Welcome to my online front porch. Sit down and relax. Not wanting to bore you, I'll just say a brief word about some of the things I do and some of the things I like. If you want to hear more about anything in particular, just click on a link. Last updated July 20, 2003.

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By the way, here's a picture of a cel from the only animated film in which I have appeared (on the right).
 
 

The Basics

I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on August 20, 1962. Except for a couple of years in Vancouver that I was too young to remember I have lived here all of my life. If you can deal with the long winters (which I do with some serious cocooning), it's a very nice place to live. Polish/Russian/German ancestry. No brothers or sisters. Single, no kids. 5'10" 210 lbs (Yes, I should probably exercise more). I have a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from the University of Manitoba.
 

Work

Sadly, I have to work for a living. I have gone under the title of Systems Programmer and DBMS Analyst. Basically I'm a computer geek. I've worked on everything from laptops to mainframes that wouldn't fit in your living room, mostly maintaining and supporting database software. I don't do much programming as a hobby, wanting to leave some time for other things.

Currently I work for IBM. I do question & answer usage support for the IMS database management software product. IMS is the oldest database management software product still in use. It was based on a system originally created to help keep track of parts used in the Apollo moon rocket. I work for the Integrated Technology Services department of IBM Global Services. Click here for our web site.
 

Hobbies

Japanese Language

I have been taking Japanese language lessons for several years now. I can hold a conversation on very simple topics, and read at a low level with the help of my vast arsenal of translation dictionaries. My main motivation for doing this is some of my other hobbies...

Anime

Also known as Japanese Animation, or Japanimation. I have been collecting anime since long before it was readily available in translated form in rental shops. I fell in love with this form of entertainment from the moment I first stumbled upon it at a local science fiction convention. The visual storytelling was so compelling I hardly noticed that it was in a different language. Today one does not need to go to conventions to see anime, much of it is available on DVD in North America. This is where I have been spending much of my money lately.

Some of my favorites:

Gall Force - A strange but endearing science fiction series that really takes galactic scale space opera to its final logical conclusion.
Vampire Miyu - Very creepy horror/fantasy involving a vampire prowling through modern-day Japan hunting down stray god-demons.
Laputa, Castle in the Sky - What can I say that hasn't been said? Still Miyazaki's finest work in my opinion.
Gunbuster - Not just space opera, but radical no-holds-barred over the top space opera! Has wild swings from the ridiculous to the sublime that became a trademark of Studio Gainax.
Royal Space Force - Wings of Honeamise - Studio Gainax again, their greatest masterpiece to date.
Sailor Moon - Much of the charm of this series has been leached out of the English version. Don't get hooked on this unless you have the time to collect and watch all 200 episodes and three movies!
Orange Road - Teenage angst at its very finest.
Giant Robo - In a strange alternate world of magic and super science, two immensely powerful secret societies battle for the fate of the Earth. Great fun.

Click here for a great starting point to find out more about anime.
 

Manga

Japanese comics. This has been more or less a sidebar to my interest in anime, I have mostly been reading the comic versions of my favorite anime series. In japan, there is a very close link between comics and animation. a large proportion of anime movies and series are based on manga series. Many titles are now available in translated form, among which are some of my favorites:

Ghost in the Shell - Serious cyberpunk by Masamune Shirow, creator of Appleseed. Police drama and machiavellian political thriller, as you'd expect from Shirow.
Oh My Goddess! - Fantasy about a young man who wishes for a goddess to come live with him, and gets three of them instead. Very funny series.
Mermaid's Forest - Rumiko Takahashi is best known for her screwball comedies, but to my mind this horror fantasy is her finest work. Mermaid flesh can bring immortality, but it comes at a price...

I also read some domestic comics, mostly black and white titles from alternative publishers. And of course anything at all by Frank Miller, that goes without saying.
 

Fan Fiction

Or 'fanfic' for short. Basically amateur writers weaving stories around characters and situations from their favorite TV series. Most of this is done for science fiction or fantasy series such as Star Trek or Beauty and the Beast. The former has become a whole industry in itself (often occupying a whole shelf in the SF section of a large bookstore). My own interest is mostly in fanfic inspired by anime series. You can have a lot of fun with this, imagining what happens to characters later in life, imagining what happens if things happened a bit different (much like the Mirror Mirror episode of classic Trek), or even combining two series in one story. Just like anywhere else, Sturgeon's Law (ninety percent of everything is crap) is in effect, but its worth it to find the rare gems.

I have indulged in this textual poaching^* myself a few times. You can find my stories by clicking here.
Here are some of my favorite fanfic sites:

The Best Sailor Moon Fanfic on the Net
A Sailor Moon Romance
Fanfiction Net
Sakura Lemon Fanfic Archive

^*"Textual Poaching: Television Fans & Participatory Culture" is the title of an excellent book by Henry Jenkins that explores the culture of fan fiction and related "fannish" ventures.

Travel

I am not much of a globetrotter, I usually have to find some good excuse to fly somewhere (more often than not an anime or science fiction convention). My two most memorable trips have both been to Japan. Especially my second trip, which was a homestay combined with a language study program. Trust me, homestay with a family that speaks no English is a very effective way to learn quickly. I wish I could do this for a year instead of four weeks. Maybe some day.

Click here to learn about EuroCentres, the company that arranged my homestay.

Other Stuff

My reading and viewing is pretty much restricted to 'genre', be it SF, fantasy, horror or alternate history. I like the various Star Trek series, though lately I have found other series like Babylon 5 to be more interesting. I don't read as much SF as I used to, I was brought up on the Clarke-Asimov-Heinlein holy trinity and most of what gets put out today just doesn't measure up. Lately in place of science fiction I have been reading more about current developments in science and technology, which often seems to be outstripping anything the SF authors ever thought up. My favorite place to find out what are the most interesting new books to read is edge.org . This site also contains many interesting articles by intellectuals from various fields who are trying to bring the lessons of science into their investigations of the human condition, and to write about what they have leared in a way that is accessable to interested readers. A visit to this site often leads me to other interesting places. As you can tell I spend altogether too much time staring down the barrel of an electron gun.
 

Cryonics

In 1996 I signed up for human cryopreservation, joining about 500 other people who have made these arrangements. In the event of my being declared legally dead, through the Anatomical Donation program I will be turned over to the cryonics organization that I have signed up with. After a long and complex cryopreservation process I will be stored in liquid nitrogen at minus one hundred ninety degrees celcius. There I will stay until the technology is developed that can return me to life and health. That could be decades or centuries.

So what would prompt anybody to want such a thing done to them? Well, trust me I don't want to be frozen in liquid nitrogen, it's the second worst thing that could happen to me. The only thing worse would be dying without being put into cryopreservation. It's the lesser of two evils.

Cryonics raises a whole host of touchy issues, pushing all sorts of sensitive buttons regarding our whole notion of life and death. These have been debated ad nauseum. About all I want to do is suggest answers to some of the questions I asked myself before signing up.

Isn't this only for the very rich? Nope. A life insurance policy of $50,000 to $125,000 will do it, plus an anual standby fee of about $300 or so, depending on which company you sign up for.
Isn't reviving a person in cryopreservation sort of like trying to get a cow from hamburger? Even with the most sophisticated cryopreservation protocol applied under ideal conditions, the process does cause some cellular damage. But it is a far cry from the colossal damage caused by a "straight freeze." Without a doubt we are a very long way from being able to fix even that low level of damage. Decades at least.
Why would anybody bother to revive me two hundred years from now anyway? Historical research (how'd you like to interview somebody who was at Gettysburg?) Common decency (somebody's bound to lobby for this at some point) As a challenge (the moon shot of medicine). A whole bunch of reasons.
Won't I wake up into a different, unfamiliar world? Face it, you wake up into a different, unfamiliar world every morning. Future shock is here to stay.
Isn't this an attempt to buy immortality? No. If there is such a thing as immortality, it does not exist in this world. It is a chance for extended life, nothing more. Nothing else lasts forever, I shouldn't expect to either.
What's the difference between cryonics and cremation? About a thousand degrees celcius (old joke).

Click here for the web site of the Cryonics Society of Canada. We maintain a discussion forum which you can access here
 

Links

This is simply my Netscape Bookmarks file, with my favorite and most commonly visited sites listed by category. Last updated July 20, 2003.

Click here for the links page.
 

Parting Comments

Remember, the web is not the world.
 

You can reach me at kenwolfe@mts.net