As the song played I imagined that I was a secret agent carrying a top-secret mix tape from New York to Paris. It was easy to have spy fantasies on planes back when everyone smoked.

When Ray Bradbury’s wheelchair was pushed into the auditorium of the Los Angeles Public Library and situated next to me, I froze. I’m not fazed by rock stars, but authors are something else.

It’s Quentin Tarantino and a Giant Buzzard vs. the jocks! Also: A special message from the plant world.

After awakening from a troubled sleep infected with visions of demonic abstractions pitched at odd angles against an impossible landscape of stark horror, my sweet tooth hit.

I remember things of no consequence. But the things that do stick with me have their own importance, even though they’re not of any practical use.

That star that has risen in the West signifies the birth of a new cult film. “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” is just 10 years away from being everyone’s favorite movie.

When we moved to Sri Lanka, I was six years old and already the biggest “Star Wars” fan on my block. But something happened there that made me a lifelong collector.

The shop was home to one of those carnival midway machines that would print any sequence of letters onto a souvenir coin. In essence, you were making your own money.

Are your more frightened of gargoyles or a pretty girl with the face of Robert Downey, Jr.? The answer may surprise you … or not. Also: Return to NBC’s Studio 8H.

Everyone wants to own a ventriloquist dummy, but how do we overcome the fear that it will come to life in the middle of the night and stab us to death?