As always, too many things to mention... but here is an incomplete list: 1) Vintage Clothes: predominantly from the 1950's 2) My vintage home: 1920's spanish style 3) Antiques: anything that is amazing from the turn of the century forward, particulary Art Deco (1920's exotic) and Victorian 4) Imagery and artifacts dealing with the macabre, the supernatural, the exotic, and magic 5) Halloween: its history; vintage collectibles, children's costumes, decorations, postcards 6) "Vintage" 59-60's era Barbies: sassy and cute 7) Dancing: particularly to goth, industrial, electroclash, electronic music 8) Rockabilly bashes: classic Americana... 9) Shopping at fabulous locations 10) Traveling to great cities across the country and neat, eclectic areas 11) Museums: particularly for the decorative arts 12) The Gym: yes, this is an interest that makes me feel great!
People of like mind, with similar interests. Shall I say, "doppleganger?"
Absolutely pivotal to defining who I am. I absolutely live to dance, feeling music with every aspect of my being. But there is music to dance to and music to listen to. I enjoy listening to anything from Sinatra to Patsy Cline, from Nat King Cole to passionate classical. These are just a few of the classics, while the vocal dynamos of Europe actually have my contemporary heart. The varied list includes: Marc Almond (Soft Cell), Suede, Dead Can Dance, Siouxsie and the Banshees (The Creatures), Duran Duran, Adam Ant, VNV Nation, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, David Bowie, Covenant, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Depeche Mode with Martin Gore's vocals topping the list, Space, The Beatles, The Animals, Goldfrapp, Miss Kitten, Peaches, Felix da Housecat, The Faint, Echo and the Bunnymen, Belle Canto, The Chameleons, Bauhaus, Alien Sex Fiend, Virgin Prunes, The Cure (early works especially), Fiendflug...Goth, Industrial, Darkwave, Electroclash, Rockabilly, Brit. Pop, European Pop, Ethereal... it varies. It is impossible to categorize what I really love to listen to.
Like my interests in music, movies are far too difficult to categorize. I love quirky movies, fantastic dramas, some sci-fi, tons of independent movies, foreign films, the classics, silent films, movies with grit that portray life as it really is, witty comedies, creative endeavors that take risks, animation (at times), classic horror. Mentioning particular films is far too time consuming!The incomparable silent film vamp Theda Bara... one of my all time favorites!
Television... Boring, boring, boring! But, the only 5 minute viewings I will bother to turn into a real viewing are: news programs(CNN, The Daily Show, Real Time with Bill Mahar), historical documentaries, home restoration, or re-runs of classic TV shows like I Love Lucy or The Twilight Zone. HBO shows are the exception to this rule and include: CARNIVALE with its mystical callings to the carnival age of depression America. (I simply adore the show with its calling to the occult, both for those who belong to the traveling carnival as well as to those whose "carnival" lies within their fundamentalist Christian views... and this is why it only ran for two seasons... too dark for the general populace!); The Sopranos (What can I say? Mafia families are too close to home); Deadwood (Gritty show that says the word "cock-sucker" --- gotta love it!); Six Feet Under (may it rest in peace); the long gone Sex and the City; and of course, the ever so hilarious and painful Curb Your Enthusiasm that makes me laugh so hard because Larry David's antics are somewhat familiar???
I am an English teacher! Books are an essential component of expanding one's mind and thus, have influenced who I am. Important titles/authors include: As I Lay Dying, Light in August, Absalom!Absalom! (I love Faulkner), Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mules and Men (Hurston is an anthropologist - love that girl!), Beloved, The Fairie Queen, Paradise Lost, John Donne, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Edgar Allan Poe --- hmmm---, Shakespeare, The House of the Spirits, Heart of Darkness (Wow!), Wicked, Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, Edward Gorey, God Passes By, The Kitabi-Iqan... and many more to be added at a later point.But, reading informational texts regarding Medieval society, art and artists, vintage fashions and culture, myths and fairytales, biographies, reference books (I am such a geek!), etiquette and customs, anthropology, archaeological records, ethnographies, history of the world's religions and spirituality, philosophy, architecture and design, gardening, cooking, etc... capture my interest much more nowadays than fiction.
Anyone who has overcome the odds, has high integrity, fights for worthy causes, and is not afraid to voice their concerns despite adversity... rebels, hellions, peaceniks, satirists, poets, artists, musicians, free-thinkers, visionaries, prophets, mystics... those with true genius!