These things I like.

[DavidXBrunt]

What are the things in life that make you smile just by thinking about them

The Snake by Al Wilson. Northern soul perfection, catchy, upbeat, funny. It's the perfect song to get a night going, it's one that's guaranteed to be played about half ten at every party I throw. Just when everybody is merry enough to get up and jive.

Holidays in Llandudno. Faded Victorian glamour crazy AND miniature golf. A choice of Ormes. I just need to step off the train and I feel more relaxed, perfect place to mooch around, simultaneously quiet and busy it's friendly, cosy, and beautiful. Close to Conway and Rhos too.

Single narrow subject museums. i heart museums but I especially like ones with very narrow focusses. As great as the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry is it's too broad a focus. There's something appealingly crazed about the monomaniacal enthusaim of the Keswick Pencil Museum, the Southport Lawnmower Museum or the Northwich Salt Museum.

The Eurovision Song Contest. In a completely un-ironic and serious way. I actually get a bit annoyed when people assume I'm in it for the camp and the sneering. Well okay, I like the camp but I have to admit the last few years of Terry got me a bit cross because you know what? As soon as I hear Te Deum I'm in the zone. Focussed on the competitors. And I don't need somene telling me it's shit. Last year a couple of my closest friends came around, we had a Euro buffet and score sheets...

Kylie Minogue. Ever hear any bad reports of Kylie? You never will. Pop music that is happy to be pop, and trying to do nothing else than to brighten up three minutes of your life, coupled with perfect visuals. The live concerts are stunning, spectacular and not ashamed to throw things like I should be so lucky in to the mix.

When the Boat Comes In. Agit-prop telly from another age. Perfectly cast, angrry drama about the birth and openness to corruption of the Union movement, capped off with a mesmerising performance from the under-rated king of Telly James Bolam.

2000 A.D. Natch.

So, you people, what aer the things in life that make you happy. The more esoteric the better.

[Richmond Clements]

Having long rambling discussions about comics and Star Wars with my son. The highlight being this weekend and our email to Mike Mingola about Hellboy- to which the great man replied, thus making a 7 year old's weekend and cementing me as Best Dad in the World.

And connected with the point above: Star Wars. In any form- yes, even I-III. I love it. It's been part of my life since I was 7 or 8.

Thunder Road: First track on the album Born to Run, and the greatest piece of rock and roll ever commited to any medium. In turns sad, mournful and lonely, but also funny, moving and in the end, hopeful.

The Dark Tower: Stephen King's masterwork. A hugely ambitious project that is at once massive in scope and scale, and highly personal.

Dr Who: for much the same reasons as Star Wars, only it's been there for longer. My earliest memory is of watching Planet of the Spiders.

[Bouwel]

Picking up a bit of rough wood or sheet steel and, several hours later, having an item of hopeful beauty in my hand.

Having hot buttered croissants and ice cold coke.

Going to Manchester and sitting somewhere with an ice-cream and watching the world go by.

Reading a really good book.

I have simple tastes, really.

Holidays in Llandudno.

I'm from Llandudno. The place where it's still 1952

-Bouwel-

[Richmond Clements]

Hey!

I just noticed that the second half of my post isn't there!

I'd done an edit and added a couple more...

[Bouwel]

I may have been typing my reply when you tried to put yours on the board. It's happened to me.

-Bouwel-

[Roger Godpleton]

Cherry Coke, the king of soft drinks. I had a regular coke yesterday and it made me realise the full subtleties of it's cherry brethren.

The cheeseburgers from Sunat's takeaway. Epic.

Japanese Pro Wrestling.

Peggle.

[spoiler:g4q1m1a9][/spoiler:g4q1m1a9]

[Dandontdare]

I'm from Llandudno.

Going to Manchester and sitting somewhere with an ice-cream and watching the world go by.

Ah that explains it! Bet you're hypnotised by all the crowds and flashing lights, eh?   It's not quite as spectacular if you live here, but I do actually love this city and I thank Grud daily that I don't have to live daaaaahn saaaarf, so add that to the list.

and also:
Ginger Beer
Amsterdam
Leaving the alarm set at weekend so I can wake up and THEN go back to sleep
Roast beef, roast spuds, yorkshire pud and thick gravy.
Sid Meier's Civilaztion games
The enormous feeling of physical well-being following a perfect shit
The pre-Raphaelite and Victorian paintings in Manchester City Gallery, particularly the Rossetti ones and Sappho by Charles-August Mengin, whom I visit from time to time

[Bouwel]

Ah that explains it! Bet you're hypnotised by all the crowds and flashing lights, eh?

I'll have you know that electricity no-longer inspires fear in Llandudno, only mere suspicion...



-Bouwel-

[Richmond Clements]

I'll try again...

Moonlight Sonata: I remember being literally stopped in my tracks the first time I listened to this. I can't quite get my head around the fact that a melody as pure as this came from a human mind.

Under My Skin: Stick this on your headphones. Frank's phrasing has never been better. Listen to how he not so much sings the melody as dances around it.

Sauasages. I love them. I could eat them every night.

[satchmo]

Dark Shadows: A six hundred hour long Hammer Horror soap opera, the very thought of which fills me with joy. I once watched 21 episodes in a day.

Geometry Wars 2: (deadline mode) The most intense three minutes of video gaming ever, every time. Perfection.

