Orthodox Christianity, Linguistics, Philosophy, Theology, Liturgiology, Number Theory, Philhellenism, Classics, UNIX/Linux, IT/MIS, literature, computer programming, Byzantine History, the Jesus Prayer, taking baby-steps toward theosis, music (I'm a huge S&G/DCFC/MB20 fan; among others, I also listen to alternative, indie, folk, classic rock, Baroque, Byzantine and Gregorian chant, etc).
Christ and the Saints, anyone of good will, local people, ethnic people -- especially Orthodox Christians belonging to ANY jurisdiction, poets, linguists, aspiring presbyteras, priests, intellectuals, philosophers, writers, hackers, dreamers, songwriters, monastics, physicists, mathematicians, computer programmers, Paul Simon...
St. Herman, Enlightener of America
Byzantine Chant, Gregorian Chant, Znammeny Chant, folk, alternative, and classical music of the baroque era are among my more favorite genres. Simon & Garfunkel is possibly my favorite musical group. Other favorites include: Sufjean Stevens, Matchbox Twenty, Paul Simon, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, The Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie, They Might Be Giants, John Mayer, THE MOODY BLUES, The Doors, Apostolos Hill, Eikona, Jackson Browne, Chanticleer, Toby Keith, Sting, Pink Floyd, Billy Joel, Bee Gees, Rolling Stones, Elliot Smith, Five for Fighting, Bob Marley, Los Lonely Boys, Sixpence None the Richer, Tower of Power, Green Day, Fortaleza, the Scorpions, Dabkeh, sacred polyphony, and so on. Some of my favourite hymns and chants (liturgical and non-liturgical) include: the καταβασÃα&sigm af; of the Holy Cross (and for the Nativity Season), Tη υπερμαχω (along with the entire Akathist to the all-Holy Mother of God), "o Moνoγενης Yιòς," the Troparion and Exapostelarion for Lazarus Saturday, the Prokeimenon of Forgiveness Sunday, "O Star of Orthodoxy" (Troparion for St. Gregory Palamas), the Troparia for Sts. Photios the Great and Mark of Ephesus, "al-Youm Olika ala Kashaba" (Good Friday), "Ya Rabb el-Kouwaat" (O Lord of Power), anything from the Bridegroom Services or the Royal Hours, the Doxastikon of the Last Judgement, the Great Doxology in Grave Tone, EξoμoλoγεÃσθ&epsilon ; τω KυρÃω, and St. Nektarios' "Aγνη Παρθενε Δεσπoινα," to name a few.
Law and Order, Seinfeld, Frasier, Family Guy, The Simpsons, Will and Grace, Family Guy, Futurama, South Park, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, Outer Limits, MST3K, A&E, the History Channel, as well as the consistently sleep-inducing C-SPAN (and its bastard daughter, C-SPAN 2). I find myself watching the History Channel more and more these days. I know, I know, I've already seen every program they have to offer on Hitler or various Kennedy Assassination conspiracy theories -- but I just can't... stop... watching!
The Old and New Testaments, any of the 19th and 20th-century classics, passages from the Philokalia, the Exomologitarion, the canons and decrees of the Holy Synods, Patristic texts (especially the Didache, the First and Second Apologies, the Epistles to the Symrnaeans and the Commonitorium of St. Vincent of Lérins, Adversus Haereses, On Marriage and Family Life, De Fide Orthodoxa, Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit, anything by St. Symeon the New Theologian, etc.), Father Arseny, the "Apologia" of Socrates, In Search of Schroedinger's Cat, God's Equation, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, The Importance of Being Earnest, Lord of the Rings, Las Travesuras de Don Quijote de la Mancha, De Bello Gallico (Marcus Aurelius), The Thorn Birds, The Confessions of St. Augustine, Summa Theologiae, The Elegant Universe, The Way of the Pilgrim, The Philokalia, Les Miserables, The Brothers Karamazov, The Interpretation of Dreams, Pascal's Penses, Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, Christ the Eternal Tao, Against False Union, A Brief History of Time, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 3001, Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," Patristic texts... Sophocles, any of John Dunne's works... definitely Khalil Gibran... anything by Isaac Asimov... too much to list here.
Jesus Christ, the Theotokos, Socrates, Plato, Richard Feynman, Pythagoras, John Chrysostom, Photios the Great, Father Arseny, the Blessed Seraphim Rose, Lord Byron, Mark of Ephesus, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Frederico Garcia Lorca, Stephen Hawking, Kurt Godel, Paul Erdos, Isaac Asimov, Hiesenberg, Neils Bohr, Albert Einstein, Lao Tzu, Kevin Mitnick, Blaise Pascal, John Dunne, Paul Simon, George Orwell, Adamantios Korais, Ronald Reagan, Oscar Wilde, Ren Descartes, Emperor Justinian, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Augustine of Hippo, Czar Nicholas II and the Romanov family
British poet, philhellene and Greek freedom-fighter Lord Byron, being welcomed by the Metropolitan of Athens and the people of Greece (1823)
" Oi anJropoi thV ' BuzantinhV AutokratoriaV ' den eican idea oti htan Buzantinoi; gnwrizan oti einai auJentikoi sunecisteV tou Rwmaikou kosmou... "
-- John S. Romanides
"In thee rejoiceth, O Full of Grace, all the Universe, the angelic hosts and the race of men. O hallowed Temple and supersensual paradise, glory of Virgins, of whom God was incarnate and became a little child, even our God Who is before all the ages; for He made thy womb a throne, and thy body He made more spacious than the Heavens. In thee rejoiceth, O Full of Grace, all the Universe: glory to thee!"