I like alot of different things. I like to SCUBA dive, swim, and love to read.
I love music: listening and studying music, as well as playing (violin, guitar transcribing (figuring out how Alision Krauss fingerpicks) and composing original stuff (mostly on the acoustic these days.
I love film and theatre. In fact, it's what I'm studying at uni right now.
-As far as film, I am really interested in what is going on and coming out of Africa. Equally with film and theatre, I am starting to think that sociology is perhaps what I would call a real interest for me as well. Looking at 'first world' societies and 'third world' ('the developing world') and how they differ, differing ideologies, values and cultures, how the role of spectatorship and filmaker differs or compares, etc and so forth. I think this passion will eventually burn itself through me completely and I will start to produce more and more in the direction I have wanted to go for a long time...
I'd like to learn a few more languages (Arabic and Swahili At the moment, I'm picking up Mauritian Creole, but that's just for fun =)
-Begin sculpting, take a drawing class or two
I'd like to start a novel or at least begin to compile these ideas into some sort of working notebook sometime in this, my second year.
Mostly, I'd like to realize the path I am to venture down next, and maintain the excitement I have now as I begin to feel that this is, in fact actually right where I wanted to go.
I'd like to meet:
Regardless of time or reality, I'd like to sit down and talk with:
God
William Shakespeare,
Leo Biscaglia,
The Phantom,
Martin Luther King,
Bishop Desmond Tutu,
Leonardo DaVinci,
Chopin, Beethoven, and Mozart,
Lisa Simpson,
Brunelleschi,
John Lovitz,
Bernini,
Jerry Seinfeld and Michael Richards (Kramer),
Mike Myers,
Upton Sinclair,
Aristotle,
Jacques Cousteau,
Alfred Hitchcock
And if I could choose to be taught by anyone in the world, these are the people and classes I would take;
Carson Mcullers-literature,
Anthony Hopkins-acting for stage and film,
Ernesto Guevera-social and political justice (history)
Beethoven-music theory/practice
Hitchcock-film (the use of suspense and horror to develop character and plot)
And if I could live anywhere at any time (regardless of money expenses, and language barriers, I would live and/or visit...)
*1910-1945 Cuba,
1970-1998 South Africa
*The Italian Renaisannce in the mid 1400s to late 1500s, bouncing back and forth to England to check up on King Henry and the plagues and fires,
*1870-1910 New York during the Industrial Revolution,
*1900-1920 Latin America,
*Russia during the late 1800s,
*1920-1945 Paris
*France before and during the Revolution,
*1930-1940s Hollywood and only if I could be Cary Grant,
*200 B.C.-30 A.D. Egypt with frequent visits to Jerusalem during Christ's time on earth,
*Ancient Greece during the olympics and the festival to Aphrodite, too name just a few....
Music:
What I DON'T like = James Blunt, Phil Collins, or hard dance 'revolution mix' type stuff. ick!
Aside from these obvious choices, anything good....from Chopin to Skynrd.
From
Here's a brief list of favorites:
Acoustic Continental African:Ayub Ogada, Gabriela Mendes and Ali Farka Toure's 'Radio Mail' project
Indo-African/East African Islands-Alain Ramanisum, Cassiya, Kaya, and Rajery are all favorites
folk type stuff- Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, John Denver, Allison Krauss, Sufjan Stevens, Jose Gonzalez.
Rock: Nirvana, Rolling Stones, The Scorpions, Metallica, The Who, Doors, Steve Miller Band, Yes, CCR, Eric Clapton, Bad Company.
Classical: Chopin, Beethoven, Puccini.
Opera: Maria Callas and of course...Pavoratti.
Jazz: Stan Getz, BB. King, Billy Holiday, Nat King Cole.
Acoustic guitar: Steven Bennett, Charo.
Electronic/ambient: Air, Chemical Brothers, Ros Sigur, Peter Gabriel, (and Thomas D is still a favorite as it leans more towards Drum and Bass than electronic).
I like alot of stuff though-and different types.
Recently and unexpectedly, I've gotten into hip-hop and dance
(I mean, how can you live in London and NOT get into the club, hip-hop, and house scenes here?!)
I've been exploring metal a bit as well: Pain and most of Pentagram I love (but maybe it's just the Virginia ties that bind?).
Salsa (mostly latin american, but some argentinian) and Sega (both from Mauritius and Secheylles) are my favorite 'non-european/western' influenced musics.
There is some cool stuff out of Ghana as well recently, but I am finding it hard to get a hold on new African music, even when here in london! If you have any 'hard to find' stuff-send it to me!
Really wish I had more Drum and Bass, Cuban and Carribean style music...
Movies:
Film in general has become a real pursuit now. a hunger to see more, experience unfamiliar terrain (both artistically and geographically). And London is a junkie's paradise....... Most recently, I've seen The Namesake, which even though it was produced by Fox was well made and the story is great. Have been reading Interpreter of Maladies, a short story collection by Jhumpa Lahiri, the author of The Namesake and highly recommend this collection that won a Pulitzer for Fiction in 2000.
Television:
I think my favorite show was probably Saturday Night Live. I don't get it here in London of course but I have heard that the new season is just shite..however, everyone always says that when the cast changes. My favorite seasons were when Chris Farley and Adam Sandler were on.
I really love animation.
My favorites are the old 1943-1960 Bugs bunny toons, although I really enjoy Spongebob, Rocko's Modern Life, The Simpsons and Futurama, Sealab 2021, Aquateen Hungerforce (although perhaps the stupidest cartoon I've ever seen... and even though it makes me feel icky after I watch it), Hey Arnold (I love the animation style and color palette), Dr. Katz, The Critic, and Home Movies.
Cartoons are the opposite of 'reality-TV", which I find way more damaging than any violence in animation. Instead of showing the gross, greedy, and appauling side of people for viewers to gawk at, cartoons show a timeless place, void of physics, and reality.
Books:
Aside from Jhumpa Lahiri, I've been reading Roethke and Rilke and a ton of stuff for school of course. Some of my favorites this semester of curriculum reading have been 'Death of a Salesman' (Miller), 'A Portrait of Dora' (Cixous), and 'Ghosts' (Ibsen), but I liked Chekov's 'The Seagull'. I had never read this one of his and found it to be the most multi-layered play I have read from him (but it may be the context in which I was reading as well...=p) I loathed 'Miss Julie' (Strindberg) and couldn't finish 'Women Beware Women' (Middleton) though I enjoyed analysis funnily enough. We haven't read any Kafka this term and I am feeling it, like a crucial spice missing from a stew. We've only made reference to Metamorphosis and I am thinking it may be time to explore The Trial.
