The World Really Changed After 9/11, Not Just In The Tragic Way, But In Every Way. So It Took Me A Couple Of Years To Even Understand How My Art Form I Could Process Any Of This. When The World Changed, Eliciting Laughter With Subjects That Were Funny To Me Before 9/11 Just Didnt Seem Good Enough.

-Albert Brooks

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The World Really Changed

Albert Brooks

Topic

Art

Laughter

Couple

More From Albert Brooks

I'm Not A Big Fan Of The Post-armageddon Stories, Where Denzel Washington Is Walking Around In A Torn Coat.

Coats

Fans

Stories

Film Is The Cheapest Part Of The Movie Making Process. The Expense Is The 100-man Crew And The Financing And Everything.

Men

Film

Process

Twitter, To Me, Works If You're Funny. Twitter Doesn't Work As A Promotional Tool Unless You Do It Very, Very, Very Occasionally.

Tools

Ifs

It's Interesting When You're Part Of A Group - The Jews, To Be Exact - That The World Has Had Such Problems With.

Interesting

Groups

World

My Mother Was Supportive Without Knowing It. Deep Down She Wanted All The Right Things, She Just Didn't See The World Like I Did, And She's Not Supposed To.

Mother

Knowing

Supportive

The Whole World Is Tense. Everybody Gets The International News. Theres Been No American Comedy At All That Even Remotely Addresses The Subject In Any Way. My Goal Isnt To Solve The Worlds Problems. My Character Wasnt Even Able To Do His Assignment. But The Premise Of Wanting To Find Out About Somebody -- Other Than The Stuff That The Cia Will Tell You -- Theres No Hope Unless We Do That.

Character

Goal

News

Don't Worry, And Don't Kick Yourself Forever. Just Take The Opportunities When They Come.

Fun

Opportunity

Worry

I Was In Kashmir Last Weekend. Went To Visit One Of My Sweaters.

Weekend

Sweaters

Kashmir

I'm A Big Consumer Of News And I Have My Six Newspaper Sites Booked. And What I Like Bout Twitter Is It's Almost, It Allows Me To Make A Comment About Something That's Just On My Mind.

Mind

News

Six

I've Never Been Disappointed, Because I've Never Given Somebody I Liked That Much Power.

Given

Disappointed

Well, You Know, With Every Character, If You're Going To Expose Yourself, You've Got To Figure Out Every Detail That You're Going To Play. So There's No Character That You Can Just Go Put On His Shirt And Be Fully Prepared.

Character

Play

Details

I Don't Want To Be The One To Break It To You, But The Future Ain't That Funny.

Want

Break

I Don't Experience Basic Human Emotions. It's Not My Thing.

Emotion

Humans

Human Emotions

When I Audition, I Understand What It Takes And The Insecurities That Come With It. If I Do Anything, I Put Actors At Ease. I Used To Tell Directors Who Weren't Actors, The Best Thing They Could Do Was Take An Acting Class For A Couple Of Months. Just To Understand.

Couple

Class

Insecurity

If You Paint, Write, Do Mosaics, Knit - If It's Solving That Part Of Your Brain Saying, 'i Need To Do This,' You've Won.

Writing

Brain

Mosaics

If Anything Happens To Me, Tell Every Woman I've Ever Gone With I Was Talking About Her At The End. That Way, They'll Have To Reevaluate Me.

Talking

Life And Death

Gone

I Have Children. I Have A Family To Support. But I Really Could Live In A One-room Apartment, As Long As The Television Worked. I Never Needed Anything. Just A Comfortable Chair And I'm Fine.

Children

Long

Support

I Guess 'the Player' Was A Pretty Good L.a. Movie. And 'chinatown.' Was There Ever A Better L.a. Movie About A Certain Period In L.a.? That Was Terrific.

Player

Chinatown

Periods

I Don't Want To Get Close To People Who Have Secrets That I Don't Know About.

People

Secret

Want

Nobody Will Leave Any Place Unless They're Forced Out. That's The Nature Of Humans. Once You're There, You're There. I've Never Seen Anybody Get Up Voluntarily And Leave Any Place.

Get Up

Humans

One Of The Things I Like About A Character: I Always Think It's Fascinating When A Character Can Turn On A Dime And Go From One Emotion To Another. I Like Watching That.

Character

Thinking

Dimes

I Like Movies About Failing.

Failing

I Just Like Making People Laugh, And Buried In That I Like To Bring Up Topics And Start Discussions.

People

Laughing

Topics

So I Think If You're Happy With Your Brain, You're Powerful.

Powerful

Thinking

Brain

I Cast Unusual People In My Movies.

People

Unusual

Casts

I'm Not Elvis. I Don't Get Chased By Paparazzi.

Paparazzi

Most Entertainment Is Trying To Get You. It's Tested, Like Toothpaste.

