Theater, exploring, pontification.
All sorts.
Feist, The Shins, Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor, Joni Mitchell, and the guilty pleasures of Lisa Loeb and Avril Lavigne
Each for its own reason --- Harriet the Spy, Bye Bye Love, Miracle on 34th Street, Billy Elliot, V for Vendetta, Junebug, Jesus is Magic, Alice in Wonderland (the 1980s tv version), Superstar
Carnivale, Strangers With Candy, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and formulaic crime shows.
Kafka on the Shore, Flesh and Blood, Middlesex, White Teeth, Assassination Vacation, Take the Cannoli, Partly Cloudy Patriot, and anything else by Sarah Vowell.
Marian Seldes, my grandma, Nell Gwynn, and Sarah Vowell.