Sunday, June 03, 2007

Where is Tim Gunn?

Who's asking: Jane Cleland, Margery Flax, Alison Janssen, Jennifer Jordan, and me

Being a well-balanced person requires a diversity of interests, so yesterday afternoon a few of us crime-fiction types headed to the far side of BookExpo's upper exhibit floor in hopes of seeing the one and only Tim Gunn signing his new book.

Getting there meant passing a signing line for James Patterson that was -- I'm not exaggerating -- at least a quarter of a mile long. I was nervous, because if James Patterson could attract so many people, how many would be waiting to see the man whose approval is one of my most-cherished fantasies? (If I have to explain that, you don't get the Tim Gunn phenomenon and I can't explain it to you.)

It seemed wrong when we got to the publisher's booth and found no line at all. "Where is Tim Gunn?" we asked.

"The book [i.e., the BEA program schedule] was wrong," the publisher's rep said. "He was here yesterday."

It felt like being told the birthday party had just run out of cake. We were so dismayed that we stood around for 15 minutes in front of the booth and told Tim Gunn stories to each other, as if it were a wake.

On the way back to our regularly-scheduled BEA adventures, Jen Jordan and I stopped to watch a Sufi whirler for a few minutes. It wasn't the most unusual thing on an exhibit floor that included people impersonating God, Santa Claus, Elton John and Albus Dumbledore, but it was the coolest thing I saw all day.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who is Tim Gunn seems a much better question than "Why care what Tim Gunn thinks"? What am I missing here?

P.S. The next time you feel existential, try answering that second question in blog form.

-- Ed

Anna said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one, Ed. I googled him but spelled it wrong and got a collection of art work by prisoners. I spent a very worried five minutes before I realized my mistake. Tim Gunn, it seems, was (is?) on Project Runway. It's probably best that you don't know who he is! Hope all is well in VB!

Anna

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

Really, folks, I'm embarrassed for you -- but that is also why I added that link to Tim Gunn's name in the post, so if you'd clicked through it would have brought you to the "Project Runway" site.

Make it work...

Anonymous said...

I did click the link, then quickly clicked away. Why would I want to know anything about a fashion design show? I would have learned who that Gunn guy was if I had read through any of the Web site, but what would be the point? I don't care about Project Runway or fashion design in any way.

How is that embarassing? Willful ignorance is what makes America great.

-- Ed

Anonymous said...

Tim Gunn rocks!

Susan