Hey there! My name’s Nick Saint-Amand and I was born on March 31st, 1986 in Burbank, CA.
My mother was trained in psychological research and worked as a piano instructor while my father was in the film and television industry as both a boom operator and sound engineer, the latter of which played an important part of my early development – I even got to go behind the scenes on sets! That isn’t to say I never ended up having an interest in psychology (I most certainly did) but that all began with Batman’s rogue gallery being walking, talking entries straight from the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) on Batman: The Animated Series as opposed to required reading about Freud and Jung (but I did that too).
Even if I spent most of my time living and breathing cinema and serialized drama – my interests extend to comicbooks, videogames, animation, prose (both fiction and non-fiction), stage plays (I love Shakespeare as much as Jean-Luc Picard does), and more traditional forms of Art such as paintings, sculptures, or avant-garde pieces. As far as genre goes, I’ve always gravitated more towards science fiction and horror (especially body horror) but also have a deep appreciation for comedy – though somewhat averse to stand-up compared to sketches or the situational variety – along with detective noir and spy thrillers. When it comes to gaming, I’m generally more willing to overlook bad gameplay for good storytelling and characterization, but certainly not remiss of mechanically impressive titles. My standards are weirdly high and sensibilities eclectic compared to most when it comes to what I like and dislike – which I assure all of you does not reflect personal judgment on those with differing views. Taste is taste, it’s ultimately subjective and there’s no objectively wrong opinion on Art. Because Art is for everyone and should foster connections through discussion, as opposed to adversarial argumentation that only factualizes what are essentially arbitrary sentiments.
My interest in doing actual critical Art analysis started during my time in Junior High though, being young and dumb, my faculties were far from properly developed. It wasn’t until I graduated high school and had my on-again-off-again period with college that it became more fine-tuned. After getting sick of living in SoCal for about 15 years, I moved northward to Humboldt County, and…it worked until it didn’t. So, now I’m back in SoCal though in a different town – but, hey, things’re looking up!
[Updated 2/23/22]
NickNameNick 