Online Media Cultist

I was asked by Mona, a fellow contributor at louisgray.com, to do my part and level best in adding to the latest web meme. I replied that I love to talk about myself… shutting me up may be the hard part!

In that spirit, I give you 25 mostly non-webby things that you may not know about me. And after this I (mostly) promise to go back to social media and webby-focused programming.

1. I’m a huge TV geek. Recently I’ve binged on marathon sessions with such unfurled treasures as The Wire, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Sliders. And I’m still reeling from the tragic and brilliant series finale of The Shield.
2. Television + laptop is a good time in my world.
3. I played rugby for a few years in college at Binghamton University in upstate New York. I loved every minute of it and am very happy to never slap some tape around my head and get out on the pitch again.
4. I grew up in Long Island, New York but have lived in California for just over 10 years now, five in the Bay Area and now five in Pasadena, just north of Los Angeles.
5. I love The Howard Stern Show. Perhaps this is in part because we’re both from Long Island. In any event, Howard and crew have gotten me through years of brutal commutes and I still find the show vastly entertaining to this day.
6. Many people think I am “mellow,” “relaxed,” “chill.”
7. I am neurotic, focused, driven.
8. I drink a lot of coffee every single day, and try to mix in some water here and there.
9. I have a bizarre and absurd sense of humor, and I’m always immensely grateful to any and all who get that about me.
10. I love music, and what I listen to gets more varied and eclectic the older I get. I listen to a lot of electro rock and electronica these days, but still go for great passions of mine like ska-punk, ’90s alt rock, roots reggae, and hip hop.
11. I was a sketch comedy writer for a San Francisco-based troupe called The Johnny Kats for a brief spell in the late ’90s.
12. I played the double bass for many years. One day I was in rehearsal for the university symphony and I thought, “I absolutely hate this.” That was the last time I ever touched that instrument. I also played bass guitar and messed around with the guitar for a time.
13. I’ve made serious attempts at writing a novel about four or five times. The last time I did I made it through a very rough first draft (a romantic comedy/thriller about rugby and college life), but recognized that it was terrible. Over time I’ve come to realize that being a writer doesn’t necessarily have to include being a novelist.
14. I’m married to a wonderful and beautiful woman who is passionate about surfing, dancing, and the outdoors. She’s also good at dragging me outside and away from the monitor when I need it most.
15. I’m quirky. Here’s an example: sometimes I’ll fixate on taking the first letter of someone’s name and combining it with their last name to form a new word. If the new word is cool — such as Brian Russel = Brussel — this pleases me.
16. I love books, and getting an Amazon Kindle was one of the best purchases I’ve made in recent years. Right now I’m reading Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas Friedman. It’s really interesting, and really scary (in a “the planet’s got some problems, y’all” kind of way). Probably reading it before I go to sleep is not such a hot idea!
17. I absolutely love vibrant, diverse, and interesting cities. Some of my favorite places on the planet: NYC (of course), London, Madrid, New Orleans, Aukland.
18. I absolutely love space, privacy, and convenience, which doesn’t really mesh well with big cities. Pasadena is a really good compromise in that sense: it’s a small, friendly city outside of monstrous LA that’s very livable and has a lot going on.
19. On the Road, by Jack Kerouac, was a very influential book for me. It motivated me to get out of Long Island to check out other places and scenes. The first really thick novel I recall reading is It, by Stephen King. I also read a bunch of books about the D Day invasions at Normandy when I was quite young, such as The Longest Day and The Great Escape. Did I mention that I’m quirky?
20. I’m very fortunate that I’m still quite close with many of the people that I went to high school and college with.
21. I used the Internet for the first time while in college. Today I make my living from it and most of my time harnessing the webs. That never ceases to astonish me.
22. I’m crazy about the web, social media, RSS, content aggregation, and the new and astonishing things that people are doing with and via technology. Hopefully that comes out a little bit here.
23. I go on runs with certain kinds of food. Back in the day it was things like mac and cheese or Lean Pockets. These days I try to make it more like salads, but the seductive siren song of burritos always seems to cry out in the night!
24. Today I was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States.
25. Okay, that one might not be true.