The history of the Peloppenesian war, Tijuana grizzly bear wrestling, the logical insanity of the Vicious Infinite Regress (VIR)
People who live in places I've never been and will let me snore on their couch
Captain Beefheart, Curtis Mayfield, Johnny Cash, Modest Mouse, Mandy Moore
I Vitelloni, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Old School
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Gravity's Rainbow, or the latest schlock that Elmore Leonard or John Irving are dumping out.
Jake LaMotta, Buddy Hackett, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Soupy Sales, Rocky Marciano, Richard Pryor... etc.