not living up to my potential, reading, writing, hating math, world peace, ineffectual idealism, Scrabble, green tea, brisk autumn mornings, scarves, gin and tonic, public displays of disaffection, really good chai, bagpipes, accordions, songs with handclaps, springtime, puppies, history, a warm bed, beer labels, Eastern Europeans, comic books, overeducation, intelligent and conversant sidekicks, new socks and underwear, putting on clothes right out of the dryer, hot apple cider, porch swings, crickets, words, ocelots, crossword puzzles, political weblogs, jigsaw puzzles, escapism, passport stamps, postage stamps, down comforters, spooning, sweaters, mod hair, homework, nature shows, zoos, used books, nectarines, the common good, simple beauty, mint chocolate chip ice cream, pajamas with feet, ping-pong, Wales, thunder & lightning, wanderlust, maple bars, naps, discovery, carnations, beaches, balaclavas, polkas, bad jokes, fabian socialism, dictionaries, kiwi, waltzes, pointless anectodes, National Geographic, trivia & other useless information, daydreaming, bossa nova, experimentation, Transformers, black labs, toasted pumpkin seeds, borscht, proper punctuation, my new showerhead, typewriters, hipbones, working toilets, fried rice, tanlines, the idea (but not the practice) of public transportation, interaction, fresh strawberries, clear skies, foreign film, arboretums, orange sherbet, crepes, fabric softener, black and white photography, museums, wordgames, heliotrope, hoodies, candy corn, laughing inwardly when people fall down, sci-fi movies and tv, opera, international politics, A Prairie Home Companion, universalism, white wine, Mary McDonnell, propaganda, ragtime, eugenics, Gilbert & Sullivan, Soviet space program memoribilia, mythologies, snow, penguins, Bob Newhart, anthropology, dumplings, pirates, intrigue, Terrence Malick films, alternatives, the World Cup, Jews, Steven Soderbergh, composting, Wedgwood china, Tom Shane, Shasta cola, gholas, starmaps, pocket watches, new kicks, Netflix, otter pops, Santa Fe, the State of Oklahoma, national parks brochures, the Book of Mormon, socialist-realist art, making a difference, making cookies, Kiva.org
The temptation to babble off a litany of all the things I'd love to find in another person is sometimes overwhelming in a situation like this. But really, when do we ever get all that we want in one nice package? I'd just like to be surprised by someone who can carry on a conversation, with reasonable intelligence and a certain amount of tact and charm. The remaining details I await to be amazed by. Also, some sort of a universal superbeing would be kinda cool.
Belle and Sebastian, Nick Drake, Sigur Ros, Bjork, Radiohead, The Postal Service, Outkast, The Decemberists, Joseph Arthur, Ed Harcourt, RZA, Elliott Smith, Baxter, The Cardigans, The Softies, Ryan Adams, Wilco, The New Pornographers, Architecture in Helsinki, The Thrills, Sleepy Jackson, Saint Etienne, The Gentle Waves, Serge Gainsbourg, Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, Selby Tigers, The Stone Roses, Portishead, Jeff Buckley, The Sea and Cake, Glenn Gould, Goldfrapp, Death Cab for Cutie, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Travis, Bright Eyes, Sondre Lerche, Rilo Kiley, Over the Rhine, Pulp, Tchaikovsky, The Killers, ABBA, Keane, Maria Callas, Omara Fortuondo, Edith Piaf, Nina Simone, 10,000 Maniacs, The Shins, M. Ward, Garbage, Kings of Convenience, Weezer, Now It's Overhead, Rufus Wainwright, The Walkmen, Idlewild, The Elected, The Carpenters, Electric Light Orchestra, The Beatles, The Arcade Fire, Doves, Coldplay, Longwave, Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Scott Joplin, Fleetwood Mac, Feist, The Happy Mondays, Beth Orton, Van Morrison, Brandi Carlile, Bob Dylan, Frou Frou, Steely Dan, JJ Cale, Tom Waits, Mahmoud Ahmed, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Sea Wolf, Madame Mao and the Chairmanettes, Calexico, Sam Cooke, The Pipettes, The Knife, The Shout Out Louds, Devotchka, Checkpoint Charlie and The Bang Bang Bang!, Beirut
The Royal Tennenbaums, Magnolia, LOTR, The Usual Suspects, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Titus, Gallipoli, Amelie, The Year of Living Dangerously, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Five Senses, The Emperor and the Assassin, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Momento, The Devil's Backbone, The Big Lebowski, Once Upon a Time in the West, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Intacto, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation, Pelle the Conqueror, Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2, The Triplets of Belleville, Topsy-Turvy, Punch-Drunk Love, Groundhog Day, Hero, X-Men, The Empire Strikes Back, Dune, Steamboy, Serenity, Mars Attacks!, The Bridge at San Luis Rey, A.I. (Artificial Intelligence), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Dark City, The Lion in Winter, The New World, V For Vendetta, A Scanner Darkly, Syriana, Munich, Kingdom of Heaven, Miller's Crossing, A Prairie Home Companion, The Life Aquatic, The Saddest Music in the World, Cache, Don't Come Knocking, Buffalo '66, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Barry Lyndon, Hot Fuzz, Rat Race, I'm Not There, Warlock
The Simpsons, Roseanne, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Star Blazers, BBC World Service news, Surface, Deadwood, Medium, The Office
J.M. Coetzee, Russell Banks, Jose Saramago, Donald Barthelme, Michael Ondaatje, the complete works of Shakespeare, Marvel comics, William Faulkner, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, J.R.R. Tolkien, Kingsley Amis, Christopher Logue, Frank Herbert, Joyce Carol Oates, John Milton, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, Homer, Neal Stephenson, John Keats, Susanna Clarke, Vladimir Nabokov, Ian McEwan, Jonathan Safran Foer, Colleen McCullough, Doris Lessing, China Mieville, Kim Stanley Robinson, George R. R. Martin, Stephen Vincent Benet, James Ellroy, Timothy Egan, Stephen Harrigan, Larry McMurtry, Patrick O'Brian, Carl Sandburg, Arturo Perez-Reverte, Dorothy Dunnett, Oakley Hall
Woodrow Wilson, Bernard-Henri Levy, Carl Kassel, Robert F. Kennedy, my dad