Contact
The movie is adapted from the novel by Carl Sagan, Directed by Robert Zemeckis, and with music by Alan Silvestri.

Film is the art form I love most. I enjoy the mix of narrative, character development, visual composition, drama, and music.

Contact's beauty and the poetic presentation of ideas conveys all the passion of Carl Sagan's vision.

Crash Bash
Playstation One console game developed by Eurocom Entertainment.

The graphics may be blocky, but the game play is outstanding. This remains my favorite console game, one that I continue to play with my son six years after we first picked up our controllers. The screen punches out vibrant colours, the many games are imaginative and challenging, and the music is pure timeless fun.

The Koln Concert
Keith Jarrett, piano improvisation.

Keith Jarrett remains my favorite musician. For me his best work is delivered in his piano improvisations. These live concerts show him transfixed and at one with his instrument and medium. The journey of his piano improvisations take one to dark, joyful, rhythmic rides of virtuosity. He is an expressionist pianist who presents his creative kernel for all to view.

Biscuits
On my plate.

Biscuits are for me without doubt the most enjoyably edible objects. They look great, and taste even better. Perhaps what makes their delight intense, is that I cannot eat more than one or two a day before my inherited hiatus hernia causes me tremendous grief. Cooking a biscuit takes little effort and time - it is the perfect eating thing, but often among the worst for ones body.

El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba
No One Writes to the Colonel, and Other Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

This short collection of stories presents a world full with passion and life. The writings of Gabriel Garcia Marquez are more than fiction - they are convincing reality.

No One Writes to the Colonel was published in the year I was born which also saw Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut, become the first human in space.

Rembrandt
Portrait of the Artist at His Easel. Musee du Louvre, Paris.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is a great painter and printmaker. His works are above all honest.

As I look at his self portrait painted in 1660 I meet the essence of the man and ponder on the thoughts and memories that lay behind those eyes, full with a lifetime of experience.

The iPhone
Apple Inc.

Jonathan Ive describes his “fanatical care beyond the obvious...” and has designed some iconic tech products in the last 15 years: the iMAC, iBook, the PowerBook G4, the iPod MP3 player, and iPhone.

The great strength of Jonathan's designs are in their simplicity of form and efficiency of function.

The Tate Gallery, Saint Ives, Cornwall
Architects: Eldred Evans and David Shalev.

The Gallery is a three storey building backing directly into the cliff face. The site drops 50ft from the cliff-top to the beach.

The Tate Gallery at Saint Ives is as much a joy to explore as the works contained within. It is like every child's dream of inhabiting a lighthouse, a white warm building full with objects that tingle the senses.

The Internet
Tim Berners-Lee

The Internet has heralded the single most profound advance in communication since the invention of the printing press.

What made this such a powerful context to exchange ideas and information was the generosity of spirit and desire to benefit all, that led Tim Berners-Lee to offer the labors of his efforts freely.

The Earth
NASA Photo

The Lena River, some 2,800 miles (4,500 km) long, is one of the largest rivers in the world. The Lena Delta Reserve is the most extensive protected wilderness area in Russia.

The earth is our home. Only from space do we appreciate how precious, fragile, and how significant a jewel we have the privilege to inhabit.