At any given time of the day or night, you can make a pretty safe bet that I'm either asleep or sitting in front of my computer. But that's not to say that I spend hour after hour browsing eBay for a cheap signed copy of a Star Trek book, while wallowing in a stinking pit of half-eaten pizzas and the odd African forest elephant that has mistaken the noises coming from my digestive tract for a low-pitched mating call. No no, I focus on creative things like image/audio/video editing, roller coaster design and programming. OK, perhaps programming is a bit geeky, but that eleven-hour train journey to Strasbourg with a group of politics students wouldn't have been nearly as fun had I not programmed my Automatic Insult Generator. I also made that blue blast thing you can see at the bottom left of this page, and countless other little things of absolutely no use to anybody.
As far as games are concerned, about once a month I'll either have a go on Flight Simulator, or play a game of StarCraft (which is the best game ever, anyone who suggests otherwise is simply wrong and should be deported to South Korea...shortly followed by a trip to North Korea).
Just to reiterate my geekyness, here are some things you might find being blasted out of my CRT :
But I do still have a life...honest! I like to travel, and to date I've visited 23 different countries. I also like big events like music festivals -- the best of which is Sziget : hot weather, 7 days of music, 400,000 people across 160 acres, 44 stages, each draining up to 650kW of power. Yes please! The only thing is, I can't find anyone who will spend a whole week there with me. Most people start moaning about hygiene, nutrition and sleep deprivation. Bah!
Photography is slowly becoming my hobby, though I really need to invest in a better camera [than my Fujifilm FinePix Z3] before I can claim that to really be the case. I do have the odd go of a friend 's Canon EOS 350D, which is awesome.
Anyone who would walk around wearing this t-shirt I designed:
Failing that, just anyone with an attention span, and who doesn't mind listening to my crackpot theories about the universe. Of course, someone with their own crackpot theories would be good, but I can't be too picky.
I'd also like to again meet the guy I met in 1750. What a fantastic year that was! Cryptic? Maybe.
I don't listen to any particular genre, I just listen to what sounds good, which might be hardcore rave, soothing classical or maybe even whale music (though that might be pushing it).
A short list of some of my favourite artists:-
Amon Tobin
Basement Jaxx
Blue Man Group
Blue States
Boards Of Canada
Coldplay
Damien Rice
DJ Drunken Master
Dr. John
Eels
Fatboy Slim
Frank Klepacki
Franz Ferdinand
Gogol Bordello
Goldfrapp
Gorillaz
Groove Armada
Kasabian
Keane
Locust Toybox
Ludovico Einaudi
Massive Attack
Michael Andrews
Moby
Mr. Scruff
Necros
Penguin Café Orchestra
Portishead
Propellerheads
Red Hot Chili Peppers
RJD2
Röyksopp
Sigur Rós
The Beach Boys
The Chemical Brothers
The J. Geils Band
The Prodigy
The Zutons
Torpedo Boyz
Touch & Go
Zdob Si Zdub
Zero 7
Top of the list has to be Donnie Darko, I just can't get enough of that film. Garden State comes at a close second. Other honourable mentions include:
American Beauty
Fight club
Memento
Reservoir Dogs
Team America
The Big Lebowski
The Meaning Of Life
The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes
I don't watch much TV, but these I will always make time for:
Absolutely Fabulous
Black Books
Doctor Who
Fawlty Towers
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
Green Wing
Jam
Monkey Dust
Peep Show
Pets
QI
Red Dwarf
Scrubs
Spaced
I like a good documentary too, like Horizon or Dispatches. I'm sure there are many more things that I watch, but I can't think of them. You get the idea, anyway.
I must admit, I do have some guilty pleasures, such as Desperate Housewives, Bad Girls and Lost. I draw the line at Footballer's Wives though, and I don't watch Big Brother anymore either, I finally kicked the habit half way through Big Brother 7.
I don't read much, but I seem to enjoy almost every book I do read, so maybe I should read more. Recent favourites are:
QED - Richard Feynman
The Wasp Factory - Ian Banks
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
Molvania - Various
Phaic Tan - Various
Les Steele & Dan Brinton: The best physics teachers ever!
Bubbles, darling, marry me!
Known only as "The Oracle", this guy is responsible for my geeky lifestyle.
John Wardley, the designer of some of the world's best roller coasters.
Mrs. Peart, we miss you and your toilet sponge!