MIKE profile picture

MIKE

ROCKET ENGINES LOVE THEIR COCA-COLA

About Me


CATCHING UP WITH THE LADS...

Birthday and New Year's Eve Photos!


(it's like 'Entourage'...
In Christchurch. With bands. And somewhat less money.)


And, Now you know my ugly mug...

Born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand. I have a Masters Degree in Political Science (my thesis was on the mediation of international conflict, which is a field I would like to go further in at some point...) and spent a year of my studies at UCSD in San Diego. These days I'm living in Wellington, working as a policy advisor. What comes next?! Who knows... Hope springs eternal though.

Create your own visitor map!

My Interests

Music first and foremost. Unfortunately, I play guitar like Stevie Wonder plays baseball (although better than England kicks penalties!), so mainly I'm a fan, but you can see that in the music section.

I'm also big sports fan... Rugby, Cricket, as well as Baseball and American Football, which I got into while living in San Diego.

My field of study, international conflict and its management, in which I hope to one day be published.

I've travelled a bit and will travel more, with camera in hand. I've been to the US (NYC, LA, Denver, Vegas), Mexico, England, Sweden, Canada and Denmark in the last couple of years. All great places.

I'm learning Spanish.

Of course, there's lots of other stuff. If you're interested, ask...

I'd like to meet:


Anyone interesting! Make me laugh, make me think,
tell me something new, ask me something smart (or stupid)...
Oh yeah, liking music (ANY sort) ain't gonna hurt.
I'm usually either the normal (well, normal looking) one in a room of freaks or the freak in a room of normal people, so if you're familiar with either experience...

Maybe I can also stay in touch a little better with some of my mates overseas... It ain't easy being the Last of the Mohicans... Yeah cry me a river and pour me a shot. I have a plan. No, a good one. No, an actual good one. Only a six-pack, I swear...
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If you want to add me though, how about writing first?
(NOTE: Bands are the exception to this! I don't care who you are, or what you play, feel free to add me to any sort of band list thing...)
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OH, AND...
Can you b-grade playboy chicks with a thousand friends and no actual stuff on your pages please go away? Too many requests from pointless people.
You lot are like spam-mail with breasts.

Music:

I barely know where to start, and I know I won't know where to end...

It began with Icehouse and Bon Jovi in 1988, and has developed into;

Robert Johnson/Muddy Waters/John Coltrane/Miles Davis (yeah, they're the obvious jazz & blues picks, but there's a reason for that!) Rolling Stones/Jimi Hendrix/Led Zeppelin/Black Sabbath/The MC5, The Stooges & The New York Dolls (the holy trinity of pre punk rock n roll - if I have to explain, you'll never understand)/Rocket From The Tombs/The DeadBoys/The Ramones/Patti Smith/Radio Birdman/The Misfits/Social Distortion/The Replacements/Hanoi Rocks & Mike Monroe/Bob Dylan/Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band (BEST LIVE SHOW I HAVE EVER SEEN... EASILY!)/Steve Earle/AC-DC/Aerosmith/Alice Cooper/Cheap Trick/The Cult/GnR/Motley Crue/Cinderella/Vain/Love Hate/LA Guns/Skid Row/Blackboard Jungle/Savatage/Stevie Ray Vaughn (find me a guitarist I like more, and I'll send you my week's salary)/Megadeth/Ministry/Morbid Angel/Ice-T/Tori Amos/PJ Harvey/Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals/Soundgarden/Temple of the Dog/Mother Love Bone/Beat Angels/Jeff Buckley (listen to his version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', I've not heard a heavier piece of music...) /SHIHAD (damn pacifier and American A&R men to hell! hahaha) /The Datsuns/The D4/The Bleeders/Pluto...

