

Woody Allen: What I've learned - npalli
http://www.esquire.com/features/what-ive-learned/woody-allen-0913

======
NovaS1X
>It's just an accident that we happen to be on earth, enjoying our silly
little moments, distracting ourselves as often as possible so we don't have to
really face up to the fact that, you know, we're just temporary people with a
very short time in a universe that will eventually be completely gone. And
everything that you value, whether it's Shakespeare, Beethoven, da Vinci, or
whatever, will be gone. The earth will be gone. The sun will be gone. There'll
be nothing. The best you can do to get through life is distraction. Love works
as a distraction. And work works as a distraction. You can distract yourself a
billion different ways. But the key is to distract yourself.

I love this statement; there is so much truth in it. I find it is something
that enters the realm of my thought quite often. The fact that at some time in
my life the last event will rob me of everything I am, I know, and will render
everything I have done useless to my then forgone reality. Between the truths
of death of an individual and death of the universe, nihilism seems all too
logical.

However, knowing this,I'm in no way a depressed individual. I don't think I
could be any happier in my life. Nihilism has given me freedom.

~~~
cclogg
Me too, but I am secretly hoping Elon Musk or somebody figures out how to let
this generation live infinitely via mind transplants or organ re-generation.
Come onnn!!!

~~~
k-mcgrady
I'd be interested to see how many people would actual avail of a service like
that. Religious people who believe in an after-life probably wouldn't but I'm
sure a lot of others wouldn't either. Steve Jobs quote "Death is very likely
to be the single best invention of life because death is life's change agent."
appeals to me and people with that perspective probably wouldn't want to live
infinitely.

~~~
Zigurd
Life extension is not forever. Eventually, temperature, mass, kinetic energy,
lack of sustenance, or chemical reactions will catch up to you in the form of
accidental death.

~~~
benpbenp
Indeed. Based on current mortality statistics[1], only 2% of us would manage
to live 10,000 years without succumbing to accidental death of some kind, and
the number that would make it 100,000 years is just vanishingly small.

EDIT: This is more a consideration with respect to "cure for ageing"-type
advances, not so much the mind-uploading scenario.

[1] [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/acc-
inj.htm](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/acc-inj.htm)

------
amasad
> But the biggest lesson he imparted is that if you don't have your health,
> you have nothing. No matter how great things are going for you, if you have
> a toothache, if you have a sore throat, if you're nauseated, or, God forbid,
> you have some serious thing wrong with you — everything is ruined.

Even though this sounds like common sense, I only really learned it this year
when I started having annoying health issues from working all the time, not
working out, and not eating healthy (startup food). Something as simple as
enjoying a Sunday in the park would not be possible because of say back pains.
And then I realized that it didn't really matter what I did or achieved unless
I had my health to enjoy doing it and the rewards from it.

~~~
gingerlime
But isn't a big, fat frankfurter, with the mustard, one of life's best
rewards?

> "I haven't had a frankfurter in, I would say, forty-five years. I don't eat
> enjoyable foods. I eat for my health."

I admire woody allen, but reading this comment makes me a little sad.

~~~
npalli
One common thing you notice among highly creative people is how they
completely lock down certain aspects of their life. It is as if they want to
conserve all their mental energies for their creative efforts without wasting
anything on miscellenous tasks. Hence you find people working with a single
type of pens, clothes, walking routines etc.

