There are stylists I really love. I'm a huge Joan Didion fan - if I wrote something that she might like, then I'd feel very proud. I want the action to move as quickly as it does in A Book of Common Prayer, where one thing bonks right into another very quickly.

You can get into anything if you are determined. I always thought that with music, too.

You learn to present dark things without including their ability to harm, treasuring them for what they are.

The more I learn about stuff the more conscious I become of grave gaps in my knowledge.

Life is hard, you're tired, and there's disease. The strategy that works for children is to be delighted by the things that delight you.

You should avoid seeing too much of yourself anywhere: in the outside world, in others, in the imagined worlds that give you shelter.

In death metal, a lot of guys are Eddie Van Halen disciples, but they take his style to really expressionistic places. It's a real pleasure for me to hear people pushing their craft.