exhortation of the dawn
Listen to the exhortation of the dawn. Look to this day For it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course lie all the verities And realities of your existence. The glory of action, The bliss of growth, The splendour of beauty. For yesterday is but a dream And tomorrow is only a vision. But today, well lived, makes Every yesterday a dream of happiness And every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore to this day! Such is the salutation to the dawn.
Salutation to the Dawn, translated from the original Sanskrit
I've been looking through old (very old) blogposts. The above was quoted in a TV series, Two Thousand Acres of Sky. I must have liked it enough to include it in a post (dated 09/02/2002). So, here it is again.
I've been falling down rabbit holes reading some of the old posts. In many ways, I haven't changed a lot - I still love the same things. Stationery, quirkiness, books, photography, cows.
On 3rd September 2002, I wrote about meeting Ethan Hawke. I read this out to Chris earlier today. I wondered how I'd remembered the details so well. Apparently, I made notes on my Palm Pilot!
I walked past the Triangle this morning and spotted two trucks at the back, each with a sizeable pile of sand in the back. I knew what that meant. It was quite sad, seeing all that sand, shapeless and about to be hauled away. The last vestiges of Sofagirl. Just to check, I popped in to the Triangle after "work" and it was true. Sofagirl was no more.
Ethan Hawke came to town. To promote his latest book "Ash Wednesday". It seems like ages since I got my ticket but it's probably not really that long. I dashed over from "work" and was there by six. I'd been advised to get there early as it was well subscribed. But it really didn't make that much difference as there was no queue just a mass of people hanging about so I just sat down and waited. As it was I ended up in the last empty seat in Row 4 and Ethan stood right in front of our little block to read from his book.
He arrived just after 7 p.m., dressed in brown loafers, jeans with a dog design sewn on the front of the right leg, a grey T shirt and a shirt over the top. A distinctly casual look. As he read he seemed a bit nervous, bobbing from one foot to the other. He has a strong American accent - I suppose you would expect that - it just seemed very pronounced. More so than I'd imagined.
After the reading he was interviewed by a film maker. I think she was called Penny. As an interviewer, she really wasn't up to much. Her questions were really flat but Ethan was excellent and chatted away. When he'd first arrived he'd said he would talk about anything - except Iraq - which made a nice change from most celebs who have a mile long list of things they won't talk about. He was being ironic about Iraq.
He was asked why there had been such a long gap between books. He wrote "Ash Wednesday" for a few months, then he put it away whilst he made a film. Then he worked on it solidly for a year. About writing, he asks himself whether what he's doing is worthwhile. He calls this his demon - denigrating his own work.
The next question was about dialogue. There's a lot of it in "Ash Wednesday". He said he likes listening to people. His wife says "Be careful, there's a novelist in the room". He attributes his love of dialogue to the actor in him.
He refers a lot to the Irish in the book, saying that people "look Irish". He couldn't quite qualify this but said something about a rosy cheek appearance.
When he's writing he tends to handwrite or typewrite, and then he'll transfer everything to a PC, effectively working on a second draft at that point. He thinks doing a first draft on a PC risks losing huge chunks in a fit of demon, deleting things which it might be better to keep.
He did contemplate using a pseudonym because he felt he might be accused of being published because of his notoriety. But then he thought that if the book was successful and he said it was his, he might look like a chicken.
One of the characters in "Ash Wednesday" is called Jimmy. Ethan said this was his alter ego - his wife's best friend calls him Jimmy when she says he's being a "pig". Another character, Christy, is the feminine side of Ethan. The characters are both extremes of him.
He was asked whether there was some influence from "Catcher in the Rye" and "On the Road". He said possibly, as both were life changing experiences for him at 13 and 18 respectively. (He memorised the first ten pages of "Catcher" because he liked it so much).
He also used the character of "Tape", a film that he was in at the time, written by Stephen Belber. He also based the blind character in the book on Jacques Lusseyran.
He said, as a writer you see your life in sentences, which I thought was a nice image.
He was asked who were his favourite authors. He said this list was good on the night but he might think of others later ... J T Leroy ("Sarah"), Kundera, Maugham and James Baldwin ("Sonny's Blues").
He gets more of a kick out of writing than he does acting because he's been acting since he was 13 and he has to work harder at the writing. He didn't go to drama school, he didn't choose acting. He got the part in "Dead Poet's" at 18.
Of all the people he's worked with he most admires Robert de Niro and Denzel Washington. This came out in relation to a question about method acting. He talked for a while about method acting and then concluded that he really didn't know what method acting was. He said de Niro and Denzel used "theatre games" on set even though they're so experienced. He said they fool around on set with the cast and crew too.
Ethan also talked about doing amateur theatre with students. He said it was great, a mix of professionals and students. The students were so keen they couldn't wait to be on stage. It fired him up for acting again.
He wants to get a balance between acting and writing. He doesn't want to just do three films a year.
He started thinking about book 3 when he finished book 2. But he said he has to have some ideas and a couple of paragraphs in his head before he can start.
Would he ever contemplate making films of his two books because they're both so "visual". He said he wouldn't play himself but might write the screenplay. He might even do a cameo.
After the questions it was every man for himself as a very straggly queue formed. It took about an hour to reach the head of the queue. When I was nearly there I took a couple of photos. Then it was my turn to get my books signed (I'd brought the first book, "The Hottest State", which I read about five years ago). Ethan was very nice. I told him I'd really enjoyed "The Hottest State" and asked him about his appearance on Johnny Vegas. Sadly I've not seen it - it was on late and I was tired and only remembered I should have set the video when I'd got in bed. Ethan wasn't sure whether it was Johnny Vegas. He knew it was Johnny someone. He said he'd not been very good - he was nervous. [Later I checked the "Radio Times" and realised why Ethan was so confused - it was Johnny Vaughan's chat show not Vegas! Duh! He'd probably have had more fun with Johnny Vegas]. I also asked him who "Karuna" was - "Ash Wednesday" is dedicated to "Karuna". He said it was his wife, it's her middle name. I didn't know that.
And then my book was signed and that was that.