Fireside Prime @firesideprime

Toto Wolff admits his own racing career fell short by the last few percent, not for lack of money from his underprivileged background, and says many team principals are humiliated drivers who never made it “I have unlearned it. I did. I did when I was a late teenager, early twenties, and I did all of those races. And interestingly, because I come from a financially underprivileged background, there was never enough money." "But I don’t think that this was the limitation. I think it was more that maybe the last few percent were missing." "But many of the successful team principals in Formula One are those traumatized, humiliated racing drivers that kind of never made it. So we are compensating it by treating the real guys really badly now that we have control about them.”

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

2 days ago

Dana White says he lives by a Bruce Lee rule against saying negative things about yourself even as a joke, and blocks out the noise from reporters who have no clue what he is doing “No, it’s true. There’s this Bruce Lee quote where he talks about never say negative things about

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Ben Affleck says AI is simply matrix multiplication, linear algebra and floating point calculations, and however convincingly it sounds like a person, it has nothing to do with thought, humanity or feeling “Nor do I believe, and I think it’s important to draw the distinction between what AI does, which is simply predict the next token or the next word in a sentence, then add that word on, run it back to the machine, do a lot of computation and pick the next word." "That is a very different thing than sentience or thought. And I think we need to be really clear about that because it can be convincingly, in an illusory way, sound like thought or like a person." "But let’s be real clear. This is matrix multiplication. This is linear algebra. These are floating point calculations. It has nothing to do with thought, humanity, or feeling.”

Fireside Alpha @firesidealpha

a week ago

Ben Affleck reveals he writes Python, understands convolutional neural networks, worked extensively with GPUs, and used his celebrity status to get private looks at Google and OpenAI’s video models “I’ve always been kind of into computers since I was young. Then, when film

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Ethan Hawke says that with four kids, if he does not meet that responsibility nothing else matters, and that 19 Oscar nominations would have zero meaning because they would show he prioritized something else “Well, I have four kids. That’s a responsibility that if I don’t meet, nothing else matters, you know. Like you hear people say that all the time about, you know, waking up and being grateful for our health because if you don’t have it nothing else matters, you know." "And, and, um, you know, my joke always is, you know, you have a toothache or something and you think, God, if only I didn’t have this toothache I’d be having such a good day. And then two weeks later you wake up, you don’t have a toothache, you don’t wake up in the morning just all day, I think, thank God I don’t have a toothache. You forget all about it. And, and so health is one thing." "My kids and my love for them, it’s daily, it’s omnipresent. So you, but if, if I don’t meet that responsibility it doesn’t matter. You could sit here and tell me I have 19 Oscar nominations and that still, well, it wouldn’t, yeah, it would have zero meaning. In fact, it would tell a different story because it means I obviously prioritize something else.”

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

3 days ago

Ethan Hawke admits that after Training Day he thought he would make a lot of action movies and it never happened, so he and his wife built one themselves before he got too old to be the hero "Oh yeah. I mean, when I did Training Day I really thought I'd be in a lot of action

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Dana White says he lives by a Bruce Lee rule against saying negative things about yourself even as a joke, and blocks out the noise from reporters who have no clue what he is doing “No, it’s true. There’s this Bruce Lee quote where he talks about never say negative things about yourself or what you’re working on or what you’re doing, even if you’re joking, because your body doesn’t know the difference." "It’s like this whole thing about, and I saw Rogan talking about this thing when he was talking to some psychologist about, if you just sit around and talk about your fucking problems all the time, you know, you never, you know, it actually makes it worse." "It’s like, I never take in any negativity. I literally block, I call it noise, and I block all that noise out." "Like we’re talking about, like these guys who report on what we’re doing that have no clue what we’re doing. Why would I want to hear anything they would have to say? They’re zeros. They’ve literally never done anything in their life, especially in this business. Why would I listen to anything that they have to say?”

