MEDIA HORDE

“I’m watching the third season of

SCOT T COUNCIL/VIS TALUX ( WILSON); CHRIS GORDON/GE T T Y IMAGES (RI T TER); JORGEN ANGEL/RE TNA (MAGIC DICK); J T/RE TNA (LE WIS): NICOLE RIVELLI/HBO ( THE WIRE)

The Wire on DVD
right now. It is
the greatest show
ever made. A
thousand years from
now, when people
are doing their
doctoral theses on
America at the turn
of the 21st century,
they will watch
The Wire, because it
explores the city
from the lowliest
homeless junkie to
the upper reaches
of power. It unfolds
like a big Dickensian
novel: You have
to start from the
beginning, and you
have to be patient, and
it’s heartbreaking.”

“Josh Ritter is a great
singer/songwriter in
the tradition of Bob
Dylan but not the
artsy-fartsy, navel-
gazing, fake poetry
bullshit that you think
of when you think of
folk that is ‘Dylan-
esque.’ The Historical
Conquests of Josh
Ritter takes America
and turns it inside out
in an imaginative and
humorous way.”

“I got a copy of
the Clash’s London
Calling in 1981 and
the rest was history.
I joined a band called
Collected Moss,
and we played covers
of our favorite
punk songs—and
‘Fire on the Mountain,’
because one member
was a Deadhead.
I was the singer,
and someone tried
to compliment me
once by saying,
‘You sound like Lou
Reed.’ I was like,
‘Oh no, that’s terrible.’
We played two gigs,
and then our patch
chords got stolen and
we broke up.”

Rainn
Wilson

“I want to get one of
those virtual pets that
you have to feed on
your key chain. But I
want it to be attached
to a real pet some-
where in the world and
make it so that if you
don’t press the right
button at the right
time, a pet somewhere
in the world actually
loses its life. But not
one of my pets.”

The guide to how entertainers entertain
themselves. This month: The Office’s Dwight
Schrute hits the skins in The Rocker.

“As a kid, I would
scour the TV guide for
any Jerry Lewis movies.
This was before VCRs
and TiVo, so it’d be,
like, 2 A.M. and I’d stay
up to watch them. I
didn’t know it was con-
sidered in poor taste
to like Jerry Lewis. I
just knew he was really
funny when he fell into
the swimming pool,
which it seemed like
he did in every movie.”

“Big Cats, by Holiday
Reinhorn, is a collec-
tion of kickass short
stories. They’re rebel-
lious and profound
at the same time.
‘Fuck You’ has a real
rock’n’roll spirit, but
it’s still great litera-
ture. Also, Holiday is
my wife, and she’d kill
me if I recommended
a single other book.”

“My first concert was
J. Geils Band. Me and
my high school nerd
buddies thought it was
so cool that they had
a harmonica player
named Magic Dick.
There were joints being
passed around at the
show, which terrified
me. I was certain I was
going to get stoned
and become a junkie
and start shooting
heroin into my eye.”