Me? I read. I play computer games. I listen to music. Occasionally, I write.
Because what we like defines who we are (naturally!):
Favorite book - The Little Prince, St. Exupery
Also fond of - Oscar Wilde, Dave Eggers, Catch-22, Kurt Vonnegut, and many, many more.
Favorite game - Planescape: Torment
Also harbors weaknesses for - Homeworld, Deus Ex, Fallout, and System Shock 2.
Favorite group (of the moment)- The Kings of Convenience
Also listening to - Cat Power, Nick Drake, Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy incarnation), George Winston, Philip Glass, Badly Drawn Boy, Starsailor, Nick Cave, Liz Story, and Norah Jones.
If you possess a degree of appreciation for all of the above, /msg me, for you are my new best friend. Nick Hornby got it right when he said It's not what you're like, it's what you like.
So what do my tastes say about me? To start with, my literary favorites aren't particularly obscure, tending towards the more contemporary. All the books or authors display accessible prose - with The Little Prince epitomizing this - betraying my short attention span. The hint at "many, many more" authors yet unlisted is an attempt to establish literary credibility and counteract the facile nature of my book selections. My computer game choices gravitate towards RPGs - 3 out of 4 selections reside in close proximity to that genre. That I enjoy computer games at all reflects a desire for escape; that I enjoy games which emphasize story and character development reflects a penchant for sophistication and erudition in my vehicle of escapism. This is a manifestation of my somewhat elitist personality, and indicates an insecurity about/rebellion against the loser/geek/philistine stigma which is attached to games. My present musical tastes seem disparate at first glance, with artists ranging from new age to europop to sadcore. However, investigation reveals that all the artists, irrespective of genre, tend to sing in introspective, somber tones. As my personal music zeitgeist changes constantly, this describes more my current mood than any underlying character traits. The other constant is the obscurity of my favored artists (at least relative to the standards of commercial radio), which is further evidence of my pretentious nature. That media darling Norah Jones makes the list demontrates that I'm not pretentious enough to resist a pretty face.
Whee. Narcissistic self-analysis is fun. I think everyone should try this.
Tintinnabulation (def.: The ringing or sounding of bells) is the most beautiful word in the English language. It sounds like the sort of word a precocious 6-year-old might invent, much to the bemusement of his ignorant parents. It happens to be the invention of Poe, and somehow ended up in the dictionary. This is my new goal: to create a word so achingly exquisite that it ends up in dictionaries of future generations.