Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

In America we have so many movies and so much media about the Islamic world the sub-continental world but it's not a conversation it's a monologue. It's always from one point of view. 'If we don't tell our own stories no one will tell them' is my mantra.

I wanted to be in Jim Carrey comedy movies before I met him. I wanted to be a comedian on Stage 19 yukking it up.

I don't know what it was maybe the movie theaters in my immediate surrounding neighbourhood in Burbank but I never saw what would be considered A movies.

If you woke up each morning and immediately dwelt on your ills what sort of a day could you look forward to?

For us political activists and candidates the morning after any election is a mix of emotions - the personal and the immediate the culmination of your own recent campaigning efforts and the fortunes of your party and the success or otherwise of what you stand for and believe in.

At the end of the day money is just a proxy for votes. That is what makes politics so vulnerable to social media.

The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They're about getting ratings about making money about doing stories that are easy to cover.

I wanted to make a living but I really was not interested in money at all. I was interested in being a great comedian.

I became alienated from this religious upbringing and started making music. I wanted to be a big star. All those things I saw in the films and on the media took hold of me and perhaps I thought this was my god: the goal of making money.