Saturday Afternoon with John

This is mostly a gushy girl post, but books will be briefly involved.

I spent a nice little Saturday afternoon at the McNally Jackson bookstore in Soho with John Krasinski. Did you know that your favorite star of The Office has recently written and directed his very first movie? He has, and that movie is Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, based on the novel of the same name by author David Foster Wallace.

The reading was set for 5:00pm, but, to be honest, I got my boyfriend to call the bookstore ahead of time and find out what time I should show up to "avoid the screaming girls." [Obviously I couldn't call, because I am a girl and my request would not be as believable.]

My friend Kati and I arrived around 4:00 and hovered around the set-up of chairs to ensure a close spot. As we sat in our coveted 2nd row seats [because 1st row is just too close to un-awkwardly take pictures of someone standing right in front of you] and as 5:20 rolled around, we see through the storefront windows a tall, dashing man jogging down the sidewalk towards the bookstore door as pedestrians turned their heads and probably said, "Wait, wasn't that...."

He did a reading from the book, which was very funny and introduced me to a book I knew little about. Then he did a Q&A. But he was admittedly nervous and doing that trick where you look just above the audience to avoid direct eye contact [which I understand...I mean, I was in the 2nd row and only about 6 feet away from him]. I was, therefore, determined that I WOULD make eye contact with John Krasinski and asked him [with a semi-functioning voice] if he wanted to write and direct in the future, or if it needed to be a project that was special to him. He said something about passion fueling your drive and energy for a project, so it needed to be special. But I'm gonna be honest...I was too occupied with the realization that JOHN KRASINSKI was speaking to ME for those glorious 45-60 seconds, that I can't recall everything he said.

Then he did a signing, and because of our location and willingness to help move chairs away from the autograph table, we were right at the front of the line. So we spoke to John even more, and he wrote my name and 'Thanks for the question!' And I walked out of the bookstore feeling both successful and all tingly inside.

Check out the trailer for Brief Interviews With Hideous Men. Or read the book!