MEDIA HORDE

“I really liked
Californication. David
Duchovny’s character
is such a piece of shit,
but he’s a lovable
piece of shit. I wish I
could get away with
half the stuff he does.
Most people don’t put
up with that for long.
Trust me, I know from
experience.”

James Ransone
The guide to
how entertainers
entertain
themselves.
This month:
The costar of
HBO’s Iraq
war miniseries
Generation Kill.

“I listened to a lot of

Slowdive on the set of Generation Kill, which is really weird since I don’t think any real Marine would listen to Slowdive to get amped up to go into combat. In fact, the Marines I m ade friends with called it ‘melty.’ ”

“I was DJ’ing at a res-
taurant in downtown
Manhattan and there
was a girl there I was in
love with, so I played
Joan of Arc’s ‘This Life
Cumulative’ for her.
She was super into it,
and we ended up in a
five-year relationship.
I’m single now, though,
so in retrospect I don’t
know if it worked to
my advantage.”

“I’m buying a Ducati
Monster 695 for a
road trip through
South America with the
Marines who were our
advisers on Generation
Kill. They tend to cause
a lot of international
incidents, so I expect to
be kidnapped. On our
last road trip, we broke
into Botswana. And we
were sober, which was
the strangest part.”

“Animal Collective
are the most interest-
ing rock’n’roll band
around. They’re truly
punk because they’re
totally free from being
influenced by anything,
and they’re really
adventurous when it
comes to melodies.
An incarnation of the
band played at my
parents’ house in Balti-
more when I was 16.
Of course, my parents
don’t know that.”

“Watching Gary
Oldman is like seeing
a Stooges performance
circa 1974. I saw The
Professional when
I was young, and that
scene where he’s
talking about murder-
ing a 13-year-old girl
really sold me. It
made me go, ‘Really?
You can do this?’”

“Oh my God, Idiocracy
is so scathing—I tell
anyone who hasn’t
seen it that they have
to rent it. At its heart,
it’s superpuritanical
about the idea that
where the country is
heading is so dumb,
but it’s really funny. The
best way to comment
on anything politically
is through comedy.”

“Robert Downey Jr.
rules so hard. It’s not
that he’s good or
bad; it’s the choices
he makes. He’s pretty
legit, playing Iron Man,
and then suddenly he’s
undergoing surgery
to make him black [in
Tropic Thunder]? That’s
pretty fucking risky.
I mean, look at [Soul
Man’s] C. Thomas
Howell—that dude’s
on some VH1 magic
show now.”