Pixies and Sonic Youth were so important to the eighties.

Everything I read about hitting a midlife crisis was true. I had such a struggle letting go of youthful things and learning how to exist and have enthusiasm while settling into the comfort of an older age.

What I have is a malevolent curiosity. That's what drives my need to write and what probably leads me to look at things a little askew. I do tend to take a different perspective from most people.

I'm in awe of the universe, but I don't necessarily believe there's an intelligence or agent behind it. I do have a passion for the visual in religious rituals, though, even though they may be completely empty and bereft of substance.

One positive command he gave us: You shall love and honor your emperor. In every congregation a prayer must be said for the czar's health, or the chief of police would close the synagogue.

When you go to college, you’re on your own. It’s you and God. It’s a question of what are you made of and how much is God a part of your life. So when I went off to college, I knew that was going to be the case."

While your life is the true expression of your faith, whom can you fear?

Yeah... I like films, I like movies, I like playing different characters and working with different actors and filming in different places. I like movies because it's kind of a combination of every art: it's like, it's picture, it's story, it's music, it's kind of like a clash and a collide of every art. It's really neat.