Number one: fun. I think if things we do in life are not fun then they are not worth doing. We should be able to find humor in everything, even in tragedy. (Kinda like the doctors on the old TV series M*A*S*H*.) At the same time, I'm interested in hanging out with real people not flakes. I'm also interested in the fate of the planet and its non-human inhabitants, and pursuing a simple life in this crazy world.
People who like to have fun, people with a good sense of humor and not a lot of hangups. Plus... some selfless massage therapists!
Funky, punky, rock & roll kinda stuff. Weird is good. Live music is great. I mostly listen to college radio (KWVA in Eugene, www.kwvaradio.org) because it is diverse, eclectic and fresh. Lots of new stuff, lots of classics. Unique shows and some great DJs.
I fear this is one of my great addictions. While I despise Hollywood, I love the movies. I love independent and foreign films almost as much as Hollywood's products. So as you can see it is a real problem. I try to limit myself to just a few each week (including VCR). I love action films, sci-fi (not psycho thrillers or horror), comedies, anime, mysteries, documentaries, almost anything. I dislike dramas because they make me cry. I like action films because they make me cheer.
TV does not interest me much except for comedies like The Simpsons, The Office, Family Guy, South Park or Seinfeld (oh, yeah, I guess a little sports [especially when the STL Cardinals or Rams are on!]). Unfortunately I was raised on TV. so it has a strong effect on me. The really sad thing is that so many people were raised on TV that network programming has become the biggest tool of manipulation in this and many other countries. (If we are not on the same page here, check out "Four Arguements for the Elimination of Televison" by Jerry Mander.) Commercials suck! Especially Fox!
Anything by Carl Hiaasen, Neil Gaiman or Hunter Thompson (except their collected columns), the Harry Potter series, comic books, some sci-fi but not the out-there cyber sci-fi. I peruse a lot of newsletters, magazines and zines.
(Shouldn't this say "Heros and Heroines?") Martin Luther King, Jr., John Muir, Wynona LaDuke, Shakelton (the explorer), Cynthia McKinney, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Emma Goldman, Ralph Nader, David Brower, Aldo Leopold, Margaret Atwood, Rod Coronado, Jonathan Paul, Henry Hutto, Craig Beneville, some of them just ordinary people who made a difference in my life...