Producers From The United States

". . . you would be well advised to practice extreme discrimination on what filters through to that area of the brain that requires belief. Some or the more lucid, literate and better-educated folks will tell you that they have conquered that base, primal nature of humanity and will inform that their brains do not require the gullible mechanism of blind acceptance called belief and their brains function far more clearly and with greater cogence. Just remember, Santa Claus is waiting."

". . . a sober evaluation of the data suggests the phenomena warrants further scrutiny."

"I really don't know why I clicked. I didn't want to be a dancer, I just did it to work my way through college. But I was always an athlete and gymnast, so it came naturally."

"Remember the mind is your best muscle ...BIG ARMS can move rocks, but BIG WORDS can move mountains... Ride the brain train for success...."

"Once in one's life, for one mortal moment, one must make a grab for immortality; if not, one has not lived"

"Fred Astaire represented the aristocracy, I represented the proletariat."

"It's all true. It's true I didn't want to be a dancer. What I really wanted to be was a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then at 14 I discovered girls, and began to study dancing diligently. At that time dancing was the only way you could put your arm around the girl. Dancing was courtship. Only later did I discover you dance joy. You dance love. You dance dreams. Of course, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost a hell of a shortstop."

"In the 1930s, when I started, Martha Graham was the only dancer doing anything modern, but she did it all to classical music. I couldn't see myself doing Swan Lake every night, and I wanted to develop a truly American style. The only dancer in the movies at that time with any success was Fred Astaire, but he did very small, elegant steps in a top hat, white tie, and tails."

"It could be that today's conservative movement remains in thrall to the same narrative that has defined its attitude toward film and the arts for decades. Inspired by feelings of exclusion after Hollywood and the popular culture turned leftward in the '60s and '70s, this narrative has defined the film industry as an irredeemably liberal institution toward which conservatives can only act in opposition—never engagement. Ironically, this narrative ignores the actual history of Hollywood, in which conservatives had a strong presence from the industry's founding in the early 20th century up through the '40s, '50s and into the mid-'60s]. The conservative Hollywood community at that time included such leading directors as Howard Hawks, Frank Capra, and Cecil B. DeMille, and major stars like John Wayne, Clark Gable, and Charlton Heston. These talents often worked side by side with notable Hollywood liberals like directors Billy Wilder, William Wyler, and John Huston, and stars like Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Spencer Tracy. The richness of classic Hollywood cinema is widely regarded as a testament to the ability of these two communities to work together, regardless of political differences. As the younger, more left-leaning "New Hollywood" generation swept into the industry in the late '60s and '70s, this older group of Hollywood conservatives faded away, never to be replaced. Except for a brief period in the '80s when the Reagan Presidency led to a conservative reengagement with film—with popular stars like Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger making macho, patriotic action films—conservatives appeared to abandon popular culture altogether. In the wake of this retreat, conservative failure to engage with Hollywood now appears to have been recast by today's East Coast conservative establishment into a generalized opposition toward film and popular culture itself. In the early '90s, conservative film critic Michael Medved codified this oppositional feeling toward Hollywood in his best-selling book Hollywood vs. America."

"The films are realistic fantasies. Bullets are easy. You can buy them. Emotions are not. They're priceless."

"What's the matter, too much for you to handle?""

"Ohh, I guess I gotta quit because I said 'nigger.'"

"Ohh, I guess you got me there. He's absolutely right. I'm just a wash-up. Gotta stand on the stage. [Responding to the heckler saying "You're not funny! You're a reject! You never had no shows! You never had no movies! 'Seinfeld,' that's it!"]"

"What was uncalled for? It is uncalled for you to interrupt my ass, you cheap motherfucker! [Responding to the heckler saying "That was uncalled for!"]"

"He's a nigger! He's a nigger! He's a nigger!"

"Cracker-ass? Are you calling me cracker-ass, nigga!?"

"Well, you interrupted me, pal. That's what happens when you interrupt the white man, don't you know?"

"You can talk! You can talk! You can talk! You're brave now, motherfucker! Throw his ass out! He's a nigger! He's a nigger! He's a nigger! A nigger, look, there's a nigger! Ooh! Ooh! All right, ya see? It shocks you, it shocks you to see what's buried beneath, you stupid motherfuckers!"

"They're going to arrest me for calling a black man a nigger?"

"Shut up! Fifty years ago we'd have you upside-down with a fucking fork up your ass!"

"For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry. … I'm not a racist, that's what's so insane about this!"

"A lot of musicians don’t learn the business. You just have to be well-rounded in both areas. You have to understand publishing. You have to understand how you make money, what’s in demand, what helps you make the most out of your talent."

