“Every snotty egotistical teenager thinks they're smarter than the world they crawled out of. It didn't take me so long to grow out of that. I think I was only in my early twenties when I realized I was just relying on received ideas.” ThinkingWorldLongIdeasGrowsTwentiesI RealizedTeenagerTake MeSmarterEgotistical Author:Matthew Specktor
“You look at the absolute scorn that gets poured on a fallen celebrity, whether it's Tom Cruise or Lindsay Lohan or Marlon Brando, or Elvis when he got fat. They're not allowed the dignity of ordinary failure. And I think that plays into people's notions about Los Angeles, too. It's not allowed to be a regular city with problems.” PeopleThinkingLooksPlayProblemCitiesOrdinaryDignityAbsolutesNotionFatsFallenLos AngelesTomsScornCruiseBrando Author:Matthew Specktor
“People will continue to make movies. But I do think the economic model of the studio movie is closing in on a kind of systemic collapse.” PeopleThinkingKindEconomicModelsStudiosCollapseClosingEconomic Models Author:Matthew Specktor
“I think being central to the culture is overrated. Who really gives a damn if something is popular? Jay-Z isn't actually any better than James Joyce even though more people understand him.” PeopleIfsThinkingGivingCultureDamnOverratedJoyce Author:Matthew Specktor
“I think the publishing industry is dismayingly like the movie business. It grows more corporate by the day.” ThinkingGrowsIndustryCorporatePublishingMovie BusinessPublishing Industry Author:Matthew Specktor
“I heard a story the other night about an editor who visited the Iowa Workshop and, when asked what sorts of books she published, replied, "Classic books." One of the students asked her, "You mean like Kafka?" Apparently she said, "Oh, I don't think I would publish Kafka."” ThinkingMeanSaidBookStoriesNightHeardStudentsClassicEditorsPublishWorkshopsIowaClassic Book Author:Matthew Specktor
“These are the kind of movies that only a real apparatchik, someone who thinks that corporations are people, could love.” PeopleThinkingKindRealCorporations Author:Matthew Specktor
“I sometimes get asked if I think about film stuff while I'm writing fiction, and the answer is, of course not.” IfsThinkingWritingSometimesFilmCoursesStuffAnswersFictionWriting Fiction Author:Matthew Specktor
“I think having power ingrains people with a conservatism. There's a tendency to hedge one's bets. (Which explains a lot, actually, about why the movie business is the way it is, and why the publishing industry is too.)” PeopleThinkingWayIndustryTendenciesPublishingConservatismMovie BusinessPublishing Industry Author:Matthew Specktor
“Even though I think writers can sometimes thrive from being misread. It can give them something to push off of.” ThinkingGivingSometimesThrive Author:Matthew Specktor
“I think writers can gain a lot of vitality from being misread.” ThinkingGainsVitality Author:Matthew Specktor
“I think it's what fiction is for: to illuminate that gap between our secret selves and our more visible and apparent ones.” ThinkingSecret Author:Matthew Specktor
