music; travel; movies; writing; pop culture of the sixties through eighties; true crime; vintage/secondhand stores; scrapbooking and crafty things; standup comedy; radio; improv; trivia games; board games; learning something new; being an Internet geek.
Music geeks. Comics. Positive people who aren't in denial about the fact that everyone is human and that everyone has ups and downs. Anyone with a quirky sense of humor; anyone who is honest and compassionate. Basically anyone! (No hypocrites or narcissists, please.)
77's; Hilde Louise Asbjornsen; Beach Boys; Beatles; Belle and Sebastian; Julian Berntzen; Big Star; The Blow; Billy Bragg; Tim Buckley; T-Bone Burnett; Byrds; Carpenters; Neko Case; Johnny Cash; The Choir; Bruce Cockburn; Elvis Costello; Creedence Clearwater Revival; Marshall Crenshaw; Crooked Fingers; Daniel Amos; Fabienne Delsol; Sandy Denny; Donovan; Bob Dylan; Steve Earle; Gene Eugene; Feist; Neil/Tim Finn; France Gall; Margo Guryan; Emmylou Harris; George Harrison; Richard Hawley; Mark Heard; Robyn Hitchcock; Kristian Hoffman; Jolie Holland; Innocence Mission; Iron and Wine; Joe Jackson; Jayhawks; Tonio K.; Phil Keaggy; Kings of Convenience; Kinks; Jens Lekman; Sondre Lerche; Lost Dogs; Nick Lowe; Kirsty MacColl; Magnetic Fields; Aimee Mann; Paul McCartney; Van Morrison; Mumps; New Pornographers; Harry Nilsson; Jim Noir; Nourallah Brothers; Roy Orbison; Over the Rhine; Tom Petty; Sam Phillips; Pogues; Queen; Ray's Vast Basement; The Red Button; Redd Kross; Rilo Kiley; Josh Rouse; Todd Rundgren; Sergeant Petter; The Shins; Simon and Garfunkel; Sixteen Horsepower; Sparks; Dusty Springfield; Randy Stonehill; Terry Scott Taylor; They Might Be Giants; Richard/Linda Thompson; U2; John Vecchiarelli; Tom Waits; M. Ward; Wilco; Brian Wilson; Wisely; Stevie Wonder; Wondermints; XTC; Neil Young; Michael Zapruder; Zombies ... this list could go on and on. I also have a weakness for cheesy Top 40 hits from about 1988-1993.
Amadues; American Graffiti; The Apostle; The Bad Seed; Breakfast at Tiffany's; Bye Bye Birdie; Glory; Grace of my Heart; Harold and Maude; Henry Fool; In America; Let Him Have It; The Little Mermaid; Living in Oblivion; My Bodyguard; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; The Princess Bride; The Saint of Fort Washington; Shattered Glass; Some Like it Hot; Sophie Scholl - The Final Days; The Sound of Music; Stand By Me; Walking and Talking; The Wizard of Oz ... vintage Disney films, B-movies, Z-movies, and random independent films that feature actors such as Walton Goggins, Kevin Corrigan, Peter Sarsgaard, Dylan Baker, Catherine Keener, Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy, Robert Downey Jr., etc.
The Shield (I'm addicted!) Otherwise it's mostly crap that I grew up with: 90210, Little House on the Prairie, The Brady Bunch, etc. Plus all of the Degrassi franchise, Jeopardy, What Not to Wear, various sixties shows (Ozzie and Harriet, The Dick Van Dyke Show), and certain channels on OnDemand (mostly Something Weird and Tube Time).
I read a lot more nonfiction than fiction, mostly books about pop culture, or trime crime stories (The Indiana Torture Slaying is the most haunting true story that I've come across ... but I also love Ann Rule.) When I do read fiction, I like Anne Tyler's books. For the classics, I love John Steinbeck, James Joyce, and Oscar Wilde. What else? Children's books! John Benton's bad girl books (and other guilty pleasures...)
My dad, the rest of my family, artists, misfits, and anyone who shows genuine kindness and compassion toward others.