Posted by Darth Dobbin at 12.19.232.3 on February 27, 2001 at 12:19:44:
Glad to hear that all is coming together so well.
I, too, had a chance to meet Luke Skywalker in the flesh. Sadly, my story is far more geekish and sad.
During the Bush The Elder run for presidency-1988, when he was going toe to toe with Battlin' Mike Dukakis, I was a tender lad of 15. As is par for the polictical course, celebrities will endorse candidates and make rally appearances. That year, the Republicans had such heavyweights as Arnie, Chuck Norris, and Bruno Willis stumping for their side.
Mike "Duke" Dukakis had a more cerebral, if less star-studded line-up. At a local rally, the celebs on hand were Debra Winger, Robert "I Can't Stop My Leg" Klein, and my childhood hero and all-time favorite character ever in the history of Ever, Mark "Jedi" Hamill. This division, BTW, gave lie to the whole "kinder, gentler" line of BS the Other Side was slinging.
Hamill's presence, however, decided my political leaning once and for all. Whatever side Luke is *not* on is the dark side, and I'll never join it. (Board nickname notwithstanding)
Anyhow, I decided at once that I MUST go and meet Mark Hamill, and fulfill my quest to be King Nerd of Nerdtovia. (Side note- Keep in mind that in '88, Star Wars consciousness was not at the fever pitch it would grow to pre-Ep.1, when everybody and their geeky brother decided that they were "always" die hard Jedi-boosters. At this point,there were no internet communities of rabid fanboys-there was no internet. There was hardly even a glimmer of hope that any other movies would *really* happen; in '88, you had to be a dedicated fanboy to be into Star Wars.)
So I rummaged through my desk, found an appropriate Star Wars Trading card- Luke next to the landspeeder, and went to my first political rally.
He spoke for, like, 30 seconds. The crowd politely cheered, but it was obvious that they did not understand the scope of just who, precisely, was standing before them. This was the boy who was detoured from picking up power converters at Toshi Station, and stumbled into a journey that would change the fate of the galaxy. And they were there for a bushy-eybrowed politician.
Fucking philistines.
Anyway, the rally was drawing to a close, and I was woefully far away from the celebs. I realized that my Rupert Pupkin-esque window was closing, and made my move. Being a "kid," I was unashamed to do whatever was necessary to get up front. I got on my knees, at points, and whisked under people's legs; I did the whole Bugs Bunny "Pardon me, excuse me, pardon me, pardon me" shuffle through to the front.
When I had gotten within a very close range, the only thing blocking my way was the line of local, low level politicians angling for a photo op with the potential next president. (At this point, Duke was ahead in the polls. It was before the dirty Willy Horton tricks.) They were a resolute bunch, and this tubby bald guy in a suit would not let me pass by him; he was running for some crappy burgess position or something.
I saw that the celebrities were being slowly shunted off to a side door. I had to make my move. I elbowed the Burgess guy in the ribs-HARD- and he made a comic-book-comical "oof" sound. But more importantly, he moved aside. I **ran** and got through to the little celeb circle, and shimmied by Debra Winger, and presented Mark Hamill with the card..
"Excuse me," I said hurrily, "but I'm about to be slide tackled by secret service for getting so close-- I came to this thing because I heard you were going to be here. Color me geeky, but can you sign this Star Wars card?"
He was very gracious. (And probably terrified.) He said that he had not seen one of those cards in years, and gladly signed it.
He signed "Josh, May the Force Be With You, Mark Hammil" . I was certain that I would be, like Galahad or the Virgin Mary, assumed whole into Nerd Heaven at that moment.
I carried the card with me in my wallet like it was a totem to ward off evil, and would show it to any and everyone with very little prompting. (Yeah, I was about as cool then as now.)
Long story short (Oh, fuck-- too late, huh?) I ended up, in an orpheus looking back at Eurodice-type moment, washing the wallet in my pants. It ruined the card.
I'm still mad at myself for not laminating it, or keeping it within a triple-rendundant, laser-eye-beam secure safe.
Anyhow, good luck with the flick, and hurry up with the CLERKS toon DVD, willya!