I actually have a thing about proper nouns. They clang on my ear in a weird way when I hear them dropped into movies.

A movie can and should have some real dissonance throughout - rage, heartache, tears, conflict, catharsis and all the other elements Aristotle demanded of a good story - but the chord has to be resolved.

I care about reading, a lot. It's a big part of my life.

I really like to travel when I write. Something about seeing new things and being in new cultures and environments provokes new thoughts in your head.

An obsessive attention to the news, I've realized, only serves to paint a picture of the world as a throbbing blob of dysfunction, most news falling somewhere on a scale from disappointing to calamitous.

Cynicism is kind of like folding your arms and stepping back and commenting on things, like the old guys in 'The Muppets,' just throwing out comments all the time, whereas there are other people on the ground really trying to affect things and improve their lives and the lives of other people. I think it's noble and I think it's cool.

We're like a gardener with a hose and our attention is water - we can water flowers or we can water weeds.