“all knowledge that’s worth anything is maybe paid for by blood. maybe that’s the only way you can tell that a certain piece of knowledge is worth anything – it has cost some blood.”
“the fact is i am quite happy in a movie, even a bad movie. other people, so i have read, treasure memorable moments in their lives: the time one climbed the parthenon at sunrise, the summer night one met a lonely girl in central park and achieved with her a sweet and natural relationship, as they say in books. i too once met a girl in central park, but it is not much to remember. what i remember is the time john wayne killed three men with a carbine as he was falling to the dusty street in stagecoach, and the time the kitten found orson welles in the doorway in the third man.”
“but the problem was not attention span or gluttony; the problem was that i didn’t actually believe the knowledge i acquired online was useless. i sought it out purposefully, defensively, as if it would one day become vitally important, provide the clue to some threatening mystery of my social or professional life.”
“i let her pull me into a hug, and i spent the rest of the day thinking about the letter, which meant that at work i just sat there with a silly smile on my face as i watched a video of a man in red coveralls being shot in the back by an invisible assailant in the distance.”
“the sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
