‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ inspired me. I wanted to take those themes and try to bring it into a more 21st story with aliens.
Alice Ripley was someone who had had a huge effect on me when I had gotten out of college and decided that this was the road I wanted to take – to write musicals.
Unlike a lot of my cohorts from the ’80s and ’90s who totally blamed the shortness of their careers on bands like Nirvana and Alice in Chains and Soundgarden and whatever, I was very into a lot of those bands.
Alden Ehrenreich is a drama nerd, and Alice Englert is indie girl. They’re so cool in the way that our characters are cool.
I’m really taken with ‘Calling Me Home’ by Alice Gerrard.
I always liked Barbara Howar and admired her spunk. I know that she considered me – and Alice Roosevelt Longworth – an exception to her negative feelings about Washington widows and single women, whom she basically found dispensable.
I’ve always been called ‘Suki,’ but my actual first name is Alice.
Alice Munro is an atomic writer blasting doors into narrative time.
‘White Rabbit’ was mostly done in about two days, the music in about half an hour. The music is a ‘Bolero’ rip-off and the lyrics a rearrangement of ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ You take two spectacular hits and throw them together, and it’s hard to miss.
‘What is the use of a book’, thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversations?’
I loved the MC5 and the Stooges, but also, the British Invasion – the Kinks and the Yardbirds – and then Led Zeppelin, of course. Alice Cooper was one of my favorite bands.
I always was a fan of Alice Cooper’s, but I got a new appreciation for his music playing in his band. It’s really amazing to see how his music transcends age.
It wasn’t until I started to read short stories – by people like Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant, John Updike… Eudora Welty – that I became excited about the possibilities of writing.
Doing voiceovers is so great because even though many people would think it’s just your voice, you really do use all your physicality. I’ve done everything from playing a butterfly to Alice in Wonderland when she’s 10 feet tall, so it allows you to be an actor and build new characters.
As a student of Alice Waters, the patron saint of salad, I’m no stranger to the art of lettuce washing.
I do not use computer much, but I am slowly becoming aware of the popularity of Bob Biswas and the jokes on the Internet. I feel like Alice in Wonderland, it’s a dream which might end someday.
I went through a big Alice Cooper phase, which was probably a major influence on my writing style later, especially after Plastic Surgery Disasters.
The great thing about the Alice Cooper camp is that its a true family and there’s definitely a reason why he’s had such a long and successful career spanning over 50 years. You don’t get that far by not keeping good people around you.
I’m a huge fan of Alice Hoffman, Fred Chappell and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
There is the myth that writing books for children is easier than writing books for grownups, whereas we know that truly great books for children are works of genius, whether it’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or the ‘Gruffalo’ or ‘Northern Lights.’ When it’s a great book, it’s a great book, whether it’s for children or not.
I have a very childish attitude to books – a very non-analytic enthusiasm… like Alice falling down the chute.
For me, books were my source of affirmation. Alice Walker, Audrey Lord – it was these authors who wrote about their experiences. It was this weird thing where I was censored in terms of what I could watch but not in terms of what I could read.
Soundgarden signing to a major, then Mother Love Bone, and seeing the same happen to Alice in Chains. We were all suddenly making music and recording at the same time, and we had money to do it. It wasn’t like a $2,000 recording that you do over a weekend. It’s like, ‘Wow, maybe this will be our job.’
Alice Munro is a particular kind of short story writer in that she writes long, character-driven short stories.
We are in this Alice in Wonderland world where parliament has approved a motion saying: ‘notes the government will not deploy U.K. troops in ground combat operations.’ It doesn’t say: ‘brackets not special forces.’ But the convention is that it is ‘brackets not special forces.’
‘The Dovekeepers’ is a fantastic novel written by Alice Hoffman; it was a bestselling novel, and I fell in love with the book and bought the rights to it.
I’m working on something that’s not yet novel-shaped but is something of a film-noir-flavored ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ It will also very likely be a single volume story and not the start of a series.
I get more work when I’m thinner. I was playing Alice Cooper, and I had to lose a stone, so I wasn’t eating sugar. You can’t just get straight back onto sugar, as it’s quite a powerful thing.
In grade one and two, I was definitely into heavy metal and Satanic rock music, bands that had attributes that were quote-unquote ‘Satanic,’ even things like the Rolling Stones with ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ and ‘Sympathy for the Devil,’ but also like Motley Crue and Kiss and Alice Cooper.
Three of my heroes that have gotten clean and sober that I got to ask for advice were Alice Cooper, Nikki Sixx and Zakk Wylde.
‘Alice’ is effectively a story about a game of cards. ‘Through the Looking Glass’ is a story of chess.
I’ve been a fan of Metallica and friends with those guys for a long time and that was just great – half Alice In Chains and half Metallica playing together.
I have a sister and her name is Mimsy, like from ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ so we’ve got some strange names in our family.
Think of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.’ It is equally intoxicating for children and adults. All this ‘crossover’ talk is something publishers are using as a selling device – a kind of post hoc rationalisation of what was happening already.
Everything’s changed. The technology is the big thing changing now, the way movies like ‘Alice’ or ‘Avatar’ are made. And technology on the other side, the audience side. Word spreads so fast now on a movie, with the Internet, and piracy is something coming down the line like in the music industry.
The first time I ever spoke to John Cassavetes was at a Lakers game. I got up to go for a hot dog, and he was coming in the opposite direction. I don’t know who said hello first, but we started talking, and it turned out that he went to high school with my first wife, Alice.
My first influences for playing were Johnny Ramone and Jimmy Page, the same as everybody else. Joe Perry. The guys in Alice Cooper’s band, whatever their names were. Mick Ronson from David Bowie. You know who really influenced me to write songs? Iron Maiden.
I go to readings by fiction writers like Alice Walker, and I’m envious of the level of attention they generate.
People know my characters like Alice Morgan in ‘Luther’ or Alison Bailey from ‘The Affair.’ For me, that’s a compliment, a kind of joy.
I read all the time. I was reading a book I admire very much by Alice McDermot called Charming Billy.
I like the Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park. I love how it’s been rained on forever and looks worn down by time.
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