Politics now! Writing entertaining books that are deceptively cute and simplistic, music, being a mom, scrapbooking, shopping, hiking. Check out my main site at www.alisavaldesrodriguez.com and my blogger blog (same as the blog here) at http://alisavaldes-rodriguez.blogspot.com/
YOU! Help Alisa test the waters for her possible congressional campaign!
I love all types of music, as long as the song is good. Lately it's all girls all the time: Mala Rodriguez, Julieta Venegas, Nelly Furtado. I love Jill Scott, Amel Larrieux, Juana Molina, Quetzal. Digging Ceci Bastida, the Mexican rocker chicks. Anything Brazilian is making me smile these days, too. Kinda depends on the mood. I'm MAD moody, so I've got eclectic tastes to match. :-) But in general I think lyrics sound better in Spanish. And if I could come back as someone else, I'd be Julieta, because she's the second coming of both Frida Kahlo AND Depeche Mode. Love ya Juli.
I think movies are the most magical of all art forms. I am addicted to them. I've been struggling - and succeeding - at learning the art and craft of script-writing, so movie-watching is sort of a job requirement at the moment. I know. My job rules. I'm a sucker for comedies, and usually like the stuff movie critics trash, like NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM or anything with Adam Sandler. Come to think of it, most things the critics trash ends up being pretty good. That's a rule to live by. I've met critics. I've worked with them. They wear leather pants to work. They never wash their phones. They have long nose hair. Don't trust them.
The only thing I regularly watch on TV is "Curb Your Enthusiasm," the HBO original series starring Larry David as himself (sort of). It's brilliant. Being the mom of a young boy who loves Pokemon, I get more of that than I'd like to admit. Sometimes I watch Oprah, and wonder where the Latinos are. But usually that makes me crave donuts, and that's a bad, bad thing.
I must read two or three books a week. I love picking up a book about something I know nothing about, and learning. I'm a regular browser in the local indie bookstores, so regular I might as well just move on in. I also think there's nothing better on earth than reading in bed while a summer rainstorm patters the rooftop. All-time favorite writer: Dean Koontz. Even if he IS a Republican. If I ever got a chance to meet him, I'd faint on the spot. Must-read non-fiction: "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "Mapping Human History," along with Zinn's "A People's History of the United States." I also love Jackie Collins, Maeve Binchy Jennifer Weiner, and all the other AMAZING and prolific women writers who kick ass and look good doing it, and therefore scare the newspaper critics so badly they have to dismiss them altogether.
Anyone who follows a dream without fear, and all those faceless people working for justice, freedom and peace the world over. And Lisa Simpson. That's about it.