Dinner Party Download is a fast and funny 12-minute "cheat sheet" of news and culture... designed to give you enough conversational firepower to dazzle friends and family at this weekend's dinner party. This week: New York Times reporter/author Sarah Lyall asks a stupid question. We learn the offal truth about "duck fries." And the French army invades our cocktail glass.

KPCC's Frank Stoltze rides the Metrolink 111 as commuters nervously ventured back onto trains after the Chatsworth crash.

A local cigar expert sounds off on Councilman Parks' plan to spread a smoking ban across Los Angeles. The expert says prohibition won't work and the ban isn't based on scientific evidence.

L.A. Times Book Editor David Ulin remembers David Foster Wallace, the ground breaking novelist who killed himself last weekend.

John digs through the archives and finds a 1997 interview with David Foster Wallace, in which the novelist shows his knack for reporting.

The famous string theorist Brian Greene tells us about his kids' book, which riffs on the Icarus myth.

How Charles Perry corrected a famous translation of an ancient Arabic cookbook and saved the palates of countless foodies.

Every year 330,000 people pass through ICE detention centers. Reporter Ben Ehrenreich tells Queena Kim the story of Terminal Island detainee Victoria Arellano, one of the 74 people who've died at ICE facilities.

On August 23rd, thieves pulled off one of the biggest single art thefts in LA history, stealing a dozen paintings from an elderly couple in Encino. LAPD Detective Donald Hrycyk spoke with KPCC's Adolfo Guzman Lopez about the multi-million dollar heist.

The World Festival of Sacred Music runs through September 28th in Los Angeles. We talk with Yuval Ron, an Israeli musician who shares the stage with Armenian Christians and Muslims.