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

3 days ago

Drew Brees admits a chance to play this year had him switching from tequila to water and thinking about bed early, then throwing to his 13-year-old son the next day and realizing it's not there "I would say I've had some conversations. And I've had some moments. I've had some

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Jerry Seinfeld says a punchline is like throwing a punch, and that what destroys a lot of comedy people as they age is losing the physical strength to put that energy on a point “We talked about the physical challenge of comedy, which I don’t think people think about. If I think about some of the really funny people, funniest that I’ve ever seen, Michael Richards or Sid Caesar, I’ve heard a lot of people talking about these guys, like, are crazy strong guys. Physically strong." "And everybody’s pretty strong when they’re young, and then one of the things that will destroy your comedy is when you don’t have any physical strength. It’s because there’s an energy." "Comedy is a concentration of energy on a point. You know, it’s like a dense moment of energy. A punch line is like a punch. It’s like throwing a punch. It takes energy to do it. So I think what happens to a lot of comedy people as they age, they just don’t physically have the juice.”

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

5 days ago

Mark Normand admits comedy is mostly failure, and reveals that when he complained to Seinfeld about how much explaining crowds needed, Seinfeld told him packaging an idea so people can absorb it is literally the craft "Sadly, it's mostly failure. Comedy is mostly failure. If

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Ethan Hawke admits that after Training Day he thought he would make a lot of action movies and it never happened, so he and his wife built one themselves before he got too old to be the hero "Oh yeah. I mean, when I did Training Day I really thought I'd be in a lot of action movies. Like, I just thought that was going to happen for me." "But I have so, you know, when I was younger, I thought I'd be in a lot of comedies. I thought all these things, I thought everything would be different somehow. And how it is is fine, of course." "But, like, I wanted, you know, my wife is my producing partner, and I was saying, I was like, I want to be in an action movie. I want to find a great action movie. And she worked really hard. We got with Padraic." "We got the script together and started working on it and working on it and trying to get it made because, you know, in five minutes, you know, we'll be too old to be the hero in an action movie. I probably already am, you know. But I wanted to try to do it, and I feel really proud of the movie and I'm glad we did it."

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

3 days ago

Ben Affleck reveals his children told him he has “iPhone face,” meaning audiences cannot believe he belongs in a period movie “I’m a lot more comfortable trying to do something that’s fictional than just thinking, ‘Oh, who I am is just going to be so endlessly interesting and

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Ben Affleck reveals his children told him he has “iPhone face,” meaning audiences cannot believe he belongs in a period movie “I’m a lot more comfortable trying to do something that’s fictional than just thinking, ‘Oh, who I am is just going to be so endlessly interesting and entertaining,’ because, like everybody, I know that I’m mostly boring all the time. “My kids told me recently, ‘You have iPhone face.’ And I was like, ‘What the fuck is iPhone face?’ iPhone face is: you can’t be believed in a period movie because you have a face that looks like it has seen an iPhone. “I did a period movie with Matt that I really liked. It was a bomb. But part of it was, I kind of understood what they mean. If you know somebody and you’re pretty familiar with them, and all of a sudden you see them in the Middle Ages, you’re kind of like, ‘Nah. Bullshit, man.’”

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

4 days ago

Ben Affleck says meeting Delta operators taught him the most elite fighters are not the biggest or toughest guys but the relaxed ones who don't get tight and can problem solve in a crisis "There's been less than 900 guys ever in the history of Delta. You meet them and they're

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Drew Brees admits a chance to play this year had him switching from tequila to water and thinking about bed early, then throwing to his 13-year-old son the next day and realizing it's not there "I would say I've had some conversations. And I've had some moments. I've had some moments. I would say this, like my body feels great. My mind sharp as ever." "Shoulder, wrist, not having it. And like to the point where there was a moment this year where literally I was drinking a tequila and something happened where I thought there might be a chance I would play that week. And I literally switched to water." "And I started thinking about going to bed early and getting up the next day and like getting my body nice and loose and going out and throwing to see if I could even pull it off. And boy, I was like so mentally right and got up, got the body loose, went out there, grabbed a ball, threw a couple. My 13-year-old son was catching for me." "And it was just like, it's not there. I wouldn't have been able to like break that glass 10 feet away."

