Introduction / Jay McInerney --L.A. bourgeois / Meghan Daum -- When ass kissing became networking / Dirk Wittenborn -- Douglas Coupland vs. Naomi Klein -- If it makes you think, is it fashion? / Glenn O'Brien -- Harold and Maude is forever / Emma Forrest -- The angriest book club in America / Bruno Maddox -- Joan Didion vs. Meghan Daum -- In praise of zoos / Alain de Botton -- Santa shrink / Augusten Burroughs -- April foolery / Sam Lipsyte -- Bullets and brandy and ice dust / DBC Pierre -- My mother was a monster / Ryan Boudinot -- The Hemingway challenge -- 24-hour party people: Irvine Welsh meets Damien Hirst -- The last Christmas / M.J. Hyland -- Sneakers make the boy / Jonathan Ames -- Demon club soda / Toby Young -- Wrapping with Christo / Dana Vachon -- Sticky feet / Bill Powers -- Matthew Barney vs. Jeff Koons -- Reef or madness? / Neal Pollack -- The big sell / Mike Albo -- If death is just a doorway-- why shouldn't it have a door policy? / Chuck Palahniuk -- Greyhound across America / William T. Vollman -- Flower hunting in the Congo / JT LeRoy -- Ghostwalk / Victor Bockris.