BRUSH WITH GREATNESS: HARUKA MEETS DONNY

My friend and coworker, super fan Haruka Sometani, got the chance to meet actor-writer-director Steve Buscemi at a recent screening of his new directorial effort, Lonesome Jim, and just happened to have a camera ready. Said Haruka in the e-mail to which this photo was attached, “It’s my dream come true! The only celebrity I've dreamed of meeting! I finally did it! It's Mr. Buscemi!”

I can only imagine that Buscemi, the man whom the Coen Brothers have killed off at least four times (bullet in the brain pan, hotel fire, wood chipper, and of course, heart attack, as Donny in The Big Lebowski) * and who was so memorable as Seymour, the blues record collector who catches Thora Birch’s cynical eye in Ghost World, was just as happy to meet you, Haruka! I don’t remember if Haruka said whether she liked Lonesome Jim or not, but from the look on her face I doubt if it would have made any difference one way or another.

* (Did the Coens off Buscemi in The Hudsucker Proxy? I’ve only seen it once, and if not for the wonder of the Internet Movie Database I probably wouldn’t have even remembered he was in it.)