About Me

The year was 1492…

Or maybe it was a bit further ahead than that. 1985 sounds good I think! If you haven’t caught on with the bombardment of me telling you who I am with every page you visit, my name is Brian McDonald. I’m 26 years old currently residing in majestic Bayonne, New Jersey. As you may have seen, I have a few interests in my life, most of which being art, music, and hockey. I also enjoy new technologies, video games, bad movies, the animal kingdom, and Transformers. I’m not a fan of laundry, design trends, fanboyism, and people who bid on ebay auctions before the final 30 seconds of the listing.

Is that enough information for you? If not, I’ll oblige.

I was the final addition to my family, which was a three-member band at the time, living in Vero Beach, Florida. I didn’t spend that much time there though, and within a year we were off to Princeton, New Jersey. A couple years later, we were again on the move (no, not from the authorities) with the destination of Yardley, Pennsylvania. Insert short amount of time once more, and then we moved to New York, New York.

This time we actually stayed for a decent amount of time, and I got to begin school, start to play hockey, and learn many things about life that have stuck with me. Our time in New York was cut short though, and after a very brief stay in Jersey City, New Jersey, we ended up in neighboring Bayonne, New Jersey. Once we got to Bayonne, we ended up moving twice in a three year period, and finally settled into our own home. Enough moving for you?

My interest in music started at a young age, mostly listening to a lot of hair metal as a baby. My first music instrument was a Roland keyboard, which I mostly utilized for the synth drums and playing random movie themes. I started to play guitar around the 3rd grade, and picked up bass around 8th grade. At some point I started to play the drums, and that was the completion of my musical arsenal, if we aren’t counting the mandatory recorder lessons in elementary school. Only in the last year or so have I picked up on creating music on my computer, but I see myself doing stuff with it for a long time now.

Art was another thing I enjoyed doing at a young age, starting with drawing Transformers, Robocop, and Teenage Ninja Turtles. I enjoyed illustration and painting, but ended up developing a love for photography, being able to use my father’s Minolta SLR camera. In the late 90′s, I began to get into web design, and started my own websites for things I liked, such as Star Wars and Transformers. I eventually became involved with other sites that ended up becoming pretty big sites, most notably being TFW2005.com, which is the biggest Transformers Fan Site on the web. As the years went on and my experience grew, I moved on from Paint Shop Pro to Photoshop (I think it was version 5 at the time). Digital art became my primary focus, as it also incorporated my photographic work. After some time, I ditched the world of film and converted to digital camera systems, and my focus of digital art was completely set at that point.

As for hockey, it started when I was five years old. I learned to roller blade, and it became my primary method of transportation around the streets of New York. I then started ice skating and started playing hockey pretty quickly, as my brother had already been playing for a season. I was a huge rink rat, literally living at the rink on weekends. I moved on to the world of travel hockey, played in high school, but took a short break before re-focusing my views on the game from my personal standpoint as well as for others. I started coaching, focusing on individual skill development and technique, and now I am currently focusing on goalie coaching.

What else is there to say? I’m not so sure, so here are a few tidbits about me:

• I’m left handed
• I have very poor vision in my left eye (I was built for looking through a viewfinder I suppose)
• My middle name is Patrick
• I am Scottish, French, Austrian, Chilean, Spanish, and Peruvian
• My nicknames are Mack and McDougalfaschnitzer (for the most part)
• I am a die-hard New York Rangers fan
• My ankle to knee measurement is 16.5″
• I do a lot of walking
• I enjoy cycling
• I have the guitar of my dreams, which is a Gibson Les Paul Custom (Black with gold hardware)