Edward Snowden, who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, professes to have had access to whatever he wanted to know about anyone's anything. If he's telling the truth, why does he have such permeability without any government oversight? Is that OK with yo...
That powers my desire to write: the sense of how quickly everything on the surface of life can be cut away and you can suddenly be inside the most inner part of the most inner life of a person. What does it feel like there, and what are the regrets a...
In my career as a director, there's always been some point where you get halfway through it, or three-quarters, and you go: 'What is this thing all about, and why am I telling the story? Does anybody really care about seeing this?' At that time you h...
The GOP grows more and more unpopular with female voters seemingly every time one of its leaders gets in front of a microphone. Misogynist is as misogynist does. The GOP and its bloviating pundits don't like women and they are unable to hide it, nor ...
Why does the past seem so magical, so fraught, so luminous? At the time it was just, ugh, another boring bloody day. But, to look back on, it's a day full of miracles and light and extraordinary events. Why is this? What process do we apply to the pa...
What the fossil record does do is to force us to contemplate our place on the planet. We are but one species of several hominids that inhabited Planet Earth, and like our distant cousins who went extinct fairly recently, our time on Planet Earth is a...
The problem with dragons is that everyone uses them. All the time. When that happens, they become commonplace. A lot of people think you can just throw them into a story and suddenly whatever you're writing is 28% cooler. But that doesn't work. All t...
I look up to Jimmy Fallon. He hosts talk shows as a fan himself, and that's how I do it. When the celebrities come in, I'm excited that they're there. It's not just like a formal, 'Hey, how are ya?' It's like, 'Dude, what the hell! So happy to see yo...
Botox, trust me I've been tempted - but I resist! Think about what happens to your muscles - and your skin - if you're sick and don't move for a few days. It all atrophies! Plus, if you freeze a muscle in your face, other muscles have to compensate! ...
My interactions with Sorkin were agonisingly weird. He is by far the weirdest person I have ever met. I had dinner with him and a few hours before I got an e-mail from his assistant saying, 'Sean, this does not need to be a long conversation. Aaron i...
Sally: Of course, I may bring a boyfriend home occasionally, but only occasionally, because I do think that one ought to go to the man's room if one can. I mean, it doesn't look so much as if one expected it, does it?
Clark: [Clark looks down at the jello and sees that it's trimmed with cat food] Aunt Bethany, does your cat eat jello? Eddie: I don't know about the cat, but *I* sure am enjoying it.
Tony Wendice: [to C.A. Swan] By the way does Mrs. Van Dorn know about Mr. Adams or Mr. Wilson and Miss Wallace? You were planning to marry Mrs. Van Dorn, weren't you?
Billy Costigan: You sit there with a mass murderer. A mass murderer. Your heart rate is jacked, and your hand... steady. That's one thing I figured out about myself in prison. My hand does not shake... ever.
Shannon: Kid, I want you to meet Mr. Bernie Rose! Bernie Rose: Nice to meet you. [Bernie sticks out his hand to shake; Driver does not take it] Driver: My hands are a little dirty. Bernie Rose: So are mine.
Doctor Seward: But, Professor Van Helsing, modern medical science does not admit of such a creature! The vampire is a pure myth, superstition. Van Helsing: I may be able to bring you proof that the superstition of yesterday can become the scientific ...
Army physician: Their life expectancy is a hundred and thirty. [Army physician offers Medical Corps Major a cigarette] Medical Corps Major: [Major takes cigarette] How does he explain that?
John McClane: Why me? What does he got to do with me? Inspector Cobb: I have no idea, he just said it had to be you. John McClane: It's nice to be needed.
Razin, Liberius' Lieutenant: [Zhivago is trying to aide a wounded White soldier] It does not matter! Zhivago: Have you ever loved a woman, Razin? Razin, Liberius' Lieutenant: I once had a wife and four children.
Shelly: [about Cheryl] Why does she keep making those horrible noises? Ash: I don't know! Shelly: Look at her eyes. Look at her eyes! For God's sake, what happened to her eyes?
Brian Taylor: We can't hold them off. We gotta lay down a base of fire and pivot. Mike Zavala: What the fuck does that mean, dude? Brian Taylor: We're shooting our way out of here, bro.
