Art - Art is important, don't you know? It's much more admirable to work for art than it is to work for money, though the latter is necessary more often than not, and the former never needed for survival. But that's why it is important and remains so. It remains important because art is about self respect. It has often seemed to me that creating art isn't just about being a wanker and pretentious (though it is those things, of course), but rather than the use of the word is also about demonstrating that you respect what you do. That it is important to you. That it is Art, with the capital A. Respect what you do and call it art. Don't respect what you do and call it hack work. Fortunately for everyone, all those terms have various definitions, and you can apply each to yourself as necessary, often swapping from day to day.

Air - Air is a novel by Geoff Ryman. I will be reading it shortly.

Advertising - I know I should hate advertising and there are times when I do. But the truth of it is that I am mostly so use to it that I don't even notice anymore. For example, take this statement from artist Tony Harris, who illustrates the fine Ex Machina series, about product placement in comics:

If you want your comics just be quiet with all the belly aching. Jeezus. This is no different than ANY ad that has been placed in comics since the dawn of time. And guess what? AD REVENUE is what keeps comics going. NOT sales. There arent enough fans buying books to keep the industry going. Period. No argument. I have worked in the industry for 17 years. I know this to be true. I got in right at the tail end of the last BOOM. Then the bottom dropped out.

But of course, I should have realised it was there.

Amnesiac - I am fascinated with amnesia. I think, upon occasion, I'd like to have amnesia. Imagine waking up with a clean slate. Imagine knowing that you lost everything. Would you fight to get it back? Would you be someone different? Such potential. I would probably only want to be an amnesiac for one day, however, and then know everything upon waking up in the next.

Radiohead released an album called Amnesiac. It wasn't very good.

Art - I like nice art. I like pretty pictures. I have been known, upon occasion, to buy a book because I like its cover. I hope to have a cover that inspires such impulse purchasing, myself.

A Silver Mt Zion - A Silver Mt. Zion are a band that is, if truth be known, now called Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. Do you think it frustrates them, then, that people don't use this new band name? Or is it simply that changing your band name, no matter how subtly, from album to album, is simply much too pretentious even for someone like me to pay that much attention to?

Aliens - I believe in alien life forms. Why not? Big universe. Still, it's not like I need to believe. I just figure they're out there, and since I have no proof, I say I believe. What I like best, however, are the religious people who believe in God, but not aliens. "I ain't never seen no alien fucking mothership," the Pope might say, if I ever asked him, "but I talk to God every day."

Akira Kurosawa - Kurosawa made some of my favourite films. Seven Samurai. Yojimbo. Sanjuro. Yes, my favourites are the ones with Toshiro Mifune, and one day, perhaps, I will write an autobiography about Mifune, or at least a story about him. Why is it, then, that, having bought Red Beard, the last film Kurosawa and Mifune made together, six months ago, that I have not sat down and watched it?

America - I'm fascinated by America, possibly because it's such a big thing in the world, but I've never been to it. How, I often wonder, can a place be so influential when millions have only seen its representation?

Art - Art is also about being a pretentious wanker, like I said. It's worth saying twice, however, and worth noting that being a pretentious wanker has its place and its use in life. Much like Lee Harvey Oswald had his place in the JFK assassination.

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This is a meme. It works like this: If you'd like to play, leave a comment. I'll give you a letter. Then you post ten words beginning with that letter in your journal and explain why they're important enough to make the cut.

Patrick O'Duffy (artbroken) gave me 'A'.