Rick Moody is Over Himself, OK?

The Ice Storm author and Dale Peck nemesis says, "After 9/11, I really wanted to deal with the culture as a whole instead of just navel-gazing." Moody calls his 1992 book Garden State (no relation to the Natalie Portman/Zach Braff film) "a truly dreadful book but it's emotionally accessible and vulnerable and I admire that." Re: drinking? He's recovered now: "There wasn't some halcyon period where I could have one or two drinks and be witty at a party. I'd have six or eight more and try to f—- other people's girlfriends." [Sydney Morning Herald]

Rick Moody Pies Dale Peck

Dale Peck has become so much less angry since he scored that $3 million book deal! The novelist and critic—whose Friendster profile was once described as "incredibly anti-corporate and anti-consumer," who famously hated things much more than most reviewers do these dark days, and who was slugged by Stanley Crouch because of it—recently allowed himself to be pied by Rick Moody. Moody was once described by Peck as the worst writer of his generation. But at a fundraiser the Montauk Club last night, it was all fun and games and pieing. [NYT]