Spaghetti Westerns, Japan (in general with films and food in particular!), Film Noir, Old West History, India (in general with films and food in particular!), Hard-boiled fiction, Hong Kong films, Spain (especially the Almeria region), Mexico, Instrumental music, Retro-Culture, Movies, the Paranormal, Reading, Writing (tales, screenplays, reviews, short-form prose, etc.), Tombstone (Arizona), Composing Music, Martial Arts, Yoga, going for aimless walks.
Via MySpace...I'd like to meet people with whom I share similar interests.In life...I would like to meet: Chow Yun-Fat, Amitabh Bachchan, Salma Hayek, Gong Li, Shishido Jo (aka, Jo Shishido), Rani Mukherjee, Sridevi, Franco Nero (in person..we've exchanged letters), Mari Annu, Antonio Banderas, Pam Grier, Gianni Garko, Silvana Bacci, and a few others. I have already been blessed with meeting many of the folks I could have, and would have, put on this list a few years ago!
I enjoy a wide range of music. I am particularly fond of film scores by: Ennio Morricone, Francesco De Masi, Bruno Nicolai, Nora Orlandi, Nico Fidenco, Gianni Ferrio, Stelvio Cipriani, Luis Bacalov, and Marcello Giombini. I also enjoy lounge jazz of the 50's, exotica (Martin Denny, Les Baxter, and so forth), big band swing (retro and neo), Amy Winehouse, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, surf-rock instrumental (Dick Dale, The Ventures, The Revels, The Centurians, The Lively Ones, and such), and British rock and roll of the early 1960's. The Jam, Paul Weller, Small Faces, The Clash, The Who (especially from 1965-1969), Sade, Brian Setzer, The Beat (English Beat), Squire, The Pretenders, The Chords, Purple Hearts, Holly and The Italians, The Bangles, Generation X, The Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, The Undertones, 999, and Elvis Costello and the Attractions, are just a few of my favorite rock and pop sounds. I also LOVE the indigenous pop sounds from India, Japan, and Hong Kong...not to mention the folk music of those cultures, as well. Sally Yeh, Jacky Cheung, are also among my most favorite musical performers of all time. And that is just a small selection of what I like musically!
I LOVE FILMS!! If I had to pick a single favorite film, I just wouldn't be able to do it. Favorite genres (and sub-genres)would include, but not be limited to the following. Spaghetti Westerns, Film Noir, Bollywood, Japanese action films of the 50's and 60's, Yakuza eiga, Nikkatsu Action eiga (1950's-1960's), Hong Kong Cinema, Classic Hollywood films (1930's-1960's, generally), Westerns, Spy flicks from the 1960's, anything with Pam Grier, and much more! Some of my all-time faves would have to include the following. FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, CASABLANCA, THE THRID MAN, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, OMKARA, LE SAMOURAI, TOMBSTONE, SHOLAY, FACCIA A FACCIA (FACE TO FACE), LAGE RAHO MUNNABHAI, BRANDED TO KILL (KOROSHI NO RAKUIN), BULLET IN THE HEAD, OUT OF THE PAST, LEGEND OF BHAGAT SINGH, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, RIDE LONESOME, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, VERA CRUZ, DOR, FASTER PUSSYCAT! KILL!..KILL!,COMPANY, SATYA, THE MERCENARY, DJANGO, VERTIGO, JOHNNY YUMA, BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE, HANA-BI (FIREWORKS), SONATINE, ONE EYED JACKS, RIO BRAVO, IF YOU MEET SARTANA--PRAY FOR YOUR DEATH, GLADIATOR, LE DOULOS, THE KILLER, CITY ON FIRE (Ringo Lam), MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, almost any old "daku" or dacoit (bandit) films from India, BETTER TOMORROW, AN AUTUMN'S TALE, EL MARIACHI, DESPERADO, THE MALTESE FALCON, GUNMEN (Kirk Wong), KENJU ZANKOKU MONOGATARI, $10,000 BLOOD MONEY, THE BIG SLEEP, THE MISSION (Johnnie To), JOHNNY HAMLET, TEPEPA, YOUTH OF THE BEAST (YAJU NO SEISHUN), DANGER: DIABOLIK!, COLT WA ORE NO PASSPORT (A COLT IS MY PASSPORT), RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, THE GLASS KEY, EXILED (Johnnie To), THE WILD BUNCH, JINGI NAKI TATAKAI (THE YAKUZA PAPERS), PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID, THE RETURN OF RINGO (IL RITORNO DI RINGO), THE BIG GUNDOWN (LA RESA DEI CONTI), SIN CITY, MILLER'S CROSSING, THE PROFESSIONALS, MINAGOROSHI NO KENJU, BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, A BULLET FOR THE GENERAL (QUIEN SABE?), THE TALL T, HIGH CRIME, DEATH RIDES A HORSE, MERA GOAN MERA DESH, LE CERCLE ROUGE, THE LAST SUNSET, HANA TO ARASHI TO GYANGU, LE DEUXIEME SOUFFLE, THE YAKUZA, BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA, JACKIE BROWN, 3:10 TO YUMA (both old and new), THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, and on and on and on and.....
I don't watch much TV. But, the more recent programs I do like would include, but not be limited to the following. GHOST HUNTERS, WILD WEST TECH. I enjoy rewatching episdoes of "ancient" shows (via DVD) like the following. THE WILD WILD WEST, HAVE GUN--WILL TRAVEL, KUNG FU, THE WESTERNER, I SPY, WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE, PETER GUNN, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE PRISONER, DANGER MAN (SECRET AGENT), PHILIP MARLOWE: PRIVATE EYE (outstanding HBO series with Powers Boothe), TATE, LAREDO, and a few others. I really wish they would get around to releasing THE HIGH CHAPARRAL on DVD! I'd love to see that, again. I am also a great fan of the classic, Hong Kong TVB series THE BUND (aka, SHANGHAI TAN, SHANGHAI BUND, etc.).
I am interested in a wide range of subjects---everything from historical accounts of the Wild West, to studies of Paranormal activity, books on Zen and various Asian cultures. I am also a fan of "hard-boiled" fiction by authors such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane, Jim Thompson, Carrol Jon Daly, among others. I like Western fiction, as well--especially the "pulp" stuff by guys like Don Davis, Jonas Ward, and many more. I love books about film! The WESTERN ALL'ITALIANA series from Glittering Images is excellent! Chris D's book, OUTLAW MASTERS OF JAPANESE FILM, is a favorite. Schilling's book, THE YAKUZA MOVIE BOOK, is one I go back to often, as well. The FILM NOIR READER books are great. Let me see...what, or who, else..? Ah yes! Yukio Mishima, Eiji Yoshikawa, Ian Fleming, Bram Stoker, and too many more to list!
No heroes, per se; but, I do admire and have been inspired by: Sergio Leone, Chow Yun Fat, My Dad, My Mom, Dashiell Hammett, Bruce Lee, Clint Eastwood, Alain Delon, Shishido Jo, Franco Nero, Amitabh Bachchan, Dick Dale, Budd Boetticher, Sergio Corbucci, Ennio Morricone, Francesco De Masi, Howard Hawks, Tura Satana, Samuel Fuller, Sam Peckinpah, Mohandes Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, John Lennon, Joe Strummer, John Woo, Suzuki Seijun, "Beat" Takeshi, Jean-Pierre Melville, and a slew of others!