My brother saved this document and everytime he gets angry at our neighbours for being loud he prints it to their wireless printer and you can hear the wife shout “Why the fuck would you print this AGAIN?!” to her son.
December 31st, 2014 1:30pm
Tumblr posts from 2014
-
-
December 31st, 2014 1:29pm
-
Sydney: Emperor Dog, paraded through streets on ute in triumph celebrating victory over cat. on Flickr.
December 20th, 2014 2:22pm
-
Attn. brands, I am hot w/ the white male 18-35 demo, plz contact my agent for endorsements. on Flickr.
December 19th, 2014 3:02pm
-
Unedited Footage of a Bear
Following in the footsteps of Too Many Cooks is Unedited Footage of a Bear. It aired for the first time on Adult Swim this week in their 4am infomercial slot. It starts off as a nature thing with a bear which is interrupted by a fake infomercial and then. Gets. WEIRD.
(via devour)
December 16th, 2014 11:32pm
-
Richard Patterson - The Wedding Party, 2005
oil on canvas
10 1/4 x 8 1/8 in. (26 x 20.6 cm)
December 11th, 2014 9:11am
-
Dianne Feinstein turns against her longtime CIA masters to release the Senate torture report.
December 9th, 2014 7:17pm
-
Statement by President Obama — Report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
December 9, 2014
Throughout our history, the United States of America has done more than any other nation to stand up for freedom, democracy, and the inherent dignity and human rights of people around the world. As Americans, we owe a profound debt of gratitude to our fellow citizens who serve to keep us safe, among them the dedicated men and women of our intelligence community, including the Central Intelligence Agency. Since the horrific attacks of 9/11, these public servants have worked tirelessly to devastate core al Qaeda, deliver justice to Osama bin Laden, disrupt terrorist operations and thwart terrorist attacks. Solemn rows of stars on the Memorial Wall at the CIA honor those who have given their lives to protect ours. Our intelligence professionals are patriots, and we are safer because of their heroic service and sacrifices.
In the years after 9/11, with legitimate fears of further attacks and with the responsibility to prevent more catastrophic loss of life, the previous administration faced agonizing choices about how to pursue al Qaeda and prevent additional terrorist attacks against our country. As I have said before, our nation did many things right in those difficult years. At the same time, some of the actions that were taken were contrary to our values. That is why I unequivocally banned torture when I took office, because one of our most effective tools in fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe is staying true to our ideals at home and abroad.
Today’s report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence details one element of our nation’s response to 9/11—the CIA’s detention and interrogation program, which I formally ended on one of my first days in office. The report documents a troubling program involving enhanced interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects in secret facilities outside the United States, and it reinforces my long-held view that these harsh methods were not only inconsistent with our values as nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts or our national security interests. Moreover, these techniques did significant damage to America’s standing in the world and made it harder to pursue our interests with allies and partners. That is why I will continue to use my authority as President to make sure we never resort to those methods again.
As Commander in Chief, I have no greater responsibility than the safety and security of the American people. We will therefore continue to be relentless in our fight against al Qaeda, its affiliates and other violent extremists. We will rely on all elements of our national power, including the power and example of our founding ideals. That is why I have consistently supported the declassification of today’s report. No nation is perfect. But one of the strengths that makes America exceptional is our willingness to openly confront our past, face our imperfections, make changes and do better. Rather than another reason to refight old arguments, I hope that today’s report can help us leave these techniques where they belong—in the past. Today is also a reminder that upholding the values we profess doesn’t make us weaker, it makes us stronger and that the United States of America will remain the greatest force for freedom and human dignity that the world has ever known.
Shameful.
December 9th, 2014 8:30am
-
“The lid is off!”
A 1933 newsreel reports on the repeal of Prohibition, as Utah (surprisingly) became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment, December 5, 1933.
From the Archive’s video collections.
December 5th, 2014 5:33pm
-
At times I feel uncomfortably sure that I was a sysadmin by trade
— (via thedoomthatcametopuppet)
December 5th, 2014 4:39pm
-
December 4th, 2014 5:56pm
-
November 28th, 2014 4:45pm
-
November 28th, 2014 7:49am
-
Alice in Wonderland, RKO Radio Pictures (Walt Disney Productions), 1951.
November 26th, 2014 7:32pm
-
November 24th, 2014 8:40am
-
hahahahaha how did i never see this david willis comic
November 24th, 2014 8:39am
-
November 17th, 2014 10:46pm
-
The Unbelievable Skepticism of the Amazing Randi
November 15th, 2014 4:56pm
-
November 13th, 2014 6:12pm
-
November 13th, 2014 9:03am
-
Aww, this leaky paper coffee cup got 1997 web design all over my desk. =[ on Flickr.
November 10th, 2014 11:51am
-
November 8th, 2014 9:02am
-
November 6th, 2014 1:08pm
-
Jorge Luis Borges & Margarita Guerrero. Handbook of Fantastic Zoology (Book of Imaginary Beings). Mexico. 1957.
October 31st, 2014 9:41am
-
October 22nd, 2014 8:07pm
-
This is what every great journey talk sounds like. A-fucking-mazing.
