More than anything I love travel. Lucky for me I've done a lot of it: Australia, New Zealand, all over Europe, all over Canada, everywhere in the US; over 150 trips. But I don't get out so much these days.
After that movies and TV. I went to the Toronto International Film Festival in 2004 and 2005. I tried to go this year, and will go in 2008 come Hell or high water. I watch way too much TV.
Sci Fi rules. Aside from all the cool stuff about the expanding your imagination (which is true) sci fi creates unparalleled opportunities for exploration of the great human issues. Battlestar Galactica covers issues like religion, terrorism, genocide, cloning, abortion, using rape for torture, and slavery. No other show on television, fiction or non-fiction, examines the human condition so fully.
Since moving to the mountains I'm starting to get into hiking and camping. In October I camped in the Pisgah National Forest for 5 days. It was a campground, so not that adventurous, but most mornings it was below freezing when I got up. And I'll be damned if I'm going to get dressed in a tiny tent to go take a pee. I plan on doing a lot more of that. 98% of the work is packing, and I've found a solution to that. I'm in a modest apartment with just closets for storage--so I've rented what they call a storage closet. A 5x5 locked space in one of those self-storage places, and keep all my camping equipment there (as well other other junk). Most of it is in one of those big plastic bins, including all the little stuff likes maps. You go camping—you just throw it all in the trunk. All you need beyond that is clothes and food. Once you get there everything is easy.
I used to be into PC stuff, like making sure I had the fastest video card on the block, but I'm now all I want is for my PC to work and not give me any grief.
Music
Green Day's American Idiot is inspired. U2, Sheryl Crow and Cold Play are big favorites. I love Pink's latest album.
My most recent playlist: Coldplay, U2, Beck, Aqualung, Rachel Yamagata, Amos Lee, Anna Nalick, Gin Blossoms, Goo Goo Dolls, Jeff Buckley, Death Cab for Cutie, Green Day, The Posies, Cowboy Junkies, Neil Young, The Cure, No Doubt, Snow Patrol, Keane, Feist, K T Tunstall, and Tom Petty.
John Mayer and James Blunt are good but tragically overplayed.
I was around in the '60s and '70s, and will always love that music. For example The Beatles, Dylan, The Rolling Stones, CSNY, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix.
'80s music is good for fun.
Movies
I just happen to have a list: 300, Alien, Aliens, American Beauty, Annie Hall, Band of Brothers, Beautiful Girls, Blade Runner, Bound, The Bourne Identity, Boys Don't Cry, Braveheart, Brokeback Mountain, Casablanca, Chasing Amy, Closer, Crash, The Crying Game, Dances with Wolves, The Departed, Dr. Strangelove, Eyes Wide Shut, Fargo, The Fifth Element, Galaxy Quest, Girl with a Pearl Earing, Gladiator, The Godfather, Good Night and Good Luck, Goodfellas, Groundhog Day, Hanna and Her Sisters, The Incredibles, Jean de Florette and its sequel, Manon of the Spring, The Joy Luck Club, Kill Bill, King Kong, Klute, La Femme Nakita (1990 French version), Laurel Canyon, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lone Star, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Lord of the Rings (trilogy), Lost in Translation, Magnolia, M.A.S.H., The Matrix (trilogy), Memento, Monster, Moulin Rouge, My Cousin Vinny, My Father's Glory and its sequel My Mother's Castle, Nashville, Out of Sight, The Passenger, Pride and Prejudice, Primer, The Princess Bride, Pulp Fiction, Ray, The Right Stuff, Risky Business, Run Lola Run, Say Anything, Secretary, Secrets and Lies, Serenity, Seven Samurai, Sideways, Sin city, The Sixth Sense, Sleepless in Seattle, Spartan, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, Star Wars (the original trilogy only), Starship Troopers, Still Breathing, Syriana, Thirteen, Titanic, Total Recall, Toy Story, Traffic, The Truman Show, The Usual Suspects, Volver, Walk the Line, Wallace & Gromit, Wedding Crashers, The Wedding Singer, Whale Rider, Wonder Boys, and Y Tu Mama Tambien.
Television
Battlestar Galactica, "the best show on television". Also Big Love, Coupling (British version), Dexter, Entourage, Farscape, Heroes, The L Word, Lost, The Office (American version), Nip-Tuck, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, and The Wire. Of course everything by Joss Weadon, including Buffy, Angel and Firefly.
Also:
Of course I don't watch all those--a lot of them aren't even on the air!
Books
Any recommendations?
Heroes
Directors, like:
Woody Allen,
Bernardo Bertolucci,
James Cameron,
Francis Ford Coppola,
Clint Eastwood,
Peter Jackson,
Stanley Kubrick,
Ang Lee,
Sydney Pollack,
Martin Scorsese,
Ridley Scott,
Steven Spielberg,
Oliver Stone, and
Robert Zemeckis.
Forget musicians, writers, actors, business moguls and politicians. Directors stand at the intersection of art, technology and business, and create magic.
I grew up in suburban Boston, and graduated from high school in 1973. You know those long-haired dope-smoking free-loving hippy characters you hear about? I was one of them. After high school I hitched around Canada and the US for six months. I didn't even have a tent. People offered me a place to stay almost every night.
I buckled down and got serious after my travels. I went to UMASS/Boston and UMASS/Amherst, and graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in business. I got married while a junior in college, which I wouldn't recommend to anyone. Later I got a master's in computer science, and went to work at Digital (DEC) in Nashua NH. I was a successful engineer, engineering manager and program manager. I got to do a ton of traveling, most of it first class. That counts for a lot when you are going to wacky places like Australia.
I had two kids along the way. My son went to Boston University (BU), and my daughter is at The University of Vermont (UVM).
These days I'm living in the mountains of North Carolina. Boston is a great place to be from, but this area is a refreshing change. I love it here, and plan on staying here the rest of my life.
Who I'd like to meet:
Like many people I've pretty much moved to facebook, and I'm not even logging in to MySpace much. If you'd like to follow me there than send me email.
thanks! it's been amazing, but i'm losing track of everything, including scc! i'm recording them to watch soon though so they're still getting my support =]
Did you see I added ALL my friends? At least a few took the bait, and they're tremendously better off for it. And I used up my one favor of the year with a bunch.
i think asheville is very cool, were jc is sort of boring..but, where ever u are - this is home when you have such a funny (burnt) cat. LOL Have a wonderful day and perhaps we can find something were we can both attend..bye
let me be the first to announce that i'm suing you for lack of watching our national idiot. with his perfect grammar and keen grasp of the english language i would think it would be your top priority ;) i, however, have a very good excuse for not watching: i was working. :P lol
