“Opening a play is just tough. The idea that actors are weirdly protected from it is a myth. If you imagine yourself having to spend two and a bit hours cooking bolognaise, remembering a whole major work by David Hare and speaking it at the correct moment between chopping carrots and stirring the onions in front of an audience - the normal human response is 'Please, can I go to the airport?'” IfsHumansTwoIdeasPlayWholeMomentsRememberActorsBitsHoursAudienceImagineFrontsPleaseNormalMajorsToughCookingResponseMythOpeningProtectedAirportsStirringOnionsCarrotsHaresChopping Author:Bill Nighy
“It was a great place to grow up. There were always kids around in our neighborhood. We had a basketball hoop in the back of our house, a little front yard where you could get touch football games going. I know you think of it as a big city, but it was fun for me to grow up in New Orleans. I remember it as a very normal childhood.” ThinkingKnowsLittlesBigsKidsRememberGamesHouseFunGrowsCitiesGrowing UpChildhoodFrontsFootballBasketballNormalNeighborhoodYardsNew OrleansFootball GameBig CitiesTouch Football Author:Eli Manning
“"What is normal?" really becomes the question. What is normal, and how are we fooled into thinking it's something other than what we're doing at any given time. Every family has either a drug addict or an alcoholic or some sort of dysfunction that the family is dealing with. And I think the grace of this family is that they actually could be that far out there but also be forgiving, and be really human, and be human in front of each other without much shame.” ThinkingHumansGivenGraceFrontsDrugNormalShameForgivingAddictAlcoholicsFooledDrug AddictDysfunction Author:Mark Ruffalo
“I'm not in my element standing around in a bikini in front of strangers. I never stand up in a bikini, even at the swimming pool. I feel like a normal person when it comes to things like that. I'm like any other girl who doesn't want to show her bottom.” WantFeelsPersonsShowsGirlFrontsElementsNormalStandingBottomStrangerSwimmingPoolOther GirlBikinisSwimming Pool Author:Elizabeth Hurley
“I hate normal studios, because you have to say "hi" to the person at the front desk. And then you go into the studio, and there's a second engineer in there that you don't know, and then you're stuck in a glass box with someone talking to you through a walkie-talkie.” KnowsPersonsHateTalkingFrontsNormalI HateGlassesBoxesStudiosStuckNow And ThenEngineersDesksTalkiesFront DeskWalkie Talkies Author:Marilyn Manson
“I've been a professional for I think 13, 14 years. It's not easy hitting balls every day and staying really motivated throughout the whole period. It's normal [that] you're going to have ups and downs. But I found my way again. And I love the sport. I love competing. I love battling. I love being out there and playing in front of crowds. This is what I've been doing since I was a child. There's nothing else that I want to do.” ThinkingWayWantYearsChildrenWholeFoundEasySportsLove IsFrontsPeriodsNormalBallsCrowdsMy WayStayingMotivatedHittingCompetingUps & Downs Author:Jelena Jankovic
“I don't have to pad my resume. Normal people are astounded by my resume, because normal people never let their dreams get beyond their front door, because they are scared of failure. I have never been scared of failure, and I have never failed.” PeopleDreamDoorsFrontsNormalScaredResumesPadsFront DoorsAstounded Author:John Layfield
“You can't go on stage and live - it's false all the way. I can't stand the premise of going out in jeans and a guitar and looking as real as you can in front of 18,000 people. I mean, it's not normal!” PeopleWayMeanI CanRealStageFrontsGoes OnNormalGuitarGoing OutJeansPremises Author:David Bowie
“If you're up there [on stage] thinking about what you're doing, you're just not there and it's not going to happen.So trying to learn how to overcome those - which is a normal thing to do. You're in front of a lot of people. People are going to get very self-conscious. So you have to learn to sort of overcome that tendency towards self-consciousness and just blow it wide open. And you jump in and join all those people that are out there enjoying what you're doing together.” PeopleIfsThinkingTryingSelfHappensTogetherEnjoyConsciousnessStageFrontsNormalConsciousOvercomingBlowWideTendenciesThings To DoSelf ConsciousDoing YouSelf ConsciousnessNormal Things Author:Bruce Springsteen
“There was a free election in Palestine, but it came out the wrong way. So instantly, the United States and Israel with Europe tagging along, moved to punish the Palestinian people, and punish them harshly, because they voted the wrong way in a free election. That's accepted here in the West as perfectly normal. That illustrates the deep hatred and contempt for democracy among western elites, so deep-seated they can't even perceive it when it's in front of their eyes. You punish people severely if they vote the wrong way in a free election.” PeopleIfsWayStatesEyeUnitedUnited StatesDemocracyFrontsNormalEuropeHatredVoteElectionMovedWestWesternIsraelAcceptedPerceiveContemptElitesPalestinianPalestineWrong WayPerfectly NormalFree Elections Author:Noam Chomsky
“If you can't, or won't, think of Seymour, then you go right ahead and call in some ignorant psychoanalyst. You just do that. You just call in some analyst who's experienced in adjusting people to the joys of television, and Life magazine every Wednesday, and European travel, and the H-bomb, and Presidential elections, and the front page of the Times, and God knows what else that's gloriously normal.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsJoyFrontsTelevisionNormalPagesElectionIgnorantMagazinesPresidentialBombsGod KnowsAnalystsWednesdayAdjustingPresidential Election Author:J. D. Salinger
“I saw a news report recently that measured average video game use by American men between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five: twenty hours per week. Do you mean the flower of America's masculinity can't think of anything more important to do with twenty hours a week than sit in front of a video screen? Folks, this ain't normal. Can't we unplug already?” ThinkingMenMeanImportantUseAgeAmericaGamesHoursFiveSawsWeekFrontsFlowerNormalNewsTwentiesAverageFolksScreensVideoThirtyReportsMasculinityTwenty Five Author:Joel Salatin