CURRENT MISSION

I hope to inspire myself, to fuel my creative impulses, to forge new friendships, and most importantly to learn about how other people live their lives, in the hopes that the similarities I find bring a feeling of global community.

ABOUT ME

I spent my life in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, playing basketball, acting in, writing, and directing plays, eating (how I love to eat), and taking it easy. With the exception of a few years spent in sunny Toronto, I continue to do so to this very day.

PHILOSOPHY

Cut Nietzsche in quarters, remove all the seeds, season with Kant, put in blender. Add two parts Camus, sweeten with Plato. Combine in a bowl at a 3:1 ratio with Wittgenstein. Garnish with Hume. Cover in the aesthetic philosophy of Arthur Danto, and serve. (And now, the less pretentious version: I believe in opening your mind, your heart, and your home to those travellers who are interested in doing the same)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

By trying to be as easy-going a guest as possible, and by this September, but hosting anyone who comes to Toronto - where I will be living, I hope.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I’ve couch surfed my way around Toronto and Montreal more times than I can remember. Couch surfed in Zagreb, Ljubljana, Vienna, and Prague.

Interests

I am intensely interested in theatre, music, philosophy, and people. As a writer, meeting new people is an invaluable source of inspiration, as is visiting new places and experiencing new things.

• arts
• writing
• acting
• dining
• cooking
• music
• basketball

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: I love 60s Italian and ‘French New Wave’ cinema (especially Fellini + Goddard, respectively), Ingmar Bergman, the films of Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard especially), John Hughes (Ferris Bueller!!!), Woody Allen, and pretty much anything involving Helena Bonham Carter. Music: Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Feist, Hawksley Workman, The Beach Boys (!!!!), Bjork (!!!!!), Herbie Hancock, LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, Charlies Mingus (!!), and so, so, so, so much more. Books: The Favourite Game (Leonard Cohen), Whale Music (Paul Quarrington), Kurt Vonnegut, the plays of Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, Edward Albee, Chekhov (!!), Shakespeare, Tom Stoppard, Michael Healey, Daniel McIvor, the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz, Ungaretti, e.e. cummings (!!!), Homer, and, again, Shakespeare.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

As a kid I’ve been to every province of this enormous country, to the point where it all blurs into one amazing idea in my mind. I’ve been witness to some truly incredible feats of theatrical expressions from international companies like Theatre Smith-Gilmour and Virtuoso Theatre. When I was a little boy there was a solar eclipse, but the teachers closed all the drapes because if we looked into it we could go blind. Still, the classroom became dark when the eclipse happened, like all of the sudden, for a few moments, it was as if we were going to school at night. For a six-year-old boy, it was a very strange and amazing feeling.

Teach, Learn, Share

I think a lot about the role of art in life, and the artist in society. I’ve lost entire nights talking it over, and hopefully I’ve got a few original opinions. I’m also working tirelessly on becoming a stronger writer, and my editing/interpreting skills are pretty decent. Honestly, most of the things I might be able to teach are things I’d still love to learn more about. The possible exception to this is cooking. I know hardly anything about food, but there’s little I’d love to learn more about.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Croatia, France, Slovenia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada

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