Obligatory glass half empty (griping) moment: I greatly hate the new ubiquitous adverts everywhere and the inability to use colours or pix as screennames. Bugger bugger bugger. MySpace loses a few Cool Points as a result. But life will go on. It's still the best social network out there.
Now on to the glass half full! Things I love muchly: unabashed white-belt trash glam fashion; Shiny stuff that lights up; Music; Art; Life; Taoism; Lemurs, ferrets and kinkajous; Platform footwear; Amusing pop culture samples in music; Rhinestones, tinsel + glitter; Collecting and reading Tarot cards; LEGOs; Dancing spastically; Vanilla vodka from my freezer; Live band or traditional karaoke; Good etiquette and fine manners; Sleeping in; Long baths; The Internet; Lip gloss (but not necessarily lipstick); Violet-flavoured candies; Making out; Thrifting; Mod-era goodies like music + fashion + furniture; Mod-era toys like Dawn or Barbie + Francie + Casey; edgy graphic novels (esp. Sandman); Travel; London; San Francisco; Cute brunet men; Iced Chai; French swoonpop; Keyboard instruments; Poetry that does not suck; Performance art, Deejaying; Photoshop fun; Sushi; Humor; Hilarious 60's-era pr0n; Ice cream; Nooky; The UK; Books; Music magazines (especially Q); Reciprocated crushes; Custard-style or Whipped Yoplait; Sampoerna Classics clove cigarettes; Fun smoking accessories like silver cigarette cases, lighters and cigarette holders; Taking photographs; Going barefoot; Vinyl album hunting; Swimming; The Sims (when I have time); Famous musicians or groupies writing autobiographies; Word puzzles and puzzle games like Tetris + Bookworm + Jewelbox; B3ta.com; Fark.com; Strawberry-flavoured Twizzlers; Shows and books about forensics; Writing; Cartoons for grown-ups; Messing about with HTML; Walking in the woods; Breathing deeper; Daydreaming; High thread count linens; Collecting cobalt (blue) glass; Leopard print accessories; Pleasant spring and autumn days (jacket weather); Chococat; Dairy products; Oriental tchotchkes; Laughing until I can't breathe; Goofy AIM chats with far-away friends; Being trusted with secrets; Origami paper; Nifty band swag like pinbacks + stickers + sampler CDs; Respectful political debate; Buying stationery + other office or art supplies; Fresh flowers, especially white fragrant ones; Candles; Chopsticks; Befriending cats + other animals; Home-baked chocolate chip cookies, You.
Collect me! Play the game! Click here for .. HUMAN TRADING CARDS!
This profile is a BRO-FREE ZONE! If you are a Bro or a Bro Ho, do not even attempt to add me or I will point at you and laugh and then mock you publicly in the best MySpace group ever. (Click to see it.)
I'm currently in grad school for Interactive Design (focusing on web design and illustration). Ideally I'll be able to offer clients both the programming side of web design as well as content (photography, writing, art, navigational elements). We'll see. Anyway, those listed things are all complementary fields of interest I will be taking as time permits to improve my existing knowledge base. Art is the best.
I host a radio show called BRITPOPTARTS for WRFS Savannah every Sunday at midnight until at least 2 AM Monday EST. No matter where you are, you can listen to the station via the Internet Here are some sample playlists for you to peruse. BANDS: I've turned off the "Add Friend" capabilities for you here, but you're welcome to add my radio station profile on MySpace.
I'm also working on many assorted art projects. There's a few examples in various mediums and in varying stages of completion in my personal gallery here . This link takes you to an index page where you can choose to view the available images, take a simple guided tour through the gallery, or just see the directory of titles and terse details about what types of media were used. You can also buy products with cool logos and artwork on them by going to http://www.cafepress.com/britpoptarts or you can visit http://www.cafepress.com/britpoptarts2 . A more easily navigable storefront is coming soon. These goodies are particularly recommended for Anglophiles, music lovers (especially Britpop fans) and hipsters.
My ferret Woozle has his own page on MySpace: befriend him or just visit him at: http://www.myspace.com/ferrets . He enjoys meeting new animals and people lurking on MySpace.
More of my stuff is available on printed items (visit http://britpoptarts.isCool.net ):
I am obsessed with music. It's the one thing in my life that I DO obsess about.
