A to Z

Prompted by Jukesie’s own A to Z and a little push from Thayer to actually post this, my A to Z of influences and interests:

A is for Arcades

The amazing visuals and sounds, much in advance of what you could get a home. Arcades in the 80s were magical places. I still remember playing Battlezone, Gauntlet, Golden Axe, Afterburner, Hard Drivin’, Chase HQ, Daytona and Starblade for the first time.

B is for Battle of the Planets

My introduction to Anime. Battle of the Planets (and interesting seeing the differences to Gatchaman years later) along with Monkey (Still a great theme tune) were totally unlike anything else on television in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Only later did I find out many more shows existed and searched out Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Akira (I even own some of the cells now) and many others.

C is for Cinema

Having a big screen TV is nice, being right age to watch Moviedrome and similar seasons on Channel 4 was also a huge part of my eduction in film but nothing beats seeing films in a dark room on a big screen with a huge sound system, even better when you can share it with friends.

D is for Demoscene

Seeing my first intro was one of those moments when my life changed. I really wanted to learn how to create something like that. The creativity shown by the demoscene still makes me smile regularly.

E is for Education

Formal education, Open University, MOOCs, books or tutorials. I can’t imagine not pushing myself to learning new ideas or skills.

F is for Fractals

Having a simple looking piece of maths produce complex images always intrigued me. At University I spent two years researching terrain and planet generation. Fractals were an obvious choice for my talk at BathCamp.

G is for Gaming

I’ve been playing computer games for over 30 years. I played Elite on a BBC B. Progressing via the ST, Amiga 500, Amiga 1200 finally ending up on the PC, then with a couple of iterations to arrived at my current system. Gaming has always been social for me. I may play more or less at various times but I don’t think I’ll ever give up completely.

H is for HTML

‘View Source’ has a lot to answer for. Running Mosaic (on a Sparc 10) for the first time and having another I want to make that moment. I pulled page apart and put them back together learning HTML in the process.

I is for Irish

I’ve always been proud of the Irish side of my heritage. Growing up with a duel nationality means I’ve never felt 100% British (or Irish for that matter) and always a little bit of an outsider.

J is for Jets

Having both parents in RAF I’ve got to see many planes up close. I can’t remember the number of times I’ve seen the Vintage Pair and Red Arrows. XH558 is my favourite aircraft I’ve seen fly.

K is for Kink

Not in a 50 Shades way but I did go to Torture Garden (a nice look at the early days) for my birthday.

L is for Libraries

Growing up my Saturday’s were swimming then the library. Having access to all that knowledge and just being able to explore different subjects was very special.

M is for Mecha

Who doesn’t like giant robots. I still have my copies of the Robotech RPG and Battletech. I love Gundam and Gunbuster but Macross for me still has the best designs

N is for Nottingham

I remember Page 45 when it was in the basement of Virgin Megastore. going back is strange now. I have been away too long but I was so happy to see The National Videogame Arcade open (and visit).

O is for Office Space

A film that is dangerously close to being a documentary of my working life.

P is for Pizza

The best type of flat food.

Q is for QUILTBAG

My memories of Section 28, are someone mentioning being Gay in a lesson and the teacher just saying they couldn’t really talk about that. I don’t blame the teacher but for those who were not straight it did make things more lonely.

R is for Record Shops

Just searching the racks for that hard to find remix or release is a great way to spend time. Now you just type the name into Google, quick but less of an experience.

S is for 68000

The first processor I learnt how to program in assembly. I still remember much of the syntax, all these years later.

T is for T-Shirts

Joypad T-Shirt

Joypad T-Shirt


Affordable wearable art. I mostly buy from The Yetee and Qwertee but have Shirtoid bookmarked.

U is for Underground

Steam train on the Underground

Steam train on the Underground


I’m a little obsessed by the Tube and especially the ghost stations. I think it was inevitable I would live in London at some point.

V is for Virtual Reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP8wSw4bBuA
Cyberpunk was huge growing up. Nottingham even had a Virtuality centre. Trying to generate virtual worlds was one of the drivers behind me getting into computer graphics.

W is for Wired

Being eighteen, just starting University and getting to read the second issue of Wired US really opened my eye to many new things. I even subscribed later to the first UK version.

X is for X86

The registers and byte ordering are still the wrong way around but still they power my current desktop

Y is for Yorkshire

I left just before I was six and returned for four years of University. Whitby was a place I spent a lot of time. Great coastline in that area and the best fish and chips I’ve ever had.

Z is for Zoe

I guess compared to most people I’m unusual in having chosen my name.

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