A blog by Jorge Garcia.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Flew into LA today

And just my luck I was "randomly selected for a secondary screening."
Let me tell you the LAST thing I want to hear when some dude is patting me down is, 
"Are you the guy from LOST?"
C'mon man. Is this really the time or the place? Thanks for making "randomly selected" feel a lot less "random." 

89 comments:

Marykae said...

were totally being profiled.

Julie said...

My grandpa has a pace maker so he can't go through the metal detector. You should see the crazy rub down they give him! The whole family will be through security and we will all have our stuff collected and back in our pockets and they are still giving him a pat down.

BerlyCrow said...

What amazes me is that they actually pretend they're not quite sure it's you. I mean come on, really? Are there really other people out there that look anything like you at all? Of course I've heard that all "movie stars" look different in person than on TV so maybe I'm wrong. Although I admit, if I saw you in an airport I'd be a little (read as: a lot) starstruck myself! (:

ClistyB said...

enjoy the hiatus, J

ArtforLife42 said...

Thanks very much for taking a look at my sketches. Would you like any?

Anonymous said...

Hey, dou you go back to the Island ?

Acacia said...

Dude, don't you think that in LA he'd be used to celebrity sightings already? Give a guy a break.

Once, when I was randomly selected the guy tried to get me to drink a bottle of formula for my baby to prove it wasn't something nefarious. I poured it out instead and made the baby a new bottle on the plane.

Jesus said...

I guess the guy just was shocked he had you in front of him Jorge, Pleazze give him a break :) . Look at the bright side, by now you should be in LA. I guess you are going to stay there for a couple of days though. Rumor has it you are going to Spain on the 20th, (People from Spain say the hosts of this show you are going to be on, at Cuatro, are totally clueless about everything, whenever someone like you goes they totally freak out, lol) Un abrazo hermano!

Reyn182 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Reyn182 said...

Hey Jorge! Me and my girl are driving up to LA tomorrow to go and watch you on Jimmy Kimmel. Hope we can personally say "Hi" to you or something. We're looking forward to it! See you tonight!

James Hamlet said...

Your and Naveen are being announced to be in El Hormiguero in Cuatro TV on 20th April, just 4 days after my b-day, you´ll have a good day there,, they are just nuts.

I can´t go and see you live, ´cause I live in Malaga, but be sure I´ll do on tv.
And remember, esto que es, codo o culo?

Ramon said...

this is the price of the fame, my "brotha"!

man, i wrote about u in my blog.
i'm your fan!

\m/

Hastie54 said...

i had someone once come up to me and ask me if i was "that guy from lost" because i look so like you. I asked what guy and he said "the big dude... ive only seen it once or twice but im sure its you, can i have an autograph"

i wish i had but i told him it wasnt me haha

dcantrell said...

I always hear of people being selected for random additional screening, but I've never been picked. I travel enough to maintain the special frequent flyer status on airlines. I don't know what sets off TSA people to randomly select people.

I'm not sure if the TSA guy picked you just to ask that question, though I can see it being a bit annoying asking if you're on LOST. If he asked for an autograph, I could see getting really annoyed.

But hey, at least people know what you do for a living and think it's cool to talk about. No one ever runs in to me and asks if I'm the guy who works on networking software in Linux.

Tania said...

Oh, that happened to me when I flew into LA a couple of weeks ago.
The extra screening part, not the recognition, of course! ;-)

I'm not sure about their criteria. All they said to me was, 'are you travelling alone?' But maybe the guy was bored and decided to pick you because he recognized you - a bit unprofessional, if so.

King J, Queen M, Princess E and Princess M said...

That sucks. I am sorry that happened. I got selected, along with my 2 little kids, last summer when we were flying alone. Let me tell you, having big manly stranger pat your 3 year old down doesn't scare her one bit. Getting her to walk through that blowing machine by herself was a joke.

Avinash said...

Seeing you in an airport must be a bit scary.
Like seeing Osama Bin Laden in an airport. I ain't getting on no plane...fool...

rogulu said...

Hey Jorge! I sooooo happy that you are going to be in "El hormigero" here in Spain! Es un programa único, pero ten cuidado con los experimentos de Flipy jeje

Jennifer said...

I guess the real question is when did they decide to do the secondary screening? Someone I knew was "randomly selected" for a secondary screening, but the system had done it-- there was something extra printed on her boarding pass.

redelf said...

You should have just said no. I just play him on TV.

revolutionaire. said...

