Steve O'B profile picture

Steve O'B

You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows

About Me

Hi, name's O'Brien - Steve O'Brien and I come from Bath. I write about telly for an entertainment website. I'm also a writer for sci-fi film magazine SFX (www.sfx.co.uk). I'm 36 and I know that means I'm towering waaaay over the normal MySpace age, but I'm younger than Bobby Gillespie and Sir Geoffrey Howe, so fuck it, daddio. I live in a blood red-walled flat on the leafy outskirts of Bath with a vast collection of DVDs, film posters and 60s bric a brac. I'm also occasionally on BBC4 in the ungodly hours as one of those talking heads on a series they seem to repeat every week called "The Cult Of..." That makes me - ahem - a pundit. Ask me whatever you want. I'm obliged to have a soundbite-friendly answer. But don't treat me like a Pez dispenser of life-affirming wisdom. I'm a human being, you know.

Myspace Layouts at Pimp-My-Profile.com / Red&black girl - Image Hosting

My Interests

Lounging around on my big purple sofa, drinking economy vodka, watching DVDs that aren't good for me, listening to music and feeling guilty about skipping over ones that don't immediately grab me. What else? Anything to do with the New York boho scene from the 60s and 70s, sweets, old cinema posters, 70s punk, 60s and 70s American politics, girls with black hair, old British comedy films, Christmas, Art Deco, drinking in spit and sawdust Soho pubs imagining I'm Jeffrey Bernard (Charles Bukowski is too exotic for my imagination).

I'd like to meet:

Or who I'd liked to have met: A Beatle, anybody who fucked Marilyn Monroe, Stephen Fry (well, I sat opposite him recently but no eye contact. I think he was intimidated, the little lamb), Robert Kennedy, Kate Moss, Brian Wilson, Al Gore, Sid James, Truman Capote, Martin Scorsese, Shannon Sossaman (oh, brother), Andrew Marr, Asia Argento, Angelina Jolie (hold on, I have met her).

Music:

Beatles, Stooges, Nick Drake, The Smiths, DJ Shadow, Velvet Underground, Beastie Boys, Bob Dylan, The Cramps, The Libertines, Stone Roses, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Ennio Morricone, Elliot Smith, Gallon Drunk, Brian Wilson, New York Dolls, Pixies, 16 Horsepower, Primal Scream, Radiohead, Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Public Enemy, Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, David Holmes, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Ennio Morricone, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, John Coltrane, Radiohead, Von Bondies, Massive Attack, John Barry, Pink Floyd. Favourite songs are Gimme Shelter and Some Velvet Morning. And anything pyschobilly-like. Oh, and I like Wally Stott.

Movies:

The Wicker Man, Taxi Driver, The Godfathers 1, II and - oh yes - III (brilliant - totally underrated), Twelve Angry Men, Carry On Camping, The Servant, Happiness, Invasion of the Body-Snatchers (50s version, 'course), The Swimmer, It's A Wonderful Life, The Ladykillers, Star Wars, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Killing of Sister George, The Crying Game, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Eyes Wide Shut, Withnail & I, Amelie, Billy Liar, Rosemary's Baby, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Performance, Cinema Paradiso, The Jerk, Before Sunrise, Alien, Annie Hall (actually all Woody Allen, including the wrist-slitting ones), Apocalypse Now, All The President's Men, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Mulholland Drive, Exorcist, Prick Up Your Ears, The Wizard of Oz, The Apartment, And Then There Were None, Back to the Future, Eyes Wide Shut, Blue Velvet, Performance, This is Spinal Tap, Psycho, The King of Comedy, An American Werewolf in London.

Television:

Twin Peaks, The Prisoner, Nathan Barley, Columbo, A Very Peculiar Practice, Life on Mars, Doctor Who, The Power of Nightmares, Porridge, The Twilight Zone, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, Children of the Stones, Yes Minister/Prime Minister, Six Feet Under, Jonathan Creek, Nighty Night, Simpsons, Mighty Boosh, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Peep Show, Arrested Development, Spaced, Hancock's Half Hour. Just Good Friends, Our Friends In The North. Oh, and those political biography documentaries that Michael Cockerell does. Love that guy. And anything by Nigel Kneale.

Books:

Mostly non-fiction for my sins, despite the fact I've got an English Lit degree. Loved The Kenneth Tynan Diaries I read recently. Of Mice & Men is fantastic. As is Martin Amis' Experience. I read too many biographries and autobiographies. Oh, and check out Toby Young's book about his time on Vanity Fair. Simon Pegg's doing the movie.

Heroes:

Peter Cook, Woody Allen, Rod Serling, Mohammad Ali, Adam Curtis, Stephen Fry, Patrick McGoohan, Nye Bevin, Johnny Cash, Orson Welles, Brian Wilson, Bill Hicks, Stan Lee, David Lynch, Peter Sellers, Martin Luther King, John Lydon, Joe Orton, Chuck D, Dennis Potter, Clive Stafford Smith, Father Christmas.

My Blog

I hate Hazel Blears...

... That's it. Nothing more to add.
Posted by Steve O'B on Sun, 20 May 2007 01:13:00 PST

Devil May Blair

Well, he's gone. Sort of. Like a partner who's just announced they're going to leave you, there's an uncomfortable period of waiting for them to properly move out. But then maybe the next seven weeks ...
Posted by Steve O'B on Fri, 11 May 2007 09:22:00 PST

One of those Q&A things...

There were meant to be about 50 questions but I accidentally deleted most of them. But at least it won't eat into too much of your time this way...     1.How good are you at lying?Terrible. ...
Posted by Steve O'B on Sun, 22 Apr 2007 10:56:00 PST

Video didn't quite kill the radio star

As part of the media orgasm about the new series of Dr Who, I'm "appearing" on Jenny Eclair's LBC radio show on Saturday. She's not known for her graciousness so I'm probably in for a rough ride. Anyw...
Posted by Steve O'B on Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:42:00 PST

What the hell am I doing?

What is this My Space thing? And how do I make it look all pizzazzy? God, I feel like a penshioner at a Rave...
Posted by Steve O'B on Tue, 20 Mar 2007 04:41:00 PST