"In the winter of 2005, I received Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook as a Christmas present. It was during my early, struggling-writer years, when I was working as a chef to support my family (and my writing), and I often wondered if I’d ever make it as an author. I remember sitting down on Christmas Day to read Keller’s book in my small apartment in Colorado. I was inspired by his love for cooking, his artistry and creativity, and his deep dedication to his art. The book was an inspiration to me to keep writing and pursuing my dream of publication, and I promised myself that when I published my first book, I would celebrate at one of his restaurants. Ten years later, I signed my contract for Children of the New World with Picador. This past November, I invited my family to Per Se as a thank you for all their love and support throughout my years of writing, and I lifted a glass in thanks to Keller."

"[It] would have to be up there for sheer enthusiasm. I love it for a million reasons. It’s just such a celebration. But I think I also — god not to sound like too much of a shrink — I grew up in a family with lots of divorces and things. Growing up, the first couple I knew that were really, truly like Disney movie in love and devoted to each other was a gay couple. And then one of them died — of AIDS — and I remember I was so young; I was in junior high when it happened. It was still at a time when gay culture was so judged and so reviled in so many places. The movie was such a celebration of song and dance, but also of a gay lifestyle, and it was a beautiful thing to see at that point in my life. For there to be something out there in pop culture that was celebrating and not apologizing [for] all of that — I just thought it was brilliant."

"Two films from the same year, each the start of my favorite run of movies from its director. Brian De Palma is my favorite director of all time, in the sense that I get more “if I was making films, I’d want them to look and feel like this” moments watching his movies than anyone else’s. For me, it’s with Dressed to Kill and then Blow Out that De Palma really homed in on the look, feel, and all-around aesthetic that I love from him and it’s something he brought with him to his next two films, Scarface and Body Double (which, along with Carlito’s Way, round out my favorites of his career to date). I love Thief for being Michael Mann’s incredible feature film debut as well as a blueprint of sorts for a number of films that came after it. It’s the first of my three favorites from him, rounded out by his next two films, the often panned but visually amazing The Keep (again with a great Tangerine Dream score) and Manhunter."

"The first song on it ['Have You Seen My Baby?'], I don't love, but it was just another one... I just picked that one because I think, on Trouble In Paradise and Little Criminals and Born Again, there's probably songs on there, if you go song-by-song, that I like better, that are more produced. But I think starting maybe with track two or so, I burned that one from vinyl - it has that same effect, that sprawling effect, because it's more primitive, before it got too produced. It's just got that bluesy piano thing, it's well recorded and I don't know, I think at the end of the day, if you listen to an album as one piece - sure, maybe start it at the second track - but it just travels in this sort of good, honky tonk bluesy way. I'd say my record came off more like something like that than 'Baltimore' from Little Criminals. I love that song, but it's very produced, very polished and 12 Songs is more just naturally... it's got it's warts, but they're all pretty beautiful."