Michael profile picture

Michael

Sanity is a Distinctly Over-Rated Attribute

About Me


The Chinese Zodiac says: People born in the Year of the Monkey are the erratic geniuses of the cycle. Clever, artistic, skillful, and flexible, they are remarkably inventive and original and can solve the most difficult problems with ease... then it goes on about potential serial killers, drug addicts, and worshipers of obscure sex cults or something. Not that I believe in any of this...
I also just finished a graduate program in Archaeology, focusing on Iconography and Symbols, mainly of the Southeastern United States Moundbuilder Cultures and the Mesoamerican Olmec Culture... now I just have to finish the thesis...
...and I work at the Crown & Anchor Pub every Sunday night, 10 years straight...
...and I also work for the Texas Archaeological Research Lab (University of Texas) doing archaeology-type stuff... you know like Indiana Jones except no indigenous natives are trying to kill me with blow-darts... I stare at a computer monitor instead and wonder why Indie recorded the same damn prehistoric site six times with eight different site numbers and why did he feel that it was necessary to pick-up every damn snail shell and flaked debitage...
...and I've become addicted to Kick-Boxing/Filipino Boxing in the last year...

My Interests

entranced by 50's jazz, devour archaeology and history, crave Gaelic Football and Irish Hurling, drink Guinness & Irish whiskey, dream of discovering antique medical equipment, collect apocalyptic & religious folk art, acquire blacksmithing classes, worship classic films, love drunken one night stands, converse with imaginary friends, construct wood and metal folk art, play with fire and sharp objects, find irresistible the realms of mysticism & spiritualism, create noise, wonder at obsessive-compulsive behaviors, frequent old cemeteries, record gravestone folk art, covet old things, build pin-hole cameras, collect records, cheer/jeer at soccer matches (West Ham FC & Celtic FC), practice socially unacceptable sexual behaviors, indulge in sushi, speculate on the macabre and the unusual..., and love the things that go bump in the night

"Pay your respects to the vultures, For they are your future"

I'd like to meet:



I had a whole list below, but unfortunately most people tend to be bland, shallow, superficial, and boring...

Music:



happy music, sad music, evil music, experimental music...

Gang of 4, Serge Gainsbourg, Wire, Spacemen 3, Douglas P. and Death in June, Sol Invictus, Neko Case, Austin Lyric Opera, Chet Baker, Sinatra, Current 93, Nick Cave, the Birthday Party, Brian Lustmord, Billie Holiday, Mark E. Smith and the Fall, Guided by Voices (Guided by Vodka), Sigur Ros, Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt/Wilco trilogy, Pogues and their drunken frontman, Joy Divison and early New Order, old scratchy Blues on 78rpm, Big Star, Nick Drake, Chris Bell, Coil (R.I.P. John Balance), Mum, old and new Einsturzende Neubaten, Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood, Barry Adamson, the Jam, Undertones, Zoviet France, Clash, Mingus, NWA, Nurse with Wound, NEU!, Charley Patton, Japanoise, Hijokaidan, Gerogerigegege, Merzbow, Les Joyaux de la Princesse, Leonard Cohen, 70s & 80s Pop Punk, the exotic sounds of Martin Denny, Johnny Cash, Ann-Margaret, Julie London, Connie Francis, Jane Birkin, VU, Frances Gall, 50s-60s girl groups, classic 1950s Jazz from Blue Note and Pacific Coast, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, & lots & lots of really lame stuff

COIL First Five Minutes After Death + Golden Section + Häxan

Movies:



independent and foreign films, anything in the Dawn of the Dead/Zombie genre, Gunga Din, Amelie, Big Sleep, My Life As A Dog, Marx Brothers, Holiday (Grant & Hepburn), Cinema Paradiso, bad sci-fi in foreign languages, Toto the Hero, Curse of the Demon, Cocteau's Beauty & the Beast, classic summer films at the Paramount Theatre especially screwball comedies, Kurosawa samurai films, My Life in Pink, Waking Ned Devine, Quiet Man, film noir, b-grade horror, z-grade horror, Fritz Lang's M, Wings of Desire, Begotten, Brothers Quay animation...did I mention zombie films?...

