WHAT MAKES YOU ALMOST FAMOUS IN VANCOUVER ?

This one time when I was like 11 years old my friend and I went to the video store to rent The Jackal on tape. When we were on our way back we noticed really cool motorcycles in front of the bakery by my house so we stopped to look at them. It was around this time that a 7 foot tall black man emerged from the bakery holding a Jones Soda and announced “You better not be messing with a brotha’s bike less you lookin for an ass whuppin” This seemed like an outrageous thing to say to an 11 year old even to me, an 11 year old. I was sort of in shock from it and noticed that my friend seemed to be stunned and in awe, and the bakery staff had followed him out and were hanging on his every word.

It was because the man was Shaquille O’Neil. I did not realize this until I noticed his t- shirt had “Shaquille O’neal” written on it. Naturally I became star struck and impressed at this point. We talked for a bit and then he asked us what we were doing and checked to see what movie we had rented. He told us the Jackal was awesome and we were like “oh cool you’ve seen it” and he was like, “yeah I’m in it”. We were super pumped and watched closely for Shaq’s role but it did not happen. Shaq is not in the Jackal. To this day I do not know why Shaquille O’neal would lie about being in The Jackal, but it is probably my best encounter with a celebrity ever. My mom said he probably just wanted to impress me because he was feeling insecure about not being recognized.
I didn’t get a photo because it was totally random and before camera phones were invented so here’s a photo of me with Steve Aoki.

FAMOUS SIGHTINGS WHERE CAN WE SEE YOU NEXT ?

I am now a clerk at an awesome video store on Denman St. called Independent Flixx. We have The Jackal available for rent on DVD. To this day I watch it to see if maybe I missed a cameo.
I also do the visuals for Glory Days at the Biltmore on Saturdays, the 1/2Alive parties and events and DJ a indie pop/rock night at the Met on Fridays called AOC.

Almost Famous is a new feature where we ask are readers to submit snaps of themselves with famous people. Instead of it being about the famous its all about the almost famous With the focus being on you!

send your snaps to almostfamous@vancouverisawesome.com
natasha lands