On Web Culture

Source: Vimeo

The Man in the Arena:

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Source: theodoreroosevelt.org

Terrific full-length version of an interview David Foster Wallace did in the USA with (I think) a German TV program in 2003. It is 84 minutes long but I really recommend watching this right the way through. I think this guy was on to it on a number of levels.

Link: David Foster Wallace Interview (2003) [zdf.de]

UPDATED:
That zde.de link seems to have been wiped out for some reason. It seems zdf.de got a fancy new Adobe Flash interface & lo, death to old links. Here’s the same interview on YouTube in 9 parts.

David Foster Wallace Interview 2003 (Part 1 of 9)

Link: http://youtu.be/N5IDAnB_rns

David Foster Wallace Interview 2003 (Part 2)

Link: http://youtu.be/AlUmT_biDwI

David Foster Wallace Interview 2003 (Part 3)

Link: http://youtu.be/LPIKae5qRwM

David Foster Wallace Interview 2003 (Part 4)

Link: http://youtu.be/P7ts3iKppnA

David Foster Wallace Interview 2003 (Part 5)

Link: http://youtu.be/xx7qMU0f4ts

David Foster Wallace Interview 2003 (Part 6)

Link: http://youtu.be/ayQ1vihLcGc

David Foster Wallace Interview 2003 (Part 7)

Link: http://youtu.be/eI0HhPD38_A

David Foster Wallace Interview 2003 (Part 8)

Link: http://youtu.be/5GZWGFic1Ns

David Foster Wallace Interview 2003 (Part 9)

Link: http://youtu.be/vaWdfDXRDyA

Via newclear music.