CURRENT MISSION

Enjoy remaining years of irresponsibility

ABOUT ME

My name is Daniel Brookes, I'm a 25-year old student in Manchester. I enjoy music, comedy and film and I play in a band. I've worked for several years but decided to go back and get a degree/Masters.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'll be honest, I'm not looking for anything major. Maybe looking for one or two couches per year and in return I'll offer mine back up. This'll probably just be for the remainder of being student; as great as Couchsurfing is, I do feel like I'm imposing and just do it as a means to make money stretch farther.

I've got a bit of experience in putting up bands from Italy, France and USA from when I promoted, and am willing to cook. When out travelling, I'd spend most of the time out of the house and literally use the couch for crashing on and then leaving early in the morning.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None! I have put up travellers before, just not via this site.

Interests

• cooking
• traveling
• music

Music, Movies, and Books

I like music that is difficult to distinguish from technical difficulties as much as I like pop music. I like films that are saccharine sweet, and I also like lengthy difficult European and African cinema. The important thing for me, whether book, record or film, is not to be frightened by the challenge it presents and just run with it. 'Not getting it' is one of my favourite things. There's so many great artists out there; just giving them a chance is a really cool thing to do in my estimation.

I do have certain long-time favourites though. Scott Walker and Van Morrison get heavy rotation. Witty, scabrous post-punk will always make me smile, so The Fall, Flipper, This Heat are great too. Earnest US hardcore is always an energy-charger, so say hi to The Nation of Ulysses and Black Flag. 60s pop, free-jazz, hip-hop, space-disco, avant-classical, found sound and field music. Life's too short to be bored.

As a film student, I try to approach anything with an open mind as it's so easy to get bogged down in 'analysis'. Needless to say, fluff and seriousness both have their merits. There Will Be Blood was so good I saw it twice at the cinema. I also recently enjoyed Heimat, The Hoax and Liar Liar, which was on ITV2 over the weekend. Crude and moralistic, yes, but some great lines in it.

I like a lot of writers, not strictly novelists, but interesting non-fiction, bloggers, periodical writers too. Recently have been reading Tim Vickery, Alex Bellios, Bill James, Lester Bangs & Mark Prindle.