There are moments when you have to have a cool head and keep a standard.
I remember watching the 2002 Olympic Games and watching the men’s event. I just started figure skating, and I remember thinking how cool it would be to be there.
I was never a troublemaker, but I also was never a nerdy kid. I was never a cool kid or a sports kid. At lunchtimes, I never fit in with any cliques, so I’d end up just walking around the school by myself, listening to music.
I used to do this as a kid. And now they’re paying me for it, which is cool.
If I could have anyone on speed dial it would be George Clooney. He seems like a cool guy who would give good advice.
I got a great kick being in the Warner Bros. studios – that was really cool. I kept singing the ‘Looney Tunes’ theme song all day. I’m sure they haven’t heard that one before.
I wanted to escape Small Town U.S.A. To dismiss the boundaries, to explore. My life experience came from watching movies, TV, and reading books and magazines. When your culture comes from watching TV everyday, you’re bombarded with images of things that seem cool, places that seem interesting, people who have jobs and careers and opportunities.
I think all jocks have a sensitive side. It’s just, will they show it to anybody? Will they let their guard down and stop being tough and the cool jock guy around their friends, or just relax? I don’t know if it’s best to say opening up, but just relax and really say what you’re actually thinking, and not what you think people want to hear.
These days it’s cool to be ethnic and to be different, but when I was a kid, it was not cool – at all. My friends would come over and my mom would make crepes with eggs, stuffed with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and spinach. And they’d be like, ‘What is this?’
Some people are cool with the fact that their bodies bear witness to this great thing they produced, their children, and I understand that. But on a personal level, it makes me feel better that my breasts are not down to my knees when I’m undressed in front of my husband.
I used to lie between cool, clean sheets at night after I’d had a bath, after I had washed my hair and scrubbed my knuckles and finger-nails and teeth. Then I could lie quite still in the dark with my face to the window with the trees in it, and talk to God.
I still, at hotel rooms, I do this one sort of not-so-cool thing: continually shoving my room service tray in front of someone else’s door. Because I don’t want the remnants. I don’t want to be caught, like, being like the pig that I was at two in the morning.
In the Lamborghini I have to avoid certain roads because of pot holes, and there’s nowhere to put my drink, no cup holder. And I’m not going to lie, it looks pretentious. I used to think it was cool to, like, drive it to dinner. Now? Like I really need to be looked at any more.
I would miss months of school and then return with bright blond hair. Needless to say, there was bullying. I wasn’t beaten up daily, but there was name-calling and jealousy. You have to bear in mind that ‘Harry Potter’ wasn’t cool. I wasn’t part of the ‘Terminator’ franchise.
The truth is – I found myself doing these huge action-adventure movies, and um, and which are cool man. And I really love doing them. And thankfully I haven’t had too much dialogue, because if I had I would have really made a mess of it. You know what I mean?
I’m so stupid because I refuse to think that I’m getting older. I get up in the morning, and it’s like, ‘La, la, la, I’m so pretty.’ I still mingle with a lot with young people. I even go to college campuses to talk to them because I know how they think. They don’t think I’m boring, either. They think I’m cool, but I want them to think I’m hot!
I lived in Tokyo for four months. I’ve heard Tokyo was modeled after New York City, so I was ready for the subways and all the people, but it’s a little overwhelming at times. Not to mention, I’m paying twice as much for my apartment here than I was paying in L.A., and my apartment in L.A. is about four times the size! But it’s such a cool city.
James Ralston, my guitar player, has performed with Tina Turner for about 22 years. Jim Hanson on bass has played with Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell and Bruce Springsteen, and they’re fantastic musicians and amazing singers they get a really cool vocal sound together.
What’s cool about the beatboxing is I was so afraid to sing in front of my peers, my parents, anybody. I just wouldn’t do it. So in sixth grade, I would turn to beatboxing because it made me feel better. Like, I can beatbox ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot.’ Doing that a bunch of times eventually gave me the confidence to sing in front of people.
White people couldn’t do black music back in the day because they weren’t funky or bad enough. They weren’t from the ghettoes, but hip-hop and R&B changed all of that because white kids want to be down with it. They wanted to learn it so they studied the culture. It’s kind of a cool thing because we shouldn’t be so separate.
It’s good to be happy and tell us how cool your life is and how awesome you are on social media. That’s great because it inspires other people to be happy, too. But a lot of times, people are trying to be happy in the wrong ways – with money or with different things that are not true happiness.
I recognise life is like a magnet. Positive and negative are on the opposite sides of the magnet. You can try to cut the negative part off, but it’s still there. When you accept both of them, it’s like, ‘You know what? Don’t get too identified with success or too identified with failure – just be cool with them.’
I love the fact that little kids think I’m a witch. A mum might come over and say ‘I’m sorry to disturb you, but my daughter thinks you’re in ‘Harry Potter.’ I’ll say ‘That’s cool’ and take the kid aside and say, ‘I’m a witch. If you don’t listen to your mum, I’m going to haunt you!’ It’s brilliant. I can scare kids into doing their homework.
My dad is Dominican, my mother’s Puerto Rican, and I got into bachata at the age of 10 or 11. When I started listening, it had a reputation for being music for hick people. I thought that had to be changed. I was born and raised in the Bronx, and I knew you make something cool if you’re cool.
Trajectories aren’t linear. Life’s just a roller coaster. If you’re getting a chance to do cool stuff, and it’s varied stuff, just enjoy it. I guess I’m a believer in the randomness of life rather than it being a linear trajectory or an arc, a consistent smooth arc, towards anything.
