MEDIA HORDE

“I’ve watched Ferris
Bueller’s Day Off more
times than I can count.
Every teen movie to
this day is still trying
to be Ferris Bueller. I
love the part where
Matthew Broderick is
in the shower talking
to the camera. I totally
had a crush on him.”

“I’m a Shakespeare
nut. A Midsummer
Night’s Dream was the
first of his plays that I
read and performed,
so I have a real
affection for it. He was
pretty randy. One of
the most blatant scenes
is when Helena says,
‘I am your spaniel.’ I’m
not going to get into
it, but it’s dirty.”

“Oliver Sacks writes
about crazy neurologi-
cal disorders, but he
writes about it in such
a compelling way it’s
almost like fiction. An
Anthropologist on Mars
is a great book. I’m
not exactly a science
person, but I do read
things other than Us
Weekly. I loved these
stories of people and
the extraordinary ways
their brains work.”

“I’m starting to get into
more indie rock now,
and Joanna Newsom is
the shit. Ys is exquisite.
I mean, her voice can
be a bit much, and her
first album is a little
abrasive, but there’s a
stark originality to her
singing. And the way
she sets her lyrics
to these complex
melodies—you so
rarely find repetition
in her songs.”

Olivia Thirlby

The guide to how entertainers entertain themselves. This month: The costar of the ’90s nostalgia comedy The Wackness.

“When I was in middle
school, it was cool to
like Alanis Morissette.
A bunch of my girl-
friends and I would sit
around and sing songs
from Jagged Little Pill.
I still know all the
lyrics to ‘Ironic’ even
though I didn’t truly
grasp the meaning of
the word until three or
four years ago.”

 

42 JUNE 2008 WWW. SPIN.COM

“A Tribe Called Quest’s
‘Can I Kick It?’ is my all-
time favorite song, and
it’s very exciting to be
in a film that features
it on the soundtrack. I
think ’⁹⁰s-era hip-hop
is good to listen to any-
time: when you’re in
the shower or driving
or cleaning the house.
Rap music is so serious
now. It’s all about
being hard. Tribe had
a real sense of humor.”

“I appreciate Adam
Sandler’s brand of
comedy. Happy Gilmore
and Billy Madison were
the funniest movies

I’d ever seen [when I
was a kid]. He’s got his
own thing going on
with the funny voices.
That scene in Billy
Madison where he
goes, ‘What are you
looking at, penguin?’
still makes me laugh.”

“I love cooking
shows, like Iron Chef.
It’s inspiring to see
people work on the
composition of a dish.
After I watch it, I go to
the supermarket and
try to find something
really extravagant to
make. I just figured
out a cool way to fry an
egg on top of a stack
of onions with some
Worcestershire sauce
and capers.”