Some more links.<\/p>\n
An obituary<\/a> of Anthony Lewis, whose book Gideon’s Trumpet<\/a>\u00a0I remember enjoying a long time ago. An amusing quote is hidden in the article.<\/p>\n Mr. Lewis\u2019s coverage of the court impressed Justice Felix Frankfurter, who called Mr. Reston. \u201cI can\u2019t believe what this young man achieved,\u201d Justice Frankfurter said, as Mr. Reston recalled in his memoir, \u201cDeadline.\u201d \u201cThere are not two justices of this court who have such a grasp of these cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This recalls a quote of Lionel Abel, recalled by Dick Schaap, from Abel’s NYT obituary<\/a>:<\/p>\n Sartre says Abel is the most intelligent man in New York City. Kenneth Rexroth, the poet-critic, says Abel is the most intelligent man in New York City. Abel himself will not say that he is the most intelligent man in New York City. But he will say that Sartre and Rexroth are both magnificent judges of intellect.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n A 1991\u00a0interview<\/a>\u00a0of Siskel and Ebert in Playboy. An interesting tidbit:<\/p>\n Playboy:<\/strong>\u00a0So besides yourselves, who has the biggest ego in the business?<\/p>\n Siskel:<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019m sure it\u2019s a sixty-way tie.<\/p>\n Ebert:\u00a0<\/strong>When you say, \u201cWho has the biggest ego,\u201d there\u2019s an implicit criticism. You\u2019re actually asking who\u2019s the biggest asshole. I would say that the biggest ego of anyone I\u2019ve spoken to in the movies belongs to Ingmar Bergman, but I would want that to be heard as praise. He has a very highly developed sense of self, of who he is, what he thinks and what he cares about. He\u2019s one of the most impressive people I\u2019ve ever met. Woody Allen has an extremely well-developed and healthy ego. That does not mean he\u2019s conceited; it doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s insufferable. It just means that he takes himself seriously, and he should.<\/p>\n In terms of dynamic energy and infectious enthusiasm, very few people are the match of Martin Scorsese. I gave him his first print review. It was his first film, Who\u2019s That Knocking at My Door? I said, \u201cIn ten years, he\u2019ll be the American Fellini.\u201d Well, of course, that was wrong, because there\u2019s nothing similar between Scorsese and Fellini. But he called me up and said, \u201cGeez, do you think it\u2019s gonna take that long?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n The article is by law professor Victor Fleischer<\/a>, who often writes good stuff about taxation. Taxation, stereotypes of boredom notwithstanding, is a fascinating topic; after all, if the world is all about different actor’s incentives, then taxation is a primary lever the government can use to effect change. ↩<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Apropos of Gottlieb, a good Paris Review interview<\/a> with him. I love the Jewish prayer he cites: “May we never reach our dreams.” ↩<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Which I find problematic, unlike the fantastic\u00a0Planet Money<\/a>\u00a0podcast. ↩<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some more links. Why do companies buy out startups just to get their employees, rather than just offering them higher salaries, which seems like it would be cheaper? An interesting article in the NYT gives some answers to this puzzle about so-called acqui-hiring in Silicon Valley.1 See also the longer law article by the original … <\/p>\n\n
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