June 26, 2012

Goodbye to Nora Ephron.

She was 71.
In the late 1960s Ms. Ephron turned to magazine journalism, at Esquire and New York mostly. She quickly made a name for herself by writing frank, funny personal essays — about the smallness of her breasts, for example — and tart, sharply observed profiles of people like Ayn Rand, Helen Gurley Brown and the composer and best-selling poet Rod McKuen. Some of these articles were controversial. In one, she criticized Betty Friedan for conducting a “thoroughly irrational” feud with Gloria Steinem; in another, she discharged a withering assessment of Women’s Wear Daily....

Her first screenplay, written with her friend Alice Arlen, was for “Silkwood,” a 1983 film based on the life of Karen Silkwood, who died under suspicious circumstances while investigating abuses at a plutonium plant where she had worked...

Ms. Ephron followed “Silkwood” three years later with a screenplay adaptation of her own novel “Heartburn,” which was also directed by Mr. Nichols. But it was her script for “When Harry Met Sally,” which became a hit Rob Reiner movie in 1989 starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, that established Ms. Ephron’s gift for romantic comedy...

[She wrote] “Sleepless in Seattle” (she shared the screenwriting credits), which brought Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan together so winningly that they were cast again in “You’ve Got Mail.”
A woman of our time. It's sad to lose her. I wish the obit (in the NYT) had a bunch of links to old magazine articles and to movie clips. The article about Ayn Rand is in "Wallflower at the Orgy." There's also: "Scribble Scrabble," "Crazy Salad," "I Feel Bad About My Neck," and "Heartburn," which is the one about the breakup of her marriage to Carl Bernstein, which was made into a movie with Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. Here's a little clip of the 2 greatest actors of our time enacting the scenes of Ms. Ephron's marriage:



Let's sing all of the songs we know about babies....

ADDED: I just downloaded "Wallflower at the Orgy" to get the Ayn Rand essay, which begins:
Twenty-five years ago, Howard Roark laughed. Standing naked at the edge of a cliff, his face gaunt, his hair the color of bright orange rind, his body a composition of straight, clean lines and angles, each curve breaking into smooth, clean planes, Howard Roark laughed. It was probably a soundless laugh; most of Ayn Rand’s heroes laugh soundlessly, particularly while making love. It was probably a laugh with head thrown back; most of Ayn Rand’s heroes do things with their heads thrown back, particularly while dealing with the rest of mankind. It was probably a laugh that had a strange kind of simplicity; most of Ayn Rand’s heroes act with a strange kind of simplicity, particularly when what they are doing is of a complex nature.
Beautiful! Twenty-five years ago... that was was written in 1968.... 69 years ago...

83 comments:

Phil 314 said...

I liked her movies though I must admit I was taken aback at her virulent anti-Republicanism

Known Unknown said...

Loss of a true talent.

rosebud said...

She always got me stressed out.

Oh wait, that was norepinephrine.

Ann Althouse said...

"... I was taken aback at her virulent anti-Republicanism."

Can it possibly matter now?

Titus said...

Of course it can matter now.

It always fucking matters to crazies.

tits.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Baby Can Dance

Sydney said...

I had no idea she was that old. I always imagined her as 40-something. I guess I am stuck in the 1980's

Crimso said...

"Can it possibly matter now?"

The same can be asked about any aspect of her life, including her writings and movies. It's not as though Phil 3:14 was hating on her too soon after her death.

William said...

Lo, these many years later I can still remember the informative article about tits that she wrote for Esquire. She told of friends who listed the many advantages that women with small tits have. The last word of the article was her response to those cheering words: "Bullshit". She is a writer whose stylistic influences can still be felt.....She said that no matter how crappy you presently feel, in ten years time it will seem like a golden age of health and fitness. Maybe not. She got cheated out of old age. To miss out on old age is not such a loss, but old people think it so.

Phil 314 said...

Can it possibly matter now?

No.

I'm sad she died.

I liked her movie scripts.

coketown said...

