August 2009
52 posts
“The windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror”
—tom daschle on regrets and moving forward not back (via whatsupstairs)
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“I’m aware of one — one — reader who doesn’t care for Lorrie Moore, and even that one seems a little apologetic about it. “Too … punny,” my friend explains, resorting to a pun as though hypnotized by the very tendency that sets off his resistance. For others, Moore may be, exactly, the most irresistible contemporary American writer: brainy, humane, unpretentious and warm; seemingly effortlessly lyrical; Lily-Tomlin-funny. Most of all, Moore is capable of enlisting not just our sympathies but our sorrows. Her last book, the 1998 story collection “Birds of America,” included the unforgettable baby-with-cancer story “People Like That Are the Only People Here,” a breathtakingly dark overture to a decade’s silence — as if the Beatles had exited on “A Day in the Life.” For many readers, the fact that Moore has now relieved an 11-year publishing hiatus is reason enough to start Google-mapping a route to the nearest surviving bookstore.”
—Jonathan Lethem reviewing ‘A Gate at the Stairs’ by Lorrie Moore - NYT
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“
Six years ago, I moved from Chicago to New York to work at Saturday Night Live. I packed up and was going through my things…I found an orange folder—a regular school folder—in a bookshelf…There were quotes written all over the front of it. Some of them were: “Greet everything with ‘Yes, and…’” “Make statements instead of putting the burden on others with questions.” “Stay in the present, as opposed to focusing on the past or future.” “The fun is always on the other side of a yes.”
Years before, I was a student at Second City, an improvisational acting school in Chicago, and took a class with artistic director Martin de Maat. These quotes were some of the rules of “improv” he gave us. When I found the folder, I realized that taking that class had completely changed my life.
” —Tina Fey (continuing the “improv rules are life rules” meme) (via Jen) (via anthonyking) (via katespencer) (via lookmom)
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Uncomfortable tale of a woman married to a man with seizures or something
The actors seemed distracted throughout the film, as if they had something else to do or some medicine they had to take, but, while on screen, they might as well arch an eyebrow or turn a semi-profile ‘cause that’s movie meaningful.
- Reader review of The Time Travellers Wife: NYT
