Almost famous

Greetings from Uganda! As you've probably guessed by the mere existence of this blog (What? Jen Orkis is a blogger?) I arrived safely Friday night, after spending the Amsterdam-Entebbe leg of my trip sitting next to none other than...

...the father-in-law of Phil Stacey, American Idol's sixth remaining competitor last season. (Who were you expecting? I fly ecomony.) Upon almost immediate disclosure of this information by my seat mate Mark (we hadn't taken off yet), I embarrassingly had to admit that I hadn't actually watched last season of American Idol, an admission to which he happily responded by recapping the entire season and providing a detailed update on the aftermath. Magazine articles, family photos, and a CD - in a walkman - all made an appearance. Phil fans, rejoice. He's been signed by Lyric Street, has a single and a music video coming out soon, and a CD set to release on April 15th. He went country, so for those of you that like to get down with your bad selves to the twangie stuff - buy, buy!

And that's not all in the almost famous category. A mere 12 hours after ariving in country, yours truly found herself at the National Theatre, auditioning for a real, live, going-to-be-in-a-theatre-near-you motion picture. Insider information: The same people who did “Last King of Scotland”* are now producing “Trouble in Paradise,” a drama documentary about the tourists who were massacred by Rwandan rebels while gorilla trekking in Uganda’s Bwindi National Park (home to half the world’s population of mountain gorillas). As luck would have it, the casting director is actively recruiting pasty white folks to, um, be massacred.

Let me not overlook your likely state of amusement at the thought of me auditioning for, well, anything. “Eh? You can act?” No. Crikey. Of course not. I was the one in charge of flickering the lights real fast for the thunderstorm in the Fulton Junior High School drama club’s rendition of Aladdin, circa 1995. Rather, I “auditioned” for the part of Female Backpacker 2. Translation: I held my number in front of me and someone took a couple pictures. Expectations are low, but if I end up in the limelight (I mean, theatrically deceased), you’ll read it here first.

*Disclaimer: That “Trouble in Paradise” is being produced (directed? written?) by the same people as “The Last King of Scotland” came by word of mouth, and is yet to be confirmed.