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When we saw Al Gore (who has a movie at the festival) walk through the crowd at the Entertainment Weekly party at The Shop, stopping to chat with so many people that we thought he might be shaking them down to make sure they didn't have his missing Florida ballots, we knew that it wouldn't be long before he encountered some B-lister and created a genuinely surreal moment. We kept one eye on nearby ex-boy-bander Lance Bass, thinking it might be funny to see him corner Gore, but hoping that we'd be treated to a better collision of low-level celeb and politician. Our faith in the near mathematical certainty of a more satisfying pairing was rewarded a little later in the evening, when we saw Gore locked in conversation with Official Defamer Sundance Correspondent On The Public School System, James Van Der Beek. We were too far away to catch any of the exchange, but we imagine it went something like this:

JVDB: Mr. Gore, thrilled to meet you. I'm James Van Der Beek, former star of the long-running WB hit, Dawson's Creek.

Gore: Don't be crazy, Pacey, I know who you are.

JVDB: I wish you were president.

Gore: [conspiratorially] Shhh. I am president, Joey.

JVDB: Get out of here.

Gore: Don't tell anyone. Anyway, I think we both know where this conversation is going.

JVDB: [crestfallen] Yeah...

Gore: So?

JVDB: I haven't talked to Katie Holmes in months, and I have no idea whether or not she's really in love with Tom Cruise or pregnant.

Gore: [pushing past him] Donny Masterman! I love you on The 70s Thing.

After getting our Gore/B-list money shot, nothing else at the event seemed as important, and we could barely force ourselves to count the six times that Crispin Glover circled our position near the bar, yanking curiously tiny girlfriend Courtney Peldon (somehow we didn't recognize her the other day) around by the hand. Or notice Elisabeth Shue leaning against the bar, or remark to a friend about how hot Jessica Biel looked when she brushed by us.

Celebrities we recognized roll call: The aforementioned Glover, Shue, Biel, Danny and Chris Masterson, Laura Prepon, Kevin Sorbo (!), Gregg German, Michael Rappaport, Joey Lauren Adams, Chazz Palmentieri, and Joey Pants, who seems to treat every day at Sundance as an excuse to break out his best Snow Pimp outfits

Movie to party ratio: A truly pathetic 0/6