Who?

Oh. Two rom-coms and that POS "Julie and Julia." Quite a legacy. If that Ayn Rand excerpt is any indication, her essays had the shelf-life of eggs.

virgil xenophon said...

"The shelf-life of eggs."

LOL, that can be a long time in some cultures. Ever see the way the French age eggs outside in the sun for the base makings of Hollandaise sauce? Such a sight would give the NIH a heart-attack all by itself.

traditionalguy said...

She was a super talent that seemed to joyfully organize good things for her friends and her readers to enjoy.

Of all the great ones dying over the past 6 months, her loss seems the hardest to accept. God especially blessed us with that one.

coketown said...

Ever see the way the French age eggs outside in the sun for the base makings of Hollandaise sauce?

Do they age them for 44 years? I doubt it. So shut up. Oh, and no, I haven't.

Michael K said...

The most interesting thing about her, except a couple of her movies, was the story that she was molested by Jack Kennedy when she was a White House intern. It certainly didn't affect her politics. It never does. With lefties.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Speaking of babies..

Whatever happened to el Niño and la Niña?

wyo sis said...

Writers get to be political but it does make it harder to enjoy their non-political work. It's much worse with actors, singers and celebrities. It's a boycott mentality, but I don't want to pay people who think I'm stupid because of my political beliefs. It's much better not to know.

yashu said...

In an essay for The New York Times in 2003, she said she was also probably the only intern that President John F. Kennedy had never hit on.

Heh.

Here's Nora Ephron's 1965 interview of Bob Dylan for Esquire. 1965 Dylan! Fun read.

Not much of a fan of her films, mostly too sugary for my taste, but they do have their charms-- cable TV comfort food. I hate to call her an auteur, but there's definitely such a thing as 'Nora Ephronesque.'

She lived a good life, lived it well. RIP.

David said...

Sic Transit Nora Mundi.

Palladian said...

I'll never be able to forgive her for making that dreadful book into a dreadful movie that will long discolor and dishonor the memory of my beloved Julia Child.

And I never tire of pointing out that Julia Child thought Meryl Streep was a big, sanctimonious gasbag, and told Streep to shove off when Streep approached her in the 80s to sign on to some ill-conceived, Puritanical, leftist food campaign or other— I believe it was Streep's role in the scaremongering over Alar and apples that particularly irritated Child.

Steve Koch said...

"... I was taken aback at her virulent anti-Republicanism."

Althouse: "Can it possibly matter now?"

Sure, it is possible. Her politics had an impact on her writing and provide a context for understanding some of her writing. Her death does not change that.

Her biggest hits, "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail" were charming but were total ripoffs of much better movies. Ephron came up with a formula for making stacks of cash that required little creative ability.

The model for "Sleepless in Seattle" was "An Affair to Remember", starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. What was impossible was for Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan to come close to matching Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. The disparity is particularly evident in the closing scenes of the two movies.

MayBee said...

And I never tire of pointing out that Julia Child thought Meryl Streep was a big, sanctimonious gasbag, and told Streep to shove off when Streep approached her in the 80s to sign on to some ill-conceived, Puritanical, leftist food campaign or other— I believe it was Streep's role in the scaremongering over Alar and apples that particularly irritated Child.

Ha!

There's a line in Julie and Julia that is always so out of place- Julie's boss yells at her and tells her if he were a Republican, he'd have fired her.

It will always be in the film, so yes, her Republican hate possibly matters now.

Saint Croix said...

I hate to call her an auteur, but there's definitely such a thing as 'Nora Ephronesque.'

I didn't like her stuff, but you have to give props to any artist who knows her own mind and makes work that she herself likes. Her films were light and fluffy but she herself had a sharp focus and knew the kind of art she wanted to make.

I'm sorry she didn't write more screenplays for Rob Reiner. He had a bit of a darker sensibility. He hated the happy ending in When Harry Met Sally. He didn't believe in love after divorce. Didn't think it could happen. But then he actually fell in love again. Reiner got married in 1989 and made When Harry Met Sally the same year.