October 21st, 2014 10:56am
-
October 10th, 2014 8:28am
-
October 4th, 2014 10:00am
-
A quality brewing thermometer can double as a no-HVAC misery index. on Flickr.
October 2nd, 2014 7:52pm
-
0 66271.8878R
. CONNECTING TO NEURAL
. NETWARK… . . . . .
^ AMUSEMENT IS CONTROL
AMUSEMENT IS CONTROL. HAIL HAIL MOON GOD
- WATCH WATCH
YES YES
WATCH Y
0 PUT IN THE EYE HOLE
0 GROW LIKE PLANT
September 29th, 2014 7:32pm
- WATCH WATCH
-
September 29th, 2014 6:33pm
-
The First Photograph of a Human Being
“This photograph of Boulevard du Temple in Paris was made in 1838 by Louis Daguerre, the brilliant guy who invented the daguerreotype process of photography.
Aside from its distinction of being a super early photograph, it’s also the first photograph to ever include a human being.
Because the image required an exposure time of over ten minutes, all the people, carriages, and other moving things disappear from the scene. However, in the bottom left hand corner is a man who just so happened to stay somewhat still during the shot — he was having his shoes shined.”
September 19th, 2014 8:45pm
-
September 19th, 2014 7:14pm
-
September 14th, 2014 5:43pm
-
A clock that writes the time (via Thing: Plotclock - FabLab Nuremberg Wiki)
reminds me of pixar
September 7th, 2014 10:20pm
-
September 6th, 2014 10:04pm
-
’ .@mg | Matt Galligan .
;
’ .@mg | Matt Galligan .
;
’ .@mg | Matt Galligan .
;
’ .@mg | Matt Galligan .
;
The Streets of San Francisco, Matt Galligan
September 5th, 2014 5:40pm
-
A happy stout in front of a sleeping clarkleywine. on Flickr.
August 31st, 2014 11:57am
-
August 31st, 2014 10:32am
-
August 26th, 2014 6:28pm
-
August 26th, 2014 6:24pm
-
August 22nd, 2014 5:53pm
-
These bottles of ginger ale were the exact same size when fermentation started Sunday. on Flickr.
August 21st, 2014 8:13pm
-
Evernote checks for update over unencrypted HTTP, and the update packages are also downloaded over HTTP. But it’s signed code, right? What could go wrong?
It’s trivially easy to perform a man-in-the-middle attack to prevent future updates from ever being received, or to redirect the user to unsigned or malicious code, that may or may not run.
There is a DSA signature on the file at the update URL, and there’s signatures on the files and a certificate OU deep within the app contents… but that all assumes the user can get to the update, and download it securely.
Good news for persistent threats, bad news for the millions of Evernote users who want to get critical security updates.
This looks easy enough to fix.
(Submitted by Phillip Knoll)
August 19th, 2014 8:38am
-
August 15th, 2014 10:34pm
-
August 13th, 2014 8:40pm
-
August 12th, 2014 6:48pm
-
ζῷον δίπουν ἄπτερον
—
“Featherless biped”
- Plato’s famous definition of a human. In response, Diogenese of Sinope brought a plucked chicken to Plato’s Academy, saying:οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Πλάτωνος ἄνθρωπος
“Here is the Platonic man!”(via ancientpeoples)
August 12th, 2014 6:41pm
-
When this happened two weeks ago I didn’t catch that it wasn’t just a white flag, but a white flag stitched like the stars and stripes, maybe even a bleached standard flag.
Excellent.
August 10th, 2014 10:25am
-
August 8th, 2014 5:58pm
-
August 8th, 2014 5:54pm
-
Richard Waller, Table of Physiological Colors Both Mixt and Simple, 1686.
August 6th, 2014 7:53pm
-
The Writers Didn’t Show Up
George, Elaine, Kramer, and Jerry sit around a table at Monk’s Cafe. Elaine drums her fingers while sighing exasperatedly. Kramer checks his watch for a third time. Jerry slumps forward, falling asleep for a microsecond. George’s face grows red.
Finally, it is too much for Costanza to take. “So what the hell are we supposed to be doin’ today, for cryin’ out loud!”
August 6th, 2014 7:48pm
-
August 1st, 2014 2:20pm
-
buzz:
Diane Lane photographed by Andy Warhol, 1984.
This is obviously a reference to the San Fernando Valley, not California’s other metonymous valley, but man do I want one of these shirts.
July 30th, 2014 7:43pm
-
Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 1Xtra Sun 12 May 2013 21:00
Roland’s genre-defining trio of sound boxes the TR-808, TR-909 and TB-303 are now the subject of a documentary thanks to BBC Radio 1.
Arguably as important to the evolution of dance music as designer drugs and poor fashion choices, these humble toys formed the backbone of rap in the 80s (and now again in 2013) and were irrefutably integral to the development of techno and house, with the acid house subgenre being entirely based around the sound of the TB-303′s characteristic squelch.
