Reading of all sorts, with a heavy emphasis on science fiction and fantasy, history, Classics, mythology, science, art, photography and poetry. Writing reviews of books and film, my blog, occassional short stories and poems. Taking photographs for my Fotolog and also sometimes the blog. Spending far too much time at the cinema - I have an academic as well as personal interest in movies of all sorts. Tickling my cats' tummies. Everyone should tickle a cat's tummy from time to time.
Music
Bach (especially his Cello pieces as played by YoYo Ma), anything by Mozart, Philip Glass, Regina Spektor, Julie Holland, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Queen, Velvet Revolver, Alice Cooper, Boards of Canada, Cowboy Junkies, Manic Street Preachers, Tori Amos, Flash Girls, Kate Bush, Nouvelle Vague. Like everything from jazz to rock to classical.
Movies
Cyrano de Bergerac, LA Confidential, Unforgiven, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Memento, Serenity, Interview With the Vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Near Dark, Incredibles, Spirited Away, Excalibur, Manhattan, Annie Hall, Usual Suspects, Last Samurai, Dark City, Brazil, Lord of the Rings, The Big Blue, Heathers, anything with Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry or Laurel and Hardy.
Television
Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Dr Who (old and new), Star Trek (all, but mostly original, Next Generation and DS9), Futurama, Simpsons, Family Guy, Ultraviolet, Firefly, Charlie Jade, Have I got News for You, QI, lots of documentaries and animation.
Books
Far too many to list. Anything by Robert Louis Stevenson, Ken MacLeod, Iain M Banks, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Hal Duncan, Peter F Hamilton, Bryan Talbot, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Bob Finger, Mattotti, Dave Gibbons, David Lloyd, Mike Mignola, Frank Miller, Will Eisner, Grant Morrison, Mike Carey, Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, Jeff VanderMeer, Jorge Luis Borges, Neal Asher, Charlie Stross, Arturo Perez Reverte, Brian K Vaughan, Jim Butcher.
Interview With the Vampire and Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (before she lost the plot), A Rage to Live (a biography of Victorian explorer, writer, linguist, duellist, scientist Sir Richard Burton and his wife - a most amazing read you would think of as fiction but its all true), Anubis Gates by Tim Powers, Pavane by Keith Roberts, Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin, The Great Book of Gaelic (Gaelic/English poems by Scots and Irish bards spanning 1000 years, with art from Scots and Irish artist alongside), the poetry of Edward Morgan, Liz Niven, Carol Ann Duffy, Norman MacCaig
Heroes
Cyrano de Bergerac, Don Quixote, Spike Milligan, Martin Luther King, Alan Turing, the entire species of penguins, Neil Armstrong, Mel Blanc
Joe's Details
Status:
Single
Hometown:
Edinburgh
Ethnicity:
Other
Religion:
Agnostic
Zodiac Sign:
Capricorn
Smoke / Drink:
No / Yes
Children:
Undecided
Education:
College graduate
Occupation:
Bookseller and web editor
Joe's Schools
Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh
Edinburgh, SL
Graduated: N/A
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Major: Communication Studies, BA (Honours)
Clubs: Fencing club, drinking a lot
1991 to 1995
Lenzie Academy
LENZIE, SL
Graduated: 1985
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Other
Major: Er, lots of highers, CSYS and a ton of O grades too
Clubs: Fencing club, debating society, operatic society, computer club (founder member)
About me: I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
I'm a bookseller living and working in one of the most gorgeous cities in the world, Edinburgh. Spent many years working for a major bookselling chain until they fired me for comments about work in my blog, the Woolamaloo Gazette. The publicity which snowballed in the wake of this rippled round the world from the local press to foreign language papers in Europe and South America and even radio interviews for NPR in America.
The support I had from authors I had worked with and from hundreds of people who I had never met, as well as other friends and family and my union was amazing; the company gave in at the appeal hearing and I was offered my job back. By this time I had been offered a better job working online for Fordbidden Planet International, maintaining books and graphic novels online for them and also setting up a blog (oh the irony!) and now a podcast too, posting reviews of SF&F books, comics and graphic novels (and even the occassional movie or piece of animation) and author interviews.
I live with two cats, Cassandra and Pandora, many books and a large single malt collection. I love books, comics and graphic novels, write reviews, spend far too much time at the movies, love drinking and chatting and dining with my friends and posting smart-arse comments on current events on my main blog.
Who I'd like to meet: Christina Ricci - talented actress, mostly works the films she wants to do rather than simply using them as vehicles to be a Hollywood star which I respect her for. Plus I would love to snog her :-).
Juliette Binoche, the goddess of the French cinema.
Don Quixote and Cyrano de Bergerac; lifelong heroes and role models.
Bugs Bunny - another role model and probably the coolest cartoon rabbit ever.
