Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Led Zepplin, Roky Erikison (and the 13th Floor Elevators), Hunters & Collectors, Pink Floyd, The Pretenders, The Clash, PIL, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music, Talking Heads, AC/DC, B52's, The Cars, Devotchka, Black Sabbath, Diamond Knights, Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Soundtrack to Box of Moonlight, Soundtrack to Everything is Illuminated, Soundtrack to Next Stop Wonderland, Soundtrack to Collinwood, Southern Culture on the Skids, The Cramps, Analore, Morphine, Interpol, White Stripes, Low. Local bands that are worth going out to see - The Moles, The Splendors, The MoFos, Candypants, Atomic Forces. Best live show I've gotten to see - David Byrne
Favorites: Blade Runner, Box of Moonlight, Wizards (Ralph Bakshi - my all time favorite animator), Fantastic Planet, Light Years, Barbarella, Lord of the Rings trilogy (Peter Jackson), Apocalypse Now, Jacob's Ladder, I Heart Huckabees, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, Twin Peaks (the TV series), Mullholland Drive, Don't Tempt Me, Abre Los Ojos (not that crappy US version with Tom Cruise), Hairspray, Cry Baby, Pecker, A Dirty Shame, Wings of Desire, Everything is Illuminated, Black Cat White Cat, Big Lebowski, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, and of course the greatest of them all - SPINAL TAP!
Family Guy, the Simpsons, Futurama, Wallace & Gromit, Dave Chappelle. I'm pretty much turned off by everything else. I'd rather wait for the few interesting and fun shows to come out on DVD than watch them on the tube.
I always feel so juvenile when I say this, but the books that I enjoy reading the most I find in the kids and teen section at the bookstore (I usually look around first before purusing the shelves to make sure there aren't any distinguished adults eyeing me with disdain). So my all time "get-lost-in-a-fictional-reality" books are the Harry Potter series. Closely behind that comes Jonathan Stroud's "Bartimaeus Trilogy" and Christopher Paolini's "Eldest Trilogy". The adult in me really enjoys reading Barbara Kingsolver, Angeles Mastretta (specifically "Tear This Heart Out"), Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich and John Clellon Holmes. The academic in me thought that Susan Sontag's book "Regarding the Pain of Others" was the best required reading I've ever had for a class.