I like to make and listen to music. I used to have a punk rock band that played a lot of shows in the NJ/NY area with some other underground bands that make tons of money nowadays, although I eventually grew to find the punk rock scene pretentious and ridiculous, as are all supposedly underground or counter-culture scenes. I say this not because the idea of underground culture itself is absurd, but because its absurd to think that in today's image-obsessed, celebrity-worshiping perversion of a culture, anything "underground" can remain so for more than five minutes.
I know that probably sounds bitter, but its really not the case. I mean, yeah, I hate stupid people, and the world is full of them, but I feel that most of them are basically harmless, and I try not to let it bother me. The main thing is that I don't bother to try to identify myself with some kind of counter-culture that will be the next big thing tomorrow. I simply enjoy my nerdy passtimes, like comic books and pro-wrestling, listen to what I feel like listening to, and try to enjoy life.
Anyways, I'm much more toned down than I was in my teenage years. I listen to all kinds of music, to be listed in the music section. I like movies and cartoons you can read about later too. As you'll see, I like a lot of what some people would consider children's entertainment. In my opinion, retaining the ability to enjoy things with the same kind of wonder that you enjoyed them with as a child is one of the greatest skills a person can maintain. The adult world is cynical and miserable, and, to top it all off, no less silly or fantastical than the world of children. Therefore, I'd rather watch a Harry Potter movie than watch a movie with a guy playing a game of chess with the grim reaper for 2 and a half hours. I guess I must be immature.
Bands I play or have played in: Dead in the Crawlspace, Unit 731, The Die-Versions, Society's Failure, Terroristic Threats, Evil Come Leisti and the Not So Evil Band and Sacrificial Blood. More to come... Bands I've played in that I was completely unworthy to even be associated with and which are the greatest musical achievement in the history of rock n roll: Mike and Jude Featuring the Flying U-Nick and the Homosexual Butler of Jesus Christ. I'm not a musical fascist who feels the need to define myself by what section of the CD store I shop in (like many people whose names I will not mention), and if you are that's pretty stupid. I've always generally played in punk or metal bands, but I like to listen to just about everything, from death metal to 50's rock n roll, or from hardcore punk to gangsta rap.
I generally like music with "balls", regardless of genre. I feel that music should in some way push the limit, whether its Elvis pushing the limits of sexuality with his gyrating hips, or GG Allin taking a shit on stage and throwing at the audience. This sort of envelope-pushing is what creates progress in music and culture. It's never the same old boring, acceptable thing that is remembered in history as a moment that shaped the future; its the things that are considered controversial and outrageous in their time.
Now, to prove how cool I am, I will list the entire contents of my iTunes library. Just kidding.
Some random movies I like: Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Fight Club, Half Baked, The Stoned Age, Sin City, Pirates of the Carribean, Indiana Jones, Phallus in Wonderland, The Good The Bad and the Ugly, and The Great Rock and Roll Swindle.
TV will rot your mind. You should all stop watching TV right now and read a book. That being said, I am a hypocrite sometimes, and I like to watch: Lost, WWE RAW, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, GI JOE (the eighties cartoon), Venture Bros, Cops, and South Park.
Another thing: reality television is symbolic of all that is wrong with our society today. Even though I occasionally find myself sucked into it; I hate myself for it. Reality TV is destroying America.
My favorite thing in the world to do is read. Reading makes you smarter, so everybody should try it, since most of you are stupid. I've read a real shit-ton of books. Most of them are fantasy or sci-fi books, but I don't feel that a book needs to be boring and philosophical to have a point and teach you something. For me, reading is all about the story. For the most part, the lifetime of any human being today is going to consist of maybe four or five story arcs: childhood, coming of age, a romance or two, parenthood, and death. In between a person experience a minor adventure here or there, but for the most part, adventure is dead in the modern world. However, through the magic of storytelling, one can experience as much adventure as they will in their entire lifetime in a matter of a few hours of reading. If you think that this doesn't make you a better person, then you have no concept of what life is about.
Some of my favorites: The Princess Bride by William Goldman (also a great movie), anything by Neil Gaiman, all the Ian Fleming James Bond novels, anything by Raymond Chandler or Dashiel Hammett, some stuff by Neal Stephenson (some of it is too pretentious and boring), Stephen King's Dark Tower series and some ofhis other stuff, The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas, classic horror by H.P. Lovecraft, anything by Robert E. Howard, Homer's Epics, anything by Chuck Palahniuk, anything by Garth Nix, G.K. Chesterson's The Man who was Thursday, Dracula by Bram Stoker, my favorite victorian novel, anything by Voltaire, and of course, the Harry Potter Series:
Yes, I'm a huge geek, and that's before we take into account my extreme love of comic books. I'm a Marvel Zombie, but I also read the occasional DC nook. I read so many that I won't attempt to name them all. Some of my favorite writers: Robert Kirkman, Brian K. Vaughan, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Jim Starlin, Tom DeFalco, Keith Giffen, Peter David, Fabien Nicieza and Ed Brubaker. Let's not forget the art side of comics either. Some of my all tiem favorite artists: Ron Lim, Rob Liefeld, and Jim Lee.
Slash, Opie and Anthony, J.R. Bob Dobbs, James Bond, GG Allin, Spiderman, and Matt "B.D." Gallo