Posted by sean at threshold8n.jpmorgan.com on February 28, 2002 at 12:48:34:
In Reply to: Give 'em an inch, they'll suck it 'til it bleeds. posted by Isis on February 28, 2002 at 11:02:19:
: This should be taken with the caveat that I have never understood why people want autographs. What are you going to do with a signed DVD, show all your friends, look here's Kevin Smith's autograph? Here's a picture of Kevin grinning like an abused zoo-monkey because he's been taking fifty million pictures? I'd be pulling some Sean Penn, punch the cameraman shit if I was him. It's always seemed to me that if you have the opportunity to meet someone you admire, you should use the time to look them in the eye, thank them for what they've done, and enjoy the moment. You'll remember and value that more than you will a signature. If anyone has a reasonable explanation for this phenomenon, I'd love to hear it.
With Kevin, it's almost like I took the autograph stuff because it was expected, but also because he writes damned cool things when I do. (Or did, I guess; it's been a while ... I feel like I've gotten mine, so I'll let the ink go on some newbies stuff.)
But, at school, I've had the chance to meet one or two people who really, really excited me. [Not to say meeting Kevin didn't ... it's akin to the Amy gala, the first time I got to meet Kevin.] For instance, Tim Robbins or Oliver Stone. (The only two times I brought anything to get signed; PS mission accomplished.) Both of them are people whom I've admired for a long time, and in both cases, I got my favorite thing each of them was involved with signed. With Robbins, it was "The Hudsucker Proxy" (this was a few years back, though I stand by that as a great movie), which he seemed surprised about. Of course, yes, you're right, it was cooler talking to him about Tenacious D (again, a couple years ago, after he had put them in "Cradle Will Rock" and everybody in the audience had said "Who?"). And with Stone, I had the director's cut of "Natural Born Killers" DVD, which was cool, because he had been talking about it a lot during his Q&A. Even though several people tried to get that signed, he actually talked to me (briefly) about it ... and yeah, the autograph isn't the be-all and end-all of the coolness of the situation, but it's something a little more permanent. I wish I had had something for Jason Lee to sign at the last 'Thon he was at; as it is, we've got a Nick Drake chat I can go over and over for hours and hours as I lie awake at night fantasizing about celebrity encounters.