Thought for the week

"Failure is merely proof that the desire was not strong enough."

Now, I don't in general approve of this kind of sentiment. It seems to me rather too aggressively go-getting, and perhaps dangerously delusional. Much of the time, failure is simply proof that something was indeed impossible - and shouldn't have been attempted in the first place. However, I like this particular expression because it occurs in a favourite film of mine, The Hairdresser's Husband, where it is illustrated by a charming fable.

Thought for the week

"Remember - when you are most convinced that you are right, you are highly likely to be wrong; and least likely to persuade anyone else, either way."

Stanley Kubrick's fondness for one-point perspective

I recently shared with my Film class students this montage of scenes from the films of the great director Stanley Kubrick, which highlights his conspicuous penchant for compositions with a one-point perspective.

Lots of directors like shots looking down a highway... or a corridor... or a path through the woods, but... maybe not as much as dear old Kubrick! As we see here, he managed to create that vertiginous, sucking-you-into-the-frame feeling in many other situations too. 

For anyone who's not too familiar with Kubrick's reputation, here's a good rundown on his creative 'insanity'.

Supplemental 'Thought for the week'

"Tact consists in knowing how far we may go too far."

This seems an irresistible corollary to my own jest at the start of the week.

Thought for the week

"When you've already gone too far, you might as well keep on going."

Thought for the week

"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labour and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both."

I usually leave attributions of these weekly bons mots to the 'Labels' in the footnotes (where unattributed in this way, they are, ahem, my own), but on this occasion I feel compelled to include a link to more information about the great French historian and aphorist, François-René de Chateaubriand.