A little about myself

The last book I read.

Diary by Chuck Palahnuik.

Palahnuik’s best known for his novel Fight Club, and the feature film by the same name directed by David Fincher.

Dairy is written as if it is someone’s real diary, it is the thoughts and happenings of a troubled artist who is drawn back to a tourist overrun island. It follows his unique writing style and in many ways is similar to Fight Club, dark moments, with unpredictable twists. I believe all his books follow a minimal approach and can be quite short which makes them all the more easy to read.

Palahnuik is currently creating the sequel to Fight Club which interestingly will come in the form of a graphic novel.

The Last non fiction book i read.
Athanasius Kircher’s Theatre of the World

Athanasius Kircher famously translated the Egyptian hieroglyphics, incorrectly. He was a lesser known Leonardo da Vinci who lived 400 years ago. The book is a collection of snippets from Kircher’s work from wide ranging subjects, often beautifully illustrated with etchings. Most memorable for me are his calculations for the mythical tower of babel to reach into the heavens and beyond the moon. He concluded that such a tower would require more materials than was present in the entire earth and would be so heavy it would alter the earth’s movement. If i had a coffee table, I would place this book on it.

The last film I watched

Prometheus Directed by Ridley Scott
I love that Ridley Scott has returned to Science Fiction and the Alien universe. This is the third time I’ve watched this film and I like it more with every watch. Always a visual feast , however this time round I took more noticed of the android's (Michael Fassbender) empathy for Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, A film who’s main theme is longing to know who you are.

Admittedly Prometheus is quite disliked by many, but to be fair given that Alien is one of the greatest Sci-Fi films of all time you can cut it some slack... Apart from the cliche ‘running from large rolling object in a straight line.’

Ridley Scott is slated to direct the sequel to Blade Runner and is likely to cause yet more controversy with fans but I look forward to revisiting that Sci-fi film noir world.

How often do I read newspapers
I keep up with current affairs and politics. Often I will be exposed to trending news stories via various online sources. I also seek out technology stories on a daily basis ranging from PC hardware and 3D printing. I watch the news regularly, mostly BBC. Sometimes BBC’s Daily Politics or even Prime Ministers questions.

I also like to laugh at the news from time to time and I’m a huge fan of Jon Stewerts’ ‘The Daily Show’ and Steven Colbert’s Colbert Report and the BBC’s Have I Got News For You.

Last Museum/Art Gallery I visited
On a recent trip to Washington D.C. I really enjoyed visiting a whole assortment of the museums and art galleries that line the National Mall. The Science museum would have to be the place I enjoyed most. Seeing actual rockets and satellites in person is a bit difficult in England.
I’m also very fond of art galleries and try and visit as many as I can. I’d go as far as saying one of my favourite places on the planet is the J. Paul Getty Centre in Los Angeles. The stunning architecture and surroundings house some amazing artifacts and artworks.

My Video Gaming History.

The first game I remember playing would be the 1989 version of simcity on PC.
Later on took a liking to games made by Bullforg with Theme Hopsital and Dungeon Keeper.
Then later still I had a fascination with Rareware’s  titles on Nintendo 64 such as Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark

I currently mostly play games on my PC

Guild Wars 2 is nice to drop into every now and then even after two years.

Kerbal Space Program

Natural Selection 2

I’m also a backer of Star Citizen and Project Cars which are still in development but are set to become some of the most visually demanding games. I’m also looking forward to Elite : Dangerous , Grand theft Auto V and Evolve

I’ve also played a whole bunch of indie games, Minecraft, FTL, Mark of the Ninja, Prison Architect and Don’t Starve.

My Non video Games History

I like a good game of poker. I began online and used to easily watch hours uninterrupted on TV as entertainment and learning tool. My ability stepped up substantially after playing and observing my family members in the States who played weekly at casual tournaments and I now only prefer to play games in person with friends.