Off the top of my head (I keep adding more):
Ambulance LTD, Adam Ant, Adult, a-ha(!), Air, Herb Alpert + the Tijuana Brass, Alphaville, alpinestars, The Animals, The Apples In Stereo, Ash / Charlotte Hatherley, Daniel Ash, The Association, The Atomic Fireballs, The Avalanches,
Angelo Badalamenti / Julee Cruise, Bauhaus, The Beatles / ex-Beatles' solo projects, Beachbuggy, Bernard Butler, The Beta Band, Bigmouth, Black Box Recorder, Blondie / Debbie Harry, Blur, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, David Bowie, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Duncan Browne, Kate Bush, The Buzzcocks,
The Caesars, John Cale, The Cardigans, The Cars, Cast, Nick Cave + the Bad Seeds, Chad and Jeremy, The Chamber Strings, The Changelings, Cheap Trick, The Chemical Brothers, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), The Clash, The Clientele, Patsy Cline, Clinic, The Close, Leonard Cohen, Coldplay, The Coolies, The Cooper Temple Clause, The Coral, Cosmic Rough Riders, Cousteau, The Creation,
Dali's Car, The Damned, The Dandies, The Dandy Warhols, The Darkness, The Datsuns, The dBs, Death Cab For Cutie, The Decemberists, The Delays, The Divine Comedy / Neil Hannon, Division of Laura Lee, The Donnas, The Doves, Nick Drake, Duran Duran,
The Easybeats, Echo + the Bunnymen, Eisley, Elastica, Elbow, Electric Light Orchestra (!!), Elvis Costello, Brian Eno, Maggie Estep, The Eurythmics,
The Fabulous Pop Tarts, The Faint, Marrianne Faithfull, The 5th Dimension (!!!), Fischerspooner, Ella Fitzgerald, The 45s, Fountains of Wayne, The Frames, Franz Ferdinand,
Garbage, Gary Numan, Gay Dad, Gene Loves Jezebel / Jay Aston, Gloss, Grandaddy, The Go!, Goldfrapp, Gorillaz, The Great Lakes, The Greenhornes, The Gunga Din,
Nina Hagen, Francoise Hardy, Haven, The High Llamas, The Hiss, The Hives, Hole, hollyfaith, Hot Hot Heat, Kenny Howes,
I am the World Trade Center, Icehouse, Idlewild, Ima Robot, The International Noise Conspiracy, Interpol, Ivy,
JJ72, Japan, The Jam / Paul Weller, James, January, The Jazz Hands of Great Discontent, The Jeevas, Jellyfish, Jet, Jobriath, Joy Division, Junior Senior,
Kahimi Karie, The Kaisers, Kathleen Turner Overdrive, k d lang, Keane, Kent, The Killers, The Kills, The Kings of Convenience, The Kinks, Kiri te Kanawa, Kula Shaker,
The La's, Ladytron, The Left Banke, Tom Lehrer (!!!!), Liam Lynch, The Libertines, The Lightning Seeds, The Lilac Time, The Lizardmen, Julie London, The Lucksmiths, Lush,
Macha, Magazine, Massive Attack, Johnny Mathis, Mazzy Star / Hope Sandoval, MC 900 Foot Jesus, Menswe@r, Johnny Mercer, The Merrymakers, Moby, The Modern Lovers, Modest Mouse, Momus, The Monkees, Mott the Hoople / Ian Hunter, The Move, Mr. Wright, Peter Murphy, Muse, Myssouri,
Nancy Boy, The New York Dolls, The Night Porters, Nirvana,
Oasis, Ooberman, Orchestra Morphine,
Palo Alto, The Pattern, Peaches, The Perniece Brothers, Edith Piaf, Pink Floyd, The Pixies / Frank Black, Pizzicato 5, Placebo, The Pretty Things, The Polyphonic Spree, Iggy Pop + The Stooges, Cole Porter, Portishead, Pretty Baby, Propellerheads, The Psychedelic Furs, Pulp / Jarvis Cocker,
Queen, Qu'est-que C'est?!,
Radiohead, The Ramones, The Rapture, The Raspberries, The Raveonettes, Republica, Rialto, The Rolling Stones, Rooney, Royksopp, Roxy Music / Bryan Ferry, Todd Rundgren / Utopia / The Nazz,
Sandie Shaw, Brian Slade + the Venus In Furs, The Seahorses, The Sex Pistols, The Shins, Shirley Hugest, Shonen Knife, Nina Simone, Sing Sing, Siouxsie + the Banshees, Elliott Smith, The Smithereens, The Smiths / Morrissey / Johnny Marr / The Shining, Smoke, Snowden, The Sounds, Soundtrack of our Lives, Space, Spiritualized, Squeeze, Starsailor, Stone Roses, The Subsonics, (The London) Suede, Super Furry Animals, Supergrass, stellastarr*, Stereolab, Stereo Total, The Stills, The Strokes, The Sweet, Matthew Sweet,
The Talking Heads, John Taylor, Television, The Tender Idols, They Might Be Giants, Thirteen:13, Three Chord Monty!, The Thrills, The Tindersticks, Travis, T. Rex, Tsar,
The Valentines, Valentino Epidemic, Sarah Vaughan, The Veins, The Velvet Underground + Nico / Lou Reed, Nan Vernon, Veruca Salt, The Verve / Richard Ashcroft, The Vines, Mike Viola + The Candy Butchers, The Von Bondies, Vue,
The Walker Brothers / Scott Walker, The Warlocks, The Waterboys, The Waxwings, David Werner, Curt Wild + the Wylde Ratttz, The White Lights, The White Stripes, The Who, The Woggles, The Wondermints,
X, XTC,
The Yale Alley Cats, Pete Yorn,
Warren Zevon, The Zombies / Colin Blunstone,
and more.
