Interests

Interests - the stuff that will hopefully give you a better idea of who I am. I wouldn't want to leave the impression that my life revolves around HTML, after all.

I'm an avid writer, and I read a lot and see a lot of movies to provide inspiration. I love science fiction, but good sci-fi is really hard to find these days, so I find myself repeatedly watching stuff like Blade Runner, Alien, and the Ghost in the Shell movies and series. I've always loved cyberpunk, especially the work of William Gibson, and it's been very interesting to see his work become simply contemporary fiction as many of the fantastical notions of his early '80s stories have become the stuff of reality. Those of you who share my tastes may recognize the robot in the graphic at right - it's a VF-1A from Robotech (Macross, if you prefer). I reveal my tremendous and enduring geekiness by saying that my love of Robotech has persisted well beyond my initial childhood exposure to it in the mid '80s. It's entirely possible that the phenomenal mechanical designs of Kawamori Shoji and Aramaki Shinji featured on the show sparked my interest in graphic design and usability, since their designs are just so danged good.

Video games take up probably too much of my time and my mind. I'm hoping to eventually get involved in the creative side of the game industry to create story-driven experiences with deep character development and user involvement on a more visceral and emotional level than is currently expected. Games offer players the opportunity to experience things that would be extremely dangerous or otherwise impossible in real life, and that gives game designers the tools to challenge people's perceptions of their world and reality. I'm eager to use those tools to mess with people's minds (in the most socially conscious and responsible way, of course). The constant hand-wringing over the violence and lack of morality in games like Grand Theft Auto points to the need for game designers to expand their efforts into areas that engage players' minds as much as their trigger fingers, and with a bit of luck, I'll be on the vanguard of that movement.

I enjoy biking - I've got a Trek 4300 mountain bike suffering from critical under-use at the moment. When it's not collecting dust in the garage, it accompanies me trail-riding and riding around the city. If you like riding, Critical Mass (6PM, the last Friday of every month, beginning at Woodruff Park) is a great jaunt around the city, as well as an interesting cultural phenomenon and gentle reminder of Atlanta's lack of transportation options.

My musical interests span a broad range that includes Jazz (Miles Davis, Stanley Turrentine, Dave Brubeck, Errol Garner), Hip-Hop (De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Deltron 3030, Jurassic 5, Mr. Lif), Rock (U2, Radiohead, The Clash, Bruce Springsteen, Okkervil River), and all kinds of other stuff.

I also dig all sorts of other stuff that I can't think of at the moment.

So those are the things that make me tick. The thing that makes me beep is probably my watch. At least, I hope it's my watch...