About Me

Hi, I’m Ashley. I’m twenty seven. I’m a web programmer/technical manager. I live in Leicestershire in the UK by myself in a town called Coalville.

If you’re looking for an explanation as to why this blog exists, then the best place to look is my first post: http://goo.gl/iS84

I don’t know why but reeling off some of my favourite things is probably a better way to describe myself, this page could easily end up looking like some dating website profile. Sorry.

Music

I’ve got a pretty wide taste in music here’s a link to one of my Spotify playlist: Awesome. If you don’t have Spotify here’s a few artist from it: Johnny Cash, Imogen Heap, Kate Bush, Bjork, Air, Radiohead, The Verve Beastie Boys, Annie Lennox, Nina Simone, Paul Van Dyk, Warren G, M.I.A. Flock of Seagull and Boys Noise. That’s just one playlist, but you get the idea. Mainly I like Dance music because I DJ and it’s also a genre that pushes new ideas and sounds. Anything Daft Punk or Justice or Tiesto and I’ve got my wiggle on. There’s not much I don’t like but ‘Screaming’ heavy metal I just don’t get, and most pop just melts my brain. Occasionally I go through periods of listening to film sounds tracks, of which the soundtrack to ‘The Fountain’ is my fave, along with the Superman Kyrpton theme.

Films

Again, I know it’s a cop out but I will sit through just about any film and enjoy it. Like any true geek sci-fi is always high on the list, Star Trek over Star Wars if you want to know. Any action film with Jason Statham in is a must see, so are Zombie films and anything that looks so crap it has to be good, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to watch films that make me think. As above ‘The Fountain’. ‘Prefume: The Story of a Murderer’ and any Michael Gondry film will get my attention. On the dislike front: ‘Mamma Mia’ – though I like Abba’s music, Sex in the City – As I’m a man I just don’t get it and CG Hamsters Adventures XXII in 3D type films.

I also liked Disney’s Enchanted. So there.

TV

I probably watch too much TV, I have to get a fair bit of BBC News 24 everyday otherwise I don’t feel right. Again as a geek, anything with a Star in it’s name means I’m watching it (except ‘Star’s in the eyes’, is that still on?). 24 , Lost, Battlestar Galactica are boxed set worthy. South Park, Family Guy, American Dad (Not the Cleveland show), The Daily Show (and Colbert when it was on in the UK). Grand Designs – who doesn’t like Grand Designs? Documentaries on pretty much any subject.

I avoid reality TV, I got in to the second or third Big Brother, but beyond that reality TV just makes me wish all participants get drowned when the series ends. Soaps are equally depressing, can anything that’s been on for 2 billion years really have an interesting story?

Politics

OK, listing my favourite politicians would be insanely sad. I’ll be blogging my opinions on the issues but in summary, I’m what Fox News would call a communist aka a normal left leaning sane person. I’ve voted in 3 elections all three times I’ve voted Labour, I nearly got swayed by Nick Clegg in the 2010 Election. But luckily I didn’t, as I’d be physically sick if my vote helped the Tories in anyway. I pretty much disagree with conservatives on everything.

Religion

Firmly in the Atheist camp on this front. I respect people who have faith but for me God etc. just doesn’t add up to what my eyes see. I’m not going to do a Richard Dawkins and go around trying to tell people there isn’t a god and that they are stupid. I just quietly think it to myself. But that said, I do have 2 vaguely religious views.

First I believe in karma, it’s sort of scientific, a lot of nature and science it about things equalling out and I believe if you do something good, who’ll probably reap the rewards down the line.

Secondly, when someone religious finds out you’re an Atheist the first question they ask is along the lines of ‘Why are we here then? is it just random? What’s the point of being alive then?’ Well, without trying to get too deep, I believe the world, the universe has many wonders and is extremely beautiful. It’d all be pointless if no-one was here to witness it. So the point is to see this wonder, experience the world, make it even more wonderful. I’m sure I’ll go further into this on a long boring blog sometime in the future when I can’t think of anything better to blog about.

Tech

Lastly as a geek I should really say what tech I use. Geeks always judge other geeks by their gear. So I’m just going to say. I like Microsoft. Hell, I started a Xbox fansite. But I think Windows is a much maligned OS, Vista got beat up for no real reason in my opinion. OK, IE is a piece of shit. I use Google Chrome it’s awesome go get it.

That’s said I do have an iPhone and I plan on getting an iPad ASAP. Apple do have a way of creating that gadget that just hits the spot right. Not a fan of the Mac though I spent many years working on one.

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That should give you, and me, a pretty good idea of who I am. It’s ended up as a weird dating profile/drunken rant (I’m not drunk though, I hardily ever drink). I’m sure most people won’t of got this far but if you did well done.