You'd think the twice divorced Ephron would be bitter. She wrote a book and made a movie (Heartburn) about her divorce from Carl Bernstein. Maybe one of the most bitter movies I've ever seen. Painful to watch. Could not watch that movie.

But Ephron fell in love in 1987 to Nicholas Pileggi, the Mafia screenwriter who wrote Goodfellas. And ever since then, all her movies have been incredibly light, fluffy, and romantic.

It's kind of hard to imagine Nora Ephron and Nicholas Pileggi having a conversation.

"What's the fuckin' matter with you? What - what is the fuckin' matter with you? What are you, stupid or what? Tommy, Tommy, I'm kidding with you. What the fuck are you doin'? What are you, a fuckin' sick maniac?"

But the cotton candy princess and the Mafia screenwriter must have had a pretty good life together. Married for 25 years.

I do very much like When Harry Met Sally. It's one of the great comedies about the pain of heartbreak.

R.I.P. Nora Ephron.

rcommal said...

Catching the coverage (but only in snatches), I am gobsmacked. As if she wasn't Carl Bernstein's wife at a particular re-framing time. And as if she wasn't decades ahead of time in terms of particularly viewing breasts.

yashu said...

Maybee, agreed about that "Republican" jab in Julie & Julia sticking out, a jarring sour note, totally gratuitous.

There was a "Republican" line in You've Got Mail too, but in that case it was actually funny and not jarring. It's the scene where the Meg Ryan character and her boyfriend (Greg Kinnear) amicably break up. He's this hard-core liberal journalist/ pundit who'd been interviewed on some political talk show on TV, and confides that he's fallen for the woman who interviewed him. Ryan asks something like "isn't she a Republican?" and he says something like "I just can't help myself," and they both laugh.

It's a moment that conveys something about the characters, the situation, and their relationship at that moment-- and it's obviously much less hostile toward Republicans, although still a jab. It's not a gratuitous "don't you hate Republicans?" oneliner with no purpose whatsoever other than to convey "don't you hate Republicans?" and thereby get a laugh from people who hate Republicans. Which is what that line in J & J is, to the movie's detriment.

rcommal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rcommal said...

I still have the paperback version of "Crazy Salad" that I bought, used, 30-ish years ago (at the Bookateria, in Newark, DE). It was funny then and funny later. The funny thing now is that it got less funny as time went on, on account of two things:

1) its prescience; and

2) how persistently short-falling were (and are) others' later attempts.

rcommal said...

Also, I'm noticing how much of the early morning commentary primarily has to do with her status as Nicholas Pileggi's wife (and, passingly but no doubt related, her later work as a romantic-comedy screenplay writer).

I mean, how else is one supposed to take what all those folks are saying?

; ) ?

rehajm said...

It will always be in the film, so yes, her Republican hate possibly matters now.

+1. She was trying to connect with people through her films and writings, but just couldn't stand to set aside her politics for that brief moment. So yes, does indeed matter now.

rcommal said...

I find Andrea Mitchell's ruminations to be particularly odious. How self-serving. How jenny-come-lately. How forgetful. (As was--and I hate to say it, in some ways--Nora Ephron, herself.)

All that said:

RIP, Nora. And thanks!

rcommal said...

Oh, my God. Margaret Carlson, who has always--and by that, I mean, ***always***--vaguely nauseated me, is now close to making me outright puke. And she's got plenty of help, God help me.

sigh

: (

The Crack Emcee said...

She quickly made a name for herself by writing frank, funny personal essays — about the smallness of her breasts, for example,...In one, she criticized Betty Friedan for conducting a “thoroughly irrational” feud with Gloria Steinem; in another, she discharged a withering assessment of Women’s Wear Daily....

Wow - sorry I missed those important contributions to literature. Did she do anything on Jello? (It wobbles, like the flesh on the arms - oooooh, if only I could find an editor!)

