Of Winterbottom's flims, I've only seen Jude and Tristam Shandy (yep, I go in for lit adaptations), and it was hard to tell that there was any shared motive forces between the two. Jude, I thought, was a pretty damn good film, despite or maybe because it (not-really-spoiler) lops off the last 1/3 of the novel.

Yes, this makes it a comedy ('fuck' being the new 'penis-breath'); for edgy action comedy, make ages younger and substitute 'cunt'.

Quintet
About a year ago, I watched Quintet with a few friends, anticipating the worst film I'd ever seen (so it was hyped), and what I got instead was a watch-ably hokey B-sci-fi with pretensions toward greatness. Not a bad night. So…which Altman films have other people watched and either a) hated or b) been…

Good 'nough. I'll probably read this, as the Internet's minion (the munificent Rowan Kaiser) recommended it to me. But WHY DIDN'T IT FIND ME FIRST!?

Wow!
A novel about a writer! Cool idea! The problem of an unfinished sonnet cycle that ends up not revitalising his career sounds like just the thing for these economically troubled times!

My point, though, is that there's no *reason*, logically speaking, that I should care at all what these guys think about quote-unquote issues. (Paris Review interviews aside, since those a lot of the time discuss things like aesthetics and craft, which are the subjects that one might expect an artist to be an expert…

We atheists not only try to touch God, we try to kick him in the nuts.

Writers' Opinions
I think there's a bigger issue underneath this: we (at least, I) have a tendency to listen more carefully to artists who have moved us, emotionally, than we might to someone who has academic credentials but no aesthetic or emotive bearing. This isn't just a Sean Penn problem, I don't think. I tend to…

Mr. Wood Seems OK!
I think that that kids' version of Huck Finn was maybe the third movie I'd ever seen in a movie theatre (he was a kid, I was a kid), so I've always liked this guy. So…yeah. Hi Elijah!

I thought it was a pretty good story, DPA…if that makes you feel any better.

Oh, we know you, Saul. We know your kind too well.

Eternally, still too soon…

It's too bad she didn't get to the "don't be sad" part!

Yeah, I agree. The piano on this album rocks.

I read a book by Gregory Benford that was OK (Timescape; astrophysicist). I wish I could think of another off-hand…

It sounds like there's an opposite problem here: the author has an idea how all the stuff works, but he's not gonna tell YOU about it. No sir-eee.

…but seriously: douche though he may be as a person, as an actor he's made a lot of great movies. His turn in Magnolia is, to my mind, one of the great roles of the 1990s.

THE COCK
RESPECT

I feel a Glamorama comin' on…

Yeah, or maybe it's not really that interesting to be involved in the heroic act of non-creation. Remind me how this lady pays the rent, if New York is so expensive and she's energetically not doing anything?