I had been impressed by the fact that biological systems were based on molecular machines and that we were learning to design and build these sorts of things.
I've done all sorts of different kinds of action. We did a thing in 'Blood Diamond,' the attack on Freetown, where I carefully staged the action but did not show the camera operators what we were going to film - so it has the feel of documentary, trying to capture something, and that gave it a whole different feel.
I can remember in my early days of writing going to sort of writers' functions and parties and things like that, and I used to get very irritated because when people heard that you came from the suburbs, they had this notion that it was very un-cool to come from there.
To a degree, rock fans like to live vicariously and they like that, music fans in general, but when indie music sort of came into prominence in the early '90s, a lot of it was TV-driven, too, where if you saw the first Nirvana video, you're looking at three guys that look like people you go to school with.
You know, this is - one can imagine how life would be different if one body of Congress was controlled by the other party, there would be subpoena power and there would be all - mechanisms to get to the bottom of all sorts of issues of controversy.
I love films. I love music. I love poetry and stories. All of that I feel... I sort of get very excited and fed by.
I think it's going to take my whole life to sort of get people to know what my perspective is.
We have boys now, and men, in the rock and roll business and all the show business, who have this reaction on women. They scream. They yell. They do all sorts of wild things.
For 'Beasts,' I really wanted my character to be this sort of mushy, muscleless Muppet.
My real self is probably more creative and more frightening than any sort of drink or drug-induced state.
My work at MIT had focused on what we could build in space once we had inexpensive space transportation and industrial facilities in orbit. And this led to various sorts of work in space development.
I think if you hold your nerve and don't sell out and become something that you're not, you can go anywhere. You know, I think that sort of heart and honesty and size travels.
Most of the things at the zoo don't look like us. We're one design that works. Our chimp pals sort of look like us, so that's a different take on the same basic design. But fish don't look like us, and giraffes don't. They look a little like us, but not too much. And insects certainly don't look like us, and they work just fine.
I sort of missed one big thing, to touch first base. I hope I didn't act foolish, but this is history.
I really don't like it when members of bands slag each other off in the press. If you've got a problem, you should sort it out without going public.
But these guys learn so fast now, they sort of soak up the information, they're fearless. Those are the guys who learn from their mistakes and come back strong the next time.
I do transcendental meditation, which is, I suppose, derived from Vedic or Ayurvedic principles, which is sort of Hindu principles.
As far as a truly radical conscience, you have to take it as part of a larger thing, that it was sort of historical inevitability that with the coming of a leaguer society people would start to use drugs a lot more then they had before.
I wasn't overwhelmed by dogma, and that sort of freed me up to look at things differently.
The curse of me and my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort.
You get this really cool groove when you're playing just piano, bass, and drums where everyone's sort of feeling each other's space, which is the only way to put it, but it really is true, and everyone's sort of sitting in their own pocket. It's kind of jazz-like.
People think I take some sort of masochistic pleasure out of putting out music that's gonna be unpopular.
I am hopelessly devoted to paper. Nothing against e-readers of any sort - anything that keeps people reading is okay by me - but I am not, historically, an early adopter of such things.
When I started The Shins, it really was just me, alone, but it was still The Shins. I was totally recording stuff and writing songs as The Shins and all of that. So the beginning inception of the whole thing was some sort of a lie, I guess.
The only thing I wanted to accomplish was to finally get recognized by the music industry. If you know the awards, answer me this question: Do you see an award for soul music? No. They have R&B, funk, hip-hop and all sorts of contemporary things.
It seems extraordinary to have waited so long into one's life to have found the part that actually uses your basic rhythm. And I think that's always sort of what actors connect up with - their own sort of world.
When you consider what Tony Blair was saying about liberty, human rights and that sort of thing, it would be terribly revolutionary to sell the speeches he and Jack Straw made in 1994.
There are all sorts of cute puppy dogs, but it doesn't stop people from going out and buying Dobermans.
We will never forget the lessons that we learned as a result of San Bruno. It's really caused us to focus on safety with a laser-like sort of manner. There's always more work to be done.
What I do say is, yes, children may be resilient and they have been able to deal with all sorts of difficulties they have faced, but the bottom line is this: I believe very strongly children need a mother and a father in the home.
I've always wondered why there isn't a great French novel about the German occupation. The nouveau roman authors weren't interested in telling that sort of thing.
Another thing that was unique about working on this stuff was that I was engineering it. I used many of the things I had learned while I was away from the band. It sort of vindicated my decision to leave in '87.
I suppose all of us - we have the old Protestant work ethic of feeling guilty when you're not working, and getting a buzz from feeling like you're really busy. That's the reason to sort of carry on.
I have to say that flying on Air Force One sort of spoils you for coach on a regular airline.
It's enormously good fun. I love it. I really do. I have this sort of set face.
Women like to watch women fight because it makes them feel sort of empowered physically and mentally. They feel kind of jazzed and excited by it.
