As a kid, I always was obsessed with Houdini.

It was just like a digital fixation with cards and math and science and then I started to look at images of great magicians from Houdini down the line.

I think that when Evel Knievel crashed over the fountain at Caesars, it kind of gave you a credibility and then anticipation for everything he did.

I remember my mother had this deck of cards that her mother had given her and that she passed on to me. It was a gypsy tarot deck that I used to carry everywhere.

In truth, the only restrictions on our capacity to astonish ourselves and each other are imposed by our own minds.

I was obsessed with the idea of fasting and isolation.

My mother was a teacher, and when she wanted to show me art and literature and science, she'd take me to museums, parks and free exhibitions.