Yesterday, Tom DiCillo kindly reviewed my review of his terrific new film Delirious. Check out "gracias" in the Comments section.

In doing so, he inadvertently addressed a question I raise again and again in my book: beyond providing a guide for the consumer, does criticism in any way serve the artist?

DiCillo's response echoes what Jackson Browne told me about Paul Nelson's writing: "it made me feel that I was being received, that I was being heard, by people who really got it."