Why oh why do I feel the need to let you know about me? Well, I guess the first and most important reason is to show you that whipping scenes aren't the only thing I'm interested in. I've also received a bit of mail from people who want to know about me for one reason or another, maybe just to see if I'm a real person. So, I hope that through this page you will see that I am a human being, and not just some whip-crazed monster.

First, I'm going to tell you a little about myself, then I'll let you in on some of my other interests. That's about it for now. Later, I may add some links to the page (well, there's already one embedded in the page - look under "Spoken Word Art.").

So, get a soda pop, relax, and take a look in my little world if you want. The whipping page will be waiting for you when you want to go back. A word of warning: if you savor the idea of me as a whip-crazy monster with women chained in his own private dungeon, do not read any further. I guarantee your image of me will be shattered by the time you're finished with this page.

Well, let's get on with it, then...

Geez, where to begin? I was born in 1972 in Michigan. I was (and still am, to a degree) a "loner" type throughout my childhood and adolescence. I excelled at school in general and reading in particular - up until the fourth grade. That was when I began to question whether it was all worth it. Things didn't change much as the years went by, and I dropped out of school on my sixteenth birthday. When I was nineteen I finally went back to school. I went to a community college on and off for four years. After that I transferred to Michigan State University, where I graduated in 1998 with a Psychology degree. I mainly went to school for myself, and mostly studied only the subjects I was interested in (Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, and, believe it or not, Religious Studies). I had plans to be a psychologist, and I still might go that route in the future. For now, though, I'm working in the realm of alternative health (yes, you read that right). I plan on doing this page way into the future - no matter how busy my life gets.

Well, that's my life story in much less then a nutshell, but still more than you'd need to know.

Psychology - I'm mostly interested in humanistic psychology, though I'm also drawn to Jungian psychology as well as cognitive. Some of my favorite figures in the field are: Carl Rodgers, Rollo May, Carl Jung, and Jean Piaget. For now, my interest in psychology has been overshadowed by my interest in religion, alternative health, and yes, this web site. Eventually, when I feel I'm ready, I'll probably go back to school and get a graduate degree in Psychology - but who knows what the future will bring?

Religion - I've studied most of the world's religions at one time or another - in college I took almost as many religion classes as I did psychology classes. This mainly came about due to my dissatisfaction with Christianity in this country. I had a non-religious upbringing, so I was able to be non-judgmental as I studied the religions of other cultures. I never did decide on a religion to follow - instead I have my own personal set of morals I try to adhere to (it just so happens that most of those morals are also set forth in Buddhism and Christianity). I'm still fascinated, however, by Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, and even Christianity (though I can't stand what it's become in our culture - I could go on for hours about that, but I won't).

Film - And I'm not just talking about the fact that I like to watch movies. I've also studied film, and have a rather large library of film books. I've even made a few of my own short films, none of which contained a whipping scene. For a long time I was seriously considering becoming a film director, but the desire eventually left me. However, my love of film, film history, film theory, film critisism, etc. have never left me...and never will. I've been told by more than one person that I'm a walking film encyclopedia (though I frequently mix up or forget names and am really bad at remembering the year a film was made).

Some of my favorite film directors are: Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, Alejandro Jodorowski, Terry Gilliam, John Woo, Ringo Lam, Sam Raimi, George Romero, John Carpenter, Orson Wells, Quentin Taranitino, Robert Rodriguez, John Waters, Dario Argento, Alfred Hitchcock, Seijun Suzuki, Stanley Kubrick, Takeshi Miike, Takeshi Kitano, Joel Cohen, and Clint Eastwood.

Some of my favorite films are: Taxi Driver, A Clockwork Orange, Raging Bull, 2001, Citizen Kane, Brazil, Reservior Dogs, My Father's Castle, Rope, Apocalypse Now, The Princess Bride, Dawn of the Dead, Kikujiro, Unforgiven, Bride of Frankenstein, Videodrome, El Topo, Fargo, and a bunch more. I could go on and on and on...

Anime - Yes, I'm an otaku. I don't have the Ranma tattoo just yet, but that's only because I don't have any tattoos. In my mind, there's no form of entertainment more complete then Japanese animation. You've got your great characters, intricate and involving storylines, great sense of humor and gratuitous sexual innuendoes, add to that some fabulous Japanese pop music, and what more could you ask for?

Some of my favorite (non-adult) anime titles: Wings of Honneamise, Akira, Record of Lodoss War, Ranma 1/2, Project A-KO, Sorcerer Hunters, Robotech: Southern Cross, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, and Tenchi Muyo (my personal fave).

Progressive Rock - I'm a prog rock geek. If there's one thing I'm obsessive about, it's prog-rock. If it came down to me giving up either all of my whipping scenes or all of my prog rock discs, the whipping scenes would be gone in less than a second. What is progressive rock, you ask? Well, the definition is argued over, but my own definition is quite simple: "Progressive Rock" is any kind of music involving typical rock instruments that aspires to be something more than conventional rock-and-roll - it aspires to be an art form. In its best moments it succeeds in doing this rather well. Some prog rock bands you may have heard of are Yes, Genesis, The Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, ELP and Jethro Tull. If you're really into prog rock you would have also heard of Renaissance, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, and Marillion, just to name a few.

Other acts in my 1,000 plus CD collection include: XTC, Frank Zappa, Elton John (only his old stuff, though), David Bowie, Dream Theater, King's X, Goblin, Philip Glass, James Taylor, Faith No More, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, White Zombie, Mr. Bungle, Jim Croce, Andreas Vollenweider, Enya, many classical CDs (I'm especially fond of baroque and minimalist music), and a ton more - much too many to mention. I've probably got one of the most ecclectic collections of music around - and I enjoy each and every title in my collection. Everyone that has seen it has been both excited and repulsed, they saw things they loved and things they loathed. Me, I love it all.

Reading - I read as much as possible - which lately hasn't been very much, unfortunately. Some of my favorite authors are: Kurt Vonnegut, Flannery O'Conner, Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, John Steinbeck, Franz Kafka, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Philip Roth, Robert Fulghum, Elmore Leonard, and Chris Ringler (there you are, your name in lights!).

Spoken-Word Art - I've recently become addicted to listening to spoken word artists. I envy them and only wish I had the creativity and wherewithal to even attempt to do what they do. Listen to these people some time: Henry Rollins, Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks, Spalding Gray, and Eric Bogosian. They'll make you laugh, but they'll also make you think - alot.

OK, that's enough of my interests. I've got more, but why share everything about myself? Hope you enjoyed this little look into my world. Maybe I'll add more stuff to this page in the future.