Things I Like

364519663_306b61b76b-web

I figure that if you want to find out about me, I could describe myself in 10000 words or less, or I could just put up a list of Stuff Which I Think Is Awesome, which will probably give you a much better idea about me than rambling on about my childhood. I think Ghost in the Shell said it best:

Life has become more complex in the overwhelming sea of information. And life, when organized into species, relies upon genes to be its memory system. So man is an individual only because of the intangible memory, and memory cannot be defined though it defines mankind.

So, here’s a quick list of things I absolutely love.

Music

Favourite bands:

Some favourite songs in my iTunes library:

Some 4-Star songs in my iTunes library:

  • Chuck Biscuits: Outlands
  • Control Machete: De Perros Amores
  • Kosheen: Hungry (Satoshi Tomiie mix)
  • Main Element: Take Me Down
  • Radiohead: Exit Music (for a Film)
  • Sarah McLachlan: Fear
  • Sarah McLachlan: World on Fire
  • Sasha: Cloud Cuckoo
  • Shpongle: Dorset Perception
  • Sneaker Pimps: Underground
  • Sunscreem: Chasing Dreams
  • Sunscreem: Perfect Motion
  • The Seatbelts: Call Me Call Me
  • The Seatbelts: Cosmic Dare (Pretty with a Pistol)
  • The Source: You’ve Got the Love (Now Voyager remix)
  • Way Out West: Intensify Part 01
  • Way Out West: Stealth
  • iiO: Rapture (Riva remix)

Computer Games

Since everyone has a shortlist of their favourite games ever, here’s mine. Most of these are PC games, since I’ve been a PC gamer pretty much all of my life. (While I do own a Dreamcast, Gamecube, and Playstation 2, they’re pretty much exclusively used for Soul Calibur I, II and III.)
  • System Shock 2 (Looking Glass): First-Person RPG/Shooter
  • Ultima Underworld (Origin): First-Person RPG/Shooter
  • Fallout 2 (Black Isle Productions): RPG
  • Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri (Firaxis Games): Strategy
  • Planescape: Torment (Black Isle Productions): RPG. PS:T deserves a special award as one of the most text-heavy games in existence, with a story, plot, and moral and ethical stance that made you know yourself better.
  • Star Control 2: Sci-fi adventure
  • Starflight and Starflight 2: Sci-fi adventure
  • Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur 2
  • Knights of the Old Republic II — The Sith Lords. Nearly as soul-challenging as PS:T.
  • Doom 2
  • Command and Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and Dune II (Westwood Studios), the first real-time strategy games that created such an excellent era. Die all you Blizzard-loving Warcraft II copybag scums!
  • Space Quest III (Sierra On-Line), the coolest Sierra game you could finish within 30 minutes!
  • Powerslide (Ratbag Games) — only because I wrote some music for it ;-).
  • A special award for Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour (EA Los Angeles), the most hilarious and politically incorrect real-time strategy game today.
  • Wipeout 2097 (Psygnosis): The epitome of futuristic racing games. My verdict’s still out on Wipeout Pure, although it looks like a worthy successor.
  • Dark Castle (Silicon Beach Software) and The Fool’s Errand (Cliff Johnson) on the Macintosh.

Movies, TV, Anime

A shortlist of my favourite movies:
  • The Shawshank Redemption
  • Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
  • Aliens
  • Pulp Fiction
  • 12 Angry Men
  • The Usual Suspects
  • Fight Club
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • The Professional
  • When Harry Met Sally
  • The Incredibles, Toy Story 2, and pretty much anything by Pixar… (can this company do no wrong?)
  • The Princess Bride
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • Spirited Away. There is something truly magical about Miyazaki-san’s movies.
  • Ghost in the Shell

TV shows and anime series:

  • Firefly (can you be a self-respecting sci-fi geek without loving this show?)
  • Battlestar Galactica
  • Scrubs
  • Roseanne
  • Cowboy Bebop. Quite possibly the best finalé ever. And Ein! Soooooo cute!
  • Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex
  • Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex 2nd Gig
  • Samurai Champloo
  • Heroes

Books

Since I’m a geek, I’m a sucker for a lot of pulp fantasy and sci-fi, and am quite happy to admit that I’ve mashed through a large number of Forgotten Realms books. (I was never into Dragonlance though; I have nothing against it at all, I just never managed to steal a Dragonlance book when I was young and easily influenced.) I also own a reasonable number of D&D books from 2nd ed. up until 3rd edition, although I never quite jumped on the 3.5 bandwagon.

I’m also a sucker for Luis Royo art. (Surf the link and it’ll probably be obvious why…)