In Tampa once I got selected for random screening. It was when they'd just come out with the machine that takes pictures of you essentially without your clothes on. Heard of it? I got the liberty of being their guinea pig for that one. Then at the gate, my boyfriend got stopped before boarding the plane and they went through his luggage and pockets. We must have seemed suspicious. I don't know. It creeped me out. But seriously -- a random screening is not the time to be starstruck. Definitely would have made me feel it were a little less random.

Tammy said...

Ah, random issue aside, who wouldn't want a nice public rubdown and up and around.
Personally, I love being touched by strangers, in front of other strangers. PDA, rocks!
To quote a famous man, "It's such a good feeling....." Mr. Rogers

Tammy said...

Welcome home :)

Mommycosm said...

Aww...that's better than being on TV and not being recognized.

No offense, but I wouldn't be psyched to see you on my plane. I guess that speaks to the quality of your acting, right?

Anonymous said...

I think if I saw you on a plane, I'd ask if I could take the next flight.

Heather said...

Yeah, nothing like being "random." haha Oh and Mr. Garcia, thank you thank you thank you for being interviewed on Mike in the Morning in Detroit! We love you out here!!!! Have a great hiatus!

Topanga said...

No Jorge.. believe me... what you don't want to hear in a pat down as part of random secondary screening is

"Is that an under-wire bra you're wearing?"

Snowbird said...

Yeah right--random. Sure!

We flew back from Scotland in 2006 during a huge red alert period. All of us had to be patted down twice--once at security and once just before we boarded the plane. Great fun!

Enjoy your hiatus.

Kelly Deneen Raymond said...

He totally just wanted to pat you down. He was probably crushing on you. hehe.

Christine said...

Honestly, I think they just count to a certain number of people, then select someone, then count again and select again.

I get selected almost every time I travel (few times a year). There is nothing about me that would make them look at me and based on that, pick me for random searching. That's why I think they just count to a random number. It's annoying, though.

I'd be annoyed, too, if I was famous and someone asked me if I was so and so during a random search.

ValMo said...

Uh huh. Like he didn't know who you are.

My fiance has steel in his hips and he definitely gets some action whenever we travel. It also delays us, which is very annoying, but it's not at his fault.

Christina Bauer said...

"The guy from LOST?" Seriously? You were definitely being profiled and that guy knew exactly who you were. Poor Jorge! What are you doing in LA?

Please Type Legibly said...

Welcome back to LA, Jorge....I too thought the people over at LAX would be over the celebrity sighting thing. Pretty lame.....I got felt up there once during a security screening, too. Thankfully, the girl didn't try to make conversation with me. I was actually kind of amused - because I can totally see how I look like a hardcore, bomb-toting terrorist. Jeez, people....(rolling eyes)

Rachel said...

I don't think its random. I had a guy friend who was 6'5" and not a rail thin tall guy either. He flew A LOT and got checked nearly every single time he got on a plane. I think they just pick them for whatever reason they feel like. One time I didn't even have my bag opened when I had a whole bunch of random tv production equipment that could have been just about anything! I guess I wasn't scary enough. ;)

I'mtheMommy! said...

That sucks. It happened to me one time with a 9 month old baby. I was flying home b/c my grandpa died. They dumped all of his bottles full of water. I was SOO angry.
I'm a new fan :) I was lead to your blog by another mom, on a mothering board.
My husband and I are now half way through the first season.
I thought you might appriciate the fact that your blog lead me to want to watch and I'm loving it!
You are HILARIOUS!

Scott said...

That's funny...Ashton Kutcher just Tweeted the other day about getting "randomly" stopped at LAX, as well. Wonder if it was the same guy? Maybe new to LA and not used to all of the celebrity?

OurWanderingAdventures said...

ughh that's got to be awful! for some reason i'm always selected when i'm traveling alone with my 3 kids! What a PAIN! They are under the age of 5 and just start taking off, I get paranoid and they tell ME to calm down! Argg..

Clare said...

Hey my husband's Arab and gets "randomly" selected every time we fly... and once when he was in the little underground room for questioning and they found out who he was and what he did, they then asked for autographs before they let him go, super unprofessional. But hey I guess we should count ourselves lucky he didn't get extraordinarily renditioned or something (mmm getting political now, somebody stop me!)

Paul Spooner said...

Once when I was travelling from Australia back to the UK, the security in Hawaii took away our Boomerangs because they said they were dangerous weapons....

ZorroX. said...

wait a minute, Are you the guy form LOST?!!!!

Matt said...

You're random in my eyes...

andiminga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
andiminga said...

Some people really can't believe that it's you. But somebody at security!! They seem to wanna tell their friends that story. What jerks!

