My about.me profile

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Music

I mostly listen to electronica.
I got into this type of music at the end of high school. My greatest influence at the time was the soundtrack to a video game called WipEout. This game and its sequel WipEout XL introduced me to electronic music. The first electronica artists I purchased CDs of were The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method, Propellerheads, Leftfield, The Future Sound of London, The Prodigy, Moby, Cirrus, Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, Timo Maas, and Hybrid.

Currently I'm into Dubstep, Glitch, Glitch Hop, Downtempo House, Acid Jazz, Ambient, Trance, and whatever fancies me.

The current artists I'm into are the following: BT, Edit, The Glitch Mob, DJ Shadow, Amon Tobin, Eskmo, ATB, The Cinematic Orchestra, dZihan and Kamien, Thievery Corporation, DJ Logic, Kraddy, Nujabes, Ooah, Royksopp, Skalpel, Ulrich Schnauss, and Underworld.

My favorite label is Ninja Tune. I just recently bought their 20th anniversary project. There is really great music on the two volumes. I was first introduced to them through the 10th anniversary project.

Movies

I follow mainstream movies. My favorite genre is science fiction. I'm not a big Star Wars fan. Avatar was OK. I like dystopian movies. Some of my favorite include Brazil, Minority Report, The City of Lost Children, Dark City, Strange Days, A Scanner Darkly , I Robot, Blade Runner, THX 1138, Metropolis, The Matrix , V for Vendetta, A Clockwork Orange, and Gattaca.

I love comic book movies. Batman, Superman, Spider-man, X-Men, Wolverine, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Blade, Red, Daredevil, The Hulk, and The Punisher. I'm looking forward to The Green Hornet, Thor, Avengers, and The Green Lantern.

I don't really have a favorite director.

I also take a great interest in CG movies. Pixar is great. Blue Sky, DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Animation, Square Pictures, and Illumination are also noteworthy.

My Favorite Movies of 2010
Despicable Me
Scott Pilgrim
Iron Man 2
Red
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
How to Train Your Dragon
Inception
Toy Story 3

Anime

The first anime I ever saw was Studio Ghibli's My Neighbor Totoro. This was back when I was in middle or high school. I really didn't get into anime until my first year of college. The first anime I ever saw in college was Lain. I have been following the industry since 1999. A lot has changed. It was really cool to see how a lot of people were getting exposed to anime and buying it. The last couple of years has seen many American anime distributors go out of business. There are only a couple of major companies around. The most recognizable is Funimation. ADV used to be a force. So was Geneon. Here is a current list.

Why Am I Into Anime?
I see anime as animation taken to the next level. Anime is a medium. There are genres of anime. There are movies and TV shows. Here is a list of the genres. Just like movies, anime also have great directors which have their own unique style. The following are a list of my favorite anime directors:

Mamoru Oshii - My favorite director. I like most of his work.
Satoshi Kon - My favorite movie of his is Paprika.
Hayao Miyazaki - A living legend. My favorite movie of his is Spirited Away.
Hideaki Anno - Neon Genesis Evangelion. N'uff said.
Shinichirō Watanabe - Famous for Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. He loves mixing music and animation.
Katsuhiro Otomo - Famous for Akira.
Rintaro - I love his work on Metropolis.
Shinji Aramaki - Appleseed Deus Ex Machina is the coolest adult CG movie I have ever seen.
Kenji Kamiyama - Great writer and director on the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series and Eden of the East.
Osamu Tezuka - If it wasn't for this gentleman, there would be no anime industry.
Isao Takahata - He directed Grave of the Fireflies. The only anime that has ever made me weep.
Mahiro Maeda - He directed Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. This is the most visually stunning anime I had the pleasure of viewing.

My favorite Anime of All Time
Favorite Series: Patlabor
This series is the most humanized mecha series I have ever seen. All of the characters are developed and they all are great. The English dub sucks.

Movie: This is hard to pick. I'd have to go with one of Oshii's movies. Some are better than others. I'd have to pick between GitS2: Innocence, Patlabor 2, and Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer.

Recent Anime
I really like Kyoto Animation's work. Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star are favs of mine. I haven't seen K-On!.

Of the current season, Fall 2010, I've been following three series: Bakuman, Otome Yokai Zakuro, and The World God Only Knows.

Comic Books

I first got into comics back in elementary school. The first comic I ever bought was a Wolverine comic which have a cover by Sam Kieth. I was into comics for the majority for my schooling until I went to college where I stopped. It wasn't until about a year ago that I got back into comics. The reason I got back into comics was due to the food delivery guy that delivers my grandmother's meals. One day he just came up to me and said that he would bring some comics to me. I, of course, have to reciprocate and so after buying some 20 cent comics started looking around the comic shop. I ended up liking a lot of what was currently going on in the industry. It has changed a lot since the advent of the internet. Back in the 90s during high school I bought Wizard magazine on a monthly basis. Nowadays there are a plethora of websites that cater to comic book readers. The two I checkout the most are Comic Book Resources and Bleeding Cool. Since I'm also on Facebook, I like getting the weekly video from the guys at A Comic Shop.

I have collected for a year and collected quite a few series. The following are my favorites:
American Vampire
Avengers
Daytripper
Demo Vol.2
Electric Ant
Chew
Batman Incorporated
Power Girl
Deadpool(Max, Corps, Pulp, and Wade Wilson's War)
Orc Stain
Wall-E
Farscape
Scorpious
The Vertigo Crime Graphic Novels(Area 10 and Dark Entries)
Morning Glories
Neonomicon (Alan Moore is really pushing the envelope here with what is in good taste)
Fables
Penny For Your Soul

2011 brings the continuation of this pursuit. I shop at Buried Under Comics in Manchester, CT. I'm really looking forward to Nick Spencer's new book, Scott Snyder's American Vampire, Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated, David Lapham's Deadpool Max, Mark Crilley's second graphic novel of his new property, Bendis' Avengers, and Penny For Your Soul.

Let It Snow...

Since I'm in a the middle of a blizzard and can't go out I may as well work on some content for my much ignored blog. I'm going to write more about my personal pursuits. These are comic books, anime, movies, and music. I'm going to split these up because I don't want people to read a wall of text.

New Year Resolutions

As 2010 comes to an end I've decided to actually do the New Year Resolution bit. I've never actually cared for New Year Resolutions since most people I know don't actually follow through with their resolutions.

Here are mine:

1. Continue going to the gym and keep on losing weight. I feel a lot better now that I have a weekly workout routine.

2. Figure out my work situation.

3. Get into a relationship.

4. Continue my geeky pursuit of comic books, anime, movies, and music.

5. Figure out whether to continue/start over my grad degree.

All of these are attainable. I'll be sure to read this at the end of next year to see if I actually followed them.

What I'm Currently Up To...

This past summer I worked for the Census Bureau. I worked in the town of Manchester, CT. It paid pretty well, but I only worked a few hours a day. Like any government backed initiative, bureaucracy comes into play. My supervisor was at odds over aspects of field work. Things changed on a weekly basis. Our team ended up completing early due to an inadequate amount of work. I personally had to visit a apartment complex called Squire Village. For the most part everything went well. I even had the occasional elementary school kid ask me what the Census was. I did run into a couple of uncooperative individuals, but since I had access to the rental office, I acquired the information needed to complete the Census forms. My overall experience was a positive one. I enjoyed the people I worked with during my short time as a Census enumerator.

In September I got hired as a Teachers Assistant in Special Education. After being unemployed for a while I was happy to get a job that is worthwhile. This is totally different than what I'm used to. I've worked corporate jobs. What enticed me to this job was that my parents are both teachers. I've been working at a High School for nearly 5 months and unlike my previous jobs where there were days where I didn't want to go to work, I haven't had a day like that yet. I work with a number of special needs students. I have also covered for teachers when the need arose. So far, my experience has been a positive one. I'm still looking for a job that pays better and is related to my field of study, but if I end up liking this work environment, I may very well end up becoming a teacher.