It's raining Swedish celebs (sort of)

Can we take a minute to talk about my recent Swedish celebrity sitings? Two in the last month! I know these are minor celebrities in the big scheme of things, but that's besides the point - I spotted them! On my own! And was somewhat star-struck, which I wouldn't have expected for these Swedish celebs. But there's just something special about going through a normal, routine activity, and all of a sudden, you look up and recognize a face that you usually only see through your TV screen. 

Like last week: I was waiting in line at the post office to mail a package. The gentleman in front of me was collecting one, and asked if he could leave the extra packaging to be thrown away. It took me only a second to recognise this man:

PHOTO CREDIT: värvet.se

His name is Johan Rheborg and in Sweden, he's famous for being one of four main characters on the Swedish TV series, Solsidan. On the show, Mr. Rheborg plays "Fredde", a middle-aged, quirky, very wealthy man with a severely receding hairline and a gorgeous wife. In real life, I'm sure this role has allotted Mr. Rheborg at least some degree of the wealth his character has; I'm not sure about the wife.

So what did I do? Like a true Swede, I played it cool (sort of), aka did my best not to appear that I was even ever-so-slightly looking. Everyone else in line behind me just went about being as normal as possible while Rheborg unpacked his things and stashed away what looked like a few bottles of specialty shampoo. (Which I'm sure no one else even noticed because they weren't looking.) I couldn't help not glancing over at least every few seconds. 

My other Swedish celebrity siting was a few weeks ago. NS and I were walking along a snowy sidewalk when I spotted this woman:

PHOTO CREDIT: svt.se

crossing the street ahead of us. Judging from this photo, she's hard to miss, but on said day, her hair was in a tight bun and she was bundled beneath bulky winter outerwear. Her name is Jessika Gedin and she hosts a Swedish program called Babel on which she interviews various authors about their books. I've not actually seen a full episode, and don't know many Swedes who have, but I was proud to have recognized her. Oddly enough, I saw her a second time the very next day passing outside my apartment. Stockholm really is a small city. 

In both cases, no words were exchanged, no autographs requested, no photos taken to document these chance meetings. It's just not the way celebrities are approached here. Whether a top idol or an aged star, Swedes will not do anything to intrude on their bubble .... that is, unless they've had a drink or two. Then all bets are off. 

I will say that, proof or no proof, I do feel a bit more ingrained in Swedish society now ... but will probably never be able to keep myself from glancing over at any celebrity I spot at least a few times.

Star-sighting at Sundance

When I found out I'd be coming to Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, I was excited for a number of reasons, one of which was the hope of seeing some celebs. Many people in town during this week have similar expectations of sighting "someone famous," whoever that may be. Yesterday walking up Main St, a limo passed by and someone yelled "Are you famous?!" at the vehicle, to which the guy inside replied "yea" and there was a collective "cool! whoa!" in response. No one actually knew who it was, but that wasn't the point - they'd at least heard someone of importance.

I decided that I would try to blend in with the celeb atmosphere aka perhaps be mistaken for being a star myself (decidedly unlikely) - or at least come as close as possible in Target jeans and hand-me-down "vintage" sweaters from my aunt. Well, today I came probably as close as I'll ever come to a big-shot personna, dressed as a marshmellow in my ski attire. My brother and I were taking a break from the slopes, treating ourselves to hamburgers and fries at a picnic table by the lift. We got up to leave, and were snapping in our boots to skis when my brother looked up.

I think that's Adrian from Entourage over there.

He pointed someone out, and I immediately dismissed the possibility. He insisted, and I reflected on my star-spotting track record so far this week: missed Adrian Brody when I nearly pushed my shopping cart into him at the grocery store; missed Kevin Federline walking right by me on the sidewalk; and anyone else I thought I saw turned out to be wrong. So we both stood there and stared - my brother and I - for what must have been about 5 minutes before deciding to go talk to who my brother had determined with 100% assurance was Adrian Grenier.

My opening line: are you Adrian from Entourage?

Not my finest moment, but how exactly do you start such stalker-esque conversations? Of course the people who started to flock toward Adrian at this point made it clear that he was indeed the infamous star. I tried to recover my lame opening line with you're show is great. What are you doing here at Sundance? to which he responded I've got a movie here as if that should have been obvious.

post-Adrian sighting excitement

After that it was clear that Adrian was ready to get back to his snowboarding, and the conversation disolved to a weak goodbye - no picture, no autograph, no proof whatsoever of the encounter. I swear this actually happened though. And honestly, who can blame Adrian for not being over-friendly? If I was a world-famous celebrity, I'd do just what he was doing: join the rest of the Canyon's skiers and snowboarders in bulky snow gear and red-rimmed goggles, enjoying my brief anonymity - that is until spotted at a picnic table over hot cocoa. Damnit.