I am a buyer of magic beans, a hopeless idealist whose art is used to line birdcages, a man who measures twice and cuts once; a truly hopeless boxer who nevertheless sparred every single day for four years and, even at this late date, still aspires to be William Blake, or Moondog, or Buster Keaton. I've lived in New Mexico (name of town redacted), San Diego, San Francisco, Honolulu (briefly), L. A., and—since 1996—Brooklyn.

What else? I've been a fairly committed runner since eighth grade (gulp: 1980). Finished the NYC Marathon in 1997, although time committments these days keep my weekly mileage pretty low (0-20 miles; I know, pathetic.)

I'm an artist. Do I list my accomplishments and seem like a braggart, or list my ambitions and seem like a bullsh*tter?

Neither, I think. I will just say I've hustled and worked hard to get my art out there, and it has paid the bills my entire adult life. I am blessed and lucky.

Getting from point A to point B, in both the physical and non-physical senses. It is always good to have companionship on such journeys.

My taste in hats. My cute butt. (As of Dec. 2012, I am informed it's still cute.)

Bookage: "The Crying Of Lot 49," "Fun Home" by Alison Bechdel, Doctorow's "Ragtime" or "The Book Of Daniel," anything by Penelope Fitzgerald, Nicholson Baker, Jack Vance. Gary Shteyngart and Junot Diaz seem pretty good too, although I've only read their short stuff in in the New Yorker. At the risk of introducing an undue note of negativity, I'll add that I really *don't* like the whole "precious emo Brooklyn" school of modern fiction (Auster, Chabon, Lethem, Safran Foer etc.)

Films: "Spirit of the Beehive," "Classe Tous Risques," "Adventureland," "Maria Full Of Grace," "Brick." I really love the "dark and philosophical comedy" genre of the late 1990s (to name just a few: "All Over Me," "Croupier," "Sweet and Lowdown," and "Go.")

Music, popular: Joanna Newsom ("Ys" and "The Milk-Eyed Mender" are my two favorite albums of the last ten years although I found "Have One On me" kind of weak), Townes Van Zandt, X, Judee Sill, Syd Barrett, Amy Winehouse, "American Beauty" and "Workingman's Dead" and their 2011-era offspring: Avett Bros, OC Medicine Show et al. Johnny Cash's version of Will Oldham's "I See A Darkness." Generally, anyone who's not afraid to sing their life.

(Also: Tune-Yards, in case there's any 26-year-old Wmbrg publicists reading this looking to meet a reasonably-not-unhip-45-year old. Ha ha. I actually like Tune-Yards on her artistic merit. No, really, I do.)

Music, not popular: Beethoven's late chamber music, Glenn Gould's "Well-Tempered Clavier," any jazz recorded before 1930.

Food: sushi, Korean, red-sauce garlic-laden Italian comfort food. I can cook, sort of. I have several cookbooks and some of them have burned covers, because I leave them open on the stove while I'm reading the recipe and then absent-mindedly turn the burner on, not realizing it's the wrong burner...you would probably laugh if you saw it happen, although you might also suspect it was some sort of "lobster scene in Annie Hall"-esque attempt to present a calculatedly schmielish persona. Which it would not be.

Comix: "Safe Area: Gorazde" (Joe Sacco), "The Jew Of New York" (Ben Katchor), "Black & White" (Taiyo Matsumoto.) Plus the usual Clowes/Crumb/Ware suspects.

Ahhht: My faves skew toward either the rigorously formal (B. Marden, E. Kelly) and/or the 20th-C. rear-guard of campy-and-don't-care narrative pictorialism (Tooker/Cadmus/Jeff Wall/Stanley Spencer/Barney's early Cremaster videos). Don't ask me to justify it.

Red wine. Espresso. Reality-based political blogs (Matt Taibbi, Balloon Juice, Chariie Pierce, etc.). My pet okapi. My cozy and book-filled apartment. Clean socks.

"Give me back the Berlin Wall
Give me Stalin and St Paul
I've seen the future, brother--
It is murder.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing--
Nothing you can measure anymore."

"Send lawyers, guns, and money--
Dad, get me out of this."

;)

"I tried it just once, found it all right for kicks
But now I've found out it's a habit that sticks."

"I saw the crescent/But you saw the whole of the moon."

Less allusively: if you want to go to Film Forum and see a movie, or go to the Met and look at paintings, or go eat sushi. I'm always up for sushi.