One of the weapons Marvel used in its climb to comic-book dominance was a willingness to invent new characters at a dizzying speed. There are so many Marvel universes, indeed, that some superheroes do not even exist in one another's worlds, preventing gridlock.

We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try.

Jane Austen wrote six of the most beloved novels in the English language, we are informed at the end of Becoming Jane, and so she did. The key word is beloved. Her admirers do not analyze her books so much as they just plain love them to pieces.

We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls.

I am grateful for the gifts of intelligence, love, wonder and laughter. You can't say it wasn't interesting.

It is human nature to look away from illness. We don't enjoy a reminder of our own fragile mortality. That's why writing on the Internet has become a lifesaver for me. My ability to think and write have not been affected. And on the Web, my real voice finds expression.

Life is made up of challenges that cannot be solved but only accepted.