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Toby

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

"Oh God, I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams."So in a nutshell, Toby came into this life someplace in North America, but quickly realized he would rather live in Europe, so he relocated to Germany. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be, so he slunk back to the states, where he spent his formative years staging epics like Homer's Odyssey, Beowulf, or the Complete Works of William Shakespeare in One Sitting in his back yard, forcing the poor neighborhood children to participate in his bizarre experiments. Eventually, after years of acting in and directing stage spectacles, he found himself with degree from NYU asserting he knew pretty much what he was doing. It was during this period he was taught to refer to himself in the third person by an odd grey-skinned mammal most people assume to be an aardvark. One day he woke up in the Deep South and said, "That was unexpected!"; he had been aiming for the Pacific Northwest.Toby currently resides somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains and downtown Manhattan. In his spare time he is pursuing an MFA in Playwriting from Hollins University; he'll let you know when he catches it.

My Interests

Theatre. Comic Books. Games. Burning Wheels.

I'd like to meet:

Bruce Campbell. Minnie Driver (in person). Jonathan Pryce. Loreena McKennitt. Mandy Patinkin. Toni Collete. Christian Bale. Cate Blanchett. Neil Gaiman. Tom Waites. The cast & crew of Firefly (thanks Nathan,Jewel & Mark!) People I'd like to meet again: Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Clive Barker, William Gibson

Music:

I'm rediscovering my love of Eddi Reader's soothing folk melodies and even more soothing vocal stylings. Still listening to Minnie Driver, NIN, and Tom Waites, but the Stones, Queen, Loreena McKennit, Michael John LaChuisa's Wild Party, and Beethoven are never far away. Lisa Gerard, Rusted Root, Portishead, and Yoko Kanno, too. Special shout out to Ian Love, The Mooney Suzuki, Apes & Androids, and most especially Andy Action, all of who are more fun than a barrel full of monkeys playing Jungle Speed.

Movies:

Alien. Blade Runner. The Empire Strikes Back. The Princess Bride. The Crow. John Carpenter's The Thing. Zombie movies and similar fare, like Evil Dead and 28 Days Later... Anything by Ridley Scott, Tim Burton, Guiellermo Del Toro, Sam Raimi, John Woo, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Luke Besson, or based on anything written by Philip K. Dick, no matter how bad, he needs the exposure.

Television:

Who has time for TV anymore? Loved HBO's Flight of the Conchordes. Anxiously awaiting the return of Battlestar Galactica, Lost, and SG Atlantis. Veronica Mars and Firefly are still my favorite lamented losses. Oh, and can't forget the Bebop; Cowboy, that is.

Books:

Anything by Philip K. Dick, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ursula K. LeGuin, William Gibson, or Greg Keyes.

Heroes:

Sherlock Holmes as portrayed by Jeremy Brett, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Howard Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert Howard, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, William Shakespeare, Mac WellmanSave The World - One Click At A Time!

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My Blog

Car Boys, Comic Books, and Burning Wheels

Hot on the heels (well, almost two months later) of the reading of my last play, The Gathering, I'm ready for another one. This time it's The Car Boys, a lovely little piece about what it's like to g...
Posted by Toby on Sun, 26 Aug 2007 09:27:00 PST

National Redistribution of Wealth Day!

I've been thinking, and with me, that's dangerous. In this time of financial difficulty, wouldn't it be a nice gesture if those who are well off gave to those who weren't as well off? Here's what I ...
Posted by Toby on Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:18:00 PST

Martin Firrells Super Secret Thingy, or the HERO Project

Hi All!  I just want to spread the word about a worthy cause, and this one is very deserving.  Those of you who know me know I'm all about Myths, Archetypes, Heroes, Joseph Campbell, et al.,...
Posted by Toby on Wed, 25 Jul 2007 08:30:00 PST

The Gathering has begun!

after 3 drafts and a surprising third act making an appearance, I'm finally going to hear my play read by actor's!  The reading is on the Fourth of July, contact me for info.  The story invo...
Posted by Toby on Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:41:00 PST