Call Me, George Clooney

I really do want to befriend George Clooney.

He comes across as so down to earth, which is amazing for a guy who has achieved mega stardom.

But of course he is an actor, so how do you know the truth?

However I have read so many stories about the guy, heard so many things about him from a variety of sources that I have always leaned towards believing he is genuine.

Thanks to Dan Rather, I am now convinced.

Associations are so strange in life, especially amongst the glitterati. I am always lovingly amused by the people who know each other and call each other friends.

Of course the people I worship are rebels and rugged individualists. As I learn more about the circles they travel in, I am exposed to more rebels and free thinkers. They attract one another. And many times the people who expand the circle are people I also admire or people I learn to admire.

But would you hook up George Clooney and Dan Rather? Not me.

When Dan Rather got fired by CBS news he was not done and was looking for another opportunity. He had met Clooney when Rather profiled him for 60 Minutes II. Clooney was to receive an award from the Writers Guild for the movie Good Night, and Good Luck. He invited Dan Rather to come out to LA to present the award to him.

At the dinner, Clooney leaned close to Rather and said "So you got screwed. Happens all the time in my business. Forget it."

To make a long story short, through Clooney connections, Dan Rather was introduced to Mark Cuban and ended up with his own news magazine on HDNet, a network launched by Cuban.

That is a great story but it's the way Rather describes Clooney that I love. "He is a lot more than just the second coming of Cary Grant; couldn't have been warmer or more genuine; this guy is grounded, for real, always the same; he wears Hollywood stardom more lightly than anyone I've ever known, and I've known my share."

I have to meet George Clooney. I have heard that he loves to party. This is not foreign to my nature. He owns a villa in Italy and throws great parties there. I long to absorb Italy; everything about being Italian is beautiful. The food, the language, the culture.

I could spend some time In Italy with George Clooney.

But honestly, I could spend time in my home with George Clooney. That might even be cooler. Throw back a couple of beers over barbecue and trade insightful conversation and witty banter. Absorb some of his aura and allow him to absorb some of mine.

Of course I would expect him to recognize my enormous writing talents and to launch the writing career I so covet.

But, honestly, I could just dig hanging with a guy like that. Owns the world but is recognized as intelligent, committed and a straight shooter.

A night with George Clooney, me and a bottle of Crown Royal would be a legendary night indeed.