Where are you from?
Originally from New Zealand, but been living/working in Singapore for the last seven years.

Where did you grow up?
On the stereotypical New Zealand sheep farm (baaa).

What are your pastimes and interests?
Music - my band "the tuxedo diplomats" (www.tuxedodiplomats.com), Photography, Painting, Travelling around Asia

What's your favorite saying or cliché?
"…but if we build it in Flash…"

What's your favorite movie?
High Fidelity

What's your favorite cocktail?
Hmmm, too expensive to drink much in Singapore.

When did you first get involved with flash?
While it was still FutureWave Splash, just at the point in time that Macromedia had just bought Flash - I downloaded a copy and taught myself to use it. In early 1997 I launched my first Flash site for a software product called InfoShip.

What is your view of the current use of flash?
I feel that Flash's potential is untapped in 99% of sites out there. There are too many webpages with a chunky flash intro set to a pounding techno soundtrack, and not enough intelligent use of ActionScript to create interesting interactivity.

Who do you feel is advancing the use of flash the most?
Macromedia engineers keep building all this cool stuff into Flash, making it so much better at every release, and there's a nice synergy between them and the Flash community which has an insatiable appetite for what ever functionality they deliver.

Who has been your greatest inspiration?
The Flash community, there are always new ideas popping-up from brilliant minds around the globe.

I'm inspired by those who are not just pushing Flash's boundaries, but also willing to share that precious information with the rest of the Flash community.

Where do you see the future of flash?

ActionScript is going to keep getting better, and the quality of Flash sites with it. I hope to see Flash on different platforms (mobile/PDA/interactive appliances/broadcast media).

Much more Flash games!

What advice would you give to budding flashers?
Learn to do the simple animation first, then be willing to move beyond it to explore ActionScript. You don't need a background in programming to learn this stuff, just the curiosity and the willpower to make it work.

What can Flash Kit Singapore 2001 attendees expect from you?
Hopefully they'll take away a bunch of useful techniques that they can immediately implement in their Flash projects to improve the user's experience. I'm a designer that ActionScripts, so my presentation will be targeted at designers. Attendees, can also expect a fair amount of Singlish slang, lah.

Any closing words?
I can't say it better than Buckminster Fuller…

"When I am working on a problem,
I never think about beauty.
I think only of how to solve the problem.
But when I have finished,
if the solution is not beautiful,
I know it is wrong."

- R. Buckminster Fuller