Music:
They Might Be Giants, Styx, Cee-Lo, Gnarls Barkley, British Sea Power, Radiohead, The Jackson 5, Elaine Stritch, The Penn Glee Club, New Pornographers, Alan Menken, Glenn Miller, Matisyahu, Fountains of Wayne, Green Day, The Shins, Fall Out Boy, DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, Prince
Books:
Life Stories, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, The 9/11 Commission Report, Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized By People Who Think You're Stupid, The Economist Guide to Economic Indicators, Paris to the Moon, Brothers Sing On
Heroes:
All the heroes and legends I knew as a child have fallen to idols of clay.