Writing

Commentary

"Maybe it's something about the nature of suburbanization that creates an implicit emotional link with the central city. My childhood community existed because of Detroit, the fact that I ended up as the person I am is because of Detroit."

"Certainly a multitude of articles about social networks have touched on this, but what interests me most is the fact that extraordinary things don't come out of systems like Facebook or MySpace or LinkedIn, they come from old-fashioned forums and chatrooms that are all about enthusiasts uniting around a common interest, be they Wikipedia enforcers or /b/ trolls."

"Inception is a puzzle box bound together with frustration and desperation, presented with meticulous skill. We are placed within it and then led back out, but the experience simply fills, it doesn't empty."

"Doesn't any show creator ever think about all the new dynamics and possibilities that would present themselves if these gender roles were inverted? Is it just that an audience would be too resistant to the concept of a female nerd, or even any female character not presented first and foremost as being attractive?"

"It would be easy to say that the story is as simple as 'man makes an ill-advised deal with the devil,' but that's really not true. This isn't a film of simple, clean-cut morality."

"I think the strongest parts of the plot were the little backstory vignettes that composed the first half of the film. Each was its own little mini-movie and they were fairly effective. But all these great, complex characters were all set up only to essentially go through the superhero motions at the end."

"One has the impression throughout the entire thing that it is wrought with complex metaphors whose meaning we can only scratch the surface of, metaphors that Maddin understands completely. Its constantly bleary, sleepy focus and rhythmic editing put the viewer in the mindset of the sleepwalkers who pervade the city's streets."

"Every time his daughter turned at the end of a lane, it took her a second too long to surface. Every time his heart clenched painfully and his throat closed up. You couldn't breathe under there."

"'Today's weather is perfect for the kind of thing you want to do. Why, today a pair of free-wheeling, fun-loving professional killers like my sister and me could take down the President of the United States of America if we wanted! Imagine that, friend! The President of the United States!'"

"Our young ears remain clogged

        against the wisdom of countless years

            and dirty toilets."

"Bent low beneath the ache of day-long toil,

Your faithful hoe becomes a steadfast crutch,

Your woe-creased brow smeared brown with fresh turned soil,

As sepia stains the sky with twilight touch."

"(i am not tomcat i am 

not who you think I want you 

to think I am I think 

you think)"

"What you don't know is that Grant was actually the puppet of his first Vice President, Schuyler Colfax, Jr., after whom New Jersey was named."

"This rambling twelve-page outline for the project goes on to describe in detail such issues as how to breach the 'glistening vaporous spheres' which surround the Earth, how man's humors respond to changing air pressure, and whether or not they would be stopped at some point by St. Peter."

"Darjeeling has gotten a lot of flak in the media (mostly illegitimate media such as blogs and The Michigan Daily) for being 'racist' and 'misogynistic,' and, more importantly, for 'not giving Natalie Portman's ass enough screen time.'"