I didn't choose Russia but Russia chose me. I had been fascinated from an early age by the culture, the language, the literature and the history to the place.
The first of these phases is that of grammar, invented by the Greeks and carried on unchanged by the French. It never had any philosophical view of a language as such.
The ukulele was the first of many instruments they had bought for me. They got me a guitar when I was eleven, which my son Morgan uses until this day. They paid for 3 years of guitar lessons; they bought me a bass fiddle, which I still play.
I'll never forget that first night with the team. Going to the ballpark on the bus was the hardest 30 minutes of my life. I had to walk down that aisle between all the players. I really didn't know too much about the Detroit Tigers at that time.
Originally I had planned to write just a couple of children's books and then, return the focus on adult literature. A funny thing happened along the way - I kept having new ideas, and then I looked up one day, and 30 years had passed!
After playing so many songs in churches for eight or nine years, I've learned what songs people react to. Then I just had fun with the arrangements. That's how this album came together.
It was the 'Gaucho' album that finished us off. We had pursued an idea beyond the point where it was practical. That album took about two years, and we were working on it all of that time - all these endless tracking sessions involving different musicians. It took forever, and it was a very painful process.
We were only on orbit a little over two days, so we had no adverse effects from being weightless.
Everything about it worked, and I don't mean just the movie, but in our experience, we realized there's also a component of luck involved in this business. We had absolutely the most competent people in the studio working on the release and ad campaign.
I expected to get drafted. I knew that I wouldn't get drafted on that first day due to the fact that not a lot of people had the opportunity to see me play much.
I read a book called 'Transatlantic', which is a history of the great shipping lines. Also, of course, I had read about the Titanic and saw Leo drowning at the end of the 'Titanic' movie and all that stuff.
I will say one thing: Mick Mars is one of the greatest songwriters I've ever met in my life and had the pleasure to work with.
I had to learn correct portion control. I eat an egg-white omelet for breakfast, shrimp and veggies for lunch, and chicken with asparagus for dinner.
My parents were both from the East and had moved to San Francisco only so my father could go to law school there.
My mother felt it was time that I had some parental control, so I went off to America and went to New York.
About the twenty-third year of my age, I had many fresh and heavenly openings, in respect to the care and providence of the Almighty over his creatures in general, and over man as the most noble amongst those which are visible.
When I started in fashion, I had already adopted the sailor-striped sweater as my uniform; that way, I wouldn't have to drive myself crazy trying to figure out what to wear.
In movement class, you had to lie on the floor and get your alignment in to pass the class.
No one likes getting hit. It's a normal thing... I used to make up excuses when the coach would ask me to get in the ring. I'd say I forgot my mouthpiece, or I'd say I had a headache or something.
On the web the thinking of cults can spread very rapidly and suddenly a cult which was 12 people who had some deep personal issues suddenly find a formula which is very believable.
And I figured out that the reason I couldn't get through the day as well as I can now is because I had too many things on my mind, on my plate, you know, for one person to have. So I started to eliminate some of the things that were too heavy to carry and unnecessary.
After I had my son, Max, I knew I wanted to get involved in causes that help children.
If architecture had nothing to do with art, it would be astonishingly easy to build houses, but the architect's task - his most difficult task - is always that of selecting.
Everyone should walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I did it three days in a row because it was one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever had. The view is breathtaking.
I was told by the general manager that a white player had received a higher raise than me. Because white people required more money to live than black people. That is why I wasn't going to get a raise.
After reading Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad when I was a student at Yale, I wanted to live in the world they captured in their books. I had had some experience living in Africa. I was drawn to that kind of adventure.
Getting to play a yogic healer was awesome. I love yoga, so I've had a lot of teachers.
I had been going around to everybody saying Katherine Heigl has to be 'Stephanie Plum', and then one day, I got that phone call saying that it was Katherine.
I learned a lot from Cherry Jones, from the questions she asked and the opinions she had.
When I look back on my career - if that's what it is - it looks a bit like a crazy quilt, and I think it's just really because, when one job has finished, I've never really been in a position where I had three or four options.
I actually always had short hair as a kid, and it's really liberating. I recommend it. It's just very easy. I don't have to brush it.
Just think how much poorer we would be today if the world would have had half as many people in the 19th century as it actually did. You can get rid of Thomas Edison or Louis Pasteur; take your pick.
I had 30-something years' experience in modeling, which is rare.
The most experience I had in the criminology field is playing a thug as an actor. That was my first paid job. The police academy at the college was paying people to reenact the calls that potential cops would get. So I got to play thugs and people who were unruly.
I've never had a voice coach, but I am about to name drop horrendously here: I did once get some advice on how to project my voice from Sean Connery, which was lovely. It's all about where you breathe. That's my claim to fame.
I know at one point I had bright red hair and I had bracelets from my wrist up to my elbow and I was wearing size 50 pants. I wouldn't wear that today, but I'm not embarrassed about wearing it back then any more.
