"I don't want to be a member of a club that would accept me as a member". Groucho Marx

This week we are treated to an inside look at our own TowelMaster Pull up a chair and enjoy the ride!

Born on a quiet little blue planet called Earth, our dear TowelMaster found himself surrounded by family... lots of family, too bad none of them were really famous... yet. As of this moment there are no pets to speak of in his home but this will all change very shortly when in about 6 weeks time two cats will cross his threshold. At the moment names for these two fur balls are being drawn up... what do you think about Dax?? *Grin* (personally I think Risqué would be a good name for a fur ball *double grin*)

When it comes to work TowelMaster is an independent system-consultant, mainly on the AS/400 although he does design websites for small companies and does his best to promote his music through the company. Basically, in a nutshell, he IS his own company! Lots of freedom but also lots of pressure, which is just how he likes it.

If you ever have the pleasure of meeting him you will find that besides his work he is also on the board of the local concert-podium called 'Het Kasteel'. It is a concert-hall... well, kind of... Het Kasteel seems to defy all descriptions really LOL! It is a place where you can hear rock, reggae, house, metal, gothic, etcetera etcetera. Among other duties, he works behind the bar with his colleague on the board, Don Vito. On Thursday-nights he has the pressure of both the bar tending and the DJ-ing (fortunately these two are not done at the same time though I am sure it would be quite an entertaining sight if they were).

Some locals of Het Kasteel are Kheldar, Don Alfredo, Don Vito, Arutha, ShazzPRME and TowelMaster. Most likely there have been one or two which have been left out but you get the picture. There are quite a few of our friendly researchers who are familiar with Het Kasteel and its occupants. Recently everyone there was treated to a visit by Pseudemys and The Pres. (of HeadSnott Inc.). Currently there is an h2g2-meet in the works for Holland at; you guessed it, 'Het Kasteel'

If you have ever visited TowelMasters h2g2 page then you have noticed that he is involved in music. Being the curious type I questioned him on when he began and what he does now. He started out on the piano when he was only 7 years old. Lots of juicy details over at his website, the website is a bit out of date but the background obviously doesn't change so you should find accurate information there to chew on and digest. About 12 years ago he was a recording artist and to this day can't get it out of his system so he can still be found playing his synthesizers, guitar and singing. Currently, with the band he is with, he 'does' the synthesizers, vocals and special effects (he tweaks the sounds as they are playing, typical, dance-thingy)

At the moment he can be seen burning a heck of a lot of cd's with his band's music on them. They played a gig at a very modern wedding in Het Kasteel last Saturday and the results were quite good. The minidisc recording was good enough, in their opinion, to put on a cd. They play their own music, which typically tends to be a mix of all kinds of dance-music: Drum 'n Bass, Jungle, Techno, Ambient, Dub, you name it... It always turns out to be their music anyway. If you feel froggy and would like to order a copy (or two or three) you can find an order form on his page. Just drop him a line. One copy costs $6.00 excluding postage and packing so the total price depends on were you live out in the real world.

On to musical pet peeves: he hates it when people turn a marketing-idea into music, instead of turning a musical idea into a product. Oh yeah! he can become quite perturbed when people say; 'that music is no good' instead of saying 'I don't like this music'. To each his own...

While chatting with his 'other half' a few days back I was informed that he was ranting on about the lack of black socks in the world, so I just had to ask about this and see if anything has been done to correct this terrible error. TowelMaster has always been at war with sockoids... However you may be pleased to hear that Shazz found them all, except for one (of course... there's always one sock missing, it's a sockoid kind of thing). BTW: good tip: always buy more than one pair of socks, and make sure you buy the same ones...

I also ran into a bit of a discussion concerning towels and TowelMasters view on them. Once again I had to dig a bit deeper and find out the 'low-down' on the towels. Not wanting to misquote him I will enter exactly what his response to this question was:

'Not really, I mean, I have just been 'forced' to put an entry on the Towel shop's page. Let face it: it CANNOT be that towels are to be given away to everyone who votes for the presidential elections !!! Did those towels not suffer enough already? Did they not do our 'dirty work' for years?'

'The trouble with towels, just like with pc's, is that the moment anyone buys one, he or she immediately thinks he/she knows all about them. There are no towel-laymen, or so people think. It's about time someone starts a Towel-helpdesk!'

So there you have it, straight from the 'horses mouth'... ok, not a horse but you know what I mean hehe!

Now for the part everyone has been waiting for: Shazz and TowelMaster!! Unless you have been living under an asteroid you are aware of the blossoming relationship between these two. Wondering just what his thoughts were on it now that the relationship has become a 24/7-type thing I asked him to please quench my curiosity. He was no dummy, he knew this question was coming, he was hoping he might could 'skirt' it but to no avail so he 'buckled down' and informed me that if any of you would like the 'juicy' details you would have to contact Shazz herself but explains that there really is not much to say (don't let him fool you... there is LOTS to say, take it from one who knows hehe!!). He goes on to say that yes, they did meet through h2g2 in the usual way. After chatting through the various forums for a bit they finally moved their chats over to ICQ and the rest is, in his mind, a bit of h2g2 history... Shazz moved to the Netherlands last April and so far they are both having a 'whale' of a time. Perhaps the fact that they now know about eight or nine h2g2-researchers in their hometown helps a bit, but TowelMaster is sure they could somehow manage without them too. Shazz has been quite busy these past few months learning Dutch so he expects that she will be out and about shortly (she will probably join the local bowling-team *grin*.)

After discussing the relationship between him and Shazz I decided I would be kind and move on to something a bit lighter. I wanted to know what the funniest experience he had had to date on h2g2 was. TowelMaster replied by saying he was having fun on h2g2 at all times, even when in an argument or discussion. He must admit though that one of the funnier things he read was when a researcher (Loonytunes) had been all over h2g2 one night. He entered the forum I was on with a very funny joke, which he introduced by saying 'A funny thing just happened to me on the way to a forum'... but, as they say, 'I guess you had to be there' *sigh*. Of course, on the other hand, his '1024 AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHSSSS' was/is fun lots of the time. Everyone there is hoping to reach zero in the future. It is the only thread with a definite ending to it, as long as it is reached...

When it comes to something he would change about h2g2 if he had the ability to do so, TowelMaster states that he would love it if he could add a new feature to the researchers pages that would enable him to move threads that pop up because someone replied to them, to another location on the page. This way the next time someone replies to a thread that he posted to a year ago he could decide that he no longer wishes to see it on his latest forum replies or whachamacallit. He is convinced that this feature would be especially useful for the veteran researchers because, let's face it, the average writer posts quite a lot in a year. As for everything else, he feels that the last updates are definitely an improvement and is sure that the Towers will come up with more useful stuff in the future.

Lastly, before we close, TowelMaster would like to take a moment to thank his producer and Jesus Christ... Everybody: Listen To Loudon Wainwright!!!

31.07.00. Front Page

Back Issue Page