in medias res

"I’m not interested in writing short stories. Anything that doesn’t take years of your..."

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:28:00 -0700

“I’m not interested in writing short stories. Anything that doesn’t take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing.”

- Cormac McCarthy

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Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:34:29 -0700

"Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself..."

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:19:20 -0700

“Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge - and then you are going to live your life on a tightrope.”

- Philippe Petit

"First coffee. Then a bowel movement. Then the muse joins me."

Sat, 01 Jun 2013 21:48:43 -0700

““First coffee. Then a bowel movement. Then the muse joins me.””

- Gore Vidal, on his writing process. (via theparisreview)

Photo

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:28:35 -0700

20th-century-man: Martin Scorsese, Akira Kurosawa.

Wed, 01 May 2013 08:23:11 -0700

20th-century-man:

Martin Scorsese, Akira Kurosawa.

"The odd thing about this life is that you spend half your time trying to get people to listen to you..."

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:12:51 -0700

“The odd thing about this life is that you spend half your time trying to get people to listen to you and the rest of the time trying to get them to leave you the fuck alone.”

- Tom Waits (via bbook)

"The reason is that all you know about me is what I have written so far; it has nothing to do with..."

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:17:09 -0700

““The reason is that all you know about me is what I have written so far; it has nothing to do with what I want to do next, because I don’t know, either.””

- Tom Stoppard (via theparisreview)

"If you’re not lying awake at night worrying about it, the reader isn’t going to, either."

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 21:01:06 -0700

““If you’re not lying awake at night worrying about it, the reader isn’t going to, either.””

- James M. Cain (via theparisreview)

“The speed of his movements was such that he said in a single...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:15:43 -0700

“The speed of his movements was such that he said in a single action what took ordinary actors three separate movements to express. He put forth everything directly and boldly, and his sense of timing was the keenest I had ever seen in a Japanese actor. And yet with all of his quickness he also had surprisingly fine sensibilities. […] I’m a person who is rarely impressed by actors, but in the case of Mifune I was completely overwhelmed.” — Akira Kurosawa

“He is an artist, and he is demanding; a man more full, more whole, both more self-willed and more compassionate than most men are. It is from this understanding, this tact with life, that he draws his films, just as he draws from us, his actors, our best. I know. I have never as an actor done anything that I am proud of other than with him.” — Toshiro Mifune

“Toward the end, when Mifune was in the hospital, I called one day at Kurosawa’s house. Kurosawa came into the parlor in his wheelchair. I had gotten word of Mifune’s condition, and when I reported this, Kurosawa said in a tone of nostalgia: ‘If I ever see Mifune again, I want to tell him what a good job he did. I want to praise him.’ How Mifune must have yearned to hear those words. But without his ever having had that chance, on Christmas Eve, 1997, at the age of seventy-seven, the turbulent life of Toshiro Mifune came to an end. Nine months later, on September 6, 1998, the death of the great filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was reported around the world, marking the end of an era. He was eighty-eight years old.” — Teruyo Nogami

Sine qua non (/ˌsaɪnɨ kweɪ ˈnɒn/; Latin: [ˈsine kwaː ˈnoːn])[1] or condicio sine qua...

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 23:17:12 -0700

Sine qua non (/ˌsaɪnɨ kweɪ ˈnɒn/; Latin: [ˈsine kwaː ˈnoːn])^[1] or condicio sine qua non (plural: condiciones sine quibus non) refers to an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient. It was originally a Latin legal term for “[a condition] without which it could not be,” or “but for…” or “without which [there is] nothing”.

theparisreview: “I wouldn’t have wanted anyone to teach me how...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 13:25:44 -0700

theparisreview:

“I wouldn’t have wanted anyone to teach me how to write…I prefer to stumble on it.” RIP Chinua Achebe.

Read our interview with the Nigerian writer here.

eye-contact: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:52:23 -0700

eye-contact:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

"…What it says to the real world is it’s all about us, we have the money, we put the money in,..."

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:26:38 -0700

“…What it says to the real world is it’s all about us, we have the money, we put the money in, and we control the image. And I say fuck you, wankers. Are you fucking kidding? That’s not cinematography. That’s control of the image by the powers that be, by the people that want to control the whole system because they’re all accountants. You’ve lost cinema.”

- Ah, Mr. Doyle, you’ve still got it, you little ol’ curmudgeon.

Photo

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 00:35:05 -0800

"A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or..."

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:17:50 -0800

“A man’s work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened.”

- Albert Camus

"To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and..."

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 15:05:46 -0800

““To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and institutions, to compensate for the shortage of love in the world with more love in small, private matters; to be more faithful in our work, to show greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge obtainable from mockery and criticism: all these are things we can do.””

- Hermann Hesse

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Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:13:37 -0800

"I’ve never thought of counting words. I’d rather not know."

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:15:16 -0800

““I’ve never thought of counting words. I’d rather not know.””

- Iris Murdoch (via theparisreview)

"You should never believe an author if he tells you why he has certain recurring themes."

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:47:48 -0800

““You should never believe an author if he tells you why he has certain recurring themes.””

- Kazuo Ishiguro (via theparisreview)