Quag7: Profile

Herein is a credibility-destroying dossier or profile of a sort on me, Quag7. If you need reasons to dismiss or mock me, you should find several vectors of attack to choose from below. I would, however, urge caution, as my home is surrounded by bikini-clad ninja harpoon adepts and agnoy-inducing sporks employed as a sort of array of suburban punji sticks. I don't particularly mean business (I mean, I *am* the business), but the hot ninjas do, so stalk me at your own peril.

Location: Marana, Arizona - USA. Marana is a suburb of Tucson, Arizona, in the central-southern part of the state, about 78 miles (~126km) from the US-Mexico border. Tucson is a medium-sized city (by US standards) in the Sonoran Desert, home of the iconic Saguaro Cactus. I am originally from Central New Jersey (see Clerks), but fled to Tucson in 1996. You can view some photos here.
Age: Middle 30s
Religion: Agnostic / freethinker / rationalist / secular humanist (raised Catholic) - I am not hostile to any religion. I lack belief presently. I may be wrong. Decent people of any faith are welcome in my home.
Politics: Nonaligned anti-authoritarian
Education: B.A. Political Science, Rutgers University 1994
Career: Technical writer, web publishing, light system administration
Likes: Civility, character, intelligence, humility, humor, HTML/CSS standards compliance, function before form, Islay scotches, French and Swiss absinthes, Roquefort cheese, properly made tea, freshly ground coffee, garlic, Thai red peppers, violent storms, snowfalls and snowstorms, dirt roads, abandoned buildings, night skies, foggy seashores in midwinter, lighthouses, waterproof boots, wool flannel, Gregorian chants, fireplaces, campfires, candles, multi-tools, global positioning systems, endless deserts, broadleaf forests, inland seas, being alone and remote in the wilderness, the English language, Maine, New York City, San Francisco, Tucson, the Great Basin, The Jersey Shore in midwinter, British humo(u)r, rhetorical wit, well-crafted profanity, LEDs. I really, really like LEDs.
Dislikes: Tough talkers on the Internet, ad-hominem attacks, form before function, suburbia and suburban sprawl, consumerism, conspicuous consumption, government, shitty food, put-downs and negative people, celebrity "culture," groupthink, orthodoxy, blind faith and superstition, sacred cows, bullies, "career people," phony reverence, unnecessary rules, censorship, racism, nationalism, elitism -- Note: I am guilty of some of these transgressions. I am not proud. I am trying hard to be a better person.
Weapons of Choice: Gentoo Linux / KDE / bash / nano & vi
Programming: Perl, PHP
First Internet Year: 1991 (university account @eden.rutgers.edu)
Tech Interests: BBS culture (1980s), vintage computers (mainly 8 bit), modeling/raytracing, operating systems (esp. UNIX-likes + extinct/arcane), cyberculture, network visualization, Internet and computing history, light scripting/programming, darknets, emulation, encryption
Other Interests: Geocaching, homesteading, remote highways and back roads, the occult (as sociology/psychology - I do not and have never practiced), radical/extremist political movements, mutualism, cooking, firearms, (non-ideological) survivalism and wilderness exploration, amateur astronomy, Western civilization, space exploration (inner & outer), ancient religions, Catholicism, Judaism
Online Communities: #quisp on irc.sorcery.net (IRC), #rasterburn on irc.sorcery.net (IRC), 1980s BBS List (BBS scene mailing list)
Daily Websites: Slashdot, OSNews.com, Reddit, Gentoo Forums
Heroes: Ernest Shackleton, Thomas Paine, George Orwell, Kenneth Loach, Hunter S. Thompson, Ken Kesey, Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, William Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Jefferson, Jack Kerouac, Jim Jarmusch, Timothy Leary, Roald Amundsen, Emma Goldman
Films: See below
