All things Halloween: collecting Halloween antiques & the cream of the modern Halloween crop of merchandise, having a huge annual Halloween party, writing Halloween stories, reading books on Halloween...I think you get the idea.
I like to write, paint ceramics, play games, read books, see movies (I've got a pretty decent DVD library and I particularly like to seek out independent films on DVD), have parties at my home, and spend time with my two cats: Pywacket & Bob.
Also, I love drive-in movies. The drive-in is a dying part of Americana that really needs to be saved. To watch a film from a lawn chair under the stars on a balmy summer night is one of the few perfect experiences in life.
I'd like to meet:
Montague Rhodes James, Walt Disney, Ray Bradbury (again), Don Knotts. People who love Halloween who aren't dangerously unstable. I'm sure there's more.
In many ways I'm an old-fashioned kind of guy. I believe in introductions before claiming someone as a friend. Okay, let me spell it out. If you want to be added to my friends list, I need to know who the hell you are first. I get bombarded with friend requests from SPAMmers and total strangers. Want me to add you? INTRODUCE YOURSELF BY SENDING A MESSAGE FIRST!
Music:
Wow. I've got some really eclectic musical tastes. I like Scottish/Irish/Celtic music (my favorite band being The Secret Commonwealth). I also enjoy surf/monster rock (check out The Exotic Ones , they'll irradiate your brain). I regularly listen to classical music, Gregorian chant, liturgical music, and baroque pipe organ. I also like Midnight Syndicate, Dead Can Dance, and some Cocteau Twins. But I also like big band, ragtime, some new age, Rat Pack, classical bluegrass, sea shanties, and classic rock & roll. I know, I know. I need to expand my horizons.
Movies:
Don't get me started. Movies that changed how I think: Memento, Gattaca Favorites: Alien, Angel Heart, Arsenic and Old Lace, Big Fish, The Black Swan, Blade Runner, Brazil, Casablanca, The Contender, Curse of the Demon, The Devil & Daniel Webster, Excalibur, Field of Dreams, The Fifth Element, Fight Club, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, Henry V (Branagh), The Haunting (1963), The Hudsucker Proxy, The Incredibles, The Innocents, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Kelly’s Heroes, L. A. Confidential, The Lion in Winter, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Mummy (1932), My Favorite Year, The Others, The Quiet Man, Scrooge, The Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, The Sixth Sense, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Son of Frankenstein, The Thing (1982), To Kill a Mockingbird, The Wolf Man All Time Favorite: It’s a Wonderful Life
Television:
Eh. Not much TV I'm interested in anymore. Really liked Dead Like Me...cancelled. Really liked Carnivale...cancelled. Really liked Firefly (although I never really watched it until it was...cancelled). Used to like 24 before it became really apparent that it was just advancing Dick Cheney's pro-torture political agenda. Other faves that have been cancelled: Night Stalker, (the original, not that recent abomination), Mystery Science Theater 3000, Babylon 5, Twin Peaks, TV NationClassic TV: M*A*S*H, the original Star Trek.UPDATE: (Sept., 2007) I've gotten hooked on the new Battlestar Galactica (incredible writing!), and Heroes (a nice fresh take on the superhero genre)
Books:
Too many to mention. Notable outstanding books: The Halloween Tree, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Long Ships, The Lord of the Rings, Song of Ice & Fire seriesFavorite writers: Ray Bradbury, J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Tim Powers, Jack Daves, Clark Ashton Smith, Ryan Reed, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Robert Aickman
Heroes:
My dad, Jack Daves, Ed Wood, Ray Bradbury, Don Knotts, Jon Stewart (self-designated enemy of Bill O'Reilly), Stephen Colbert (for the now-legendary under-the-radar scathing satire delivered at the White House Press Dinner in 2006).
