Contemporary culture is like the weather - we have to be open to it. I don't like the way it is dismissed or closed down.
Zaha Hadid's Maxxi Museum is proof that Rome and contemporary architecture are no longer a paradox. The building is characteristic Hadid - with curving lines and organic shapes - and the permanent collection already boasts works by Francesco Clemente, William Kentridge, and Gerhard Richter.
I had read Harold Bloom's 'Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?' Late in his life, having read everything, Bloom asked which books had given him wisdom. I had just read a bunch of contemporary novels that had no wisdom for me.
In the contemporary world, we think of politeness as surface behavior, like frosting - it's sweet and attractive and finishes off the cake. But 19th century nobility and the enlightened thinkers and stoics before them viewed manners in a very different way. To them, manners are an outward expression of an inward struggle.
I'm constantly evolving. I can just say that I'm attuning myself to contemporary fashion, moulding myself to opportunities.
With contemporary poetry having approximately as many fans outside the immediate field as there are devotees of undergoing knee surgery, any sentient, breathing reader who's genuinely interested in poetry... not scared of it... seems a godsend.
Do I think all contemporary Christian music is good? No.
When dancing for mass numbers, you can throw your hands and legs anywhere, but contemporary dance is a whole different ball game. Every move has to be pointed, graceful and must look elegant. It's not easy trust me, but is a lot of fun nevertheless.
When I graduated, everyone was like, 'You got to do pop and R&B to make it,' like very contemporary pop and R&B. I tried for a little while, but I just realized my voice wasn't quite fitting some of the records that I was doing.
People try to pigeonhole comics by saying they're just for kids. So is The Odyssey. So is the Labors of Hercules, the story of Fa Mulan. The advantage of those stories over the contemporary ones is that they've had 2,000 years of editing. All the crap has been weeded out over time.