Books/Plays: The Razor's Edge (Maugham), Julius Caesar (Shakespeare), Franny & Zooey (Salinger), The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger), Nine Stories (Salinger), Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction (Salinger), In Our Time (Hemingway), For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway), The Dharma Bums (Kerouac), On the Road (Kerouac), Man's Search for Meaning (Frankl), Walden (Thoreau), Atlas Shrugged (Rand), The Adolescence of P-1 (Ryan), Snow Crash (Stephenson), A Confederacy of Dunces (Toole), Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (Thompson), Days of War / Nights of Love: Crimethinc for Beginners (various), The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test (Wolfe), Rhinoceros (Ionesco), Democracy is in the Streets: From Port Huron to the Siege of Chicago (Miller), The Moon and Sixpence (Maugham)
Music: Bad Religion, Bruce Springsteen & The E. Street Band (mainly 1970s era), Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Billy Bragg, Dar Williams, Richard Shindell, Arlo Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, Michelle Shocked, Beth Orton, Bouncing Souls, Cal Tjader, Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker, Sonic Youth, The Replacements, Soul Asylum, Cock Sparrer, Dropkick Murphys, Counting Crows, CSN/Y, Curtis Mayfield, Dick Dale, Dick Gaughan, Esquivel, Fairport Convention, Friends of Dean Martinez, George Winston, Gil Scott-Heron, The Godfathers, Gordon Lightfoot, Greg Graffin, Indigo Girls, The International Noise Conspiracy, The Jam, Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Webb, John Coltrane, John Gorka, John Stewart, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Lanemeyer, Laurie Anderson, Leonard Cohen, Link Wray, Lou Reed, Marvin Gaye, Matt Pond PA, Mazzy Star, Melanie, Midnight Oil, Monty Alexander, Mothers of Invention, Mountain Goats, Nick Drake, Nina Simone, Oasis, Odetta, Patti Smith, Paul Weller, Paul Westerberg, Pete Seeger, Peter Murphy, Pink Floyd, The Pogues, Prince Buster, Public Enemy, Rise Against, Against Me, Roger Waters, Samiam, Sandy Denny, Santana, Sarah Vaughan, Saves the Day, Seven Mary Three, Simon & Garfunkel, Portishead, Skatalites, Social Distortion, Son Volt, Spearhead, Spirit of the West, Steve Earle, Tim Buckley, Timbuk 3, Todd Snider, Tom Waits, Tompall & The Glaser Brothers, The Tragically Hip, Velvet Underground, Vince Guaraldi, Warren Zevon, The Waterboys, The Who, World Party, Yo La Tengo, Broken Social Scene, The Mercury Project, Explosions in the Sky, Thurston Moore, Joe Henderson, LCD Soundsystem, The Golden Dawn, 13th Floor Elevators, Roky Erickson and the Aliens, Steamhammer, Stereolab, Bill Harris & Terry Gibbs, Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Television: All in the Family, The Paper Chase, Firing Line, PBS Frontline, Eyes on the Prize, Cosmos, Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future, Millennium, The 4400, Lost, The Wire, Homicide: Life on the Street, The Sopranos, Wiseguy, MASH, Babylon 5, Freaks & Geeks, Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Blackadder II-IV, The New Statesman, The Young Ones, Filthy Rich & Catflap, Bottom, Fawlty Towers, Ideal, Red Dwarf, The Comic Strip Live (certain ones), Ren & Stimpy, 120 Minutes, 3-2-1 Contact, Sesame Street, Ville Alegre, The Big Blue Marble, Free to Be...You and Me (special)

Note: I joined the ranks of self-righteous liberals in January of 2008 by cancelling cable and disconnecting my television set. Television has gotten too stupid to justify the cost. As of this writing, I have not had broadcast or cable television in 6 months. I do not miss it in the slightest.

I urge you to do the same. You can do it. You will be happy you did. I am on a mission.

Movies

I'm a really big fan of film. This is a small subset of films I really like, in no particular order. Some of these films are genius. Some are definitely less so. The favorites among these tend to be the ones with the biggest flaws. They also tend to be the ones that took the biggest risks. In the same way that really good pop music does not need to be genius, so, too, films do not have to be high art for me to get something out of them (a good example is Better Off Dead, a movie I have always loved, but is hardly any kind of artistic statement).

