We pass in front of a flower shop. A small, warm air mass touches my skin. The asphalt is damp, and I catch the scent of roses. I can’t bring myself to speak to her. She wears a white sweater, and in her right hand she holds a crisp white envelope lacking only a stamp. So: She’s written somebody a letter, maybe spent the whole night writing, to judge from the sleepy look in her eyes. The envelope could contain every secret she’s ever had.

I take a few more strides and turn: She’s lost in the crowd.

When you sneak into somebody’s backyard, it does seem that guts and curiosity are working together. Curiosity can bring guts out of hiding at times, maybe even get them going. But curiosity usually evaporates. Guts have to go for the long haul. Curiosity’s like a friend you can’t really trust. It turns you on and then it leaves you to make it on your own—with whatever guts you can muster.

theantidote:

“I read Norwegian Wood in 1994 and since then, every time I visited Japan I wanted to talk to someone about adapting it. But there was no one to talk to. It turned out that Murakami didn’t allow any movie adaptations of his books. Then about 5-6 years ago, the distributor (Sony Pictures) of my film Vertical Ray of the Sun, got in touch with me. They remembered my desire to adapt the book and told me that Murakami just allowed one of his short stories (Tony Takitani) to be adapted, that it might be a good time to try again.

They advised me sending a personal letter to Murakami and that’s exactly what I did. He responded, “Okay, come and meet with me in Tokyo.” So I spent two days in Tokyo with his team. There were about 12 people at this round table, asking me all kinds of questions in preparation for me to meet with him. But the actual meeting between us was pretty simple. As soon as I started talking about how much I liked the book and why I wanted to adapt it, Murakami stopped me and told me that he wouldn’t give the permission to anyone else but me.”

— Tran Anh Hung on adapting Haruki Murakami’s novel “Norwegian Wood”

Thanks for the link, ruthemboyett.

(via murakamistuff:)

OH MY GOODNESS, I ALWAYS WONDERED WHY NONE OF MURAKAMI’S BOOKS WERE MADE INTO MOVIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhh this solves everything. I did hear of a Norwegian Wood movie, but I dare not watch it before I read the book. At the moment Sputnik Sweetheart is waiting.

(via jusqualafin)

nickmiller:

One night in October, two years ago, I had a momentous experience.  The auditorium was brimming with extravagantly dressed obsessives. He walked onstage wearing a white t-shirt and tattered khakis. He spoke. We listened.

Have you read one of his books? It might change your life.

I love the guy. I could listen to him speak forever! He should come to Chicago, I would pay him $50.00 to talk extra or at least contemplate on his books’ plots.