1:47 pm - Saturday, Sept. 18, 2004
Hanging Out With Halle B.

Well, here's one for the "Only In L.A." File...

A young African-American guy (Younger then me, anyway) comes into the bookstore last nite, looking for books on Halle Berry.

When I take him to the film section, and show him the one book we have at the moment, he asks me if Halle Berry ever comes into the store.

I tell him yeah, she's been in a few times, and he offers me $100 to call him the next time she's in the store; he says he's starting some kind of fashion line, and wants to get her involved (It was all I could do not to say "Yeah, like that's gonna happen...").

Then he says "You'd probably just take the money and not call me...", and I said "For a hundred bucks? I would definitely call you!. But honestly, she's only been in a few times in the three years I've worked here..." (I thought he should know, in all fairness, that it's not like she comes in every Tuesday or something).

Ultimately, nothing happened, and I'm actually glad it didn't. That would be a sucky thing to do to Ms. Berry, to set her up to be harassed by this guy, when all she wants to do is buy a book (And if he turned out not to be a young entrepeneur, but instead, some psychotic stalker...well, I'd feel kind of bad about my part in the whole thing. And I'd certainly feel bad that I only got $100).

Jason Alexander was in the store yesterday.

He's been in at least three times that I know of, but this is the first time I had any contact with him.

He was looking around, obviously not seeing what he wanted, so I approached him, commenting on his questioning look, and he said he was looking for crossward puzzle books.

As I took him up to the section�which has gone from the second floor, to the first floor, and back again-- I joked that we like to move all the sections around "to keep the customers in a constant state of confusion". He laughed, then when I told him I didn't actually agree with this policy, because I think part of what regular customers like about a store is that they know where everything is, he agreed with me, then kind of "acted out" coming in, and knowing where he wanted to go.

(I always appreciate when people, celebs or not, kind of "go with you" when you give them some little rap like I was doing. Whenever possible, I try to do that for other people as well.)

I didn't say anything about Seinfeld, which I thought was a little odd, since I'm actually a big fan (Both of the show, and of his work as "George"; for my money, he may have played the best "loser" in the history of television). I guess I felt like I wasn't going to say anything he hadn't heard a million times before; I also wonder sometimes, when you're talking about work someone did in the past, if it continues to be nice for the person to be complimented about it, or if it starts stabbing them in the heart, having to deal with their greatest work being behind them.

(Maybe I should have asked him about that...)

He's got a new show�I can't think of the name of it right now, but it's based on Tony Kornheiser, a real-life sports columnist�and the first reviews I've read have been pretty bad (I think one review used the word "grating").

My guess is that this will be his second post-Seinfeld sitcom to bite the dust.

Is is weird, from my vantage point, to say I feel a little sorry for him? I do, though. Granted, he's a rich guy, and Seinfeld is part of television history, but he still a young guy.

What's he gonna do for an encore?

Looking at the "24 hour listings" on Backstage, I saw a notice for a show on TNT called Dramatic Audition.

Basically, it's "American Idol for actors", and I think I'm gonna go for it (Since one of the monologues men have to choose from is from As Good As It Gets, I have to assume there's no "age limit" to participate).

But more on this, and a host of other topics, later.

Right now, Jimmy go sleepy-bye...

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