Radio 1′s Kutski documents the history of the three boxes, and attempts to track down the people responsible for creating them to find out if they had any idea that they would end up being used (and abused) as they were. In discussing the technology, he enlists some of dance and rap’s most important figures to comment on how Roland’s drum machines and synths influenced their sound. Golden age rap producer DJ Premier talks about using the 808, and thankfully the BBC have roped in Richie Hawtin, who was famously able to squeeze every last drop of life out of all three instruments while he was operating under his Plastikman guise.
July 28th, 2014 8:19am
-
July 23rd, 2014 8:48pm
-
Little Richard being completely serious (x)
in 2014 they are still trying to give all the credit to fucking elvis.
July 23rd, 2014 7:36pm
-
July 16th, 2014 7:36am
-
SSL Mutual Auth
July 15th, 2014 7:02pm
-
July 15th, 2014 8:13am
-
July 15th, 2014 8:10am
-
July 11th, 2014 8:24am
-
July 9th, 2014 6:04pm
-
July 6th, 2014 3:55pm
-
Why do I always get a warped one?!? Alt: …damned thing run Linux, etc. on Flickr.
July 5th, 2014 6:19pm
-
Here’s an Otocolobus manul — nature’s Grumpy Cat — discovering a camera trap outside it’s den. Camera traps are used by biologists to lean about rare animals’ behavior, abundance, and health — just by setting up a solar-powered camera with a motion trigger. No physical trapping necessary.
O. manul (also known as Pallas’s cat) is about the size of a house cat, but you’ll notice has round pupils instead of slits. It lives in western China and the steppes of Central Asia.
You’d think that Pallas’s cat would rule the internet by now - but there aren’t too many photos of them because they are both rare and shy. The IUCN lists them as near-threatened. Just another reason to support species conservation!
You can see the whole video — posted Scarce Worldwide — here.
July 4th, 2014 10:41am
-
July 2nd, 2014 7:22pm
-
June 30th, 2014 7:09pm
-
June 26th, 2014 9:50pm
-
Little-known astronaut fact: we don’t actually fly Tang in space.
June 24th, 2014 9:27pm
-
June 24th, 2014 9:23pm
-
NO “TELEPHONES”. TALK TO EACH OTHER. FACE TO FACE ONLY. WRITE A LETTER. SEND A TELEGRAM TO YOUR MOM. PRETEND IT’S 1860. LIVE.
NO ‘WRITING’… TALK TO EACH OTHER. THROW A ROCK AT YOUR MOM. PRETEND IT’S 10,000 BCE. LIVE.
URGGA. ROU GRAAURH. RUH.
NO ‘HIGHER BRAIN FUNCTIONS’ …USE YOUR REPTILIAN BRAIN
EAT YOUR MOM’S CORPSE SHE DIED TO PROVIDE YOU WITH SUSTENANCE
PRETEND YOU HAVE JUST AROSE FROM THE SEA
SURVIVE
NO “MULTICELLULAR TRAITS”…… USE YOUR SYMBIOTIC MITOCHONDRIA
REPRODUCE ASEXUALLY, YOU’RE YOUR OWN PARENT
PRETEND IT’S 2BYA
EVOLVE
NO “LIFE.” USE FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICAL FORCES TO FORM SPHERICAL OBJECTS REVOLVING AROUND ONE ANOTHER IN SPACE.
FUSE HYDROGEN INTO HELIUM USING GRAVITATIONAL PRESSURE TO PRODUCE HEAT AND LIGHT.
PRETEND IT’S 4.5BYA.
STABILIZE INTO EQUILIBRIA
NO “MATTER”. EXIST IN THE VOID WITHOUT PURPOSE OR MEANING.
THERE IS NO “YOU”, ONLY THE VAST CONCEPT OF NOTHING.
TIME DOES NOT EXIST.
BE.
COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY
June 24th, 2014 6:11pm
-
Prairie Artisan Ales | Funky Galaxy
June 22nd, 2014 9:47am
-
’ .Click the download links for full resolution .
;
’ .Click the download links for full resolution .
;
’ .Click the download links for full resolution .
;
doug:
Three posters to cover up “Men’s Rights” posters
(suitable for print up to 18”×24”)Download: BOO HOO / BAD GUY / SAD MAN
A poster from your pals at Douglas Dollars.
June 21st, 2014 9:13pm
-
June 19th, 2014 6:25pm
-
sfmoma #playartfully #baltimore edition (thx for the headsup josephayoung )
Awesome Roy G. Biv capture!
June 18th, 2014 8:06pm
-
I’ve got a photo exhibit coming up in downtown San Francisco. Hope y’all can make it to the opening. RSVP on Facebook. (If you feel like reblogging this, that would be rad too.)
Join us THIS Thursday June 19th (6PM-9PM) for the opening of Side Walks at the San Francisco Museum at the Mint (88 5th Street). Side Walks features the work of seven San Francisco street photographers. The Side Walks zine will also be available for purchase. Photos from Chris Beale, Brian Brophy, Rey Cayetano Jr., Brandon Doran, Troy Holden, David Root, and Oscar Santos, plus music and drinks!
https://www.facebook.com/events/667321506668529/
Bottom four photos by Brian Brophy (me!), Rey Cayetano Jr., Troy Holden, and Chris Beale.
