June 2, 2008

Ugly Betty's America Ferrera on Acceptance in High School

"My high school days were definitely not the best days of my life. I think everything you learn in high school, you have to spend the rest of your life unlearning. A lot of what high school was about for me was not being myself. It was about hiding all the things that made me different and trying to fit in somewhere. I didn't know who I was. The pretty and popular girls just reminded me that I wasn't pretty and popular, and the nerdy and studious ones reminded me that I wasn't smart enough. I didn't conform in high school, wear all the right clothes, or fit in. But I think the truth is that whatever you're wearing on the outside doesn't change the fact that most people--even beautiful girls--feel the same doubt, fears and insecurities on the inside."

-Actress America Ferrera from TV's Ugly Betty (Cosmo Girl, February 2007)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:25 PM

September 28, 2005

Evangeline Lilly is a Walking Oxymoron

"Over and over again I've been called a walking oxymoron. I do things that you wouldn't associate with a good little Christian girl. People say I'm half-boy, half-girl. I love style and dressing up, but I've also got competitive testosterone and I'm incredibly stubborn. When I'm going for a jog and I come up behind a guy on his bike, I try to beat him, even if it kills me."

-Evangeline Lilly, who plays Kate on Lost (RollingStone, Oct. 6, 2005)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:36 AM | Comments (1)

April 13, 2005

John Rhys-Davies on Hollywood & Religion

"Filthy lucre would be the great motivator, wouldn't it? By and large, all the bad things you hear about Hollywood are true. There are very few people who actually understand that a good story done well may just attract an audience and make money. The people who are in charge of Hollywood really are not quite literate in any real sense, and very few of them actually understand what a good story is. But the reason Hollywood has discovered good and evil is that people believe in it."

-Actor John Rhys-Davies talking about Hollywood's sudden interest in religion. (Christianity Today, April 12, 2005)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:00 PM

March 17, 2005

Bright Eyes on Individuality

"I would never say, 'You shouldn't live this way,' because I feel like that, in itself, is hypocritical and wrong. But a lot of the way that I write about politics in music, through the songs, isn't necessarily to say, 'Do this, don't do this.' It's more to show the way that these things affect individuals and a person's pscyhe. If you're talking urban sprawl, and The Desaparecidos record--living in this modern state, this specific suburban life, I think that it's detrimental to the spirit of a person.

"And that sounds maybe condescending or something, and I'm sure there's exceptions. I'm sure there are people living to the fullest. But I think that the way that America is set up now, it marginalizes the individual. You get put in to your little demographic and you get sold these products and this entertainment that's specified to what you're supposed to be, and you're never challenged, and you're never asked to live beyond this state where you're giving back to these companies. Giving them money so that you can continue to spin in their little thing they create for you. And I just think that's wrong. I think that being alive and being a human, you should want to be more than a target group."

-Bright Eyes, aka Conor Oberst, who just released two albums, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. (Source: Paste Magazine, February/March 2005)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:05 PM | Comments (1)

September 1, 2004

P. Diddy on Kanye West's "Jesus Walks"

"I think that a lot of times when you're talking about God or Jesus, people get intimidated. The way Kanye did it, he made the record so hot that they can't front on it. It wasn't about the lyrical content; it was undeniable. Then, because [the record] was blessed to be a hit, you're forced to deal with the power of God and the record is going to touch you. You can't escape it. 'Best Friend' was definitely one of the first records, but to be honest, 'Jesus Walks' is just a hotter record. It's a rap record about Jesus [that] young men and women can understand, instead of you pushing it down their throats. You hit them with that heat and they understood it."

-P. Diddy talking about the success of Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" in relation to his 1999 song "Best Friend," about his relationship with God. (Soucre: MTV.com, July 19, 2004)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:42 PM

P. Diddy on God in Hip-hop

"I always relate hip-hop to our old Negro spirituals. They were sung in the cotton fields to help us get by, to help us not kill ourselves by going crazy [under] the worst oppression in the world. The music, the soulfulness, the spiritualness expressed in song helped us to get through another day. That's the same impact hip-hop has had on this generation. People could try to undermine it, but it's honestly the truth. Hip-hop has helped us make it through our life in the inner cities."

-P. Diddy talking about the emerging spirituality prevalent in hip-hop today. (Soucre: MTV.com, July 19, 2004)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:40 PM | Comments (1)

March 25, 2004

Korn's Jonathan Davis on the F-Word

"We've never been a political band. But if I can't say the [F-word] in the United States of America, I'm going to say something about it. If it gets to the point, period, where you can't cuss on TV, I'm moving to a different country."

