Science and astronomy; ancient history; health, fitness and belly dance; dining out or cooking something special at home; animals (domestic and wild); learning new things; writing, writing, and writing... Letting my imagination get carried away (in a controlled environment). The deep, the dark, the inner shadows that others fear as well as the blinding peaks. Occasional wild hairs and headlong plunges off the deep end.
A good literary agent (or agents) representing science fiction, fantasy, general fiction, horror and humor writers. Overseas penpals are welcome. Interesting locals would be nice to know. Male or female friends, I don't care which.
Domestic and world music interests. Dislike most rap, country, gospel... and grunge. Varied tastes, otherwise. Acoustic or electronic, no matter. Rock, reggae, latin, African, Asian, blues, jazz (new or old), swing, goth/EBM, hardcore punk, even some opera and new age. Again, as with movies, I like to be moved.
Horror, comedy, drama, sci-fi/fantasy, etc. Such as: Brazil; Casablanca; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly; Auntie Mame; Little Man Tate; LOTR; Star Wars (the original ones); Spiderman; Pride and Prejudice (when the mood hits - I think it's funny as hell); Forrest Gump; Pirates of The Caribbean; Phantom of The Opera (even if Michael Crawford wasn't in it - it's pretty to look at); Planet of The Apes (the original series, not the sorry-ass remake); The 10th Kingdom; 28 Days Later; Interview with The Vampire; Strange Days; The Usual Suspects (which, by the way, was the original title of the play adapted into Casablanca); Labyrinth; War of the Worlds; Pulp Fiction; The Quiet Earth; Whatever Happened to Baby Jane; Sweet Charity; Logan's Run; Soylent Green; The Wandering Kid; anything Hitchcock; lots of old movies (when films had plots); too many to list, just a sample here. Some foreign films also, even if I have to read along. I like to be taken out of the ordinary; if a film cannot manage that, I'm disappointed. I refuse to watch anything involving John Waters.
I don't get to watch THAT much tellie. It's not only a time thing; it's that most of what's on just plain sucks. Usually, the TV is that background noise while I do something else (a great motivation to clean house, as it's more fun). Now, I no longer have satellite, so looks like PBS mostly from here on out. I should probably be writing instead, anyway.
SF/fantasy, fiction and non-fiction, hard science, some mystery also. Romance novels are not even literature, so I won't waste time trashing them here. My first books (in order) were: "The Black Stallion", "Lord of the Flies", "1984", and "The Amittyville Horror". These, along with "Beowulf", lots of Poe, and such from early schooling most shaped my own writing style: dark, deep, and not much afraid of anything. Some favorite writers: Harlan Ellison ("Gentleman Junkie" especially), Anne Rice (who can make the most outlandish plot readable - pity she has now gone off the deep end), Edgar A. Poe (for everything), C. J. Cherryh (although she's a b***h in person), Richard Adams ("Maia"), Louis Cooper (Time Master Trilogy), Carl Sagan ("The Demon-Haunted World", because the world really needed it), Clive Barker ("Imajica" especially), and others who escape my memory at the moment. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, I can add one of my own works to this list, although I'm never truly satisfied with anything from my own hand. And actually, I'm a lousy reader, always have been. It's more fun to make the story up myself.
A hero is someone who comes to your rescue. As such, I haven't had any. Shame. There are, however, a handful of special people whom I either admire or find great fascination with. Among the living: Tina Turner, Micchio Kaku, Steven Hawking, Noam Chomsky, and any people who are ultimately true to their nature and unafraid of their own inner shadows. Among the dead: Edgar A. Poe, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, Thomas Jefferson, Ayn Rand, Gallileo, Charles Darwin, and all those who have contributed to humanity's march toward reason, understanding, and wonder.