Matt profile picture

Matt

The man behind Dirkster...revealed!

About Me

I keep to myself. I like a lot of anti-social activities, like reading, writing, and playing video games. I don't like hanging out with strangers much, but with even one good friend at my side, I'm willing to check out anything. I like to spend time with friends drinking, bowling, and playing pool. I can even be made to dance with the right music on. I'm a quiet guy around people I don't know and I hardly ever introduce myself to anybody; I always wait for people to talk to me first. If there is such a thing as the opposite of ADD, I have it. I cannot be broken from the trance-like state I get into when something captures my interest. I spend most of my waking hours in this trance-like state, theorizing about mathematical constructs, plotting out strange schemes, or meditating on the philosophies of whatever religion is currently holding my interest. Oh, and, just to warn you, I smoke cigarettes and will never quit, EVER, no matter how bad they are for my health and your health and the health of our environment. And I smoke a LOT.

My Interests

When I'm alone I like to draw (see the picture of my tattoo for an example), read, write, and play video games. Some of my favorite games are Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (best console game ever), Vagrant Story, Ico, Final Fantasy Tactics, and of course, the magnificent and life-consuming Ragnarok Online. When I'm with friends, I like to watch movies, play pool, drink alcohol, go bowling, and go dancing (but I only dance to electronic music, and since the only trance/techno dance club for 100 miles closed a year ago I haven't been dancing in...let's see...a year). I like to wander to places I've never been in the middle of the night, either by walking around the city or by filling up my car with gas and driving around back roads that I've never been on. I love road trips (even if I have to go Greyhound, though I much prefer to take my own car or go with a friend).

I'd like to meet:

I just signed up for this because I thought it would be fun to meet the people behind the icons of my guildmates in Ragnarok Online. But I'd be happy to meet anyone with shared interests, as it seems like people like me are pretty rare here in the boondocks of Montana. Or maybe they're not, but there are no gathering places for such people, so you can only meet them by accident. Not that I don't like people that aren't like me...Oh forget it, I am feeling like I'm on the spot here and all I'm doing is writing in a form field...

Music:

I like lots of different kinds of music, I don't have a favorite genre, I just pick whatever fits the mood I'm in. Some of my favorites are Radiohead, They Might Be Giants, King Missile, Juno Reactor, The Refreshments, Flogging Molly, Against Me, Ween, and whatever band Les Claypool happens to be playing in at the moment. I also like a lot of soundtracks, my favorites are Pi, Fight Club, and Donnie Darko.

Movies:

My favorite directors are Terry Gilliam (favorite of his: close call, either The Adventures of Baron Munschausen (sp?) or 12 Monkeys), M. Knight Shyamalan (favorite: Unbreakable), Darren Aronofsky(favorite: Pi), Tim Burton (favorite: Edward Scissorhands), and Kevin Smith (favorite: Dogma). Some of my other favorite movies are Fight Club, Being John Malkovich, Donnie Darko, Memento, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Titus (probably my favorite movie ever, the ultimate study of revenge), Mystery Men (I think I was starting to sound too serious there, had to think of a comedy I liked), and The Royal Tannenbaums (there, I'm safe for sure with two...although Royal Tannenbaums is kind of a morbid kind of funny...oh well, at least I'm honest). I also love cartoons and animation of all kinds. My favorite anime series are Neon Genesis: Evangelion, The Dog Warriors, and Tri-Gun. If I had cartoon network, I would watch Courage the Cowardly Dog, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, and the Cartoon Network original Scooby Doo movies.

Television:

I kind of broke into this category in the movies section, oh well. I don't really watch T.V. right now, except occasionally staying up for X-Files on Sunday nights. But if I had cable, my favorite channels would be Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, G-4/Tech TV, and all the cool educational channels (Discover/History/Biography...etc).

Books:

I love reading. Any time my interest gets piqued by something I go out and find a book about it to learn more. I like fiction (especially classic sci-fi/fantasy/horror) and non-fiction (stuff on religions and the occult, books about mathematics, philosophy), and I love comics and graphic novels too. I'll just list some of my favorites. Novels: anything by Franz Kafka (liked the movie Kafka too), Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, Huxley's Brave New World, ????????'s (how embarassing to forget his name!) A Clockwork Orange (also liked the movies of 1984 and A Clockwork Orange), Jack London's The Iron Heel (when I was a kid I loved London's White Fang and Call of the Wild), Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series, Moorcock's Elric series and the novel Behold The Man, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon (read it on a bet with a feminist roommate), T.H. White's The Once and Future King, H. P. Lovecraft's work, Stephen King's (unfinished) Dark Tower series and The Eyes of the Dragon, countless others I'm sure. Poetry: The only poet I have read extensively is Charles Bukowski, his work is all great, poetry and prose. Religion: all of Joseph Campbell's books, Women Who Run With The Wolves (read it on a bet with a feminist girlfriend, I guess I have a habit of betting with feminists). Occult: Dion Fortune's nonfiction (stuff on the Qabalah), Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner, a book on the Tarot I can't remember the title or author of (sorry!), and a book on North American cults that we used for a text in a class I had (sorry, blanking on that one too). Mathematics: Fermat's Last Theorem, The Code Book, Chaos (don't remember any of the author's names). Philosophy: Machiavelli's The Prince (hands down the best, practical, forthright, relevant, all in under 200 pages), Sun Tzu's The Art of War (liked for all the same reasons as Machiavelli's, but a bit more esoteric). Comics writers: Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Black Lotus, Stardust, The Books of Magic, also love his novels American Gods, Coraline, Neverwhere, and (with co-author Terry Pratchett) Good Omens), Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta), Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics--these are nonfiction comics about making comics), Jeff Smith (Bone), Frank Miller (Ronin, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns/Strikes Again, Sin City, 300), Dave Sim (Cerebus, which is what I'm in the process of reading now), Mark Oakley (Thieves and Kings). Comics artists: P. Craig Russell (Stormbringer, The Ring of the Nibelung, some Sandman issues), Dave McKean (Black Lotus, Sandman covers), Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Frank Miller (see his writing credits, he writes and draws all of them!), Charles Vess (some Sandman, Stardust).

My Blog

Idea for a change in the government

I had this idea for a new kind of government while I was at work today. I guess not an entirely new government, but one where representatives of the people were unnecessary. It seemed to be an ideal...
Posted by Matt on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST