Bittersweet Candy Bowl Forums

So I've been wondering, what influences you all in terms of things you read/watch/listen to/have experienced/etc? (This can include religion if you want to disclose such things, but bear in mind there seem to be certain Dawkins like personalities emergent on these forums ^^)

I personally have been influenced by rather a lot of science fiction, though not the usual type of "star wars lasers and death", more the type of taking situations which require science fiction to be plausible, but then focus more on the characters within. Ark is a -very- good example of this. I like psychological stuff, things that make you think, and of course a bit of epic story in the form of Peter F Hamilton always goes down well.

Next up would probably be rather a lot of optimistic music, I essentially grew up listening to Bon Jovi etc, which despite being often rather cliched, the lyrics certainly do seem to fit life in general rather well. That kind of style, lyrics, probably influenced my way of thinking when I was younger, and still holds today. Not that uncommon according to the various people doing Psychology at my school, it's why you shouldn't listen to bosnian music kids!

Also, quite a lot of stuff that generally examines questions many would term as "existential bullshit", but which utterly fascinate me. Anime does this rather well, though doesn't directly ask the questions, more prompts them. For instance, ideas about the nature of a god were one to exist, the nature of a soul, what happens if you create a perfect copy of yourself in machine space, etc. Lots of stuff which can be highly irrelevant to the real world but which is interesting to think about nonetheless, and has probably shaped my thoughts on matters of religion etc.

But finally, introspection. Thinking about oneself. This coupled with being more or less -forced- to figure out how people think when it comes to talking to new people, interacting with one another, etc, due to quite a few events.

But enough about me, this thread is for -you- to feel free to spout about what has influenced you in the way you think, I expect a lot of people talking about BCB here ^^

Oh, and if there are no takers after a few days, this is for the admins, feel free to simply delete this if you think it's massively pretentious or some such, I merely thought it'd be interesting!

Have fun

Pretty simple for me, right now. Earthbound, The Beatles, David Bowie, the manga Berserk and assorted drugs, legal and not.

A lot of input from my Hindu dad who would give me things to read and suggest music to me.

It's kind of strange to be pouring this stuff out over the internet... but then again, I wonder if it's easier because we're all anonymous?

Anyway, my dad was always my biggest influence. He lived to love his family, and he was a scientist. When I was growing up, I would always talk to him about what his latest project was, how things worked, why things were the way they were... etc. He'd always answer, and explain it so I could understand.

God, even since the 2nd grade we'd have these conversations. I knew I wanted to do what he did since I was just a kid.

I always wanted to be just like him - open minded, curious, capable... compassionate. I used him as a template for my own values.

And now he's gone, at least how I knew him. I don't know what this means, is everyone fallible? All I do know for sure, is that what he did was unacceptable. That's not how you treat people, your own family especially. So for better or worse, he has been the single biggest influence in my life.

Has anyone else here ever seen the person they look up to most in the whole world turn bad? It's a spectacularly painful thing, and it left me feeling empty.