It's a Crazy Spice World We Live In
This morning I finally got around to seeing 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham. (Nice of me to finally get around to it the week that Beckham got dropped from the England Squad). The movie stars Parminder Nagra, who most US people know as Neela from ER, Jonathan Rhys Meyers from MIiii (although I like to think of him from Velvet Goldmine so that I can think of Ewan McGregor naked), and Kiera Knightly from being hot fame. Due to my several year obsession with the UK Soap Opera EastEnders, I also was familiar with the actor who played Jess’ newly out-of-the-closet friend Tony – he played middle brother Adi Ferreira on EastEnders.
The guy who played Jess’ father – I just looked him up on IMDB only to find out that he’s been in almost 250 movies! His character worked at the airport – I assume in some sort of security function, because he wore a badge. In fact, he reminded me of a guy at Heathrow Airport that I had the pleasure of meeting about 15 years ago on my first trip to the UK. And by “pleasure of meeting” I mean that he went through everyone one of my belongings and bags. Here’s an excerpt from my journal I kept on that trip:
October 14, 1991
Ran errands on Oxford Street and then back to Victoria Station to get bag and off to Heathrow. Ran so late and got chosen by customs. Yick. Had to have bag searched and take all contents out of other. Had a hard time checking in and got checked at every post – down to a guy opening my toothbrush, toothpaste, saline, etc. and yet another metal detector. This flying experience is the only real problem that I’ve seen so far – it really ruins the mood to have all of your stuff searched.
So here we are fifteen years later and the US airports are finally catching up to the UK with their security checks. I remember hearing the announcements in the airports and tube stations to watch for unattended baggage, so it wasn’t as scary for me when they started those announcements in America. The rest of the world has been living with the threat of terrorism for decades – this is all still so new to us. Sadly.
To end this post on a happier note, I just wanted to chat briefly about Beck’s wife, Victoria. Now I don’t know how many of my reader(s) know this, but I was working for Virgin Records (the label, not the music store) at the time of the Spice Girls’ explosion in America...and, ahem, I apologize in advance when I tell you that I was responsible for the marketing of them. What an insane time. Anyway, to tell any stories would take another few blogs or so...but know that “Posh” is my second least favorite Spice Girl. I’m not surprised that she didn’t even make the end cameo in Bend It Like Beckham. It was a celebrity impersonator named Gill Penny. (Poor girl, I hope she gets a real job one day.) Here’s the only picture that I have of me (and about nine other girls from Virgin) with the aforementioned Spice Girls. Oh and we’re all covered in toilet paper because they took a bunch from the women’s bathroom at the restaurant and literally TP’ed the entire place – including people.
And to answer your question...my most favorite Spice Girl? Ginger!
The guy who played Jess’ father – I just looked him up on IMDB only to find out that he’s been in almost 250 movies! His character worked at the airport – I assume in some sort of security function, because he wore a badge. In fact, he reminded me of a guy at Heathrow Airport that I had the pleasure of meeting about 15 years ago on my first trip to the UK. And by “pleasure of meeting” I mean that he went through everyone one of my belongings and bags. Here’s an excerpt from my journal I kept on that trip:
October 14, 1991
Ran errands on Oxford Street and then back to Victoria Station to get bag and off to Heathrow. Ran so late and got chosen by customs. Yick. Had to have bag searched and take all contents out of other. Had a hard time checking in and got checked at every post – down to a guy opening my toothbrush, toothpaste, saline, etc. and yet another metal detector. This flying experience is the only real problem that I’ve seen so far – it really ruins the mood to have all of your stuff searched.
So here we are fifteen years later and the US airports are finally catching up to the UK with their security checks. I remember hearing the announcements in the airports and tube stations to watch for unattended baggage, so it wasn’t as scary for me when they started those announcements in America. The rest of the world has been living with the threat of terrorism for decades – this is all still so new to us. Sadly.
To end this post on a happier note, I just wanted to chat briefly about Beck’s wife, Victoria. Now I don’t know how many of my reader(s) know this, but I was working for Virgin Records (the label, not the music store) at the time of the Spice Girls’ explosion in America...and, ahem, I apologize in advance when I tell you that I was responsible for the marketing of them. What an insane time. Anyway, to tell any stories would take another few blogs or so...but know that “Posh” is my second least favorite Spice Girl. I’m not surprised that she didn’t even make the end cameo in Bend It Like Beckham. It was a celebrity impersonator named Gill Penny. (Poor girl, I hope she gets a real job one day.) Here’s the only picture that I have of me (and about nine other girls from Virgin) with the aforementioned Spice Girls. Oh and we’re all covered in toilet paper because they took a bunch from the women’s bathroom at the restaurant and literally TP’ed the entire place – including people.
And to answer your question...my most favorite Spice Girl? Ginger!
posted by Princess Leah at 1:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home