ken james's Page

About Me/Us:

i am a liberal humanist with pacifistic tendencies.... oh... and: "cogito ergo periculosus."

you can find me on MySpace and Facebook as well!

my interests include: My family, my wife, my kids, my wife, philosophy, my wife, the sciences, my wife, history, my wife, a great cigar, my wife, satyagraha philosophy, did I mention my wife?



And, then there is: Pawnisulaba Sukaxayonimuk. This old gastronome has found this to be the quintessential delicacy of the world... better even than a fine cognac or a smooth single malt!

Now, now, now... Having spent well over three decades in the food service industry in all aspects of the field from the back of the house to the front, I find myself being that I'm just a little too damn old and jaded for the hardcore lifestyle and the prerequisite partying that goes along with it. Enough is enough. I still consider myself to be a seasoned connoisseur and really do enjoy cooking! However, I am saddened with the pervasive lack of gastronomic ethics that has taken over the business-side of the industry. I am pleased with what I was able to accomplish and… I came out alive!

However.... If you care to join me, now and then, in savoring the tantalizing delights found in the sipping of the 'true'... in very moderate amounts, of course... whilst discussing the wonders of the cosmos and the blunders of humanity... I would be most delighted!!!

Relationship Status:

Married

Movies

Hmmm... so many to choose from! My favorites being... 2001: A Space Odyssey, Monty Python and the Holy Grail -plus- The Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life, Knowing, The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover, Z, Edward Scissorhands, Shortbus, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), V for Vendetta, Unforgiven, Starman, Ed Wood, Like Water for Chocolate, Metropolis, Run Lola Run, Baraka, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Teeth, Bladerunner, Freaks, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Bubba Ho-Tep, Dark City, The Time Machine (both versions), Time After Time, Arsenic and Old Lace, A Clockwork Orange, Hard Candy, Children of Men, Gandhi, Descent, Bulworth, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Amistad, The Pillow Book, Raising Arizona, Life is Beautiful, Trainspotting, Schindler's List, It Could Happen To You, Dave, Army of Darkness, It's a Wonderful Life, Sirens, Salvador, Lady Jane, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Romance, Saving Private Ryan, Being There, In the Realm of the Senses, The Last Temptation of Christ, Pirates, Reds, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The classic Universal's 'Frankenstein' films... plus Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, Kill Bill vol. 1 and 2, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ALL the 'Star Wars' films, ALL the original 'Pink Panther' films... with Peter Sellers, ALL the 'Indiana Jones' films, ALL the 'Superman' films, All the 'Alien' films, ALL the 'Jurassic Park' films, ALL the 'original crew Star Trek' films, and, of course... The Nightmare Before Christmas!!!

Television

Not much here.... Some documentaries on history, politics, philosophy or science... the new Battlestar Galactica, Family Guy, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Man vs. Cartoon, The Rachel Maddow Show, Penn & Teller's Bullshit! Cosmos, the original Star Trek, Batman (in color!), No Reservations, The Munsters, Boston Legal, The Addams Family, Andy Griffith.... That's about it!

Music

Pretty much all genres of music is O.K. with me.. Considering the era when I was raised, I am more partial to the Beatles, The Stones, The Gits, Donovan, Tiamat, Satan and Adam, Long John Baldry, P!nk, Baby Gramps, Ed Taylor, Johnny Cash, Leadbelly, Janis Joplin, Tommy ... and Robert .... Johnson, Edith Piaf, Led Zepp, Tracy Chapman, Iggy Pop... and The Stooges, Sex Pistols, Midnight Oil, Dead Kennedys, The Vaselines, Bob Log III, Tom Waits, Edmonia Jarrett, Alanis Morissette, U2, Ani DiFranco, REM, Sinéad O'Connor, Nirvana, White Stripes and a whole lotta ol' down home Texas and Delta blues!!!

Now, we then come to what is referred to as "our song." My lovely wife, Shannon, and I have a little ditty... a charming tune... that we like to call: "our song." This melodious musical piece just so happens to be a song called: "Closer" which is, as some of you might know already, composed and performed by Nine Inch Nails... (Yes, gang... it is THAT song!!!)

Books

Favorite Authors... so far: Mohandas K. Gandhi, Sojourner Truth, Carl Sagan, Bertrand Russell, Camille Paglia, Martin Luther King Jr., Ayn Rand, Jello Biafra, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Erich Maria Remarque, Randy Pausch, Cat Cora, W.E.B. DuBois, Hunter S. Thompson, Ernst Friedrich, Julia Child, Richard Feynman, Karl Marx, Mary Wollstonecraft, Jimmy Carter, Escoffier, Michau Kaku, William S. Burroughs, Stephen Hawking, Simone de Beauvoir, Mark Twain, Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière, J. Dyson, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Richard Dawkins, Angela Davis, Brian Greene and...
Anthony Bourdain... You, a kindred spirit in culinary arms, are one twisted genious who understands 100 percent the filth and the fury that is within my former career... the hospitality industry!

Heroes

My incredibly smart and beautiful soul-mate, Shannon; my kids: Karee, Parker (who is serving his country in the army!), David and Hannah; our dogs, Cleo, Katy (a Hurricane Katrina survivor) and Pixie; our cat, Sagwa.... and a few goldfish and a snail who have been given some sorta emo-gothic names of some sort ( I know... Fugazi lovin' Carassius and angst-ridden Gastropoda as "heroes" ...kinda different... but whatcha gonna do?).

There was also Edmonia Hood/Jarrett and Aslam Khan... two educators that forced me to see beyond my prejudices!

And let's not forget my childhood heroes: J. P. Patches and Gertrude !!!
No two greater televised role models have ever existed for a young, scruffy haired kid growing up in such a tumultuous age... showing all of us how to be better people to each other while still maintaining a twisted sense of humor... Thank You !!!

Plus: All the above mentioned people who have given so much for the betterment of our world!

now, who would i like to meet? well...... Aristoclea, Tenzin Gyatso-the Dalai Lama, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi-the Mahatma, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah, Mother Teresa, Siddhartha Gautama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Shirley Chisholm, Sappho, Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, Nelson Mandela, Joshua bar-Joseph, Benazir Bhutto, Jello Biafra, Harriet Tubman, Ashoka, Jimmy Carter, Mary Edwards Walker, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Hypatia of Alexandria, Bertrand Russell, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, W.E.B. Du Bois, Gloria Steinem, Carl Sagan, Angela Davis, Al Gore, Camille Paglia, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Dennis Kucinich, Diane Drufenbrock, George McGovern, Susan Brownmiller, H. G. Wells, Cat Cora, Hannah Arendt, Rosa Parks, Mao Zedong, Pamela Sue Anderson (the philosopher), Malcom X, Ayn Rand, Omar Osama bin Laden, Barbara G. Walker, Oscar Romero, Sojourner Truth, Johnny Cash, Bono, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Donovan, Peter Paul & Mary, Robert Johnson, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney... and... William Shatner (the usual collection of obligatory 'celebrities')

Website:

http://www.myspace.com/kensatyagraha