Whenever I hear somebody cover a song, I don't like to hear it stray too far from the original. I like to hear some of the new energy that a band will put into it, but you kind of want to hear some of the basic parts of the song. I mean, that's what makes it the song that you like.
I think sometimes when you're working consistently in film, and maybe this is just me, but you do feel quite dislocated from your audience.
It is good to have competition because that helps you survive in the long run.
I always liken myself to the bearded lady. Because I'm an actress turned musician, a woman doing male-dominated rock & roll... I'm the oddity at the freak show, you know?
Kids need a happy household. They need to be loved and supported in their dreams. And I don't think you can make your kids' dreams your own. They need you to support them in their dreams.
If you do too much acting in a lead part in a feature film where you're 40 ft. high, it's rather unattractive. You can see the acting. And it's actually the right thing to do to bring as much of yourself, I believe, to the part as you possibly can - to minimize the amount of theatrical stuff that you need to do.
I've done a lot of performance practice, Baroque playing, and some of the joy and the challenge of it is figuring out what the composer intended... You have music of the 17th century - it's all whole notes and half notes. But inside of that, there are so many things that one can do, at least according to what we know about performance practice.
It's really hard not to fall into that trap of insecurity when you're a model. Beforehand, I never looked at myself in a huge monitor with 30 people around it every day.
Trying to look cool and lovely in comedy is a recipe for disaster. You have to let go.
For me to be pompous is the most horrible thing in the world. It's like putting a wall around you. It screws you up. You'd better be willing to change your views or adapt and be modern.
People recognize me once in a while and appreciate the work. It gets a little embarrassing, but it's good. If you work as an accountant, you don't have people coming up to you in the streets saying, 'Hey, great job on tax statements!'
As a CEO, you get sucked into dealing with all the tasks of being a CEO. There's a big meeting, a big discussion, and you get into all the big issues, which is your job. But what CEOs often lose sight of is that it's all about the people who work for you. For every 1,000 decisions, 999 were being made when I was not in the room.
The prejudice is still there, but it's breaking down. You have writers like Michael Chabon and The Yiddish Policemen's Union. He's a writer who's determined to break down genre barriers. He's done amazing things.
Write every day. Make writing a part of your life, but also don't be afraid of learning from others because I think you can. I still try to think of myself as a beginner because that way I can keep on learning.
I really don't believe in retiring as long as you can breathe.
You and I are streaming data engines.
I'm not one of those stars that goes out and literally dresses to be photographed. I'm kind of a 'what you see is what you get' type of girl when I dress. I go for comfort above everything else.
If you're running a race, and you're looking at the lane to your right or your left, you're gonna trip instead of... focusing forward.
I love when people are coming up and they're working hard and you can see that they're really focused on the process to their music. I really dig that. As a musician, it's nice to see people who really care about the process.
When somebody listens and laughs, you're always in better shape than when you're with those folks who just kind of look at you when you say something funny. You wonder if they're looking at you because they're mad that they didn't say it or something. It's hard to handle that.
I blame my work for a lot of things. I thank my work for a lot of things, too, but the trouble with being so passionately involved in work is that it becomes like a lover, like your partner, because it nourishes you.
In cyberspace, weapons systems get created in 24-hour cycles. You have no earthly idea whether or not you have a defensive capability against them.
Since cowardice must occur at a time and place where an enemy either has already appeared or may yet turn up, servicemen in peacetime - and ordinary civilians - can breathe a sigh of relief. If you are yellow-bellied back home, you're not technically a coward.
Reading serves as a good escape when you're in the middle of doing crazy things.
You have to live life to the fullest. I don't want to slow down. I want the giving to be stepped up. So the older I get, the less I will be involved in the business side, the more in the philanthropic side.
So that's why one of my rules of parody writing is that it's gotta be funny regardless of whether you know the source material. It has to work on its own merit.
You know, people aren't watching a network: they're watching cable channels.
I started out with almost entirely black fans except for a little handful of people in the horror writers' community, and those people really liked horror, you know. They will go to any lengths and read whomever they can find because they like that feeling of being scared.
I can recall, as a young adult, running through the rain forest at the Forest Reserve, at times feeling a sense of fear when I felt I was in danger. In danger of confronting an ugly snake or a coral snake, which represented the greatest fear of someone in a rural area when you traverse the forest.
You don't have to be dead to write a classic, and you don't have to be literary to be smart.
I cannot tell you that I ever fell in love with the theater as an audience. I fell in love with the theater as an actor for a period of time, but I have struggled as an audience, and I struggle more now than then. I was always a movie guy.
We're all colored, or you wouldn't be able to see anyone.
The happiest people, the ones you like the most, they're never worried about being rich.
On every job you do, you've got to raise your game. My ambition is to just get better and better every job you do - you should never stop trying to get better. You have to teach yourself new things - I don't think you necessarily learn them from other people because you have your own style of doing things, but hopefully you get better.
My husband and I were very different: I'm spontaneous and emotional; I'm loud - he was exactly the opposite. But you need to be flexible.
Ignorance is not too dangerous. If you combine it with power, then this is a toxic mix.
