Close Encounters of the "Timeline" Kind

Perhaps you are familiar with my veneration of a little Thai film called Timeline? If not, I made my feelings clear in a post (one of my shortest, by the way). Anyway, Friday night (19 April) Spectra and I were with our friends Belle, Ning, and Mankato--in addition to some of their delightful friends--at the JJ night market. Who else should be at the market that night? None other than co-star of Timeline Toey Jarinporn. This lady:

Ms. Jarinporn contemplates a future chance encounter.

Belle and I found Ms. Jarinporn in a kind of western store--as in cowboy hats and blue jeans--where she was shooting some sort of TV-ish something or another. The crew was small, maybe 8 people, and the production quality looked to be "local news" grade. Here was the scene:

Trust me, Ms. Jarinporn is in there. If you zoom in you can see her little face peaking out from behind that person standing just to the left of center of the photo. This is her face:

You maybe thinking why didn't you get a better picture and the answer is I felt bad about taking a picture at all. I have a strict policy regarding celebrities: leave them alone. So I thought this would be that. We saw her, watched her goof around for a minute, noted she is radically smaller in person than she looks in Timeline, the end. Belle had other ideas.

I don't know if this is a Thai thing or a Belle thing or a combination of the two, but as soon as the segment Ms. Jarinporn was shooting finished Belle said, "Now we go talk to her." I was deeply apprehensive. I don't know if this is a me thing or an American thing or a combination of the two, but you don't bother a celebrity especially when she is working. Belle was having none of my reticence and walked straight up to Ms. Jarinporn with me sheepishly trailing in her wake.

Belle, in Thai, said "Aieongidoaiesnrogbdslandkoengisolsjenogjalskdgi."

Mr. Jarinporn glanced at me and replied, "Engosidsinenof."

Belle said, "NoiwoeginsoseknssodinsTimelineoinglsdingieigbgi."

I heard Belle say Timeline amidst the rest of the Thai I didn't understand, so when Ms. Jarinporn did an honest-to-goodness double take followed by another double take where she looked at me, then back at Belle, and then at me again, I knew what Ms. Jarinporn couldn't believe: that this farang dude was a fan of Timeline. It's safe to say it appeared to be the last thing she was expecting when Belle got her attention.

After Ms. Jarinporn's quadruple take, that left her mildly gawping at me and said, "Chai (yes), Timeline, two times."

Ms. Jarinporn looked at Belle who said, "Bseionfsodinfosienthgis," which I took to mean a confirmation of the fact I'd seen it twice.

Ms. Jarinporn turned back to me and said, "Thank you."

I said, "No, thank YOU for being Timeline."

Ms. Jarinporn made an appreciative noise and gesture again.

I said, "Timeline is the first thing I ask all Thai people about. Whenever I meet someone I ask..." And right here I made a calculated choice. I couldn't tell how good Ms. Jarinporn's English was, but I wanted to convey the sincerity of my appreciation for Timeline, so I used the best option available to me: physicality and intonation. So I leaned over, brought my face to within a couple of feet of hers, and said with Ace Ventura-level exuberance, "...have you seen the movie Timeline?!?!"

To say Ms. Jarinporn lurched backward is a touch unfair, but it's next exactly untrue either, and then she hastily bowed to me one last time, said "thank you," and then quickly walked away.

Part of the reason I have a strict leave celebrities alone policy is because the odds of it being a beneficial interaction for the celebrity are so low. I have a long story illustrating this point involving Jonathan Taylor Thomas that I'm skipping but would tell if you asked: in short, celebrities get praised all the time, so what's one more doofus telling them they're great really mean? Little to nothing, even if it is a farang incongruously obsessed with a teen melodrama.

This is why I went for broke and ended up spooking Ms. Jarinporn. I knew by leaning in and getting animated there was a 99% chance she'd flee and and 1% chance she'd think, "Fascinating! I must hear his thoughts about Timeline." As such I thought her reaction was fair even as I felt bad and thought it was funny. For reasons I'd struggle to articulate even if you've seen Timeline, there's something particularly apropos and completely deranged about the idea that we live in world where Timeline was the source of this interaction.

Timeline is ridiculous. Sublimely and conspicuously so, I argue. Running into Ms. Jarinporn in a city of 15 million people is also ridiculous, and doing so while I was fortuitously hanging out with "Now We Talk To Her" Belle was sublime. This provided no new evidence to validate my Timeline hypotheses, but I'm content with the ridiculously sublime. Whether there's an element of conspicuousness in it is something I'll ask Buddha when we finally meet. Or perhaps Ms. Jarinporn if our paths cross again. Provided Belle is there to interpret.