For the curious...
I remember filling out a "slam book" in junior high school,
and I think I'll do my information page in that style. Here goes nothing.
| Full Name: | Steven Warren Hill [email me] | |
| Birthdate: | 24 June 1966 | |
| Height: | between 5'9" and 5'10" depending on the time of day. | |
| Weight: | around 225 | |
| Shoe size: | 12 | |
| Hair: | I prefer to keep my head shaved | |
| Eyes: | green, I think | |
| Skin: | very pale white | |
| Glasses: | I'm blind without 'em (I can't see more than three inches away). No contacts, thanks. Considering lasik. | |
| Employer: | Harper College, Palatine, IL, since August 1984 (full time since Sept 3 1986). That's a long time. I started there when I was 18, and now I'm over 40. | |
| Occupation: | "Information Technology Specialist" - I manage the telecommunications cabling throughout the campus, and the phone switch programming. I hold an RCDD certification. | |
| Education: | No degrees. Still taking college classes, only one more class after the one I'm in now. Recent classes and grades: English 102 = A, English 101 = A, Acting I = A. | |
| Other jobs: | Worked as nightclub DJ at CLUB 950 in Chicago from 1990 to June 1996, specialized in industrial and the "Cure Nights". The new 950 was all-too-briefly open at 2122 W Lawrence Ave, but there's another new one coming soon. "Soon" being relative. | |
| Other jobs: | Also did newspaper advertising for CLUB 950 from 1992 to June 1996 and developed my graphics skills. | |
| Working on: | A book called "Shadows on the Screen: 80 Classic Horror Movies" for Telos Publishing (2007). Also (perpetually) my websites, my next Mysterious Theatre 337 show. | |
| Driving record: | I annoy other drivers by obeying traffic laws. No speeding tickets. | |
| Other annoying traits: | Never tried alcohol, cigarettes, or other drugs. Would be straightedge but I am a carnivore (although I love vegetarian food too). | |
| Least favorite personal thing: | Besides my weight, I get "migraine flashes" - symptoms (obscured vision mostly), (usually) without the headache. Also known as "scintillating scotoma" (link). I also occasionally suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome. | |
| Drink of preference: | Diet Dr Pepper, Diet Vanilla Coke, Diet Cherry Coke, Diet A&W Cream Soda, fresh real lemonade, virgin pina colada, mint chocolate chip milkshakes, Earl Grey iced tea. Many of these things I can no longer drink due to my diet. | |
| Marital status: | Happily married 8 years and counting to Jill Petillo. The date was 24 August 1997. Honeymoon Pictures | |
| Born: | Chicago. | |
| Lived: | Chicago IL 1 yr, Des Plaines IL 1 yr, Hoffman Estates IL 9 yrs, Bolingbrook IL 1 yr, Lauderhill FL 4 yrs, Schaumburg IL 1 yr, Hanover Park IL 2 yrs, Palatine IL 8 yrs, Des Plaines IL 4 yrs, now in Chicago IL since 1997 (9 yrs). | |
| Schools: | Neil Armstrong Elementary School, Woodridge Elementary School, Lauderhill Middle School, Boyd Anderson High School in Florida (81-82) and Hoffman Estates High School (83-84), Class of '84. Check out Classmates.com | |
| Computer: | Asus P4P800 Deluxe, Pentium 4 2.8 GHz HT, 2 GB RAM, 920 GB total drivespace, DVD+-RW DL, DVD+-RW, Canon LiDE 500F scanner, HP4P laserjet (soon to be retired after 15 years), Epson Stylus Photo 900, Samsung SyncMaster 997DF 19" monitor, Radeon X1600, WinXP Pro os, Canopus ADVC-100. | |
| Software: | Premiere Pro 1.5, Encore DVD 1.0, Photoshop 7.0, Visual Studio, Access 2002 (and other Office 2002 apps) are frequently used at home, I'm also well versed in AutoCAD and Architectural Desktop. Some experience with Dreamweaver. | |
| Games: | Alternately growing lax on, and rediscovering, City of Heroes. I also enjoy Descent and Age of Empires/Kings/Mythology and Driver, though I admit I haven't really had time for games lately. Am interested in The Sims but it's too attention-intensive. | |
| Current TV: | Doctor Who (above all else). Monk. The Simpsons. King of the Hill. Family Guy. South Park. Nothing else current, really. Shows with actors can't seem to compete with animated shows... | |
