Near-brush with greatness

Earlier this evening I wandered out in search of a CD of "Turandot", my favorite Puccini opera, largely inspired by this clip. As I crossed the Gran Vía, headed toward the FNAC store, I noticed that there seemed to be an unusually large police presence, clustered around one of the cinemas on Gran Vía. Barricades. Screaming teenagers. What was going on?

The premiere of "Shrek Tercero", that's what! Complete with red carpet, mangy fake green astroturf and plastic bushes on the sidewalk. And to judge by the screaming fans, the presence of at least one Hollywood star. Or starlet.

The temptation to lie to my readers at this point and to state that I saw Cameron Diaz on that red carpet is all but irresistible. But this blog is dedicated to truth in reporting, so it is with regret that I have to admit that I saw no such thing. What I did see were dozens of people all engaged in the identical one-sided conversation with their cell phones:

"¿You´ll never guess who I just saw outside the Cinema Palacio? ¡Cameron Diaz! ....
no, I swear .... etc etc etc".

Which, when you get right down to it, is no more interesting than the "We´re just getting off the plane ... now I'm on the moving sidewalk in the terminal ... " kind of idiocy that cell-phone users typically inflict on innocent bystanders.

Half an hour later, as I passed by the cinema, things were almost back to normal. Security guards were removing the barricades, as the cinema employees removed huge swaths of astroturf, under the watchful eye of a large and impassive Shrek mascot. As they rolled up the red carpet, a final speck of stardust glittered in the evening light, and the crowds of madrileños reclaimed the pavement as their strolling ground.