-Jonathan Davis, lead singer of Korn. (Source: CNN.com, March 25, 2004)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:07 AM | Comments (1)

October 29, 2003

P.O.D.'s Sonny Sandoval on Sharing Faith

"I don't meet other bands and they say, 'I hear you're a born again Christian.' They just want to hang out and see what kind of person you are. That's when they start to say, 'These guys are different. They do believe in something that's real.'"

-Sonny Sandoval, lead singer of P.O.D. Recent P.O.D. albums include Payable on Death, Satellite, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, The Warriors EP, Brown and Snuff the Punk. The Still Payin' Dues DVD is also available. (Source: Relevant, November/December 2003)

Other P.O.D. Quotables:
Sonny Sandoval on Rock Bottom
Wuv on Positive Music
Sonny Sandoval on Marcos Curiel
Sonny Sandoval on Success
Jason Truby on Shaping Lives
Traa Daniels on Being Inspiring

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:42 PM

Secondhand Lions Writer/Director on the Human Condition

"I think I'm trying to find, I don't know, maybe God or universal truth. I think movies and all of literature are the one thing that helps us communicate the human condition, and it makes us feel less alone."

-Tim McCanlies, writer and director of Secondhand Lions, starring Haley Joel Osment, Robert Duvall and Michael Caine. (Source: Relevant, November/December 2003)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 3:33 PM

October 23, 2003

Al Green on Gospel vs. Soul

"Am I gonna hear about it? Hell, yes! See, I'm a real preacher. ... For a long time, people would say, 'You can't sing "Love and Happiness" because that's not a gospel song.' And then I started to think, 'What's the second verse of "Love and Happiness"?' [Singing] 'Be good to me, and I'll be good to you/We'll be together to see each other walk away with victory.' Now, if we don't wanna see each other walk away with victory, something must be wrong."

-Legendary soul-singer-turned-preacher, Al Green, on whether or not he'll get flack for straying from gospel music on his mainstream release, I Can't Stop. (Source: RollingStone, October 22, 2003)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:12 PM

September 22, 2003

MxPx's Mike Herrera on Respect

"We're not here to preach. We respect people for what they believe. Most bands in the music scene we're in are anti-religion and I understand that. But some people actually hate us. Grow up!"

-Mike Herrera, of MxPx, responding in 2000 to criticism about the band's Christian beliefs. MxPx just released their latest album, Before Everything and After. (Source: ReALMagazine.com, July 4, 2000)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 4:11 PM

September 16, 2003

Smallville Producer on the Christ Story

"It's the Christ story for an American audience, with a lot of action."

-"Smallville" producer Alfred Gough (Source: USA Today, September 14, 2003)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:14 PM

Queer Eye Fashion Guy on God's Work

"We're doing the Lord's work. I'm here to be His servant."

-Carson Kressley, the flamboyant fashion guru from the hit summer series "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." (Source: MSN Entertainment)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:12 AM

August 31, 2003

Toby Mac on CCM

"My church preached against contemporary Christian music so much that most people just listened to mainstream."

-Toby Mac describing his upbringing. (Source: CCM, July 2003)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:43 PM | Comments (1)

Stacie Orrico on Going Mainstream

"I obviously don't want to offend people, but I can't let it totally tear me apart inside and change the way I do things just because there are certain people who don't like the decisions I've made."

-Stacie Orrico responding to flack she's received for her mainstream, self-titled release. (Source: CCM, August 2003)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:17 PM

Pillar on Going Mainstream

"There are going to be people that say it just because it's so cliché in rock 'n' roll to be anti-god. So that when God starts taking things back over, yeah, it's going to piss some people off, and they're going to be, 'Oh! A Christian band -- this is stupid, this sucks,' or whatever. There are going to be those people there, but you just have to take it with a grain of salt. That's life. What are you going to do?"

-Pillar responding to a question about DJs ripping on Christian bands after Geffen Records signed them and re-released their Fireproof album. (Source: Phantom Tollbooth, July 3, 2003)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:02 PM

August 27, 2003

Os Guiness on Evangelical Culture

"Evangelicalism has never chased relevance more determinedly than it does now. And yet, we've never been more irrelevant."

-Os Guinness, author of The Call. (Source: ChristainityToday.com, August 26, 2003)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:54 AM