The Shattering Effect of a High Explosive: On a soliloquy

slaughterhousefive:

The soliloquy considered best and most famous in cinematic history is probably the one at the end of Blade Runner. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading here and go watch it. Then come back and read this, because I’m important. I don’t feel bad about spoilers because this movie’s been out for more…

blade runner  

ourvaluedcustomers: To her boyfriend… As I’ve pointed out to friends, Firefly is like Arrested Development for SF fanatics. Short show lifespan, but it conjures white-hot emotions among its adherents. I will watch the show someday when these emotions cool.

ourvaluedcustomers:

To her boyfriend…

As I’ve pointed out to friends, Firefly is like Arrested Development for SF fanatics. Short show lifespan, but it conjures white-hot emotions among its adherents.

I will watch the show someday when these emotions cool.

firefly   our valued customers   geek culture  

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” —Steve Jobs

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

—Steve Jobs

breaking bad   walter white   steve jobs   intellectual clot-busters  

eeriewhisper: “I’ve been to Chicago, too.” - Al Swearengen, cosmopolitan. Every girl’s crazy ‘bout a sharp-dressed man. Except for Trixie back there, perhaps.

eeriewhisper:

“I’ve been to Chicago, too.” - Al Swearengen, cosmopolitan.

Every girl’s crazy ‘bout a sharp-dressed man. Except for Trixie back there, perhaps.

deadwood   Al Swearengen  

“Two senior citizens were stabbeded in the spree.” Did Ralph Wiggum write the dek? Copy editors, you are needed! (From New York City’s NBC.com)

“Two senior citizens were stabbeded in the spree.” Did Ralph Wiggum write the dek? Copy editors, you are needed! (From New York City’s NBC.com)

support your local copy editor  

Being mellow is okay if you wanna be a piece of cheese. The trouble with being a piece of cheese is that someone’s gonna spread you on a cracker and eat you.
James Ellroy, interviewed on The Cult: The Official Chuck Palahniuk Website
james ellroy   chuckpalahniuk.net  

As seen on Poynter’s Latest News section. Copy editors, you are needed! Edited to add: The name Middletown Times Herald-Record rang a bell. Sure enough, The Proud Highway confirms that before this paper formed from mergers, its Middletown Daily Record antecedent was where a young but feisty Hunter S. Thompson once worked until he kicked in a recalcitrant candy machine and was fired.

As seen on Poynter’s Latest News section. Copy editors, you are needed!

Edited to add: The name Middletown Times Herald-Record rang a bell. Sure enough, The Proud Highway confirms that before this paper formed from mergers, its Middletown Daily Record antecedent was where a young but feisty Hunter S. Thompson once worked until he kicked in a recalcitrant candy machine and was fired.

poynter   support your local copy editor   Hunter Thompson  

I was the Bruce Lee of Hearts, no joke; knew all the nerve clusters to paralyze your ass.
Colson Whitehead, “Occasional Dispatches from the Republic of Anhedonia: Part 4,” on Grantland (entire series here)
colson whitehead   grantland   card games   longform journalism   poker   bruce lee  

You finally have to settle down to do well the few things that your brain really can do well—the rest no longer seems pressing and distracting, because it is now permanently out of reach. The feeling that you are stupider than you were is what finally interests you in the really complex subjects of life….You realize that you are no prodigy, your shoulders relax, and you begin to look around you…
Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine (via austinkleon)

(via austinkleon)

Austin Kleon   nicholson baker   intellectual clot-busters  

The difficulty of always feeling that you ought to be doing something is that you tend to undervalue the times when you’re apparently doing nothing, and those are very important times. It’s the equivalent of the dream time, in your daily life, times when things get sorted out and reshuffled.

Brian Eno (via the mighty austinkleon)

Reminds me of my response to a friend who, upon discovering she had a complete day to herself, asked on Facebook what she should do with it: “N O T H I N G.”

intellectual clot-busters   brian eno   Austin Kleon