“All those writers who write about their childhood! Gentle God, if I wrote about mine you wouldn’t sit in the same room with me.”
—Dorothy Parker, as quoted in The Paris Review
March 2012
February 2012
“There’s a hell of a distance between wisecracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.”
—Dorothy Parker, as quoted in The Paris Review
“Yeah, well I have a sense of it now.
There’s the fact that you’re interviewing me about this 20 years later or something. My favorite thing is that, to this day, everywhere I go to pitch a movie or a TV show or a book, there’s always someone 24 to the 30 there. These are the people who are starting to run all the things in the world. As soon as they hear I created Clarissa, they go crazy and revert to being 14-year-olds. Even some of the guys — “You created Clarissa?! — and it’s so much fun for me because I have this instant connection to people, and whatever years have passed vanish in a second, and that’s pretty cool for me.
Especially for those were who were girls at the time, there was finally a show for them. Looking back, you know what Clarissa’s values were and, to me, they were a lot better than what came after — Lizzie McGuire and Miley Cyrus.
Clarissa was smart. She wasn’t trying to be a “star.” Being a star for Clarissa would have been a step down. Her character wasn’t aspiring to be famous in a rock and roll star kind of way. She admired smart people. She admired Madonna, but she admired a scientist, for that matter. She was way more cool than the characters from these other shows.” —Clarissa Explains It All’s creator Mitchell Kriegman, replying to a question asked in this Splitsider interview of how he interacts with young people today “who grew up on the show.”
There’s the fact that you’re interviewing me about this 20 years later or something. My favorite thing is that, to this day, everywhere I go to pitch a movie or a TV show or a book, there’s always someone 24 to the 30 there. These are the people who are starting to run all the things in the world. As soon as they hear I created Clarissa, they go crazy and revert to being 14-year-olds. Even some of the guys — “You created Clarissa?! — and it’s so much fun for me because I have this instant connection to people, and whatever years have passed vanish in a second, and that’s pretty cool for me.
Especially for those were who were girls at the time, there was finally a show for them. Looking back, you know what Clarissa’s values were and, to me, they were a lot better than what came after — Lizzie McGuire and Miley Cyrus.
Clarissa was smart. She wasn’t trying to be a “star.” Being a star for Clarissa would have been a step down. Her character wasn’t aspiring to be famous in a rock and roll star kind of way. She admired smart people. She admired Madonna, but she admired a scientist, for that matter. She was way more cool than the characters from these other shows.” —Clarissa Explains It All’s creator Mitchell Kriegman, replying to a question asked in this Splitsider interview of how he interacts with young people today “who grew up on the show.”
PULPHEAD NOTES: An Event with Geoff Dyer in New York →
johnjeremiahsullivan.tumblr.com
On Friday March 9th, John Jeremiah Sullivan and Geoff Dyer will be in conversation at 192 Books. Here’s Dyer from a recent interview in Bookforum:
Failure is quite interesting, and it’s something I have a certain amount of experience with. I wasn’t a failure in the way lots of people are…
This should be done. By all. Nick will be there, and he’d love to meet you, dear readers!
Tuesday New Release Day
NEW! Edugyan on music, race, love and loyalty; D’Agata on truth, veracity, and storytelling; Manguso’s elegy for a friend; Ullman with a psychological thriller; Hebert on defining oneself against the backdrop of revolution; a release date for Shadid’s final memoir; and, for all you baseball fans, the 2012 Baseball Prospectus!
