Two favorite groups right now: The Mountain Goats and Antony and the Johnsons (both have just incredible lyrical poetry). I dig all kinds of music, live and recorded: Up next (August), Matthew Herbert, The Clientele, Supersuckers. Recently seen live: Mountain Goats, Silver Jews, Yo La Tengo, Spoon, Os Mutantes, Cage, Man Man, Band of Horses, Devendra Banhart, The Walkmen, Ted Leo, The National, Mission of Burma, Blue Cheer, AFI and Goran Bregovic (40 piece gypsy band from the Balkans that was like a rock concert, everyone dancing in mad celebration), The Wrens, Art Brut, Drive-By Truckers, Animal Collective, Dungen, Liars, My Morning Jacket, The Black Keys, Tapes N Tapes, Jason Collett (Broken Social Scene), The Apes, Roky Erikson, High On Fire, Blue Cheer, The Sword, The Constantines, 90 Day Men, The Streets, Bloc Party, Ghostface, Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices), Marianne Dissard, Naim Amor, Can.Ky.Ree, Ray Davies (The Kinks). I also like classical (chamber & symphony), blues, jazz (Coltrane, Miles, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, etc.) and hip-hop (The Streets, Madvillain, Ghostface) alt-country (Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Neko Case, The Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo and The Flying Burrito Brothers (Gilded Palace of Sin) and bluegrass. No polka (except during Germanfest) - I must draw the line somewhere. Album I'm playing most right now - Jason Collett: Idols of Exile. Can't get enough of Antony and the Johnsons either.

Ok, I promised to start my list and here is the first part. I'll add a few movies at a time. City of Angels, Memento, Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Reservoir Dogs, Amadeus, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2, Crash, The Graduate, Platoon, Trainspotting, Sling Blade, The Terminator (all of them)

TIVO, whatever interests me. Huff, Sopranos, Entourage. Also, crime dramas - all of the CSI's, Law and Order's, Criminal Minds, Lost, Prison Break, 24. Just started watching Big Brother 7. I have watched everything but the first season (see low-brow tates under the Movies section!).

Two best books I ever read: Winter's Tale -- by Mark Helprin, The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- by Milan Kundera. I dig mysteries, the hard-boiled cop kind - not the English style...Robert B. Parker, Lee Child, like that.