Inconceivable!

Last night Yilin and I attended an event at the National Academy of Arts and Letters, where she used to work. The academy was inducting several new artists and writers as members. I knew that there were names I recognized (Stephen Sondheim), but it had slipped my mind who was going to be there.

That is, until we saw examples of art/writing displayed by the various inductees, causing me to immediately regret not bringing my camera. You see, the academy took it upon itself to induct Wallace Shawn. That's right: Fezzini from "The Princess Bride". Now, they say it is because of his writing, but we know the real reason he was inducted (his amazing performance in the aforementioned movie, naturally).

And then there he was, walking around in the crowd. This was my first celebrity sighting in New York City, and I can't imagine it could be better. Sure, with Yilin I have been within a yard of Robert Redford, Helena Christensen, Frederique Van Der Wal, Ryan Seacrest, Naomi Watts, Daniel Boulud, and I think a few others I am forgetting. But it matters not, since I never saw those people. We would walk past and half a block later Yilin would tell me. So I'd turn around to look but of course the person she mentioned would be gone.

But not Wallace Shawn. I resisted the urge to approach him and tell him how much I loved his performance in "The Princess Bride" as I am sure he is tired of hearing about it. I also resisted the urge to ask him to say "Inconceivable!" as I am sure everyone asks him to do that as well. So I just stood and looked at him for about a minute before moving on. (On a side note, he is rather short.)

Now my lack of celebrity sightings finally paid off. I must've been saving them up just for this one brief encounter, and it was worth it.