swing, jazz, Lindy Hop, trombones, baseball, mythology, cinema, cheese , The Onion, Egyptology, ultimate frisbee, imaging science, sci-fi, 4-color funny books, knee rehab, stand-up comedy, photography
telling a good story, getting a good laugh, eating the wrong right food, fighting the good fight, having the good times
Mission accomplished.
Swing-Era Jazz is my true, true love. I could live on Count Basie and Duke Ellington alone and be a very happy camper. But also put me down for some Ella, Louis, Chick Webb, Fletcher Henderson, Jimmie Lunceford, Fats Waller, Lionel Hampton, Big Joe Turner and Jimmy Rushing. Basically if they're in here I've spent way more money on their music than any one person should.
That does not, however, prevent me from digging on tunes of a more modern & eclectic persuasion. In no particular order: White Stripes, Beach Boys, Jupiter Sunrise, R.E.M., David Bowie, Beastie Boys, Jimmy Witherspoon, Talking Heads, Aretha Franklin, Prince, The Strokes, Perfect Thyroid, U2, David Gray, Sly & the Family Stone, Counting Crows, Ray Charles, Beatles, or any Motown, Soul, etc. -- they all sound mighty fine to my ears.
As for new tunes, I'm digging on The Shins, The Killers, & Franz Ferdinand at the moment. Not exactly indie-hip, I know, but I'm moderately ecstatic over the fact that there's actually some current pop music I like for once in my life.
Star Wars (before Lucas screwed with it), Field of Dreams, So I Married An Axe Murderer, Casablanca, Lost in Translation, The Graduate, Office Space, High Fidelity, Donnie Darko, Garden State & anything by the Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson, Woody Allen, Christopher Guest and/or Charlie Kaufman
I'm a bit behind on my trips to The Little , but I'm hoping to do some catch-up soon.
Lost, House, and Bones some of the few shows I make a point to watch, but I find Scrubs & The Office ridiculously funny. Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has caught my attention.
I'll catch Conan O'Brien, Inside the Actors Studio, Seinfeld reruns, and (pre-T2) X-Files if they're on while I'm surfing. I'm constantly wishing that SNL will find its way back to the funny.
The Daily Show found the funny long, long ago and is firmly entrenched. I'm also addicted to the recently-cancelled Arrested Development, which is absolutely brilliant in a non-hyperbolic way. I've also come late to the sci-fi party that is/was "Firefly."
Ray Bradbury, Joseph Campbell, Arthur C. Clarke, Homer, Jack Kerouac, Michael Chabon, David Sedaris, Bill Shakespare, Kurt Vonnegut & any other "classics" I think I should have read in high school but missed. I ashamedly admit to enjoying The DaVinci Code. I'm also a big mythology buff.
I'm currently working on Will in the World , even though I usually struggle with biographies. I'm finding this one's a bit speculative and fairly entertaining though. I still have the rather lengthy Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell looming in the queue but somehow managed to find the time to read Christopher Priest's The Prestige instead. (It was quite good)
I --
I will be king
And you --
You will be queen
Though nothing
Will drive them away
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be us
Just for one day