“A British porch is a musty, forbidding non-room in which to fling a sodden umbrella or a muddy pair of boots; a guard against the elements and strangers. By contrast the good ol' American front porch seems to stand for positivity and openness; a platform from which to welcome or wave farewell; a place where things of significance could happen.” SeemsHappensRoomsFrontsElementsWavePositivityStrangerBritishWelcomePairsSignificanceOpennessBootsContrastPlatformsFarewellUmbrellaFlingMuddyPorchFront Porches Author:Dan Stevens
“In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what's human and magical that still live and glow despite the times' darkness. Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it'd find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it.” WorldWayHumansArtStillsSeemsDarkFictionDarknessAlivePossibilityThis WorldElementsDefinitionsDespiteWorldviewGood ArtDark TimesCpr Author:David Foster Wallace
“It's far easier to write why something is terrible than why it's good. If you're reviewing a film and you decide "This is a movie I don't like," basically you can take every element of the film and find the obvious flaw, or argue that it seems ridiculous, or like a parody of itself, or that it's not as good as something similar that was done in a previous film. What's hard to do is describe why you like something. Because ultimately, the reason things move people is very amorphous. You can be cerebral about things you hate, but most of the things you like tend to be very emotive.” PeopleIfsWritingHardReasonDoneSeemsFilmMovingHateTerribleEasierElementsCriticismObviousArguingRidiculousFlawsLike SomethingParodyCerebralThings You Like Author:Chuck Klosterman
“I feel as if one would only discover on one's death-bed what one ought to have lived for, and realise too late that one's life has been wasted. Any passionate and courageous life seems good in itself, yet one feels that some element of delusion is involved in giving so much passion to any humanly attainable object. And so irony creeps into the very springs of one's being.” IfsGivingFeelsHas BeensSeemsPassionObjectsOughtInvolvedBedElementsLateSpringPassionateIronyToo LateDelusionCourageousRealisingCreepsDeath Bed Book:The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell Source: The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell
“Don't be upset. Don't listen to me. I only meant that I am jealous of a dark, unconscious element, something irrational, unfathomable. I am jealous of your toilet articles, of the drops of sweat on your skin, of the germs in the air you breathe which could get into your blood and poison you. And I am jealous of Komarovsky, as if he were an infectious disease. Someday he will take you away, just as certainly as death will someday separate us. I know this must seem obscure and confused, but I can't say it more clearly. I love you madly, irrationally, infinitely.” IfsKnowsI CanSeemsDarkAirBloodLove YouDiseaseElementsSkinsBreatheUpsetConfusedPoisonUnconsciousSomedayJealousSweatArticlesIrrationalObscureToiletsGermsListen To MeUnfathomableInfectious DiseasesI Am Jealous Author:Boris Pasternak