AN EXTRAORDINARILY EPIC EVENT

An amazing and unexpected event took place in my life mere hours ago. Tonight was the London premiere of the Leonardo DiCaprio/Kate Winslet reunion film, "Revolutionary Road". The fancy London premieres often take place at a theater in Leicester (pronounced Lester for those of you who are still baffled by the pronunciation of Worcester) Square, which happens to be a simple seven minute walk from the front door of my flat. Thinking it would be fun to join the throngs of screaming fans and enjoy the ambience of a paparazzi-infested event, a few of us headed towards the Square. When we arrive, it is clear that all the stops have been pulled out - vast amounts of security, huge spotlights dancing about in the sky, it's all very posh. I lead in pushing through the crowd, making my mother proud, and we finally reach the gate where we can go no further. At the very moment we reach the barrier, Leo's car pulls in and drops him off probably 100 feet from us. He signs a few autographs for the people much closer to him than we, and I try my best to take pictures. A few minutes later, Kate's car follows suit, and I do manage to successfully take some pictures of the newly crowned Golden Globe winner. They then disappear from sight, and we are pretty pleased with ourselves for arriving in time for some big action. As we are congratulating ourselves, screams erupt from down the line. Leo is coming back out! He steadily moves towards where we are, and suddenly he is right across the way! We're sure this is it, so cameras are flashing and people are pressing me into the gate and I'm about to topple onto the pavement and die in front of Leo when HIS MANAGER SPOTS US FOR THE SCREAMING CROWD OF FANS WE ARE AND DIRECTS LEO TO US. LEO THEN SIGNS ANNA'S COPY OF THE "REVOLUTIONARY ROAD" BOOK. I, TOO PREOCCUPIED WITH TAKING HIS PICTURE, DID NOT GET AN AUTOGRAPH, BUT MY FRIEND RALITSA DID. AND AFTER HE SIGNED, I LOOKED HIM DEAD IN HIS DREAMY EYES AND SAID A VERY BREATHLESS AND GRATEFUL "THANK YOU!" AND HE SMILED AND GAVE ME A HEAD NOD.


suffice it to say, this was one of the best nights of my life.

a far-away but nonetheless very real picture of KATE WINSLET:




and a very-up close and amazing picture of LEONARDO DICAPRIO: