The only time I ever really got into rap was back in the early '90s, and bands like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Gang Starr. Musically, they were really interesting. But when hip-hop acts start sampling Sting or Phil Collins, then I just don't get it at all.
As an assistant in the polytechnic department, I was able to finance new studies and got my Physics Masters Degree in 1958 and my Ph.D. in 1959.
I don't diet, I don't do fads, I've just decided to not eat carbs. So no more bread and pasta for the month. I can't live without chocolate, though. I've always got a bar in my handbag. It has to be 72%. Any less and it's too sweet, any more and it's inedible. Like I said, I'm very particular.
I wasn't the kind of kid like Spielberg or Lucas who knew to go to film school. I didn't know at 12 what I was going to do; it took me until I was about 23. I studied journalism in college, but after school, I got a job in public television and I never worked as a journalist for one moment.
I just got to hear every note. After I left Birdland, I started working at the Jazz Gallery. In the end, I still couldn't play, but I knew how to listen. I was probably the world's best listener.
I think I learned years ago when I went to Hawaii that you don't bring puka shells back. You've got to be careful of your vacation purchases.
People were talking while I was playing, so I got up and left the stage. I've gotten to the point where I'm not really very patient with patrons rapping during the show. And the people were all nice and quiet when I cam back.
The accent got lost somewhere along the way. I'm a little embarrassed about it. When I arrived in LA I assumed I'd be able to put on the American accent. It proved difficult so I had six months working with a dialect coach and it's become a habit.
I would get ill before going onstage - something about getting in front of people, and if they don't laugh, I'm a bomb. I got over it when somebody laughed.
I've got an article where my mum says that I used to run home from school to watch the Stones on TV. Right from when I was at college I wanted to be in that band.
The only way to be happy and be a more enjoyable person to be around is to embrace what you've got. Everyone has issues about their body, but I feel confident now. I'm healthy and happy.
Everything that we used to think got taught at home now seemingly has to be taught in the public school system, and something is going to get lost in the process.
Growing up, my dad drank a lot of wine, so I got a taste for, and learned how to enjoy it. He spoke a lot about flavors and differences in tastes of wine. Also, our manager, Rick Sales, is a big wine drinker; he goes to a lot of wine-tasting classes, and he's taught me about the qualities of wine.
It just makes you a better artist when you're with people who are great artists themselves. Being around Kanye, soaking up all the knowledge, all the stuff he got.
So I won an Oscar. It's amazing. I've got that for the rest of my life for a performance I am proud of. It nearly killed me. I am really proud of the film. That's it, moving on.
When I got to the reading all the work, I was reduced to being an actor in an experimental play that I'd already written. And I didn't want to be an actor.
I don't need somebody behind a desk to tell me what a marketing survey says is funny. I got 3 million miles and 70,000 tickets sold, telling me that I know how to make people laugh.
I've got tooth marks on my heart.
Once you sell yourself, it's over. You've got nothing left.
I don't know that I have any role models now that are fixed. Definitely my mom - she's the coolest. She's worked really hard her whole life and I just think she's got a great attitude. Moms just know so much it's so silly.
When I got my first VP title at 26, my parents finally stopped asking when I was going to get my law degree.
I asked a French critic a couple of years ago why my books did so well in France. He said it was because in my novels people both act and think. I got a kick out of that.
Well, I've got two small children and this is a very important time for me to be around them.
I got a chain letter by fax. It's very simple. You just fax a dollar bill to everybody on the list.
The one thing that always bothered me when I played in the NBA was I really got irritated when they put a white guy on me.
If you ain't got your black hat, there ain't no use in filling out an application.
I can take pot or leave it. I got busted in Japan for it. I was nine days without it and there wasn't a hint of withdrawal, nothing.
When my children were born, I didn't have them baptized because I felt baptism was about erasing Original Sin - something the Church said children got from their mother - and I absolutely refused to believe women carry Original Sin.
I wouldn't change anything I went through for the world, because it got me here.
But even after the first week, when Hart got out of the presidential race because of the Washington Post's threat to reveal a long-term relationship Hart had apparently been having with a prominent Washington woman, the media continued to embellish my past.
It's a hard thing when you've got guns pointed at you, to still stand up for what you believe in. Jimmie Lee and his family did that, and several others.
When I got to New York, all I wanted to do - or so I thought - was win a Tony award or, at least, be nominated.
The one indication that I got that I was doing the right job in Bosnia was that at different periods of time all the factions came down very hard on me.
The people who watched 'Dawson's Creek' when it originally aired aren't too old to enjoy 'Life Unexpected.' And then you've got the whole next generation that's hooked on the 'Dawson's reruns seeing this show, so it's perfect for them.
Eventually it just got really crazy. Less and less oxygen in the apartment.
I feel I've got 10 books in me.
