You never know when a celebrity could come to Chapel Hill, so best to always be prepared.
Sophomore communications major Justice Pennington is the poster child for being prepared.
"I love Shaq so much. 'Kazaam' is one of my favorite movies of all time," Pennington said, clutching the DVD as she spoke.
For the 99% of readers who aren't familiar with "Kazaam" or didn't even realize Shaq did others things besides basketball and sports commentary shows, "Kazaam" was a 1996 film starring the athlete and a small middle-school aged white child. Shaq stars as the boy's magical genie who shows the boy what real friendship is and also there's a rap battle.
But, Pennington loves Shaq for more than his A+ acting abilities.
"Shaq is just so lovable and fun," she said, "It's like if Winnie the Pooh was African-American and could play basketball really well."
Pennington is always on alert for the chance she could meet her hero in person. She carries around a boombox in her backpack in case the photo opportunity arises.
"In the movie, Max bumps into a boombox such as this to awaken Kazaam and start their adventure," Pennington said, reaching into her backpack to retrieve the boombox. She struggled quite a bit in the process.
She says that if she ever got the honor of meeting "his royal Shaq-ness," she would simply ask for a picture of them with the boombox, nothing more, nothing less.
"I pride myself on being pretty chill around celebrities, you know," Pennington said. "They're people too."
A man of Shaq's size and stature walked by at this point in the interview, and it is this reporter's job to tell you that Pennington fainted and had to be taken to UNC Hospitals.
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