Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you should have received an email. Thanks!

No One Knows Anything

William Goldman

American master William Goldman has passed away at age 87. There was simply none better. His writing touched so many in so many ways.

I have no idea how many times I've personally seen The Princess Bride. It's simply beyond count. To let you know how much my family loved that movie and how much Goldman's writing permeated our lives, whenever I dropped my kids off at school I would say goodbye by saying, "Have fun storming the castle."

Every time.

In his tributes the movies All the President's Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid usually get the spotlight.  Mostly because journalists are writing these tributes and obviously All the President's Men is their industry holy grail. And Goldman won an Oscar for Butch Cassidy (as he also did for All the President's Men).

For me, the movie other than Princess Bride from Goldman that has been part of the fabric of my life is Marathon Man. Interestingly enough Goldman wrote both the books and screenplays for those two movies.

In Marathon Man it takes a master to turn an innocent question of "Is it safe?' into an object of terror. Perhaps Dustin Hoffman's best work with an unforgettable performance by Sir Laurence Olivier as the Nazi Christian Szell. Let's not forget excellent supporting performances by Roy Scheider and William Devane.

Pain is one of the main plot devices in both The Princess Bride (the pain machine and the awesome "to the pain" speech) and also obviously in Marathon Man's  "Is it safe?" scene.  Goldman is also well known for the quote, "Life is pain, anyone who says differently is selling something." I like to think this understanding of true pain came from Goldman being a "long-suffering" New York Knicks fan. I think that James Dolan could believably be listed as Goldman's cause of death by an honest coroner.

One last thing - Goldman did not write Lord of the Flies. That was William Golding. Common mistake.

Top 5 - Authors Whose Books were Made into Movies

This list was prompted by nothing in particular.

1. Stephen King
2. John Grisham
3. Michael Crichton
4. William Goldman
5. (tie) Peter Benchley (tie) Mario Puzo

Nicholas Pileggi almost made the list.

ESPN NFL Kickoff Goes All Princess Bride

This is just fantastic! I'm guessing that Willaim Goldman - the writer of The Princess Bride probably got a kick out of it since he's a big sports fan.

EDIT: Trey Wingo and Mark Schlereth give the backstory to how this all came together

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

This may be strange but the person I would really like to hear from regarding how Jeremy Lin was handled by the Knicks is writer William Goldman who happens to be a big Knicks fan... If Time is real and is subject to the forces of gravity doesn't that mean that Time somehow has mass or some sort of energy component?.. Whenever you read about Barack Obama saving Detroit - how come you never see any workers from Saturn or Pontiac quoted in the story?... JA Happ and Jon Lester have basically been the same pitcher this year. People who advocate trading Lester should consider that and look at how comparatively little the Astros got for Happ... Interesting - according to Todd Brunson the poker show Poker After Dark paid the players a flat rate of $5,000 for 8 hours while the show High Stakes Poker paid $1,250 per hour... The Democratic Convention is going to be a disaster. Having one of the least successful Conventions in recent memory will be a big drag on the Obama campaign. The stories will be more about who isn't there than who is attending. Also post Convention don't be shocked if there isn't a bunch of stories about local vendors getting stiffed by the DNC. I just want to say that now.... I would love it if Fred Willard's defense is that he had a cramp and was just trying to work it out...