6 months from today...

I will be 20-10. 29 again. 3 decades old.

And, boy, did the stars align in honor of my 1/2 bday.

Things I like:

1. The movie "Once"
2. when celebrities act like they're my friends
3. small intimate music shows

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (Swell Season/the guy and girl from "Once") came in for an interview. I knew I would have at the most 30 minutes with them. My plan was to get a few questions in and then have them play me music for the rest of the time.

Marketa recognized me from the Four Seasons interview we did when the movie came out earlier this year - and said so. And Glen was all "Hey! Good to see you again!" And then we chatted and then we did the interview, and I was so excited because Marketa talked A LOT. We had been talking before the interview so I think she just kinda warmed up. After the interview I said something about how much more she talks now than she used to, and Glen was like, I don't think she's talked that much the whole year! So anyway, then it was performance time, and he asked me what I wanted to hear. (I had a serious list.) We were hitting crunch time, tho, so I chose "Falling Slowly" as I'm sure it will be the one nominated for an Oscar. They played it and it was AMAZING. When it was over, he was like, what do you want to hear now? And I was like, "EVERYTHING!" And then the bookers were like, um, you have to go talk to Leonard Maltin now, and he was like, we do?!

So I walked and talked with them over to the studio and hung out some more. For the record, I got a better interview...and Leonard didn't have them play for him. (The horror!!)

So then we talked some more. They looked legitimately sad that I couldn't go the screening and Q and A that they were having tonight. I told them I had to see "The Kite Runner" because I'm covering the premiere tomorrow night. Then they asked me what that meant. They're so cute and unaffected by all of this.

They fly to Dublin tomorrow for the holidays, but I'll most probably get to see them again in the new year at awards time. (They were all, "Do we come back for that?") I mean SERIOUSLY...SO cute. I love them. It was all I could do not to hug them. I did something I have never done in my days as an entertainment reporter...I got their autographs. I am really fairly certain that when I see them next and ask them to play at my birthday that they will say yes.

Switching gears..."The Kite Runner." Thumbs up. I read the book years ago when it came out. As much as I recollect, it followed the basic plot of the book, so I wasn't disappointed. In addition, star Khalid Abdalla is really attractive, and I'm now looking forward to the premiere, despite what I've heard about the rumored pending drama and controversy with CNN and Paramount.

In "and then there were seven" news...I'm going to be an aunt again. My sibs are a fertile bunch.

Speaking of villages, did anyone see The Amazing Race this week? They went to a small GNOME village in Lithuania. Um, YES PLEASE! The challenge was to hunt for a Travelocity gnome in a area full of a whole bunch of different gnomes. I was freaking out. Had I been on that challenge I would have had to nab a gnome to carry around the rest of the journey. I guess now I gotta add Lithuania to the list of places to go.

If you've read this far, you might care that I'm in the front row of the audience in tomorrow night's (that's Tuesday) Beauty and the Geek finale on the CW.