Can't wait to meet you on Friday!!

nomad said...

you should have autographed his front teeth with your fist,lol. also you should have said,are you a real or fake cop? it is a police state now and all freedoms are no more. welcome to the communist usa. ;)

Sofi bethlen said...

hey dude!!!! i´ve just got an email with pictures of a guy just like you taking a bus in buenos aires!!!! where you here?? or do you have a twin brother!!???

Unknown said...

WOOHOO for Jorge on Jimmy Kimmel tonight.....too bad I cant get out there.....you could TOTALLY give me a shout out though. Love, gloria

Wednes said...

Whoa, that is totally unprofessional.

I occasionally talk to well-known performers at my job, and I couldn't imagine calling attention to that during a business situation, let alone a security situation. I'd like to think these people have their minds on their work, rather than last week's ep of LOST.

Then again, excising LOST from your thoughts can be awfully difficult. I know I've been pondering Ben Linus's motives all day. ;-]

DJWildBill said...

Jorge, the "randomly selected for additional screening" is done entirely by the airline's computer system except for when the passenger doesn't have an ID. You might have bought the ticket on the same day and been selected for that. You might have paid for the ticket is cash and that caused it. You might have changed airlines and that does it. Sheesh. Why does everyone get paranoid because of what a computer selects and prints on a ticket automatically?

People tend to forget September 11 ever happened and they hate security. I was standing in line behind a guy complaining about the process and the next guy told him to "Shut the F up. I was in the Trade Center when the planes hit." That brings one back to reality quickly.

The guy recognized you and that made him happy. He doesn't get the big bucks and the fame, and he's getting jeered for trying to keep strangers safe on a trip in an aluminum tube with wings.

Das Mutter said...

That sounds kinda creepy...

Becky Filhart said...

Dude-heard you on the radio in phoenix this morning-great interview. love your blog. you have skills and i give you props.

lostinphilly said...

Dude, they just wanted to spend some time with you, they knew who you were! Hope you had a Happy Easter. Please tell Josh congratulations on the birth of his baby girl, I know he'll make a great dad!! Peace!

Heather (a.k.a. Bella) said...

Wow. You know he just wanted to be able to tell people that he felt up of the Losties.

Tricia said...

My husband's 70 year old aunt has a pacemaker. They wanted to make sure she wasn't using that as a way to smuggle in drugs, so they chose her to do a complete nude body cavity search. That poor woman was emotionally wounded. She will never fly again.
By the way, I just found your blog and love it. I have read it all the way to the beginning.
http://thejoysofmommy.blogspot.com

Ritch in Love said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ritch in Love said...

Deleted my first comment: I shouldn't be up this late trying to post. My spelling is horrible.
Anyway, I'm a flight attendant, and I flew through LAX on Sunday and they just can't help themselves there. They chose my bag that said, CREW on it, to go through the machine twice because my curling iron looked questionable. Oh geez.

Karin said...

That is so lame.. you know the only reason he stopped you was because he knew exactly who you are!

nicky said...

Should've tried "No, but I get that a lot." haha ;)

Brogan Family said...

If your ticket had SSSS on it somewhere, you were really randomly selected, otherwise, yeah, they got you.

GasbarNut said...

So there you are feeling very nerve-wracked, and the guy is all, like, touching places he ought not to, and he's like, "arms up in the air, can I have your autograph?"

Bad form. Bad bad form.

Karma - mayhaps his Easter Eggs got left out in the sun too long. One can only hope.

You're still gonna blog on hiatus, right? Hope so. Enjoying it.

Funny this whole WEB II thing and how complete strangers can [somewhat] get to know and enjoy another. Thanks for it, Jorge!

Sara said...

Loved seeing you on Kimmel lastnight! Although.. how weird was it when Steve-O dropped trou?

Veedor Supremo said...

Hola Jorge!!! Te saludo desde Argentina!!!
Como leerás te escribo en castellano ya que no se inglés :(
Sólo quería felicitarte como Fanático de Lost y decirte que encarnas al mejor personaje de la serie!!! Aunque tengo la sensación que tu personaje morirá al final de esta temporada...
Nada, Buena Vida y Éxitos!!!

Ariel.-

Iberostar said...

I'm always selected - once they told me that my last name, Lopez, is a favorite of terrorists taking common names to fit in. Yeah, right! Once they asked me if I wanted to go in a room for the patdown and said no, whatever you are going to do, do it right here. Might be those letters I wrote to Bush asking him to resign - maybe.

Patinando e Cantando said...

really???? Are you the guy from Lost?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I didn't notice!
hihihihiih

greatings from Brazil!!!!!!!!!!

MsYvone said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kath said...

Sorry about your airport experience :(

You were AWESOME on Kimmel....and I love that you told the toilet paper story! I looked at my husband and said "See? I didn't make it up! I read it on his blog!!"

