I don't think comedians take advantage of the fact that television and film are visual mediums.
A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it.
People send me e-mails saying, "You're a movie critic. You don't know anything about politics. " Well, you know what, I'm 60 years old, and I've been interested in politics since I was on my daddy's knee. During the 1948 election, we were praying for Truman. I know a lot about politics.
[Alan Berg's] memory haunts many people, even those who never heard him on the radio, because his death could be read as a message: Be cautious, be prudent, be bland, never push anybody, never say what you really think, offer yourself as a hostage to the weirdos even before they make the first move. These days, a lot of people are opposed to the newfound popularity of 'trash television,' and no doubt they are right, and the hosts of these shows are shameless controversy-mongers. But at least they are not intimidated. Of what use is freedom of speech to those who fear to offend?
If your religion doesn't respect the rights of other religions, it is lacking something.
Films like Fargo are why I love the movies.
The fact is, most people are not going to be rich someday. And we've had a concerted policy of taking money away from the poor and giving it to the rich wholesale, and at the same time, we have the runaway corporations, and the greed.
I write my books to challenge my own feelings and theories. Perhaps most surprising was what I learned about rice farming. It was really interesting to think of how different Asian and Western cultures are as a result of the kinds of agricultural practices that our ancestors used for thousands of years. The life of a Chinese peasant in the Middle Ages was so dramatically different from the life of a European peasant - night and day different.
War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.
Everyone thinks, "Oh, it'd be easy to just go scout a game. " It's not. Because you end up watching the game and not actually focusing [on scouting].
To give up doing evil is more important than making merit.