1.) I am a robot. 2.) That is all. 3.) Except also I am Han Solo.
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I like people, mostly. Politics. Reading. Writing. Art. Music. Nature (a grudging respect for insects, but they scare me a little). Gardens. My husband! His photography. And my friend Jane is teaching me to play traditional Irish flute.
Dan Keplinger (a.k.a. King Gimp), Koko the gorilla, Larry Brown, Czeslaw Milosz, Crispin Glover, Madison Clell (Cuckoo), Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), Craig Thompson (Blankets), Art Spiegelman, Russell Edson, Jack Gilbert, Ursula K. LeGuin, Neil Gaiman, Terry Gilliam, Jon Stewart, Errol Morris, Jane Goodall, David Sedaris, Stephen Jay Gould, Neal Stephenson, Eugene Mirman, David Cross
There's no way this won't sound pretentious, but I don't mean to be: I've played in experimental bands (that's how I met my husband) where we were inspired by Zorn and Merzbow and Vandermark. We've performed with two of the three. But it's not necessarily the music I listen to while driving. For that, I usually listen to indie rock so I can sing along (badly): Cat Power, Devendra Banhart, Wilco, Yo La Tengo, Iron & Wine, Pixies/Breeders, Pavement, Sebadoh/Lou Barlow/Dinosaur Jr., Built to Spill, Stereolab, The Flaming Lips, Electrelane, Magnetic Fields/Dub Narcotic Sound System/Beat Happening/Gothic Archies, Horses, The Kingsbury Manx, The New Pornographers/Destroyer/A.C. Newman, Modest Mouse, Low, The Frames, mclusky, The Wedding Present, Daniel Johnston, Galaxie 500/Damon & Naomi/Luna, The Modern Lovers/Jonathan Richmond, Television, The Dirty Three/Tren Brothers, Gossip, P.J. Harvey, Holly Golightly, Husker Du/Bob Mould, April March, Slint, Smog, Quasi, Spacemen 3, Will Oldham/Palace, Neutral Milk Hotel, Sonic Youth, The Pogues, The Velvet Underground, Rachel's, Quinimine, Tom Waits, Joy Division/New Order, The Kinks, Nick Drake, Hayden...you get the idea. I like traditional and modern classical music, afro-centric jazz, world music, underground hip-hop like Quasimodo, shoe-gazery music like My Bloody Valentine, and Vic Chesnutt.
All time favorite: The Third Man. Anything by Terry Gilliam. Experimental films like Maya Deren's. Whatever my friends Meg Jamieson and Chris Hefner make. Lost in Translation. Baraka. Miyazaki. Kurosawa (of course!) Just re-read Macbeth and watched Throne of Blood--wow. Artsy-fartsies and indies make me happiest, like Irma Vep. I also like the films of the 70's like All the President's Men and Badlands and Days of Heaven. I like odd films like Chuck and Buck and Fantastic Planet. After Life, Jan Svankmeyer's Alice, American Splendor, Being There, Big Lebowski, Blade Runner, Bob Roberts, The Color of Paradise, Crumb, anything by Jim Jarmusch like Down By Law or Stranger Than Paradise, anything with Takeshi Kitano like Fireworks or the new Zatoichi--ooh ooh, I love Zatoichi--old or new, Harold and Maude, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, scary movies by Dario Argento like Inferno and Suspiria, Jacob's Lader, I like Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits, among other great Italian cinema, I cry at The Killing Fields, Koyla, The Lion in Winter, M, My Left Foot, My Life As a Dog, My Own Private Idaho, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Pillow Book, Il Postino, Rabbit Proof Fence, Rushmore, Russian Ark, The Scent of Green Papaya, Sherman's March, Sid & Nancy, Smoke Signals, The Sweet Hereafter, Tampopo, Toto les Heroes, The Triplets of Belleville, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Wings of Desire, and I will watch just about any documentary anytime--I love "Doc Day" on Sundance channel...
Guilty pleasures: Deadwood, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Project Runway, Heroes. Arrested Development. Wow--I can't figure out why it was cancelled. The Daily Show. The Colbert Report. Flight of the Conchords. Um, ok, so maybe I watch a little bit of, er, Scifi channel. Firefly was great--cancelled why?
My friend Gina loaned me Larry Brown's Dirty Work and it killed me. Jesus wept, indeed. A Prayer for Owen Meaney also wins a prize for cry-fest of the year. I like David Sedaris' work, graphic novels (see my "I'd like to meet" list), Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible, Huxley's Brave New World, (OK--I love dystopian novels--never thought I'd feel like they weren't fiction, though--there's irony for you) 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid's Tale, and all day Vonnegut! The classics--Shakespeare (fav. is King Lear), Homer, Hardy, Eliot--think English teacher--I'm a perv for it all. I love poetry. I like being surprized by language and ideas. Guilty pleasure: young adult sci-fi/fantasy like The Girl Who Owned A City and Garth Nix's series The Seventh Tower and Lireal, Clive Barker's Abarat, etc. Neil Stephenson--all of it. I want to read everything. ..
See my "who I'd like to meet list"--they are all people I admire, including Koko (don't get nit-picky). My heroes are the people who work to make other people's lives better, this planet better, and themselves better. My heroes also try to keep things interesting--sometimes a conflict, I know.Paul Sizer and Jane Irwin--authors and amazing friends. My mom and dad and step-mom (awwwww). My friend Annie who has been fighting breast and brain cancer; she was my main partner in crime during those college years of self discovery and shenanigans. Suzanne for showing how to be a loyal friend for years. My brothers, Mike and Tim. Herb Scott, poet and teacher of extraodinary caliber. Sharon Bryan, same. Kathy Ha, team teacher, poet, and friend. Gina Wilkins, Nancy Hall James, Scott Bade, Alex Long--friends and fellow poets of great talent. Meg Jamieson, artist and long-time friend. Matt-n-Edith--they rule. TV Pow gang--good people! Mike Schuur and John Campos families. John Livingstone is a complete gem of a human being. John Phipps, too! Bill Verner--he can dance a jig.My best man, Eddie Wiles for showing me how to give. Sid for being a great artist and friend. My students who overcome huge obstacles and discover how kick-ass they are. My heroes are those who dare to be a voice of reason during dark times. History is full of them, and I am inspired by those around me today who step up and speak for peace and progressive thinking.Most of all, my hero is my husband, Tom. He is an incredible, rare human being with a mind that's so brilliant, I'm constantly delighted and inspired. He's talented and humble. I'm so lucky, it's sick. He makes good photos: I like 'em a lot.