I'm from Ottawa, lived there my whole life. I still reside with my folks (*grumble*). My mom's a slightly-crazed overachiever, a former politician for the NDP, bossy as hell, and damned good at what she does. My dad's a freelance writer, novelist (or trying to be), screenplay writer (or failed to be), and a really nice guy. My computer and workshop are the attic of our old house (upper middle class I guess) sort of near downtown. My neighborhood used to be pretty rough but it's gotten better in the last few years.

I'm taking a Classical Animation course at Algonquin College in Ottawa, and have just started second year. It's based on Sheridan's three-year program, so it's pretty high-caliber. Previously I went to Canterbury high school for visual arts. It's where I learned to paint, among other things. I used to do a lot of landscape works in acrylic paint. My average was around 85% in English, 80-90% in art, and probably close to 75% for the rest. Since I was ten I also took a few drawing/life-drawing courses at the Ottawa school of art.

I like fantasy/sci-fi novels, though I was never what you'd call a bookworm. In my childhood I was a Trekkie and a Star Wars fanatic, but most ST episodes now sicken me. The movies are fun though.

I've always liked games. I used to have an SNES, but since I bought Doom on my dad's machine I never did console again, except at friends' houses. I'm nowhere near as "athletic" a player as Sirian, but among my peers I'm considered a bit of a gaming fanatic. Some of my favorites are Starcraft, Mechwarrior 4, Tribes, Planescape Torment, the BG games, Deus Ex, the id games, Jedi Knight, and many others that I probably shouldn't be forgetting. I never really played the original Diablo, and I only played D2 for a couple months before becoming totally dissatisfied with my characters and the B-net community. I'm starting to get back into it though, with the expansion and all.

I was in a clan called the Crimson Eagles for almost four years. In the beginning it was an multinational Diablo/Starcraft guild, but over the years more and more friends from Ottawa joined in, and eventually the clan evolved (or devolved perhaps) from online play to drinking contests and a lot of pot-smoking. Most of the members from outside my home town have left, and the Crimson Eagles is pretty much dead as an internet phenomenon.

In the clan's Starcraft days, each member was instructed to write a brief biography of their online alias. After reading a few very cool bios (there were some fine writers in TCE) I decided it might be fun to draw some of their characters and color them in Adobe Photoshop. I was very popular in the clan for this. I only did about nine members, but I learned a lot about Photoshop and about drawing-rendering stuff. I stopped doing said renditions when I began my Animation course last year, and I've missed doing them ever since. In my class I'm just an average-Joe student, nowhere near the best drawer in the room. But online I can really impress people sometimes. So I get to inflate my ego, contribute to a thoughtful take on PC games (Sirian's website) and practice my skills all at once. Win-win.

My online alias is usually either Moradin (the Dwarven God) or Moradivh (a name I use when there ain't no Dwarves around).

And if any young, single women would like to know, I'm 21, 6 feet tall, with dark blonde hair, a bit of a gut, and a beard that's red, brown and blonde all at once (and it's natural). The rest is not worth mentioning. =p

- Matt Sifton ... aka ... Moradin

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