CURRENT MISSION

To throw open the shutters to the wide, wild world, And not to be eaten by bears.

ABOUT ME

I read a lot, fiction, fact, comment, newspapers, online, cereal boxes, the lot. Amazon 1-click will soon bankrupt me, doubtless. I will build a shack of books and DVDs in the street near where my home used to be (you are welcome to crash in it. It may be soggy).

In the last couple of weeks: A book of essays by David Foster Wallace, The Dharma Bums, Steve Martin's memoir of his stand -up career, Stewart Lee's memoir of his standup career, A book about the idea of political correctness- for good and for ill)

I work in TV (but don't hold that against me- i'd like to think i'm more tina fey in 30 rock than faye dunnaway in network...) and I'm a bit of a cinephile. I like whole static weekends gone to boxed sets/ sneaky downloads/ movie marathon, going out to flicks too - our local arthouse, the GFT, is an art deco marvel and worth a look if you're in glasgow.

I love music and I'm a big gig-goer. If you'd like to see a random gig/show I'm yer monkey. (indie, rock n roll,60s pop, blues, bluegrass, country and anything new, old or interesting you can point me towards).

I realise this reads like I LIKE STUFF. I maintain that I'm vaguely interesting. Really.

PHILOSOPHY

WHY do you live your life? Sweet hairy lord, there's a question and a half! Not sure if I can address that glorious and intriguing matter in full here, but I can tell you:

I think it's important to question, to be interested, to find your own explanations for what we are.

I think it's important- very important - to laugh and to try to make other laugh, especially when it's inappropriate (but not when it's rude).

Above all, I think it's important to try to be kind.

Yes.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm a complete and total N00b to this CS business, but I like the friendly, open, cooperative idea a lot. I hope I can meet some interesting folk, swap stories, swap favours, YAWP!, an' that.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

N/A

Interests

TICK

(sorry...)

I like music, philosophy, cooking, eating and learning about food, art, modern and otherwise, books, chatting, guinness, learning about people, history, film, whiskey, figuring things out, hope, kindness and curiosity.

• arts
• books
• documentaries
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• marathon
• tv
• music
• blues
• rock climbing
• business
• history
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

slaughterhouse five, adventures in the screen trade, ray bradbury, love , wise children, the collected works of blake, slaves of solitude, the corrections, tunes for a small harmonica, the gathering, a handful of dust (hard cheese on tony), ray bradbury,robert burns, raymond carver, golden age hollywood biogs, i tried to like paul cohelo, but it's just bollocks really, isn't it? and don't get me started on that fucking seagull book. james gleick, phil roth, murakami, THE END

all about eve, the philadelphia story, metropolis, elephant, the big lebowski, harold and maude, M, reflections in a golden eye, chinatown, knife in the water, repulsion, sideways, fight club, the wrestler, alex payne's bit in paris je t'aime, the pianist, the awful truth, annie hall, its a wonderful life, performance, annie hall again (i think of us that way sometimes, and i live here), the royal tenenbaums, the last detail, bad timing, water drops on burning rocks, a serious man
FIN

the smiths, buzzcocks, violent femmes, bowie, jeff lewis, leonard cohen, king creosote, delgados, james yorkston, pavement, rolling stones, pj harvey, nirvana, little richard, rammstein, isobel campbell & mark lanegan, pixies, little milton, billie holiday, the supremes, suede, x ray spex,the modern lovers
THNKYVERMUCH

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

UPDATE: the belly pork ramen at Momafoku in the East Village, NY, is nothing short of a spiritual mediation on the nature of porkmeat. Rarely in life have I encountered a dish that was delicious and could really be described as - i'm going to sound a right toss here, but hang it - witty. If you're here, try it.

PREVIOUSLY:

I think the most amazing things I've seen are probably small simple things, between people.

That said, the gloamin' over the mountains of the west highlands of Scotland takes some beating.

and 5 cheerleaders dancing on the wind-blasted platform of a North Sea oil rig. That one stays with ye....

Teach, Learn, Share

I could teach you to make lots of different types of food, the basics of how to shoot and cut a documentary, a whole messload about whatever random thing is obsessing me this week,or I'm working on (at the moment: stand-up comedy, Wikileaks and basic indoor climbing, but it changes and sadly the old info tends to be dislodged by the new...)

Most importantly, I can teach you to swear in Glaswegian. My friends, that it a Life Skill.

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