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Fri | June 02, 2006

uma

Uma Thurman's father is a Tibetan Buddism scholar. During a Tibetan Buddism talk and book promotion at the AAWW, Quang Bao introduced him with the story of a sandwich: one day they were having lunch and Thurman finished his first. Thurman said, "are you going to eat that?" and Quang said no, and Thurman ate the other half of his tuna sandwich.

The intent was humor, and the audience did laugh, mostly because the topic's triviality created a sense of irony- the type that makes you go, "and that's the story?" When Thurman got to the podium, he said it was funny Quang remembered that after all these years.

And why did he remember it? Literary theory (or so I've heard) says that people like to read because they like to put things together, like a connect the dots game. There are two dots here: one day Quang gave Thurman half of his sandwich. Years later when crafting an introduction about Thurman, this is what he remembers about him.

I think that Quang did intend to finish his sandwich, but he nodded along because he is instinctively inclined to be agreeable, which happens to be a very disadvantageous trait to have around here, even around ostensible Buddhists.

Robert Thurman was fat, ugly, gross and slimy. There was a creepy molestor feeling about him. He is a professor of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University.

I was surprised to find out a few months after the talk that that guy was Uma Thurman's father.

Uma starred in Prime, the movie I saw on DVD last week.

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