When I was a kid it was like, who could be the coolest? Who could do the stupidest thing? And you knew it was a stupid thing to do, but you would do it just so you could be the coolest guy. And then you end up doing really cruel crap.
That was like the best start I could've had, the best way I could've started in the music scene. I owe [Jack Johnson] a lot for the beginning of my career and setting me off on the right path, and that's the coolest thing that ever could've happened.
When I was younger, I used to always think making it to the NBA would be the coolest thing in the world. I'd dream about it every day. But as you progress and you attain that goal, then you realize the coolest thing is the effect you can have on people, and kids especially.
When 'In Your House' became a thing when I was a kid, it was just the coolest ever and people are winning houses... So when NXT is bringing out the old-school graphics, the only thing I'm wondering is if somehow we could have that old 'In Your House' set. That's all just the fan in me.
I just thought making machines intelligent was the coolest thing you could do. I had a summer internship in AI in high school, writing neural networks at National University of Singapore - early versions of deep learning algorithms. I thought it was amazing you could write software that would learn by itself and make predictions.
I knew I could never be an actor as a man. It just doesn't work, you know? And so when I was doing drag, I realized I could do that kind of stuff, and then when I was transitioning, I kind of gave up on the whole thing because I didn't think that this time would ever come, you know?
ESPN Zone was probably the coolest thing I could do [making "Hardball"]. But Navy Pier was the other thing. I'd take my bicycle and ride down to Navy Pier and just hang out. Try to get a phone number or something. That was my thing.
I had this idea that the coolest thing that could happen to you was talking with God.
Strength of 100 men? I'd probably just get mad and hurt somebody and end up in jail. I think invisibility would probably be the best thing. I could be like, 'You know what, let me just see what these folks are talking about over here.' Then you could sneak into Rams cheerleaders' locker room.
Back in the day, I had this fluoro pink hoodie that I thought was the coolest thing ever. Left it at a party and never saw it again. Probably the best thing that could have happened.
I knew I wanted to be an actor, and I didn't necessarily need or want to be famous or a celebrity actor. But I wanted to be somewhere where there would be no ceiling on what I could accomplish, and I felt like if I stayed in St. Louis I might have a really great regional theater career or something, but that I wasn't going to be able to get much further than that. And it felt like New York and L.A. were the two places where you could end up being a TV star or you could end up doing regional theater, which would have been fine as well.
My cousin Joe was just the coolest kid and I wanted to be like him. He had girls, could do whatever he wanted and he was a bricklayer, so I decided to do that.
Each thing leapfrogs. I do a Genesis project - like now, we're just finishing off an album - and then by the time the album is doing its thing, I could do nothing or I could do a film.
I just remember Freddie Prinze, Jr. being the nicest guy in the world. To the point where at first I thought, 'Hmm - there's no way anyone could be this nice.' But he really is one of the coolest dudes I've ever met.
I think it'd be the coolest thing if I could get a role in a dance movie. That's something I'm always going to love.
I got the acting bug really young, when I was around, like, 10. I pretty much just wanted to be Michael J. Fox. He was in 'Teen Wolf' - that was, like, the coolest role, and then he did 'Back to the Future,' and that was the coolest role.
Some time ago, I learned how to say, 'What's the worst thing that could happen up there?' I could mess up some words, I could sing flat... I could appear human. Is that really the worst thing in the world?