cooking, tea, science fiction, genetics, fission yeast, RPGs, scotch whisky, macallan 18, anime, martial arts, monkeys, nihongo de hanasu no, brewing beer, mallet percussion, Vertigo comics, san-X, Sanrio, dancing, blues, karaoke, world of warcraft, mal'ganis, drum corps, cadets of bergen county
I'd like to meet:
I don't want to meet any of you. You're not pretty, you can't spell, your band sucks, and no one wants to read your whiny emo blog posts. Go away.
Music:
The Cure, Gramophone, The Pogues, Gackt, David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, The Smiths, INXS, Radiohead, Cibo Matto, Tears for Fears, New Order/Joy Division, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Kanno Yoko, Death Cab for Cutie, The Shins, Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Ella Fitzgerald
Movies:
Army of Darkness, Summer Stock, Motorcycle Diaries, Everything is Illuminated, Princess Bride, Boondock Saints, Labyrinth, Shaolin Soccer, Amelie, Orgazmo, Shichinin Samurai, Trainspotting, A Clockwork Orange, Shakes the Clown, Office Space, Hauru no Ugoku Shiro, Big Fish, and anything by Kevin Smith. I also love old MGM musicals from the 40's and 50's, particularly those with Judy Garland and/or Gene Kelly.
Television:
Smallville, Dead Like Me, Good Eats, Heat Guy J, Monk, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Deadwood, Iron Chef
Books:
Currently Reading: Campbell's Biology, 4th edition. (Studying for GREs... sigh.)
Recently read: "Summerland" by Michael Chabon; "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke; the Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage; "Jack of Kinrowan" by Charles deLint; "War for the Oaks" by Emma Bull; "Gun with Occasional Music" by Jonathan Lethem; "Lady Friday" by Garth Nix.
In the last couple years, I've mostly been reading mostly science fiction and young adult fantasy. Somewhere along the line, I became disgusted with most of the mainstream fantasy authors, who realize that they just need to write a good first book and then they can crank out the same trite bullshit as everyone else and still get paid (Jordan or Goodkind, anyone?). The good stuff, you have to really hunt down... but it's still there, if you know where to look.
George R. R. Martin has been my all-time favorite author for almost a decade, with his "A Song of Ice and Fire" series being foremost, though some of his older works (Windhaven, Nightflyers) are cherished as well. Garth Nix (the Abhorsen trilogy, Morrow Days), Diana Wynne Jones (Castle in the Air, Chrestomanci novels), Jonathan Stroud (Bartimaeus Trilogy), and Scott Westerfield (Uglies trilogy) are among my recent new favorite kids' authors. Snow Crash is one of my favorite books, though I'm not a fan of Stephenson's recent stuff. Other timeless favorites include: Hitchhiker's Guide, Atlas Shrugged, Journey to the West (Sun Wukong), Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh, "Altered Carbon" and "Broken Angels" by Richard K. Morgan, Yoshikawa Eiji's Musashi, Neil Gaiman's various and sundry works (American Gods, Anansi Boys, Neverwhere, Stardust, Smoke & Mirrors, Sandman)... and yes, I even read Harry Potter. Speaking of Sandman, I rabidly devour Vertigo comics. "Y: The Last Man" and Bill Willingham's "Fables" are simply brilliant. And one of these days, I plan to start reading Mieville, but for whatever reason "Perdido Street Station" keeps getting pushed to the bottom of my To-Read list.
Heroes:
Rosalind Franklin, Sir Paul Nurse, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh
