Periphery of an up and coming sociopath

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:07:25 GMT

Just thought I should update so that the "non-friends" information is current. Apologies to anyone who's already aware of all this.

My name is James Hunt. I write for a whole bunch of websites and substantially fewer magazines, usually about comics if I can get away with it. I used to work at Yahoo! but now I'm a freelance writer for as long as it'll sustain me. I currently play GTA IV and Rock Band, watch Lost and Battlestar Galactica, read the Guardian, non-DCU comics and books by Douglas Coupland and Chuck Palahniuk. I used to be a Manics fan, but I'm feeling much better now. I enjoy bad movies, good stand-up and I've recently become one of those irritating wankers who thinks that virtually nothing worth doing happens outside the M25, but at least I'm self-aware enough to admit it.

This Livejournal syndicates my personal blog with some minor extras, so feel free to add me, I'll probably add you back as soon as I notice. My journal is named after a graphic novel by Brian Wood because I'm a complete nerd.

If you are here because of comics:
To read reviews I've done, go to Comics Daily, a blog I write with my good friend Seb azureskies Patrick
To read more reviews I've done, go to Comic Book Resources where I am part of the daily reviews team.
To read my weekly column, go to Den of Geek and find any entry titled "Alternate Cover"

If you are here because of social networking:
Add me on Facebook
Add me on Twitter

Feel free to add me on any service you can find me on - I'll reciprocate whenever I notice. Unless you're some kind of automated marketing robot. I am not friendly with any type of robots and will therefore not network with them, socially or otherwise. If you are a robot, YES, THIS MEANS YOU.

Sun, 21 Nov 2004 12:09:44 GMT

I stole this from azureskies, because even though as a general rule I hate livejournal memes, I thought this one was kind of informative about someone's personality in a way that a list of interests isn't. Obviously it's going to work best in the livejournal, not the real blog, so why not?

My journal is called "Periphery of an up and coming sociopath." To understand that, you have to head back to Sixth Form, 4 or 5 years ago, when I kept a sporadically updated journal which, aware of my growing misanthropy, I called "Diary of an up and coming sociopath." That name stuck, and when I started a blog at the beginning of 2003, I kept it. I figure one day I'll be able to change it just to "Diary of a sociopath" but it's a neverending quest to rise above the general filth of humanity. Call it a tragic quest. However, this is just a livejournal I use for commenting on other people's livejournals. It's very little more than a gateway to my real journal. The edge of it. The periphery of an up and coming sociopath.

My subtitle is "Shield your eyes." I like the idea that some people find works of writing so offensive, they destroy copies so that no-one else can read them. It's easy to silence someone, but a sheet of writing has its own voice seperate from the original author which needs to be attacked as well. Someone might be so upset with whatever's getting written, that they want it to be avoided. So, really it's my disclaimer, but like a fundamentalist christian outside a strip club rather than a 10-page legal waiver. The subtitle is a way of saying, "Don't read this." but with a certain alarmist touch which I find amusing.

My friends page is called "The populous". No reason, really. Just refers to everyone else inhabiting my world.

My username is "channelzero." Taken from Brian Wood's graphic novel, "Channel Zero," though it's almost certain that the title of that was taken from Public Enemy's song, "She watch channel zero." It's a neat concept, channel zero; channel nothing. Something that people might watch even though there isn't anything on. It's not unlike the current state of the country, with TV-watching zombies infesting every city. The reason I chose it is simple homage to an excellent book which influenced my thinking in a number of ways.

My default userpic is a picture nicked from Channel Zero. It's a TV which says "You have reached your capacity." on it. It's meta-televisual. On the screen you see a soap or a gameshow, but what it's really saying is "Don't bother trying; there's no need to do anything. Sit at home. No-one's going to mind. This is the best it gets." Watching TV constantly, like a dole-cheating chav/redneck is arguably only a step up from masturbation, for the pleasure:productivity ratio, and even then it's probably only more popular because it requires less effort to do.

Duck & Cover II

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 00:35:51 GMT

I didn't like the last intro, so I've rewritten it, and I apologise for any of my friends who are seeing this on their page and thinking that I've done something interesting with the livejournal.

The thrust of the removed post is that this livejournal is solely for my own use, and has nothing worth reading on. I may have posted a comment with it in your livejournal; I may have turned up in some kind of interest search. Either way, there's nothing here for you. However, I am a generous man. There is plenty of stuff for you a mere click away, on my actual blog, though when I say "stuff" I'm really talking about the most mundane occurrances of (specifically, my) life. I'm not a news blog. I'm not a refugee in a war zone using a cybercafé to publish updates from occupied territory. I'm not one of those "interesting" bloggers. In all honesty, I'm firmly entrenched within the banal segment. My blog is for me, a record of what I do, say, and think, and unless you know me I don't expect it to be of much interest. You're welcome to come and look though.