Long story short, another worthless Boomer "thinker" gone. I don't know which is worse - the expectation I should cry over someone like this, or cheer over someone like Romney (He and his cult are being handed power, you know. Where's Nora Ephron when you need her? Oh, shoot, what am I saying? She'd be writing about Ann Romney and horses,...)

We're all going to die. We don't HAVE to be stupid, though.

The smallness of her breasts?

Die, Boomer, Die,...

yashu said...

rcommal, what's nauseating about the morning pundits' ruminations on Ephron? (Not that I'm surprised they'd be nauseating, I'm just curious.)

Heartburn always makes me think of Manhattan the film-- specifically, of the Woody Allen character's ex-wife (played, coincidentally, by Meryl Streep) who writes a memoir about their marriage and acrimonious breakup.

The humiliation and anger Isaac (Woody Allen) feels when the book comes out. And Streep's great line, closing their last scene together: "Look, I better warn you. I've had some interest in this book for a movie sale."

Heh. Poor Bernstein (though of course Bernstein was the cheater, whereas Isaac was the cheatee). NB Manhattan came out years before Heartburn was published, so obviously the similarity is coincidental.

I'm not familiar with the bitter marriage & divorce memoir (or roman a clef) turned-into-movie genre-- Heartburn's the only one I know of. So that bit of Manhattan always strikes me like a prescient allusion to Heartburn before it came into existence.

The Crack Emcee said...

I'm going to write a "frank, funny personal" essay about the hugeness of my cock.

Everybody be sure to mention it in the obits when I'm gone.

That, and the fact Nora Ephron is now being baptized into the Mormon "church," are all I got.

Except for saying, yes, Ann, it matters. Under all that sugar, Nora Ephron poisoned minds.

Good riddance.

rcommal said...

Technically speaking, Nora Ephron was not a boomer. Boomers were born post-war; that is, starting in 1946. She was born in 1941. I do think, however, that was she was born (though on the younger side) of what I tend to think of as the luckiest [micro-] generation in recent memory (as were, for example, my own parents, in '37 and '39).

Curious George said...

"Of all the great ones dying over the past 6 months, her loss seems the hardest to accept."

I accepted it in less time than it took me to read this drivel. And I'm not even counting the laughing part.

sakredkow said...

I liked the link to Ephron's Dylan interview.

"No matter what anybody says. They can boo till the end of time. I know that the music is real, more real than the boos."

Amen to that.

The Crack Emcee said...

rcommal,

Technically speaking, Nora Ephron was not a boomer.

Whatever. While staring at the vastness of the ocean - and even seeing a shark fin or two - she wrote about the foam on the beach.

A total fucking waste.

Instapundit had his own (amusing) Court-packing plan: Let's have term limits (18-years) and a requirement that no more than 5 of the 9 to be law school graduates.

See, like that. A total fucking waste. A cult is being handed power and - along with acting as their defender - he writes "his own (amusing) Court-packing plan."

I can't tell you how grateful I am for that.

I watched Burt Reynolds in the anti-NewAge comedy, "Semi-Tough," a few nights ago. It's, still, a pretty good examination of the mind-fuck we're, still, caught in - because these (technically) Boomer jackasses are, still, alive - and, still, unwilling to critique what they've inflicted on us.

I'll take that over anything Ephron did, any day.

Hell, I'd take Burt Reynolds over most of humanity, period,...

The Crack Emcee said...

"Goodbye to Nora Ephron."

I feel like the newest hire at the beleaguered Boomer Airlines, wishing I were anywhere else - but stuck, standing by the door as they exit, saying, "Buh-Bye, Buh-Bye, Buh-Bye,..."

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

She [Efron] never gave the answer I expected to anything. She was grave in her humor, which made it deadly, unexpected, truly funny and dauntingly intelligent.

Liz Smith

James Graham said...

Jeez.

She wrote movie scripts not War and Peace or The Great Gatsby.

Carol said...

Never read her stuff but I totally get the neck thing...gah, what next.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Somehow Crack uses Ephron's death in the same sentence with Romney!

