OOOOOH I LOVE THREADS LIKE THIS!
The Bible, saints, priests, my parents, my culture, and prisoners/reformed prisoners are where I get most of where I get my philosophy from (individualism and materialism are my two favorites). Also... I like taking lessons from musicians. People like Bootsy Collins, Prince, or Arrested Development. Scarface's "I've Seen a Man Die" and Prince's "Gold" helped shake up my three stories recently. Aside from those three genres, I like really old songs from the 20's, 30's, 40's since they come from a simpler time.
Looney Tunes, SpongeBob Seasons 1-3, and Simpsons also influenced my humor. Chuck Jones specifically, that dude is the King. When I was a teenager I had a morbid sense of humor and I'm sorta shocked THAT carried over in my 20's when I became more optimistic. I didn't want to throw it out the window since I noticed a lot of the stuff that my family finds funny... and what I find funny are themed around mortality. Buster Scruggs, Shazam, Rango, Old Westerns like My Name Is Nobody, and Rango helped me refine it (Recently The Suicide Squad).
I've always been fascinated that prophets and saints were super flawed (David, St. Vlad, Moses the Black, this one saint who blew a gasket when you compared him to this other saint which I REALLY NEED TO FIND), so I try to make the protagonists really, REALLY flawed as possible. I kept Stylo by Gorrilaz close to my chest since it just matches how I want people to feel about my characters. Probably my favorite Bruce Willis role. I also liked how the villain of that music video, the smokey guy, and how they portrayed him to be just as unnerved as the heroes. Like imperfection like that is what I want in my stories. Gives the impression heroes and villains could possibly swap sides at any given moment and how nobody is really better than another.
I also do little stuff like "no swearing" and I like to keep readers on their toes.
Favorite Comic Book: I can't choose lmao.
Favorite Movie: Predator 2 (FOR SOME REASON, I DUNNO WHY IT'S SO GOOD LMAO), My Name is Nobody, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Ebirah, King of the Deep,
Favorite Animated Movie: Ghost in the Shell/Macross Plus