Name: Avis, Avis Rapax, Nate
Details:Vital stats first, I guess. I'm Nathan, usually called Avis (Ah-Vis) and I'm an anime / manga fan. I come from a small town near Glasgow originally but now stay in Dundee to go to Dundee University. Although I study and am passionate about History I couldn't get by without doodling.
Mishi had the honour of introducing me to anime back in '99 and I've been drawing in that style ever since. There's something about the bright, bold style which appeals to me. My first anime - like a lot of others - was Dragonball Z which was actually ok for the first few sagas. I then graduated onto Gundam Wing, Gravitation and Yami no Matsuei.
Currently some of my favourite animes include Mai Hime, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist and Bleach. For Manga my current favourite is Ai Yori Aoshi. It used to be that what I watched influenced my style but that seems less so now.
Apart from anime and manga I love history, music and books. I have a few too many dictionaries and encyclopedias and a burgeoning bookshelf of history books. My favourite era to look at is actually pre-historic times - something I've often been fascinated by. It shows in my fiction choices too : The Earth's Children series (Jean Auel) and Evolution (Stephen Baxter) are amongst my all-time favourites. I'm also a huge fan of stories involving evolution (again, Evolution) and Coalescent, Exultant as well as the Icebones Trilogy (all Baxter.) I highly recommend all of these.
Some others books I'd recommend include George. R. R. Martin's "A song of Ice and Fire" series for an in depth, realistic fantasy book and The Black Magician trilogy for something lighter. Giles Milton's historical books are also good reading and very engaging for those not as fond of textbook / dissertation type histories.
I also have to admit to being a pen + paper roleplayer. I'm not too great at the traditional Dungeons and Dragons games but I have enjoyed Exalted, Pendragon and BESM. I am part of SURGe, a University based roleplaying group which meets up weekly.
Any spare time I have is generally put towards doing "stuff". I'm an avid lover of having projects and things to keep me busy. I like designing websites, playing about with phpBB and I spend a lot of my time browsing the few communities I'm part of. Currently that includes Gaia Online, LiveJournal and several IRC channels.
I like very few computer games but one I love is Age Of Empires (and its sequels Conquerers etc.) It can keep me amused for hours.