Should we name that game you play 247 "The One Degree of Mitt Romney"?

Mian said...

Yes, it's a shame. But as Crack says, we all die...

My guess is her cash contributions to the Obama campaign will go down now, though she'll still probably end up voting somehow.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I hope it wasn't her idea to create a funny, touching moment out of of Streep & Nicholson singing through mouths crammed full of pizza. Gross! I tried to watch the clip and only made it halfway before I had to stop, disgusted. That sounds utterly revolting.

Eric Jablow said...

"You've Got Mail" was also [a rip-off of] adapted from "The Shop Around the Corner". If I had to choose between the pair of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and the pair of Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, I would choose Stewart and Sullavan.

Really, why are we celebrating a lesser remake?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Was Ephron the one who advised Al Gore to wear earth tones?

ricpic said...

I Feel Bad About My Neck is full of old fart humor. But I'm sure the young would scratch their heads and wonder what she's talking about.

Anonymous said...

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Obama re-election campaign...

Sofa King said...

Who?

sakredkow said...

Really, why are we celebrating a lesser remake?

I agree. I'd say Sleepless in Seattle and Harry Met Sally are better.

sakredkow said...

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Obama re-election campaign...

Okay.

FloridaSteve said...

Call me a barbarian unable to grasp all the subtle nuances of her genius I suppose but why all this worship? She was an "insider" among a certain brand of New York writers so I guess she get the "full eulogy treatment" from her tribe in all the "correct" magazines. And she did have a certain style but come on, her two biggest works were rip-offs of earlier films and her frankness was pretty mundane by the standards of today. Whatever..

ricpic said...

She was a professional purveyor of middle brow entertainment. And who says that's not a worthy contribution? Let's hear it for middlebrow. Yay.

sakredkow said...

I don't see anything like worship here. I see a handful of people who enjoyed her "modest" (okay, but you try it) accomplishments.

She apparently was a lefty but okay, most people are looking past that towards her talent. That's good. Frankly I would have expected more "Boycott her, glad she's dead."

What's not to like? Other than her spittle-licking devotion to the Satan of the Free World: The Democratic Party, she made my wife happy.

Shanna said...

You've got mail was awful, but I liked Sleepless in Seattle at the time. I don't think it holds up well though.

The model for "Sleepless in Seattle" was "An Affair to Remember", starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. What was impossible was for Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan to come close to matching Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.

At least they didn't do a straight remake. The original is much, much better. (but also sadder)

Scott said...

I enjoyed Nora Ephron's writing. The movies based on her scripts were pleasant diversions. And I'm grateful that she didn't use the fame that she achieved from plying her craft to overtly push a partisan agenda.

The work of an artist who uses their fame to pimp politicians or parties is, to me, unbearable to watch. Movie actors especially. Watching a role played by a Castro apologist sort of wrecks the suspension of disbelief, at least for that character.

Even so, I still buy Newman's Own salad dressing. Rich left wing nutjobs can still do good works. And I can't bring myself to hate Nora Ephron. Lots of famous people get seduced by the political shoe fetish of progressivism. So I'm a bit conflicted.

sakredkow said...

Even so, I still buy Newman's Own salad dressing. Rich left wing nutjobs can still do good works. And I can't bring myself to hate Nora Ephron. Lots of famous people get seduced by the political shoe fetish of progressivism. So I'm a bit conflicted.

That's the spirit.

Scott said...

"That's the spirit."

[[ BIG HUG ]]

Let's all sing "Kumbaya!"

Scott said...

:)

Scott said...

Hey I'm Episcopalian. We're known for being ecumenical. :)

traditionalguy said...

What matters about a human's life is sometimes a monumental advance, like Jonas Salk, and personality skills be damned. But good personalities are still wonderful.

Her writting art created pleasant connections for many in her generation without hurting anyone, or more importantly boring anyone, That was a rare find.

