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Philosophy
Everyone should be encouraged to articulate a philosophy of life, in as few words as get the job done. Mine boils down to looking at life as a quest; for me that quest is to continually gain knowledge and understanding of myself, those close to me, our entire peculiar species, and the world and all its other fascinating creatures. Of course, knowledge and understanding, to have value, need to be put to use, which is the purpose of the quest. That is, to do my small part in improving the lives and circumstances of others (humans as well as other beings), and perhaps even in some tiny way the planet itself.

Thus I try to reject hedonism, unbridled capitalism, and materialism (though I have a weakness for gadgets of all kinds; I can't wait for HDTV), embrace social and environmental responsibility, and appreciate the benefits and fragility of democracy (the best way to strengthen and defend democracy is to vigorously PRACTICE it). Because I see life in terms of continual exploration I am drawn to Eastern religions, which tend to value the journey much more than the destination. Not for me a theology that has all the answers, and promises special privileges in an afterlife for the obedient and unquestioning. I can’t abide know-it-all people or philosophies. I believe in the essential mystery of a universe whose dimensions are simply beyond our comprehension; I believe this mystery has an overwhelming beauty. To put a human face on such supra human beauty, as certain religions attempt to do, is an act of the sheerest blasphemy, to my way of thinking.

My last point is a realization I have only fully gained recently. It is the conviction that our biggest problem as a society and a species is immodesty: the notion that our cleverness makes us more important than other creatures, that our ability to create gives us license to destroy, that our technology can solve any problem, that the strength of our beliefs has the power to alter fundamental laws of nature. I believe that if we continue to harbor such delusions, nature will eventually provide us a very nasty surprise. And we will learn that neither we, nor our gods, are nearly so powerful as we thought.

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► A few of my favorite authors, and my favorite among their works (in no particular order).

Classic and Popular Literature

► Current favorite pop group.
Dave Mathews Band.

► A few of my favorite movie directors and my favorites among their movies.

Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds; Orson Welles, The Trial, Ang Lee, Ride with the Devil; David Cronenberg, Naked Lunch; Anh Hung Tran, The Scent of Green Papaya; Terrence Malick, Days of Heaven; Akira Kurosawa, Seven Samurai; Majid Majidi, The Color of Paradise; Joel and Ethan Coen, Fargo; Mike Leigh, Secrets and Lies; Orson Wells, The Trial; Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove; Jane Campion, The Piano; Jean-Luc Godard, Breathless; Charlie Chaplin, City Lights; John Huston, Treasure of the Sierra Madre; Fritz Lang, The Big Heat; Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity; Albert Brooks, Lost in America.

► My favorite film/stage actors (as many as I can think of, for fun; there are countless wonderful actors and actresses that could go on this list).

Marlon Brando, Humphrey Bogart, Gérard Depardieu, Bette Davis, Vanessa Redgrave, Charlie Chaplin, Jimmie Stewart, Buster Keaton, Sidney Poitier, Toshirô Mifune, Barbara Stanwyck, Bruno Ganz, Sigourney Weaver, Edward G. Robinson, Lilian Gish, James Cagney, Henry Fonda, Laurence Olivier, Lauren Bacall, Jack Nicholson, Emma Thompson, Charles Laughton, Robert Mitchum, Gong Li, Daniel Auteuil, Walter Brennan, Pedro Armendáriz, Helena Bonham Carter, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Emmanuelle Béart, Morgan Freeman, Paul Newman, Holly Hunter, Rod Steiger, Benicio Del Toro, Yun-Fat Chow, Vanessa Williams, Ashley Judd, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Peter Falk, George Scott, Marlene Dietrich, Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, David Thewlis, John Turturro.

► My favorite comedy performers (that come to mind).

Richard Pryor; Bill Cosby; Robin Williams; Gene Wilder; Peter Sellers; the cast of SCTV: John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Dave Thomas; Select members of the casts of Saturday Night Live: John Belushi, Bill Murray, Christopher Guest, Eddie Murphy, Harry Shearer, Billy Crystal, Al Franken, Chris Rock, Mike Myers, etc. (why is it none of the many excellent female cast members of SNL resonate with me?); Jim Henson's Muppets.

► A few of my favorite TV shows over the years.

Sesame Street; Law and Order; Lonesome Dove (original); The Civil War; Colombo; Upstairs Downstairs, Bramwell, Prime Suspect, and several other excellent Masterpiece Theater series; Saturday Night Live; SCTV; Red Dwarf; Mystery Science Theater 3000; Star Trek (original and next generation); Bob Newhart (original); The Simpsons; Nova; Frontline; Nature.

► My current favorite TV cartoons (mostly from watching TV with my daughter).

Dexter's Lab; Courage the Cowardly Dog; Power Puff Girls; Arthur; Sagwa; Adult Swim (Sunday night adult)

► Favorite websites.

• Search: www.google.com
  Hands down the best, for most kinds of search.

• Topical: www.Salon.com
  Long well-written articles from a variety of voices and perspectives.

• Movie info: http://us.imdb.com
  Internet Movie Database.  Killer.

• Movie reviews: Duncan Shepard
  Of the San Diego Reader (www.sdreader.com). Highly discerning and discriminating, and a real student of film and film history without being snooty. Of course he actually likes maybe one movie in 20, especially if you're talking about Hollywood movies of the last few decades. Which is about right, in my view.

• Sports: www.ESPN.com , www.CNNSI.com
  CNNSI.com's NFL coverage is better.

• Techie: www.ZDNet.com
  I liked the TV show better when it was called ZDTV.

• Shopping: www.consumerreports.org, www.Amazon.com, www.Buy.com
  I try always to start with Consumer Reports, the bible. From there I generally just look for best price using one of those price crawler sites. The buying experience at Amazon can't be beat, and Buy has good selection of computer stuff.

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