How great is that Tad Friend piece (not online—buy it) on high- and pretty-low-speed police chases in L.A.? Best thing in the issue, and last week’s was a very good issue. Tad Friend also talked to Ben Greenman for the website. More of my issue highlights to come. I might do this every week, on Sundays. Or on other days, or every other week. Meanwhile, I have the new Ricky Gervais podcast to listen to. Here’s an excerpt from an interview Gervais did with DVD Times about his standup-comedy release Politics.

[MD] Did you put the interview with him on the DVD [of Politics] just to prove [Karl Pilkington] was a real guy?

[RG] Absolutely. Absolutely. Because I think people just won’t believe anyone thinks like that, and you can see that I just can’t believe what he’s saying and he surprises me constantly, every time I speak to him there’s something funny. Like, I saw Finding Nemo the other week, and I was on the phone to him and I said I’d just watched it and said “Brilliant innit” and it’s always good when you genuinely, without irony, see eye to eye with Karl it’s like a connection, like your child hasn’t spoken until now, you just want to nurture it. So I said it was great it was such a great story as well, and it’s beautiful how far animation has come, but it’s amazing how much it cost. And he said “Whatcha mean?” so I told him animation costs more than real films. “Rubbish. What’s the point of computers if it takes longer?” Well no Karl, it takes each animator one week to put 2 seconds on screen. And after raving about the film he said “fuck it, it’s not worth it, just a get a real fish and poke it with a stick.” [amazed] Just get a real fish and poke it with a stick?! It’s just incredible. The way he lives inside his head, it’s just a joy, so yeah I did put it on to let people know that I know the closest living thing to Homer Simpson.