An Epidemic of Incivility.

Charlie Skinner was crazy. He identified with Don Quixote, an old man with dementia who thought he could save the world from an epidemic of incivility simply by acting like a knight. His religion was decency. And he spent a lifetime fighting its enemies. I wish he could be here to learn the name of his successor like I just did. Our new boss, the new president of ACN, is MacKenzie McHale. So this fight is just getting started. 'Cause he taught the rest of us to be crazy, too. You were a man, Charlie. You were a great, big man.


The Newsroom, Season 3, Episode 8, What Kind of Day Has It Been.

Go all the way.

If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery — isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.

Factotum (1975), Charles Bukowski.

Death will tremble.

We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.

Charles Bukowski.

 
 

Meaning.

She hiked her skirt higher. It was like the beginning of life and laughter, 
it was the real meaning of the sun. 

Factotum (1975), Charles Bukowski.

Welcome to Tokyo. You are not invited.

The first time I came here, it was like -- it was a transformative experience. It was powerful and violent experience. It was as if -- it was just like taking acid for the first time. Meaning what do I do now? I see the whole world in a different way.

I often compare the experience of going to Japan for the first time, going to Tokyo for the first time, to what Eric Clapton and Pete Townsend must have gone through, the reigning guitar gods of England, what they must have gone through the week that Jimi Hendrix came to town.

You hear about it, you go see it. A whole window opens up into a whole new thing. And you think what does this mean? What do I have left to say? What do I do now?

Welcome to Tokyo. You are not invited.

Parts Unknown, Tokyo (2013). Anthony Bourdain.

Complicated Beasts.

Conor: Your stories never made sense to me. 

Monster: Because humans are complicated beasts. You believe comforting lies, while knowing full well the painful truth that makes those lies necessary. In the end, Conor, it is not important what you think. It is only important what you do. 

A Monster Calls (2017), J. A. Bayona.

Clouds clearing.

I think she's this amazing human being. Never seen anyone like her. The way she talks and looks. She wears these sunglasses, and when she takes them off, her eyes... are like the clouds clearing to let pass the moon. Sometimes I just wanna cry lookin' at her.

Sing Street (2016), John Carney.

Nostalgia.

Technology is a glittering lure. But there is the rare occasion when the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash, if they have a sentimental bond with the product. My first job, I was in house at a fur company with this old pro copywriter, Greek, named Teddy.And Teddy told me the most important idea in advertising was ‘new.’ Creates an itch. You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion. But he also talked about a deeper bond with the product: nostalgia. It’s delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek nostalgia literally means ‘the pain from an old wound. It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a space ship. It’s a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. Takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called ‘The Wheel.’ It’s called ‘The Carousel. It lets us travel the way a child travels. Around and around and back home again to a place where we know we are loved. 

The Wheel, Mad Men (2007). Matthew Wiener

 

Grosería.

Asombrar con gestos amorsos a quien nos rechaza es, ante todo, una grosería. 

Crónicas del Ángel Gris, Alejandro Dolina.

Human Chemistry.

It's a mystery of human chemistry and I don't understand it, some people, as far as their senses are concerned, just feel like home. 

High Fidelity, Nick Hornby.

Never fall in love.

This will do the trick. You'll have a good heart with this clock. I have something important to tell you. To be sure you don't turn back into a giant ice-cube forever there are three rules you must always obey. Firstly never touch the hands of your heart. Rule number two: Keep your temper under control. Last but not least, the most important rule: Whatever else you do, never fall in love.

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (2013), Mathias Malzieu.

Don't care.

- Hey
- Hey
(She shrugs)
- Let's go do something.
- Alright. What do you want to do?
- I don't care.

Serendipity (2001), Peter Chelsom.

To hear your voice.

Time can come and take away the pain,
but I just want my memories to remain.
To hear your voice.
To see your face.
There’s not one moment I’d erase.

Regina Spektor, How. 

The ride is the thing.

Life is truly a ride. We're all strapped in and no one can stop it. When the doctor slaps your behind, he's ripping your ticket and away you go. As you make each passage from youth to adulthood to maturity, sometimes you put your arms up and scream, sometimes you just hang on to that bar in front of you. But the ride is the thing. I think the most you can hope for at the end of life is that your hair's messed, you're out of breath, and you didn't throw up.

