The Paris Review recently re-published a set of interviews with Kurt Vonnegut and posted them on their site (one of the interviewers was George Plimpton!).

Excerpt:

INTERVIEWER: Did the study of anthropology later color your writings?
VONNEGUT: It confirmed my atheism, which was the faith of my fathers anyway. Religions were exhibited and studied as the Rube Goldberg inventions I’d always thought they were. We weren’t allowed to find one culture superior to any other. We caught hell if we mentioned races much. It was highly idealistic.

Here’s the complete text via The Paris Review – The Art of Fiction No. 64.

Everyone knows movie director Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) was extremely intelligent when it came to telling a story in cinema. A documentary by Jon Ronson came out recently about Kubrick that discusses his insight and vices which is definitely worth a look for anyone who can’t get the image out of their head of the two little girls in the hotel hallway from the movie “The Shining.”

Though, there wasn’t as much discussion as I would have liked about his last project “A.I.” which was turned over to Steven Spielberg, but I think I know enough of it to not like it. Although it was originally Kubrick’s idea to start A.I. which was based off a short story, he was considered a producer for the film while he himself deemed Spielberg the director, despite all of the best visuals came from Kubrick. I don’t care for the movie because of this very reason; it is painfully clear when Kubrick’s ideas are visible and when Spielberg’s ideas come in, and it’s conflicting at best. Instead of assuming Kubrick’s visions needed to be complete Spielberg decided to mix it up for his own vanity. He puts it differently from an interview he gave a couple years back:

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Spielberg. He just makes your typical modern Hollywood movie which is nothing like what Kubrick created. And in Spielberg’s defense Kubrick died while A.I. was being made so something had to be added if it was to be completed. However I think it’s still a great way to see, virtually side-by-side, why Kubrick’s work far exceeded anything that came out of Hollywood.

Below is the full documentary called “Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes” (around 50 minutes.) It starts out with Ronson talking for a few minutes about his ideas behind it but I’ll be damned if I understand him.

The pocket knife has been around for quite a while and the Swiss Army Knife is no exception. They’re perfect for satisfying your inner-MacGyver as you drool over the idea of having a pair of mini-pliers and a pair of tweezers all in one place. Not to mention being able to whip out a cork screw for those surprise wine parties that we’ve all encountered.(?)

But now its getting ridiculous. From the makers of the Swiss Army Knife comes the “Giant Swiss Army Knife v 1.0″ Not only do you have 3 versions of phillips head screwdrivers but a Shortix laboratory key and even a bike chain rivet setter. And the price? Oh, just a mere $1,400. The perfect gift for the Beverly Hills boy scout.

Call me old school, but I liked this thing better when it was known as a toolbox. Link