Pretty much art, film and cooking. I read World of Interiors every month. Ok then, art, here is an on going off the top of my head list of art and artists I admire: early Rennaisance painting around Sienna, the whole of the Baroque era, Eastern Art, Islamic Art. . . Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi, Lucian Freud, Adolf Wolfli, Gehard Richter, Martin Puryear, Anselm Kiefer, Bruce Nauman, Odd Nerdrum, Marc Quinn, Vincent Desiderio, John Virtue, Sebastiao Selgado, Thomas Grünfeld, William Morris, Koloman Moser, Anthony Goicolea, Robert Park Harrison, Nancy Burson, Leon Golub, Richard Serra, Loretta Lux, the Starn Twins, the Brothers Quay, Kahn and Selesnick, Jenny Saville, Theirry De Cordier, Oscar Kokoshka, Cy Twombly, Ribera, Titan, Vaughn Oliver, Joel-Peter Witkin, Gerome, Sigmar Polke, Tim Hawkinson, Charlie White, Gregory Crewdson, J.M.W.Turner, Judith Schaechter, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, Edward Burtinsky, Henry Darger, Toshikatsu Endo, Zurburan, Christina Bothwell, Cathy De Monchaux, Kiki Smith, the Wiemar Werkstatte, Irwin (for the NSK), Masami Teraoka, David Bierk, Walton Ford, Christian Marclay, Christian Boltanski, Amy Cutler, James Casbere, Bernd and Hilla Becker, Hans Bellmer, Ed Kienholz, Aya Kato, Franciszek Starowieyski, Wiktor Sadowski, Wieslaw Walkuski, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Botticelli, Ernst Haeckel, Giacometti, Karl Blossfeldt, Suehiro Mauro, Toshio Saeki. . .and the list will continue.
Amy Sedaris, Mike Rowe
Music: Aside from the bands I work with. . .Aphex Twin (& a good number of his other projects), All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors, Anodyne, Antigama, Antaeus, Arkhon Infaustus, Louie Armstrong, Aube, Bad Brains, Baroness, Battle of Mice, Bear in Heaven, Beirut, Bergraven, Big Black, Biosphere, Black Cobra, The Blinding Light, Bohren & Der Club of Gore, Bolt Thrower, Botch, Glenn Branca, Caspar Brotzmann Massaker, Pierre Boulez, Burnt by the Sun, Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, Celtic Frost, Corrupted, Craw, Crowpath, Dangermouse, Deadguy, DAZZLING KILLMEN, Blossom Dearie, Deathspell Omega, Destructo Swambots, Iancu Dumitrescu, Efterklang, Einstürzende Neubauten, Elecktronova, The End, Enemymine, Engine Kid, Everthing is Fine, Explosions in the Sky, b. Fleischmann, Floor, Flying Saucer Attack, Gaza, God, GSYBE, Henryk Gorecki, Gospel, Halo, Head of David, His Hero is Gone, Ice, Immortal, Ion Dissonance, Lech Jankowski, JESU, johnboy, Kaada, Kiss it Goodbye, Thomas Koner, Laddio Bolocko, La Gritona, Loop, Low, Main, Mare, Massive Attack, Merzbow, Charles Mingus, The Minor Times, Mono, Motherhead Bug, Laura L. Minor, Juana Molina, Napalm Death, Nyia, Arvo Pärt, Pelican, Krzysztof Penderecki, Planes Mistaken for Stars, Playing Enemy, Jack Rose, Rubberroom. She Wants Revenge, Sigur Ros, Silver Apples, Sixteen Horsepower, Songs Ohia, Spacemen 3, Stars of the Lid, Sufjan Stevens, Suicide, Yma Sumac, Swans, 1349, This Heat, Amon Tobin, Tragedy, Tricky, TV on the Radio, Versoma, Watain, Weakling, William Elliot Whitmore, Woven Hand, Yakuza, Susumu Yokota, Yellow 6, Zeni Geva. . . even though they are already mentioned, Dälek, especially live.
I geek out about directors and will see all that I can from each one,so here are highlights: Kieslowski: Three Colors, Double Life of Veronique :: Hal Hartley: ALL :: Kiyoshi Kurosawa: Cure, Charisma :: Alejandro Jodorowsky: ALL (even the bad ones) :: Shinya Tsukamoto: Tetsuo, Tokyo Fist, Gemini, Bullet Ballet :: Emir Kustarica: Underground, Black Cat White Cat :: Alex de la Iglesia: Day of the Beast, Dying of Laughter, Commonwealth :: Wisit Sasanatieng: Tears of the Black Tiger, Citizen Dog :: Hitchcock :: Ming Liang Tsai: What Time Is It There?, The Hole :: Kim Ki-Duk: ALL - Badguy is a must see :: Nicolas Refn: Pusher, Bleeder, Fear X :: Chan-Wook Park: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance :: Takeshi Kitano: Sonatine, Fireworks, Kikujiro :: Guy Maddin: ALL. . .enough with the directors. . . The Devils, Wings of Desire, Leolo, The Relfecting Skin, Harold and Maude, My Life as a Dog, Afterlife, Kolya, Tito and Me, Ponette, Pauline et Paulette, Tom Yum Goong (aka The Protector), The Match Factory Girl, King of Hearts, In the Mood for Love, Cinema Paridiso, City of Lost Children, American Astronaut, Arsenic and Old Lace (pretty much anything with Carey Grant), Dellamorte, Dellamore, Grey Gardens, Style Wars, Home Movie, Shadow Magic, Being There. . .oh and: the Ginger Snaps Series, Dog Soldiers, Dumb and Dumber, Anchorman, Napoleon Dynamite, Waterboy, Bad Santa, the Pink Panthers with Peter Sellers and so on.
National Geographic Channel, things on Discovery, Dirty Jobs, Strangers with Candy, the Venture Brothers
Confederacy of Dunces (Toole), The Knife Thrower (Millhauser), Geek Love (Dunn), A Choir of Ill Children (Piccirilli), Perfume (Suskind), Written on the Body (Winterson), Rene's Flesh (Pinera), Burning Your Boats (Carter), Wiseblood (O'Connor), The Elements of Typographic Style (Bringhurst), lots of art history, science, theory and a whole bunch more to amass an arsenal of useless knowledge.