Monday, November 28, 2005

That's what I call a Happy Meal

Looking up from my McCoffee because American was suddenly spoken at my local McDonalds in the heart of Stockholm, I was met with a pleasant surprise. Standing a few feet from me was Mr Vanilla Ice. That's not something you can prepare for. That's like running into Sophia Loren at your favorite Dairy Queen in Springfield, OH. My heart was racing, my eyes blinking at a very strange speed. I felt an urge to photograph the star, but my digiCam was left at home, as the batteries needed (as always) to be recharged.

At this moment, I also had problems phrasing my hello. Should I say "Vanilla", like we were on a first name basis? Should I go for the more formal, but largely ridiculous "Mr Ice"? I kept thinking his real name was something Dutch-sounding, like Mark Vanderloo, but that wasn't it. I did my best to refrain from calling him Mr Zoolander although I think that when you compare Stiller to Ice, Ice was the original. Look here at Mr Ice, back in the days:













Now compare it with the gaze called Blue Steel:















Here's a little credit where credit's due. I love Stiller, but Ice was first.
To my huge regret, I did not make it to greet Vanilla. I was stuck between 2 kids and a lady asking for change. But at least I saw Ice yesterday. And if you also have trouble remembering important facts, let me tell you that his real name is Robert Van Winkle.
Who did you see at your local eatery yesterday?

Love
-e

Ps. Marc, do jaws keep growing like noses do? It seemed the Robert Van Winkles face had grown, sideways. I've heard of the camera adding pounds, but never reducing inches. Perhaps it was the hat he was wearing, he always used to have that little blond mop of hair on his head, it may have had an elongating effect.

Ps. 2 To be filed in the category of "things I'd never thought I'd tell my kids" is the following quote: "Honey, that gentleman in the hat over there, his name is Mr Vanilla Ice". We had had a wonderful day, first Vanja went to her dance class, then we went to the movies, then McDonalds and mr Van Winkle. It was like ice ice icing on the cake.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I made a telephone interview with Ice T nine years ago.
I was so nervous that I accidentally called him Mr Ice, not once, but twice.

emi guner said...

Would it have been better if you had called him Mr T?

iokevins said...

Hi Emi,

I laughed at the "ice, ice" reference. :)

Do you ever mix up the lines from singers? I keep thinking "Too legit to quit" when I think of Vanilla Ice, even though that was MC Hammer.



Kevin

Anonymous said...

If my distant memories of "Extremely Live" (1991) serve me, the appropriate greeting would have been: "Yo Vanilla! Kick it one time b-o-o-o-y!"
Although I'd use it with caution -- he may be trying as hard as the rest of us to forget those days.

Just in case Ice becomes a regular at your McDonald's ;-)

Unknown said...

I had the same problem when I found out I was supposed to interview Kenny G.
I didn't want to be disrespectful and call him just "Kenny," but calling him "Mr G" sounded a little strange, and I certainly didn't want to call him "Mr Gorelick," his real last name, because he probably dropped the "orelick" for a reason.

I thought about calling him "G-san," in the polite Japanese way, you know, like "Jacob-san," but "g-san" sounds like "grandpa" in Japanese, so I gave up on that too.

When I met him, he smiled and said "just call me Kenny." So much easier to just ask the guy.