Thanks for clicking the link to learn more about me! I’ve been involved with the online world since before it was called the Internet and harbor a lifelong fascination with film and cinema. I’m a widely published film critic, have spoken at film festivals, and teach university courses exploring the visual language of cinema. My favorite films include Lawrence of Arabia, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and Nine Kings. My fave genres are science fiction, horror, and film noir, and if I don’t have a screener queued up, you can usually find me watching Turner Classic Movies.
I’m also a board game fan and have played hundreds of different games at this point, from the simplest (Candyland, Catan) to the most complex (Frosthaven, Twilight Struggle, Civilization, and Mage Knight). I review lots of games, generally focusing on solo play for logistical reasons, and have previewed many pre-production board games for Kickstarter campaigns. As much as I love board games, however, I dislike playing games on the various board game simulators, so please don’t ask me to check out a digital implementation of your analog game. 🙂
The third big area here on Planet Dave is automobiles. I sort of fell into reviewing cars many years ago and have since written hundreds of reviews of vehicles from BMW, Mazda, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Kia, Alfa-Romeo, and dozens of other brands. I’m a member of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press, which also gets me invites to plenty of car shows and manufacturer-sponsored events in the region. It’s good fun, and my focus is not on the specs but on the qualitative driver’s experience. Is it comfortable? Is it fun to drive? Do the controls all make sense?
In addition to those three categories, Planet Dave is awhirl with other things that might seem a bit random. Yep, that’s how life is, especially in my brain; sometimes what you’re doing makes complete sense, and other times you can’t help but be puzzled how the current task fits into the big picture. I figure as long as I’m having fun doing it, we’re all good!
I have a few other outposts here on the Internet too. You can read about my parenting adventures at GoFatherhood, my enormous tech Q&A library of tutorials at AskDaveTaylor, and you can even watch my YouTube channel AskDaveTaylor where I review consumer electronics and other gadgets, giving you the straight scoop on what works, what’s cool, and what’s not worth your money.
That’s it. Hello and welcome to Planet Dave. I hope you enjoy your stay.
Planet Dave is run by Dave Taylor, who has been writing about film, cars, games, and his lifestyle for many years. He's based in Boulder, Colorado and assures readers he's only occasionally falling into a gravity well or temporal distortion field.