| Older TV: | Doctor Who. Futurama. Monty Python's Flying Circus. Emergency!. The Twilight Zone. The Tick. Black Adder. Red Dwarf. The Thin Blue Line. Black Books. The Prisoner. Twin Peaks. Thriller. Target. Return of the Saint. Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Pinky & the Brain. Clarissa Explains It All. The Goodies. Land of the Lost. Lou Grant. Planet of the Apes. Mystery Science Theater 3000. The Avengers. The New Avengers. | |
| Star Trek: | I've never cared for it, in any of its flavors. Except I do enjoy the movies (I-VI). Now, it may surprise you to learn I bought the original series on DVD and am slowly watching them (for the first time). | |
| Doctor Who story: | The Caves of Androzani (old show), Father's Day (new show) | |
| Doctor: | Christopher Eccleston, Peter Davison, then William Hartnell, then the rest | |
| Companion: | Liz for character, Zoe for looks, Sarah Jane and Rose for acting. And Vicki because she doesn't get enough praise. And Steven as the token male companion. Er, no, Ian. Both? | |
| Doctor Who fan since: | September 1975, WTTW-11 Chicago. (Took me a long time to rediscover this fact!) | |
| Authors: | John Wyndham, Stephen Fry, Andrew Cartmel, Stephen King, Alan Dean Foster, James Herbert, Robert Louis Stevenson, Alexandre Dumas, Graham Greene, William Peter Blatty, J K Rowling, Abraham Merritt. | |
| Books: | The Shining (King), DWNA:Warlock (Cartmel), Kidnapped (Stevenson), Treasure Island (Stevenson), Three Musketeers (Dumas), Web (Wyndham) | |
| Currently reading: | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J K Rowling. Dracula, by Bram Stoker. (Okay, those two have been sitting untouched for a while now. Really I'm in the middle of a book about the film Black Narcissus. | |
| Male Actors: | Ian Holm, Boris Karloff, Ronald Colman, Cary Grant, Lon Chaney Sr, Kenneth Branagh, Anatoli Solonitsyn, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gary Sinise, Orson Welles, Kevin Spacey, Bruce Willis, William Hartnell, Morgan Freeman, John C Reilly, William H Macy, Michael Jeter, Patrick McGoohan, Sam Neill, George Clooney, Alan Rickman, Richard Attenborough, Peter Lorre, John Mills, William Powell, Humphrey Bogart, Michael Gambon, Charles Boyer, Brendan Fraser, Trey Parker, Paul Robeson, James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Ed Harris, Charles Coburn, Charles Laughton. | |
| Female Actors: | Fay Wray, Jean Arthur, Isabel Jewell, Myrna Loy, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Heche, Sigourney Weaver, Louise Brooks, Emma Thompson, Barbara Stanwyck, Michelle Trachtenberg, Cate Blanchett, Ann Carter, Hayley Mills, Clea DuVall, Julianne Moore, Chloe Franks, Emma Watson, Bridget Moynahan, Loretta Young, Deborah Kerr, Kathleen Byron, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard. | |
| Which Male Actors Appear Most Often in My Video Collection: | Boris Karloff (68); Lee Phelps (57); James Flavin, John Carradine (50); Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee (47); Donald Kerr (45); Harry Cording (44), Vincent Price (43), Bela Lugosi (40), Frank Reicher, Holmes Herbert, Irving Bacon, Wade Boteler (39); Harry Strang, Olaf Hytten (38); Ward Bond (37); Byron Foulger (36); Humphrey Bogart, Ian Wolfe, Milton Kibbee (35); Henry O'Neill (34); George Chandler, Leyland Hodgson (33); Regis Toomey, Selmer Jackson (32); Gino Corrado, Joseph Crehan (31); Brandon Hurst, Bud Abbott, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Lon Chaney Jr, Lou Costello (30); Basil Rathbone, Frank Darien, J Carrol Naish, Peter Lorre (29); Charles Middleton, Charles Trowbridge, Edward Earle, Henry Kolker, Lumsden Hare, Syd Saylor, William Hartnell (28). | |
| Which Female Actors Appear Most Often in My Video Collection: | Bess Flowers (56); Fay Wray (50); Bette Davis (39); Isabel Jewell (37); Mary Gordon (33); Ann Doran (32); Doris Lloyd (30); Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young (29); Mary Field, Myrna Loy (28); Marianne Stone (24); Evalyn Knapp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jane Darwell (20); Ingrid Bergman (19); Mae Marsh, Marjorie Main, Maureen O'Sullivan; Minerva Urecal; Shirley Temple (18); Carole Lombard, Clea DuVall, Joan Hickson, Mary Forbes (16); Anne Heche, Beulah Bondi, Claire Du Brey, Evelyn Ankers, Jean Arthur, Joan Blondell, Sarah Edwards, Sigourney Weaver, Spring Byington (15). | |
