Photographer

Man Ray is genius. An early avant-garde photographer who should be known by all, he is a pioneer. I love his photography of people, especially women.

I love a lot of nude photography (not pornography, there’s a difference). The photographs from Ziegfeld Follies are absolutely gorgeous but they’re from theater.

Artist

John William Waterhouse. Ever since the first time I came across his paintings I’ve been hooked. His paintings are beautiful and very powerful. John Everett Millais is another favorite artist of mine. The first one of his I saw was Ophelia.

Author

I happen to like JKR because of the Harry Potter series. She’s a fantastic at spinning a tale. Her writing is not the greatest but the story more than makes up for it. I also enjoy Bret Easton Ellis, his work is not magical but dark and almost empty (but not vapid) in a cold way. After reading American Psycho I bought nearly all his other books and read them fairly rapidly, unable to put them down.

Book

I am temped to say American Psycho but I also love Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis. American Psycho was like a punch to the gut but Lunar Park felt like it had more heart without ever becoming saccharine and clichéd. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides is one I liked very much. The restrictive life of teenage girls in suburbia in the seventies. It makes teenage angst look beautiful and tragic. Not that it is or should be thought of that way. I also adore the Harry Potter series. I thought it was just another phase that children were going through but when I picked up the first book I couldn’t stop reading. You can officially say I am obsessed with all that is Harry Potter. I don’t really have a favorite book in the series though I do happen to love all the characters you’re supposed to hate.

Band/Singer

Pink Floyd has been my favorite for years, I can listen to their albums over and over again. I used to listen to the wall when I had insomnia. I stereotypically am also a fan of Tori Amos. I find that I can relate to her music a lot, her words are poetry. However, I hate just about everything after From the Choirgirl Hotel. Another favorite is The Dresden Dolls. They are very unusual and I couldn’t hope to describe them beyond their self-defined punk cabaret. Some really raw and beautiful music. My latest favorite is Cat Power, especially her earlier work. It’s really haunting.

Color

I tend to go for red, especially crimson red. It’s so beautiful and so vibrant. It’s part of the reason I’m drawn to blood, such a beautiful color.

Movie

My favorite has to be eitherMy Neighbor Totoro or Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Both are linked to my happier memories of childhood. I think Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is superior to the more recent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory even if Roald Dahl didn’t care for it! Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a more recent favorite. I loved how the solution to their problems was not erasing their memories and how they decided to give it another go despite the fact they’d erased one another from their minds.

Poet

It would be Samuel Taylor Coleridge for Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner which are genius and renewed my love for poetry and the power it can have. Mina Loy is second, her beautiful, fragmented poetry has moments of brilliance amidst the wordplay. Sylvia Plath comes in close third, I love listening to my mp3s of her reading her poems out loud. I also like Anne Sexton and T.S. Eliot.

Poem

Kubla Khan is brilliant and inspiring. A fragment but one that packs more into it than a million completed poems. I also adore Daddy by Sylvia Plath, it was one of the first poems I fell in love with.

Song

I love Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. I used to listen to that song when I was depressed, it always made me feel better. I used to feel that way, comfortably numb. Still do, sometimes. A Day in the Life is also one of my favorites. it just is… I can’t quite put my finger on it… somewhat dark and strange. I also really like Peach, Plum, Pear by Joanna Newsom which, to be quite honest, I didn’t like at first. I was certainly fascinated it and put the music video on repeat about twenty times in a row so I could listen. In that time I went from dislike to adoration. Joanna Newsom’s voice can take some time to get used to but its uniqueness, her lyrics, and the harp make a combination that can be hard to shake from your mind.

Sport

None. I hate all sports equally. I do enjoy watching gymnastics during the Summer Olympics. I don’t know if gymnastics are considered a sport, though.

Television Show

It used to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer but that show has long been over. Right now The Big Bang Theory owns my soul. Sheldon — of course! — is my favorite character. He is brilliant, innocent in a way that is rarely seen on television, stubborn and set in his ways. In person, one of the most difficult people one would ever come across but safely on the other side of the screen he is easily my favorite character at the moment. Other than that I don’t really watch much television.

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