About me

This is way out of date. I will write a new on for v5. Which is coming, despite all evidence to the contrary.

Hail all webfaring people of planet Earth and beyond, I am one of many people in the world named Paul F. Ferguson, and specifically I am a mostly uninteresting fellow who does dumb stuff for no good reason. Stuff like this here website, commonly and accurately known as thegrotto.tk (not to be confused with other thegrotto domains).

To recap, my name is Paul F. Ferguson. I was born, then I got older. I draw, I write, I design, I play games, I make music, I basically do just about anything that sounds like fun to me (including things which might not sound like fun to you). It comes down to my slightly distorted view of reality. To me creativity isn’t an option, it’s sort of an imperitive; I can’t just switch it off, I always have to be starting something. Not neccessarily finishing it, but starting it. Unlike Monk, it’s not a gift but it is a curse. So, join me, as I attempt (and repeatedly fail) to re-align my life in some direction or another.

I am generally situated in Scotland, specifically either Glasgow (university) or Perth (home). In various places on the internet, I usually go by screen name Gildermershina, which is a made-up word that doesn’t really mean anything.

• You can catch my musical projects on Myspace here and here.
• You can catch me on Steam here.
• You can catch me on Last.fm here.
• You can catch me on flickr here.
• You can’t catch me on Facebook and Twitter anywhere.

More about me (and things I like)

I like a lot of music, sometimes with weird horrible noises, sometimes with pretty noises. Conversely to popular opinion I am actually not fundamentally adverse to any genre of music as a whole, but there are very strict criteria that generally apply to what I like. I usually hate the kind of music that’s all over the radio or the TV or the internet (whether it’s McFly, Britney Spears, Red Hot Chili Peppers or My Chemical Romance) for the simple reason that it is being marketed to me. Yet I love Paul Simon with as much passion as I do more challenging niche-interest bands like Swans and Boris. I also oppose the ridiculous notion that all classical is by default of superior worth to modern music – many great composers were in it for the money as much as modern artists. Igor Stravinsky would be my favourite composer, his ballet The Rite of Spring being easily one of the best and most important pieces of music of the entire 20th century, his explorations of harmony remain unparalleled . But just because it uses an orchestra, it doesn’t automatically mean it’s better or nobler music than jazz, rock, metal or whatever. The Old Man Gloom song Zozobra (the lone 30 minute track from the album Seminar III) explores more interesting ground texturally, rhythmically, melodically and harmonically than almost any music I’ve heard by the likes of Bach or Mozart, and thanks to a shift in musical aesthetics, now we can explore the domains Stravinsky was hinting at without starting a riot amongst the idiots on opening night.

I like films, comedy, sci-fi, fantasy, and also just generally good films of any genre. Michel Gondry is a favourite director. I also like TV shows, although I watch them on DVD rather than TV. Recent highlights would be Battlestar Galactica, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development.

It should also be stated that I have an undying respect and admiration for Jim Henson, whose work with puppets pretty much outshines the vast majority of anything any other human in history ever did.

I don’t really read novels much. Not because I’m dumb, but because the act of reading a novel often bores the living crap out of me. The few times I do read, it mostly makes me want to stop reading and start writing. That being said, I do enjoy what I have read of the work of Philip K. Dick. Unlike some other popular science fiction or fantasy authors, Dick’s work hits a sweet spot in my brain where all my dreams and nightmares converge.

I also kind of like art and stuff. H.R. Giger obviously, Casper Dean Friedrich, Mark Rothko, Salvador Dalí amongst others. I also enjoy those working in the less respected domain of cover art for records, Storm Thorgerson, Roger Dean, Arik Roper, Stephen O’Malley, Aaron Turner, you know, folks like that.

Oh, and since I’m studying Architecture, I should mention that. I am a huge fan of the really crazy movements like Futurism, Constructivism, but I am much less of a fan of plain old Modernism, Le Corbusier in particular I regard as a real prick. I love Shigeru Ban‘s “minimal” stylings, use of materials like paper and card, and I especially appreciate his slant towards smaller-scale projects. I also get a boner for a lot of Norman Foster‘s work, especially recently.

Moving down to “low art”, I do love comic strips, mostly as in the three/four panel variety as opposed to the Marvel/DC type superhero stuff or the pretentious graphic novel. Calvin & Hobbes would be my absolute favourite, and of course, Peanuts is sublime. Also webcomics like PVP, Dinosaur Comics, White Ninja, Hyper Death Babies, and the work of Ed Atlin (Space Tree).

So as you can see, there is a rich tapestry of inspiration in my life. Big whoop, I’m still boring.

About this site

This is version 4, featuring a shiny new aesthetically considered layout built from scratch using CSS, and XHTML, and W3C webstandards, all integrated into a wordpress blog via the wondefully adaptable K2 Theme. This marks the first time I’ve used a sans serif for body text, finally submitting to the general belief that it is in fact easier to read on screen. So yes, finally I have a website befitting the year Two Thousand and Eight. Not that you care or anything.

For those of you familiar with previous versions of this site, some “features” have been moved or removed (eg. the guestbook) in favour of several more interesting features. Most notebly the reviews page has been removed and reviews will now be integrated into the blog as a category for easy access, and also to make sure I actually bother to post all the reviews I have amassed.

And for those lucky people who are unfamiliar with thegrotto, you may leave now before any further damage is done to your fragile psyche. This site is part of a small framework of sites by myself. thegrotto.tk is my personal site for updates and bits and bobs while the sister site timidelfdesigns is more of a portfolio type site, with finished projects, music, videos and other multimedia crap.

So enjoy the site folks, and if you don’t then hey, I don’t really care! Offended? Get a sense of humor you moron. Or, I don’t know, stop reading perhaps?