Sometimes I meet people who inspire me to live better and dream bigger. Often highly creative, they’ll possess a cultural comprehension that seems ahead of the times. One could call them supra-hipsters (because ‘regular’ hipsters are merely zeitgeisty), early adopters, or, even, Gladwellian outliers.
Like Mutewatch, games designer Michael Othen saw a gap in the market and pounced on it, creating the first ever gay themed iPhone games. Over drinks, he tells me how procrastination tends to be more of an issue when you have less to do. Last year he taught himself a new programming language, started Digicub, and developed “Mini Gay Boyfriend” and “Mini Gay Girlfriend” (both with 5 star average ratings, and with 30,000 downloads combined).
“I get a bit obsessed,” he remarks, “if I’m going to do something, I need to learn everything about it.” Michael’s done cool things like run a marathon in Brighton (“And I used to hate running”), and worked on games like Battlefield: Bad Company for EA in Stockholm. All while being the main Stockholm contender for the role as Jude Law’s unofficial, expatriated look-alike.
