EXTRA CRITICUM

Must-listening-viewing-reading: David Foster Wallace 2005 Commencement Speech at Kenyon College

Every now and then the opaque inner workings of the YouTube algorithms points us to something we feel so privileged to have discovered that we almost want to thank God for algorithms. This is Water is the title of this commencement speech given to the 2005 graduating class at Kenyon College by David Foster Wallace.

 

As I listened to this speech I kept wondering how it could be that the same man who's delivered this message of hope and wonder and love for a life spent looking outward is also the man who in three short years would be dead by suicide at the age of 46.

Perhaps that too might be some piece of the central message of this incredible speech. Bottom line: we may imagine we know or understand who someone is at their core but we must never forget that we are always simply engaging in speculation courtesy of our imagination. That impenetrable wall that separates us all from the rest of humanity is both unbearably painful and miraculous and everything in between. It's how we look that forms the frame.

And I suppose that's a big part of why we write.

Drafting John McPhee's Help

Today I wrote what may be the three most satisfying words a dramatist writes: END OF PLAY. They went on the bottom of page 103 in Scene 12 of a new full-length comedy. (One only hopes there will eventually be audiences and if they appear, that they will laugh.) This play’s working title is Callgirl, which I’m not satisfied with and will exchange for something better as soon as I come up with that something better.

Artists: Above all else, be grateful for your courage.

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to share this wonderful piece by Kerry O'Quinn, Publisher of Starlog Magazine. This piece first appeared in 1983 when Andrew Altenburg was a young tike. Thanks to Andrew for saving it and bringing it back from the files. (just click on the image to enlarge and read)

Quotables: Morgan Jenness

From time to time, Extra Criticum authors will post a quote from someone we admire, something that has stuck with us over the years and is, as they say, quotable.

The following from Morgan Jenness:

Using the Accident

This post had been percolating in my head for a while, but John Yearley's excellent post about "failure" and a quote I came across the other day seemed to be telling me to set this down, so here it is.

I'm doing some work for hire that I can't talk about just yet, but I can tell you that the other day I researched special effects legend Douglas Trumbull's animation work on the Stargate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey. (I also held in my white-archival-gloved hands a copy of an early draft of 2001. My mind was blown.) Here's a Trumbull quote from Expanded Cinema by Gene Youngblood.

Note to self: Character trumps plot. Every time.

A couple years ago I had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with Rick Eid, co-creator of the brilliant re-imagining of the Battlestar Galactica series. Something he said has stuck with me ever since and I've been especially aware of it lately as I return my attention to revisions on my play about the rise of Ted Kennedy.

He told me that whenever it came time to make the tough choices regarding what to cut and what to keep (a daily exercise for writer-producers of television) he and his collaborators stuck to one simple axiom and it never failed.

Quotables: Jerry Stahl

From time to time, Extra Criticum authors will post a quote from something that has stuck with us over the years and is, as they say, quotable. The following is from Jerry Stahl's memoir PERMANENT MIDNIGHT. Here he sums up Hollywood beautifully.

Quotables: Edward Albee

From time to time, Extra Criticum authors post a quote from someone we admire, something that has stuck with us over the years and is, as they say, quotable.

Today, we hear from playwright Edward Albee, from a March 2011 NPR interview:

Quotables: Ronald Allan-Lindblom

From time to time, Extra Criticum authors will post a quote from someone we admire, something that has stuck with us over the years and is, as they say, quotable.

The following from Ronald Allan-Lindblom:

Quotables: Elizabeth Hawes

From time to time, Extra Criticum authors post a quote from someone we admire, something that has stuck with us over the years and is, as they say, quotable.

Today, we hear from Elizabeth Hawes, author of Fashion is Spinach.

A Small Craft Warning

I think it's a glorious thing when art, in whatever form, returns from the depth of your memory to offer comfort beside some experience occurring in present life. This week, as I was feeling quite sorry for myself at having allowed myself to be drawn in by a man, a piece from Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings did just that for me.

Beautiful personal essay on one critic's relationship with one of the most important playwrights of the 20th Century, Harold Pinter

The Economist's blog, More Intelligent Life features a gorgeous essay by theatre critic Irving Wardle on his decades-long (and sometimes strained) friendship with Harold Pinter. Here's just one juicy excerpt:

"Make Them Sit Forward!"

Hi, all!  Busy here in Burbank, and with the madness of the holidays I've been out of the soup for a bit.  (Oh, and I should also say: Happy New Year! - if a little belatedly.)

I'm taking an online playwriting workshop via Gotham.  The week's discussion is about how to make theater viable in a TV, film, and internet age.  I've been thinking a LOT about the "what the heck are we doing this for?" question, so I thought I'd post some of my thinking on that topic.

One of my classmates told a story about how her daughter, on a Peace Corps assignment in West Africa, saw children use sticks, tires and scraps as dolls, since they had no actual toys.

"That’s a very difficult question. If I keep going, I’ll get angry with God.”

Opened the email this morning to find a link to this interview with Eugene Ionesco! The master of the absurd reveals that he wanted to be a chestnut seller at age 3, and at 3-1/2 not just any doctor, but his family doctor, complete with beard.

Mais oui!

Enjoy. (And thanks to TH for forwarding).

A recipe for productive writing

In his appreciation of the novelist and screenwriter Michael Crichton, who died a couple of weeks ago, James Fallows passes on this tip:

[Crichton] said he removed complications from his life while writing by having exactly the same food at every meal, so he never had to waste time deciding what to eat.

It's a marvelous idea, and it explains why I haven't yet done anything to justify my MacArthur genius grant. So I'm going to create a list of 100 (500?) possible meals and try them out in rotation, taking notes on my physical and psychological reactions to each one.