I like something in every genre of music, but right now my main love is for the honky-tonk music I've discovered in Austin. Radio station 107.1 has an incredible mix! I also like the Americana mix on cable tv, Channel 847.
My favorite movie of 2006 was Tommy Lee Jones' The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Other greats that come to mind from the past - Rushmore, Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise, The Sound of Music, Reservoir Dogs, Toy Story...
I love my TV time! A few shows I tape... Nip/Tuck, Amazing Race, CBS Sunday Morning, Gray's Anatomy, etc.
Off the top of my head...100 Years of Solitude, Lord of the Rings, Atlas Shrugged, The Plague, To Kill a Mockingbird, Our House in the Last World. Anything by William Kennedy, Sandra Cisneros, Mark Twain, Tom Robbins, James Joyce, etc. Been on a non-fiction binge and am currently reading Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich.
I don't really think in terms of heroes, but some public figures that I admire would include Jimmy Carter for his humanity and intelligence, and Paul Simon for his musical brilliance.