From The Mind Of: Michael Marinelli.

I do not hasten to admit that at one point in my life I acted as if I was interested in watching a long and weirdly named play just to strike up a conversation with Michael because I knew

he loved it. Three years later and it seems this pursuit of friendship has proven successful and I consider Les Miserables to be my favourite stage show and a beloved passion.

Michael has always intrigued me in the way he has a quiet opinion about so many topics and an inherent willingness to gain more information. Prompted by curiosity to better know those around me, I asked Michael a few questions about himself and his experiences and opinions -in the broadest sense.

-Beth

If a biography was to be written about you, what would it be called?

Hmm. Toughie. Depends on what I do in my life. Maybe a Voltaire quote like “A Witty Saying Proves Nothing” or something cryptic like that. I find that most biography titles are pretty vague. I could even have “Where The Wind Blows?” or “It’s Simple Really; Nothing is Simple”. You wouldn’t know what they were about, but they’d sell.

But this would have to be a biography when I’m dead and not an autobiography or one while I live. I say this with intense absolution. Any biography / autobiography of a living person is out of date the minute they stop writing the final page. Immediately. It only works if they focus on a specific contained time period or event rather than a whole life. Michael Caine wrote an autobiography back in 1993. NINETEEN NINETY THREE. So he had to write another in 2011, because guess what? He continued to live and have experiences throughout that time. And now we’re four years later, and he’s been in another ten movies in that short time with probably another round of great anecdotes. I’m placing a bet that we’ll get “Michael Caine: III” in the next ten years.

In this biography what would they say matters most to you?

Probably my parents and family I’d say. I don’t really know what matters most to me. Even if you’re always fighting, it’s the one thing that when all is said and done I end up thinking about. Maybe even the continued existence of the planet? That sort of encapsulates everything that matters to me I suppose. Preservation actually. Preservation and conservation of antiquities, stories, nature, animal species… things like that if I had to pick something that wasn’t family.

And what makes you the happiest?

I like animals, little kids, slow music from the 40s and 50s, good book cover design, laughing and making people laugh. Or just when I see something that is absolutely brilliant or crazy. I don’t know. Moments make me the happiest, like sitting in the same seat I always go to at the Astor cinema and watching movies like Ben Hur by myself in amongst this big crowd. I enjoy those sorts of moments.

What fascinates you?

This is probably the easiest question for me to answer; I find everything fascinating. I’m no expert in any one thing, but even just for a day or a week, subjects grab hold of me and it’s all I can think about; flowers, classics, geology, astronomy, English, insect taxidermy, ancient history, IMDB trivia for every movie I’ve seen. It doesn’t matter, it all fascinates me even if it is just for a fleeting minute, day or week. There are so many things that fascinate me, and a lot of those things work as a relief from the complexity that human beings present. Most of what I do as part of my University course revolves around people, their motivations and all that sort of stuff. When you’re reading about genocide, power politics and climate change, you’d be surprised what a welcome relief it is to enter the relatively simple world of the old Sherlock Holmes books for instance.

What would you want to have listed in your achievements?

I would like to have done something good for humanity. I want to leave at least one substantial positive impact on a group of people that lasts rather than something potentially impressive but ultimately fleeting. But I don’t need that listed in my achievements, I think I just need to know that I did it. Also maybe go into space, I think that would be cool. Space is cool.

What do you like about space?

I don’t know. I think I still have that very 1940s childlike wonder at space and the future. Even though maturity and greater awareness would tell me that the world will continue quite disastrously, I do still get those moments of optimism where the future is all those shiny chrome buildings and we have reasonable contact with martians and aliens and things. I like space because even with all we know about it, it’s just out there, untraversed and unexplored. And by ‘out there’ I mean literally everywhere where we are not. It’s an incredible thing.

What do you admire in the people around you?

Everyone has different things to admire, some more than others, but everyone has something. I think I admire the way people get through things. I know a few people in particular who continually impress me with their ability to move through hardship with such grace.

Then what is something you admire about yourself?

Hmm, I don’t like questions like this for the reasons that most people would cite, but if I had to say something, I guess I don’t remember doing something because of peer pressure or out of a want to fit in. I walk around the city alone, I see dozens of movies alone, I eat alone and the relative weirdness of these things has never phased me. I never had a problem with reading comics in the library at lunchtime at highschool many, many times when I didn’t have a lot of friends because that was what I felt like doing. Sometimes it works well and sometimes it ends terribly, but I think I’m pretty true to myself in whatever situation I’m in, in the sense that I don’t let things get in the way of my principles.

Do you believe in karma?

I don’t, no. Just act in the moment. Did the scores of children who are killed each day steal a pen or talk back to their parents? I think the idea of Karma is a bit bizarre. I categorically reject any sort of idea of people ‘getting what’s coming to them’. Lots of good people have terrible lives and lots of terrible people have terribly good lives.

So do you believe that things happen for a reason?

Absolutely! Things definitely happen for a reason. I should clarify. Originally I wrote a long paragraph explaining my answer that was actually terrifically long and tragically violent. Instead let me say this: no, I don’t think things happen for a cosmic, karmic reason because the Universe made it so, but I would say that things happen because of cause and effect based on peoples motivations. 

Do you believe you can judge a book by its cover?

I can judge them and I do. One of my pet peeves is bad cover design. It just makes no sense to me. Some books I see, I just want to find out the process of how that cover was chosen and who actually designed it. Surely everyone just knows a friend who is good at graphic design and I refuse to believe a publisher couldn’t find one. If you’re in doubt, just use a black cover with some nice lettering. Having said that, reviews on websites tend to be my opinion-makers rather than a cover.

In the metaphoric sense about people, I suppose you can tell some things from appearance, but if I know myself and my friends, I’d say most people are a lot more complex than other people realise.

If we interviewed you again in 10 years, which question would you like to have a different answer to?

All of them I would think, haha. I feel a little boring so I hope in 10 years I’ll have worthwhile, insightful, incisive responses to all of them. Maybe the question on achievements, because it would be a wonderful thing in 10 years’ time to look back and say “well, I already did those, so it’s time to think of something new”. Yes, including going into space.