FORREST ARMSTRONG

I dropped out of high school in 2007 - I often say I did this to pursue writing, but it was much more a matter of escape than pursuit. It was one of the best decisions I ever made, not because I couldn't bare the thought of completing the last few months of my senior year, but because it forced me to think of the world differently, approaching reality way too fast and liking it, weighing what is important and what can be thrown away after the first use (as Steve Aylett says, school is something to spend the rest of your life recovering from - another writer who dropped out at 17).

I like to think I have reached a state where I can observe the world from a detached location, somewhere near the clouds. I write surrealism because I think in the abstract we are closest to truth. Everything divine is surreal. I make enough money to get to whatever comes next but no more. I am writing to give you all I have felt, and nothing else - I am a vehicle and I am trying to bring my visions to the world, however I can.

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LITERATURE: William Burroughs, Steve Aylett, Allen Ginsberg, Barry Malzberg, Philip K. Dick, James Chapman, Takuboku, Gregory Corso, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut... tons more, feel free to ask me anytime.

FILM: Darren Aronofsky and Jodoworsky more than anything, I love everything they’ve done... Pi is my favorite movie of all-time and The Holy Mountain is definitely up there... besides their works, A Scanner Darkly, Waking Life, Trainspotting, Eraserhead, The Wall, Fight Club, Pink Floyd Live at Pompei, Un Chien Andalou, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Prestige...

MUSIC: The Mars Volta, A Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr, DJ Spooky, Pink Floyd, Circa Survive, At the Drive-In, Twists, The Smiths, Notorious BIG, Big L, 311, Girl Talk, MF Doom, Explosions in the Sky, The Pharcyde, Rx Bandits, Leftover Crack, Wu Tang, Danger Mouse... again, ask me, music is a huge part of my life and I could talk to you about it for days...

VISUAL ART: Salvador Dali may influence my work more than any writer, filmmaker, or musician. I love graffiti art; I’m working on a collaborative book with the graffiti artist KNEN right now, and I love her work, which brings surrealism to the streets beautifully. Ponk is another great one, so is Ichabod. Jase Daniels does extraordinary work by manipulating the canvas with the computer. Anyone who has not seen it should definitely check out his homepage...