SA4QE 2012 - 10 years of Russell Hoban quotes

Animation by OLAF SCHNEIDER

Today the Slickman A4 Quotation Event (SA4QE) celebrates 10 years of sharing quotes from the much-loved writer Russell Hoban.

We can't quite believe it's been a decade since our friend from Chicago, Diana Slickman, came up with the wonderful idea of celebrating Russell Hoban's birthday each 4th February by writing our favourite quotes from his work on pieces of paper and leaving them in public places. Since then SA4QE has grown every year, with over 350 quotes distributed by nearly 100 recorded participants from Argyll to Ypsilanti, who these days also share their quotes on social networking sites as well as in the real world.

Russell Hoban of course sadly passed away last December, but fans are continuing the tradition in his honour. Today we'll be watching the web for quotes shared across various media and this site will be updated as quotes are found or sent direct. You can do this by emailing details of your quote (and the book it comes from), your name, location and any photos etc to sa4qemail (at) gmail (dot) com or by leaving those details on the comments box of this post, below. If you are tweeting your quotes, use the hashtag #sa4qe or mention the @sa4qe account. If you're posting your quotes to Facebook and you're a fan of the official Russell Hoban or SA4QE pages there, you can tag your post with "Russell Hoban" or "SA4QE" and the post should appear on the walls of those pages. We can't promise to post here all quotes sent or found today, but will be adding more in the coming days.

Meanwhile, we have two new things for you to enjoy - firstly, Olaf Schneider's brand new animation, posted above. This features a never-before-heard recording of Russell Hoban reciting one of his own poems, Rivers In Your Mind from The Last of the Wallendas, which he made expressly in 2002 for Olaf to turn into an animation. (If you can't see the video above try viewing in on YouTube.) You can also see more of Olaf's fantastic SA4QE animations here. Secondly we are publishing today the results of our December/January Russell Hoban reader survey to which scores of fans responded with their favourite books, quotes and characters.

Olaf Schneider 2011

Click here to view the Flash animation, complete with sound effects, in a new window

The painting of the tiny, tiny dancing giants in the dim red caverns of sleep: the words alone make you want to lean against a wall.

- from Angelica Lost and Found

 

The title of the mysterious painting sounds like a magic potion. I have no clear opinion about the meaning of the words but they suggest something primordial, something not-yet-there but somehow beyond time, something of great power, a consciousness not aware of itself. However, the words have a strong impact on me and I feel exactly like Jim the psychiatrist, who says these words in Chapter 61 'Mental Jimnastics'.

Happy 86th birthday, Russell Hoban!

 See all Olaf's animations

Olaf Schneider 2009

The above is a still clip of a brand new Flash animation with beautiful water effects inspired by the quotation below. Click on the image above or on http://interaktionskonzepte.de/Daten/trough.htm to see (and hear) the original in all its glory!

Now there comes to me a memory and I can smell the trees, feel the hot sun through the leaves. It was on the Appalachian Trail or it might have been somewhere else: my best friend Jim and I, hot and sweaty, pushing our bikes up a woodland road over a little mountain. At the top of the slope was a spring. I remember a stone trough and the clear cold water. There were leaves in the bottom of the trough and tiny crayfish. The water gushed from the pipe and it was a foreverness of itself, the endless quenching of all thirst. We drank it like an elixir and stuck our heads in the trough among the leaves and the crayfish and became new and strong and untired, for ever refreshed by the magic of that clear cold water that sparkled in the sunlight and the shadows on the mountain.

from Angelica's Grotto

"... for ever refreshed by the magic of that clear cold water." One of my favourite quotes from Angelica's Grotto. Stick your head (mouse) in the trough among the leaves and crayfish and try to catch the latter. Use controls on the lower right to turn ON/OFF the sound of the animation*.

Happy 84th birthday, Russell Hoban!

(*animation uses flash script by serkanp via flashkit.com)

You will need Adobe Flash Player to view the animation Free download

See all of Olaf's animations: on this site / on YouTube

Olaf Schneider 2008

The Kraken speaks from the depths of the exobrain at 3am. Featuring Russell Hoban reciting his own poem from The Last of the Wallendas - an SA4QE exclusive.



If you have problems viewing the video above try watching it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnDx-Z8U-6o

You can also view the original Flash animation at the following link:

The Dream of the Kraken

NOTE: Be sure to have the sound turned on for this Flash animation, and to give it a few moments to load. It opens in a new window as it is hosted externally. You need to have installed Flash version 5 or later to view it. If you don't, download it for free.