Jerry Seinfeld.

And that, kids, is how I met your mother.

Aunt Lilly was half right. It was a long road. You might even say it was really really really really long. But difficult? Nah. It was life. Stuff happens in life. Things fall apart, things get put back together. When I think how lucky I am to wake up next to your mom every morning, I can’t help but be amazed at how easy it all really was. All I had to do was to get out of the apartment for a couple of hours so uncle Marshall could propose to aunt Lilly. Go to the bar. Meet your aunt Robin. Convince your aunt Robin to fall in love with me. Break up with your aunt Robin. Go on a rebound. Go get a rebound tattoo. Go get the rebound tattoo removed. Meet Stella. Convince Stella to fall in love with me. Get engaged. Get left at the altar. Get fired. Get beat up by a goat. Get a job as a professor. Teach the wrong class. Date the wrong girl. Date the wrong girl again. Date the wrong girl a few times actually. Let uncle Barney fall in love with aunt Robin. Let aunt Robin fall in love with uncle Barney. Book the wedding band. Go to their wedding. Make sure the wedding actually happened. Leave a little early. Be in the right place in the right time. And somehow, summon the guts to do the stupidest, most impossible thing in the world. Walk up to that beautiful girl standing under the yellow umbrella and start talking.

How I Met Your Mother (2014), Alternate Ending.

Collective Idiocy.

- I think you just hate people. 
- I don't mind people, I just can't stand collective idiocy. 

God Help the Girl (2014), Stuart Murdoch.

Banalities.

That's what I love about music. Even the most banal scenes are suddenly invested with so much meaning, you know? All these banalities, they suddenly turn into these beautiful, effervescent pearls. From music.

Begin Again (2014), Jon Carney.

Lie and cheat and hurt.

In fairy tales, love inspires you to be noble and courageous, but in real life, love is just an all-purpose excuse for selfish behavior. You can lie and cheat and hurt people, and it's all okay because you're in love.

What If (2013), Michael Dowse. 

 

Firebombing.

Brad Dupree: (reading Lester's job description) "My job consists of basically masking my contempt for the assholes in charge, and, at least once a day, retiring to the men's room so I can jerk off while I fantasize about a life that doesn't so closely resemble Hell." Well, you have absolutely no interest in saving yourself. 

Lester Burnham: Brad, for 14 years I've been a whore for the advertising industry. The only way I could save myself now is if I start firebombing. 

American Beauty (1999), Sam Mendes. 

Scene.

People will say, "There are a million ways to shoot a scene", but I don't think so. I think there're two, maybe. And the other one is wrong.

David Fincher.

Flows.

When you are doing something that you love so much that excites you, it flows over into everything. Everything you do at that moment in time is better because you are so creatively excited. And yeah, you might be exhausted but you know […] your brain is clicking and you are absolutely better. So if you are excited in life you are going to be better at what you are creating.

Tom Ford.

Master.

You see, my friends, with every brace and every cufflink we say, 'I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul'.

Guinness Sapeurs.

When life reaches out.

Let me tell you, I know you don't want to listen to your father, I didn't listen to mine, and I am telling you you gotta pay attention this time. When life reaches out at a moment like this it's a sin if you don't reach back, I'm telling you its a sin if you don't reach back! It'll haunt you the rest of your days like a curse. You're facing a big challenge in your life right now at this very moment, right here. That girl loves you she really really loves you. I don't know if Nicki ever did, but she sure as shit doesn't right now. So don't fuck this up. 

Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell), (2012). 

V.

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V. 

V for Vendetta (2005), James McTeigue.

All we can do.

We're all traveling through time together, every day of our lives. All we can do is do our best to relish this remarkable ride.

About time (2013), Richard Curtis.

Noticing.

And so he told me his secret formula for happiness. Part one of the two part plan was that I should just get on with ordinary life, living it day by day, like anyone else. But then came part two of Dad's plan. He told me to live every day again almost exactly the same. The first time with all the tensions and worries that stop us noticing how sweet the world can be, but the second time noticing. Okay, Dad. Let's give it a go. 