This list will grow as I think of more:

Easy Rider (dir: Hopper, 1969)
The Indian Runner (dir: Penn, 1991)
On the Waterfront (dir: Kazan, 1954)
Rebel Without a Cause (dir: Ray, 1955)
Week End (dir: Godard, 1967)
This is England (dir: Meadows, 2006)
16 Years of Alcohol (dir: Jobson, 2003)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (dir: Richardson, 1962)
King Rat (dir: Forbes, 1965)
Cool Hand Luke (dir: Rosenberg, 1967)
Bound for Glory (dir: Ashby, 1976)
The Long Good Friday (dir: Mackenzie, 1980)
Brazil (dir: Gilliam, 1985)
The Paper Chase (dir: Bridges, 1973)
Land and Freedom (dir: Loach, 1995)
Bread and Roses (dir: Loach, 2000)
Small Faces (dir: MacKinnon, 1996)
Lilies of the Field (dir: Nelson, 1963)
Putney Swope (dir: Downey, 1969)
Hi, Mom! (dir: De Palma, 1970)
SubUrbi@ (dir: Linklater, 1996)
Slacker (dir: Linklater, 1991)
Waking Life (dir: Linklater, 2001)
Mindwalk (dir: Capra, 1990)
Two Lane Blacktop (dir: Hellman, 1971)
David Holzman's Diary (dir: McBride, 1967)
Fritz the Cat (dir: Bakshi, 1972)
Rumble Fish (dir: Coppola, 1983)
Breaker Morant (dir: Beresford, 1980)
The Wicker Man (dir: Hardy, 1973)
2001: A Space Odyssey (dir: Kubrick, 1968)
The Shining (dir: Kubrick, 1980)
The Big Lebowski (dir: Coen, 1998)
Withnail and I (dir: Robinson, 1987)
Barton Fink (dir: Coen, 1991)
Mystery Train (dir: Jarmusch, 1989)
Repo Man (dir: Cox, 1984)
Down By Law (dir: Jarmusch, 1986)
Permanent Vacation (dir: Jarmusch, 1980)
Valerie Flake (dir: Putch, 1999)
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (dir: Jarmusch, 1999)
Stranger than Paradise (dir: Jarmusch, 1984)
Coffee and Cigarettes (dir: Jarmusch, 2003)
Broken Flowers (dir: Jarmusch, 2005)
Smoke (dir: Wang, 1995)
Tape (dir: Linklater, 2001)
Reds (dir: Beatty, 1981)
Do the Right Thing (dir: Lee, 1989)
Malcolm X (dir: Lee, 1992)
A Raisin in the Sun (dir: Petrie, 1961)
The Spook Who Sat by the Door (dir: Dixon, 1973)
Full Metal Jacket (dir: Kubrick, 1987)
The Boys in Company C (dir: Furie, 1978)
Talk Radio (dir: Stone, 1988)
The Graduate (dir: Nichols, 1967)
Underground (dir: de Antonio, Lampson, Wexler, 1976)
Taxi Driver (dir: Scorsese, 1976)
Better Luck Tomorrow (dir: Lin, 2002)
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (dir: Ritchie, 1998)
Snatch (dir: Ritchie, 2000)
The Boondock Saints (dir: Duffy, 1999)
Black Caesar (dir: Cohen, 1973)
Reservoir Dogs (dir: Tarantino, 1992)
True Romance (dir: Scott, 1993)
Jackie Brown (dir: Tarantino, 1997)
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle (dir: Leiner, 2004)
The Longest Day (dir: Annakin, Marton, Seddon, 1962)
Casablanca (dir: Curtiz, 1942)
The Killer (Dip huet seung hung) (dir: Woo, 1989)
Black Robe (dir: Beresford, 1991)
The Replacement Killers (dir: Fuqua, 1998)
The President's Analyst (dir: Flicker, 1967)
Twelve Angry Men (dir: Lumet, 1957)
All the President's Men (dir: Pakula, 1976)
Always Outnumbered (dir: Apted, 1998)
The Hunt for Red October (dir: McTiernan, 1990)
