Question about Private Keys - priv_key.secret / priv_key.public_key.format()

[telejoshi]

I do not yet understand .secret and .public_key.format():

privkey = ECPrivateKey()
wif = bytes_to_wif(privkey.secret, compressed=True)    
z = public_key_to_address(privkey.public_key.format())

1. Is the first one (that's being used for generating the WIF) some form of Private Key and the second one some form of Public Key? When I print them I get an odd string with slashes (doesn't look like keys at all).

2. Why is compressed True? Does it have to be to generate a valid Private Key?

Thanks in advance