Ghost riding the whip, Proustian prose, the waning of affect, socializing from time to time, trying to keep my chin up, the passion of the signifier, etc.If you're really interested, check out my blog .
I look at things on a case-by-case basis.
Because I consider myself a failed musician (though I never for one moment thought that I ever was a musician in the truest sense of the word), I tend to have mixed feelings about this subject. At times contemptuous, and at other times impressed, I find that I can never simply enjoy a piece of music without chastising myself for my own lack of drive.
Vertigo, Inland Empire, Mulholland Drive, Fargo, Chinatown, All About My Mother, Being John Malkovich, Brazil, Battle Royale, demonlover, Zero Effect, Blue Velvet, and various foreign films.
Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, House, The O.C. (but in an ironic and detached way, of course), The Daily Show, The Colbert Réport, Q+A with the British Prime Minister, and Q13 Fox News at 10.
Lately it's been books by Proust, Melville, and some other well-knowns. But I mainly read nonfiction that is fairly dense, theoretical or philosophical--"boring" books as some might call them.