Excerpts

Having one of those weeks where everything is much, much harder than it should be. Instead of fighting it, I’m leaning into the curve. Which is how I find myself poking through some old files and excavating stuff that I clipped for future reference. I guess that future must have arrived, because I’m hurling some of the more interesting chunks up here. Let the Copy-And-Paste Fun Begin!

"We’re deathly afraid of that stabbing word “pretentious,” the word that students use to curse each other’s ambition. It’s a young person’s word, a shortcut-to-thinking word. I’m a big fan of pretension. It means “an aspiration or intention that may or may not reach fulfillment.” It doesn't mean failing upward. It means trying to exceed your grasp. Which is how things grow." 
Warren Ellis

"In film, because you know where the ending is, characters can change, but in television, you substitute revelation for change and that can be hard to pull off."
Hugh Laurie on Gregory House

"It’s fantastic! I have never seen the collective dreams all in one place."
Werner Herzog at Comic-Con

"Most directors make films with their eyes; I make films with my testicles."
Alejandro Jodorowsky

"He’s a sperm-filled waxwork with the eyes of a masturbator."
Federico Fellini on why Donald Sutherland was his perfect choice for the role of Casanova.

"When I write, I must not censor my own imagery or connections. I must not worry about what critics will say, what leftists will say, what environmentalists will say. I must ignore all that. If I listen to all those voices I will be paralyzed, because none of this can be resolved. I have to go back to the voice that spoke before all these structures were imposed on it, and let it speak these terrible truths. By being irresponsible I will be responsible."
David Cronenberg

"Tomorrow’s Sam Fuller won’t emerge via Sundance: he/she’ll be shooting porn in Rio or Rotterdam for obscure satellite channels."
Chris Petit

"Quality is the best business plan."
John Lasseter

"It’s not the job of fiction to present people with whom one might like to be friends."
Zoë Heller

"Actually, I jade very quickly. Once is usually enough. Either once only, or every day. If you do something once it’s exciting, and if you do it every day it’s exciting. But if you do it, say, twice or just almost every day, it’s not good any more.”
Andy Warhol