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This collection of columns provides an overview of Larry’s impossibly unique insight into many subjects, perhaps most of all about the mysteri ous nature of creativity itself. As I write this, I am actively resisting the urge to send the pre-publication PDF to every creative person I know. Larry’s writing evokes an incredibly clear picture of a scene, only to imme diately explode that image and take you on a whole other journey. Is he Ms. Frizzle on the Magic School Bus of the written word? You decide (but yes, he is). In “What Do You Do?” Larry says that “sometimes reading a short little something by someone else… kick-starts the thinking meat and then we’re all off to the races.” Ain’t that the truth. If you are a person with a single creative bone in your body, this collection is an absolute must-read.

One of my favorite things about Larry’s writing is how it teases the reader; his words are the laser pointer to our helplessly obsessed cat. For example, in “Los Angeles,” Larry depicts life in L.A. by taking us from the emotion al high of working on a shiny dream movie set to the emotional low of find ing oneself with a broken nose in the midst of the Rodney King riots. And look – it’s incredibly impressive how he highlights the dramatic ups-and downs of life in L.A. in a way that innumerable TV shows and movies have tried to do, only with far more brevity and effectiveness. But also: god dammit Larry, what the hell was “that thing with Catherine O’Hara at the Dresden”? I need to know.