Politics,music, film, education, activism and philosophy. Especially absurdism which comes in especially handy when the activism doesn't seem to get any results.
Some other decent humanoids, that are trying to find their way in this world that are as confused and frustrated as me. (or not)......found this fantasy layout at HOT FreeLayouts.com :: MyHotComments
tons of indie shit from the 80's all the way to current stuff. I'm too lazy to mention it all here right now. I also like some other more obscure electronic stuff, 60's psychedelic music and also punk, new wave, power pop, and brit pop--shoegazing-- whatever etc. ....
Anything by Peter Jackson. I think that the Lord Of The Rings films might be 3 of the best movies ever made. I'm also a fan of his earlier films, especially Heavenly Creatures and ,Meet The Feebles which may be one of the funiest films ever made. Also, most films my Martin Scorsese. I especially liked The Last Temptation of Christ, Kundun, and his latest film ,The Aviator. I am interested in politics so am a big fan of political thrillers, docu-dramas or documentaries. Some of my recent favorites were Syriana, Fahrenheit 9/11, Outfoxed(about Mr. Murdoch; the owner of this site) and Control Room( about Aljazeera Television, during the beginning of the Iraq War. Another favorite of mine is, At Play in the Fields of the Lord. I also like like a lot of sci- fi and noir stuff, if it is done well.
Lost,otherwise mostly HBO shows : the Sopranos, Six Feet Under, the Wire,Carnivale, Larry David, Bill Mahr and Ali G.I also like L word and Sleeper Cell on Showtime.Also Howard Stern Television On Demand.Soap. Oh and Wondershowzen. Other then that I mostly watch news stuff and c- span-- I'm a news junkie. I watch booktv on c-span2 on the weekends. and for the news I usually watch the Jim Lerher news hour and stuff like Frontine and other PBS stuff, I also like Nightline. Theres also a lot of good stuff on the History Channel and the Discovery Times Channel.I'm also an information junkie-- I need to know everything(or at least as much as I possibly can).
The newest cool book I've read is 'On Bullshit' by Harry G. Frankfurt. Other then that I haven't got much reading done lately. I buy more books then I actually read.I've read about half of "Blink" and about half of a book on the history of party poltics in the U.S. My favorite fiction author is Hermann Hesse, and I've read four of his books; Demian, Siddartha, Stepponwolf, and the Journey to the East. I have a copy of The Glass Bead Game, and maybe someday I'll read it (it's really long and complicated. I started to read it once- and didnt get very far) Mostly I read non fiction political oriented stuff these days. Three books that I read while going to school(studying pol. sci.) that I think are worth noting are Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of Empire by Chalmers Johnson, Jihad Vs. McWorld by Benjamen Barber, and The Clash of Fundamentalisms by Tariq Ali.I also ocasionally like to read the work of old philosophers and political theorists such as Marx,Locke,Rousseau,Machievelli,Kant and some current ones such as Noam Chomsky.
If one person came to mind right now it would probably have to be Bono. I know a lot of people think he's full of shit, but hey, pretty much he's the biggest rock star in the world and he uses his fame to speak out about poverty, aids, and human rights in Africa. I truly believe he is quite sincere and should be an example to us all. I saw him on some panel at what I think was the World Economic Forum on c-span on stage with Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Bill Gates and Kofi Annan, and Bono was more passionate and well spoken on the subject then everyone including Bill Clinton. As far as people from the past I would have to say John Lennon, and also Joe Strummer, though Bono has really taken it to a new level with being respected by world leaders and actually getting concrete things acomplished. Also Abraham Lincoln, the best president we ever had, and probably ever will have---the steps he took to begin the process of abolishing slavery and holding the nation together though brutal, took a hardened grit that is rare in individuals. Martin Luther King Jr. for being the catalyst that eventually made Thomas Jefferson's original words much closer to reality.(though I'm not sure this is what Jefferson had in mind) Oh, and Lenny Bruce I suppose. I havent really listened to or seen a lot of his work but I just have an immense amount of respect for him for pushing the limits of free speech as far as they would go, at all costs, and then all the shit he went through because of it.