Steve - the guy behind thefable.co.uk
That’s me on the left, Steve; a 38 year old married guy from England with a 4 year old son and two goldfish who have miraculously lived past 18 months in spite of their existence in a modest bowl with a few plants and a fish tunnel. I work as an ecommerce manager for a media publisher in North London, and come home to a quiet market town in North Hertfordshire at night.
My blogging life began in 2003 when I opened a Livejournal account and no, you can’t have the link to that. After that it was occasional and sometimes simultaneous blogging on MySpace before making the jump to Blogger and then WordPress. In February of 2011 I decided to use thefable.co.uk for something other than hosting photos, and Fabled Thoughts was born.
Why Fabled Thoughts?
Fables
Music
I love hair rock and Bon Jovi have been my favourite band for the last 25 years. Even though I wasn’t as impressed with their post 2000 albums I still love their first 6 and as a live band they still pleasure my ears. My first big concert was Monsters of Rock 1990 where I saw Thunder, Quireboys, Poison, Aerosmith and Whitesnake – those last 3 being particular favourites of mine. I love guitars and have been learning on and off for years – more off than on though I have several guitars but my Ibanez RG350DX is the one I look forward to playing the most. It’s a guitar I bought due to my adoration of Steve Vai, a supreme guitarist synonymous with Ibanez guitars. As of Christmas 2011 I have a record player again and have dived back into my vinyl collection with much excitement. I love vinyl records and can often be found listening to the sounds of The Who, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie and other such greats that I am lucky to own first pressing copies of. An update for 2012 has seen me getting into country music, particularly the likes of Trace Adkins, Lady Antebellum, Toby Keith, Rodney Atkins and Shooter Jennings.
Astronomy
This is new for 2012 and thanks to an enjoyable evening at the Letchworth & District Astronomical Society’s stargazing night in mid January I am now a member of said society and can be found in the garden with my binoculars and camera most evenings, visibility permitting.
Films
I’m a huge Star Wars fan and if you read this post from March 2011 you’ll see that I am a big fan of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Outside of Star Wars I love the Pirates of the Caribbean films which is born out of my love for the Disney parks ride, though I wasn’t so keen on the 4th film and you can read the reasons why here. The film I’ve watched the most in my life is Karate Kid, the first one from 1984 and not the awful remake with Will Smith’s son. I say awful but I’ve not seen it, but come on, it has to be awful – for starters it’s about a kid doing Kung Fu so even the title of the film makes no sense! Other favourites of mine are Goodfellas, Clueless and showing my softer side, Dirty Dancing! I also love martial arts films and especially Bruce Lee, whose best film was Fist of Fury, NOT Enter The Dragon. These days I watch most of my films at home as I greatly dislike cinemas, which you can read about in the aforementioned post about the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean film, here.
Photography
I’ve long has an interest in photography and have had around 15 different cameras over the last 2 years. I’ve flitted between DSLR, bridge and compact cameras and currently use a Panasonic TZ10, though I regret getting rid of my Panasonic LX5 though it’s only a matter of time before I get a DSLR and start taking it more seriously. I have a particular interest in macro photography bugs to be specific, though the photon I am most proud of is this one of my son on the beach in Bournemouth, taken when I had my Panasonic LX5.
Books
I love reading, whether it be a good thriller like the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy, a biography like this one of Walt Disney
Technology
I love the web and the infinite opportunities to learn and discover. I can find tips on photography, tutorials for Photoshop, and the latest news without getting black print on my hand, and that’s just the tip of a very big iceberg. My job is online and so is a good part of my life. I can often be found reading about the latest gadgets and though I’ve resisted the temptation to buy a tablet, I keep up to date with the development of that rapidly growing industry. Portable media players, MP3 players, cameras, computers and phones – I love gadgets, all of them. Surprisingly I’m not a gamer, and never have been really. I have a PS3 but aside from a few hours on Star Wars Lego and F1 Championship, it’s been nothing more than a Blu-ray and media player for the past 3 years.
Disneyland Paris
In 2002 I booked a holiday to Disneyland Paris, mainly with my wife in mind after she enjoyed our visit to Tokyo Disney so much. 30 minutes into our trip and I was a convert. That feeling of escapism overwhelmed me and over the last 11 years I’ve visited 13 times, even honeymooning there in 2003. I run another blog called Dedicated to DLP and I adore the place and almost everything about it. I and look forward to going back again.
Sport
Formula 1 is my sport of choice and has been since September 2007 when Lewis Hamilton’s stunning victory in Japan was enough to turn me from a casual observer to an F1 addict. Lewis Hamilton is by far my favourite driver and his attacking driving style is responsible for a lot of the most exciting races over the last 4 years of my fandom. Away from the racetrack I follow West Ham in the English Championship, Miami Dolphins in the NFL and Derek Poundstone in World’s Strongest Man.
Television
Only in the last 12 months have I discovered the show which I would class as my all time favourite, that being The Sopranos. In the same time frame I’ve also found those that run it close, shows like Mad Men, 24 and most recently Chuck. I’m a big fan of everything Joss Whedon has done, especially Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. I do find myself drawn in by some utter tripe from time to time too, with my most recent vice being Made in Chelsea.
That’s probably enough from me for now. If there is anything else you want to know then feel free to get hold of me over at the contact me page.