| Movies: | Brighton Rock, Andrei Rublev, Twelve Monkeys, Hamlet, The Thing, Lawrence of Arabia, Stalker, All the President's Men, Magnolia, The Curse of the Cat People, The Mummy, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Donnie Darko, Black Narcissus, Dancer in the Dark, The Ninth Configuration, The Sixth Sense, Alien3, M, Queen Margot, and on and on... See my YMDB list | |
| Directors: | Andrei Tarkovsky, David Fincher, Terry Gilliam, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sam Raimi, John Carpenter, James Cameron, John Boulting, Val Guest, Lars von Trier, Kenneth Branagh, Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Wise, Peter Hyams, Fritz Lang, John McTiernan, John Badham, Jacques Tourneur, Peter Weir. | |
| Which Directors Appear Most Often in My Video Collection: | Alfred Hitchcock (49); John Ford (25); Roger Corman (24); Robert Wise, Michael Curtiz (23); W S Van Dyke, William A Wellman (19); Fritz Lang, John Carpenter, Terence Fisher (18); Ishiro Honda, Mervyn LeRoy, Roy William Neill (16); David Cronenberg, Henry Hathaway, Richard Fleischer, Steven Spielberg (15); Jack Conway, Michael Powell, Raoul Walsh, Tod Browning (14); Anthony Mann, Arthur Lubin, Charles Lamont, William Dieterle (13); Gerald Thomas, Howard Hawks, Jacques Tourneur, Tim Burton (12); Alfred E Green, Michael Anderson, Phil Rosen (11); Archie Mayo, Cecil B DeMille, Edward Dmytryk, Frank Capra, Freddie Francis, Jean Yarbrough, John Farrow, Lewis Milestone, Otto Preminger, William A Seiter (10). | |
| Film Music Composers: | Patrick Doyle, Wojciech Kilar, Franz Waxman, John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith, many more. | |
| Which Composers Appear Most Often in My Soundtrack Collection: | Jerry Goldsmith (105); Franz Waxman (50); John Barry (41); John Williams (39); Bernard Herrmann (27); Patrick Doyle (25); David Shire (24); Wojciech Kilar (23); Alfred Newman (19); Basil Poledouris (18); Max Steiner (17); Elliot Goldenthal (16); Christopher Young, Hans Zimmer (15); Maurice Jarre, Laurence Rosenthal, James Newton Howard (14); Elmer Bernstein, Danny Elfman, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Roy Webb (13); John Carpenter, Lalo Schifrin, John Scott, Alan Silvestri (12); James Horner, John Ottman (11); Philip Glass, Ennio Morricone, Howard Shore (10). | |
| Film scores: | Hamlet, The Portrait of a Lady, Conan the Barbarian, Much Ado About Nothing, Bride of Frankenstein, A Little Princess, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Lion in Winter, Usual Suspects, Masada. See my list. | |
| Hobbies: | Packrat/collector of Doctor Who, film music, movie books & novelisations & memorabilia, all manner of SF/horror films mostly pre-1960s, laserdiscs, dvds, filmmaking | |
| Food: | Most kinds, particularly Mexican, Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern; yes I do like fast food, particularly Taco Bell. I've been on Atkins for 3 years (with a two-month break). | |
| Restaurants: | Hmm. Portillo's, Taco Bell, Chipotle, Cheesecake Factory. (Chicago area:) La Pasta Ria, Jeanny's Chinese, Jockey, The Zone, Hi Ricky. Steak 'n' Shake. ZouZou. | |
| Magazines: | Entertainment Weekly, Film Score Monthly, Doctor Who Magazine, Maximum PC, Studio, DV. | |
| VCRs: | 1 digital VHS (JVC HM-30000U), 1 Worldwide VHS (Aiwa HV-MX100), 4 Beta (3 Sony SL-HF750, 1 dead Sony SL-HF870D), 6 VHS (1 JVC HR-S9900U, 1 JVC HR-S5900U, 1 JVC HR-S3900U, 1 Sony SLV-686HF, 1 Sony SLV-660HF, 1 other I can't remember), 1 on loan (Sony SLV-70HF) | |
| Laserdisc players: | Pioneer CLD-3090, Pioneer LD-V4400, Yamaha CDV-W901 on loan | |
| DVD players: | My Panasonic DVD-A120 and Apex AD-600A are now dead. I have a JVC XV-410B, JVC XV-SA70BK, Sampo DVE611, a Norcent, a Cyberhome, and two drives, a Sony DRU-510A (DVD+-RW) and Sony DRU-710A (DVD+-RW/DL). All are region free and do PAL to NTSC. Also now have a Panasonic DMR-EH50 recorder. See my DVD collection. | |
| Home theater: | My new home theater includes a Sony STR-DB1070 DTS/DD receiver, my JVC XV-SA70BK progressive scan DVD player, the JVC HR-S3900U SVHS VCR, the Yamaha CDV-W901 laserdisc player, a Sony SL-HF750, and a HiDef digital cable box, all connected to a Toshiba 57HX81 16:9 HDTV monitor. We like it. | |
