|
Guest
|
First Name: Jim
Last Name: Lewis
Nicknames: My wife calls me “A**hole” a lot…does that count?
Birthdate and place: May 18, 1971 in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, U.S. (it’s near Pittsburgh)
Current Whereabouts: Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Measurements: Six feet tall and about 165 lbs.
Hair: Brownish-blonde (with a little gray sprouting up here and there!)
Eyes: Blue
Favorite colour: Red and black, of course…although I’m kind of fond of green for some odd reason…
Family: My mom and dad, 2 sisters — one of which is getting married next autumn, the other is graduating high school this spring. They all live back in Pennsylvania.
Occupation: Completely and utterly unemployed. My wife accepted a position in Savannah with the Georgia Historical Society a couple months ago. I haven’t been as lucky. Before we moved I worked in libraries and bookstores in Pittsburgh.
Interests: Since I have tons of free time, I’m really into surfing the ‘Net these days! I also love to read, watch movies (although we don’t have a tv right now…it’s a long story…), write stories, ride my bike around town.
Favorite Sports: Soccer, Gaelic Football, Rugby
Least Favorite Sports: Just about everything else. I can’t stand baseball. Basketball is simply gross. American Football? I’ll watch it if the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing…if they ain’t…don’t bother me. Tennis hasn’t been the same since MacEnroe and Connors quit. Hockey hasn’t been the same since the league ballooned to about 1,500 teams and they no longer call the conferences and divisions by the names of former players and managers (like the Campbell Conference and the Patrick Division). Plus, there is only so much hooking, grabbing, and all-around boring defensive play a guy can stand without vomiting DayGlo all over! (and this coming from a man who loves catenaccio!)
First Footie Experience: My first contact with the world of soccer was the 1982 World Cup. Not the actual tournament, but the official film made about it. It was narrated by Sean Connery, the music was by Rick Wakeman from Yes(!), and it rocked my world. Plus, Italy won it all and that really started my fascination with Italian soccer. I started playing soon after. (Was a forward for a while then switched to defense. Nowadays, I ply my trade out on the right side, making as many runs as I can before my legs and lungs give out.)
Then, in 1986 I really got serious. The World Cup was shown live on tv, and I could follow the games properly. I’d watch a match, then run outside to relive it in my parents back yard. Pity about Italy that year. I backed West Germany for the Final, but that fat little b*****d, Maradona, stuck a knife in my heart. Then in 1990, he does the same to Italy! But the German victory made up for it. (That and the little fat b*****d’s tears! HAHAHAHAHA!)
In 1994, I cried when Baggio’s penalty when straight into the stratosphere (has it come down yet?), but rejoiced when Maradona took every drug in the medicine cabinet! After the Final, I vowed vengance against all things Brazilian. (France’s emphatic 3-0 win in 1998 was wonderful!) However with Dida, Cafu, and Kaka’s performances, I’m beginning to lighten up a bit…not much though.
It was also the World Cup that introduced me to the two finest, most elegant defenders in the world—Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini. “Who did they play for?” I asked myself. “I must find out and support that team.”
The rest is history…
Favorite teams: AC Milan, Fiorentina, Hellas Verona (yes…I read Tim Park’s book, and now, against all reason, I check the Serie B standings every week…and when Hellas get relegated again this season…I’ll check the Serie C1 standing’s, too…d*mn!)
Favorite players: Maldini, Baresi, Nesta, Gattuso, Inzaghi, Tardelli, Gentile, Scirea, Rossi (Paolito!), Baggio, Donadoni, Zoff, Pirlo, Totti, Albertini
Movies: I have to say that I am not a big fan of the movies made nowadays. There is too much cutting and editing, and I’m not really crazy about in-your-face computer special effects. Keep it simple and below my radar and I’m happy. (But I loved LOTR…go figure!) The last great hooray for the movies was the late 1960s to about the mid 1970s—Chinatown, Harold and Maude, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Wild Bunch, Annie Hall, A Boy And His Dog. (The list literally goes on and on.) Spielberg and Lucas destroyed Hollywood with their bubblegum, lowbrow pap.
Having said that…nowadays I’ll go and see anything made by David Cronenberg, The Coen Brothers, Lars Von Trier. I really liked Lost In Translation, Bubba-Ho-Tep, The Bread My Sweet, Amelie, The Big Lebowski. The movies coming out of Asia are really exciting. (Ichi The Killer, Ringu, Dead or Alive, Audition…)
My favorite movies though are the film noir from the 1940s and 1950s. I like Marx Brothers comedies and Abbott and Costello. I enjoy silent films. I pretty much just plain love film.
Music: Jazz from the 1930s through the 1950s. Classical and opera. I’ve fallen behind in the popular stuff. I really liked the indie rock scene from the early to mid 1990s: ALL, Descendents, Superchunk, Slint, The Wedding Present, Cinerama, Karl Hendricks Trio, Thee Speaking Canaries, Don Caballero, The Jesus Lizard, Tar, John Spencer Blues Explosion, Tortoise, Guided By Voices, Fugazi, The Warmers…stuff like that, I guess.
Books: I ain’t that picky. Tell me a good story. Make me laugh. Creep me out. Make me angry. Take me places I’ve never been before.
I love hardboiled, suspense, noir novels. Richard Stark, Jim Thompson, David Goodis, Dash Hammet, James M. Cain.
I’m also a big fan of the Jeeves and Wooster stories by P. G. Wodhouse. I like adventure fiction, too. Treasure Island, Lost Horizon…stuff like that.
I like books about the movies. Easy Rider, Raging Bull is a great history of film in the 70s. City of Nets is about Hollywood in the 40s.
My all-time favorite author, though, is Harlan Ellison. If you aren’t familiar with his work you must—MUST—check it out. Fantastic speculative fiction, acidic essays…really…he does it all.
|