“I have consciously tried to refocus my attention away from being a film critic and toward being a film historian.”
podcasts
Posted inNonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
How Karina Longworth Is Reimagining Classic Hollywood—and the Podcast—in ‘You Must Remember This’
“I have consciously tried to refocus my attention away from being a film critic and toward being a film historian.”
Posted inNonfiction, Podcasts, Quotes
Chaz Ebert on Becoming One With Roger During His Sickness
Chaz Ebert stopped practicing law when she married Roger, and ran the business side of things for him. They worked side-by-side throughout their marriage. As he became sicker, and was only able to communicate through a computer, Chaz’s role grew. At some point, he asked me to be his voice. So we would do some […]
Posted inPodcasts, Quotes
Remembering Is a Social Act
The worry about mental laziness is a really big one; the idea that because we can turn to Wikipedia or turn to our phone and we can get an answer to a question that somehow our brain is becoming slack like an empty wine bladder. In a way, when I started the book [Smarter Than […]
Posted inPodcasts, Quotes
Jazz's Influence on the Beat Generation
These principal writers in various ways all tried to capture something of the flavor of jazz. Certainly Ginsberg and Kerouac. Kerouac wanted to write lines of prose or poetry that captured something of, say, the saxophonist art. He was interested in extemporization; he was interested in improvisation. And when he heard figures like Lester Young, […]
Posted inPodcasts, Quotes
Gary Shteyngart on the Highest Form of Tragedy
The funnier you are, the more I think there’s a tragic undercurrent. … I think humor is one of the highest forms of tragedy there is. People talk about the serious novel and these sort of hallowed tones and how important it is, but I think a lot of humorous stuff — books by writers […]
Posted inNonfiction, Podcasts, Quotes
The Financial Power of 1,000 True Fans
If you had 1,000 people who were your true fans—and I define them as people who would buy whatever it is that you produce at any time and would not only buy the paperback but also the hard cover and the digital version, who would not only buy your CD but would drive 100 miles […]
Posted inPodcasts, Quotes
The Business of Merchandising Pop Music
Brian Epstein was the manager of a family-owned business called North End Music Stores in Liverpool, England. He began hearing a lot about a new group called The Beatles, who were playing at the Cavern Club. So he went to hear them, and one day, proposed a management contract. The four lads, which included drummer […]
Posted inPodcasts, Quotes
What Goes On in Joaquin Phoenix's Head When He's Shooting a Movie
When I first started the film [“The Master”] — when I first read the script — there was a great deal of flashbacks where we actually saw all these injuries and these were things we were going to shoot; but as the film progressed we didn’t end up shooting those things so I’d kind of […]
Posted inPodcasts, Quotes
How to Cure Reader's Block
Of course now there are books on tape so people who have trouble with their eyes in any way — having the book come in through the eyes — have an alternative. I would say another alternative is to try an author who works very slowly on the sentence level. Some examples are Samuel Beckett, […]