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

6 days ago

Kyle Shanahan reveals what he told Brock Purdy coming off the field after a touchdown drive against Denver, crediting him for the score while telling him to settle down for leaving the pocket too early, and why Purdy never takes it personally "Yeah, I do a little bit. I mean,

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Rory McIlroy reveals Roger Federer taught him how elite competitors reset their goals after achieving everything they once wanted “I do wish it would feel that way. I think I struggled last year to reset my goals. It was like, ‘Okay, well, what’s next?’ This is everything I’ve ever wanted in the game, to win the Grand Slam. “Actually, I had dinner with Roger Federer at the start of this year, and I talked to him about that. I talked to him about, when you really did everything that you wanted to do in tennis, what was it that drove you forward? “And his thing was always to get past Sampras. Sampras won 14 majors. And once Roger got to 15, he said to me, ‘Well, once I got to 15, 20 didn’t seem too far away.’ “So I think it’s always just, you win something, you’re satisfied for a little bit, but then the goalposts just keep moving a little bit further and further away. “And I think that’s true with all, not just sports people, but anyone that wants to be successful in business or in life. Every time you achieve something, it seems like there’s always something else that you want.”

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

4 days ago

Roger Federer admits that over 25 years there were stretches when he did not like Rafa, his team or his coach, and says he thanked every rival for making him better by showing him his flaws "So I think what I like about the story of, now take tennis as a whole, sure, we can take

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Ben Affleck says meeting Delta operators taught him the most elite fighters are not the biggest or toughest guys but the relaxed ones who don't get tight and can problem solve in a crisis "There's been less than 900 guys ever in the history of Delta. You meet them and they're not the biggest guys, they're not the toughest guys, they're not trying to fucking be hard, and, you know, they're the most relaxed, at ease." "I found myself just being like, finally I was like, what can I just ask, what do you think makes somebody like qualify for the Delta Force? Like, what's a good Delta operator? It's like, 'You know, problem solving.' Problem solving? The guy goes, 'Yeah, it's probably like your job.'" "I was like, 'No, let me tell you something. No, it isn't. It's really not like my job. I appreciate it. Very big fucking difference.' He's like, 'Yeah, you solve problems.' Again, no one's trying to kill me." "See, that's the thing. But that was the closest insight I got to it, which was, I've always kind of thought this about like a guy's like, like Brady or something. There's guys that just don't get tight, and that they are kind of able to problem solve when the problem is like, well, that helicopter's crashed and we're 200 miles inside Afghanistan and we're outnumbered fucking six to one. How do you think we should get home?"

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

5 days ago

Mark Normand admits comedy is mostly failure, and reveals that when he complained to Seinfeld about how much explaining crowds needed, Seinfeld told him packaging an idea so people can absorb it is literally the craft "Sadly, it's mostly failure. Comedy is mostly failure. If

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Roger Federer admits that over 25 years there were stretches when he did not like Rafa, his team or his coach, and says he thanked every rival for making him better by showing him his flaws "So I think what I like about the story of, now take tennis as a whole, sure, we can take Rafa, but we can also take Novak or Murray or Wawrinka, whoever we want to take, but let's say take Rafa, to come through a career of 25 years, or 15, whatever, it's long, a lot of matches, a lot of tough battles." "Like you said, you know, you win some, you lose some. Sometimes you don't like him, then you like him again, then you don't like his team, or you don't like his coach, and then they have a problem with you, and you said something, he said something, and, you know, there's always this agitation, but actually there's mutual respect and so forth." "And then to come out at the end of it all and actually be like, high five, that was cool, that stuff was cool, and, you know what, we can't wait to maybe hang out more in the future, or hopefully we'll see each other again down the road and be on a rocking chair one day, and we'll look back and go like, that was fun, and thank you." "And I said that as well in the commencement speech yesterday. I thanked all the players for making me better and showing me my flaws, for making me hopefully a better, not just a tennis player, but also a better person."

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

4 days ago

Roger Federer reveals that at his last press conference, beside Rafa, Novak and Andy, he told them he was happy to retire first, because it would have been painful to watch one of them go first through injury "For me to be able to tell them in a very strong moment was actually

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Roger Federer reveals that at his last press conference, beside Rafa, Novak and Andy, he told them he was happy to retire first, because it would have been painful to watch one of them go first through injury "For me to be able to tell them in a very strong moment was actually at the press conference, like a couple of days earlier, if you remember, where I talk about, I am so happy, where I grabbed the mic one more time. And I just had to say it in front of everybody." "Here I am sitting with, I mean, Borg and Rafa, Novak, Andy and Casper and Matteo and Cameron and everybody was there. And I'm just saying how happy I am that I get to go first, you know, and it's not like Rafa retiring before me or Novak or Andy, but actually I go first, like it was supposed to be, because I am five, six years older than them. It would have been painful for me to see one of them go first because of injury." "So I was supposed to be going first. I had a career without them in the beginning, early years, and they should have one without me too. So I just felt it was important for them to hear that, the press for them to hear that. And I just thought it was, for me, a very strong emotional moment. You can see it how then when I walk out from the press conference, I'm like, oh God, this was a brutal press conference."

