Olga Buyanova

Even though I spend 10 to 12 hours a day working, I can’t say I’m a workaholic. It’s just that work is the only thing I’m good at.

A perfect life course is like a movie by Tarantino: you can come up with five possible options of what’s going to happen next, but they’ll all be wrong, because Tarantino will still do it his own way.

A truly successful person would never openly refer to himself as a professional.

The only ultimately free place is the next world because in this world there’s always something that ties you down: circumstances, living space, size of car, people around you, work, status, etc. There’s no such place on our planet where one could experience absolute freedom.

Religion that appeals to me the most is Buddhism, because it’s the only religion that didn’t submit completely to the state system to serve as an asset in fulfilling its political goals.

You must live your life “so as to feel no agonizing regrets for the wasted years”. Hands down, you should try and experience everything you can in your life, but also be prudent enough not to meet your end on the dance floor, stoned to the throat on some heavy drugs (laughs).

Democracy in Russia only exists in the minds of those who believe in it. In our country it is a type of concept that has more to do with feelings than actual laws.

If I have to ask something from someone, it will take me changing my mind twenty-five times, pondering over it all for a week or so, and then still stepping over myself three times. It must be because since early childhood my parents have been trying to bring this one “brilliant” point across to me: ‘In your life you must do everything yourself’.

Bret Easton Ellis is unrivaled in revealing flaws of the contemporary society. He employs allegory to expose the true reality and challenges of the modern world by depicting atrocious cruelty and blood-curdling terror. His books are a single sheer horrifying metaphor. I’ve never been able to understand how an absolutely sane person could have written anything like that. That’s so totally intense!

I hate it when people admire me. It makes me feel so terribly embarrassed. Thank god it doesn’t really happen that often (smiles).

I can live without being famous! I’d rather be someone who makes other people famous.

“Dom-2” is a colossal machine that takes a lot of people to operate it. Considering their TV ratings, one can only bow to them, salute, lay flowers on the grave of those who have passed away while the project still keeps running… The only thing one shouldn’t do though is watching all this stuff.

Why does everyone here want to be famous?

To me, MTV was the first mass-targeted obscene thing to appear on television. What was though to be most senseless and dumb became popular overnight.

The most vivid impression of my childhood is when an IBM entered my life. The computer changed my life and channeled it into the right direction. It put me off hanging around outside on some bench and husking sunflower seeds once and forever.

It would be an irreversible disaster if a fortuneteller told me what was going to happen to me the next day.

The US legal system is an inexhaustible source for shooting programs like “Sud Idet” (“All rise”, a popular Russian TV program — TN).