The Holy Grail of Jim Carrey Memorabilia
So tonight I decided to take up my typical grading papers post on the floor of the living room in front of the t.v. with my papers spread out over our long, narrow coffee table. Future hubby had long since fallen asleep on the couch, which is typical of him in the evening. Friday night programming on t.v. does not present many options for me. None of the shows that play on this night peak my interest. So once the 8:00 hour struck, I turned the channel from my normal line-up of re-runs to hopefully find a channel that I could leave on while I graded a stack of papers that had piled up due to being out sick this week. What I came across was a Jim Carrey movie that I had not seen in a very long time. I soon became aware of the fact that not much paper grading was getting done. I was captivated by this movie. "Man on the Moon", I must admit, is one of his best movies, and probably the only movie that he has done that made me cry at the end.
You have to understand something about me...Jim and I...we go way back. For the life of me, I have no idea what it is about this man that has caused my infatuation. I know for sure that it started when I was 11. The movie "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" had just hit theaters and I had just had the opportunity to see it. Blame my budding hormones if you will, but something about the movie struck me. Add to that, my grandmother who found an article about Jim in the weekly edition of Parade magazine. Something just seemed to click for me. The movie, then the article. After that time, I became obsessed. I started a scrapbook of every picture and/or article I could get my hands on. This was before the Internet, or at least before I became aware of the Internet and the availability of stuff that I could put in my scrapbook. Before the Internet, I constantly scoured magazine covers for any sign of a link to Jim. My mom was my cohort in my quest to fill my scrapbook. She even tore pages out of magazines, and one time, even stole the whole magazine out of the doctor's office for me.
This obsession lasted....well, I think it continues to last. My proof? The fact that even as I sit here writing this, I am seriously distracted by the movie on t.v. that has not ended yet that I simply can not tear myself away from. I own the movie, I can watch it anytime. In fact, I own every Jim Carrey movie. They're in chronological order in my t.v. cabinet. Yet, here I sit, captivated by this movie.
I no longer have the scrapbook that I labored over for years. I think that upon moving into my very first apartment, I saw the scrapbook, contemplated it, and decided that I was too old for movie star obsessions. I hate to think that I threw it away, but I honestly think that I did.
I can't feel bad about the scrapbook though because I take solace in the fact that I own the holy grail of Jim Carrey memorabilia. The item that I own is better than any scrapbook. It's even better than a mass produced autographed glossy picture, which I understand can be obtained by writing to some address out in California.
Before I tell you what I have, I have to give you a small mini-lesson on the history of Jim Carrey. He is originally from Canada and that's where he got a jump start on his movie career. This was in the early part of the 1980's, when he was in his twenties. I have in my possession, a Canadian magazine with him on the cover, from the 1980's. He's pimply faced and everything. There is a feature article about him within the magazine that details his career, which at this point in time, wasn't much of one. The magazine, just so happens to also be autographed by Jim Carrey. There's a great fan website online that is devoted to the man (www.JimCarreyOnline.com). Several years ago, the lady who met Jim Carrey at the time of the magazine's release took several pictures with him AND the magazine as proof that it is indeed an authentic autograph. This lady came into some hard times and put the magazine up for auction on this website's message board. I happened to be the highest bidder at 245 dollars.
So here I sit in my apartment, watching this movie, knowing that I have this piece of Jim Carrey history. I almost feel proud of it. I don't think there is anything in the world of Jim, that can top my piece. This artifact is the origin of Jim. It goes back farther than any prop from a movie of his that can easily be found on eBay.
With this piece of history in my possession, and with the hard economic times we're living in, I am tempted quite frequently to put this piece up on eBay. But what would happen if I did sell it to the highest bidder? The money I would make off of it would very quickly go to my debt, and then I would be out of a great piece of memorabilia. Of course, I also know that things are more valuable once someone has died, but I don't want to be morbid about it.
So again, here I sit, with this incredible memento, and while it's in my possession, I feel sort of close to Jim. I look at pictures of him and feel that I have some sort of connection. After all, Jim and I go way back.
P.S. I'm not really as crazy obsessed as I sound. But then again, I might be. This is the longest blog article I've written so far I think.