Animal Room (dir: Singer, 1995)
Bob Roberts (dir: Robbins, 1992)
Ghost in the Shell (Kôkaku kidôtai) (dir: Oshii, 1995)
Shower (Xizao) (dir: Zhang, 1999)
The Blue Kite (Lan feng zheng) (dir: Tian, 1993)
The Mosquito Coast (dir: Weir, 1986)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (dir: Kubrick, 1964)
Glengarry, Glen Ross (dir: Foley, 1992)
The Big Kahuna (dir: Swanbeck, 1999)
The Spanish Prisoner (dir: Mamet, 1997)
Network (dir: Lumet, 1976)
Altered States (dir: Russell, 1980)
The Truman Show (dir: Weir, 1998)
American Beauty (dir: Mendes, 1999)
The Party (dir: Edwards, 1968)
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (dir: Averback, 1968)
Arlington Road (dir: Pellington, 1999)
Patton (dir: Schaffner, 1970)
Dog Day Afternoon (dir: Lumet, 1975)
Alice's Restaurant (dir: Penn, 1969)
Donnie Brasco (dir: Newell, 1997)
Carlito's Way (dir: De Palma, 1993)
The Godfather (dir: Coppola, 1972)
Angel Heart (dir: Parker, 1987)
Mississippi Burning (dir: Parker, 1988)
Birdy (dir: Parker, 1984)
Midnight Express (dir: Parker, 1978)
Roadside Prophets (dir: Wool, 1992)
Dancer in the Dark (dir: von Trier, 2000)
The Dancer Upstairs (dir: Malkovich, 2002)
Croupier (dir: Hodges, 1998)
Children of Men (dir: Cuaron, 2006)
Rounders (dir: Dahl, 1998)
American History X (dir: Kaye, 1998)
The Believer (dir: Bean, 2001)
Lucifer Rising (dir: Anger, 1972)
Invocation of My Demon Brother (dir: Anger, 1969)
Hope and Glory (dir: Boorman, 1987)
The Killing Fields (dir: Joffe, 1984)
Beyond Rangoon (dir: Boorman, 1995)
The Year of Living Dangerously (dir: Weir, 1982)
Gallipoli (dir: Weir, 1981)
Videodrome (dir: Cronenberg, 1983)
The Curse of the Starving Class (dir: McClary, 1994)
Ulee's Gold (dir: Nunez, 1997)
True Believer (dir: Ruben, 1989)
A Bronx Tale (dir: DeNiro, 1993)
Goodfellas (dir: Scorsese, 1990)
Hurlyburly (dir: Drazan, 1998)
Colors (dir: Hopper, 1988)
Barfly (dir: Schroeder, 1987)
The Falcon and the Snowman (dir: Schlesinger, 1985)
Midnight Cowboy (dir: Schlesinger, 1969)
The Apostle (dir: Duvall, 1997)
La Vallee (dir: Schroeder, 1972)
High Fidelity (dir: Frears, 2000)
24 Hour Party People (dir: Winterbottom, 2002)
Grosse Pointe Blank (dir: Armitage, 1997)
Better Off Dead (dir: Holland, 1985)
Some Kind of Wonderful (dir: Deutsch, 1987)
Heaven Help Us (dir: Dinner, 1985)
One Eight Seven (dir: Reynolds, 1997)
Falling Down (dir: Schumacher, 1993)
MASH (dir: Altman, 1970)
Catch-22 (dir: Nichols, 1970)
Wargames (dir: Badham, 1983)
Colossus: The Forbin Project (dir: Sargent, 1970)
Salvador (dir: Stone, 1986)
Under Fire (dir: Spottiswoode, 1983)
U-Turn (dir: Stone, 1997)
American Graffiti (dir: Lucas, 1973)
The Beat (dir: Mones, 1988)
The Deer Hunter (dir: Cimino, 1978)
Things to do in Denver When You're Dead (dir: Fleder, 1995)
Stand By Me (dir: Reiner, 1986)
Dead Poets Society (dir: Weir, 1989)
Good Will Hunting (dir: Van Sant, 1997)
Drugstore Cowboy (dir: Van Sant, 1989)
