a) I read
business management books as
if they’re self-help, and vice versa, because
people are organizations comprising
many parts, and
organizations are people too.
(Political aside: I favor abolishing the enslavement of
corporations, and strengthening their personhood. Forcing one
person to labor for another was supposed to be prohibited by the
13th amendment.) I devour
sci-fi and
fantasy – read LotR at least 13 times,
mostly before I was 13 years old. Favorite authors include Jim
Collins, Gay and Katie Hendricks, Tim Ferriss, Neal Stephenson,
George R R Martin, J R R Tolkein, Hugh Howey, Frank Herbert, Isaac
Asimov, and many others. Rumi, Hafiz, etc too – I adore Daniel
Ladinsky’s translations of
mystic poetry. And I have a
collection of translations of Sun Tzu’s Art of War.
b) In general, while I'd usually prefer to make up stories than sit
in a
theater, I do
find some films provide inspiration for my own creativity. Based on
some 300+ ratings (as of September 2009), Netflix expects me to
like imaginative sci-fi & fantasy, feel-good comedies with a
strong female lead, inspiring underdog movies based on
real life, critically
acclaimed dysfunctional-family movies, emotional dramas, dramas
about food, and romantic indie flicks – especially if they're
British. (I'd link to my profile there, but haven't found a
publicly viewable page.) Lately (early 2013), I’ve been more into
episodic TV series than movies, as the form allows for more depth
of
character development.
Notably, I’ve been feeling less inclined to watch big explodey
action stuff too. Still feeling into that.
c) I like waaay too much music to describe here, and I don’t pay
enough attention to what I’m listening to that I could name it all.
Everything from classical to pop, ambient rock to gangsta rap,
novelty songs, metal, techno, house, industrial, dub-step,
shoegaze, electronic music, … hell, it’s mostly all just
4 Chords anyway,
right?
What, you want specifics? There are only a few artists whose whole
collections I’ve tried to gather up at one point or another (and
most of these I eventually stopped): Benedictine Monks of Santo
Domingo de Silos, Candlepark Stars, Dead Can Dance, Deep Forest,
Ani DiFranco, Enigma, Enya, Nine Inch Nails, Portland Cello
Project, Katherine Quinn, Jason Webley. Nearly one in every seven
minutes of music on my hard drive is classical.
I’m sometimes embarrassed that I can still recite Gangsta Gangsta
(by NWA). Less embarrassed that I can recite the Star Wars Gangsta
Rap. Never embarrassed that I enjoy dancing to pop music. I grew up
falling asleep at Gilbert and Sullivan festivals (and
Shakespeare, but that’s
a different sort of music). I’m most likely to pick up a new piece
of music these days if I enjoy dancing to it, or if it gives me
that yummy expansive feeling of … yummy
expansiveness.
d)
Chocolate.
Sushi. Local, fresh, seasonal foods. High-quality
ingredients with minimalist
preparation. I enjoy a mashup of Paleo and Slow-Carb diets, guided
mostly by
what my body wants in the
moment. My favorite sort of cookbooks now are those that offer
inspiration – flavor combinations, menu planning, and that sort of
thing. I have my reference library pretty well stocked: Bittman,
Joy, The Flavor Bible, and the 4-Hour Chef form its backbone. I
might be running a
secret underground
restaurant.