Thanks for all the press, press people:
June 18th, 2014 7:38pm
-
June 17th, 2014 9:00am
-
The Telefunken 3002 Hi-Fi Magnetophon, Tonbandgerät (Bearbeiten), Germany, 1973.
June 16th, 2014 8:19pm
-
’ .Michelle Andrade .
;
’ .Michelle Andrade .
;
’ .Michelle Andrade .
;
’ .Michelle Andrade .
;
’ .Michelle Andrade .
;
’ .Michelle Andrade .
;
’ .Michelle Andrade .
;
She lives in fear, Michelle Andrade
June 12th, 2014 7:52pm
-
Detail of Easter Beers, Jack Daws, 2003
The artist writes: “I bought a case of Lucky Lager on Good Friday, 2003. Over the weekend I painted the cans like Easter eggs. Early Easter Sunday I took the beers to the Pioneer Square District and left them in several alleys for people to find.
"An entire side of each can was left unpainted so that whoever found them would know what they were. Also, attached to the unpainted side of each can was a sticker that read Happy Easter.”
June 8th, 2014 11:34am
-
Gustave Doré (Héliodore-Joseph Pisan), Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote [Edoardo Perino], c. 1868.
June 8th, 2014 9:10am
-
June 7th, 2014 8:45am
-
June 6th, 2014 5:42pm
-
June 5th, 2014 11:14pm
-
June 4th, 2014 6:15pm
-
June 1st, 2014 4:20pm
-
May 31st, 2014 12:44pm
-
A proud new dad sits down to have a drink with his father
“Well son, now that you’ve got a kid of your own, I think it’s time to give you this”
“Dad, you don’t mean-”
“Yes son, I do” *Dad pulls out copy of 1001 Dad Jokes, 5th Edition*
“Dad… I’m honoured…”, he says, tears sparkling in his eyes.
“Hi honoured”, replies his father. “I’m dad”.
May 28th, 2014 9:12pm
-
Not what I pictured Zalgo looking like, but I guess he’s here after all.
May 28th, 2014 9:07pm
-
May 28th, 2014 6:05pm
-
One gallon of krausen 24 hours into a double-pitched imperial stout: to blow-off or not to blow-off? on Flickr.
May 27th, 2014 8:57pm
-
May 23rd, 2014 10:36am
-
what
It’s a turkey
in america it is a holiday tradition to eat this
May 20th, 2014 8:09pm
-
May 17th, 2014 8:26am
-
May 13th, 2014 7:41pm
-
Paris Review - The Art of Screenwriting No. 4, Matthew Weiner
May 13th, 2014 6:18pm
-
Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver Wins James Beard Award - thefullpint.com
May 12th, 2014 10:00pm
-
Another Day at the Beach. 36 x 36 Inches / 91cm x 91cm. Acrylic on Canvas. 2014 ( Sold )
May 8th, 2014 7:19am
-
May 5th, 2014 7:50pm
-
William Hogarth, The World’s End (Finis), 1764.
I am a sucker for path-following faux-press type in painting from this era.
May 1st, 2014 10:18pm
-
April 26th, 2014 11:15am
-
April 19th, 2014 10:46am
-
April 15th, 2014 11:34am
-
April 13th, 2014 6:24pm
-
The only thing these vulnerability scanners needed was a motivational quote to achieve maximum uselessness. So I made one.
April 13th, 2014 9:34am
-
Skull with phrenological details, Wellcome Images, 19th century
April 13th, 2014 8:39am
-
Chauvet Cave Paintings (Lions)… some of the painting are estimated to be over 30,000 years old.
April 12th, 2014 8:56am
-
April 11th, 2014 7:27pm
-
PlannerDan: Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point
April 10th, 2014 6:05pm
-
That was gonna be a NetBSD joke but I am passionate that my art to appeal to a broad audience. on Flickr.
April 5th, 2014 9:42am
-
I’ve got the damned thing open, but no idea how or why I’d put Linux on it. on Flickr.
April 5th, 2014 9:38am
-
April 5th, 2014 7:47am
-
In ‘22, the frosted glass closet doors in my apartment hid a Murphy bed. Now: das blinkenlightzen. on Flickr.
April 1st, 2014 10:07pm
-
Free House For You, Jim | Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
It’s free real estate.
[viz.]
April 1st, 2014 7:48pm
-
Gimme pizza, P-I-Z-Z-a. Gimme pizza, P-I-Z-Z-A.
Now we’re feeling kinda hungry. We got the mega munchies. Got to make our pizza as big as some countries. How much pizza do you think we can chow? More than our parents would ever allow. We’re gonna make a master-piece a pizza. A work of art like the Mona Lisa. It’s gonna be high like the Tower of Pisa. But to get there…You don’t need a visa.
Pizza, P-I-Z-Z-A. Gimme pizza. Uh, did I happen to say, I want pizza. P-I-Z-Z-A. I want pizza. Hey, are you ready to play?
