This weekend I'll be presenting an extremely distilled version of my thesis at the annual Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association Conference in Niagara Falls. Seems like as good a time as any to post some great lines that have been ringing around in my ears all month. Some of these I've mentioned before. Some go together kind of well. Some are relevant to discussions we've had on the blogs. Some are from great songs I've been listening to. A few are just, well, cute. Some I'm not sure what they mean. You can decide which is which. Enjoy, and have a good weekend!
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Jon (to his boys in the backseat of the van, who are fighting about pretty much everything): "Guys, do you you think you can talk without arguing?"
Brady: "We can talk without arguing right Elijah?"
Elijah (harshly): "No we can't."
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Writer (in Tarkovsky's Stalker) : "Listen Einstein, I don't want to argue anymore."
Philosopher: "Truth is born of argument, damn it!"
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Mallory McGarry (in West Wing Season One): "Don't play dumb with me Sam."
Sam Seborne : "But I'm actually dumb. Most of the time I'm just playing smart."
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My son Elijah, out of nowhere: "Dad, you like books so much you should be a bookaneer."
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Sheriff Ed Bell (monologue in No Country for Old Men): "The crime you see now, it’s hard to even take its measure. It’s not that I’m afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But, I don’t want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don’t understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He’d have to say, 'O.K., I’ll be part of this world.'”
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M. Ward (in "Poison Cup", from the album Post-War):
If love
If love
Is a poison cup
Then drink it up
'Cause a sip
A sip
Or a spoonful won't do
Won't do nothing for you
Except mess you up
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Augustine (from Predestination of the Saints): "No one believes anything unless one first thought it believable. . . . Everything that is believed is believed after being preceded by thought. . . . Not everyone who thinks believes, since many think in order not to believe; but everyone who believes thinks, thinks in believing and believes in thinking."
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G.K. Chesterton: "Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another."
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G.K. Chesterton: “Without education we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”
Be Perfect
2 hours ago
14 comments:
This weekend?! When? Where? I'll be there with bells on, since Niagra is only about 40 mins away from my house and all.
Its at Sheraton Fallsview Hotel & Conference Center and I'm at 11:30 on Saturday. Trouble is I think it is by registration only and they don't take any registrations at the door. But you could try. I'd hate for them to turn you away for driving all that way, but then again, how is it not possible to crash a conference?
I'd love to see you there but its up to you, you'd be taking a risk!
Well that's just terribly sad I must say. I can't find any info about registration on the blogsite either. Oh well. You flying in to Buffalo or Hamilton? Let me know if you're going to be around at all and we'll grab some coffee or something. Good luck at the conference.
Great quotes, that Augustine one is fantastic.
I love Elijah's argument quote too.
first off, good quotes. second off, you're wrong about paranoid park. third off, you're wrong about paranoid park.
Your friend,
Nathan Davies
my favourites are the quotes from your kids.
All the best on your paper, Jon. From what I've heard of your work, I'm sure you'll blow them away. Perhaps Colin and I could show up with Chesterton bobble-heads or something... :)
nathan: what? i said paranoid park was good!
just not great, like elephant and gerry.
i might be argued into a higher rating though. sometimes it takes a while for a film's effect to sink in and that might be the case here. often i judge a film by how much it makes me think in the weeks/months/years after.
brilliantly made, it really was.
For me Paranoid Park was more like an 8, using your scale. But 7 is reasonable, I think. It wasn't quite a flawless movie, and so if you're not totally buying into Gus Van Sant's worldview then yeah, those flaws are going to hold the picture down a little. Having said that, it's pretty easily my favourite film so far this year.
Paul Schrader called Paranoid Park (I'm paraphrasing) the only truly contemporary film of this generation. I like that.
I'd give:
Elephant - 7, maybe 6
Last Days - 9
Gerry - 9
Also, Jon, your boys sound like the funniest and most clever little men of all time. Even my all-time favourite comedies don't have lines quite as good as the ones you quoted your sons coming up with. Pure gold.
i didn't get last days. i like that statement about paranoid park too. seems fairly approppriate. i am waiting for nathan to argue me up to an 8/10. i could go there.
these boys are pretty stinkin clever. thanks.
Elephant - 10
Last Days - 4
How was your conference?
Conference was cool. I'll post about it methinks sometime soon (and see you soon as well tanti!).
In the meantime, since quotes from my kids were such a hit, here is an excerpt from lunch today:
Elijah (after a bit of conversation): "I had a feeling you might say that."
Angie: "You did?"
Jon: "That's something."
Elijah (laughing): "I had a feeling you might say that."
Jon (laughing), says something else.
Elijah: "I had a feeling you might say that."
Jon: "I had a feeling you might say that."
Elijah (repeat).
Jon: "You can say that again."
Brady (joins Elijah): "I had a feeling you might say that."
Jon: "I knew you would say that."
Now the conversation goes on for several minutes, with Jon, Brady and Elijah interweaving those three statements over and over again.
Maybe you had to be there, but that's a pretty typical lunch around here.
sorry if this blog is turning into the family facebook site or something.
I've been there for some of those kinds of conversations. Those boys are really fun and funny. Can't wait to see you all soon.
Mom
If I was a studio scriptwriter I think I'd camp out at your place and steal your boys' dialogue. Priceless.
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