American literature, great comics, B-movies, old poetry, the history of the printed word, and no-holds-barred argument.
I'd like to meet:
Writers, artists and thinkers, especially Kurt Busiek, Eric Powell, Ed Brubaker, Mike Mignola, Alex Ross, Gail Simone, Grant Morrison, Judd Winick, and many others for their work in comics, keeping a true American art form relevant and powerful. I'd also like to meet Richard Rodriguez and George Will and thank them for reminding me that the essay can be an art form. I'd like to shake the hand of Wesley Autrey, the New York subway superhero.
As far as fictional heroes are concerned, there is none other...So long, Cap. May you return when our country learns once again to deserve you.
Music:
I'm eclectic, though I am taking medication for it. Current favorites include Five For Fighting, Clutch, Decembrists, Martin Grech, Mountain Goats, Failure, Corvus Corax, and Wilco. I'm also interested in Remy Zero, Diamond Nights, Scissor Sisters, Radiohead, and Dandy Warhols. All-time favorites include Tom Waits, Bill Withers, James Taylor, and Leonard Cohen.Run, don't walk, and buy a copy of Five For Fighting's new album, Two Lights. I'll still be here when you get back, I promise.
Movies:
I like plots and characters big enough to fill the big screen. I like old black-and-white films with Bogart and Cagney and Bergman and Lake. I like B-movies with aliens and zombies and gunfire. I like film noir and kung-fu action flicks. All-time favorites include Chinatown, To Have and Have Not, The Exorcist, White Heat, Evil Dead, Reanimator, Dagon, The African Queen, Jacob's Ladder, Apocalypse Now, and Enter the Dragon.
Television:
I don't watch a lot of TV, except to catch old movies on TCM. What little network TV I do watch is always appointment TV. Currently, I'm watching Heroes on NBC and trying to catch up with Smallville again. When I'm just sitting around, unwinding in front of the set, it's usually with a cop show or reruns of some comedy I didn't catch the first time around (like Scrubs).
Books:
When I read fiction, I tend to prefer American authors, but only because I'm more familiar with the American tradition in literature than with the British. My current favorite is Cormac McCarthy, though I love Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Stephen Crane, Thomas Pynchon, and Don DeLillo. I also like really obscure old novels and sketches. What I don't particularly care for is different for its own sake. If you've written a novel without the letter "e", just to see if it could be done, do me a favor -- keep it to yourself.
Heroes:
People who voluntarily make a personal sacrifice for someone else, or for the greater good. MLK was a hero. Ghandi was a hero. Wesley Autrey is a hero. And this guy here...
What's the deal with Cap, you ask? From Captain America, I learned that a person could be a patriot without being a right-wing jingo idiot. Cap stands for the best America can be, and he represents our potential even when we have an evil simpleton in the oval office.