I also like: old singles from the 1940's to the 1980's (I have an eclectic mix--my vinyl collection is where other people's record albums come to die and I accept even things I don't much like if they'd otherwise be trashed), barbershop + doowop + a capella + opera, guilty 60's and 80's musical pleasures, Atlanta locals, bizarre covers and parodies, a capella, any rockin' all-chick bands, soundtracks from vintage Hollywood flicks, rare psychedelia (Nuggets, Pebbles + other similar comps...), RHINO and GEMM finds, "it has a good beat and I can dance to it, so I'll give it a 95, Dick", crazy cheap vinyl treasures, opera (!!!!!), et cetera, et cetera, et cetera....
Incidentally, it's up to you to find any jokes I may have included above. I got bored typing all that stuff in. There are at least four jokes. Maybe more. But I'm serious about anything I appended bangs (er...exclamation points) to, which is probably funnier than any joke I could come up with, really.
I miss going out to see live music a couple of times a week in Atlanta. Not much worth making a pilgrimage for or even listening to here in Savannah. (*sad face goes here*)
24 Hour Party People, Π, Adaptation, After Hours, All of Me, Almost Famous, American Beauty, Angels in America, As Good As It Gets, Austin Powers, Back To The Future, Basquiat, Beetlejuice, Being John Malkovich, Benny and Joon, Better Off Dead..., The Big Lebowski, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Blade Runner, The Blues Brothers, Blue Velvet, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Breakfast Club, Bridget Jones' Diary, Cape Fear, Catch Me If You Can, Chasing Amy, A Christmas Story, Citizen Kane, Clerks, A Clockwork Orange, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Crow, The Crying Game, The Cube, Desperately Seeking Susan, Dogma, Dogs In Space, The Doors, Dr Strangelove, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Election, Fahrenheit 9/11, Fargo, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Filth and the Fury, A Fish Called Wanda, Four Rooms, The Fugitive, Ghostbusters, Ghost World, Go, Good Will Hunting, Grosse Point Blank, Hair, Hairspray, Happiness, A Hard Day's Night, Harry Potter (any), Having A Wild Weekend, Heathers, Heavenly Creatures, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Help!, High Fidelity, Hollywood Shuffle, How to Get Ahead in Advertising, The Hunger, Hunting Venus, Jackie Brown, Jawbreaker, The Jerk, L.A. Story, Light of Day, Little Shop of Horrors, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Lonely Guy, The Matrix, Memento, Men in Black, Mommie Dearest, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, My Friend Totoro, Mystic Pizza, Natural Born Killers, Nightmare Before Christmas, 9 to 5, Office Space, Pecker, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, The Pianist, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Philadelphia, The Princess Bride, Pulp Fiction, Quadrophenia, Raising Arizona, Repo Man, Reservoir Dogs, Rock and Rule, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Rushmore, Say Anything, Schindler's List, Se7en, The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, Sid and Nancy, The Silence of the Lambs, Sixteen Candles, Sixth Sense (even though I guessed the "surprise" right away), Sleepy Hollow, Snatch, Sugartown, Swingers, This Is Spinal Tap, Trading Places, Trainspotting, Tommy, Top Secret, Unprecedented, URGH! A Music War, Valley Girl, Velvet Goldmine, The Virgin Suicides, War Games, Wayne's World, Weird Science, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, When Harry Met Sally, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Wilde, Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, Wings of Desire, Withnail and I, The Women, The Wrong Trousers, Xanadu, Yellow Submarine, Young Frankenstein, oldies like the Thin Man movies, etc., etc.
Some simple guidelines:
If it is a quirky film, I probably like it.
