A story about a man paying someone to take his virginity sounds like your typical high school sex romp, but The Sessions is the furthest thing from that.     On the surface, the film is about Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes), a man who hires a sex surrogate, Cheryl Cohen Greene (Helen Hunt), to help him lose his virginity. He does so not because he’s just unlucky with women, but because he contracted polio ... Read More

  I have been following Dame Darcy's career for several years, ever since we met on a book and music tour with Lisa Crystal Carver. Dame Darcy has been writing and illustrating a hilariously mischievous and zany comic book series called Meat Cake since those wonder years, in addition to writing music; making films, videos, dolls and crafts; performing sea shanties on a banjo while dressed as a mermaid; producing shows; painting ... Read More

Musical maverick Amanda Palmer opens up about Scientology, stripping, and going solo Amanda Palmer is so impossibly busy that the week I meet her, she has a show every night and a photoshoot almost every day. Her iCal is Beyoncé-level packed, but that’s just the way she likes it. After a nasty split from Roadrunner Records in 2010, the 36-year-old singer/songwriter/pianist is now putting out her own music and loving her ... Read More

By Kase Wickman“Just keep it in your room.” That’s what For a Good Time, Call... co-star/co-writer/co-producer Lauren Anne Miller told her then-roommate, Katie Anne Naylon, when Naylon admitted that she held a job as a phone sex operator to earn cash. Nowadays, Miller and Naylon are far from their Florida State University dorm room, but they're still making dirty talk pay: For a Good Time, Call... is loosely based on Naylon’s ... Read More

Mike Birbiglia has released three comedy albums, starred in three Comedy Central specials, is a regular contributor to This American Life, and both wrote and starred in two award-winning off-Broadway one-man shows. But even he struggles with staying professional from time to time. During filming for Sleepwalk With Me—the new movie he co-wrote, directed, and stars in based on his sleep disorders and love life—he had to make ... Read More