Mark Hinson

Mark Hinson is a writer, journalist, critic and columnist for the daily Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com, both part of the Gannett news chain. His beat covers arts, music, enterainment, film, literature and pop culture.

His weekly humor column, "For Amusement Purposes Only," enjoys a large following of readers in Florida and around the country. Hinson's column topics range from travel to pets to trends to his days growing up on a farm in North Florida. Hinson is a fifth generation Floridian, so he knows a lot about the humidity and stupidity in the Sunshine State.

You can find all of it by visiting www.tallahassee.com.

Some of Hinson's favorite things on Earth include Italy, William Faulkner, films by the Cohen Brothers, funk music from the '70s, Gustav Mahler, Merle Oberon, Stanley Kubrick, The Beatles, The Replacements, Nick Cave, Milan Kundera, Hammer Films, Phillip Glass, "Kind Hearts and Coronets," Rudy Ray Moore (aka Dolemite), Michael Ondaatje, New Orleans, wine, The National, Bob Dylan, The Clash, Mark Twain, The Funky Meters, Richard Pryor, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Arvo Part, Aimee Mann, Mavis Staples, boiled peanuts, Bruce Springsteen, Marcus Roberts, "Night of the Hunter," Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, Thelonius Monk, Gunter Grass, documentaries, The Talking Heads, Leonard Cohen, Peter Sellers, Faye Dunaway and "Pee-wee's Playhouse." He thinks the most perfect movie ever made is "Chinatown."

Hinson is married and lives with two Russian Blue cats named Pinko and Shuggie Pop, who are smarter and more attractive than most Florida legislators.