Off Topic - The Ubiquitous Michael Castillejos

So, Michael's part of my church community in Brooklyn and he and his wife Mary lived about a block or two from me in Carroll Gardens. He's an actor and sometimes model. For instance, at some point he was in this Verizon ad...this was a long time ago. It looks something like this:

I took this pic on the subway last year. It's kind of a comforting thing, being out in the world in NYC and seeing a friendly face. By fortunate coincidence, Verizon seems to love him and continues to use this photo all over the US, which brings a reminder of my Brooklyn years every time I see it. In fact, a month or so ago, Tommy and I drove out to deliver some stuff to the carriage house where he is staying in Prescott, WI, and I swear that on the way back we saw not one but two billboards with Michael's face on them. I think Erel and I also saw one on the way to the airport in DC. At one point last year I saw it online (maybe on Facebook) and a co-worker and I had a long debate over whether it was Michael or Adrian Grenier from Entourage. My points were a) I see this guy every week, it is definitely him, b) he has brown eyes not blue eyes for goodness sakes, and c) he's HISPANIC and Adrian has a European/Apache background (info gathered from Wikipedia as I've never watched the show)...come on, buddy. I really should've wagered some $ on it.

He was at the wedding in NYC on May 13; I told him of my run-ins with the photo-him and he laughed and said he has started telling his friends, "lo, I am always with you, even to the end of the age" or something like that. :)

Anyway, was just reminded of him today when a friend posted a link to his latest musical fun. I hereby present "what Michael does in his spare time":

Girl Get Out of Me from Mike Castillejos on Vimeo.

Pretty cool, I think. :)