I've come to the conclusion that I just relate better to people who have - how shall I say it? - somwhat eccentric tastes. Don't get me wrong, I like some mainstream stuff, and know plenty of great people that don't know of the existence of indie comics or even Green Day. Truth is though, I'd rather be hanging out at a 1920s vintage club, museum or underground art event than at a pub. Wouldn't you?
Laughs. We love 'em, right? I love making people laugh. But I've got to say, I've met very few women who could make me laugh in return. And they were all Scandinavian and attached. Being Scandinavian is optional, but if you reckon you can raise a chuckle or two, that would be worth at least two dozen brownie points as far as I'm concerned*. I'm not asking for material here, I'm talking about banter. I ping, you pong. Something like that anyway.
*minus three million if you smoke though - but we can still be friends.
But wait! It's not just a massive gigglefest - here's my serious face... What's all "this" about? It's all well and good asking what you can get out of life, but what about what you can put into it? Isn't it great when you get to shine, when you pour some of the good stuff out, and there's someone there to appreciate it? Then they get to share the good in them with you, and everyone's a winner! Well... that's my theory anyway.
Oh, by the way, while I actually quite enjoy a bit of e-mail-based verbal sparring, I find that it only gets across a tiny fraction of what someone is like, and so would rather just meet face-to-face than accrue a book's worth of messages, near Swiftian as they might be in their rapier-like subtlety...
Books:
Like A Velvet Glove Cast In Iron; One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovitch; Nabokov, Poe, other E.European and American classics. Presently devouring lots of material with a philosophical/psychological bent. Camus, Hesse, Malcolm X – you name ‘em, I’ve name-dropped ‘em.
Movies:
Bad Timing; Ghost Word; Stardust Memories; An American In Paris; The Life Aquatic; Kagemusha; The Return.
Music:
Green Day; Jimmy Eat World; Genesis; Less Than Jake; Michael Nyman; Tangerine Dream; Fall Out Boy; Queen. Just some examples of the eclecticism of my listening tastes. For gigs and clubs, it's a different story again, with 1920s-1940s music, jazz and early reggae being "scenes" I can dig, daddio.
