Stuff. Stuff interests me. Music, stuff, and beer. I read books, and comic books, and books about comic books, and comic books about books. I'm geeky, and I like geeky stuff like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Silver Surfer, Galactus, Astro City, Arrowsmith (no, not the band), Xanth, and all that other kind of stuff.
A wealthy, eccentric philanthropist. I'd like to meet all of my idols. I'd like to meet Jenna Jameson and Jenny McCarthy, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Connelly. I wanted to meet Arnold and Clint, but they got into politics, and I've heard numerous stories that prove the adage, never meet your idols (not about them, though; actually, one was about Orson Scott Card). I'd like to meet a president while they're in office, but not any of our presidents from, oh, the last twenty years or so. I'd like to meet most anyone famous, but A-list famous, not reality TV famous. I'd like to meet the Dali Llama.
That one album by AC/DC, Accept, Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, Breaking Benjamin, Cheap Trick, Cinderella, Disturbed, Drowning Pool, Fastway, Godsmack, Great White, Helix, Jackyl, Kix, Kiss, Kick Axe, Led Zeppelin, Maxlider, Metallica (old and new), Mudvayne, Nazareth, Ozzy Osbourne, Pink Floyd, Queen, Queensryche, Rainbow, Scorpions, Tesla, Tora Tora, Thunder, U.F.O., Vinnie Vincent, Whitesnake, White Stripes, Y&T, Zebra, ZZTop, and a few hundred bands in between.
Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, Iron Giant, Fifth Element, Ninth Configuration, Hellraiser, Aliens, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Jerk, The Man With Two Brains, Airplane!, Conan, Pumping Iron I & II, Heavy Metal, Excalibur, Starship Troopers, Purple Rain, Showgirls.
No. Well, maybe some House and Whose Line, but that is about it. Okay, I'll admit I'm also addicted to watching everything UFC, which completely baffles my wife. She calls it "boys fighting", and I'm not entirely sure if that's plural or possessive, but I know she can't stand to see the blood and brutality, so it is sort of a secret addiction because I watch when she's not in the room.
C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Piers Anthony, Douglass Adams, Ursula K LeGuin, Orson Scott Card, T.C. Boyle, Clive Barker, Robert Pirsig, Neil Gaiman, Kurt Busiek, Christopher Priest, Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Peter David.
I can think of a few mentors, but the word "hero"...tossed around too much of late, I'm afraid, and I won't contribute.