Michel Houellebecq On Coffee & Other Things

It takes you through all the different stages of consciousness. You start out semicomatose. You write. You drink more coffee and your lucidity increases, and it’s in that in-between period, which can last for hours, that something interesting happens.

I never plan anything at all.

And this German journalist arrives and, it was very curious, she wasn’t behaving normally. She didn’t have a tape recorder and she wasn’t taking notes. And she said, “I had a dream that you were in a phone booth after the end of the world and you were speaking to all of humanity but without knowing whether anyone was listening.” It was like being in a zombie film.

I bought books on cults. I went to an orientation session for non-Raëlians.

-You have a special talent for insult. Do you take pleasure in insulting?
-Yes. It is, I have to say, satisfying.

No. I left in full undisputed glory without any enemies.

The other thing I’ve noticed is that men and women are more separate. When you go into a restaurant, for example, you often see women eating out together. The French from that point of view are very Latin. A single-sex dinner would be considered boring. In a hotel in Ireland, I saw a group of men talking golf at the breakfast table. They left and were replaced by a group of women who were discussing something else. It’s as if they’re separate species who meet occasionally for reproduction.

Michel Houellebecq in the Paris Review

Marina Abramovic Interview

The WSJ has Marina Abramovic’s first interview after she spent 736 hours staring into people’s eyes at MoMA.

NyMag & Lady Gaga

It’s a long interview, but interesting nonetheless.

As we began the conversation, Gaga spoke carefully in a very odd accent—some combination of Madonna as Madge and a robot

She completely turns the page on the last decade’s era of bimbodom, taking back the limelight from women who made their careers by admitting that they had nothing to say, like Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson.

“At that time, my breasts were much bigger, and firm, and delicious.” (Another high-school nickname: Big Boobs McGee.)

Nikola Tamindzic Interviewed

Cpluv interviews sexy photographer Nikola Tamindzic.

Interview with an Anonymous Head Fund Manager

Part 1 and part 2 of an interview with an anonymous head fund manager about the current state of the economy. (via noah)

Siege Interviewed

Great Clayton Cubitt interview over at Interview Magazine

Life After Digg: Greg Davies Interviewed

Greg Davies was permanently banned from Digg. Here is an interview with him.