Trying

Entertainment

Toothpaste

I'm Not Interesting Enough On My Own That You'd Want To See A Film About Me.

Interesting

Want

Film

Be Generous And You Can Be The Best Person Who Ever Lived.

Being The Best

Best Person

Persons

When I Went To Acting School, The Kids That Got The Best Grades Were The Kids That Could Cry On Cue. But It Didn't Really Translate Into Careers For Any Of Them, Because The External Is The Easy Part.

School

Kids

Careers

I've Always Enjoyed Stories That Take Place In The Future But My One Disappointment Was That The Future Books Described Never Came. We're Not On Other Planets, There Are No Flying Cars, And The Only Robots We Have In Our Homes Just Sweep The Floor. So I Wanted To Write About A Future That I Thought Could Really Happen. People Ask Me When I Tell Them The Title Of The Book, 'are We All Dead?' The Good News Is, No. We're Still Here. And I Even Think The Future In My Book Is Strangely Hopeful, Although I'm Sure There Will Be People Who Strongly Disagree.

You Make Friends With Older People And You Always Feel Young No Matter What.

People

Matter

Young

In The Course Of My Movies, The Financing And The Releasing Were Always The Tough Part. Because I Loved The Creative, I Loved The Writing, I Loved The Making Of It. Because I Guess, I Never Had The Giant Blockbuster, I Never Got That Sort Of Ease For The Next One. So The Next One Was Always, "how Am I Going To Do This?" And That Thing Was Sort Of Always The Thing That Made Me A Little Chickenshit To Go Into The Next One. The Writing Of It Was Great And The Making Of It Was Great, But How Am I Going To Release This Thing And Am I Going To Find A Studio?

Writing

Creative

Tough

Bullfights Are Hugely Popular Because You Can Sit Comfortably With A Hot Dog And Possibly Watch A Man Die. It Wont Be Me, But I Can Sit Comfortably And Watch It.

Dog

Men

Hot

I've Always Liked To Think Ahead. Not Stupid-far Ahead. A Hundred Years Doesn't Interest Me. But 20 Years Interests Me, And More For What Happens To Humans As Opposed To Things.

Stupid

Thinking

Years

I've Been To Many Funerals Of Funny People, And They're Some Of The Funniest Days You'll Ever Have, Because The Emotions Run High.

Running

People

Funeral

You Always Got To Be Happy When Somebody Likes What You Do. It's Stupid Not To Be Happy.

Stupid

Likes

For The Most Part, Improvising While Cameras Are Rolling Is Very Difficult. 99% Of People You Should Never Ask To Do That, Because They're Under Pressure, The Clock Is Running, 80 People Are Staring At You...it's Always Unnatural.

Running

People

Pressure

Donald Trump Announces This Morning That He Will Run For President. His Hair Will Announce On Friday.

Friday

Running

Morning

You Never Do A Movie And Not Want It To Work. You Accept Whatever It Is. You Have To, But Nobody In Their Right Mind Would Not Want The Movie To Be Getting Talked About At The End Of The Year.

Years

Mind

Want

Getting Older Is A Lot Of Fun. Right Up There With Chewing Glass Or Putting Your Hand In A Blender.

Fun

Glasses

Hands

I Don't Know That I Can Define Fear. But One Of The Sources Of Fear Is Holding Up Some Sort Of Model Life That Doesn't Exist And Feeling Like You're Far Away From It.

Feelings

Like You

Far Away

Your Spouse Should Be Just Attractive Enough To Turn You On. Anything More Is Trouble.

Dating

Trouble

Enough

I've Seen The Future! It's A Bald-headed Man From New York!

New York

Men

Art And Resistance Are Great Together. That's What Art's Made For. Look At Vincent Van Gogh: He Didn't Cut Off His Ear Because He Was Selling Well.

Art

Cutting

Together

In The Beginning Of Any Career, In Every Job, People Are Always Forcing You To The Middle.

Jobs

Careers

People

If We Had 3 Million Exhibitionists And Only One Voyeur, Nobody Could Make Any Money.

Exhibitionist

Ifs

Millions

I Never Wanted To Be A Director.

Directors

Wanted

'drive' Came To Me Because The Casting Director Knew My Manager And Called And Said, 'you've Always Talked To Me About Albert Wanting To Play The Heavy. I Think He Should Read This.' My Ears Just Perked Up.

Thinking

Play

Casting

You Know, When Cameras Are Rolling, Improvisation Doesn't Feel Natural. The Pressure Is Too Great. You're On A Time Schedule. You've Got 60 Crewmen.

Pressure

Cameras

Rolling

It's Better To Be Known By Six People For Something You're Proud Of Than To Be Known By Sixty Million For Something You're Not.

