My name is Ben and originally I'm from an island off the Georgia coast. I went to college in Atlanta and graduated with a degree in philosophy and classics. I left the city for a while, but recently moved back for grad school. I play a few instruments (none particularly well), enjoy goofing around, and make bad jokes.

I try to find out when I meet people if they like The Beatles or Rolling Stones more because it's an important distinction that says a lot about a person.

BIG NEWS, I've grown a mustache in preparation for the warm weather and the plan of modeling my life after Magnum P.I. This will be the summer of Hawaiian shirts and tropical drinks with tiny umbrellas.

Studying for a masters degree in public policy at GSU. Trying to leverage that into becoming a Platonic philosopher king. Also researching my backup plan of selling bodily fluids, plasma = $$$.

Drinking while wearing a blazer, remembering/answering trivia, getting in long discussions about which random actor played a supporting role in a movie, translating ancient Greek (not really), sleeping in late, bullshitting about things I know nothing about, reaching high and far away objects that are outside the grasp of a normal man, being impeccably dressed, avoiding haircuts, and probably other things.

That I'm very tall and look to be from Scandinavia.

Books: Kurt Vonnegut and Philip Dick are my favorite fiction authors. I also love Borges' short stories. Recently I've gotten more into history and social science nonfiction. I try to read some philosophy and ancient Greek stuff occasionally so I don't forget what I studied in college. German philosophers like Nietzsche and Schopenhauer are my favorites. I also enjoy reading comic books/graphic novels sometimes because they're the bastard children of literature.

Movies: I enjoy dark comedies that deal with screwed up people and smart-stupid movies like Wet Hot American Summer and The Jerk. Over-the-top acting (like almost anything with Nicholas Cage) is one of my favorite things to see and I also really like god awful low budget masterpieces like The Room. Charlie Kaufman, Coen Brothers and Werner Herzog movies are some of my favorites because they have such unique characters. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is one of my favorite movies and I wish I were Michael Caine living on the French Riviera and conning rich women into supporting my anti-communist revolutionaries.

Shows: I binge on Netflix and will go through a series episode by episode. Some shows I like are Archer, Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Trailer Park Boys, Squidbillies (in part because it's an amazing mirror into Georgia), Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Futurama, and late night Mexican boxing.

Incomplete list of music I like: LCD Soundsystem, Animal Collective, TV on the Radio, Black Keys, Flaming Lips, David Bowie, Ween, Gorillaz, Blur, Elvis Costello, Daft Punk, Talking Heads, Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Washed Out, Belle & Sebastian, Fleet Foxes, Nick Cave, Frank Zappa, The Clash, Roxy Music, and Cut Copy. I have a long standing feud with a musician friend about Linda Ronstadt's music as I am pro-Linda and he is anti-Linda

Food: I love to try new foods, but I'm mostly vegetarian, so I miss out on a few things. I really like spicy food, so Indian and Mexican are some of my favorite types. For some reason I still have strong opinions about barbeque even though I haven't eaten in about a decade.

1. My record player
2. Books
3. Cheap wine
4. Glasses - being blind sucks
5. Taco Bell
6. Coffee

Unanswerable questions that drive me to drinking. Governmental, economic and political stuff because that's what I'm studying. Half-baked ideas for short stories. Schemes. What the cumulative effects of head trauma from being too damn tall and bumping into stuff will be by the time I'm old. How to succeed in business without really trying.

Hanging out with some friends, having a few drinks, maybe going to movie or a concert.

I like instant coffee (Folgers crystals) more than real coffee and I am very addicted to it.

You're an interesting person and have cocktail recipes you want to share.