Casual biography

Although I might be willing to share long anecdotes about myself in person, you will have to settle for some relatively dry statistics on this web site. It's not like my anecdotes would have been extremely funny or entertaining anyway. Nonetheless the information here is quite casual: a more professional biography in the form of a resume is also available.

Personalia

• name: Robert John Kaper, mates call me Rob
• birthdate: July 23
• hometown: Rotterdam, Netherlands, European Union Fourth Reich :-(
  Justice minister Dominique Perben of France explains why I dislike the current state of affairs in the European Union:

  At last we have obtained this 'Europe à la Française' that we have for so long awaited.
  This constitutional treaty ... is an enlarged France.

• zodiac: Leo
• height: 187cm or 6'1 ½
• weight: 75kg or 165lbs
• body mods: two tattoos and three piercings (tongue, lobe and stretched lobe)

Favourite cities

• Netherlands: Rotterdam and Eindhoven
• Europe: London, København, Oslo and Frankfurt am Main
• United States: San Francisco

Favourite music

Summary: melodic, up-beat music. Check my concert calendar for the list of gigs I've attended or plan to attend.

• HorrorPops are a superb Danish rock and roll band I befriended and now am webmaster for. No, I have not slept with any of the go-go dancers. Would I if they were single? Hell Yeah! Bring It On! ;-)

• The Offspring converted me to rock music with Smash and is probably my all-time favourite band. I am glad I had the chance to meet the band in person after a gig of theirs. Noodles is a great guy!

• Green Day's Dookie probably also contributed to my rock addiction. I love them for setting the stage on fire during their 1998 summer concert at Budapest's Pepsi Sziget island festival which I attended, but even more for the genius two minute intro to Panic Song. And while I disagree with most of the political criticism on American Idiot, I find the music on that album to be quite nice and it was wicked to have seen them at Milton Keynes together with 65 thousand other fans.

• Weezer describe themselves as inadequate geeks, but nonetheless the crescendo of Only In Dreams brings me close to heaven. It especially did when I heard it being performed live in 2002; with a beer in the hand, mates by my side, fireworks on stage and a pleasant Californian summer breeze in the air.

More recent rock adventures include AlexisonfireEnter Shikari and Mindless Self Indulgence.

Favourite movies and television shows

• Back to the Future might be a bit too cheesy for some, but definitely not for me. I could have done without the moral lesson in the end, but watching the trilogy is always sheer fun.

• The Jay and Silent Bob saga by Kevin Smith cracks me up so much that I couldn't even pick which of the five movies I like best.

• Kirsten Dunst is my favourite actress. My list of favourite movies starring her is not much different from Kiki's filmography on IMBD. I must note however that Sam Raimi did everything to Spider-Man I could have hoped for, and more.

• Farscape is simply the best frelling TV show that was ever made. Great story lines, awesome sets, amazing special effects and some of the most interesting characters ever to appear on television.

• Cold Feet offered a brilliant mix of comedy and drama. Each fifty minute episode felt as if it lasted for hours - in a good way.

• Deep Space Nine kept me longing for more unlike any other Star Trek installment. The first few seasons weren't that special, but after the introduction of the Dominion I enjoyed every single episode except the ones transforming the Ferengi into just another dull race.

• The Simpsons are wonderful to watch. The show should have ended with a splash though, after the first ten series or so it definitely lost a lot of steam.

I am also fond of Rat Race, Galaxy Quest, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Friends.

Other favourites

• Magazines I like to read are National Review (conservative American politics, seriously) and SFX (awesome sci-fi). Cherised books are F2F by Philip Flinch, Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

• Beverages I would normally order are beer (especially Erdinger Weißen), wodka/Red Bull, Pepsi and Mountain Dew.

• The most delicious meal I can think of would be a Caesar Chicken Salad or proper carpaccio as starter, followed by a pizza with spicy tomato sauce and lots of crunchy pepperoni, bacon, green peppers and extra cheese as main course. For a quick fix, a foot-long Subway Turkey, Ham and Bacon Melt will do as long as it's completed with tomato, green peppers, jalapenos, sweet corn and sweet onion sauce. (I'm a vegetarian, but I do eat mammals.)

• I would cover myself in the Vendetta cologne by Valentino if it were still available. Very Valentino is also pleasant, reminding me a bit of Davidoff's Cool Water.

Things that piss me off

This list used to be a whole lot longer. I must have mellowed down a bit.

• Titanic is a movie I have promised myself I would never watch. I have learned to accept that Leonardo di Caprio distracted girlfriends of mine in high school, but I still cringe whenever I hear Celine Dion's terrible title song, which is by far the worst music crap ever recorded in human history.

• Microsoft seems to be one of the most unethical companies around and its products always manage to crash or otherwise annoy me with brain-dead behaviour.

• Liberals also irritate me, with their disrespect for conservative viewpoints and desire to have a big-government nanny state. They jeopardise individual liberty with social mandates and economical progress with over-zealous regulation. Note that as libertarian I am fully supportive of social liberties, though.

Things I believe in

Or predominantly not, apparently.

• I don't believe in God or any other kind of super-being. Having a huge ego is the only thing that comes close.

• I don't believe in horoscopes, but I prefer good predictions anyway.

• I don't believe in ghosts but I enjoyed Ghostbusters. I also most definitely celebrate Halloween.

• I don't do believe in love at first sight. Close mates know which girl caused me to update this entry. Didn't last though.

• I do believe in alien life existing in a galaxy far, far away. But I sincerely doubt we will ever have contact.

• I don't believe in witchcraft.