It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
What the hell is Serpt?
Shortest expected remaining process time?
Declining circulation is the natural consequence when most of the papers offer the same content online for free. Why would I pay $1 for a New York Times? To get the crossword and some ads?
I’m not surprised to see WSJ so high on the list, considering their web philosophy. They keep the news behind a subscribers-only wall.
My hometown paper? Specifically excluded from the list, even though they would be in the Top 25 (though not the Top Ten). But I am one of those people who was once a daily subscriber who now just reads the online site.
I do miss the crosswords, though. It just wasn’t worth $30/month (or however much it costs).
Yet the biggest newspaper in the world, the Yomiuri Shimbun, circulates 14 million copies a day (between the morning and evening editions), all while facing the Asahi Shimbun (12 million) and the Mainichi Shimbun (5.5 million).
Japan… Doing everything different just because they can.
I still read the print editions because one can go blind reading everything online.
Actually, the size of The Houston Chronicle is a bit of a sore subject for me, since the paper put my old paper (The Houston Post) out of business 11 years ago. (Mind you, I’m not bitter or anything.) I am surprised that Houston is still considered a “smaller market,” since it is the fourth largest city in the United States. But that’s OK: We Red Staters are used to getting no respect. LOL.
Houston will never get the respect of Los Angelinos after passing on Reggie Bush.
Though Mario Williams is acquitting himself quite well with the Texans. Still doesn’t explain how they’ve gone five seasons without finding Carr an offensive line.
I think it’s way past time to consider trading Mr. Carr. Provided, of course, anyone else out there wants him.
And of course, the headline on the New York Post today is about the fact that their circulation is higher than the Daily News.
I like it when the New York Post includes free comic books, because it’s the only time there’s anything worth reading within its pages.
I would trade for Mr. Carr in a second.
Oh… you didn’t mean The Bagger, did you?