Music:
Nat King Cole, Erik Satie, Richard Galliano, Mozart, Bach, Chopin (Nocturnes), Tom Waits, Nirvana, Boris Vian, Prince, Jimi Hendrix. Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, James Brown and Aretha Franklin pre-1980. Lots of jazz. Some rap, R&B, neo-soul and blues. Sanseverino, Beck, Gonzales.
Movies:
Most movies by: Akira Kurosawa, Hayao Miyazaki, Joel and Ethan Coen, Tim Burton, Woody Allen, Ken Loach, Cedric Klapisch, Nani Moretti, Tarantino, Spielberg, Scorcese, Pixar, Aardman Animations. Some favorites: Blade Runner, Elephant Man, Rosemary's Baby, La Meglio Gioventu, Ghost World, Delicatessen, This is Spinal Tap...
Television:
The Simpsons, Six Feet Under, Oz, The Shield, The Sopranos, The Office, Michael Moore, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, The Twilight Zone, Black Adder, Rome, documentaries... French programs: Le Zapping, les Guignols, Groland, le Magazine de la sante.
Books:
I'm bound to leave out a lot, but: Impostures Intellectuelles, A People's History of the United States, The Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World, Invisible Man (R. Ellison), American Psycho, and nearly every book by by Neil Gaiman, George Orwell, David Lodge, Roald Dahl, Tom Wolfe, Joe Sacco, Alan Moore, Noam Chomsky, Bertrand Russell, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, or Peter Singer.
Heroes:
Frederick Douglass? Bertrand Russell? George Orwell? I should add thousands of others, famous or not, who fought injustice and ignorance.