Martin Belam

currybet

Hi, I'm a (mid)-thirtysomething indie/alt music fan who used to be from London and but now lives just outside of Chania in Crete. In a place called Germaniko Pouli, which, believe it or not, means "German Bird" in English.

Before fleeing the UK I worked at the BBC on the bbc.co.uk website for 5 years, doing various things like search, online voting, email distribution, and the BBC homepage. However I chucked it all in just before Christmas 2005 to go travelling, and hopefully set up on my own to work freelance in the future. I have a blog for my 'professional' activities at http://www.currybet.net" >http://www.currybet.net />
Having finished our travelling adventure, which took us through 16 countries, my wife and I arrived in Crete in March 2006. We have a joint blog about our attempt to set up home in a foreign land called 'A lemon tree of our own' - http://lemontree.typepad.com" >http://lemontree.typepad.com />
I like most mainstream indie/alt music, and also electronic music. I guess my favourite artists include Kraftwerk, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, Talk Talk, Super Furry Animals and David Sylvian. Recently mainstream-wise I've enjoyed the new Strokes album a lot, as well as Franz Ferdinand, the Killers and the Kaiser Chiefs. Less mainstream I've liked the Nine Horses album and the most recent album by Last Harbour.

I'm not a big fan of film, but if I'm watching something I prefer it to either have big spaceships or an unhappy ending. But not both at the same time. And like the Super Furry Animals stated in 'Lazer Beam', I believe that romantic comedies are evil and should be abolished.

Reading wise I generally only read factual books - whilst travelling I read a history of Bosnia, and a travelogue written in the 1930s by an Englishman retracing the steps of St Paul in the Acts of the Apostles. However, my wife keeps shoving novels under my nose and I enjoyed "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Why currybet? I've been using currybet as my online identity for years and years now - it refers to a football sweepstake followed by an elaborate pub crawl that a group of my friends used to do - at the end of the year the losers had to wear fancy dress and buy everyone else a curry - hence currybet.