If it is a weird film, I probably like it.
If it is a depressing film with flawed and tragic characters struggling for redemption against bad odds, I probably like it.
If it is stylish, I probably like it.
If it is funny but has a minimum of gross-out scatalogical humour, I probably like it.
If everyone in the film is wearing bad 80's clothing, I probably like it.
If everyone has a British accent--even if they are awful, fake, ultraplummy British accents--I probably dig it the most, baby.
If it is a "rock and roll movie", I probably like it. Even if it sucks, like "Light of Day".
If Pixar studios made it, I hate myself for being a dorky adult liking a kid's movie...but I still like it.
If Disney studios made it, and Randy Newman wrote the theme song, I probably don't like it much.
If it's a brainless chick movie (a.k.a. "romoporn"), I probably won't like it if it takes itself too seriously. Heck, I probably just won't like it at all.
If it has Jackie Chan in it, I don't care how bad the plot is, I like it. Jackie Chan is The Nazz. Ash even wrote a song about the guy. 'Nuff said.
I also like Tommy Lee Jones and Harry Dean Stanton. Maybe it's the three names.
If it is a big budget summer blockbuster, I probably don't have much of an opinion about it or I hate it. Titanic. Yawn. Whatever.
If it has Tom Cruise in it, I probably hate it. Then again, I haven't seen Magnolia yet.
I occasionally get in the mood for a overdose of James Bond flicks, but not the ones that are rubbish. I'm one of those people who actually enjoy student art films, documentaries (especially political ones), "oldies" and subtitled foreign films.
I also am one of those people who always have hard luck and manage to sit near the herd of loud-chatting, popcorn-throwing, plot-spoiling, soda-flinging people with a colicky baby, a toddler asking "Why?" upteen times, and / or a ringing mobile phone (which these boorish clods will inevitably answer, the better to carry on a loud conversation no one wants to hear them having) whenever I do go see a movie. As a result, I am hard-pressed to find anything I want to pay $10+ to go see in a theatre.
Movies I hated (for various reasons): Disney's The Black Hole, C.H.O.M.P.S., Raise the Titanic!, Reds.
Movies that are so bad they are good: Plan 9 from Outer Space, Barbarella, The Forbidden Zone
Movies I never have seen in their entirety that I am sick of anyway: Purple Rain, Dirty Dancing, Bridges of Madison County.
You get the idea.
I don't care much about the telly. It's dusty, glowing furniture. I'd rather read a book or go out and socialize, since TELEVISION IS THE GREAT SATAN!!, but in the absence of a good book or a reason to go out, I do like Monk, While You Were Out, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Law & Order (all four thousand varieties), and CourtTV.
I read an ungodly number of books: Caleb Carr, Nick Hornby, Kurt Vonnegut, Martin Amis, Neil Gaiman, Carl Hiassen, Chuck Palaniuk, Marianne Keyes, Tom Robbins, Carl Hiassen, Donna Tartt, Irvine Welsh, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Peter Mayle, P D James, Jasper Fforde, Oliver Sacks, Paul Fussell, Margaret Atwood, Isabel Allende, Dan Brown, Tom Wolfe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Hua-Ching Ni, Ann Rule(!), scads of rock biographies, interesting biographies in general, myths and legends and deconstructed fairy tales, historical stuff, art books. And, um, yeah...I really enjoyed those Harry Potter books.
I read classics and actually enjoy them (although--despite a degree in English literature--I have successfully avoided enduring the badness that is "Tristam Shandy" thus far). I love Uncut, Q and Mojo magazines. I have been known to try to read things in foreign languages like French, Spanish or Italian. I understand a fair bit of Latin. I read "teach yourself new stuff" books on UNIX, Photoshop, HTML, art techniques.
I also read "junk food books" (or "airplane books") like Patricia Cornwell novels, Stephen King, Dean Koontz...sometimes I just want to read something...ANYTHING...and it's easy to find these books in thrift stores for about a buck. So I do read detective / mystery novels, rather unhorrifying horror novels, the occasional epsionage thriller. I do not read westerns or romance novels (a.k.a. romoporn), and every book based upon a movie (rather than the other way around) is absolutely putrid...but pretty much anything else goes.
Slackers who manage to earn a good living.
Honest politicians.
People who are cool precisely because they don't know they are.
People who read more than they watch television.
Night owls.
People who can run in stillettos without looking stupid.
My grandmother, who is feistier now that she's 90 than I am.
People who understand that being successful making money and being humanitarian, creative and compassionate are not two mindsets at odds with each other.