The Lord of Misrule

I’m going to stick to the still living, so first and foremost is Clint Eastwood (otherwise Johnny Cash would probably start the list off) - Yeah, he’s the epitome of bad ass, but I greatly admire the fact that he’s also very intelligent and artistically sound.  The man’s a fantastic director, he’s a smart producer, and he’s also a damn good composer for many of his films’ music.  Clint’s a renaissance man who can still kick your ass.

Kurt Russell - We move from Clint to a man who’s most famous role (arguably) is an impression of Eastwood.  I’m talking of course about Snake Plissken from the Escape films, although I always enjoyed Russell’s John Wayne impression (i.e. Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China) more.  I have a well documented man-crush on Kurt Russell, so much so that I tweaked a joke from Mike Birbiglia that he did about Tom Cruise - “I wouldn’t have sex with Kurt Russell, but if my (hypothetical) girlfriend did, I’d be all DETAILS!”  If you haven’t already, listen to Russell and John Carpenter’s commentary tracks for Escape From New York, The Thing, and Big Trouble In Little China, and you will fall in love with both of them. 

John Carpenter (seen here in better days) - He’s directed some of my favorite movies, but it breaks my heart that he hasn’t made a good film since In the Mouth of Madness (and that mostly gets by because of it being a love letter to Lovecraft).

Guillermo del Toro - From the Mouth to The Mountains of Madness (you should really get on that ASAP, del Toro).  Another of my favorite directors, ever since I saw Cronos and The Devil’s Backbone long ago.  I was ecstatic when he got such great recognition for Pan’s Labyrinth.  He’s another guy you have to listen to on commentary for his films.  They sound like a freaking master’s thesis because of their detail.

Mick Foley - When I first became obsessed with pro-wrestling in the late 90s, Mick quickly became my favorite wrestler.  He had great matches, could cut great promos, had the lovable underdog/psychotic bad ass persona, and, on a personal level, I was much closer to his body type physically than much of the other wrestlers on TV.  He also was pretty smart and funny, and a really good writer as well.

Kenta Kobashi - My favorite Japanese wrestler.  I love him not only for the fantastic matches that he’s had throughout his career, but also for his never-give-up mentality in the ring and outside of it (which was literally his character - the “burning” desire that lead to the creation of the Burning Hammer).  I mean, the man constantly wrestled through injuries because he loved it so much.  He was out for over a year with a severe knee injury, came back and carried NOAH on his back for two years, had to take more extended time off for CANCER, came back only to get sidelined with nerve damage in his arm.  The double whammy of Kobashi’s injuries and Misawa’s death has nearly crippled NOAH.  Thankfully, it’s been reported that Kobashi is returning to the ring this month.

Nick Cave - One of my favorite musicians and definitely my favorite lyricist working right now.  He blends good and evil, love and death, God and the devil into such a great blend of Southern Gothic tinged rock ‘n’ roll (which is funny considering he’s Australian).  Also wrote the script for The Proposition, which is a great Australian Western film.

I’m sure I’m forgetting lots of people.