So, not sure about Woody Allen's diet preferences but it seems to me that just
taking out the option of eating unhealthy dramatically cuts down on decisions
making and mental energy. A single Frankfurter will not alter your health, but
if you open up the possibility of eating them you need to wonder - Is one per
day OK? what about one per week? If you eat a hamburger does that mean you
can't eat a Frankfurter for two days etc. etc.. If Allen is half as neurotic
as he seems you can imagine him spending a lot of time deciding what to eat
and what not. Just nukeing the option -- will not eat frankfurters, period. --
seems to be a good mental hack.

~~~
jseliger
_One common thing you notice among highly creative people is how they
completely lock down certain aspects of their life_

Yes. I've mentioned this book on HN before, but Mason Currey's _Daily Rituals:
How Artists Create_ discusses this point. I wrote more about the book here:
[http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/daily-rituals-
how-a...](http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/daily-rituals-how-artists-
work-mason-currey/).

------
maayank
He goes more in depth about his personal life philosophy here:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKLFcpATPjI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKLFcpATPjI)

Very interesting if you're a fan or if the esquire interview piqued your
interest.

------
jtaggart
> If you're born with a gift, to behave like it's an achievement is not right.

Thinking about this quote made me realize something:

By definition, anything received as a gift is not achieved whether or not it
was received at birth. I think this quote could have been more elegantly
stated as "A gift is not an achievement."

Putting it this way seems to change the implications slightly.

------
nhebb
> My two teenage girls think of me as ancient. But I'm up before them and wake
> them to go to school.

His daughters are teenagers now. Considering he started his relationship with
de facto stepdaughter Soon-Yi Previn when she was in her late teens, I'm not
sure that is the most reassuring way to start an interview.

------
dkrich
_A guy will say, "Well, I make my luck." And the same guy walks down the
street and a piano that's been hoisted drops on his head. The truth of the
matter is your life is very much out of your control._

Does it have to be one or the other, though? A person can control aspects of
their life and make themselves successful with hard work and discipline and
still have many aspects of their life out of their control (genetics, random
occurrences, etc.). I have huge respect for Woody Allen and think he's a
genius but I don't really like this quote because it let's people off the hook
for their own circumstances which in many instances they can control.

~~~
dreamfactory
You can control a few parameters and improve your odds, but that's about it -
you certainly can't control circumstances by definition. Becoming successful
is never just a matter of hard or smart work (though it often requires at
least the appearance of those as well). Otherwise most people would simply
become successful - at which point we would redefine success in any case.

------
stevewillows
"Love works as a distraction. And work works as a distraction. You can
distract yourself a billion different ways. But the key is to distract
yourself."

I loved this line.

------
danbmil99
He's learned you can letch on your step-daughter from the age of 12 and fuck
her the day she turns 17, and get away with it, if you're rich and famous.

~~~
mark_integerdsv
...and continue a meaningful relationship with her for 20 years, fathering two
children and generally doing what people in love do.

I'm not sure your rhetoric holds up when the full picture is presented.

Love has its way with people.

~~~
danbmil99
He should have left the family, and attempted to create that relationship when
the girl was at a reasonable adult age. But by then she would have been
uninterested or otherwise engaged.

He is simply a shitty father and husband, broke a covenant and destroyed a
family to satisfy his own needs. That is not ameliorated or erased by making
films.

~~~
mark_integerdsv
Sorry but I still feel like you are playing the man and not the ball.

Forget fame, film and money. Tell me how spending 20 years with the same woman
and having two kids together and finding great joy and satisfaction in your
family is lechery and not love.

------
sebkomianos
Funny how I submitted the exact same link yesterday and it got zero votes:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6185131](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6185131)

~~~
pjscott
"A guy will say, 'Well, I make my luck.' And the same guy walks down the
street and a piano that's been hoisted drops on his head. The truth of the
matter is your life is very much out of your control."

-Woody Allen

------
beloch
"...if I'm on the treadmill and I'm surfing the channels and suddenly
Manhattan or some other picture comes on, I go right past it. If I saw
Manhattan again, I would only see the worst. I would say: "Oh, God, this is so
embarrassing. I could have done this. I should have done that." So I spare
myself."

I'd probably say the same thing if, at the age of 44, I made a film starring
myself as a guy in a relationship with an underage high-school kid. Of course
if it were Mariel Hemingway (who was 18 darnit!) my biggest regret might have
been not filming steamier sex-scenes...

~~~
theorique
_I 'd probably say the same thing if, at the age of 44, I made a film starring
myself as a guy in a relationship with an underage high-school kid._

In his case life imitates / imitated art.

~~~
beloch
No offense to Soon-Yi Preven, but she's no Muriel Hemmingway!

------
baby
I can't believe a nihilist would not eat enjoyable food.

~~~
jh3
It seems like he rather enjoy his remaining time working being as healthy as
possible. I know if I am unhealthy I cannot focus on anything until I am back
to "normal."

------
dreamfactory
Amazing portrait - props to Mark Mann.

------
stevewilhelm
Mr. Allen has been a student of Marshall McLuhan for quite a while
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wWUc8BZgWE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wWUc8BZgWE)

~~~
hudibras
Thanks for pointing that out, but it's one of the most famous scenes in his
most famous movie.

(I only snark on the weekends, sorry.)

