The aspects of patriotism that hush dissent encourage going along and sanction comfortable distancing and compliance with what is indecent and unacceptable... those aspects are too fundamental to ignore or gloss over.

Loki in 'Thor' is the most incredible springboard into a sort of excavation of the darker aspects of human nature. So that was thrilling coming back knowing that I'd built the boat and now I could set sail into choppier waters.

I'm obsessed with the countryside: woods forests fields lakes mountains. I'm really into folk music and folklore. But more so I'm into electronic music. I'm into bands that have both aspects like Boards of Canada is a perfect example. You could listen to that type of music running through a woods. It's kind of what I wanted to achieve.

Musicians are there in front of you and the spectators sense their tension which is not the case when you're listening to a record. Your attention is more relaxed. The emotional aspect is more important in live music.

The cardinal sin in sports what could really wreck it is not cheating to win which has gone on forever but cheating to lose. That threatens a fundamental aspect of sports' appeal which is their spontaneity. If games are fixed they're no different from movies they're scripted.

I was brought up by a single mom in a poor town in Arkansas and while some aspects of small-town life were really positive - like the fact that everyone there is really sweet and hospitable - there is also this close-minded mentality and that naturally made me want to rebel.

I've yet to be on a campus where most women weren't worrying about some aspect of combining marriage children and a career. I've yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing.

I've led a school whose faculty and students examine and discuss and debate every aspect of our law and legal system. And what I've learned most is that no one has a monopoly on truth or wisdom. I've learned that we make progress by listening to each other across every apparent political or ideological divide.

An important aspect of the current situation is the strong social reaction against suggestions that the home language of African American children be used in the first steps of learning to read and write.

That image of the countryside being a threatening place still exists. People continue to resist the challenge of learning about aspects of life they don't understand.