And, you know, my dad would show me some things sometimes, but the best things that I got to do were to actually see really good players play up close. That gives you an idea of fingering and technique and what not.
I didn't really hear any other music other than what my dad was working on until I was 12. My recollection of hearing other music was that I liked some things that I heard but I always thought, 'Where's the rest of it?' It didn't have the same amount of detail or instrumentation or imagination in the arrangements.
When I was a kid at four years old, that's when I started amateur wrestling with my dad and family. And when that's instilled in you, it never goes away.
When I was a kid and I was being introduced to science fiction by watching movies with my Dad, Kubrick is one of those guys that we used to watch, you know, I watched Clockwork Orange at an age that was incredibly inappropriate, but he sat there with me and he explained what was going on and you know, I came to appreciate it even if I was terrified at the time.
Great dad. Yeah, he would ask me for money on birthdays and, you know, inappropriate times. And I just wrote him off like, 'You're not a father.' I just learned you cannot emotionally invest in people who are not attainable.
My daddy was the type that if you asked him, "Dad, am I going to get off punishment soon?" - he would extend it. It was like jail.
My dad was old school Jewish. Not do your taxes Jewish - steal your car Jewish.
It's around midnight. After I left Dad, my choice was to either become very drunk or write this. I chose to write this. It felt kind of now-or-never for me.
I've always been aggressive and an underdog, and my dad was worried that I would always be that: constantly seeking inspiration from negativity.
The worst thing in the world was the way I felt when I wanted us to be like the families in the books in the library, when I just wanted Daddy Glen to love me like the father in Robinson Crusoe. (209)
The reason I started writing was because I was a little kid in San Diego who was getting beaten up by her dad and sexually abused and because I felt different than everybody else and I had this big huge secret that was tearing me apart.
At the core of these movies, Saw One and Saw Two, it's a very real situation. A guy cheats on his wife and didn't value what he had. It's the same thing in my story. Being a dad and playing someone whose last words to his son were 'go to hell'. I say to my son, the last thing I say is 'I love you'.
Being a husband and a dad is my inspiration.
I think we can provide better stories through providing mentors, and certainly part of my story is providing mentors to kids growing up without dads. I think positive male role models go a long way in terms of rescuing kids from a life of trouble.I think positive male role models go a long way in terms of rescuing kids from a life of trouble.
I have 52 first cousins. My mom and dad were the only two to move to North America, so I've got deep family there, but I'm a California kid.
My mum's parents were from Ireland, my dad's mum was American-Irish.
I grew up going to church. My dad was a pastor. I knew that God had a plan for my life. I knew that Jesus was the only way to Heaven. But I loved sin. The Bible says that sin is pleasurable for a season and I loved it.
A lot of my own relatives didn't get to go to school because we were mountain people. You have to get out and work and help feed the family. My own dad couldn't read and write. And my dad was very proud of me.
So many of my relatives didn't get a chance to go to school, and my own Daddy couldn't read or write.
I do have a natural sense for business, which I think I get from my Dad.
I just always knew I was going to be a star. I was always going to be rich so I could buy things for Mommy and Daddy, so that I could buy them a big house and we could have things.
I think being poor has been good for me. I saw how my mom and dad struggled, and how they could stretch a dollar farther than you could begin to imagine.
With the first money I ever made I bought my Mommy and Daddy a car, and helped them fix their house up.
I think I've got my business notions and my sense for that sort of thing from my dad. My dad never had a chance to go to school. He couldn't read and write. But he was so smart. He was just one of those people that could just make the most of anything and everything that he had to work with.
Daddy's working boots have taken many steps for us.
