BIO

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Hi there, I'm The Manitou, glad ta know ya! What, you want to know more? Okay here goes:

My real name is Joshua Blanc. I'm an Australien stuck in the not-so-great white north (a.k.a. Canada), and I'm known on the internet usually as The Manitou, BasicJ, or Wire_Slave.

Despite time being an illusion (lunchtime doubly so), I'm 25 years old. Not bad for being well over a hundred in dog years, and several thousand in snail years.

So what, you may ask, is my profession? Hmm, that's a tough one. I'm primarily a writer, secondly a "computer musician," and thirdly a website designer/computer tech. But as I've made next to no money doing any of these things, I'm also a renovator and gardener. Hard to believe I have any spare time at all, don't you think?

My current projects include: completing my first short-novel "Space, Time, and Teacakes", getting some of my short-stories published, and completing my first "proper" album of songs and getting it to the masses. Oh, and I guess I should do some work as well!

Here's a litte about my interests: growing up with only 2 TV channels, and one AM station, my taste in music, film, and TV shows is odd to say the least. Gary Numan, David Bowie, Front Line Assembly, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Devo, Depeche Mode, Eiffel 65, Beck, Air, Klaatu, Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, Bjork, and many other diverse artists make up my large music collection. I'm in my element when I'm glued to one of the many episodes of Dr. Who that I shamelessly own, picking holes in a 50's b-film, or yukking it up with Red Dwarf, The Goons, Bottom, Blackadder, and myriad other British Comedies. "Ni! Ni!" I will say, as I watch Monty Python And The Holy Grail for the 700th time. And if I can't catch the latest sci-fi flick at the theatre, then another viewing of Aliens, The 5th Element, Lord Of The Rings, or the Evil Dead Trilogy is in order. I'll not even go into how many episodes of The Simpsons, Futurama, X-Files, and Ren & Stimpy I've watched (I wouldn't want to scare you away). When it comes to reading, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, John Wyndham, and Michael Moorcock are favourites. I'm also a big fan of the original Dragon Ball manga by Akira Toriyama, and indeed any comics of a well-drawn, cartoony nature. But most of the time my eyes are too bleary from playing Command & Conquer Generals or Warcraft 3.

If you'd like to discover an innovative electronic musician who's been incredibly inspiring to me, check out my Gary Numan fan page:
Dark Alien Light

Guaranteed to learn you somethin.' See you there, and may your day be a *fruity* one!

The Manitou, October 2004.

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