Powell and Pressburger films: The first time I saw A Canterbury Tale was one of the most inspiring artistic experiences of my life.

2000AD is also quite good.

[satchmo]

and Pez.

[ThryllSeekyr]

My favorite meal at the moment....

Eggs, & thinnly sliced tomatoes on the frying pan.

Luncheon Sausage, thinnly sliced and heated in the microwave on high for three mintues until they are slightly crispy.

On toasted sandwiches.

I have also developed a taste for microwaved tuna or salmon in those little tins.

Every first mouthful out of every two litre bottle of the non-descript brand of Cola that I have been drinking for the last three years.

It's always the first mouthfull  that is the best.

A tall chilled glass of cold milk.

Thats the full extenf of my diet. Sometimes,  there are different variations on that theme when I add another food or foodgroup. But thats it basically.

As I have been trying to lose weight, and I have actaulley cut out imbetween meals, snacks.

No more microwave pizzas, or burgers.

Perhaps I should add cereal or weat bix and daily excercise.

I also like "Deep Purple " their greatest hits.

"Blue Oyster Cult'  despite references that name I think might have to a scene from the first Police Academy movie.

I don't mind classical music, but I just don't like all of it.

I love finding out obscure stuff from trawling the internet that wasn't allowed to be taught in schools and sometimes gets used in sceince fiction back storys.

Good science fiction or fantacy film movies or just good old movies. Alot of them made before my time. They were the best.

MY computer, my Playstation two console, my computer games, my television, the network cable connection.

My wireless keyboard, and mouse. asI can some time lie in bed typing  or sitting up with the keyboard on my lap.

My bed, which can also be a couch or a chair or a table. for leaving piles of comics and graphic novels on.

Which is a revolutinary peice of furntiture called a "Comfort Cube'. Eight I wwhcih I own. Being roughly two and a half feet on four sides and one and half feet tall.

Made from canvas, wood and stuffing.

So, they can be moved together to form a bed or couch. I can pile them up into a type of armchair. Having them stackd two high to form the arms of a chair on either side of me and behind me to form the back rest.

They can also be stacked right up into a column for extra floor space.

Nothings as restricted as a large piece of furniture which couldn't  be moved for the other bookshelves, desks, cabinents in my room already.

Its' sort like Transformers furniture.

Right at the moment I have this set up like  bed with one cuvbe stacked for use as  table.

If you can get used to continuosly  having to push them together every so often, I know it was well worth money I spent getting these last December.

 Everytime I lie back on them.

Since before then I had been sleeping and sititng on the floor as I had to lean my bed mattress up aganist the window so that I could still move around the room.



It;s quite obvious what other things I like.

[the shutdown man]

Coffee. One of life's great and simple pleasures. Sometimes I'll stick with a plain black, sometimes I'll go for something a bit more exotic. One of the best things about going to New York was having breakfast in a diner near Times Square; French Vanilla coffee and a bacon and egg wrap. Can't beat it.

Finding a cinema that still serves fresh popcorn. They're few and far between, usually it's popped, put in a bag and left there for God knows how long until I buy it (and yes, I'll still buy it) so finding a cinema where I can still get some straight out of the popper is fantastic.

Great TV. Lost, BSG, West Wing, etc. Sometimes if I'm bored I'll just watch some of my favourite moments instead of a whole episode. Locke's introduction in lost remains a firm favourite. "We hunt!" Hell yes we do!

Youtube. May sound silly, but me and my mates have spent more then a few good evenings just with a few beers, watching random stuff on youtube, going wherever the links take us. A grand way to spend an evening.

[Buddy]

Having long rambling discussions about comics and Star Wars with my son. The highlight being this weekend and our email to Mike Mingola about Hellboy- to which the great man replied, thus making a 7 year old's weekend and cementing me as Best Dad in the World.

I too have emailed Mingola about Hellboy and he replied in about half a day.. he seems a very nice bloke!

[TordelBack]

Reading my son his bedtime stories, and watching his tastes shift and evolve night by night - right now it's Paddington, which suits me fine.  Recently I started a re-telling of The Hobbit from my own faulty memory while we were on a long drive (we got as far as Rivendell).  It was one of the happiest moments of my life  when the next time we were in the car, he demanded to know what happened to "Gandalf and the Dwarfs" next.

My Cubika Espresso maker, a wedding present from my work colleagues, who had no reason to give me anything at all, never mind something so awesome.  I've worked hard at learning its ways, and now I love it beyond all material things.  Which brings me to...

Coffee shops in book shops.  The best idea ever.  My platonic ideal is long gone, the Winding Stair in Dublin (strong coffee, banana sandwiches, a huge antiquarian section and a view of the Liffey... sigh), but the dream lives on in other secondary forms.

Cheese, in all its forms (apart from the maggoty ones).  There is no finer foodstuff, nor one so variable.  Right now I'm thinking about the recipe for chiropitas, which leas me nicely to...

Greece.  Now there's a place to be.

Being on or in or under or beside the sea.  Ferries, dinghies, snorkels, and nothing at all, cold or warm, rough or still.  

Star Wars.  Like a good relationship, sometimes I want to strangle it, sometimes it breaks my heart, but more often than not it just fills me with joy.

Sex.  I really like sex.  Llandudno is indeed fab, but I think I prefer sex.