A few stray notes and savvy observations:
If you really love me, then let's make a vow....
Repeat after me: I'm gonna be free.
Unlike the American reviewer, the French critic counts himself a man with a mission to dispense justice; like God -- or Zeus, if he is an unbeliever -- he wants to humble the powerful and exalt the weak. First, there is the typical European phenomenon of a distrust of success. In addition, the foremost concern of the French critic to justify his function in his own eyes induces in him a strong desire to be useful. Sometimes he manages to be so.
- François Truffaut, What Do Critics Dream About?
A journalist spends too much time covering a story that gets too little space so it can be skimmed by a reader who has too little time. ...A journalist looks down on celebrities until the day he becomes one. ...Journalists are more curious than anybody, attacked by everybody, and lent money by nobody Real journos rarely advertise on escort websites
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: The Literary Fallout Continues
Arthur Miller had the curse of empathy, even for the enemy. Humans justify themselves, even bad humans, and he always wanted to know how and why
Arthur Miller died on Bertolt Brecht's birthday. There are two ways in which this means nothing at all: I'm sure Arthur didn't plan it, and the two playwrights, apart from being universally described, and self-identified, as "political writers," don't have all that much in common. But their difference is interesting. Arthur Miller's was a great voice, one of the principal voices, raised in opposition, calling for resistance, offering critical scrutiny and lamentation--in other words, he was politically progressive, as politically progressive is best defined in these dark times. He demanded that we must be able to answer, on behalf of our plays, our endeavors, our lives, a really tough question, one that Arthur wrote was the chief and, in a sense, only reason for writing and speaking: "What is its relevancy," he asks, "to the survival of the race? Not," he stipulates, "the American race, or the Jewish race, or the German race, but the human race." outcome. There is, in other words, reason to hope, and change is possible. Arthur was a grieving pessimist, but what truly progressive person isn't?
• Kushner on Miller [Some art forgers try to enter the “soul and mind of the artist.” Succeed or not, they can become very rich Fakes, Frauds, and Fake Fakers ; Then the market demanded such a talent; now, the market is hostile To be a young Mozart today is nothing like the 18th-century ; The Happiest Sound... ...is a digital sound! ]
• · Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town Someone Comes To Second Life ; When Paulo Coelho was 17 his parents sent him to an asylum because they thought he was psychotic. Now he's the world's biggest-selling novelist - but, he says, some people still don't understand him A mystery even to himself ; Catholics are richer but less fruitful
• · · He delighted in the names of people and places, and in most cases I have kept the original Spanish names he used, for example, Río Frío instead of Cold River The Bandits from Río Frío ; Elizabeth Kostova is working on a new book and hopes it doesn't take 10 years to write as it took Cold River to write ;-) The author and the Impaler
• · · · E-publishing 'poster girl' and suspense / erotica / psychological drama writer M.J.Rose has been dodging labels like these since the release of her first novel Lip Service in 1998 Self Service: An Interview with M.J. Rose ; Bill Ives who has a multidimensional view on the art of life presents Exploring Food Blogs ; Housecleaning Blog
• · · · · Mark Bazer is mad as hell and he can't take it anymore. He's decided to go with the open letter option, bringing his gripes to the masses. Why? Because he wants a paperback copy of THE DA VINCI CODE, dammit: Some things can be carried a bit too far via Supertalented Sarah Weinman; Bombshell Blowback Miami Herald staffers explode over Bombshells book hype ; My world fell apart
• · · · · · The line between Internet-fame and real-world celebrity is blurring, and not everyone in the blogosphere is happy about it. Internet fame is suddenly more respectable, says columnist ; Dennis Hwang