On Bergman, Xanadu, and that Scarlett Johansson album. . .

. . .or, everything you always wanted to know about team Benten but were afraid to ask. Karina Longworth of the SpoutBlog kindly invited Aaron and me to partake in the Media Diet, where "indie film movers and shakers" are asked "a bunch of stupid questions about their pop cultural preferences." As fun as the interview was, I'm most excited about being considered a mover and a shaker in the indie film world. I have indeed arrived. SPOUT: We start each installment of The Media Diet with the old desert island question: you’re packing your suitcase for life-long seclusion on a tropical island that happens to have a full entertainment system. What records, books, movies, video games, websites, etc do you bring with? ANDREW: I’ll try to keep this sensible, i.e., what I could reasonably carry in my backpack. The only book I’d need (the only book anybody needs for that matter) is William Gaddis’ The Recognitions, for it says everything there is to say about the human condition. I’d like to have every note recorded by John Coltrane, some Nick Drake, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, and that Scarlett Johansson album of Tom Waits covers. (No, I haven’t heard it, but, come on…) Films, of course, are tough—give me complete box sets of Godard, Allen, Cassavetes and Imamura. Throw in The Big Lebowski, Lawrence of Arabia, and Xanadu and I’m set. Click here to read the complete interview.