Television:



Venture Brothers, Family Guy, King of the Hill, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Ballykissangel (Irish Soap Opera), cooking shows, Firefly, This American Life (and the version on Public Radio), Farscape, the new Battlestar Galatica, Simpsons, Turner Classic Movies, Modern Masters on the Fine Living Channel, Sealab 2021, actually I don't watch a lot of TV since I don't own one... and anything with zombies...

Books:



Confederacy of Dunces, Arkham House Books (Lovecraft, Howard, Smith, etc.), boring archaeological books & journals, traditional folk art books, To Kill A Mockingbird, David Sedaris, Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, hard-boiled detective stories by Raymond Chandler & Dashiell Hammett, Harry Potter, Quitting the Nairobi Trio, Howard Phillip Lovecraft, the Robert Anton Wilson's Cosmic Trigger trilogy, photographic books by Joel-Peter Witkin, forensic anthropology books, Zombie books, Robert E. Howard, odd or unusual photography books, ghost stories, real-life crime, Lord of the Rings, old medical journals, Philip K. Dick, Jim Thompson, anything creepy...

Heroes:



My Father, Archibald Leach (film actor), William Edmonson (folk artist), Tod Browning (film director), Toshiro Mifune (actor), Doctors Without Borders....

"I shall have no other Gods before myself".

My Blog

Reposting from my MOG site

Warning: I’m not really a blogging type, I tend to ramble a lot when I write but I’ll give it a wing and see how it goes... ...unedited ramblings and wanderings from work when I should...
Posted by Michael on Sat, 29 Mar 2008 02:36:00 PST

Cadaver knee

so I'm going into surgery on the 14th of March for the very farked up left knee (yeah Filipino Boxing)... I have damage to the inside, outside, and center ligaments or something like that.... the doct...
Posted by Michael on Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:33:00 PST

New Art

I've posted a hammered iron & copper door-knocker I made in my photos section...
Posted by Michael on Thu, 12 Jul 2007 08:22:00 PST

Blocking incoming friend requests

Unfortunately the requests from the fake myspace accounts are getting really bad, so I'm forced to block everyone unless they know me.  Shoot me an email if you're a real person and not a "see my...
Posted by Michael on Thu, 12 Jul 2007 08:19:00 PST

Explosions in the Sky!

Got into the Explosions in the Sky taping at Austin City Limits.  Look for the broadcast probably in late fall on your local PBS station or whatever you Europeans have that is similar... lots of ...
Posted by Michael on Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:07:00 PST

As always - Invalid Subject line, you cannot leave the subject blank

Free ticket post #2... the Opera last night was wonderful, one of the best productions that ALO has put on in quite a while... anyways, my friend Travis has put me on the guest list for his band's lim...
Posted by Michael on Sun, 15 Apr 2007 10:52:00 PST

Art vs. Sports

Blanton Museum vs. Texas Relays  Went down to the Blanton Museum on U.T. last night to participate in their "B scene" monthly art party which was celebrating Latin American culture with "A Ni...
Posted by Michael on Sat, 07 Apr 2007 10:15:00 PST

Again, Invalid Subject line, you cannot leave the subject blank

I have an extra opera ticket to Rossini's The Barber of Seville opening night (next week April 14th) and I have an extra ticket to the very sold out Manu Chau show in  June 11th at Stubbs... anyo...
Posted by Michael on Fri, 06 Apr 2007 06:50:00 PST

Invalid Subject line, you cannot leave the subject blank

Run a marathon by 40, that's been my secret goal since I was in my 20s.  I better start moving as I can make the first mile or two before throwing-up.  My lovely cousin Mary seems to run the...
Posted by Michael on Fri, 06 Apr 2007 06:33:00 PST

Again with the Invalid Subject line, you cannot leave the subject blank

I've been posting some very rare and out-of-print mp3s at my other site.  Feel free to drop by and take a look (don't forget to drop a line if you find anything you like what you hear) http:...
Posted by Michael on Sun, 18 Feb 2007 02:10:00 PST