CURRENT MISSION

4500 kilometers by bicycle: Amsterdam to Istanbul. Meeting those along the way who make their places what they want them to be.

ABOUT ME

I'm a 26 year old vancouver kid, born and bred. Over the last several years I've become mildly obsessed with bicycles and have involved myself deeply in the Vancouver bike culutre, organizing regular midnight bike rides (http://midnight-mass.blogspot.com), playing bike polo (http://bikepolo.ca), throwing several 'alleycat' style races... on childrens bikes, and joining a mini bike breakdance burlesque crew, the Brakes (http://www.myspace.com/thesearethebrakes). Riding from Amsterdam to Istanbul is my latest bit of insanity - I've got a blog set up so that you can follow my progress: http://midnightmiles.blogspot.com

Of course, I'm not all bikes - I love to dance and can get down to call kinds of music from daft punk to david bowie. I read a lot, and love dystopian fiction and political theory. I take loads of photos (though dont put too much online. I have a flickr with some pictures from home and many more from this trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/midnightsimon/, and I like to make lo-rez videos shot with my still camera you can check out on youtube: http://youtube.com/profile_play_list?user=midnightmass
My 'day job' is waiting tables at a pretty funky restaurant on Vancouver's Commercial Drive, and I've spent the last two years living on the second floor of a factory we converted as a studio/living space. Lots of room for artmaking and bike repair.

Oh yeah, and if you couldn't tell from the fact that my entire life is linked online, I'm a total geek.

PHILOSOPHY

I follow a couple of guiding principles.

First: work to live, not live to work. Prioritize making yourself and your friends happy.

Second: Live larger than life. Be who you want to be and make the place you are in the place you want it to be. Invent your own sport, start your own bike gang, build your own craft collective... reality becomes what you make it.

Interests

• dancing
• blogging
• music
• cycling
• sports
• bike polo

Music, Movies, and Books

I've got eclectic musical taste:
I've got fairly eclectic tastes

))!!! (chk chk chk)
))Adult
))Aesop Rock
))American Analogue Set
))the Arcade Fire
))Apostle of Hustle
))Aphrodite
))Atmosphere
))Be Good Tanyas
))Bjork
))the Black Keys
))Black Sun Empire
))Blockhead
))Broken Social Scene
))Broker Dealer
))Built to Spill
))Cocorosie
))Controller.Controller
))Cut Copy
))Cut Chemist
))Deceptikon
))DJ Revolution
))DJ Shadow (reigning all time favorite)
))Do Make Say Think
))Donnovan
))Dub music of all stripes (old or new - Lee Perry, King Tubby, Bunny Wailer or Pitch Black, Fat Freddy's Drop, Salmonella dub, ect)
))EDit
))ED Rush & Optical ))Elliot Smith
))the English Beat
))Eyedea and Abilities
))Feist
))Flaming Lips
))Four Tet
))the Fugees
))Gastr Del Sol
))Godspeed You Black Emperor
))Grand Funk
))the Herbalizer DJs

))Holly Golightly
))Jimmi Hendrix
))J-Live
))Johnny Cash
))the Juan Mclean
))Jurassic 5
))Kid Koala
))Lamb
))LCD soundsystem
))massive attack
))MIA
))Michael Franti
))Modest Mouse
))the Most Serene Republic
))Neutral Milk Hotel
))the Notwist
))portishead
))postal service
))Precious Fathers
))Premier
))Q and not U
))most products under the Quannum banner (with the notable exception of lyrics born, whom I hate)
))Queen
))Qbert
))the Rapture
))Ratatat
))RJD2
))the Rogers Sisters
))the Shins
))the Sneaker Pimps
))the Strokes
))Stars
))Stars of the lid
))the Talking Heads!!
))Tommy Guerrero
))T-Rex
))Tricky
))TV on the radio
))UNKLE
))the Unicorns
))Yo la Tengo
))the White Stripes
))Xavier Rudd

As for movies... Top 5, in no particular order -

Big Lebowski, Naked Lunch, Apocalypse Now, the 5th Element, Easy Rider, Withnail and I (yes, I know thats 6)

Honorable mentions to - Last Night, True Romance, Serenity, Team America, Blade Runner, Starship troopers, Waydowntown, Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Wes Andersons movies (Rushmore being my favorite), Dawn of the dead (Romero), Evil dead 1, 2, and Army of Darkness, the Castle, Koyaanisqatsi (vs Baraka, which I think is subtly racist. ask me why if you care), Das Boot, Stop Making Sense, Blade, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Scratch, The Corporation, Ghost in the Shell (and the sequel, though the first is better), Ninja Scroll (perhaps the best anime EVER), Alien and Aliens, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Dr. Strangelove, Highway 61, Hardcore Logo, Indiana Jones (the first and third - the second is absolutely rediculous) .. there's more - I'll add if I remember

I'm also a big fan of horror/ gorefest type movies (zombies, Troma, ect), and a pretty big cheerleader for Canadian movies (go Don McKellar, David Cronenberg, Gary Burns!) and if you think they suck, well too bad for you - you're missing out.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

see above (french-toast-pancakes)

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm a decent ghetto bike mechaninc (mostly self taught, so no promises), and I rock at bike polo. My scrambled egg making skills are also very high, and I can show you the secret to making french-toast-pancakes.

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