Railway buttresses, nautical themed restaurants, the history of the home counties and crack.
I'd like to meet:
Anyone who thinks Dan Brown is a genius. You clearly need help he's shite!
Music:
My tastes in music are about as eclectic as you can get, I like people who write songs that transcend the generic shite that were forced to endure on national radio (christ could I sound any more pretensious!!)
In no particular order:
The Shins, The Smiths, Bright Eyes, BRMC, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Arcade Fire, Maximo Park, The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, Iron and Wine (pretty much anything on SubPop records rules!!), Devendra Barnhart, Radiohead, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Primal Scream, The Bees, Elliott Smith (RIP), Tom Waits, Afro Cuban All Stars, Buena Vista Social Club, Elvis, Babyshambles, Dirty Pretty Things, The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys, Rufus Wainwright, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Beck, Josh Ritter, The Killers, Lemon Jelly, Anthony and the Johnsons, Nick Cave, Aimee Mann, Elbow, The Beta Band, King Biscuit Time, Louis XIV, The Concretes, Ike and Tina Turner, Etta James, Nina Simone, The Small Faces, Badly Drawn Boy, Spiritualized, The Stone Roses, The Chalartans, Verve and Blue Note Records entire back catalogue except for the really weird shit, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, MF Doom, Beastie Boys, Money Mark, Chemical Bros, Orbital, Johnny Cash, Donovan, Loving Spoonful, Jose Gonzalez, Jose Felliciano, Richie Havers, Janis Joplin, Country Joe and the Fish, Sly and the Family Stone, Prince, Michael Jackson before he released Bad, The Isley Brothers, Kool and the Gang, Nick Armstrong and the Thieves, Ben Harper and far too many more to mention!
Movies:
I love movies but over the last few years good ones have been thin on the ground. I've already mentioned Eternal Sunshine for it's fantastic acting (Jim Carrey, who'd have thought it!!) and a really original concept, pulled off beautifully by the director Michel Gondry. I recently watched Downfall which impressed me. Old Boy and Sin City I thought were very stylish and visually stunning. My favourite movies though are a Danish film by the name of Festen (The Celebration) which manages to be both humourous, thought provoking and moving, and the old 1950's Ealing studio comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, which stars Alec Guinness as 7 generations of the same regal family, who are offed one by one by our debonair narrator. Bury your preconceptions about old films and watch this movie, it is hilarious!
Television:
I don't watch much telly (soaps are the work of the devil) but if I do it tends to be either sport, documentary or Shameless. That said I love watching Lost, I just can't understand why!!
Books:
Anything by Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Brian Michael Bendis, Phillip Pullman.
Heroes:
Bill Hicks (funniest stand up ever next to.. Richard Pryor (just found out he died GUTTED!), Peter Sellers, Michael Palin ("Crucifiction.. Good, line on the left one cross each!"), Charlie Kaufman (screenwriter of my favourite movie from last year Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Lars Von Trier (Barmy European director!), Thomas Vinterburgh (Another Barmy European director!), Beck (Possibly the most underated musical genius in the world!), Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder (before he became a lame shadow of his former self in the 1980's), James Motherfunking Brown, David Bowie, Alan Moore (Comic book auteur), Matt Groening (Creator of The Simpsons), Thierry Henry (Footballer at the greatest club in the world)