She validateds humanity. And GOP assholes seldom stooped to do that (they owned everything, why should they) until Ronald Magnus broke into the GOP plaything and showed them how it could be done by connecting to human dignity and courage.

Like the voice challenged Bob Dylan who created words and music, Ephron created goodness with her words for her times.

And ealousy and envy are not family values.

sakredkow said...

You should hear me bad-mouth Ron Silver and Kurt Russell when you're not listening. Every right-thinking American has the obligation not only to boycott these right-wing fanatics, but to spit on the ground and step on it whenever someone mentions those guys.

Until you catch on to my nefarious left-wing duplicity I expect you to speak well of all the lefty entertainers. In the interest of Kumbaya and such.

Scott said...

@phx: Back when I was dating, it was so hard to find a guy who wasn't totally smitten with the left wing party line. It was completely depressing, since I'm a libertarian and about as anti-statist as can be.

Then I met a hip-hop artist whose basic attitude is "fuck everybody" and we've been happily partnered for three-and-a-half years. ;-)

sakredkow said...

There you go Scott. I think I prefer Mr. HHA's "fuck everybody" to that hard-core partisanship.

More wisdom.

Chip Ahoy said...

Did she write anything about stabilizing glass hummingbird feeders for high wind situations? Because I would be really interested in that right now.

Robert Cook said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Robert Cook said...

"Other than her spittle-licking devotion to the Satan of the Free World: The Democratic Party, she made my wife happy."

Yeah, I've been disgusted with the Democratic Party myself since they've given themselves over wholly to emulating the Republicans.

dreams said...

"The work of an artist who uses their fame to pimp politicians or parties is, to me, unbearable to watch. Movie actors especially."

I agree, If I like some of their movies then I just try to think of them as naive ill-informed children though they see themselves as sophisticated.

lemondog said...

Who?

Didn't connect until the mention of Carl Bernstein. Saw some of the movies but don't recall the plots.


re: stabilizing glass hummingbird feeders,

Tie a string to it and stake the other end into the ground.....no?

sakredkow said...

Yeah, I've been disgusted with the Democratic Party myself since they've given themselves over wholly to emulating the Republicans.

Join the People's Army, Robert. We gotta help each other throw away our chains. Oh, I can hear the people marchin' on the road to freedom, and if we join together we'll all be free some day.

Saint Croix said...

Die, Boomer, Die

Nora Ephron poisoned minds.

A total fucking waste.


Christopher Hitchens used to be famous for taking somebody's death as an opportunity to think up all the vile insults he could muster.

I'm opposed to this. We shouldn't take somebody's death as an opportunity to stage some kind of p.r. stunt a la the Westbury Baptist Church. "I want to talk about my views and I am using this coffin as a soapbox."

Say nice things and if you can't find anything nice to say, keep your mouth shut.

This says far more about the speaker than the subject. Among other things, you are showcasing your isolation from any sort of familial ties.

See, for instance, Hitchens' comment, "I'm not attacking his family." Yes you are. Of course you are. The family is in mourning and you are attacking them.

In fact, for an atheist, it's quite bizarre to be attacking the dead. They can't hear you, right? They don't care. You are taking the opportunity to attack somebody who can't fight back. And the only people who are hurt by it are his friends and family.

FleetUSA said...

Here's the best rendition of Baby It's Cold Outside by Al Hirt and Ann Margret:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVfrtmzpOuY

Steve Koch said...

Shanna said...
"You've got mail was awful, but I liked Sleepless in Seattle at the time. I don't think it holds up well though.

The model for "Sleepless in Seattle" was "An Affair to Remember", starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. What was impossible was for Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan to come close to matching Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.

At least they didn't do a straight remake. The original is much, much better. (but also sadder)"

Yeah, I like the knock off but love the original (I've seen the final scene in "An Affair to Remember" at least 10 times). Pretty smart to update it a bit to reduce comparisons/expectations.

William said...