My Bodyguard (dir: Bill, 1980)
The Outsiders (dir: Coppola, 1983)
Contact (dir: Zemeckis, 1997)
Candleshoe (dir: Tokar, 1977)
Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) (dir: Miyazaki, 2001)
Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime) (dir: Miyazaki, 1997)
Electric Dreams (dir: Barron, 1984)
Head (dir: Rafelson, 1968)
Brother (dir: Kitano, 2000)
Five Deadly Venoms (Wu du) (dir: Chang, 1978)
American Me (dir: Olmos, 1992)
Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il West) (dir: Leone, 1968)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (dir: Eastwood, 1976)
Dirty Harry (dir: Siegel, 1971)
Billy Jack (dir: Laughlin, 1971)
The Last Detail (dir: Ashby, 1973)
Clerks (dir: Smith, 1994)
Chasing Amy (dir: Smith, 1997)
Paris, Texas (dir: Wenders, 1984)
Silver City (dir: Sayles, 2004)
Matewan (dir: Sayles, 1987)
Lone Star (dir: Sayles, 1996)
Lair of the White Worm (dir: Russell, 1988)
Savage Messiah (dir: Azzopardi, 2002)
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (dir: Greenaway, 1989)
The Shipping News (dir: Hallstrom, 2001)
New Waterford Girl (dir: Moyle, 1999)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (dir: Spielberg, 1977)
Life of Brian (dir: Jones, 1979)
The Meaning of Life (dir: Jones, Gilliam, 1983)
Erik the Viking (dir: Jones, 1989)
The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de motocicleta) (dir: Salles, 2004)
Japanese Story (dir: Brooks, 2003)
Made in USA (dir: Friedman, 1987)
Oscar and Lucinda (dir: Armstrong, 1997)
Harold and Maude (dir: Ashby, 1971)
Strange Days (dir: Bigelow, 1995)
Bliss (dir: Young, 1997)
Welcome to the Dollhouse (dir: Solondz, 1995)
A Mighty Wind (dir: Guest, 2003)
This is Spinal Tap (dir: Reiner, 1984)
Running Scared (dir: Hyams, 1986)
2010 (dir: Hyams, 1984)
Roma (dir: Fellini, 1972)
The Salton Sea (dir: Caruso, 2002)
SLC Punk! (dir: Merendino, 1998)
Heathers (dir: Lehmann, 1989)
Running on Empty (dir: Lumet, 1988)
Miller's Crossing (dir: Coen, 1990)
Radio Days (dir: Allen, 1987)
Annie Hall (dir: Allen, 1977)
I'm not Rappaport (dir: Gardner, 1996)
The Odd Couple (dir: Saks, 1968)
Days of Wine and Roses (dir: Edwards, 1962)
Suicide Kings (dir: O'Fallon, 1997)
The Ref (dir: Demme, 1994)
Brighton Beach Memoirs (dir: Saks, 1986)
Risky Business (dir: Brickman, 1983)
The Razor's Edge (dir: Goulding, 1946)
The Iceman Cometh (dir: Frankenheimer, 1973)
Lars and the Real Girl (dir: Gillespie, 2007)
23 - Nichts ist so wie es scheint (dir: Schmid, 1998)
Underground (dir: de Antontio/Lampson, 1976)
The Weather Underground (dir: Green/Siegel, 2002)
A Place Called Chiapas (dir: Wild, 1998)
Harlan County, USA (dir: Kopple, 1976)
Watership Down (dir: Rosen, 1978)
Gypsy 83 (dir: Stephens, 2001)
Strike (Strajk - Die Heldin von Danzig) (dir: Schlondorff, 2006)
True Stories (dir: Byrne, 1986)
One Point O (dir: Renfroe & Thorsson, 2004)
The Legend of Hell House (dir: Hough, 1973)
No Country For Old Men (dir: Coen, 2007)