Painting, and it helps to clear the mental noise to have some background, usually "In Our Time" by Melvn Bragg, buy I've exhausted my first picks and sometimes need a break.
So I try listening to David Foster Wallace - readings from Consider the Lobster.
Which is good, but I have to leave off the painting, his narratives are a little too in depth, too engrossing to listen to as background, you need to actively listen. Which is a good thing. There are no great revelations, only his rather grim view of the unquestioned social hypocrisies we all adhere to - I'm probably not his ideal audience, I've considered everything that he discusses, but he goes a little - a lot more in depth than many of his listeners or readers would be comfortable with. Nothing new, nothing you couldn't have figured out yourself if you'd only ask the questions, take the time, but good nonetheless, and his "take" on things is always that of a sane person in an obviously insane world.
Listening to him, it's no surprise that he killed himself, rather more a surprise that he lasted as long as he did. And you can't help but wonder what he would have thought of the ever increasing insanity of world politics at this moment....He got out at the right time.