About time (2013), Richard Curtis.

Stuff.

'This... stuff'? Oh. Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff. 

Devil wears Prada (2007), David Frankel. 

 

About company.

And I say everything is about company. A gourmet meal with an asshole is a horrible meal. A hot-dog with an interesting person it's an amazing meal. It's all about the company.

Comedians in Cars with Coffee (2012), Jerry Seinfeld.

Pero.

El “pero” es la palabra más puta que conozco -. “te quiero, pero…”; “podría ser, pero…”; “no es grave, pero…”. ¿Se da cuenta? Una palabra de mierda que sirve para dinamitar lo que era, o lo que podría haber sido, pero no es.

El Secreto de sus Ojos, Eduardo Sacheri.

Inadequate.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be?

Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles, Marianne Williamson.

Winning.

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!

Rocky Balboa (2006), Sylvester Stallone.

Game of inches.

I don't know what to say, really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives. All comes down to today, and either, we heal as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play. Until we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell... one inch at a time. Now I can't do it for ya, I'm too old. I look around, I see these young faces and I think, I mean, I've made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I, uh, I've pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who's ever loved me. And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror. You know, when you get old, in life, things get taken from you. I mean, that's... that's... that's a part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losin' stuff. You find out life's this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game - life or football - the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that's gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying! I'll tell you this, in any fight it's the guy whose willing to die whose gonna win that inch. And I know, if I'm gonna have any life anymore it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch, because that's what living is, the six inches in front of your face. Now I can't make you do it. You've got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think ya going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. Your gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it your gonna do the same for him. That's a team, gentlemen, and either, we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football guys, that's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do? 

Any Given Sunday (1999), Oliver Stone.

Every waking hour.

Every whisper of every waking hour, I'm choosing my confessions. 

Trying to keep an eye on you, like a hurt, lost and blinded fool. 

Losing My Religion, REM.

Happiness.

Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of the road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing… it’s okay. You are okay.

Mad Men (2007). Season 1, Episode 1, Smoke Gets in your Eyes.

Loneliness.

Only boxers can understand the loneliness of tennis players - and yet boxers have their corner men and managers. Even a boxer's opponent provides a kind of companionship, someone he can grapple with and grunt at. In tennis you stand face-to-face with the enemy, trade blows with him, but never touch him or talk to him, or anyone else. The rules forbid a tennis player from even talking to his coach while on the court. People sometimes mention the track-and-field runner as a comparably lonely figure, but I have to laugh. At least the runner can feel and smell his opponents. They're inches away. In tennis you're on an island. Of all the games men and women play, tennis is the closest to solitary confinement.

Open, Andre Agassi.

The enemy.

Sweet? Where do you get off? Where do you get sweet? I am dark and mysterious, and pissed off! And I could be very dangerous to all of you! You should know that about me. I am the enemy!

Almost Famous (2000), Cameron Crowe.

Beautiful people.

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen. 

Elisabeth Kübler Ross. 

Laughed.

When the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies.

Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie.

Un par de balazos.

Ingrata, no me digas que me quieres, que me amas, que me extrañas, que ya no te creo nada. ¿Ingrata, que no ves que estoy sufriendo? Por favor hoy no me digas que tus lagrimas son falsas. Tu desprecias mis palabras y mis besos. Pues si quiero hacerte daño sólo falta que yo quiera lastimarte y humillarte. Ingrata, aunque quieras tu dejarme los recuerdos de esos días, de las noches tan obscuras, tu jamás podrás borrarte. Por eso ahora tendré que obsequiarte un par de balazos pa que te duela. Y aunque estoy triste por ya no tenerte, voy a estar contigo en tu funeral. 

Ingrata. Re (1994), Café Tacvba. 

7 segundos.

Y juntos, 
junto a un fuego imaginario, 
abren paquetes y entre regalos 
se dan un beso que dura 7 segundos.

Andrés Calamaro, Los Rodríguez.

Twenty seconds.

You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.

We bought a zoo (2011), Cameron Crowe.