Approximate Interview Date: Early September 2005 in a locked hotel conference room.

Author: Bret Easton Ellis

Condition of Mr. Segundo: Cold and impoverished.

Subjects Discussed: The two Brets, finding the voice of Bret the narrator, “ten years on an outline,” metafiction, origins of Lunar Park, Stephen King, the use of brand name description in fiction, the rules of fiction, subtext, B.S. Johnson, the dramaturgy of writing about writers, episodic fiction vs. narrative fiction, pushing boundaries, 9/11, irony, the generation between 1961 and 1971 and the generation after, keeping track of young writers, Stanley Elkin and being cognizant of humor, responsibility within Ellis’ work, on being a wuss, television vs. fiction, BEE’s anger, the Lev Grossman profile, 1941, on being a movie person, the Jayne Dennis website, Jamie Clarke’s Vernon Downs, Ellis’s politics and American Psycho, rich people, corruption, Roger Avary and film adaptations.

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Approximate Interview Date: An afternoon in San Francisco in late August, 2005

Author: Periel Aschenbrand

Condition of Mr. Segundo: Strangely ambiguous about his identity.

Subjects Discussed: Balance between the personal and the political, evolution of The Only Bush I Trust is My Own and Body as Billboard, getting clearance from friends and family, online dating, on being half-Israeli, half-New York Jew, Gaza and the Palestinians, provocative book covers, accessibility and extremism, responding to the Philadelphia Weekly, public perception, the T-shirt as message, ironic imagery, Sandra Bernhard and “endorsement,” Monique Wittig, shock value, concerned citizens vs. political activists, the waning stigma of the F word, Lenny Bruce, epithets, “date rape,” vintage T-shirts, the validity Motley Crue, the unexpected removal of a T-shirt, cognizant egomania, Mr. Rushdie, conversational vernacular in memoirs.

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Steve Rhodes has taken some pictures of the Young, Roving Correspondent’s interview with Norman Solomon. Do not be frightened by the YRC’s peeling head. Before talking with Mr. Solomon, his forehead was fried by the sun.

Approximate Date: An evening in the Mission in mid-August, 2005

Author: Norman Solomon

Condition of Mr. Segundo: Lonely, wistful, about as romantic as Mr. Segundo is capable of.

Subjects Discussed: The relationship between government policy and media, the U.S. government as advertising model, war as product, Charlotte Beers, the element of casualties, use of the flag, “We’re Number 1,” criticizing government without having access to national security documents, the relationship between raw war coverage and antiwar sentiment, transformation of media and propaganda over the past forty years, new media vs. old media, bloggers, Matt Drudge, journalists who face retaliation for war coverage, Laurie Garrett’s resignation letter, wild reactions to Solomon’s work, examples of good journalism, the American public’s interest in foreign affairs, Jim Hightower and Disney, Donald Rumsfeld and Esquire, 9/11 and “Fortunate Son.”

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