Music:
Band of Horses, Okkervil River, Songs:Ohia, Magnolia Electric co., Page France, Minmae, Earlimart, Silversun Pickups, The Elected, Watson Twins, Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes, Death Cab, Pedro the Lion, Centro-matic, South San Gabriel, Great Lake Swimmers, Iron and Wine, My Morning Jacket, Magic Numbers, Conor Oberst, Colin Meloy, Jenny Lewis, Doug Pettibone, Steve Poltz, Tim Easton, Ben Kweller, Jason Molina
Movies:
Favorite = F.W. Murnau's brilliant film Sunrise.
Russian avant-garde filmmakers Eisenstein and Vertov, French Impressionist cinema including but not limited to Dreyers The Passion of Joan of Arc, German Expressionist cinema and art direction, Slavko Vorkapich and the montage sequence and the $40 indie he made with Robert Florey The Life and Death of 9413: a Hollywood Extra, the extraordinary beauty of my all time favorite film in F.W. Murnaus Sunrise, the stark and dimensional cinematography of David Leans Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, Film Noir cinematography and the mood and tenor of a parable like Night of the Hunter, Akira Kurusawa, Paul McCartneys production and music in the 15 minute short film Daumier's Law, the films of Guy Maddin and also an early Soviet predecessor in the obscure films of Yevgeni Bauer such as A Life for a Life, Richard Linklaters Waking Life, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Bridget Jones 2, &c.
oh yeah, and Drive Well, Sleep Carefully - On the Road with Death Cab for Cutie.
Books:
The Monkey Wrench Gang, God's Man
Heroes:
Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel, Karl Friedrich Benz, Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler