SPORT

Right! I am English (with some Scottish and a little Welsh blood mixed in) and I like American Football! Why? I just do. How? Easily! I saw a game on TV and found it fun to watch even though I did not then understand the rules. As I learned the rules and watched more I formed a liking for the Dolphins team. Later the Browns started up and, impressed by the optimism and keen support of their fans I started to support them as well. The Claymores are the only UK team in NFL Europe though they are based in Scotland.

My local team is the London O's and a friend of mine plays for the Essex Spartans. I catch their matches whenever I can. British teams often suffer from poor coaching. We just have not the experience! Their other drawback is poor funding. Due mainly to lousy television coverage, few British people are interested in the game and so most local games are just watched by a few of the players' friends and relatives. Only one Television supplier covers NFL and NFL Europe live and they are expensive, better at collecting money than providing customer service and, though probably the largest of the private TV providers, supply to nowhere near the majority of viewers. the only terrestial channel to cover the sport only shows the games on at least 24 hour delay and chooses a stupid time of night to do this! NFL and NFL Europe are trying to raise the profile of the game, concentrating on youngsters through various events and minor flag football leagues. Without the game popularised more through 'terrestial' TV with games being shown at reasonable times I do not see them having much success. I am put out as it can be a nightmare just trying to watch a Superbowl live!

The paragraph above was written over four years ago and is still true. Support has NOT increased and programs are still shown at stupid times on terrestial TV. As for that other private TV company - they have now moved the service to another of their own channels that is even more expensive!

It is now late 2006 and a digital channel 5 US are now showing the odd two hour highlights of a game.

The only other sport I really enjoy watching is the Grand Prix. Summer Sunday afternoon, cool drink and Grand Prix on the TV. Almost heaven! I love it! The commentry is both good and entertaining, the background stories are presented well and the racing is almost always exciting. I have seen many good Grand Prix drivers but I feel that Michael Schaumakker will turn out to be the best that I have seen.

It is now 2006, December and Michael retired this year having won more Grand Prixs and taking more records than any other driver - ever! The driver I am currently rooting for is Jenson Button who drives for Honda but there are other British interests as well. Looks like being a good season next year - 2006 was a cracker! Jan 2007: Now we have seen most of this year's cars and there are quite a few new changes! Early shakedowns suggest that this year will be even closer than predicted! In spite of no public announcements it is becoming clearer that Honda and Toyota are engaged in a small 'war' of their own. Having been trounced by Honda, Toyota have to do well and hopefully beat Honda to claw back their loss of face. Should be interestin'!

TV, FILMS and COMPUTER GAMES and the COMPUTER

I do not watch TV much but have some dvds and enjoy quite a few films. I do like science fiction, comic fiction, some comedy, films like The Mission, Lord of the Flies (English version), Walkabout, Citizen Kane to name a few. I do not like films of realistic violence nor do I like many of the horror films of current times. I am not too keen on romances or 'weepies' - in fact most 'emotional' films drive me up the wall! Quite a lot of the films I enjoy are silly: Droids, Mars Attacks and Batteries Not Included and a few are just nostalgia. I have included some links to film sites I enjoy visiting. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Spiderman are my favorite of the more recent films. Add The Incredibles to that list! I suspect Robots will soon also be added.

It was also Monster House, Narnia and even more Harry Potter. However had not had much of a chance for films much but am hoping to see Flushed Away and that fantasy film with the awkward to remember name that starts with e.

I have enjoyed science fiction ever scince I picked up a book called Earth Abides about life after some great disaster. Dr Who also helped. I remember insisting on watching it in spite of parental criticism. I enjoyed all of the Doctors but for me the first one was the real one. The new doctor Who series televised by the BBC this year (2005) was excellent and apart from being individual or two part adventures , the series was also an ongoing plot that did not become completely clear until the end. 2006 has seen the second Dr Who series which was, if anything, better than the first.

There have been very few good science fiction series in those early years. A for Andromeda, Blake's Seven and then, of course, Star Treck. The latter never really grabbed me though - not the way the others did. I have watched Babalon Five - which was great right up to its supposed climax and last series.

