Yes, great interview. I am definitely not a boxing fan, but reading this makes me want to check out her new book.

I also heard that John Cusack hates this movie. Frankly I think that's because it's the best movie he's ever made, AND HE KNOWS IT.

Better Off Dead
"I want my two dollars!"

"Old man, you give those dogs another piece of my food and I'm gonna kick you 'til you're dead!"

I had to stop watching when the dancing dude with the track suit took off his shirt.

Thanks for clarifying. Looks like he was lavished with (way too much)critical praise for EII. Maybe we don't want to stroke that ego any further by giving him the coveted mantle of "AVClub Wrapped Up in Books Selectee".

Hi again, Dr. P. I was thinking more about your comments while packing my kids up for school. Can you elaborate more with specific examples? Are you talking about his entire body of work in general? I don't think every moment of Everything Is Illuminated could have been precocious and ironic (this is where I'd…

I had never bothered to read anything about Foer himself—so out of curiosity I just looked to see how old he is. Holy crap, he's practically a fetus (ca. 32)! Well, younger than me at least. As a doctor, do you think it's possible to avoid the endocrine system while writing fiction? Surely there's a medication for…

Yep. 'Cause there's a guy with a saw blade stuck in his head in ALL the books I've read lately.

My suggestion is
Everything Is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer).

I didn't really like Catch-22 when I had to read it in high school. I had to read it again my last semester of college (I put off that one requisite lit class until the bitter end) and by then I loved it. Old and wiser? That same course also introduced me to DeLillo, so that lit class I was dreading (I'm a…

Banana tits = good. "Bull Black Nova" might be the first Wilco song I've ever liked. I had the album streaming while I was reading the Cannes Day One article and had kind of tuned it out until that song came on. I've been trying hard to like Wilco, but it's mostly too easy listening for me. Apparently this isn't…

My dad still thinks Matchbox 20 is cool.

Indeed.

I was already a fan of the original version of "I Will Always Love You" when the Whitney Houston abomination came about. Now it's hard to convince people to give Dolly's version a try. Does anyone know if Dolly regrets letting Whitney destroy this song?

I live on the East Coast and 5-6PM = working mom hell hour for me.

Arty was really into "norm" girls. I never thought he'd rape Oly.

Was Miranda's paternity supposed to be a surprise?
I figured out that Arty was Miranda's dad almost immediately, when it was first mentioned that Miranda was unexpectedly "normal". I just assumed Oly had artificially inseminated herself, so the participation of Chick in the process was the only surprise twist for me.

This is finally the thread I've been looking for. I've spent a lot of time wondering why Oly needed to kill Miss Lick. I kept thinking: Why didn't she just ask Miranda NOT to go through with the surgery? Surely Oly had enough evidence to tip off the police about what Lick was doing (at least getting rid of her…

I'm glad someone finally mentioned Orlando. I was starting to feel really old. Yes, this proved 15ish(?) years ago she could carry a film on her own.