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

5 days ago

Pete Carroll tells a first-time founder who just left a well-paying job that they cannot act out of fear, and says the best performers do worry what people think but have a resolve that lets them say "screw it, this is who I am" "You know that if you want to do this at the best

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Ben Affleck says his mom instilled in him and his brother that their fate was their own and success is not a zero-sum game, which kept him from asking why some other guy got the part "You know, to be honest, like a lot of young actors, I think a lot of actors feel competitive. I'm really lucky. I think my friendship with Matt, and the fact that, I don't know, maybe the fact that my mom always sort of instilled in my brother and I a sense of like, you know, your own fate has to do with you. It's not a zero-sum game, you know, kind of a thing." "I felt like at the end of the day, like, you know, someone else's success isn't taken away from me. And I'm lucky. It's not some great virtue of mine. It's that I was lucky. It made me feel a little bit more sane. I didn't spend my time looking at movies and going, why the fuck is this guy getting this? And which can happen to people."

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

5 days ago

Billy Crystal reveals that at 8:45 on a Monday morning, about to send the obituary he had written for his manager of 45 years, an unknown number rang and it was his longtime makeup artist Bill Farley calling to say goodbye from hospice "So I wrote as best I could, funny,

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Billy Crystal reveals that at 8:45 on a Monday morning, about to send the obituary he had written for his manager of 45 years, an unknown number rang and it was his longtime makeup artist Bill Farley calling to say goodbye from hospice "So I wrote as best I could, funny, intimate, good stories, something where I felt really good about it. It's 8:45 Monday morning. I'm doing this. Do I press send? Do I press send?" "I'm just about to do, the phone rings. I don't recognize the area code. About to press, rings again. I go, 'Somebody's trying to reach me.' I say, 'Hello?' And the person tells me who it is. One of my really close friends, great guy named Bill Farley." "Bill was on my makeup and hair team for every movie that I did, and a hilarious, wonderful guy. I mean, a really close friend. 'I'm going into hospice. I have maybe a week. I just wanted to say goodbye. What a great life we've had together. I've enjoyed working with you so much. Is Janice there?' She hears his voice. 'Hey, Janice.' 'Bill.' 'Just want to say goodbye.'" "And then the last thing he said was, 'When I see you again, I'll give you a trim.' And he hung up, and I press send."

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

6 days ago

Judd Apatow admits that in the years before anyone knew Adam Sandler, he watched rooms slowly gravitate toward him while Apatow stood on the side as a weird neurotic person, and quietly gave up on being a performer "I think I didn't think I was the unique performer that they

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Mark Normand admits comedy is mostly failure, and reveals that when he complained to Seinfeld about how much explaining crowds needed, Seinfeld told him packaging an idea so people can absorb it is literally the craft "Sadly, it's mostly failure. Comedy is mostly failure. If you're doing it at a high level, it's a lot of failure, you know. Just like trying a new joke, bombs. Get a tough crowd. You have a heckle, you try to get the heckler and your line sucked. You know, it's just a lot of failing." "I think learning it is just doing it. That's the only way to learn, is to do. That is, like, I yelled at, I didn't yell, but I was talking to Seinfeld once, and I was like, 'That annoys me how these crowds, they get weirded out by this and that. I just want them to understand. I just want them to get what I'm talking about. I have to do so much explaining.'" "And he's like, 'Yeah, that's what we're doing here. That's literally the craft of what comedy is, is figuring out an idea and packaging it to where people can absorb it.' I just want them to get my jokes, but you still have to make them get it."

Fireside Prime @firesideprime

7 days ago

Larry David reveals that years ago as a stand-up he took an improv class and a woman told him afterward he was really good at it, and says that one compliment, plus hating memorized lines, is why Curb is improvised "When I was a stand-up way, way many years ago, I took an improv

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