I will say that the environment I grew up in was not the most progressive. Alan Ball More Quotes by Alan Ball More Quotes From Alan Ball The fact that we die, that makes life important. It's hard to take, but it's the truth. Alan Ball important death facts You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. Alan Ball wisdom talking beauty We live in a time where there's an alienation factor. There's a certain disconnection. We don't have any real sense of community anymore. Alan Ball certain community real I'm aware of 'Twilight,' but I've never seen the movies or read any of the books. Frankly, the story leaves me cold - why do a vampire story about abstinence? Alan Ball vampire twilight book As a culture, we are not comfortable with mortality. We do not accept it the way other cultures do. We cling to youth, and we don't want to die. It's like, 'Well, too bad, we do.' Alan Ball other-cultures want way It's a lot harder to find fault with the mundane details of daily existence when you really, really know on a cellular level that you're going to go, and that this moment, right now, is life. Life isn't what happens to you in 20 years. This moment, right now, is your life. Alan Ball details levels years I always choose to look, as much as one can, at the supernatural not being something that exists outside of nature, but a deeper, fundamental heart of nature that perhaps humans have lost touch with. It's a more primal thing than perhaps we are attuned to in our modern, self-aware way of life. Alan Ball self heart looks A lot of times, the choice of the right song will save a scene. Or there will be a scene that's a little flat and you put in the right song and somehow it just comes alive. Alan Ball alive choices song Television viewing has become for me a completely different experience, because I don't watch shows on a weekly basis. I wait until the DVD or I TiVo everything and wait until the end of a season and watch it all over a weekend. For me that's a really satisfying experience, like reading a book. Alan Ball weekend reading book Life is too mysterious to try to map it out. I've certainly lived long enough to know it will take you places you never thought it would take you - and some of those places are kind of wonderful. Alan Ball maps trying long Well, here's the thing with relationships on 'True Blood': Once they happen then you have to throw a monkey-wrench into them, because to have people be happy is not that exciting. Alan Ball monkeys blood people I need to feel like the work I'm doing is not necessarily important, but meaningful, at least to me, because otherwise it just becomes a day job. It just becomes factory work and I get really frustrated. Alan Ball frustrated meaningful jobs I try to tell the best story, and the story that has some heart and some genuine terror and some social commentary and some comedy and some romance and some sex and some violence. Alan Ball romance heart sex I'm not like J.K. Rowling, where I know there's going to be this number of seasons, and I know exactly what's going to happen. I would be so bored if that was the case. There would be no journey. There would be nothing to discover. Alan Ball bored journey numbers It's easy to look at the vampires as a metaphor for any feared or misunderstood group. It's also easy to look at them as a metaphor for a shadow organization that says one thing and has a completely different agenda on their mind, and anybody who gets in their way, they just get rid of them. Does that sound familiar? Alan Ball misunderstood organization mind Beauty is in the strangest places. A piece of garbage floating in the wind. And that beauty exists in America. It exists everywhere. You have to develop an eye for it and be able to see it. Alan Ball eye wind america I think all writers are armchair psychologists to some degree or another, and I think a character's sexuality is fascinating. It's a great way to really get at the root of their identity, because it's such a personal thing. Alan Ball roots character thinking The ego is kind of a big, unwieldy thing. It's not so easily tamed or subdued. Alan Ball ego bigs kind I think it's very difficult, and it requires a tremendous amount of spiritual integrity and discipline, to not be a narcissist in a culture that encourages it every step of the way. Alan Ball spiritual integrity thinking Never underestimate the power of denial. Alan Ball denial underestimate beauty