Linguistics and Heavy Metal are my life
Metal, Linguistics, The Written Word, STEM, etc
Opeth and Tool are my two favorite bands. I actually went to Sweden to see Opeth live in concert for their 20th Anniversary Tour, which was how this whole World Tour I'm doing started, and Opeth (particularly Mikael Åkerfeldt) is the reason why I studied Swedish. Tool are easily one of the best and most perfect bands in the history of the universe, and Danny Carey is my favorite drummer in the world), Jimi Hendrix (the reason why I am a musician today), Faith No More (their "The Real Thing" album was my introduction to western music, believe it or not), Sigur Rós (seen these guys live 4 times), Pink Floyd, Flogging Molly, Arcturus, ...and Oceans, Tenhi, Tinariwen, Sepultura, Soulfly (Max Cavalera is one of my favorite musicians ever), Alice in Chains, Eluveitie, Ensiferum, green carnation, Porcupine Tree, Ministry, Meshuggah, Dark Tranquillity, Apocalyptica, Vintersorg, Huun Huur Tu, Yat-Kha, Tyva Kyzy, Ismo Alanko, Shiina Ringo, Sigh, Devin Townsend, The Offspring, Tantric, Ustad Zakir Hussain (my percussion hero!), Mechanical Poet, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Do Make Say Think, Radiohead, Loreena McKennitt, The Tea Party, Korpiklaani, Garmarna, Hedningarna, Värttinä, Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Anathema, Yoko Kanno & the Seatbelts, Mass
I've only very recently in my life developed any care or concern whatsoever for movies, thanks in major part (almost exclusively, really) to Steve Willner. Check him out; he's essentially the sole individual influence upon me appreciating movies today. Today, they include: V for Vendetta, Sound of Noise (I'm convinced that this movie was made specifically for me), Wanted, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Powder, Mozart and the Whale, Stay, Six String Samurai (I'm fairly convinced that this move was also made specifically for me), Zero Effect, Dogma, The Matrix, Mongol, Latcho Drom, Baraka, Gattaca, K-Pax, Pink Floyd's "The Wall", Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Johnny Depp is an absolute master), Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer, Ratatouille, Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter (the greatest movie ever made!), Army of Darkness, the Cowboy Bebop movie, Boondock Saints, The Truman Show, Malcolm X, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Equilibrium, all the Monty Python movies, Metal - A Headbanger's Journey, Global Metal, Genghis Blues, The Yes Men, Addicted to Plastic, Exit Through the Gift Shop, quite a few others
Mark C. Baker - "The Atoms of Language", "Visionary Plant Consciousness" edited by J.P. Harpignies, Daniel Pinchbeck - "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl", Kenneth Smith - "Awakening the Energy Body: From Shamanism to Bioenergetics", J. Krishnamurti - "As One Is: To Free the Mind of all Conditioning", Masaru Emoto - "The Hidden Messages in Water", John Howard Griffin - "Black Like Me", Sam Harris - "The End of Faith", Jack Weatherford - "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" and "The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire", Sun Tzu - "The Art of War", the Buddha - "Dhammapaða", The Dalai Lama - "The Four Noble Truths", Miyamoto Musashi - "The Book of Five Rings", George Orwell - "1984", George Orwell - "Animal Farm", Ray Bradbury - "Fahrenheit 451", "The Upanishads", "The Bhagavadgita", "The Epic of Gilgamesh", H.P. Lovecraft - "collected stories", Amy Dockser Marcus - "The View from Nebo", Irshad Manji - "The Trouble with Islam Today", James Hollis - "Under Saturn's Shadow: The Wounding and Healing of Men (Studies in Jungian Psychology By Jungian Analysts)", Jack Holland - "A Short History of Misogyny", Marc Feigen Fasteau - "The Male Machine", "What the Bleep do we know?", Ferdowsi - "Shahnameh" (if ever, IF EVER, there was a book with a history and a purpose...), Jose Antonio Burciaga - "Drink Cultura", Sharon Lawrence - "Jimi Hendrix" (Sharon is a journalist who actually knew and was close personal friends with Jimi; everyone should read this book), Steven Mithen - "The Singing Neanderthal: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body", Bill Plotkin - "Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche", Gregg Braden - "The Divine Matrix: Bridging Time Space, Miracles, and Beliefs", Stephen Hawking - "A Brief History of Time", Dr. Louann Brizendine - "The Female Brain", Richard Zachs - "An Underground Education", Payam Nabarz - "The Mysteries of Mithras", Upton Sinclair - "The Jungle", Chuck Thompson - "Smile when you're lying", the dictionary, anything non-fiction relating to history, psychology, neurokinetics, neurobiology, physiology, esoteric studies, Moorish studies, sociology, gender studies, physics, astrophysics, astronomy, quantum mechanics, cooking, etc. I read a lot
Dexter, House M.D., South Park
"Learn your chords, learn your scales, and then forget all that shit and just play." -Charlie Parker
“A sense of wider meaning to one's own existence is what raises a man beyond mere getting and spending. If he lacks this sense, he is lost and miserable.”
— Carl Gustav Jung, from Man and his Symbols (Part 1, page 78)
You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.
— Anon