Comments on: NBA 2007 Podcast #1: Jonathan Franzen

By: BEA 2009: James Ellroy : Edward Champion’s Reluctant Habits

BEA 2009: James Ellroy : Edward Champion’s Reluctant Habits — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:49:46 +0000

[...] Back in April, it was revealed that the galley for James Ellroy’s Blood’s a Rover contained a note asking all of Ellroy’s readers to become his Facebook friend. Well, since Ellroy happened to be at BookExpo America, I decided to ask him about what the nature of this “Facebook friend” relationship entailed. Ellroy promptly placed his arm around my shoulder and gave me his explanation. I think it’s safe to say that Ellroy’s idea of “Facebook friend” is much different from Jonathan Franzen’s. [...]

By: Hotlemon

Hotlemon — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:25:42 +0000

Was that Tucker Carlson interviewing? Blech!

By: Sampsell

Sampsell — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 02:10:17 +0000

Ed–do you work for Facebook or something?
Just kidding. I thought the whole blogging at the NBAs was pretty spectacular. The Hitchens interview was especially good. I was going back and forth on my computer from your coverage there to the other NBA (basketball scores)!

By: R Ellis

R Ellis — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:54:01 +0000

That was kinda excruciating.

By: Gregory Severance

Gregory Severance — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:07:48 +0000

The conversation started out fairly well. Franzen seemed to handle the first question ok. Asking about Facebook at the NBA event is somewhat out of context but he sounded like he didn’t get too flustered until Ed asked him why he joined Facebook in the first place. At that point things seemed to change abruptly but it’s hard to tell exactly what happened.

Ed – was there some kind of body language/facial expression thing that happened that doesn’t come across on the audio. Because after that question he gets irrational and you do a good job of restraining your desire to go off on him.

By: Chewbee

Chewbee — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:00:37 +0000

Why would Franzen want to accept a friend invitation from what in this clip sounds like the voice of spam?

By: Jodi Vander Molen

Jodi Vander Molen — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 05:14:32 +0000

Third vote here for manic. Franzen sounded like he had a stick stuck somewhere, though.

By: James

James — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:59:16 +0000

Yeah, I’ve gotta go with manic, I’m afraid.

By: May Barber

May Barber — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:53:56 +0000

It reminded me of the overactive pre-awards show interviewers when they bombard actors with quesitons devoid of context. I don’t think Ed was being mean, or not intentionally so, but in Franzen’s shoes, when someone out of the blue asks about something unrelated to the evening at hand, I think it’d be a little jarring.

By: Steven Augustine

Steven Augustine — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:20:14 +0000

Good Kirk, meet evil Kirk.

By: CGM

CGM — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:18:50 +0000

I agree, the interviewer does sound like a fool. I hope he isn’t really a fool.

By: BEN

BEN — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:17:21 +0000

I can understand why he reacted the way he did. Ed, you do sound kind of manic.

By: joe davis

joe davis — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:26:28 +0000

the interviewer sounds like a fool…..not funny and meaningless……surprised franzen bothered to try to engage…..

By: Internet Man

Internet Man — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:37:26 +0000

I’m scared to listen now.

By: Jason Pinter

Jason Pinter — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 01:41:38 +0000

Wow. That was David Brent-level awkward.

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:52:19 +0000

You two share exactly the same voice. What gives? Are you and Jonathan Franzen the same person?