Newcastle is rough, bonny lad, very rough. In all sorts of ways.

He's lukewarm on it.

It's hot in England, we're not used to it, I suffer from hayfever that's worse than a gunshot wound, and I can't sleep at night with the heat.

Martin Amis' journalism is fantastic. 
DFW, too, of course (Big Red Son is probably my fave piece of journalism, and certainly my most-read). 
John Pilger, as I do lean very much to the left.

The Cramps - Garbageman
Mazzy Star - I've Been Let Down
The Stone Roses - She Bangs The Drums
Rocket From The Crypt - Ball Lightning
Townes Van Zandt - If I Needed You

It was recorded with The Band as part of The Basement Tapes, and as such has an atmosphere of unimpeachable mystery and beauty. Much the best version of it. Hie thee to Spotify, or wherever.

Biograph version only though, surely?

One of my happiest student memories is of wandering around York on LSD. I think the LSD part is more important than the York part for the happiness factor.

I just saw Sleeping Dogs the other week, after World's Geatest Dad was the best film I saw last year. I think they're both amazing tightrope-walk sort of films - he manages to gouge some real emotion out of the Sleeping Dogs set-up, which I hadn't quite been expecting.

Torn and Frayed sounds great at any time of day, and at any stage of personal disintegration.

My experience was fairly brief, and in England rather than the US (not sure if that would make a whole lot of difference, though), but I can say that the most 'aggressive' guard I saw was a young woman, early 20s, model thin. The lad she was shouting at (an armed robber who'd been in prison for 8 of the previous 10…

It's a typo for sexy Norfolk voice.

Yep.

Here's a few grim words from my brief time teaching in prison. If you stick two razor blades into your melted toothbrush, it leaves a cut that can't be stitched up. This is reserved for those who've attacked women (unless the attacker is a gang figure, naturally).

Aye, bonny lad.

Brando was much the same, though he was at least vocal in his contempt for the whole enterprise. Is there anyone who started off as well as DeNiro or Brando who maintained it?

DeNiro disappointing us earlier, now Schrader. I think something untoward is going on.

Maybe he just doesn't know what he's doing anymore, and we should pity him, and ourselves for having invested so much in him.

I can heartily recommend Red Dragon. I'm not a crime fan, but that is an unbelievably good read. Excellent dialogue, is the thing that stood out most for me. Lecter isn't in it much, but he hangs over everything, and is all the more effective for it.

Ty Segall - Muscle Man
The Skids - Into The Valley
Blur - Advert
The Long Ryders - Join My Gang
Rocket From The Crypt - Who Needs You