On the 88 Club
The thing I will always love about Tom Stoppard is his spectral hand in the script for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
On being more ant or being more dinosaur
Is dickishness, I wonder, a price worth paying for access to the joys and freedoms of curiosity and imagination?
On the brain being mostly right, then a little wrong
Interestingly, I have never yet met a woman who had a good word to say about Arrival.
On green ink, shenanigans and tomfoolery
"The vast majority of novels, including those with explicit scenes, use standard black ink. This keeps production costs down and follows the established norms of the publishing industry."
On (the joys of) negative utopias
You never know when you’ll read something that proves itself to be grimly, magnificently prophetic within your own lifetime.
On story, narrative and plot
I'm twitching nervously because I've realised we’re venturing into the territory of reader-response criticism here...
On being a Stranger to the Muses
Uh-oh... Should I have got my coat and bag from the locker and just left quietly...?
On pride and productivity
So many employers profess to value wellbeing — until it comes into conflict with the productivity which they value even more.
On gutsy approaches to planning
"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood."
On saying what you mean and meaning what you say
"If you're making a statement, artistically, then when you're making that statement, as far as you're concerned, it's an absolute."