"All the information you need is available to you to have a successful career in music, if you're paying attention, and not closed off to anything. Remember, Perseverance is King."

"Time and persistence has shown me that I can succeed at sharing my art with others as a musician while running my own music business. And that kind of success is as good as I could have ever wished for."

"Through instrumental music, I’m allowed to come up with musical ideas that allow the listener to create their own impression of my song. If you add lyrics about a girl in the song, the listener doesn’t have a choice of what the song is about, it’s told to them. My musical writings allow me to express anything. It’s easier for me to tell a story of something I’ve encountered this way then to verbalize it. And my feelings are explored more in my compositions compared to what I could ever say in a few sentences."

"Music allows a person to express their deepest thoughts, thoughts that cannot be expressed with just words. I am often asked how I begin a song or develop a melody from nothing. That is the spiritual aspect of creating. Finding something deep within yourself that can only be created by you."

"Musically I try to connect a common bridge between such exhilarating feelings as performing at the Acropolis, to the emotions each and every one of us feel everyday. In the end, a good melody will always stand the test of time."

"Basically, I write from a two person standpoint. First, I let the song take hold and I put down the idea as a raw emotional statement. Then I let it breathe and come back, approaching from more of an objective point of view. This allows me to rediscover the true meaning I intended in the beginning, shedding new light on how I can best represent that to the listener."

"My songs bring images to the listener's mind. The object is to transport my listeners to another place, some place sacred and spiritual that will make them glad they took the ride."

"I am a composer first and foremost, and have always believed that being able to write memorable melodies is what sets musicians apart."

"The piano is always true to me. In times of despair, happiness, and joy, its mood is always my own."

"I believe that “cyberterrorism” is an appropriate term. When cyberattacks can cause the loss of human lives, cybercriminals can be charged not only for cyberattacks but also for terrorism."

"Learning is an innate human behavior. A healthy baby is happy and excited to learn to speak, play and express itself. Why should learning stop being fun? The human race cannot survive without continuous learning. Let us impart the enthusiasm and creativity of learning in the classrooms."

"I sometimes wish to be a kid again and go through life a little differently."

"Human beings will never evolve to higher creatures if we are constantly restricted by rules and regulations."

"Being a Disney VoluntEAR reinforces my belief in Walt's vision for The Walt Disney Company to bring happiness to every family in the world."

"I am never content with what I have [accomplished]. Jimmy reminded me of those less fortunate than I, people out there who are struggling just to survive."

"The meaning of life for human beings is to serve one another for the survival of humanity and the advancement of civilization."

"Through knowledge, you can develop the economy. Without knowledge, you cannot improve a society."

"May we all come to realize that education and the humanities should be valued for nurturing our minds and society as a whole, and not only as a means to build future careers."

"You can be a good Christian and a transhumanist. You can be a good Muslim and a transhumanist. You can be a good Buddhist and a transhumanist. Transhumanism gives different religions a common ground for people to live peacefully together, and as a result, to create a better future -- a brave new world of utopia, not dystopia."

"Everyone has talent. The question is how do we find it, and how do we nurture it?"

"COVID-19 is a wake-up call for humanity to be born again. In Christianity, born again is an experience when the teachings of Jesus become real, and the “born again” acquires a personal relationship with God. In humanity, born again is an experience when the teachings of natural phenomena become real, and the “born again” acquires a personal relationship with the planet Earth."

"We can change our future, but we cannot escape our destiny. That is why life is a journey, not a destination. All roads lead to Rome, but our actions and inaction determine the meaning of our life regardless of the outcome."

"The Tower of Babel fell apart not because of technology but because of languages."

"If you are too careful about taking risks, you end up not doing anything. If you don’t want to take any responsibilities, again you end up doing nothing in life. Transhumanists are the ones who actually want to take risks and want to take responsibilities. And that’s what we are doing!"

"AI is already embedded in our daily life. There are more AI applications than people realize. I think of AI as "augmented intelligence" instead of "artificial intelligence"."

"Change was a constant in Walt Disney’s commitment to tell a story well, to bring it to an audience through the technology of the day, and to push that technology so that rather than controlling the story, it enhanced the story and gave it an opportunity to touch people, to speak to each of them individually, to make it believable."

"Apart from a 20-minute stunt as Eeyore at Disneyland for “Disney Way One” and countless joyful hours of volunteering with my fellow colleagues, my job at Disney Online was mainly to make children happy by creating entertaining and educational games."

"Computers and music are converging in a new era of digital Renaissance as more and more musicians such as will.i.am are learning how to code while an increasing number of software programmers are learning how to play music."