i like roller derby.
indie rock boys. activists. people who can have intellectual conversations without being pretentious.
ours, the vines, manic street preachers, patrick park, pulp (and jarvis cocker solo stuff), the cooper temple clause, the pixies, muse, jet, the sleepy jackson, supergrass, dangermouse, keane, the living end, the kinks, bruce springsteen, rancid, the clash, the libertines, hard-fi, vusi masahela, babyshambles, hugh masekela, damien marley... pretty much anything rock, reggae, indie, or south african. and not emo.
indie artsy foreign stuff.
kill your tv.
russell banks, kurt vonnegut, j m coetzee(still can't pronouce his name properly), steven king (the dark tower series), neal stephenson (cryptonomicon and the baroque cycle), lullaby, the master and margarita, journey into the whirlwind, the kite runner, the god of small things, gabriel garcia marquez... anything that isn't chick lit.
my great grandfather, rosario pisana, who sent his 2 daughters to college even though everyone told him it was a waste of money to educate women.