"Love Liza, it’s such a random thing. I saw it — I can’t remember if my buddy bought it at a DVD store or it was on NYU TV or something — but I remember watching it and just being so transfixed by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance. I just really love that movie a lot. Honestly man, I think that was one of the first independent films I’d seen. I wasn’t huge into the independent film scene until I went to college, and then of course, once you get to NYU, it’s all about the indie scene, you know. But I love independent filmmaking; I think they’re really telling the interesting stories."

"This is another book I read in high school when I could not have possibly understood it. I read the whole thing, too, all seven volumes of it. I don’t know who I was trying to impress. At the time, I felt very sophisticated in figuring out that Charlus was gay and the first thing I did when I went to Paris was to go to a bakery and eat a madeleine. I’m still determined to read Proust’s epic depiction of society again. The newest translation sits on my desk but I think I’ll stick with my old Moncrieff. I’ve had a date with it since high school."