I've always dreamed of being a 'Burberry Girl', but know it'll never happen, because I'm not British. Still, you can't stop a girl from dreaming. And owning way too many Burberry coats!
Usually, if I can't fall asleep, you will find me catching up on a good book or zoning out with an episode of 'The Real Housewives.' I always have a couple books on my bedside table in various stages of completion.
I love traditional music. But in any culture around the world, there is the historic and cultural music and everything that's been passed down and passed down, and hopefully you take that, and then you take it, you know, the next distance, and then somebody else takes it the next distance.
In comics, there are depths that don't reveal themselves immediately, and the stuff that you might consider anal about 'Watching the Watchmen' - like the notes where I plot the rotation of a perfume bottle through the air - might not be particularly obvious to anyone who reads it.
You can't be a reporter using Google. It can be a tool. But you have to get out of the house.
Even if you're Bill Gates, you've got problems. I'm sure he would probably easily give a few billion dollars to get rid of all the problems that he has.
No, I never had any dreams. The process of art is a dream in itself. The artist just doesn't... you work out something. It's yours. You don't have to go to sleep to do that. You do that on the canvas.
It was suggested that I take a recording test. I passed, was liked and, well, you know the rest of the story.
Hollywood in the 1930s is an incredible period of history. There are so many amazing stories about the stars and the studios at that time that you can't fit into one film.
One lesson I got from Gandhi, 'Be the change you want to see,' haunts me. I just feel like I can't keep stomping around pointing the finger at BP when I am supporting the oil industry with my very own dollars and actions by buying their products, helping to pay their mortgage - plastic is from oil... polyester, shower curtains.
I remember when I came home from the hospital after having my son, I wore a Narciso Rodriguez black coat. Then, I was using this fragrance that I had created. I walk by that coat, and it still smells like that fragrance. It takes you right there.
Booksellers are tied to publishing - they need conventional publishing models to continue - but for those companies, that's not the case. Amazon is an infrastructure company; Apple sells hardware; Google is really an advertising company. You can't afford as a publisher to have those companies control your route to market.
If you love something - and there are things that I love - you do want more and more and more of it, but that's not the way to produce good work. So as an author, I need to write what I need to write.
Everybody's under God's planet, and God is the Almighty, the Beginning, the End, the Alpha, the Omega. He's Big Daddy. He gives out these little soldiers and sons and angels and saints to help everybody else get through to him. I'm not the 'Jesus-only or you're going to Hell' kind of guy.
If you are famous, you should find someone who understands your profession but doesn't do it.
I was far too embarrassed to share the experience of Indian food at school. As a kid, you're desperate to fit in, to assimilate in some way, and everything about me stood out.
You just can't help but sort of think that your life and your career are going to go straight up, up, up.
Now you mustn't think that I don't have any ideas for novels in my head. I've got ideas for ten novels in my head. But with every idea I have, I already foresee the wrong novels I would write, because I also have critical ideas in my head; I've got a full theory of the perfect novel, and that's what stumps me.
What I don't miss is living in a small town where everybody knows you, your family, and what you ate for breakfast.
My staff would probably tell you that I don't want to leave events very quickly, and they're always pushing me to get me out the door.
I love Catherine Maladrino, Angela Dean and Nicole Miller. Catherine Maladrino designs that beautiful, high-class red carpet stuff. Nicole Miller makes beautiful dresses you can wear every day. And when you just want to go and shut it down, you turn to Angela Dean.
The airline business is the biggest team sport in the world. When you're all consumed with fighting among yourselves, your opponents can run over you every day.
A Portuguese is not going to punch you for no reason.
I believe in the magic of preparation. You can make just about any foods taste wonderful by adding herbs and spices. Experiment with garlic, cilantro, basil and other fresh herbs on vegetables to make them taste great.
When you have heart disease, you start to be tired of everything. It's like getting older. You become more white, and after that, grey. You have no feeling for anything.
When you are doing a TV series, people tell you when you have to wake up and when you have to have lunch, and I don't like it.
Because TV is mostly close up, it has to be fast. And because it has to be fast, you don't have time to explain completely, by a sequence shot, what's happening between people. So instead of experiencing what's happening, say, when a couple is dancing, dialogue is used to explain.
You have to have sympathy for and an empathy with a character in order to play them.
I grew up on the East Coast, and we always used to say, 'Go get your hustle on,' whether it was playing sports or making money. You do what you have to do to do what you want to do.
You know, urban culture is fun; it's lovely.
As a rugby player, you strive to be an All Black, win a World Cup, and win a Super Rugby title.
People say: 'Oh, but would you be happy for your show to go on BBC3 if it was just online?' If I was sat here telling you I had just signed a huge deal with Netflix you'd be going: 'Wow, that's amazing.' You can't see it as 'Oh, it's no longer a channel because it's not on TV.'
My songs are always on the tip of my tongue. It's always bubbling and brewing and about to come out. I can't really put it into words, but the best way to explain it is feeling like you constantly have some things on the tip of your tongue.
If you're a fan, you can appreciate everything I say.
You can work for other people and still be a #GIRLBOSS; it's more about a state of mind and knowing yourself well enough to know when you're making decisions for yourself or because the world expects them of you. And guess what? It's okay to do that sometimes, too.
God can show you just what you need to give, even if you don't know exactly why you're giving it. That's why we should always seek God and prepare to give Him our very best.
