Music, especially local and live. Welding. Ceramics. Gardening. Animals. LoriO.
Taxonomic analysis and human factors -- and the crossroads where the two meet -- for the development of information-sharing systems, and other really nerdy things that cause a lot of people to roll their eyes and yawn and walk away.
Several self-destructive habits. Reading and writing.
I'd like to meet:
Myself, as a success. I like to imagine I'd be dignified and gracious, but the truth is, I'd probably be a xenophobic prick.
Music:
Most things local and live (and I'm not listing all the names because you know who you are, rockstars); Enter the Haggis; Pogues; XTC; BRMC; Kaiser Chiefs; Alex Chilton; Replacements and everything Paul Westerberg; Fountains of Wayne; Grateful Dead and everything Garcia/Hunter; Steve Earle; Elvis Costello; The Clash; Sex Pistols... their music, not their politics; Green Day; Hank Williams; Buck Owens; Merle Haggard; Johnny Cash; Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys; Jerry Jeff Walker; Pavement; AC/DC (with Bon); Barenaked Ladies; Crash Test Dummies; Jesus Christ Superstar; Ani DiFranco; Salamander Crossing... this is boring.
Movies:
Defending Your Life, The Matador, Local Hero, Hedwig, Resevoir Dogs, Drugstore Cowboy, Fight Club, Spinal Tap, Salom Bombay, and probably around 7000 other films... but more than any other: Cool Hand Luke, the story of a defiant hard-case who would rather die on his feet with a grin on his face than live on his knees on anyone else's terms.
Television:
I can't deal with much commercial television -- not that I'm a snob, I just fucking hate commercials and anything that's not in letterbox.
I like TCM. I like HBO. I liked Rome. I like Deadwood. I like Albert Swearingen.
Books:
I tend to read a lot of trail guides, species identification references, gardening tutorials, welding and metallurgy, ceramics techniques, and other non-political non-fiction.
The writing of Ayn Rand, Ed Abbey, Kurt Vonnegut, Elmore Leonard, Isaac Asimov, and Woody Allen created the mold from which my personality was cast.
Heroes:
All you people who stand on a stage or in front of a camera, or a classroom, or at a podium, or a canvas and put it out there in the vein of art, which is to say, with a passion.
All of you who make the earnest attempt to help the rest of us get better, smarter, stronger, and happier.
Anyone who creates a thing and gives it up and says, "This is what I have to say; this is what I can offer." And I include the multitude who don't have the insight to realize they suck, because it still takes a special kind of person to even try.
Anyone who does it different, not for the attention that difference attracts, but rather because different is, to them, normal.
Those who live life on their own terms for the benefit of the rest of us.
Unless it's emo lala self-indulgent poseur crap, in which case, fuck off.
