Only @EricIdle could upstage one of the funniest openings ever written with a physical bit so unexpected & iconic that I think about it once a week. (From THE RUTLES: ALL YOU NEED IS CASH, 1978.)
“It was like magic — each time I felt Ethan looking away, I would look at him and vice versa. I almost fell in love with him right there, but then Rick said cut.”
julie delpy talking about this scene from before sunrise (1995)
Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries:
"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.
"There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.
"If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice!
"Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity."
These are my twelve favourite landscape painters from the 1950s to the present (not entirely in order of preference, but almost...)
1. Jean-Pierre Ugarte (born 1950)
After Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington attended a ball in Vienna. Upon his arrival, some French officers turned their backs on the conqueror of their emperor.
When a woman apologized to the Duke for their rudeness, he replied:
‘’Tis of no matter, Your Highness; I have seen their backs before.’