Quotes

The reader feels as if he is in Chongjin, where starving people ate the bark off trees; or atop Mount Taesong with the elite of Pyongyang, whose existence is a mix of sadism and whimsy; or with the masses who are bombarded day and night with the propaganda of North Korea's alternate reality.

Imagine a world in which no writer has written a literary novel in sixty years. Imagine a place where not a single person has read a book that is truly about the character at its center.

For an entire populace, change, growth, and spontaneity were dangerous. Acting upon a personal desire, whispering a hidden longing, revealing your true feelings - all the human actions we think of as essential to a character - had be censored by the self lest they be punished by the state.

I'd known that the visit would be highly scripted and that genuine interactions with citizens wouldn't be possible, since it's illegal for them to speak with foreigners. Still, I'd thought I'd had a unique look at North Korea, only to discover I was wrong.

The death of dictator Kim Jong-Il has cast all eyes on North Korea, a country without literature or freedom or truth.

I thought that, with so much current attention focused on the topic of North Korea, I might share what I think are three books which cast a rare light on the elusive realm of North Korea.

I know it really sounds cheesy, but I did feel a duty to try to tell the stories of people who couldn't speak for themselves.

I'm not a geek about equipment, I just know what I like.

In the time between records, I always have lots of stuff going on. I shoot photography, make little sculptures, play video games.

Many of the songs on Undertow were written at the time Opiate came out.

I think putting labels on people is just an easy way of marketing something you don't understand.

I'm a self-taught guitarist, but I have a classical music background.

There's always the influence of music, film, art and the other things that drive me. I'm usually inspired by my environment and whatever is making me happy or mad.

We have meetings with our record label to tell them how to market us.

All the art for Tool is done by the me and the band.

Doing the stereotypical solo bores me.

I personally don't like to use as many effects because when you play live, something always goes wrong.

I seriously do not think Nirvana is grunge.

We're more into expressing ourselves than making radio hits.

When we played with the Rollins Band, we'd keep songs going until we felt like ending it.

If I play anything that sounds like a solo, it's gonna sound like a lyric.

I listen to Helmet - and I love Helmet, they're a great band - but every song sounds the same.

I like soundtracks and I like film.

When you don't know what the band looks like, it puts the emphasis on thinking and taking the music and message more seriously.

I've always dabbled on guitar, but never took lessons.