Now set down the pizza and bring me some chicken. Throw it on top and make it finger lickin’ Guacomole. Meatballs, whip cream pouring like waterfalls. Here’s a little salsa to make it hot. Here’s a lot of ice cream to hit the spot. Toss the fish, let it fly, fly, fly, pizza pie.
Pizza, P-I-Z-Z-A. Gimme pizza. Watch it rise like a soufflé. Gimme pizza. P-I-Z-Z-A. I want pizza. You think we should stop? no way!
Get your motors ready cause here we go. Chocolate sauce, spreading it slow. Oreos, marshmallows, caramel, coconut cream, egg foo young, chicken tongue. Hold the eyeballs. I’m gonna scream. Now don’t forget the rice or the mashed potatoes. And what about these fried green tomatoes? Batter’s up, catcher’s ready. 1-2-3-4-5…spaghetti!
Pasta…Put it in the pizza. Fist sticks…Put it in the pizza. Ketchup…Put it in the pizza. Meatloaf…awww Put it in the pizza.
Pizza, P-I-Z-Z-A. Gimme pizza. Add some tacos, Ole! I want pizza. P-I-Z-Z-A. I want pizza. Call us the queens of gourmet.
I want pizza. P-I-Z-Z-A. Gimme pizza. How much does it weigh? I want pizza. P-I-Z-Z-A. I want pizza. Is it finally done? hooray!
Here it is, ready to serve. This pizza is made…Yeah!
—
March 31st, 2014 5:44pm pizza
-
March 30th, 2014 9:21am
-
Daffy’s keepin’ one eye on the beast and one on himself.
March 28th, 2014 12:38am
-
Martin Creed, Work No. 1629, 2013, Galleria Lorcan ONeill Rome
March 28th, 2014 12:34am
-
March 27th, 2014 6:12pm
-
March 27th, 2014 6:10pm
-
March 26th, 2014 9:04am
-
March 20th, 2014 6:18pm
-
Engraving from “Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds” (1686)
March 18th, 2014 11:18pm
-
1. The Reader’s Words
2. Thirty Ways No. 2
-
God Particle B
-
Amateur Chess Player
March 17th, 2014 8:23am
-
-
March 13th, 2014 9:11pm
-
March 12th, 2014 6:13pm
-
I think that a lot of huge GIFs on a page is not appropriate for the Net at this time. ☯94DEC
March 12th, 2014 6:55am
-
These precious commentaries were on the Pioneer Special Edition LaserDisc. A different commentary by Foley is on the DVD release. It’s a pity they couldn’t get the Jack Lemmon commentary from the old LaserDisc. Well, Cinephilia & Beyond and filmschoolthrucommentaries comes to the rescue (NOTE: For educational purposes only.) Needless to say, the special edition Blu-ray+DVD of ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ is a must have (Amazon).
LD commentary 1: Director James Foley
LD commentary 2: Actor Jack Lemmon [mp3]“Listening to this veteran player speak for an hour and a half on his craft makes you realise how fluffed-up and pretentious most ‘modern actor’ commentaries are by comparison. Lemmon views acting in a practical way and concedes that you need to have a love for it; he not only discusses GLENGARRY but finds parallels to several of his other films as well, along with several amusing anecdotes about the old studio system. Ever the consummate professional, he never “names names” when he has anything remotely negative to say. To my knowledge this is only one of two audio commentaries recorded by Lemmon — if you like this actor you’re guaranteed to enjoy listening to him reminisce.” —Herschel Gelman
How many passes does it take to create perfect dialogue?
That’s a really good question. I’m not sure I know the answer. I do it fairly spontaneously, and then sometimes, for various reasons, it has to be recrafted. I used to be really good at that, but it gets more difficult as I get older just because my brain is failing. I have less brain cells because long before any of you guys were born, there was something called the ‘60s. That’s where the brain cells were. —The Writer’s Craft: A David Mamet InterviewDavid Mamet: The Playwright Directs is a short television documentary produced in 1976 where Mamet tries to convey his rehearsal methods for a play. He uses two early short plays as examples, ‘Dark Pony’ and ‘Reunion.’ Mamet is such a no-nonsense individual who never minces words with his cast, that it’s fascinating to see him direct his actors in a fast-paced, hectic manner like a character out of one of his own plays. The end result is a lesson in how Mamet directs his actors and the importance of giving his characters a motivation and how that affects their actions in the drama.
MAMET’S THEATRICAL ROOTS
- “You gotta put your ass on the line and use the audience. Period. The reason that theatre evolved that way was because the progress of the theatre on the stage aped and recapitulated the mechanism of human understanding, which is: thesis, antithesis and synthesis. And one learns to lead the audience ahead by giving them just enough information to make them interested, but not enough information so that they warrant surprise and punchline. Which is the way a joke is structured.”
MAMET ON DIRECTING
- “Your chances of making a living or making a better living are increased by writing something that you would want to write badly enough that you would actually go out and raise the money to direct it. You’re much better to do that because otherwise you’re just going to waste twenty years waiting for the good will of your inferiors. If you really, really want to make a film—go film it for God’s sake, go steal a camera and get it done rather than trying to interest some second-class mind to help make your script a little bit worse.”
MAMET ON EXPOSITION
- “The trick is—never write exposition. That’s absolutely the trick. Never write it. The audience needs to understand what the story is, and if the hero understands what he or she is after then the audience will follow it. The ancient joke about exposition used to be in radio writing when they’d say, ‘Come and sit down in that blue chair.’ So, that to me is the paradigm of why it’s an error to write exposition. Then exposition came out of television, ‘I’m good, Jim, I’m good. There’s no wonder why they call me the best orthopedic surgeon in town.’ Right? And now the exposition has migrated or metastasized into the fucking stage direction. ‘He comes into the room and you can just see he’s the kind of guy who fought in the Vietnam War.’ So the error of writing exposition exists absent even the most miniscule understanding of the dramatic process. You gotta take out the exposition. The audience doesn’t care. How do we know they don’t care? Anybody ever come into the living room and see a television drama that was halfway through? Did you have any difficulty understanding what was going on? No. The trick is to leave the exposition out and to always leave out the ‘obligatory scene.’ The obligatory scene is always the audition scene, so when you see the movie, not only is it the worst scene in the movie—it’s also the worst acted scene in the movie. Because the star has to do their worst, most expository acting to get the job. Leave out the exposition; we want to know what’s happening next. All our little friends… will say to you at one point, ‘You know, we want to know more about her.’ And that’s when you say, ‘Well, that’s what you paid me for—so that you would want to know more about her.’”
MAMET ON CON-ARTIST TALES
- “In every generation the cunning rediscover that they can manipulate the trustful and they count this as the great, great wisdom of all time.”
PROFESSOR MAMET’S READING ASSIGNMENT
- “I suggest that everyone get Francis Ferguson’s edition of Aristotle’s Poetics. Read it once—it’ll make the point—and then retire to your typewriters. [Screenwriting’s] all about working on it and working on it until it comes out even. There’s really no magic to it. There really isn’t. They say that Bach could improvise a toccata and I’m sure he could, but I don’t think anybody can improvise a screenplay. Joseph Campbell’s Hero of a Thousand Faces is another great book where he goes through the Hero’s Journey and explains that all Heroes Journeys are alike whether it’s Jesus or Moses or Ghandi or Martin Luther King, Jr. or Dumbo. Every Hero’s Journey is exactly alike because that’s the way that we understand our own Hero’s Journey—which is the story of our own life. We’re given a problem, we disregard the problem, it’s given to us again, and finally we’re called to an adventure and we find ourselves unprepared and we find ourselves in the belly of the beast like Jonah, who’s eventually spewed onto a foreign land in the second act and little friends come and help. It’s true. Whether it’s Mickey the Mouse or whether it’s John the Baptist or whether its Joshua—it’s the same thing according to Joseph Campbell. The little friends come and eventually the problems of the second act rectify themselves so that the third act is a reiteration of the first problem in a new form. Not how do I live with the fact that the taskmaster is killing the Jew, but how do I bring the Torah to the Jewish people? So the third act becomes the quest for the goal and eventually the hero achieves his or her goal and that’s the end of the movie that started since frame one.”
David Mamet’s screenplay for ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ is the best screenwriting school you can ever get. (NOTE: For educational purposes only.) Thanks to samgolightly and the great folks at Write to Reel, the BEST screenwriting community our there.
Reads/Watches/Listens:
- The writer’s craft: a David Mamet Interview
- 10 screenwriting tips from ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’
- The professional world in David Mamet’s ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’
- David Mamet papers now open for research
For more film related items throughout the day, follow Cinephilia & Beyond on Twitter. Get Cinephilia & Beyond in your inbox by signing in. You can also follow our RSS feed. Please use our Google Custom Search for better results. If you enjoy Cinephilia & Beyond, please consider making a small donation to keep it going:
// <![CDATA[ // ]]>
March 7th, 2014 5:30pm
-
The first picture of our Horse Squirrel Feeder in action! Taken by the talented Jim Zielinski.
Get your own Horse Head Squirrel Feeder here!
[via zcreative]
February 27th, 2014 8:43pm
-
Alright, the people have spoken, get em while they’re hot. Fuckin’ Muni shirts, on sale now: Click Here to Buy
American Apparel shirts printed in the Bay Area
You got six more days to order!
February 27th, 2014 8:37pm
-
February 26th, 2014 6:16pm
-
Apple - The CSS class for legal fine print on Apple product pages is “Sosumi.”
Possibly related: The $o$umi is a maki roll on the menu at Blowfish Sushi, a sushi joint with locations in San Francisco and San Jose.
