I'm kind of arty, but not in a pretentious way (I hope). I can make a living -- which for many creative people can be the most difficult art of all. In my-anything-but-spare time, I compose songs (lyrics my specialty), write poetry and creative nonfiction, and I perform and study improv with a local comedy troupe. I'm a freelance journalist (I used to be the music critic for a weekly newspaper); I also teach writing for the local community college continuing ed department. Among other concerns, I believe a writer's objective should be to steadfastly avoid cliches while aiming to invent new ones.

Oh, I'm also a pretty good self-taught masseur.

But mainly, I'm a huge movie fan, an admirer of directors like Kubrick, Hitchcock, Brian DePalma, Emir Kusturica, Richard Rush, Peter Bogdanovich and many, many others. I have a revisionist's view of the art of cinema. I don't follow the Citizen Kane paradigm of "it's good for you" cinema (though I love Orson Welles). I think it's okay to love movies like "Hudson Hawk," "The Avengers" and "Casino Royale" (1967 version).

Music-wise, I like melodic stuff that gives me chills -- everything from R.E.M.'s "Murmur" to some David Bowie, T. Rex and Cheap Trick. I believe that Burt Bacharach, the Beach Boys and Beatles will never, ever be topped in terms of melodic invention. The greatest unknown band of all time is the late (as in defunct) Game Theory. Oh, and Big Star, too.

An ideal date might entail meeting at the DMV -- plenty of time to get to know one another while we wait in line. Or getting coffee. As we come mutually caffeinated, perhaps we will become mutually fascinated.