Quoteskimming
This week's icon quote is from Lord Byron's Don Juan, Canto XIV.
This week's quotes are all from interviews.
The first is from an interview of Golden Globe-winning actor, Mickey Rourke, conducted by Christopher Walken. And yeah, I could totally hear Walken's spoken voice in my head when reading the questions. The entire interview can be read online at Interview Magazine. Thanks to unwilly for linking to the interview earlier this week. The quote is something Walken said to Rourke near the end of the interview, and I think it works for writer- and artist-types, too:
You made something really beautiful, and maybe that's even more important than awards. Thirty years later, you're one of the top actors doing important work, and that's very powerful. You know, there's an old saying: "Nothing happens 'til it must." I like that.
The next quote comes from an interview between Todd Gilchrist and Brendan Fraser, star of the movie version of Inkheart, which can be found in its entirety online at ScifiWire.com. Trivia alert: Brendan Fraser was Cornelia Funke's inspiration for the role of Mortimer/Mo "Silvertongue" Folchart. She dedicated the second book, Inkspell to him, personally sent him a copy of the book, and lobbied hard for him to play the role in the movie. Again, knowing how Fraser speaks, I can totally hear his voice in my head answering this book-related question. Also, I now have an even larger crush on him based on his answer.
Is there a book that you've been obsessed by in real life like your character was in this movie?
Oh, interesting question. Early reading started for me with Roald Dahl, so maybe that tainted my brain. Danny, Champion of the World, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and then there was one collection of short stories that are a little bent. I don't think my little 9-year-old imagination was prepared for it, but they were interesting nevertheless, and I think important regardless because it gives kids an edge to push up against. They need to know what the barriers are so they can decide to go over them or stay within them. But they need a formidable foe, and that's why, in Inkheart, at the end the Shadow is a pretty creepy entity. It's actually frightening, and I know that it would scare my kids. I would chapter-search around it if I were showing it to my kids. But I think it gives them a sense of right, wrong, up, down.
The final interview is one I posted the transcript and link to on Friday in the midst of what was a rather long Poetry Friday post that discussed both the interview and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot, one of my all-time favorite poems. Last Wednesday, Stephen Colbert interviewed poet Elizabeth Alexander. (Oh Stephen Colbert: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." And yeah, that was me quoting Elizabeth Barrett Browning just then.) In this excerpt, Ms Alexander defines what a "praise song" and an "occasional poem" are, and gives a tip on how to write an occasional poem that can stand on its own feet and not be limited by the even to which it relates. Any errors in transcription are entirely mine, since I transcribed it myself while watching (and re-watching) the interview online.
SC: Now listen, listen. Let's go to your poem
EA: Line by line
SC: Beautiful, beautiful. But no 'explicate it line by line', no. The poem is "Praise Song for the Day". Let's talk about it. Is this a "praise song" for the day, or are we praising song for the day? Is praise there a command?
EA: No. It is a "praise song", which is a form of poetry, an ode if you will, that is often written in various West African countries, it's made its way here. It's a way of praising, not to say "gold star", "good job", but rather to name something that we take joy from, that we rejoice in, so that's what a praise song is. It's a form.
SC: And you called it "an occasional poem"?
EA: Yes.
SC: What is an occasional poem, is it a "sometimes" poem?
EA: An occasional poem is a poem written for an occasion. So obviously yesterday's occasion was the inaugural. It could be for a graduation, it could be for a wedding, any occasion.
SC: So its context is associated specifically to that event.
EA: Exactly.
SC: Like the lyrics to "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"
EA: Well there you go.
SC: We don't need another hero. We don't need to know the way home. All we want is life beyond Thunderdome. It really only makes sense when you're at Thunderdome.
EA: And you see, that's a very good example of the occasional poem that actually doesn't resonate beyond the occasion. So if you look at those words, what you want to do is mark the occasion, but write words that will last afterwards, and be useful afterwards in some kind of way.
This week's quotes are all from interviews.
The first is from an interview of Golden Globe-winning actor, Mickey Rourke, conducted by Christopher Walken. And yeah, I could totally hear Walken's spoken voice in my head when reading the questions. The entire interview can be read online at Interview Magazine. Thanks to unwilly for linking to the interview earlier this week. The quote is something Walken said to Rourke near the end of the interview, and I think it works for writer- and artist-types, too:
You made something really beautiful, and maybe that's even more important than awards. Thirty years later, you're one of the top actors doing important work, and that's very powerful. You know, there's an old saying: "Nothing happens 'til it must." I like that.
The next quote comes from an interview between Todd Gilchrist and Brendan Fraser, star of the movie version of Inkheart, which can be found in its entirety online at ScifiWire.com. Trivia alert: Brendan Fraser was Cornelia Funke's inspiration for the role of Mortimer/Mo "Silvertongue" Folchart. She dedicated the second book, Inkspell to him, personally sent him a copy of the book, and lobbied hard for him to play the role in the movie. Again, knowing how Fraser speaks, I can totally hear his voice in my head answering this book-related question. Also, I now have an even larger crush on him based on his answer.
Is there a book that you've been obsessed by in real life like your character was in this movie?
Oh, interesting question. Early reading started for me with Roald Dahl, so maybe that tainted my brain. Danny, Champion of the World, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and then there was one collection of short stories that are a little bent. I don't think my little 9-year-old imagination was prepared for it, but they were interesting nevertheless, and I think important regardless because it gives kids an edge to push up against. They need to know what the barriers are so they can decide to go over them or stay within them. But they need a formidable foe, and that's why, in Inkheart, at the end the Shadow is a pretty creepy entity. It's actually frightening, and I know that it would scare my kids. I would chapter-search around it if I were showing it to my kids. But I think it gives them a sense of right, wrong, up, down.
The final interview is one I posted the transcript and link to on Friday in the midst of what was a rather long Poetry Friday post that discussed both the interview and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot, one of my all-time favorite poems. Last Wednesday, Stephen Colbert interviewed poet Elizabeth Alexander. (Oh Stephen Colbert: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." And yeah, that was me quoting Elizabeth Barrett Browning just then.) In this excerpt, Ms Alexander defines what a "praise song" and an "occasional poem" are, and gives a tip on how to write an occasional poem that can stand on its own feet and not be limited by the even to which it relates. Any errors in transcription are entirely mine, since I transcribed it myself while watching (and re-watching) the interview online.
SC: Now listen, listen. Let's go to your poem
EA: Line by line
SC: Beautiful, beautiful. But no 'explicate it line by line', no. The poem is "Praise Song for the Day". Let's talk about it. Is this a "praise song" for the day, or are we praising song for the day? Is praise there a command?
EA: No. It is a "praise song", which is a form of poetry, an ode if you will, that is often written in various West African countries, it's made its way here. It's a way of praising, not to say "gold star", "good job", but rather to name something that we take joy from, that we rejoice in, so that's what a praise song is. It's a form.
SC: And you called it "an occasional poem"?
EA: Yes.
SC: What is an occasional poem, is it a "sometimes" poem?
EA: An occasional poem is a poem written for an occasion. So obviously yesterday's occasion was the inaugural. It could be for a graduation, it could be for a wedding, any occasion.
SC: So its context is associated specifically to that event.
EA: Exactly.
SC: Like the lyrics to "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome"
EA: Well there you go.
SC: We don't need another hero. We don't need to know the way home. All we want is life beyond Thunderdome. It really only makes sense when you're at Thunderdome.
EA: And you see, that's a very good example of the occasional poem that actually doesn't resonate beyond the occasion. So if you look at those words, what you want to do is mark the occasion, but write words that will last afterwards, and be useful afterwards in some kind of way.