I really want to do a film in another language. My dad's from Germany, so it'd be really cool to do a film in German. I'm not quite fluent, but I can get there. And my accent's pretty good. I wouldn't feel too out of my element.
It's true that many of the best-known composers were German or Austrian, but we should remember how good the music tradition is in Britain, too, because it has an informality and a fluidity that should really be celebrated.
The directors that I end up having a really good time with are the ones that understand the fluidity of the medium and are interested in catching lightning in a bottle.
Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away.
The expat life was a good one: There was my French boyfriend. My bright two-bedroom flat in Islington. My wine at lunch. I had a 'go bag' packed with loose linens and mosquito repellent - I was ready to be flung to the outer edges of the world at a moment's notice. It was all intrigue and adventure.
I have always loved astronomy, and being an astronomer once lurked in the back of my mind. But I was never good at algebra. In fact, I flunked it twice in high school.
Powerful drawing hands, like a pair with a flush draw or even conventional straight and flush draws, are often good opportunities to try a semi-bluff - making a bet or raise that you hope will not be called, but leaves you some outs if it is.
The only good political movement I've seen lately was Occupy Wall Street. They had no leaders, which was genius. But unfortunately it always ends up with some hippy playing a flute.
In the Led Zeppelin shows of the Sixties and Seventies, it was the same numbers every night, but they were constantly in a state of flux. If I played something good, really substantial, I'd stick it in again.
I'm not a good flyer. Because I do it so much, I think the odds of something going wrong are not in my favour.
A guy came to the shop every day. A lot of guys put the foam like stuff that forms to you, kinda like the Indy car guys run. He fitted it up and it felt real good, so we're going to try to run it.
In tragedy, it's hard to find a good resolution; it's not black and white: it's a big fog of gray.
Our brains are very, very good at self-delusion. What happens is, it releases the stress hormone cortisol in the brain, which leads to foggy thinking, so you're not even able to judge well whether you're working well or not.
When you're not playing the hero of the story, then you have to know that you're always a foil for the good guy. I love playing that. I think that's always an interesting place to be.
Funny is a good foil. Humor is illuminating, and it also gives you power.
I've worked since it was basically legal to work. I was a waitress on and off for eight years. I worked at Sears; I worked at Abercrombie folding clothes. My dad really instilled good money management habits, and I've saved 10 percent of my paycheck, every paycheck, since I was 15.
My father was a professor of folklore, and my mother was a teacher until she was married. I had a good relationship with them, and the only argument we had was when I went to university and wanted to go into the theater instead of studying to be a lawyer.
Here's what's nice about life: Sometimes you have ideas and for the most part, they're not good ones. And then you'll follow through with a handful of them and sometimes you'll be pretty disappointed. And then other times you'll follow through and you'll go, 'You know what? It's nice to be right.'
All I can tell you really is if you get to the point where someone is telling you that you are not great or not good enough, just follow your heart and don't let anybody crush your dream.
Genius creates, and taste preserves. Taste is the good sense of genius; without taste, genius is only sublime folly.
