…having brunch in the West Village yesterday afternoon, not long before the Giants’ glorious victory over the Cardinals, and a group of people pushed ahead of my friend and me as we entered the restaurant. The maitre d’ started seating them and smiled and said hello, how are you?

One of the party, a burly, bearded man wearing expensive glasses, mumble-growled “fine” under his breath without even looking at her.

He was kind of a jerk, wasn’t he? I said to my friend.

So then of course it turned out to be Julian Schnabel.

Which may not have made him any less grouchy, but certainly was a good celebrity sighting. Plus, he has a beautiful family.

I was deeply moved by The Diving Bell and the Butterfly—it reduced me to tears and had me appreciating life more fully for some time—and I considered buying the Schnabels brunch as a sign of my appreciation. Sadly, there is a recession, so I did not.