Look on each day that comes as a challenge, as a test of courage. The pain will come in waves, some days worse than others, for no apparent reason. Accept the pain. Little by little, you will find new strength, new vision, born of the very pain and loneliness which seem, at first, impossible to master.
— Daphne du Maurier, born on this date in 1907
“The secret of your power over people is that you communicate with yourself, not your readers.”
“Every day for six months I deliberately spent several hours at the computer writing about what frightens me the most on this earth: the death of a child for her parents and the death of a young woman for her husband and children. Life made me a witness to these two misfortunes, one right after the other, and assigned me – at least that’s how I understood it – to tell that story.”
Ants store long- and short-term memories on different sides of their brains Science
Perhaps the most humorous long book I have ever read is the 800+ page entire ‘The Good Soldier Schweik’ by the Czech novelist Jaroslav Hasek. This novel, being about the ineptitude of authority figures, was right up my alley and certainly is relevant today.
Long Novels and Me
Understand Your Procrastination In A Different Context
Living In Fear Of Dying With A Book Unfinished
Sixty Percent Of Small UK Publishers Say They’ll Be Out Of Business By Fall
How Being Bored Helps Us
Crises Have Always Inspired Creativity
Sex in an American suburb is not quite the same phenomenon as sex in, say, an eastern European apartment block
I missed this David Marchese interview of Werner Herzog back in March but was happy to run across it today — it is the perfect lunchtime read.
When you pulled Joaquin Phoenix from a car accident, did you know it was him? Yes, although he was upside down in this car, squished between airbags that had deployed and wildly trying to light a cigarette.
That could be an image from one of your films. I knew he must not light his cigarette, because there was gasoline dripping and he would have perished in a fireball. So I tried to be clearly commandeering to him and tell him not to. But I was worried that if you gave him a command, he would strike his lighter even harder. So I managed to snatch the cigarette lighter from his hand. Then it became completely clear that it was Joaquin. But I didn’t want to speak to him after. I saw he wanted to come over and thank me. I just drove off.
Herzog talking about his time making The Mandalorian:
What about baby Yoda? Did you think baby Yoda was cute? No, not cute. It was a phenomenal achievement of sculpting mechanically. When I saw this, it was so convincing, it was so unique. And then the producers talked about, Shouldn’t we have a fallback version with green screen and have it be completely digitally created? I said to them: It would be cowardly. You are the trailblazers. Show the world what you can do.
See also 24 Pieces of Life Advice from Werner Herzog, including “Take revenge if need be” and “Carry bolt cutters everywhere”.