Synchronicity. Jung wrote about the meshes and force fields in events that are not really coincidental. Althouse ends a lengthy essay with the single expletive, "Bullshit". The next day Nora Ephron dies. The Althouse essay was a premature homage to Ephron, whose essay about the comforting words people offered to women with small tits also ended with the single epithet of "Bullshit"......Ephron's stylistic flourishes show up in a lot of writers. To women writers perhaps she is a person like Hemingway. Hemingway demonstrated not just a way of writing but a way of being. I think Ephron presented the image of a woman writer who was not just successful but witty, formidable, and attractive. I don't think any sane woman would want to live like Flannery O'Connor (a much greater writer), but Nora Ephron was more glamourous in her failures than O'Connor was in her triumphs.....Does it matter anymore that Jung was a Nazi sympathizer.

burpo said...

She was a hack and a dim bulb. She was the female John Hughes.

Saint Croix said...

She was the female John Hughes.

John Hughes was awesome. Are you kidding? 16 Candles is a masterpiece.

Saint Croix said...

Also, I'm noticing how much of the early morning commentary primarily has to do with her status as Nicholas Pileggi's wife (and, passingly but no doubt related, her later work as a romantic-comedy screenplay writer).

I mean, how else is one supposed to take what all those folks are saying?


A lot of art is inspired by love, heartbreak, pain. All that stuff. I wrote my first book after my heart got broken. Many of my screenplays are inspired by a love gone awry. It's common.

One could argue that her art become worse after she found happiness in love. It had no edge. It was so vanilla. Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail were inspired by movies she had seen.

Her earlier work was inspired by her life. To play off another thread, maybe an artist's strongest work is when she's hungry. After she gets what she wants, that desire is lost and her work suffers.

Saint Croix said...

Another fun movie that I didn't realize Nora Ephron wrote is My Blue Heaven.

Steve Martin plays a Mafioso in that one. It's really light, but it's also a lot of fun. I wonder how much of that screenplay came out of Nora's love affair with the Mafia man? Anyway, that film and When Harry Met Sally are her two strongest works, I think.

The Crack Emcee said...

Saint Croix,

This says far more about the speaker than the subject. Among other things, you are showcasing your isolation from any sort of familial ties.

I grew up a foster child (terrible business) so sue me. Nora Ephron had three "husbands," so don't talk to me of isolation from familial ties:

My isolation is real, while that bitch was on the exchange program - with people she claimed devotion for repeatedly.

If it's any consolation for you, i also await the day my phone rings with the news that my wife and/or mother died, just so i can say "So," and then cackle at either the caller's gasp or the line going dead.

We foster children have got that "generosity of spirit" thing going ON,...

Saint Croix said...

Crack, you know I like you. I really do hope you'll find a woman you can trust again. Love is good if you find it.

The Crack Emcee said...

Saint Croix,

Crack, you know I like you. I really do hope you'll find a woman you can trust again. Love is good if you find it.

I like you, too, SC, but I got an image to uphold. If I go easy on you then i've got to go easy on everybody, and then where would we be? Sayin' shit to be "nice" as stupidity reigns - when it must be BEAT DOWN - like we're at some online wine and cheese party. Spare me.

I'll meet a woman. I won't trust her, but I'll meet one. (I talk to a fellow musician, online, from time-to-time. A concert pianist and budding conservative. She writes when life gets gnarly and it's questions tough. We haven't met, but I've seen her in videos - she's a looker - and I've heard her play, which she does beautifully, with a lot of feeling. One day, maybe,...)

Of course, I don't "hope" for anything, but either wait for things to happen or make it so. Right now, as it's been since I joined Althouse, I have but one goal:

To get back to playing music.

Once that happens, I'm pretty sure you'll see a change in me. I'm a totally different person when I'm in my element, though some of the guy you've become accustomed to, online, will hang around:

I like the "new me" quite a bit,...

rcommal said...

Was Ephron the one who advised Al Gore to wear earth tones?

Good God, no. Why on earth would you think so?

The woman who committed that bit of colorific, politico-advisory punditry was Naomi Wolf (born at the end of 1962).