"Dostoevsky tackles the largest, most impossible questions: how does one exist, as a whole human being, in a desperately cruel world? Do you save a town if it means sacrificing a child? Is freedom a gift or an impossible burden for weak creatures such as ourselves? Is love possible or a delusion?"

"It’s interesting to see an artist like Lou Reed, whose persona is so masculine and no-bullshit, try on something so glammy and fey. There’s something tenuous about it; it doesn’t quite fit like it does Bowie and the others. It’s kind of unexpected and wrong, which is why I love it."

"A few of their covers are almost interchangeable, almost the same photo. I love that. They’re so uniformly punk. I wonder if bands are afraid to look so uniform now. Today there’d be a chain-wallet punk, a baggy skater, a tatted-up goth, and a clean-cut gas-station-attendant indie rocker."

"I like Billy Wilder best when he’s nasty. Five Graves to Cairo (especially that ending), Double Indemnity, but nothing, nothing, beats Ace in the Hole. Kirk Douglas is so despicable, but you understand why he’s doing what he’s doing. You oddly feel for him at times. I love that Wilder takes us there."

"I really like The Last King of Scotland, if I’m in a dramatic mood, because it was so furiously disturbing. Even though I don’t love the subject matter — it’s not a subject I crave, ’cause it scares me so much — I was sort of put into a real dark place after that movie."

"I have a playlist called Happily Ever that's 30 songs deep, all about love: 'Until You,' by Dave Barnes, 'Rain,' by Patty Griffin, 'Easy Silence,' by the Dixie Chicks. When I listen to 'Naked as We Came,' by Iron and Wine, I hang on every word and dissect every metaphor; I'm completely absorbed."

"I have a playlist called Happily Ever that's 30 songs deep, all about love: 'Until You,' by Dave Barnes, 'Rain,' by Patty Griffin, 'Easy Silence,' by the Dixie Chicks. When I listen to 'Naked as We Came,' by Iron and Wine, I hang on every word and dissect every metaphor; I'm completely absorbed."

"I have a playlist called Happily Ever that's 30 songs deep, all about love: 'Until You,' by Dave Barnes, 'Rain,' by Patty Griffin, 'Easy Silence,' by the Dixie Chicks. When I listen to 'Naked as We Came,' by Iron and Wine, I hang on every word and dissect every metaphor; I'm completely absorbed."

"I have a playlist called Happily Ever that's 30 songs deep, all about love: 'Until You,' by Dave Barnes, 'Rain,' by Patty Griffin, 'Easy Silence,' by the Dixie Chicks. When I listen to 'Naked as We Came,' by Iron and Wine, I hang on every word and dissect every metaphor; I'm completely absorbed."