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
Ha ha! Me thinks that the only line crossed there was from funny to hilarious!
Great cover!
Okay David, 2 questions:
First why were you watching The View.
And secondly, why were you watching The View?
The same reason everyone watches The View — that Whoopi Goldberg is smokin’ hot.
David watches a lot of daytime television. His more passionate blog entries often follow hard on the heels of particularly torrid episodes of THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL.
I have explained this before… I was a fan of the chat segment even before Rosie. I rarely watch the show past that point. But when I sit down to the computer with a up of coffee, it is often the first thing to come up on the HD/DVR after a quick check of CNN to make sure the world is still moving slowly towards self-destruction and not speeding up that morning.
It is the same for me as watching a bit of O’Reilly or The Daily Show or listening to Randi Rhoades or Michael Medved… I don’t tend to get factual insight, but I do get a whiff of some of the perspectives out there, more often talking points than not.
What amazes me this morning, driving around LA, is the male, right wing, Jewish support of Ann Coulter. Frankly, I don’t care if she wants me perfected, but any Jew who doesn’t chose to see that for what it is seems to be bending towards ideology rather than whatever degree of offense is appropriate.
Well, either that or they just want to bang a blond shiksa.
I’ve noticed that support for Coulter too, David, from a lot of my right-wing family members (we’re all Jews). I really don’t understand it, the closest I can come up with is the Repubs policy of having close ties with Israel, but Coulter is in her own freaking world. I think all the attention that is focused on her is exactly what she wants and we all play into it by expressing our shock at whatever incendiary thing she says.
But I do think it’s important to get a wide variety of perspectives; that way, it’s easier to be suspect of everyone and cynical about everything.
“What amazes me this morning, driving around LA, is the male, right wing, Jewish support of Ann Coulter.”
I guess if you look like, say, Andrea Dworkin, and spout a bunch of spongiform-brained rubbish, you’re a loony tunes. But if you look like Ann Coulter, Jews start throwing themselves in the ovens for you. What’s so amazing about that?
Ouch.
Ouch is right. The over metaphors are beyond uncalled for.
I love fold-out covers :)mmmm Scarlett
Coulter is a about as mook as a mook can get. How anyone can treat her as a focal point of any moment is beyond me. Seriously… the affect on her voice is enough to make me want to ignore everything that she says.
One of the liberal bloggers wrote an interesting piece in which he said Coulter is not as bad as Michelle Malkin–the difference being that Coulter is more of a performance artist who just wants to shock people in order to sell books and land speaking engagements, whereas Malkin really is a true believer; he says he could never imagine Coulter stalking the Frost family the way Malkin did.
And while all of us Jewboys want blonde shiksahs, we do prefer them to be born female.
The link to the post that Cadavra is talking about is here – http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2007/10/why-coulter-is-.html
I read that post a couple of days ago too and thought it was the most insightful thing I have read on either woman in ages. It only leaves out one point – both are bat shit insane
So Hilary is the nominee of the three?