What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Having just moved to Los Angeles from New York, I spent a few weeks building a fortress out of empty Pabst Blue Ribbon cans in my room and a cigarette butt monument in the ashthray. In my spare time, I counted the specks of stucco on the ceiling.

Where would you like to live?

Paris; Provence, particularly.

What is your idea of earthly happiness?

A life full of friends, family and art.

To what faults do you feel most indulgent?

Whimsy and my O.C.D.

Who are your favorite heroes of fiction?

Odysseus, Alceste, Don Quixote, Nick Carraway, Harry Stamper.

Who are your favorite characters in history?

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mohammed Ali, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Charlie Chaplin, Jean Coceatu

Who are your favorite heroines in real life?

Jane Addams, Amelia Earhart, Mary Pickford, Joan of Arc, Marie Curie, Pocahantas

Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?

Jane Eyre, Medea, Molly Bloom, Su Li-Zen, Mrs. Smith

Your favorite painter?

Titian

Your favorite musician?

Generally whoever is coming through the iTunes party shuffle.

The quality you most admire in a man?

Accountability

The quality you most admire in a woman?

Intelligent guilelessness

Your favorite virtue?

Love

Your favorite occupation?

One where I am allowed to tell stories and make pretty pictures.

Who would you have liked to be?

Bill Walsh; Kanye West