Brief Encounter

I know I tell too many stories like this, but I really do love living in Los Angeles when I can have "sightings" like this one.

Today, I went to pick up my dry cleaning in West Hollywood. When I walked in, I noticed there were only two other customers there, one man and one woman. I handed my ticket to the guy behind the counter and glanced up at the large screen TV that was playing some E! program about celebrities or something. I happened to notice the woman was also watching, and then I realized who the woman was.

Jane Lynch.

Most people probably know here from such movies as A Mighty Wind or Best in Show or The 40-Year-Old Virgin, or perhaps you know her as Charlie Sheen's therapist on Two and a Half Men. She has dozens of credits, and she's instantly recognizable. And, just to let you know, she's just as beautiful in person as she is on the screen.

I think Jane Lynch is fantastic in every movie she's in. Even if the movie itself is bad, she never disappoints. She reminds me in many ways of those great character actresses like Thelma Ritter and Agnes Moorehead and Gladys Cooper, who always shined even in bit parts. They almost always transcended the material they were given. And she carries on that tradition proudly. She was one of the best things about Role Models last year, and I really enjoyed that movie immensely anyway.

After she picked up her dry cleaning (drapes, I think), she took them to her car; I don't know, something white and expensive looking. I managed to get my clothes back and had just put them in my car when I glanced her way. She smiled and waved. Jane Lynch smiled and waved at me.

Man, I love this town.