Good music in all of its shapes, shades, tastes and textures.
Photography with my Nikon D300. Check my pictures out here and please let me know what you think!
The Guitar. These days that means occasionally fluttering my fingers over the strings of my Classical Guitar but it used to mean a Les Paul or Rickenbacker and a very large Marshall stack. Which is why I have advanced tinnitus now.
English literature, and especially Children's literature.
BBC Radio Wales, Beth and Huw and 5Live [Simon Mayo, in particular], Hancock's Half Hour
Beer in Telfords Warehouse.
Splattering canvas with acrylic paints.
Fascinated by the fuzzy ground between philosophy, psychology and man's need to create and, believe in, myths.
the History of Science.
DJ'ing - seeking the ultimate, eclectic and yet inviting and danceable 6hr DJ set!
Computers. My new[ish] MacBook Pro and Mac Pro.
Retro computers, chiefly the Speccy and the BBC Model B. Website design using php scripting and MySQL database design.
Retro games like: Jet Set Willy, Manic Miner, Elite, Chuckie Egg, Sabre Wulf, Knightlore and loads of text adventure games [these days, apparently, called 'interactive fiction'] - especially Colossal Adventure, Snowball, Return to Eden, Twin Kindgom Valley.
Modern games like: Half Life 1 and 2 [when I had a PC], Civilization [2 and 4], Quake 2 - 4, Oolite
Mineralogy - specifically owt involving semi-precious gemstones, double specifically anything involving agates in their colourfully banded multifariousness.
Mexican, Italian and Thai food.
Jam doughnuts.
Writing fiction [short stories and poems]. I have finished a couple of longer works and I'm currently working on a story that has no monsters in it.
the Paranormal.
The web. Mainly blogs. Especially good ones like http://akirathedon.com
Getting my boots dirty on the highways and byways of North Wales and Chester.
Trying to be a good dad and husband. [clearly the most important]Growing herbs [legal ones]
The odd game of pool, 5-a-side, and a punishing [but lapsed] schedule of 20km every night on my exercise bike.
Tolerant, musical people and people who want to buy prints of my photographs! [e-mail me and I will sort you out!]
AC/DC, the Beatles, Rory Gallagher, Truckers of Husk, Badfinger, Big Star, Scritti Politti, Teenage Fanclub, Elliott Smith, Elliott Smith, Bob Dylan, Candie Payne, Husker Du, Ben Lee, Mank, the Meters, Wire, the Beta Band, Public Enemy, Talking Heads, Acid Casuals, the Pixies, Stone Roses, Tauchsieder, Love, Marvin Gaye, Pete Lawrie, Sly and the Family Stone, Ben Lee, Mansun, Kirsty MacColl, My Bloody Valentine, the Stairs, David Bowie, Dion, Georgia Ruth Williams, Ride, Bjork, Aphrodite's Child, Bonzo Dog [Doo Dah] Band, Billy Bragg, Beck, Hot Chip. Neil Young & Crazy Horse, De La Soul, Chic, the Stairs, Iron Maiden, John Lee Hooker, the Cure, the Small Faces, Soft-hearted Scientists, Akira the Don, Ultramagnetic MC's, Genod Droog, Lifting Gear Engineer, everyone else but burt, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the Band, Boards of Canada, Al Green, Mike Oldfield, Kraftwerk, the Beach Boys, glow, Miles Davis, Captain Beefheart, the Spencer McGarry Season, Radio Luxembourg, Tom Waits, Can, MC Mabon, 60ft Dolls, Eno, High Quality Recordings, Squarepusher, Mick Head, the La's, Smokey Robinson, the Supremes, Chicago, Murry the Hump, the Zombies, Coctea Twins, XTC, Soundhog, Super Furry Animals, Booker T and the MG's, Cud, Gainsbourg, Axelrod, the Boo Radleys, Dusty Springfield, Prince, Pentangle, the Clash, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, Mansun, Eels, Van Morrison, the Hot Puppies, the Breeders, Jethro Tull, NWA, Tanya Donnelly ... whatever turns up in the morning's jiffy bags.
Howl's Moving Castle, Walk the Line, the Hairdresser's Husband, Pan's Labyrinth, On the Waterfront, Quadrophenia, Kes, Gross Point Blank, Curse of the Were Rabbit, the Royal Tenenbaums, Amelie, Fargo, the Lord of the Rings, Lost in Translation, the Lavender Hill Mob, Blade Runner, A Bridge Too Far, Stand By Me, Star Wars [first trilogy], Pleasantville, Leon, Spinal Tap
the Prisoner, the Sopranos, Q.I., Fawlty Towers, Dr. Who, Lost, Robin of Sherwood, the X-Files, Trigger Happy TV, the Simpsons, GBH, Friends, Frasier, Rick Stein, the Grange Hills of my childhood
Slaughterhouse 5, Mr Cassini, Fresh Apples [Rachel Trezise], Lucky Jim, Tove Jansson - the Summer Book, Great Expectations, The Owl Service, Anna Karenin, to Kill a Mockingbird, 100 Years of Solitude, His Dark Materials, Ham on Rye, the Old Man and the Sea, Brave New World, the Great Gatsby, East of Eden, Alice in Wonderland, Day of the Triffids, the Castle, It, Moby Dick, Fear and Loathing, T.S. Eliot, the Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Graham Greene, the original Hardy Boys series, John Christopher's White Mountains / tripod trilogy, the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' series
William Shakespeare, Galileo, John Milton, William Blake, Philip Pullman, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, John Cusack, John Peel, Bill Hicks, Kenny Dalglish, George Martin, Miss E. Banks, Bill Shankly