Movies:
lynch, waters, miike, hitchcock, cronenberg, bunuel, godard, juenet + caro, oh and Barbarella is awesome too.
Television:
Planet Earth
Books:
anything design or metals related
Heroes:
Verner Panton, Joe Colombo, John Waters, and Jedediah Smith - anyone who can orchestrate his own facial reconstruction surgery after being mauled by a bear is a hero in my book.