I'm interested in meeting people who are independent, self-aware, low maintenance, love to live and laugh, and realize that there's more to life than the suburbs, expensive cars, and overpriced clothes.

I'm a lover of science fiction and fantasy, coffee shops, thoughtful types, musicians, and people who read. (I'm currently watching Heroes but loved Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, FarScape, and Star Trek.)

Oh, and I love comedy shows like Reno 911 (Dangle and Junior and Garcia, oh my!)

I've been a lot of things over the years: an editor, a fiction writer, a literary and cultural critic, a journalist, an on-and-off web designer, a basement rock star. I just finished graduate school and am now trying to expand my circle of friends and see where that goes. That means that I can hold my own in a discussion of social and gender theory, but I won't bore you by reciting my research abstract over dinner. This year, I'm teaching at one of the smaller universities in the area and applying for those Big Jobs.

baking zucchini bread, befriending cats, writing, playing video games, saying what other people won't, and thinking on my feet

probably my glasses since they're quirky, my red hair, or my height.

Books: The Great Gatsby, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Dancer from the Dance, A Prayer for Owen Meany, everything Lord Byron, Neil Gaiman, Anne Bishop, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and Robert Girardi

Movies: Pretty much anything by John Cameron Mitchell, Tim Burton, or Quentin Tarantino (although Inglorious Basterds was a letdown). I pretty much see anything starring George Clooney (Out of Sight, Burn After Reading), Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects, American Beauty), Jason Statham (Crank 2!), or Bruce Willis (Moonlighting, The Color of Night)

Music: Killers, Garbage, Scissor Sisters, Dresden Dolls/Amanda Palmer, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Pet Shop Boys, Moby, Morrissey, Depeche Mode, New Order, Bloody Mary, Funhouse, Sisters of Mercy, Cure, VNV Nation, Bella Morte, Cruxshadows, Pop Culture Suicides, Alice in Chains, Hole/Courtney Love, Nirvana, Rancid, D Generation, Weezer, AFI, Biohazard, Pist*On, Type O Negative, Moonspell, Sentenced, Paradise Lost, Testament, Tiamat, Korn, Wednesday 13, Rob Zombie, Fight/Halford, Ozzy, Slayer, Cult, Marilyn Manson, NIN, Mortiis, Guns N' Roses, Agalloch, Amorphis, Keane, Coldplay, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Cher, Madonna, Natalie Merchant, Prince

Food: My favorite restaurant in Madison is Buraka (North African), but I also like Italian and Mexican food.

rock music, books, coffee, autumn, dark-haired/furry men, my glasses

friends, the state of the world, and the future

Playing online games or at a coffee shop reading.

If I had a soul, I would sell it to live in Seattle.

your profile says something worthwhile and you like smart, funny guys who wear glasses or play video games