Tim Robbins' Embedded. I hadn't heard about this until I read Lawrence Kaplan's review in the TNR, but Tim Robbins has written and directed a play about the so-called neo-con conspiracy. Kaplan awards Robbins the mantle of making the dumbest reference to "neoconservatism". His play, Kaplan shows, is filled with misunderstanding of Leo Strauss and blatantly conspiracy theories, depicting Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle planning out the war on their calendars for maximum political effect. Kaplan also refers to a number of reviews where Robbins reveals his ignorance through facile simplications and less than nuanced politcal analysis. And apparently the intial inpiration for the writing of the play was Robbins having an invitation to a party withdrawn. We can't fault anyone for having an opinion, and as Kaplan writes, "I do not think that Robbins deserves condemnation for his vocal opposition to the war--anymore than I think Britney Spears deserves credit for her vocal support of it." But when the opinions are poorly supported and the motivations are trivial, then you have to laugh when someone as self-important as Robbins starts his pontificating.