Olaf Schneider 2007

Interactive animations inspired by Russell Hoban writings

NOTE: Be sure to have the sound turned on for these Flash animations, and to give them a few moments to load. All open in a new window as they are hosted externally. You need to have installed Flash version 5 or later to view them. If you don't, download it for free.

Enjoy! - Olaf

Night outside

Olaf writes: 'One of my (many) favourite quotes from Turtle Diary'.

Turtle navigation

More turtle thoughts swim through Olaf's mind.

Night-drive to Polperro

Take a ride with William and Naeara from Turtle Diary.

Olaf Schneider 2006

Interactive animations inspired by Russell Hoban writings

NOTE: Be sure to have the sound turned on for this Flash animation, and to give it a few moments to load. It opens in a new window as it is hosted externally. You need to have installed Flash version 5 or later to view it. If you don't, download it for free.

Enjoy! - Olaf

Soho streetlights

Olaf notes: "This year I didn't manage to drop my yellow paper in time. Anyhow, my only excuse is that I wanted to drop my SA4QE close to the place of Istvan Fallok in Soho. And then there was this hopping thing which attacked me. When I got my consciousness back, the yellow paper was gone but I did a photograph of the site of crime..."

Olaf Schneider New Year 2006

Interactive animations inspired by Russell Hoban writings

NOTE: Be sure to have the sound turned on for this Flash animation, and to give it a few moments to load. It opens in a new window as it is hosted externally. You need to have installed Flash version 5 or later to view it. If you don't, download it for free.

Enjoy! - Olaf

So high, so going-away

As expressed by Kleinzeit. A new year special, to see in 2006.

Olaf Schneider 2005

Interactive animations inspired by Russell Hoban writings

The Russell Hoban Continuum



Created specially for the Russell Hoban Some-Poasyum (2005 convention) website

If you have problems viewing the above video clip try going direct to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNUxRDzGoyY



NOTE: Be sure to have the sound turned on for the Flash animations below, and to give them a few moments to load. All open in a new window as they are hosted externally. You need to have installed Flash version 5 or later to view them. If you don't, download it for free.

Enjoy! - Olaf

The Olive Tree

A special animation for 4/2/2005 featuring a classic Hoban quote from The Medusa Frequency.

London Transport Owls

Yellow paper on the escalator - another virtual location-specific 4Qation for 4/2/05.

Olaf Schneider 2002-2004

Interactive animations inspired by Russell Hoban writings

NOTE: Be sure to have the sound turned on for these Flash animations, and to give them a few moments to load. All open in a new window as they are hosted externally. You need to have installed Flash version 5 or later to view them. If you don't, download it for free.

Enjoy! - Olaf

Full moon spring tide turtle wind

An evocative extract from Turtle Diary. The Chopin nocturne of animated Hoban quotes.

Wheel of Action

A quote from Fremder with the words animated by a Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. Be warned, this is very science-fiction-like...

The rolling passage in the darkness of my mind

As thought by Sarah Varley on an Underground journey in The Bat Tattoo. Complete with authentic London Underground soundtrack.

"This is your life"

From the "Memory's Arrow" chapter of Amaryllis Night and Day.

Aristaeus's Story on the potsherds

"Broken pieces want to come together," said the brain, "they want to contain something..."

Another delightful piece from The Medusa Frequency.

Three o'clock in the purple-blue morning

An atmospheric extraction from The Medusa Frequency.

The Flickering

Flicker-film by Gösta Kraken, from Fremder and (in part) The Medusa Frequency.

What a convenience

One of my (many) favourite quotations from The Medusa Frequency.

Golden Windows Homeward

Video sequence from the Turtle Diary film with text from The Medusa Frequency.

The Mouse and His Child Dance

A short film of the original wind-up toy used by Russ at his lecture to the San Diego State University on October 17, 1990.

Nighttrain

An animation based on an excerpt from The Medusa Frequency.

Who left the yellow paper?

Inspired by the hibiscus light of The Marzipan Pig.

An animated Fremder cover

Animation of Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction placed on Fremder book cover; accompanied by Chopin’s Mazurka in A Minor, Opus 67, No. 4. Unfortunately it’s not the Ilse Bak recording...

The District Line at Notting Hill Gate

“A poem at its place” from The Last of the Wallendas.

Yellow paper virtually dropped by Olaf at Notting Hill Gate tube station, London.