A "Star Wars" Experience

So I went to see Star Wars last night with my roommate. I had originally gotten tickets for Saturday, but I’ll be at Weenie Roast on Saturday, so I had to see it beforehand. Anyway, the screening was at The Grove, which I wasn’t too psyched about considering that the Arclight has assigned seats, and The Grove has this fake-retro-cheesiness about it. Also, I knew the crowd at the Grove was going to be lame rich professionals, and the Arclight was going to be full of dressed-up Star Wars freaks (And I was right about the Arclight, check these photos out). But I figured, what the hell. It’s opening night of the last Star Wars movie ever (I hope), so I don’t mind waiting in a line.

Turns out that going to The Grove and waiting in this fairly large line was a blessing in disguise. That’s because about ten minutes before being let into the theater, a man came up to the people in front of us and offered to buy their tickets for $500. Only in Hollywood, right? But the best part was that I almost immediately recognized him as Rick Salomon. Yes, the same Rick Salomon that showed the entire world his home videos of him fucking Paris Hilton. For those of you who haven’t seen the whole movie of “One Night In Paris,” I highly recommend it (especially for the color scenes).

So Rick Salomon is trying to throw around his wad of cash to anyone who will bite. Personally I think the fact that it was Rick Salomon was a good enough story, so I didn’t feel the need to forgo my Star Wars experience. But here’s what was weird. He was with none other than Spiderman himself Tobey Maguire. Now, Rick Salomon is a dreg of society, a bottom-feeder whose apparent wealth came from exploiting the fame of his hot ex-girl friend (not that there’s anything wrong with that). But Tobey? He’s a Hollywood A-Lister. He makes double digit millions per movie – what the hell is he doing looking for scalped Star Wars tickets with Rick Salomon?

Well, my roommate told me this morning that apparently Tobey and Rick are neighbors and have been friends for a while. But wouldn’t you think that someone like Toby McGuire would be able to go to any one of the advance screenings that only super-cool celebs get invited to – I bet Paris went to one.

So after making everyone around us aware that “that guy” was the one from the Paris Hilton porno, we walked into the theater. Good ole Rick was right behind me walking towards Tobey at the ticket stand (I guess he was hoping Tobey could work some magic). And whatever happened worked because I saw Rick again at the concession stand. He offered me $200 for my popcorn and soda.