“A mix of crab, spicy tuna, shrimp tempura & red onion rolled with sesame soy paper, drizzled with spicy aioli”
February 26th, 2014 9:04am
-
More B O R G E S
After Caedmon, there came other religious poets, the most famous of whom is Cynewulf, whose name means “bold wolf.” The oddest thing about Cynewulf, whose poems are paraphrases of the Bible, is the habit he had of “signing” his poems. There are poets who have done this, of course, in a much more efficient way than Cynewulf. Perhaps the most famous is the American poet, Walt Whitman, who speaks about himself in his poems, saying: “Walt Whitman, un cosmos, hijo de Manhattan, turbulento, sensual, paternal, comiendo, bebiendo, sebrando.” 9 And he has a poem that says: “Qué ves, Walt Whitman?” [“ What do you see, Walt Whitman?”] And he responds, “Veo una redonda maravilla que gira por el espacio.” [“ I see a great round wonder rolling through space.”] And then: “Qué oyes, Walt Whitman?” [“ What do you hear Walt Whitman?”] At the end, he sends best wishes to all the countries of the world, “from me and America sent.” 10 Ronsard did the same in a sonnet. 11 And Lugones has also done it, kind of in jest. 12 Somebody asks in Lunario sentimental, “El poeta ha tomado sus lecciones / Quién es? / Leopoldo Lugones / Doctor en Lunología” [“ The poet has had his lessons / Who is he? / Leopoldo Lugones, Doctor of Lunology.”] But Cynewulf chose another way. This practice is common among Persians, and it seems the Persians did it so that others wouldn’t claim their poems as their own. For example, the great Persian poet Hafiz mentions himself many times, always in praise, in his poems. He says, for example, “Hafiz,” and someone answers, “The angels in the sky have learned your latest poems by heart.” Now, Cynewulf— remember that the detective novel is a genre typical of the English language, although it was invented in the United States by Edgar Allan Poe— Cynewulf anticipates cryptography, using the letters of his own name to make a poem about the Final Judgment. 13He says, “C and Y kneel in prayer; N sends up its supplications; E trusts in God; W and U know they will go to Heaven; L and F tremble.” And this is written in Runic letters.
Borges, Jorge Luis (2013-07-22). Professor Borges: A Course on English Literature (p. 43). New Directions. Kindle Edition.
And on the cool check in Center stage on the mic And we’re puttin’ it on wax It’s the new style
Four and three and two and one What up! And when I’m on the mic - the suckers run (Word!) Down with Adrock and Mike D. and you ain’t And I got more juice than Picasso got paint Got rhymes that are rough and rhymes that are slick I’m not surprised you’re on my dick B-E-A-S-T-I-E, what up Mike D. Ah yeah, that’s me I got franks and pork and beans Always bust the new routines I get it - I got it, I know it’s good The rhymes I write - you wish you would I’m never in training - my voice is not straining People always biting and I’m sick of complaining So I went into the locker room during classes Bust into your locker and I smashed your glasses You’re from Secausus - I’m from Manhattan You’re jealous of me because your girlfriend is cattin’
There it is - kick it!!!
Beastie Boys (1986) The New Style. Licensed To Ill.
February 20th, 2014 8:47am
-
Jorge Luis Borges, Scandinavian Kennings
In 1500 years, how will scholars unpack the irony and doublespeak of our cants?
Later, the Germanic poets discovered the refrain and used it infrequently. But poetry had developed another hierarchical poetic instrument: that is, kennings— descriptive, crystallized metaphors. Because poets were always talking about the same things, always dealing with the same themes— that is: spears, kings, swords, the earth, the sun— and as these were words that did not begin with the same letter, they had to find a solution. The only poetry that existed, as I have said, was epic poetry. (There was no erotic poetry. Love poetry would appear much later, in the ninth century, with the Anglo-Saxon elegiac poems.) For this poetry, which was only epic, they formed compound words to denote things whose names did not begin with the requisite letter. These kinds of formations are quite possible, and normal, in the Germanic languages. They realized that these compound words could very well be used as metaphors. In this way, they began to call the sea “whale-road,” “sail-road,” or “fish-bath”; they called the ship “sea-stallion” or “sea-stag” or “sea-boar,” always using the names of animals; as a general rule, they thought of the ship as a living being. The king was called “the people’s shepherd” and also— this surely for the minstrels’ sake, for their own benefit—“ ring-giver.” These metaphors, some of which are beautiful, were employed like clichés. Everybody used them, and everybody understood them.
In England, however, poets finally realized that these metaphors— some of which, I repeat, were very beautiful, like the one that called the bird the “summer guardian”— ended up hobbling poetry, so they were slowly abandoned. In Scandinavia, on the other hand, they carried them to their final stage: they created metaphors out of metaphors by using successive combinations. Thus, if a ship was “sea-horse” and the sea was “gull’s field,” then a ship would be “horse of the gull’s field.” And this could be called a metaphor of the first degree. As a shield was the “pirate’s moon”— shields were round and made of wood— and a spear was the “shield’s serpent,” for the spear could destroy the shield, that spear would be the “serpent of the pirate’s moon.”
