Reading (well, duh!!!), both books and comics. Watching movies -- it used to be an obsession, and at my peak I'd watch 2 or 3 movies every day of the year (and I do mean EVERY day!), but these times I usually only watch 1 a day. I like to travel, which is good, since my job involves a LOT of it!!! I've become very interested in art, especially impressionist and post-impressionist artists, and comic art, over the last several years, and have started to build my own rather modest (but exciting to me!) collection.
I'd like to meet:
Stephen King. David Lynch. Mick Jagger. Ray Bradbury. David Bowie. Michael Stipe. Neil Gaiman. Dave McKean. Alan Moore. So many others ...
Music:
WAY too many to mention!!! I'm not as into music as I was in my teen years, but I still listen to a lot of different material. My favourite way of getting into a band is to start with their first album and chronologically work my way up through their back catalogue. Yes, I know that's rather sad, but hey, it works for me!!! Some of my fave bands/singers include, in no particular order:
The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, David Bowie, Pixies, Fred, Nick Cave, Talking Heads, Bob Dylan, R.E.M., Half Man Half Biscuit, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, The Go-Betweens, The Hitchers, The Magic Numbers, Metallica, The Who, Tom Waits, The Smiths.
Hmm ... I actually managed to mention quite a few in the end, didn't I?!?
Movies:
Now, this one is REALLY difficult!! As I said above, I'm a major film fan, and have seen literally thousands of films, from the age of the silents, through the "classic" era of the 1930s and 40s, the widescreen epics of the 50s, the experimental flicks of the 60s and 70s, then the "modern" (i.e. films I saw at the time of their release) films of the 80s and beyond. I used to grade and write a review of every film I watched (I have them all still on file, and might make them available one day). I stopped a few years ago because I just didn't have the time any more. But from those graded days, here are the ten films that came tops:
Sunrise -- a 1920s silent classic.
Destiny -- another silent masterpiece.
The Grapes of Wrath.
Casablanca.
The Seven Samurai.
The Seventh Seal.
Raging Bull.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
Once Upon A Time In America.
Pulp Fiction.
Some of my other faves, off the top of my head, include Being There (a brilliant Peter Sellers film), The Wizard Of Oz, Les Enfants Du Paradis, Santa Sangre, Bambi, Salem's Lot (the 1970s version -- flawed, I know, but it scared the living bejesus out of me when I was a kid!), It's A Wonderful Life, Sunset Boulevard, Aliens, Blue Velvet, The Masque Of The Read Death, The Good The Bad And The Ugly, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Raiders of the Lost Ark ...
Right, I'm going to stop there, or I'll be at this forever!!!
Television:
Again, lots of different shows, but some of those which stand out in my memory include:
Hill Street Blues, Cheers, The Secret Garden, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, Star Trek The Next Generation, Ray Bradbury Presents, The Sopranos, Frasier, Six Feet Under, MASH, Sapphire And Steel, The West Wing, Tales Of The Unexpected, Oz.
I was also into soaps in my younger years, and at various times loved the likes of Dallas, Dynasty, Home And Away, and Coronation Street (my favourite, and the one I watched the longest, up until 2001 or thereabouts). But no longer -- these days chez Shan is a soap-free zone!!!
Books:
Probably the biggest minefield of the lot!!! Let's just limit it to a few fave books and authors:
Lord of the Rings, Jonathan Carroll, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, The Machine Gunners, Robert Cormier, Clive Barker, Dan Simmons, Huckleberry Finn, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, David Eddings, James Ellroy, Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman and Dave Sim (primarily comic writers, I know, but great writers nonetheless). Current children's authors who I like to read include: Philip Pullman, Garth Nix, Anthony Horowitz, Eoin Colfer, Melvin Burgess, Margaret Mahy, Louis Sachar, J K Rowling.
Heroes:
Alan Moore, for writing the greatest graphic novel ever (Watchmen).
Dave Sim, for spending more than a quarter of a centruy working on one single story and seeing it through to the end.
Stephen King, for lighting up my early teens with his amazing stories, and keeping up the pace ever since.
