music, art, photography, coaching, reading great stuff where ever I find it, writing bad prose; although I suppose that depends on the day and who you ask. And kids. Other stuff, too- worthwhile and worth mentioning, but I'll stay with what I've written and leave it at that.
Music
All sorts. I love them all equally, but differently.
First and foremost, friends who are musicians and songwriters, too many to name, but here are my influences and who I love:
The Police, Sting, Koop, Jamiroquai, Dada, The Helio Sequence, Hail Social, Crowded House, Kings of Leon, Coldplay, Sade, Otis Redding, Jamie Lidell, Interpol, Fleet Foxes, Arcade Fire, Beck, The Moody Blues, Fiction Plane, Pink Floyd, David Gilmour and Roger Waters (separately) Paul Simon, Kt Tunstall, Patsy Cline, Fiona Apple, Yes, Holst, The Killers, Duran Duran. And of course, my husband, Doug Fant.
I could go on for weeks, and I'm always discovering new music.
Movies
I love Psychological Thrillers...most Alfred Hitchcock especially. Standouts for me are "Dr. Zchivago" "Street Car Named Desire" and "Requiem of a Dream". "The English Patient" "The Color Purple". The Machinist. And I'm Star Wars fan. The Jerk. Steve Martin. Will Ferrell. (Someone please tell him to stop playing the same character in every movie though). Anything that can make me laugh. Particularly middle-school humor. Life has just become too flipping serious.
Television
HEROES!! Law and Order, Comedy central, History Channel, Biography as well. Intervention on Sun. night 10pm on A&E- It really opened my eyes to real mental illness and addictions.
Don't like big city girl "draaaama" sitcoms. Few things make me angry, but they make me angry because women everywhere are trying to immulate them.
Books
I just read the most incredible book- Signed, Mata Hari by Yannick Murphy. I highly recommend it; it really sticks with you. I love non-fiction, biographies, and autobiographies of people whom I find to be fascinating. Biographies tend to be more accurate and less flowery so I prefer them over autobios.
Books I'd read again: The Alchemist, "City of God" (E.L. Doctorow), "Letters from The Earth" by Mark Twain, "God of Small Things", Amy Tan, same with Stephen King (I've been reading his stuff since I was in 5th grade...
The list keeps getting longer. The Historian, Blood Meridian, Great Expecations, Something Wicked this Way Comes, Great Gatsby, The Giving Tree (Shel Silverstein) Feel the Warm- Rod McKuen; I write (poetry/prose) myself and am published.
Heroes
My daughter, Laurelen- because she's the greatest fighter and survivor of things I've ever seen. She has saved her dad's life several times, and thinks nothing of it. She makes me want to go back in time to my childhood and shake things up a bit. She has taught ME how not to be a doormat.
And of course my Mom- she kicked breast cancer's butt, she also has lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, has given birth to and raised six children and is still all in one piece- she's amazing and that's something I didn't truly appreciate until over the course of being a mother myself and having to deal with and manage similar health issues now. And my husband.
Who I'd like to meet: On a personal note- in all honesty, no matter how smart, witty, or successful you are, if you are a sincere person- I will like you.
And on the networking side of things- I'm always on the lookout for other musicians/writers/photographers/friends who don't take themselves too seriously, but are serious about what they do; hope that makes sense.
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We are finally ready to start promoting my 'I Surrender' single with my album, 'Ella Trip' coming right after -yey!! What d'ya think to the video teaser?
Yes, we had a good day at home...I'm sure Audra was loving her Daddy attention! Not sure if we are going to be at home for another day or not, yet! Christmas vacation may have started early!
Glad you enjoyed the post, Amos -- feel free to forward, and I'll keep 'em coming!
BTW, have you seen my website discussion board? It's a fun forum with people from all over the world talking about the Rain Fall movie (recently wrapped shooting in Tokyo and NYC and starring Gary Oldman); the next book, called Fault Line; and writing, politics, single malt whisky, and anything else that strikes people's fancy, with a monthly chat on writing, too. So if you have a chance, stop by and say hello -- it would be good to see you there...
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