my right-now favorite author and this american life person, sarah vowell, was on conan last night to promote her most recent book the partly cloudy patriot (which i hear isn't so good - i love take the cannoli). well, it was an astounding interview, and her sense of humor didn't quite come out the beautiful way it does in her books or on the radio, and i think she was just too smart for the conan crown (although the man himself and she could be best friends). she talked about her summer plans for an "assassination vacation" in which she was planning to travel to the locales of american political (and i guess other) assassinations. her first trip was all about lincoln's assassination, but the interview wasn't stellar. anyhow, the whole reason i am writing this thing is because i've listened to a whole bunch of sarah vowell and read a whole bunch, but never seen her live or even a photo...which led to me having a very specific (yes incorrect) mental image of her. i was picturing something, well, real different than what i got on conan. i don't know why i was so shocked, but it just didn't seem to match up with how she presented herself in certain stories.