Basics
editName: Joshua Gizelt
Nicknames: Swashbuckler (given me by some co-workers some years ago because I fenced in High School), Bacon Bits, Muffin Man, Yosho (obsolete).
Birthdate: September 6, 1974
Location: Queens, New York
Primary Interests
editCinema: Both the artistic and technical aspects of films and film-making. My ambition in life is to make films. Favorite filmmakers include (alphabetically) Robert Altman, Ingmar Bergman, Joel and Ethan Coen, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurosawa, Sergio Leone, David Lynch, and Billy Wilder,. Favorite films (not by these filmmakers) include (alphabetically) Alien, Aliens, Almost Famous, Blade Runner, Boogie Nights, Chinatown, Die Hard, Drowning by Numbers, Ed Wood, La Femme Nikita, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Ghostbusters, The Haunting (original version),The Hustler, Jackie Brown, Living In Oblivion, Liebestraum, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mountains of the Moon, My Name is Nobody, My Own Private Idaho, Snow Falling on Cedars, Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back,The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Trading Places, The Usual Suspects and Waterland.
Film Music: The art and craft of film scoring is a subject I think is fascinating. I also believe that there is an amazing body of work out there that is unrecognized. Favorite composers include (alphabetically) John Barry, Elmer Bernstein, Carter Burwell, Elliot Goldenthal, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Lee Holdridge, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Wojciech Kilar, Ennio Morricone, Thomas Newman, Miklós Rózsa, David Shire, Howard Shore, Alan Silvestri, Franz Waxman, and John Williams.
Additional Interests
editMyth: I am interested in man's need for myth. One finds patterns in storytelling, and I find it interesting that there are some ideas that resonate with many people because of these elements.
Special Services Circuits: While I want to be a filmmaker, I have to pay the bills and so I install and repair Special Circuits (mostly T-1s) in Manhattan. Over time I have developed a genuine interest in how they work.
Music: While I have a specific interest in film music, I am just a music junkie in general, and I enjoy rock and roll, jazz, and some modern, romantic, classical, and baroque music as well. Favorites include Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and variations, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, Alice in Chains, Iggy and the Stooges, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, John Corigliano, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach.
New York City: I've lived here all of my life, and it never ceases to fascinate me.
Food: I like tasty things. Favorites include pasta, chocolate and steak, but I like many things.