Yeah, his whole "I AM MAMET HEAR ME ROAR" schtick is really obnoxious and exists in all his non-fiction writings/musings on the art and craft.

At the same time, if you give him a dramatic scene to write the dude will consistently bring the pain. He IS Mamet, it's just a little annoying that he's so aware of it and wants to make sure you are too.

I finished True and False not too long ago, and while it has good information, so much of it comes across as a writer saying, "SAY MY WORDS AND THEN GET OFF THE STAGE, STUPID ACTOR!" And his whole, "I am Mamet, fully formed genius sprung from Zeus' forehead" thing is even tougher to swallow when it's plainly obvious how much he's cribbing from Meisner, which is what "True and False" mostly is.

I'm rereading "Three Uses of the Knife" right now and it's even more deliberately obtuse and self important with less actual informative value. At the moment, it's mostly him railing against "problem plays" - in other words, any play that attempts to tackle a social issue - as wastes of time that exist only to make the audience feel pompous and self righteous. Projection much?

I think I remember him saying something similar about the media once, although that rang true. That media has neither a liberal bias nor a conservative bias, it has a drama bias. I'd say that was pretty spot on -- although FOX does have a clear conservative bias.

I will say, I like that he calls them "the Penguins." I'm using that.

It is pretty accurate when applied to the media. But politically he's turned into one of those free-market "Democrats and Republicans are exactly the same!" nuts.

And as a Democrat, I disagree with that pretty strongly, obviously.