NEW LOVES: Motochrist/The Saints/Joss Stone/Horrorpops/Drive-By Truckers/The Dresden Dolls (they're on my friends list... check them out!!!)/Sly & The Family Stone/Warren Zevon/Funkadelic/Drive-By Truckers

FORGOT TO ADD: Nick Cave/Warrior Soul/Monster Magnet/Masters Of Reality/John McLaughlin/DGeneration/Concrete Blonde (how did I forget them? I don't know...)/Steve Vai/Gram Parsons/And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (the new album is just... wow)
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Movies:

High Fidelity/Almost Famous/Dazed & Confused/Clerks (you laughed, I lived it!)/HardCore Logo (the punk 'Spinal Tap')/Star Wars/The Crow/Rocky/The Princess Bride/Platoon/Pump Up The Volume/The Castle/Empire Of The Sun/Run Lola Run/Before Sunrise/Reservoir Dogs/What's Eating Gilbert Grape/Velvet Goldmine/Peter Jackson's early New Zealand stuff (rent Bad Taste now!)/LOTR (no, there are not actual Hobbits here in Wellington!!! I don't think...)

There's so much more... I worked a video store through my Masters. You name it, I've seen it...

Television:

The West Wing/24/The Simpsons/Entourage/Lost/Heroes/International News (but not if it's overly biased EITHER way)/Sports/Music (on the odd occasion something worthwhile does make it to television...)/Crime dramas (anyone who watches that one with Ice-T in it and finds themselves wishing he would just start swearing like a sailor and shooting people should definitely be writing to me!)/Samurai Jack.

Also, anything with vampires.... vampires are cool...

Books:

The Great Gatsby/Ginsberg/George Pelecanos/Rock n Roll Biographies & Autobiographies

Oh, and I also read alot of trashy thrillers and stuff... But you know what? I've read all the 'impress pretentious students' books, and aced the tests as well, so screw it. I don't NEED to think all the time...

Heroes:

Heroes? Nah...

My Blog

Is there any situation more annoying than...

Is there any situation more annoying than when someone absolutely deserves to hear what you think of them, and damn well needs to be given some home-truths about things... But you know that if you do ...
Posted by MIKE on Tue, 22 Jan 2008 03:55:00 PST

RIP the first world-famous New Zealander

Sir Edmund Hilary just died. To most, he's the first mand to reach the summit of Mt Everest. To some, he's an Antarctic explorer and tireless fundraiser and charity worker for the peopl...
Posted by MIKE on Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:12:00 PST

Should old acquaintance...

 (Thoughts from a NYE in Christchurch) 1) I can't sing. Putting a microphone in front of me will not change that. 2) Dude! No matter how good your night has been, if I don't know you, I really do...
Posted by MIKE on Mon, 31 Dec 2007 05:02:00 PST

YOU KNOW...

...life is hard. Mine certainly has been the last couple of years. But even in the worst of times, you're still reminded of the best of times.       I guess that's why we don't all win...
Posted by MIKE on Thu, 22 Nov 2007 05:28:00 PST

TOP 5 LYRICS...

THIS CAME IN A BULLETIN, BUT I THOUGHT I'D MAKE IT A BLOG STEVE EARLE: I FEEL ALRIGHT Have always loved this song... It was Steve Earle's first orignal material after coming out of a downward drug spi...
Posted by MIKE on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:10:00 PST

I just drank some rum and coke...

...and what I want to know is, why when I was in America last, did every bar seem to serve rum and cokes with white rum?! Seriously, do they not want you to drink more than one? Coke + Dark...
Posted by MIKE on Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:18:00 PST

One year...

In just a few short hours, it will be the one year anniversary of my father's passing. He was an amazing man& A caring, quietly funny and loving father and husband who worked his ass off to look after...
Posted by MIKE on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:28:00 PST

INSOMNIA...

...is ever so slightly fucking tedious.I'd ask what YOU are doing up at this hour, but you're probably in another time-zone.
Posted by MIKE on Mon, 08 Jan 2007 06:26:00 PST

So I was looking for a nice tribute video...

...and I found something I thought was much cooler. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmY2JinuutA&mode=related& amp;search=   R I P ...
Posted by MIKE on Fri, 08 Dec 2006 05:13:00 PST

THOSE WERE THE DAYS...

I still love this damn album... For that matter, these all ruled too...   However, I'm sure the world weeps that Babylon AD never quite made it... I mean apart from anything, do bells actuall...
Posted by MIKE on Sun, 08 Oct 2006 02:26:00 PST