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Swinging into town for publicity tours, I increasingly find, alas, that I never leave the hotel, except to be whisked to the next interview and back. But yesterday I had a couple of hours free and thought I'd get a glimpse of the outside world. So I went down to the lobby and dropped by one of the gift boutiques and the lady looked up and said, "Oh, you were magnificent on TVO last night." Which stunned me because these days everyone and his cousin has his own cable channel and as a result no-one sees you on anything. So then I step outside and walk a few blocks uptown, and at two out of three intersections someone comes up to talk about my appearance on "The Agenda". And at Bay and Bloor, where I had to cross two sets of lights, two ladies stopped me in mid-traverse to say how much they'd liked the show. Appearing on "The Agenda" is evidently like guesting with Uncle Milty in 1954. I'm impressed.
At Indigo Books yesterday evening, it was standing room only for the Heather-Mark America Alone interview. I'd like to thank Heather Reisman and her colleagues for running a very nice event. Heather and I have had our differences in the past, and she's always jolly sporting about it, all things considered. Lots of blog power there, including Right Girl (fully clothed) and the great Kathy Shaidle, whose birthday it was, and Pete Vere, Kathy's co-writer on a forthcoming book about the "human rights" commissions, drove from Sault Ste Marie, and then drove straight back. Also present were my Maclean's colleague Tarek Fatah, whose very name causes apoplexy among certain other more litigious Muslims I could mention, and Tahir Gora, whose columns we often link to here. Oh, and my pal Natasha Hassan from The Globe And Mail showed up, but without the snotty guy she hired to slough off a condescending review of America Alone.
Very much enjoyed my appearance with George Stroumboulopoulos on "The Hour". The other guest was Mel C, Sporty Spice, so it was a great honour for me. If I recall correctly, the Spice Girls appeared on stage with the Prince of Wales and Nelson Mandela back in the Nineties, and His Royal Highness said it was the greatest moment of his life, and Mr Mandela said no, it was the greatest moment of all time. I know how they felt. I thought it was a fun interview, and I even took my tie off, which I only do once or twice a decade.
Meanwhile, Maclean's have offered Elmo a Steyn/Elmasry debate, and I believe I'll be debating Faisal Joseph, the bejeweled Canadian Islamic Congress lawyer, at some point or other next week. Details to follow. Meanwhile, here's some round-ups of the Steyn/Sock Puppets show, starting with the host, Steve Paikin, and a rather unusual double-bill, American Idol ...and an Ontario idol, and more reaction here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. You can also hear my post-Sock chat with Rob Breakenridge here. And just to round out the day The Toronto Sun's Christina Blizzard says the Ontario Human Rights Commission is out of control - and she's got Tory and NDP support for that position.
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