| General | Yoga (tantra, raja), jogging, cycling, electric guitar, picking berries and mushrooms, literature.
PRE MODERN VISUAL ART:
Tiepolo.
MODERN / HISTORICAL AVANT-GARDE ART:
Giacometti, the less kitschy mythologial graphics of Picasso, slightly psychedelic and spiritually oriented early modernism (e.g. Chagall, early abstract painting in Russia).
SEMI-KITSCHY, SEMI-EROTIC DECORATIVE MODERN PAINTING:
Klimt, Mucha.
CONTEMPORARY ART:
Kyupi Kyupi, Mariko Mori (the 3D's), Jeff Koons (early 1990s), Takashi Murakami, ROR, Paul McCarthy, Jarmo Mäkilä (1980-90s).
ILLUSTRATORS:
Tove Jansson (who's pictures are actually constitutive for the novels they 'illustrate').
ANIMATION
Zdenek Miler, 1940s and 1950s Goofy, Tex Avery (especially Droopy - and of all singular works King Size Canary), Raymond Briggs.
ARCHITECTURE / CITYSCAPES:
Palladio, (some very basic) Le Corbusier, semi candied art deco / jugend / liberty, Renzo Piano, Rem Koolhaas (in theory), Viljo Revell, Cannaregio (, Rialto, Murano, Burano, & the rest of La Serenissima), arcades of Bologna, Firenze (à la Medici, especially Ponte Vecchio, Lucca (and other cities strong in beautifying atmosphere which do not overtly stimulate only the eye), super-candied German and Austrian villages, (the aura of) Manhattan, Tivoli Copenhagen, the weird majesty of St. Petersburg.
THEATRE & PERFORMING ARTS:
E.g. Akhe, Forced Entertainment, Dave St. Pierre, Vera Nevanlinna, Teater Terrier, Esa Kirkkopelto (early 1990s), Roi Vaara, Jouko Turkka (not later than early 1990s), and a variety of experimental Cirque Nouveau and ultra technical though aesthetically conservative Russian / Lithuanian theatre - without forgetting the classical Bolshoi Moscow and Scott Circuses - have cut traces in me.
| | Music |
JAZZ
Mahavishnu Orchestra, John Zorn, Return to Forever, Krakatau, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock (1970s), (the jazzy part of) Zappa, Tolonen.
'R&B' & African
James Brown and the JBs (especially Lyn Collins and Bobby Byrd), Funkadelic, Destiny's Child, Wu Tang Clan (especially Ghostface Killah), Fela Kuti, Earth, Wind and Fire, Jill Scott.
(HARD) ROCK (SURF & ROLL)
The Cramps, Black Sabbath, AC DC (Bon Scott's - though Back in Black might be the best record - classical AC DC paradox), Jeff Beck Group, Motörhead.
(ULTRA)FINNISH
(1980s) Eppu Normaali, Leevi and the Leavings, Tuomari Nurmio, Kikka Laitinen, Topi Sorsakoski (& Esa Pulliainen).
MODERN 'ART' MUSIC
Rautavaara (Icons, Angel of Bliss).
CLASSICAL
Venetian classics (Paganini, Vivaldi), Bach (Glenn Gould).
FILM MUSIC
Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota.
VARIETY
Muppet Show, Povel Ramel.
SOAP
ABBA, Mariah Carey.
| | Movies | Jean-Luc Godard (Weekend , Alphaville, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Andrei Tarkovsky (Stalker, Solaris, Bullit (with Steve McQueen), Mirror, Nagisa Oshima, Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries), Federico Fellini (Amarcord,Satyricon, Rome, City of Women, Emir Kusturica, Krzysztof Kieslowski (The Decalogue, The Double Life of Veronique), Terrence Malick (New World, Thin Red Line), Janne Kuusi: Apinan vuosi, Mikko Niskanen: Kahdeksan surmanluotia, John Woo (Hardboiled and other Hong Kong 1970s), Jim Jarmusch, Katariina Lillqvist, Yen Woo-Ping (Snake in the Eagles Shadow, Drunken Master), Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now), Roger Corman's horror movies, Suzanne Osten, Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill 1 and 2, Reservoir Dogs), Sergio Leone (Once Upon a Time in West), Jane Campion, Stanley Kubrick - and everything with Sophia Loren, Chow Yun Fat or Claudia Cardinale, without forgetting (early pre porn) Russ Meyer, 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Shogun Assasin, Barbarella, and all Hayao Miyazaki. Les Parapluies de Cherbourg.
| | Television | Muppet Show (RIP). Hard Talk With Tim Sebastian (RIP).
Nam June Paik? Old fashioned EBU radio is better. My favorite shows have included e.g. Päivän kansanedustaja (Sakari Sirkkanen), Kansanradio, and Päivän peili. | | Books | PROSE
Tove Jansson, Italo Calvino, Antonio Tabucchi, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Thomas Mann, Stewart Home, Alexander McCall Smith, Vigdis Grimsdottir, Rabelais, Astrid Lindgren, Kinky Friedman, Paavo Haavikko, Hemingway('s early short stories which are not yet too kitschy).
POETRY
Edith Södergran, Pentti Saarikoski, Nils Ferlin, Marja-Liisa Vartio, Paavo Haavikko, Sirkka Selja, Vergilius, Daniil Harms, Henry Parland, Tage Danielsson.
ESSAYS (& artistically spiced up fact literature)
Cicero, Max Jakobson, Johannes Salminen, Brillat-Savarin, Joseph Wechsberg, Armas J. Pulla, Kirsti Simonsuuri, Camille Paglia, Jan Kaplinski.
COMICS
Pratt, Altan, Manara, Franquin, Jansson(s), Morris (&), Goscinny (&), Uderzo, Barks, Pirttisalo, Gaiman, Tilsa, Eisner, Briggs, Shelton - Sheridan.
| | Heroes | Pippi Longstocking. |
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