| Number of CDs: | around 2100 | |
| Number of DVDs: | around 2850 titles | |
| Number of laserdiscs: | let's see...a quick rough count says probably around 620 | |
| Posters on wall now: | The Right Stuff 1-sheet, 2010 1-sheet, Sea of Lost Ships 1-sheet, The Day the Earth Caught Fire 1-sheet (framed), The Amazing Transparent Man 1-sheet (framed), Advise & Consent insert, Chicago flag, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde reproduction, and PJ Harvey. | |
| Most treasured autographs: | Fay Wray, William Hartnell, Ian Marter, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Zita Johann (all deceased). Wendy Padbury, Ogre, Jimmie Vaughan, Kristin Hersh, Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry. | |
| Albums: | Soul Mining, by The The. Disintegration, by the Cure. Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, by Roger Waters. In Ribbons, by Pale Saints. The Last Man to Fly, by the Tear Garden. Strange Angels, by Kristin Hersh. Dry, by PJ Harvey. The Figure One Cuts, by Minimal Compact. Us and Us Only, by the Charlatans. Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age, by Public Enemy. OK Computer, by Radiohead. Filigree & Shadow, by This Mortal Coil. | |
| Top 10 Albums I have listened to the most: | The Cure: Disintegration (203); The The: Soul Mining (188); Kristin Hersh: Strange Angels (152); PJ Harvey: Dry (147); New Order: Technique (138); Charlatans: Us and Us Only (137); Marillion: Misplaced Childhood (132); The Cure: Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (131); Marillion: Clutching At Straws (129); Roger Waters: The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (128). | |
| Top 10 Albums I listened to the most in 2005: | Snow Patrol: Final Straw (31); Modest Mouse: Good News For People Who Love Bad News (29); Keane: Hopes and Fears, Moby: Hotel (27); Radiohead: OK Computer (25); Beck: Sea Change (24); Jon Brion: I Heart Huckabees, Radiohead: The Bends, The Wonder Stuff: The Eight Legged Groove Machine (21); Beck: Guero, Electric Light Orchestra: Eldorado (20). | |
| Bands I Like: | The Cure, the Legendary Pink Dots, Skinny Puppy, The Jazz Butcher, Throwing Muses, Kristin Hersh, Front Line Assembly, Foetus, The The, Wolfgang Press, Pale Saints, Young Gods, PJ Harvey, The Charlatans, Public Enemy, Björk, Radiohead. | |
| Other bands: | Nine Inch Nails, Shriekback, The Bolshoi, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Alan Parsons Project, That Petrol Emotion, Ministry, Big Country, Minimal Compact, Coldplay, Tears for Fears, The Wonder Stuff, Moby, Electric Light Orchestra, Muse, Killing Joke, Yello, Michael Franti, Jon Brion. | |
| Concert act seen most: | Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, seen 8 times. Skinny Puppy, seen 5 times. Cure, Legendary Pink Dots, Kristin Hersh 4 times. Ministry, Fabulous Thunderbirds, My Scarlet Life 3 times each. | |
| I have a song on: | "Thurtene: A Collection of 4AD Covers" (it's a cover of the Wolfgang Press song "Swing Like a Baby") and on the Independent Mechanical Industry album "Disconsolation" | |
| Grocery Store: | Finally switched mostly to Jewel, cheaper than Dominicks. | |
| Not many people know that: | when I was young I wanted to be a radio DJ (and for a few years I did have my own show on WHCM-FM) | |
| Car: | 2002 Saturn SL-2, blue (my 4th car). Retired my 1995 Saturn SL-1, red, with over 101,000 miles. | |
| How many IR remote controls: | Something like 32 in the house. | |
| Last movies seen on big screen (ratings out of 5): | Lady in the Water: ****. V For Vendetta: ****. | |
| Last movies watched on video (ratings out of 5): | Inside Man: ****1/2. Charlie Chan in London: ***1/2. | |
| Last concert attended: | Bob Walkenhorst in Kansas City! | |
| Most recently bought CDs: | The new Beck (Information), Killers (2nd) and Cirque du Soleil: Corteo are arriving on Wednesday from Amazon. | |
| Most recently bought videotapes, laserdiscs or DVDs: | Frankenstein The True Story, and the Dracula and Frankenstein 75th anniversary sets. | |
| What I'm watching or listening to right now: | ELO: ELO2 | |