I kind of dislike 'For Whom the Bell Tolls,' but most of Hemingway in general, mainly because his stylistic shenanigans ruined so many young writers of my generation who tried to imitate him. I think, for his time, he moved fiction to a different lev...
My mum was never too keen on TV, so we kids all went to the library and got books out. Right from the start, I loved the works of Mark Twain. Every time I read about Tom Sawyer, I'd go out and do something low-level naughty, just like him.
'Mean' is a song I wrote about somebody who wrote things that were so mean so many times that it would ruin my day. Then it would ruin the next day. And it would level me so many times, I just felt like I was being hit in the face every time this per...
Jessie Stevens: Why do you think we moved so often? Your father was a swindler, dear, but a lovable one. If you ask me, this one's a bigger operator on every level. John Robie: Thank you, madam.
Madeliene White: Well detective, there are matters at stake here that are a little bit above your pay grade. No offense. Keith Frazier: Well, why don't you just tell the mayor to raise my pay grade to the proper level, and problem solved.
Belloq: How odd that it should end this way for us after so many stimulating encounters. I almost regret it. Where shall I find a new adversary so close to my own level? Indiana: Try the local sewer.
Technician: Sir, the oxygen level is bottoming out in Sector G. What do you want me to do about it? Vilos Cohaagen: [as if obvious] Don't do anything. Technician: But they won't last an hour, sir. Vilos Cohaagen: Fuck 'em. It'll be a good lesson to t...
I have more perspective now, and am happier now. It's not that I don't want success, but I now know I can have success at a lower level and make much more money doing it by myself. I make $6 or $7 bucks a record vs. nothing off those other records.
That $27,000 that a young player will now get just for making the main draw at the Australian Open is huge. It can set them up for a couple of months which at that level you really do need that kind of help. It sounds like a lot of money, but when yo...
Most restaurants in most cities, including Washington, are at a sort of mid-level. They're somewhat trendy, or they have some sort of gimmick, or they're somewhat expensive. And they make a lot of money off drinks. I tell people don't go to most of t...
At the high school level, the coaches get these kids in revenue-driven sports and take them away from baseball. There's so much pressure on these kids to even play spring football. We need to get the African-American players back in the game, which I...
I have done many movies that people hadn't seen. 'The Fountain,' I spent a year on that. 'The Prestige' with Chris Nolan, and 'Australia.' From my perspective it's very satisfying. Some movies people see and other movies they don't. 'Wolverine,' 'X M...
I get star-struck anytime I meet performers that I grew up watching and appreciating. I mean, it's still incredibly surreal to me that I was a kid in San Antonio watching movies and then now I'm working with some of the people that were in those movi...
I find I can write for two lines, and then I have nothing else to say. For me, the only way to find something comes through the sentence level and sticking with the sentences that give a subtle feeling that there's something more to say.
Depression is not a character flaw. It is a biochemical disease. Depression does not discriminate. It affects individuals of all genders, races, religions, sexual orientations, and income levels. Depression doesn't accept credit cards or care about y...
And of course, we know that opportunity lies outside the reach of some of our people. We don't need flowery words about inequality to tell us that, and we don't need a party that has led while poverty and hunger rose to record levels to give us lectu...
I don't write songs that don't affect me on some level, because I figure if I am not moved by it, if its not something that I have a longing to celebrate or to be reminded of, if it doesn't affect me, then how can I possibly think it is going to affe...
I don't know how it would play out it the long run, if I were go to series with the story, I don't know. I just miss Peter so much on a personal level, that's about what I can say. He's my buddy and I wish he were around.
Everyone loves himself, but loving others is the most daunting task. The main reason for any person to feel low in life or hurt, rejected and dejected is that he expects almost the same level of love from others as he loves dearly to himself and when...
WhatsApp provides phone-number-based messaging, and people asked, 'Isn't that what SMS is?' Yes, but SMS is expensive, antiquated, and what WhatsApp did was modernize and level that playing field. For example, in Europe, if France wants to talk to Be...
People are remarkably bad at remembering long lists of goals. I learned this at a professional level when trying to get my high-performance coaching clients to stay on track; the longer their lists of to-dos and goals, the more overwhelmed and off-tr...