I MET ANOOP!!!!! ANOOP OF AMERICAN IDOL!!!! Keep reading for all the gossip! Plus other updates...

Last night was magical. MAGICAL! You would NOT believe all the famous people I saw!!!!!

It started out as a normal night where I was at The Grove to support my friend, CHAD GERVICH, who was giving a fun "Pitching Workshop" panel at Barnes & Noble along with APA scripted TV lit agent Lindsay Howard and two producers from Joke Productions (Scream Queens, Beauty & the Geek). Chad is the author of SMALL SCREEN, BIG PICTURE: A WRITER'S GUIDE TO THE TV BUSINESS (Three Rivers Press '08).

His blog is here: http://blog.writersdigest.com/scriptnotes/

I've also blogged about Chad before here:

http://paulayoo.com/content/tv-writing-advice-sun-3109

It was a fun panel where Chad gave a great lecture on how TV shows are created and what goes into making a strong "pitch" for networks. He and the panelists then allowed aspiring TV writers to "pitch" their ideas for shows. Each participant had exactly 90 seconds to pitch his/her show. It was really fun to watch and to hear Chad and the panelists' very insightful advice and input on each pitch. Some pics below of Chad and the panelists and the standing room only audience:

Afterwards, some of us hung out at the very fun Whisper Lounge across from the B&N store. And guess who was sitting across from us?

ANOOP!!!!! ANOOP DESAI OF AMERICAN IDOL!!!!!

I am one of the biggest American Idol fans. As a musician, I love the competition aspect of the show and the judging portion. I also love the heartbreaking stories of overcoming tragedy, the rise and fall of people's dreams and hopes, and voting every week for my favorite contestants.

Right now, my Top Four favorites for this season are...

ADAM LAMBERT

ALLISON IRAHETA

KRIS ALLEN

ANOOP DESAI.

I have nicknamed my American Idol Top 4 "The Four A's!"

I have, however, a special place in my heart for the Awesome Anoop - I love his a capella singing background, his hard working and devoted parents, and his academic intelligence, grace, and good sportsmanship. Anoop could have been a character in my novel GOOD ENOUGH! I think he would have been a great friend to main character Patti Yoon in GOOD ENOUGH. Anoop, you are MORE than Good Enough!

So anyway, I totally FREAKED OUT when I saw him. My friend, ANUPAM NIGAM (a producer for the hilarious show PSYCH on USA), was kind enough to take our pictures. Although he's not an American Idol regular viewer, he DID vote for Anoop! (An also was worried I might explode and told me to calm down - LOL! I was flipping out!)

Anyway, being the total Fan Girl that I am, I squealed and asked Anoop for a picture with him. He was soooooo nice and kind enough to leave the restaurant area to a lamp so we could have enough light to take this photo:

Look how tall he is!!! (I'm only 4'11" though). Anyway, I love his singing voice. I think he's a great musician and has a fun sense of humor. My favorite performance was when he sang Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind" a few weeks ago. If you want to see it, check out this  link at the awesome www.rickey.org website that keeps you up to date with the latest American Idol performances:

http://www.rickey.org/?p=12995

My friend ERIN was also with us. She's an amazing violist who was visiting LA for vacation. Although she doesn't watch American Idol, she graciously offered to help vote for Anoop. So after we took our picture with Anoop, I contacted some American Idol fan friends to find out what number to call for Anoop. (I had TiVo'd last night's AI episode and hadn't seen it yet). So we got the phone number and we each dialed it several times for Anoop! Fingers crossed he makes it through tonight!

But my amazing evening doesn't end here. We also saw the following celebrities hanging out at The Whisper Lounge...

RYAN EGGOLD, who plays Ryan Matthews on The CW's "90210"

And Olympic Gold Medalist gymnast SHAWN JOHSON!!!! Being the Olympic fan that I was, I nearly passed out. "Dancing With the Stars" films nearby, plus The Ballas Hough Band (formerly Almost Amy) was performing at The Grove. She was surrounded by a huge entourage so I didn't want to bother her. But wow, was I psyched to see her. USA! USA! 

Although I'm still in the scriptwriting deadline batcave, it was fun to take a break and see the stars last night! Now, back to my batcave until American Idol's results show airs tonight... Anoop, we're rootin' for ya!