Oooooh!
Musically, I adore the works of Metallica. Honestly. Laugh all you want, but between Ulrich, Hammet, and Hetfield...lets just say that they make some of the most intricate, harmonious, and heartfelt speed metal (yes, I prefer the 80's stuff) I have ever heard. I also had a soft spot for the
Youngblood Brass Band. They used to have this amazing tuba player that has been heralded as one of the best in the world and had been recruited by orchestras from San Francisco to London to Ukraine. Sadly, he recently left the band to pursue one of these paths, but their early albums are great. Classically, Vivaldi is fabulous. His style is timeless and great fun to play. In a contemporary classical vein, Philip Glass is...wow. Similar to Vivaldi in terms of tempo and patterns, but very unique in his own right.
In terms of writing, I sincerely enjoy C.S.Lewis, Ayn Rand, and Joseph Conrad. As much as I may not like to admit it,
Lord Jim really was a fantastic book.
Architecturally, Santiago Calatrava (sp?) is amazing. Talk about combining form and functionality!
The Milwaukee Art Museum is truly a sight to see (aaand they have great exhibits, and its nearby, and...)
My favorite artists are Monet, Georgia O'Keefe, Chuck Close, Leonardo DaVinci, Frank Netter, and Gregory Colbert. As a little girl, my parents always gave me books about art and my favorite one was one that was filled with paintings of his own garden, analyzing how colors and shapes changed as he aged. Seeing his works up close is phenomenal, the paint is piled on so heavily that the pictures look as if they have been crafted out of lacquered clay. O'Keefe has clean lines and beautiful, fluid images. Close, wow, his name belies his artwork in a most facinating way. The closer you get to his pieces, the less they make sense.
This image takes a while to load but shows just how strange the images are up close. I have yet to see it in a gallery that gives viewers enough room to back up to see a completely focused image. Da Vinci and Netter are both widely heralded for their work in anatomical illustration. Again, laugh it up, but another one of my passions is reading medical/surgical textbooks to see how everything works. Pictures help tremendously
Last, but not least, is Colbert, an astonishing photograper. Not only did he take beautiful photographs for his
Ashes and Snow exhibit, he also created a reusable "museum" to house them both in travel and while on display.
I <3 art