DANCING, ROLLER SKATING (especially dancing while skating backwards), vegetable gardening, sketch comedy, comedy in general. Bicycling around PDX on my 1970s one-speed Raleigh. Hanging in coffeeshops. Eating breakfast at the Paradox Café. Going for long runs in the sunshine. Deep conversations. Sipping sambuca. Hot popcorn, cold beer, good DVD. Hiking/backpacking/exploring natural areas, especially eastern Oregon. Readin’, writin’, but no ‘rithmetic.
Hard to say…It comes down to: “whomever there’s ‘chemistry’ with†(which applies not only to romantic entanglements, but to friendships and to people I just like to hang with). With that said…Other thoughtful and silly people. People who agree that the dominant paradigm needs to be subverted. Not academic nerds, not morons, not mallrats, not yuppies, not hippies, not fundamentalists of any kind, not mainstream suburban television watchers, not environmentalist-bashers (actually, environmentalist-bashing is okay, since I’ve been known to rant about the hypocrisy of many “environmentalistsâ€).
Bach, King Crimson, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, Miles Davis, Junior Kimbraugh, March Fourth Marching Band, Ali Farka Toure, Toumani Diabate, Taj Mahal, Bowie, Hendrix, late-60s Stones, old prog (70s era Jethro Tull, Yes, Genesis), new prog (Bozzio/Levins/Stevens, Gunn/Mastelotto, Bruford/Levin), Medeski Martin & Wood, and almost anything that engages the imagination and/or sets the feet dancing.
Dr. Strangelove, Network, The Matrix (first one only), The Station Agent, I Heart Huckabees, The Coen Brothers (especially Hudsucker Proxy), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the original), A Face in the Crowd, The Saddest Music in the World, anything with Peter Sellers, Marx Brothers (A Night at the Opera), All About Eve, The Triplets of Belleville, Shaun of the Dead (hilarious!), Napoleon Dynamite (also hilarious!), Old silent classics (Chaplin, Keaton, Mary Pickford, Louise Brooks). Buster Keaton was a GENIUS - check out "Sherlock Jr." Good documentaries (such as Grizzly Man) are often more interesting than fictional stories. But NOT “What the Bleep†AKA “The Universe According to Ramtha.â€
Don’t watch no teevee. Occasionally rent episodes of old teevee shows like Monty Python, Strangers with Candy, Mr. Show, AbFab, Fawlty Towers, Father Ted, The Kids in the Hall.
Lately I've been getting into Flann O'Brienn (Irish humorist) and Spike Milligan (British humorist). Some faves: Michael Ventura (especially We’ve Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy – And the World’s Getting Worse), Kurt Vonnegut, River (by Colin Fletcher), Hole in the Sky (by William Kittredge), Confederancy of Dunces, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, Jesus' Son, Not That You Asked, biographies of creative people. Many more, but I have trouble remembering…Books just kind of go through me.