Arcade Fire
Aretha Franklin
Art Brut
Beastie Boys
Beck
Billy Talent
Bis
Bjork
Blackalicious
Blood Brothers
Brand New
Brassy
Britney
Buzzcocks
Charlotte Hatherley
Clearlake
The Decemberists
The Delgados
Diana Ross
The Dismemberment Plan
Dizzee Rascal
The Doors
Dusty Springfield
Eels
Future Ex-Wife
Gold Chains
Grandaddy
Har Mar Superstar
Help She Can't Swim
Hot Hot Heat
Hundred Reasons
Insane Clown Posse
Jay Z
Jeremy Warmsley
Lady Sovereign
The Long Blondes
The Long Winters
Los Campesinos
Love
The Mamas and the Papas
Mars Volta
Mclusky
Monkey Swallows the Universe
Muse
Nada Surf
NERD
The New Pornographers
Neutral Milk Hotel
Nina Nastasia
Nine Inch Nails
Ooberman
Outkast
Reuben
The Shins
Sleater Kinney
Stone Temple Pilots
The Streets
Super Furry Animals
System of a Down
Tool
Ugly Duckling
Urusei Yatsura
The Vandals
Weezer
Spinal Tap
Amelie
anything by Studio Ghibli
(my favourite is Howl's Moving Castle)
Wayne's World
O Brother Where Art Thou
Heathers
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The History Boys
TWIN PEAKS!
Also... Black Books
Scrubs
Futurama
Columbo
Buffy
Firefly
Green Wing
Mighty Boosh
I like books that take me to far away places such as Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things and Laura Esquivel's Like Water For Chocolate and of course Memoirs of a Geisha. On Beauty by Zadie Smith is also excellent.