The greater fool is actually an economic term. It’s a patsy. For the rest of us to profit, we need a greater fool— someone who will buy long and sell short. Most people spend their life trying not to be the greater fool; we toss him the hot potato, we dive for his seat when the music stops. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools. —
Sloan Sabbith, Episode 110 The Greater Fool
[Chris Pratt]’s kind of a writer’s dream. I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating: He has the best improvisation in a cast full of world-class improvisers. Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari and Nick Offerman and Aubrey Plaza. Like, people who trained and are great in improvisation. The best improv in the show’s history was Pratt’s, and it was in “Flu Season,” when Ben is walking Leslie out the door to go to the doctor, and Andy is just taking over as Ron’s assistant. As they’re walking by, Pratt says, “Hey Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here, and it says you could have network connectivity problems.” [Laughs.] If I could write a joke that good, I would be a happy man. And it was completely improvised. He’s just so in the moment, and all of those actor-y terms. He’s so present and in the moment and fully fluent in his character that he can make up perfectly formulated jokes like that on the spot, and it’s incredible. He’s improved every episode he’s ever been in. —Michael Schur on Chris Pratt (via
rufustfirefly)
(Source: The A.V. Club)
I think that’s extremely important, but I think it’s important to create all types of female characters, across the spectrum. I always say that what makes me sad is that women don’t even get the opportunity to be mediocre in the way that guys do. It’s like, every week these bad movies come out at the box office—let’s let women direct some of them! I’m not saying that’s going to make them great, I’m saying we need to be allowed to make good movies, bad movies, mediocre movies. We need to be able to create authentic flawed characters and totally crappy one-dimensional characters. I think we should be allowed to do it all, bad and good, just like guys. I don’t like the idea that women need to get in there and prove that we’re great at it. Because you know what? We’re not all gonna be great at it. We just need to be doing it, and get paid for doing it. —
Diablo Cody in response to “
Do you think that creating complicated, flawed, authentic representations of women is what being a feminist in film is all about?” (via
drinkyourjuice)
(Source: hermione)
It is my duty to commit to film the finest fucking monsters ever committed to screen, and it is my duty to create the greatest fucking robots ever committed to screen. —Guillermo del Toro
(Source: electricsed)
And just when B and S had built a bridge, it all had to come crashing down. But dry your eyes. The Kiss on the Lips party is just around the corner. And you know who loves parties? Gossip Girl. —
(vimarigoldsky)
I think that we both have a light in our stomachs. A special light…Like E.T. And the team needs someone to light the way. My stomach light needs your stomach light. We can all phone home together. —Doug Glatt to Xavier LaFlamme in Goon (via
gabriellethevampireslayer)
And in that moment, I swear we were infinite. —Holden Caulfield,
Looking for Alaska (via
kennyprice)
(Source: misandrist)
the song of achilles
He told us too of Heracles, his labors, and the madness that took him. In its grip he had not recognized his wife and children, and he had killed them for enemies.
Achilles asked, “How could he not recognize his wife?”
“That is the nature of madness,” Chiron said. His voice sounded deeper than usual. He had known this man, I remembered. Had known the wife.
“But why did the madness come?”
“The gods wished to punish him,” Chiron answered.
Achilles shook his head, impatiently. “But this was a greater punishment for her. It was not fair of them.”
“There is no law that gods must be fair, Achilles,” Chiron said. “And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone. Do you think?”
“Perhaps,” Achilles admitted.
I listened and did not speak. Achilles’ eyes were bright in the firelight, his face drawn sharply by the flickering shadows. I would know it in dark or disguise, I told myself. I would know it even in madness.
Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles is $3.79 on the Amazon Kindle right now and you should buy it. It’s gorgeous and quick and romantic and hot and beautiful and heartbreaking.
Ben Edlund on Writing
“I DON’T write, for the first two-thirds of the time allotted for completion of the script. This is a period of much contemplation, self-deconstruction, fever dreams, all while seated in front of the computer, NOT writing. Then, as the pressure of an imminent dead-line finally builds to the truly absurd, necessity alone drags the newborn of invention from my calloused womb. This last phase requires one to three ‘all-nighters’ with sporadic two hour naps, you know, the ones you use your cell phone alarm to terminate, which is not unlike getting a call from the belly of unpleasantness itself. There is the pit of four a.m. loneliness, that low hour when the coyotes are either asleep or trying to figure out what went wrong with their lives, the place where your only hope is to dive into the fictional, to order a story universe the way you cannot order your own.
I do not recommend this process.”
— Ben Edlund
(Source: northbynorthwesterly)
Many adults are put off when youngsters pose scientific questions. Children ask why the sun is yellow, or what a dream is, or how deep you can dig a hole, or when is the world’s birthday, or why we have toes. Too many teachers and parents answer with irritation or ridicule, or quickly move on to something else. Why adults should pretend to omniscience before a five-year-old, I can’t for the life of me understand. What’s wrong with admitting that you don’t know? Children soon recognize that somehow this kind of question annoys many adults. A few more experiences like this, and another child has been lost to science. There are many better responses. If we have an idea of the answer, we could try to explain. If we don’t, we could go to the encyclopedia or the library. Or we might say to the child: “I don’t know the answer. Maybe no one knows. Maybe when you grow up, you’ll be the first to find out. —Carl Sagan (via
knightdress)
(Source: skaterboytae)
chantelle82:
Hoechlin looked into the makeup mirror, bit into a breakfast taco and said, “A werewolf eating a taco,” to his reflection, as if pondering the strangeness of the chain of events that had taken him here.
- NY Times, May 5, 2011 (x)
Society has put up so many boundaries, so many limitations on what’s right and wrong that it’s almost impossible to get a pure thought out. It’s like a little kid, a little boy, looking at colors, and no one told him what colors are good, before somebody tells you you shouldn’t like pink because that’s for girls, or you’d instantly become a gay two-year-old. Why would anyone pick blue over pink? Pink is obviously a better color. Everyone’s born confident, and everything’s taken away from you. —Kanye West (via
underwaternow)
(Source: thefader.com)
My whole family loves ‘Parks and Recreation’ and I had a great time filming that scene. It was a real honor that in my sitcom debut I got to meet someone like Leslie Knope, who believes so deeply in public service. She’s an example for men and women across the country that there’s no higher calling than helping other people. On a personal note, I’ll never figure out how Leslie Knope got my home phone number, but that really just shows how committed she is. —Joe Biden (
x)
(Source: galentines)
