What I love, in alphabetical order:
alphabetized lists; Amanda (my beloved wife); anthropology; backrubs and headscritches; BASIC; bitter (a.k.a. pale ale); Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic-English dictionary; computers and programming (archaic and minimal); cooking; dinner with friends; drystone walls; Edwin Arlington Robinson's poems; English puddings; environmental preservation and restoration; Epicurean philosophy and conduct; etymology; family trees; film-and-bullshit nights with Greg; fireflies; fruit salad with yogurt; geekery; genetic genealogy; graphing calculators (TI 84 Plus SE r0x0rz!); green tea with mint; gyros and tzatziki; helicopter rides; herbal tisanes (a blend of licorice, ginger, and mint); history and prehistory; horses; Indo-European studies; Jeffersonian philosophy and conduct; late-night walks; lobster tails; log fires; long baths; math; meat pies; megaliths; memories about my great-grandmothers; mythic poetry (e.g., Beowulf, Hesiod, Homer, The Poetic Edda); NPR news; oatmeal cake; oral theory; PBS; peace and quiet; peach malts; philosophy of mind; religious studies; roast lamb with mint sauce; root beer (the real stuff); scifi canonicity arguments; scholarship and criticism; sea fossils (ammonites and trilobites); stargazing; Tex Murphy games; thunderstorms; traditional inns; twilight; Web 1.0; wilderness; z80 processors; Zen.
I'd love to meet someone with something interesting to say. Humor or intelligence is preferred.
Oh, hell, I don't know. This changes with the seasons and the phases of the moon, simply because there's so much out there to experience. When in the car, the radio is tuned to Oldies and Classic Rock when it's not on NPR News. I've also got a soft spot for virtually anything 70s (sans Disco and Funk). Lately I've been hooked on Deep Forest, which Wikipedia labels as "Ethnic Electronica." Still, I'm up for hearing something new. Got any recommendations?
300; Akira; Alien, Aliens, Alien3 (where, in my book, the franchise ends); Cowboy Bebop; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Dune; Equus; The Fountain; Ghostbusters; Good Night, and Good Luck; Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Hot Fuzz; The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; The Lord of the Rings; Lost in Translation; Master and Commander (my all-time favorite); Phenomenon; Pi; Revenge of the Nerds (1984); Star Trek TMP (the best of the franchise) Star Wars (Jar Jar Binks and all); Wargames; and, of course, Wikipedia: The Movie.
I've been without TV since moving to TX in November, and I have no regrets. Though, here's what the list used to be: Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations; Band of Brothers; Big Love; Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern; Blakes 7; Cadfael; Connections (1-3); Cowboy Bebop; Curb Your Enthusiasm; David Attenborough's many documentary miniseries; Deadwood; Dirty Jobs; Doctor Who (Drs. 3-5); Firefly; From the Earth to the Moon; Going Native; Good Eats; Futurama; Home Movies; House; How It's Made; Iron Chef (Japanese original); I Shouldn't Be Alive; Law and Order; Mantracker; Man vs. Wild; Max Headroom; Northern Exposure; NOVA; Planet Earth; Real Time with Bill Maher; Red Dwarf; Samurai Champloo; Secrets of the Dead; Star Trek (ENT and TNG); Survivorman; Tribal Life; The X-Files; (innumerable documentaries not already specified).
Wow, well, when the books aren't burying me alive, I read mostly textbooks, reference works, and other scholarly material. Although, a few times a year these drive me mildly insane and my reptilian brain rises up in revolt. I suspect this phenomenon is widely under-reported and is the true reason that colleges and universities grant tenure.
I also love mythopoetic works like Homer, Hesiod, and Beowulf, but Edwin Arlington Robinson's The Children of the Night is hands-down the best modern poetry out there. The story of the moral, spiritual, and aesthetic transitions of Western Civilization have never been better expressed than in such poems as "Amaryllis," "Ballade of Broken Flutes," "Miniver Cheevy," and "The Clerks."
If you really want to be amazed on subjects like American history and politics (and if these don't already interest you, they should), read Clay S. Jenkinson's Becoming Jefferson's People and Garry Will's A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government, preferrably back-to-back.
I'm also a fan of virtually anything published in the genre of wilderness survival or bushcraft, and I frequently read the magazines Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Discover, Popular Science, and Skeptic Magazine. Make of that combination what you will.
Currently I'm trying to tackle Harris Zellig's A Grammar of English on Mathematical Principles, a book by Noam Chomsky's own teacher, which would revolutionize linguistics if more linguists would read it.
I'm not much for hero-worship, though I appreciate the contributions of certain persons, past and present, who leave some aspect of the world a little better than they found it.
More inspiring for me, however, is the idea of people collaborating to better themselves, others, and the world. I could call this attitude that of the Enlightenment or of Liberalism, but to me it's just being human.
Whether you agree or not, some will always worship heroes. Just remember, everyone is flawed. If you draw inspiration from someone, I hope you also learn from that individual's weaknesses and mistakes.