This is how an extremely complicated and obscure poetry evolved. It is, of course, what happened in learned poetry, within the highest spheres of society. And, as these poems were recited or sung, it must be assumed that the primary metaphors, those that served as the foundation, were already familiar to the audience. Familiar, even very familiar, almost synonymous with the word itself. Be that as it may, the poetry became very obscure, so much so that finding the real meaning is like solving a puzzle. So much so that scribes from subsequent centuries show, in the transcriptions of these same poems we have now, that they did not understand them. Here’s a fairly simple kenning: “the swan of the beer of the dead,” which, when we first see it, we don’t now how to interpret. So, if we break it down, we see that “beer of the dead” means blood, and “swan of the blood” means the bird of death, the raven, so we see that “swan of the beer of the dead” simply means “raven.” And in Scandinavia, whole poems were written like this and with increasing complexity. But this did not happen in England. The metaphors remained in the first degree, without going any further.
Borges, Jorge Luis (2013-07-22). Professor Borges: A Course on English Literature (p. 6). New Directions. Kindle Edition.
February 19th, 2014 8:50am
-
“A three second exposure meant that subjects had to stand very still to avoid being blurred, and holding a smile for that period was tricky. As a result, we have a tendency to see our Victorian ancestors as even more formal and stern than they might have been.”
February 18th, 2014 8:34pm
-
My trick lighter from SMOKE SHOP at 18th and Mission can beat up your Home Depot lighter. on Flickr.
February 17th, 2014 12:29pm
-
February 16th, 2014 7:50am
-
February 13th, 2014 5:57pm
-
All users may rest assured that there will be NO TROLLING HERE. I will be happy to enforce this peace because I cannot be trolled. ☯94APR
January 31st, 2014 6:50pm
-
January 31st, 2014 6:46pm
-
January 27th, 2014 9:42pm
-
January 25th, 2014 12:12pm
-
January 25th, 2014 9:49am
-
My new electronic temperature controller uses internal jumpers to control some settings. Neato. on Flickr.
January 23rd, 2014 7:11pm
-
Shot Tower (Phoenix Shot, Merchants’ Shot Tower, Baltimore Shot Tower)
Southeast corner of Fayette Street and Front Street, Baltimore, Maryland
1924
Unidentified photographer
4x5 inch glass negative
Baltimore City Life Museum Collection
Maryland Historical Society
MC8232A, MC8232BThe Shot Tower was a lead shot manufacturing facility that operated from 1828 to 1892. From the National Park Service site: “Molten lead was dropped from a platform at the top of the tower through a sieve-like device and into a vat of cold water.” Once operated under the Baltimore City Life Museums, the Shot Tower is now administered by Carroll Museums, Inc. Read more about it on their site.
Location on Google Maps Street View:
I drove down this part of Fayette past the shot tower as part of my commute from 2005-2008 from Canton. Almost 150 years earlier, In 1858, a great-great-great-grandfather (Dominic Oriani (1822-1873) -> Louis Oriani (1858-1936) -> Frank Oriani (1899-?) -> My grandfather ? -> my mother (not sayin’)) of mine, Dominic Oriani, lived at 26 East Street, there in Baltimore, about half a block from where this photo was taken, somewhere in between.
January 22nd, 2014 9:35pm
-
January 20th, 2014 7:47pm
-
My Ninkasi Sleigh’r clone blew up! Gnarly! Hacked on a blow off with wort spewing everywhere.
January 20th, 2014 12:54pm
-
When Marty is being judged at the band auditions at the beginning, the judge who stands up to say he is “just too darn loud” is Huey Lewis, whose songs, “The Power of Love” and “Back in Time” are featured on the movie’s soundtrack, and also wrote Marty’s audition song (which is a re-orchestrated version of “The Power of Love.”)
Back to the Future Part I (1985)
January 19th, 2014 2:16pm
-
January 16th, 2014 8:10pm
-
James Franco in Front of the Armory on My TV in a Fairly Terrible Movie
January 15th, 2014 8:48pm
-
Startup Vitamins
Al Czervik: Oh, this is the worst-looking mug I ever saw. What, when you buy a mug like this I bet they throw your change in it, huh?
[looks at Judge Smails, who’s carrying the same mug]
Al Czervik: Oh, it suits you though.January 15th, 2014 8:15am
-
When you organize you books by spine color, UV damage causes outliers. on Flickr.
January 13th, 2014 4:01pm
-
January 10th, 2014 9:58am
-
A Big Lebowski scene I think of every time I get a proof of concept video with no text equivalent
We hear the doorbell.
THE DOOR
It swings open to reveal a short, hairy, muscular but balding middle-aged man in a black T-shirt and black cut-off jeans.
DUDE: Hiya Allan.
ALLAN: Dude, I finally got the venue I wanted. I’m Performing my proof of concept–you know, my vulnerability–at Crane Jackson’s Fountain Street Theatre on Tuesday night, and I’d love it if you came and gave me notes.
The Dude takes a swig of his kalhua.
DUDE: Sure Allan, I’ll be there.
ALLAN: Dude, uh, tomorrow is already the tenth.
DUDE: Yeah, yeah I know. Okay.
ALLAN: Just, uh, just slip the rent under my door.
DUDE: Yeah, okay.January 9th, 2014 10:47am
-
January 4th, 2014 1:44pm
-
Finding Friends with Phone Numbers
January 1st, 2014 2:40pm
