what are the chances

Tuesday January 16th 2007 05:02 PM PST

I went to Nichol's for lunch today with German, Norio, and Matt. We talked about the normal geek shit, which normally pisses off Norio. Then we get into movies, the Golden Globes and box office numbers. I say something about Pan's Labyrinth, which is now at #16 at the box office, being really the #1 grossing movie per screen because its pulling in $11,180 per screen. Its only on 190 screens while Stomp the Yard is on over 3000 screens.

While i say this i notice the woman sitting directly across the aisle at another table perk up. She is obviously listening in, and has become VERY interested in our conversation.

We continue on and eventually get to the subject of Letters from Iwo Jima winning the best "Foreign Film" at the Golden Globes. Something doesn't quite sit well about that with us and we start to discuss if its "REALLY" a foreign film. C'mon its directed by Clint Eastwood! You don't get any hard core American than that. Its an incredible film, but "foreign" we just don't know about.

At this point we have crossed the line, and the woman at the table next to us jumps in and defends the movie. She says it is in fact a Foreign film because its filmed in a foreign country and the primary language is foreign. We don't exactly buy it, but she's got a point. We still think its not really the best fit for the category. And honestly we were rooting for Pan's Labyrinth. So she keeps going and talking about film and Clint Eastwood. She seems to know A LOT about the subject.

A guess at this point Matt notices that shes wearing A LOT of crew gear. Namely an UNFORGIVEN shirt. I missed this completely.

We talk about the box office for awhile and she asks me how Freedom Writers is doing. I knew a lot of box office numbers, so she knows that I've got the information in my head. I tell her i think its still at 4th in the boxoffice with about 7 million. Well i was a little off now that i look back, its in 5th, but still has over 7 million this weekend.

She smiles from ear to ear and says that's the movie that she really cares about and that as long as it doesn't go down everything is good. Then she says that's because she's Hilary's mom. Everything becomes a little clearer now.

We finish up our lunch and say goodbye. At that point we really don't think to much about the validity of the claim that she's Hilary's mom. But sure enough i google "hilary swank's mom" when i get back to the office and there's a little thumbnail on wired images that's undeniably the woman we were talking to at lunch.

Just funny i also checked the category on the hfpa website. Its actually Best Foreign Language Film so she's absolutely right saying that it fits in the category.