Now the odd computer game now and then can be relaxing. There is nothing like a quick game of Carmageddon after a frustrating day at work. My system is not that advanced so I tend to buy lower spec. games and not many at that. I also tend to get fed up with longish games like Balders Gate, Quake (any version), and so on. The one exception to this being Lucus Arts Jedi Knight. I like pottering on Sim City or Civalisation now and then but tend to leave such games alone for long periods.

I also like creating stories and plots using the game editor that comes with Neverwinter Nights. It is good fun and I can create "Mayfest style" plots - almost as good as playing the games.

I play on my computer in different ways. I am not a good artist when it comes to sketching or painting but some packages that I have enable me to produce satisfying images. I have joined a group of people all interested in 3d art using Poser. We communicate via common emails - i.e. we mail the whole group not just an individual. By sharing the knowledge we have and talking about problems we find, we learn an awful lot from each other.

I tend only to surf the net when I need to find something and I do a little coding now and then. Many of the links I have found useful are on the links page as are many of the sites of people I have come to know and/or respect over the net. I am not into downloading things for the sake of it. Briefly looked at some applications like WinMX but got rather disgusted by the mass of porn - much blatently illegal - that people were offering and so have dumped such programs.

I cannot end this bit without mentioning two films Sin City and Batman Beginnings. Sin City was an excellent Comic series and the film was literally the comics come to life. Batman Beginnings is, I believe, the best Batman film to date.

ROLE PLAY

Enjoying fiction as much as I do it does not surprise me that I enjoy 'being' someone else for a while. For with table top role play games and live action role play that is just what I do. The games also involve luck, problem solving and communicating. OK! I know some games have a bad rep. Not all involve religion, demons and evil influences. As well as fantasy games there are wild west, historical and even cartoon games. Many are based upon fictional universes as depicted in books. Some are comic and some are light hearted. Some are very serious and some are tragic. More about these games can be found upon the larp page.

OUTDOOR

I love walking and enjoy camping. I have not yet found a need to even do either outside of the UK yet. It may be small but it is very varied, mostly beautiful and steeped in history and interest. Even after all of these years (I am getting on you know) I have not covered as much of the country as I want to.

On a small scale, I live in London. I have been to most areas in the city but am always discovering more to see and find out about. On a larger scale, I have probably walked around more of Scotland and Wales than England and I have walked around quite a lot of England.

I like camping because, to do so comfortably without carting around tons of gear, is a skill. One that I pride myself on having. By comfortable I mean well rested, well fed and dry. I have been backpacking and to many 'static' camps (at festivals and events) and enjoyed myself enormously.

Finally camping is a skill which combines well with live role play and is useful for such things as concerts that last more than a day.

A BRIEF MUSICAL NOTE

I like loads of different types of music. This includes everything from classical to rock, from jazz to rap and from goth to country. Very wide. I get annoyed sometimes about the rep that some music styles seem to acquire. See my Rants page for more of this.

People seem surprised to find I like Maralyn Manson, Slopknot and Eminem. Then they do not see how I can also like Black Crows, W.A.S.P., Tankard, Levellers, Run Rig, Tchaikovsky, Cream, Queen, Guns and Roses, Vanessa Mai, Hanson, Pulp and many, many more. I like practically all types of music. Sometimes I play a lot of a particular type and at other times I may play something completely different. Where is the problem?

I also like watching smaller amature groups - in fact I am a live music junkie. Two groups currently hold my interest. Both having members from the Mayfest festival. Kit Baume, the guy who plays Lord Flint - ruler at Mayfest, is frontman/vocals for Capo Jr. and James, he plays a standard fighter, plays keyboards for Egomania. Both of these groups have stepped up to become excellent and entertaining 'support group' level. Sadly Capo Jnr has split up but Kit hopes to form a new band this year.

Ian Egerton and Sue are the 'Mayfest Bards' and they too provide very good music. While we are on the subject, Phil, our Mayfest site manager plays in a brass band. I like all of these and happily travel to their gigs.