Motivational

People

Proud

Nothing Surprises Me. After Donald Trump, Nothing Matters, Does It?

Surprise

Surprise Me

I Come From The Place Where I Am Thinking 'i Have Put My Blood On The Pages.'

Thinking

Blood

Pages

How Many People Didn't Get A Part Who Would Have Been Better Than The Person Who Got The Part? Thousands.

People

Persons

Has Beens

You Can Equate Acting To A Tennis Game: When You're Playing One Of The Best, You Get Better.

Games

Tennis

Get Better

What Naturally Stops You Making The Film Is There Is No More Money In The Budget. That's Really What It Is. If You Had An Unlimited Budget, If You Were A Billionaire And You Financed Your Own Movies, Then You Can Either Date, Because You Can Sit In An Editing Room For Six Years, Like Howard Hughes, And Never Finish Anything.

Editing

Years

Rooms

When I Was Younger, I Wasn't Concentrating On Good Days. I Was Managing A Career And Trying To Have A Good Year. It Would Always 'lead' To Something, Which Never Leads To Anything Except Death, Where Everything Leads To. And Then As I Got Older, And Then I Had My Kids And Everything, I Began To Appreciate A Great Wednesday.

Good Day

Kids

Good Years

What Do You Think The Devil Is Going To Look Like If He's Around? Nobody Is Going To Be Taken In If He Has A Long, Red, Pointy Tail. No. I'm Semi-serious Here. He Will Look Attractive And He Will Be Nice And Helpful And He Will Get A Job Where He Influences A Great God-fearing Nation And He Will Never Do An Evil Thing... He Will Just Bit By Little Bit Lower Standards Where They Are Important. Just Coax Along Flash Over Substance... Just A Tiny Bit. And He Will Talk About All Of Us Really Being Salesmen. And He'll Get All The Great Women.

Jobs

Nice

Taken

I've Done Performances In Movies That I Was Immensely Proud Of And The Movies Didn't Take Off Like A Rocket At Cape Canaveral, It Didn't Take Off.

Capes

Done

Proud

I'd Still Like To See 'survivor' Minus The Planned Show-biz Parts. That Would Be The Purest Form Of Show Business - I Want To See Someone So Hungry That They Eat Somebody Else's Foot.

Feet

Would Be

Survivor

Even Though My Father Was A Radio Comedian, It Wasn't Cool To Say, At A Young Age, 'i Want To Be A Comedian.'

Father

Comedian

Age

I'm Not A Person Who I Ever Thought Would Do Well With Divorce. Not That It Can't Happen. I Just Didn't Want That. So I Waited A Long Time To Meet The Right Person. Then I Finally Met Someone That I Was Willing To Be Divorced From.

Divorce

Long

Want

I Don't Think The Goal Is, 'how Big A Star Did You Ever Become?' I Think The Goal Is, 'were You Able To Express Yourself?'

Stars

Thinking

Goal

Being A Screenwriter In Hollywood Is Like Being A Eunuch At An Orgy. Worse, Actually, At Least The Eunuch Is Allowed To Watch.

Hollywood

Watches

Screenwriters

If You Want To Be A Writer, Just Write. There's No Magic To It.

Writing

Magic

Want

Movies Are An Expensive Business.

Expensive

Someone Asked Me "what Do You Think Of Donald Trump?" And I Said, "i Would Rather Vote For Hillary Clinton In Jail." If She Gets Convicted, I'll Vote For Her For President.

Thinking

President

Vote

I, Sort Of, Got Into Comedy Accidentally, And It Got Bigger Than I Wanted It To.

Comedy

Bigger

Wanted

Excited About Black Friday. Also Excited About Jew Tuesday.

Friday

Tuesday

Black

When I Die, If The Word 'thong' Appears In The First Or Second Sentence Of My Obituary, I've Screwed Up.

Firsts

Thongs

Screwed Up

My Friend Harry Nilsson Used To Say The Definition Of An Artist Was Someone Who Rode Way Ahead Of The Herd And Was Sort Of The Lookout. Now You Don't Have To Be That, To Be An Artist. You Can Be Right Smack-dab In The Middle Of The Herd. If You Are, You'll Be The Richest.

Artist

Dabs

Definitions

I Can't Not Put Humor In A Book.

Book

I Can

I've Always Been The King Of Silence. I've Always Been A Minimalist Comedian. I've Taken My Influence From Jack Benny, Who Was The King Of That I've Always Done 'less Is More.'

Kings

Taken

Silence

Once You Sign On As An Actor, You Know, You Don't Go To The Editing Room, You Don't See How They Cut, You Don't See How They Score, You Don't See How They Cast The Rest Of The Movie.

Cutting

Editing

Actors

Wouldn't This Be A Great World If Insecurity And Desperation Made Us More Attractive?

Insecurity

World

Desperation

A Lot Of Alliteration From Anxious Anchors Placed In Powerful Posts!

Powerful

Anchors

Anxious

Relaxation Is The Absence Of Worry.

Worry

Relaxation

Absence

I've Always Felt Like I Work In A Small Little Area That Doesn't Represent Anything Like The Rest Of Society.

Society

Littles

Areas

What's Interesting About Books That Take Place In The Future, Even Twenty Years In The Future, Is That Many Of Them Are Black Or White: It's Either A Utopia Or It's Misery. The Real Truth Is That There's Going To Be Both Things In Any Future, Just Like There Is Now.

Real

Book

Years

Starting To Drink Now In Preparation For New Years. No More Last Minute Stuff Like Christmas.

New Year

Years

Preparation

You Know, I Became A Director Out Of Necessity. I Was Writing Comedies, And I Couldn't Find Anybody To Deliver It Correctly.

Writing

Directors

Comedy

There's Nothing Funny About Flying To Houston.

Flying

Houston

When You Improvise On The Spot, People Are Very Reluctant To Have Soft Moments Or Quiet Moments Or Sad Moments Because They're Trying To Fill Up The Spaces. So They Always Go Towards, "how Come You're Late?! You're Supposed To Have My Shirt Ready! You Call This A Dry Cleaner?!" That's What Happens. That's Why Improvising On The Spot Gets Very Dicey.

Quiet Moments

Space

People

Twitter Is The Devil's Playground.

Devil

Playgrounds

I Think Anger And Laughter Are Very Close To Each Other, When You Think About It.

Laughter

Thinking

The Biggest Waste Of Brainpower Is To Want To Change Something That's Not Changeable.

Change

Want

Waste

If I'm Going To Act In Someone's Movie, I Want The Movie To Be Interesting And Be Able To Get A Couple Of Solid Doubles.

Couple

Interesting

Want

In My Screenplays - From The Very Beginning I've Always Used Tape. I Talk My Screenplays. And Then Have Somebody Transcribe Them.

Tape

Used

Screenplays

Steven Spielberg Seems To Have Wanted To Be A Director From 13. He Put His Dog In A Certain Position And Made Him Eat At Four O'clock. He Liked To Direct It. But, To Me, Directing Is Tedious. Especially If You're Acting In It. And I'm Inherently Lazy.

Dog

Lazy

Acting

I've Always Been In The Middle Of Making My Own Movies, So Taking Acting Jobs That Take Me Away From That Has Been Impossible.

Jobs

Acting

Impossible

I Got So Good At Writing To A Budget, My Brain Was Restricting Myself. I'd Write, "it's A Stormy Night." Then I'd Cross Out Stormy. I'd Write: "it's A Calm Night." Then I'd Cross Out Night. It's Noon. Because You Know How Much Night Costs. You Know How Much Rain Costs. Nothing Comes Free In Movies.

Rain

Writing

Night

If You Look At The Best-seller List For American Fiction, They're All Sequels To Detective Stories Or Stories About Hunting Serial Killers. That's What's Called American Fiction These Days.

Hunting

Serial Killer

Looks

I Take Anything Other Than 'you Big Pig!' As A Compliment.

Pigs

Compliment

Bigs

All Improv Turns Into Anger. All Comedy Improv Basically Turns Into Anger, Because That's All People Know How To Do When They're Improvising. If You Notice Shows That Are Improvising Are Generally People Yelling At Each Other.

Yelling

People

Comedy

If You're Going To Act And Do This For A Living, You Want To Play Something That The Audience Didn't Expect.

Play

Want

Audience

Regrets Are Stupid; They Don't Mean Anything And They Don't Add Up To Anything.

Regret

Stupid

Mean

As An Actor, If You're Just Sitting And Staring And You Don't Know Who You Are In Your Own Mind, It's Vacant. And Sometimes The Camera Is An X-ray Machine, It Can Pick It Up.

Mind

Rays

Cameras

I'm A Member Of The Academy, But I Don't Know Who All The Other Academy Members Are. It's Not Like A Politician Who Knows Who Is In The Iowa Caucus.

Iowa

Politician

Members

Fear Is Like A Giant Fog. It Sits On Your Brain And Blocks Everything - Real Feelings, True Happiness, Real Joy. They Can't Get Through That Fog. But You Lift It, And Buddy, You're In For The Ride Of Your Life.

Life

Happiness

Fear

Acceptance Is Going To A Restaurant Where The Salad's Not Great, But The Steak Is Fine.

Acceptance

Salad

Steak

There's Always The Standard Six People You Can Hire That Have Played All These Villains In Hollywood. Instinctively, When They Come On Screen, You Know What's Going To Happen. You Don't Know The Story, But You Know What They Do.

People

Hollywood

Stories

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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