An Evening with Kip and Pedro

WARNING: Reading the blog entry below may cause severe cases of jealousy and require you to listen to Katherine brag next time you talk to her.

About a month ago I was told by one, Kenneth Libben, that the Napoleon Dynamite cast was coming here to Oxford to speak. However, since it was actually my college and I hadn't heard anything about it I dismissed the idea. I have never been more glad to admit that I was wrong.

Today after our Education class Marissa and I hurried to Shriver to get in line so we could have good seats for none other than Aaron Ruell (Kip) and Efren Ramirez (Pedro) from Napoleon Dynamite! After waiting for only a few minutes we went into the room and found seats in the seventh row (not bad) away from the stage. And finally at 7:05 the guys were graciously introduced and came out, sitting comfortably in their chairs, each with a microphone.

Now this is how it all went down. For an hour students would go up to two microphones placed in the isles and ask them questions. They ranged from quesitons about the movie and their characters to their life and projects they're working on. There were many interesting questions asked, such as if any scenes were improvised in the movie (Answer: The song Kip sings for the wedding at the end of the wedding).

As Efren slipped in and out of the Pedro voice and Aaron repeatedly told people his real name is Aaron, not Kip, we enjoyed their answers and comments. It was so fascinating to hear the inspirations and ideas behind the movie and its making. Now I don't want to reveal all the secrets for fear that I won't have anything intersting to say when people ask me about my experience. But for instance, Kip's character was loosely based (or not so loosely) on Aaron's real life brother. Funny story, described in detail by Aaron.

When the questions died down people began to discretely leave the room in hopes of getting in line early for the autographing. Following our friends who slipped out a bit early Marissa and I too got in line (though I felt as if I was being rude and was cheating somehow). After about fifteen minutes of waiting we got our papers signed by both guys and actually got a picture with them! Totally cool.

It was definitely an awesome experience. And although there is the chance that years from now Napoleon Dynamite will be forgotten and Aaron and Efren will be long gone from the hollywood scene (or perhaps not) I will still be very excited when I remember that I totally have an autograph and picture with them! Boo yah!

And since I cannot leave you without one single quote from the movie I shall dote upon you Aaron's favorite: "I caught you a delicious bass."

Peace out all you jealous Napoleon Dynamite fans!

Katherine