Whenever I come across a book, article, film, person or something else that I think might be worth your while, I will list it here. These things and people somehow made me feel alive, sometimes just because they made me smile or laugh.
Films/TV
Ordinary People (1980, drama)
What's Up, Doc? (1972, comedy)
La Grande Bellezza, or The Great Beauty (2013, drama)
Don't Look Back (1967, documentary)
Plein Soleil (1960, suspense)
The Elephant Man (1980, drama)
Amélie, or Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001, romantic comedy)
Central Station (1998, drama)
Lars and the Real Girl (2007, drama)
The Remains of the Day (1993, drama)
You Can Count on Me (2000, drama)
Toni Erdmann (2016, drama/comedy)
The Dreamlife of Angels, or La Vie Rêvée des Anges (1998, drama)
Angels in America (2003, drama)
The Store (1984, documentary)
In the Mood for Love (2000, drama)
The Best of Youth (2003, drama)
Waiting for Guffman (1996, comedy)
Bowfinger (1999, comedy)
When Harry Met Sally (1989, romantic comedy)
Yi Yi (2000, drama)
I Am Love (2009, drama)
Capernaum (2018, drama)
The Power of the Dog (2021, drama)
The Worst Person in the World, or Verdens Verste Menneske (2021, drama/comedy)
Flee (2021, drama)
Somebody Somewhere (2022, drama/comedy)
Books
The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck (1978)
Escape from Freedom, Chapter 7: Freedom and Democracy, Erich Fromm (1941)
How People Change, Allen Wheelis (1975)
Counterclockwise, Ellen Langer (2009)
Codependent No More, Melody Beattie (1987)
Eat, Drink and Be Healthy, Walter Willett, MD (2017)
On Becoming a Person, Carl Rogers (1961)
Bowling Alone, Robert D. Putnam (2000)
The Rise and Fall of American Growth, Robert Gordon (2016)
Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, Anne Case & Angus Deaton (2020)
One of Us, Åsne Seierstad (2015)
The Moon and Sixpence, W. Somerset Maugham (1919)
A Christmas Memory, Truman Capote (1956)
An Inspector Calls (a play), J. B. Priestley (1945)
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (1963)
Silent Spring, Rachel Carson (1962)
Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion (1968)
The White Album, Joan Didion (1979)
Eve's Hollywood, Eve Babitz (1974)
Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh, and L.A., Eve Babitz (1977)
What I'd Say to the Martians: And Other Veiled Threats, Jack Handey (2008)
Minding the Store, Stanley Marcus (1974)
Quest for the Best, Stanley Marcus (1979)
Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion?, Johan Harstad (2012)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers (1940)
Sunday Nights at Seven, Jack Benny & Joan Benny (1990)
Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (a play), Moisés Kaufman (1999)
Picasso at the Lapin Agile (a play), Steve Martin (1996)
Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata (2016)
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami (2013)
The Stench of Honolulu: A Tropical Adventure, Jack Handey (2013)
I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers (a play), John Logan (2013)
Candide, or Optimism, Voltaire (1759)
Paintings
Evening on Karl Johan, or Aften på Karl Johan, Edvard Munch (1892)
Artists, Comedians & Other Notables
Edvard Munch
Egon Schiele
Hilma af Klint
Dina Martina
Mx Justin Vivian Bond
Bridget Everett
Paul Foot
Joe Wilkinson
John Kearns
Kiki & Herb
Klaus Nomi
Hugo Ball & Emmy Hennings
Sophie Calle
Antony and the Johnsons/Anohni
Paul Klee
Steve Martin
Voltaire
Stanley Marcus