Weekend at Bernie's movies and most recently episodes of Lipstick Jungle flooded my head. I smiled.
Even though Andrew McCarthy is relatively tame on the fame-o-meter now, it wasn't always that way. He was a teen heartthrob back in the '80's. He had that 'nice guy', 'could be a good boyfriend' kind of appeal - nothing edgy - all safe and cute.
He sounds exactly like he did in Pretty in Pink - same voice, same intonation. He's shorter than I expected, but all actors are shrimps - really. I walked in to Sylvester Stallone in Georgetown which is part of Washington, DC in the late '80's. (it's a gift). Stallone in real life is like a caricature of himself because he's really tiny. You start to understand the chemistry of movie stars on screen when you see them in real life and think - that's it? It's a weird science.
Andrew McCarthy is still safe and cute. He's pretty wrinkly up close though and seemed to have a yellow tint to his complexion - Like he's had the 'South-east Asian' setting on his spray tan. He's still got sweet eyes and a nice smile though. He's on the hit prime time show Lipstick Jungle so things are still going his way.
Anyway, my crash into the 1980's was a nice break in my day - no one in the Dublin office was that impressed though. Apparently Colin Farrell is a regular at the pub down below the office windows and they often watch him have his coffee there. He's more of an A-lister I guess.
posted by Brussels Confidential @ 3:09 PM
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