On Ain't It Cool News, there's a forum dedicated to the question of which ten cultural reference points best describe a person.  What an interesting opportunity to touch base with my sense of identity!  I thought I'd repost my answer here:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Personally, I find that in any circumstance, the ultimate goal is to use what resources are at hand to propel oneself and one's community to a higher level of function - in short, to contribute to evolution.  On a technical level, on a filmmaking level, on a story level, and in the film itself, this is what 2001 achieves.  As a boy this was one of my favorite films, and it has always found new ways to feed and communicate with the seed of hope I carry inside me for the future of our civilization.  It led me to desire so much for myself and for all of us, and is a foundation of my interest in everything from the space program to film.

The Cinerama Dome
In my experience, this is the ideal environment in which to view any epic cinematic presentation, and any film in a scope other than 4:3.  With both class and a sense of adventure, with clean, elegant lines but also homemade caramel corn, this place is a reminder to me of what the audience of any film expects and deserves.

Phillips Academy Andover
This is where I learned the meaning of service and community, as well as what I can reasonably expect from a human being engaged by passion.  This is where I discovered theater, and the joys of interactive storytelling and working with actors.  This is where my core values began to take shape, and where I learned the basic mechanics of being myself.  Beyond that, this community is the mold by which I hold myself accountable as a leader.

Nordic mythology
From my dreams and nightmares and fantasies to my sense of myself in the world, the characters and relationships in these stories have always guided me, offered insight, and demonstrated the weaknesses in my thinking.  From childhood on through, these stories are important to me.

The life and times of Howard Hughes
Here's a guy that chose to achieve whatever he felt needed achieving, without regard for convention or identity.  As a boy, I was taken with the Spruce Goose and his aviation accomplishments.  As an adult, I've grown to admire his approach to the business of film, his independence, and his ability to follow his passions through multiple industries, satisfying himself in all of them.

The life and times of Charlie Chaplin
Has ever a filmmaker more completely lived and breathed the language of film?  Like Shakespeare and Pushkin, he's a man who invented a vocabulary for expression, where there was none before.  Beyond that, the humor, inventiveness, and profound sadness of his stories have always captivated me.  Did Charlie Chaplin teach me how to feel?  He at least played a part.

The life and times of George Lucas
Again, here's a man who found sure financial footing expressing himself on his own terms.  The fact that he did it defining the iconography of my generation makes it all the more powerful for me.  In my youth, I wanted so bad to emulate his characters, and later his storytelling...  Now, I seek to adapt his business model to my own creative needs.  In some way, George Lucas has always inspired me, and he always will.  Of course, his creative successes and failures offer their own lessons, as well!

8 Sided Dice
This small tool of storytelling represents my first tiny steps towards defining my own creative voice and independent presence in the media.  It also reminds me that using the support systems life offers me in achieving my goals is integral to any collaborative art.  It reminds me to be open to the right tool for the job.

Art Deco
I love those hard lines.  I am an emotional extremist.  My stories tend to be intense and blunt, even if real people have to live inside them... No, wait!  Especially if real people have to live inside them!

The Plays of William Shakespeare
My education and professional infancy is in the theater, and to me, the epitome of theater is Shakespeare.  Each actor is given something to do, and they're allowed to do it in a way that flows lyrically into the whole.  Each Shakespeare play takes the utmost advantage of the medium in which it exists.  Shakespeare gains nothing in the addition of set design or sound effects of modern stage production.  Theater has always been about the interaction of actors with a live audience, and a Shakespeare script serves as an example of how to trust that foundation with absolute faith and conviction.  That faith and conviction, both as a writer and as a director, is what made Shakespeare great.  Questioning one's axioms is always a good thing, and that questioning is undoubtedly how Shakespeare defined the audience relationship for himself before a project.  At the same time, an artist must believe.