James Hernandez said...

Jorge,

Just be thankful the security person didn't say 'I'm an other.'

Seabiscuit said...

Sheesh, that was unprofessional of him.

My aunt was born in Cairo, Egypt, and whenever she travels and has to use her passport, she almost always gets pulled for those "secondary screenings".

I'm looking forward to the show tonight! I've seen the sneak peeks at E!Online and it looks like it will be great.

MsYvone said...

Oh My God Jorge, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Hurley in tonights episode. Classic! and... Ewoks do suck.

803er said...

Great episode tonight . You rocked Dude. Can you go back to 77 and rewrite Star Wars I ,II , and III please. Edit Jar Jar

Unknown said...

Jorge,

You were excellent in "Some like it Hoth"!!

mdm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mdm said...

I was selected because of the barcode on my ticket or something once. But on my last flight, they were set up to search someone and I got the same feeling I do when I'm driving and I see a cop behind me...

Heather Dee Gentile said...

it would have been funnier if they would have asked if you were one of the oceanic 6. speaking of, i'm dying for a hurley episode. it's been too long. hurley is my favorite character.

btw- i just rewatched the episode of curb your enthusiasm when you sold larry david pot. that was awesome.

Becky said...

I'm sorry, but I think it's hilarious. I must admit, if I was the person who "randomly" picked people, I'd pick you just so I could meet you! LOL

BTW, you were brilliant in last night's LOST. I love how they're treating the Hurley character now. The banter between Hurley and Miles is priceless.

Captain Mustapha said...

2 weeks ago at the airport in LA, I had too many zippers in my pants to get through the initial screening so I had to be wanded and patted down. The TSA agent noticed my Oceanic Air shirt and said "What is that? Some kind of made up name??"

marlamuppets said...

look, everyone just wants a piece of you. even the lowly security dudes.
you probably made their day.
ps awesome last episode - you had the funniest lines and i loved how much you were on screen - i hope they listen to your input and stuff :)

Galkafisher said...

last night ep was really good.
"Your just jealous because my powers are greater than yours" lol

Derek Brink said...

Good job on the show last night. After becoming a regular reader of your blog, it's really struck me how DIFFERENT you are from Hurley. Now I've got a much deeper respect for the acting you do and the transformation you pull off week to week. Really enjoyed you in last night's episode.

That's kind of a fan-boy-ish thing to say, so sorry about that...but whatever. I think people deserve to hear/read the words "nice job" from a stranger now and again! :)

Anonymous said...

I would totally not get on a plane with you.

Just in case.

mrslocke said...

hi jorge greetings from mexico!! i love your blog!!
give a kiss to my part to terry o'quinn !! that love him, hehe! joke.. I also have a blog I hope you can visit it is dedicated to terry but also lost, take care and namaste!!

http://lostforterryoquinn.blogspot.com

leahbabes said...

You got felt up at the airport, and it wasn't even a hot chick doing the feeling up? Frakkin' security. You should stuff a cucumber wrapped in aluminum foil down your pants the next time you go on a flight.

masonexcell said...

How embarassing.

Does that happen to you often?

Or are people usually pretty good about not getting all crazy?

MommaDonna said...

I was "randomly selected" on a flight with only 13 passengers. Got on the plane, had to get off b/c of engine trouble. Before reloading onto the new plane they actually had to check me again though I never even left the gate. So much for "random"!

Tasha Who? said...

After a couple of screenings of my own, I refuse to call them "random" anymore. Especially after one guy tried to ask me out afterwards.

Blah said...

I look like a terrorist and usually have weed in my pocket, and have never been searched.

BTW, Donnie Miller says Hi!

Kelly Rodrigues said...

Te espero en Madrid !

Anonymous said...

Thanks for doing the interview with the Dutch Lost blog. I asked the first 12 random questions like "Who would you most like to go to the pub with for 1hr" great answer btw! Shane McGowan lol

I was wondering if you could txt Damon and Dom ask him them if they joined twitter today. I really hope I'm not following imposters.

Love your work. Enjoy your time off and get yourself up to Scotland the next time your in the UK, you'll love it here if you liked Ireland so much.

btw, What is your favourite swear word? ;-)

intergalactic said...

Hey dude,

I just got the StarWars news letter with your mug on it!

They posted a little write up about last weeks episode if you haven't already read it.

http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2009/04/16/the-empire-strikes-lost/

Laughed so hard when you said your powers were better!

...i

Sharon said...

Got you beat on that one. My husband is a bit of a local celebrity. Once, following an obstetrical exam, the doctor wrapped it up by saying, "Everything looks good. By the way, are you XXX's wife?"

Niiiiiice.