My kids, any monumental challenge, radio, music, writing, reading, Looney Tunes, abolishing slavery and getting women the vote.
the guy that invented the tuning fork. I need a spoon.JS Bach to suggest more rests in his quintet work.Coltrane to curse him for writing Giant Steps, and then performing it better than anyone.Katherine McPhee. Oh, and you wouldn't?!Bird (what were you thinkin' man?), Norman Mailer, Bobby Kennedy, Roger Ebert, Miles Davis, Diz, not Buddy Rich, Bill Clinton... I know, some of them are in heaven, so I can wait.
Jazz, baby, and any very well constructed pop song that doesn't just start and end on the tonic... or the gin.
Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana, Michael Clayton (see a pattern here?), Ratatoille, An Affair to Remember, LA Confidential, Matchpoint (my wife's fav), most any Woody Allen.
30 Rock, Letterman, Cold Case, Shark, Curb, Mad Men
See my Amazon review page (Ed Mann the Review Mann). Most recently, Hells Angels by Thompson, Austerlitz by Sebold, Practicing by Kurtz, One Good Turn by Atkinson, For the Love of Radio by me.
the short list: Hunter S. Thompson, Bobby Shew, Lew Soloff (my man), Maynard, Gary Owens, Louis Armstrong, Hubbard, Miles, Coltrane, any musician who can dedicate themselves to playing and making their livelihood in a spartan part of the world that doesn't often contribute to the size of the wallet. My hat is off to you all. Also, Don Rickles (my other main man), and mostly, my dad Mort(R.I.P). Lately, my mother for dealing with the loss of my dad.