I just met Robin Williams outside of my neighborhood Peet's Coffee. I was holding David, and Williams was getting out of his black Mercedes SUV. He lives in San Francisco and many local residents have a "I saw Robin Williams at the store today!" story. This is my first official Robin sighting. I said "Hi, howya doin'?". He responded not with a comedic "Nanu-Nanu", but with a very friendly "Hi, how are you?"
Last night we went to see Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, based on Chuck Barris' "unauthorized autobiography" of the same name. I'm certain that the part about the CIA assassinations is entirely fictional. But do see the movie and be sure to look for a cameo by Matt Damon as Bachelor Number 2.
This week's issue of The Economist has a story [paid subscribers only] on the recent annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference. Regarding some of the merchandise on sale at the meeting:
One activist stopped selling his “No Muslims = No terrorism” stickers when the vice-president's office complained. But there was no shortage of anti-Islamic ware: T-shirts mocking the idea that Islam is a religion of peace, mugs hinting that Islam is a new form of Nazism.It is certainly the case that many Muslims share the Nazi fetishes for totalitarianism and murderous anti-Semitism, but it is an insult to those same Muslims to suggest that Islam is a "new form of Nazism". Islam pre-dates Nazism by more than thirteen centuries. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at February 09, 2003 01:17 PM