MIKE OGDEN

Mike Ogden is the co-founder and editor of 2DO Before I Die. As a senior producer, he has developed and produced original interactive dramas, games and animations for clients that include the BBC, ITV, Reuters, The Prince’s Trust, and CNN. He has also been engaged as a Creative Associate for Saatchi & Saatchi's R&D Lab.

The 2DO Before I Die book was one of the first of its kind, deriving its stories from user-generated content via the 2do website and blog. Published in the USA by Time-Warner in 2005, 2DO Before I Die includes 70 original stories and has since been translated into eight languages (reader reviews here). Publisher’s Weekly called it a “punchy, graphic-filled guide…inspiring…well-executed and empowering.” Supported by a website he edits and co-manages, the book’s online community was chosen as a “Pick of the Web” by Yahoo.

Mike's work has featured on NPR, BBC, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Channel 5 News, Men's Journal and others. He selects many of the features that appear here on the site - his interests lie particularly in film, music, design and storytelling.

Also:
How the 2DO project got started
Mike's 2DO story

CHRIS DAY

Chris Day is the co-founder and art director of 2DO Before I Die. He is an illustrator, designer and writer of rare quality - rare in that he hardly ever writes, illustrates or designs and quality in the sense that he won a minor art prize when he was 12. Despite these shackles of ineptitude and procrastination, Chris has somehow managed to do some interesting things with his life, not least in partnering a young Michael Ogden in running the 2DO Before I Die project for the last 5 years.

Mike's brash, Anglo-American optimism together with Chris' Americo-English spirit of cynical defeat has proved a mouth-watering combination, resulting in over 5 years of endless phone calls, emails from the furthest reaches of the planet and at least three promotional t-shirts (now worn mostly for gardening). "Money is the root of all evil" Chris says as he carefully crafts much-needed footwear out of yesterday's potato skin, and who would disagree? His hungry family for one - the patience and endurance of his wife and son having been tested to the limit as he creeps ever closer to that oh-so tangible, oh-so sweet smell of success...

Also:
Chris' portfolio

CHRISTOPHER LEMILLE

Christopher Lemille is a pseudonym. That's also not my picture to the left. That's James Garner from TV's 70's hit show, Rockford Files. I also use a ghost writer to write my posts. And even he writes with invisble ink. Never has so much mystery swathed one man and his achievements. Who knows, I may even be standing right behind you!...

Read about me every Monday to gradually piece together a psychological profile. Maybe you'll find you do know me after all....or will you?...or maybe yes, you will....

..or will you?...

Christopher's column "Regrets, I've had a few" runs on Mondays...
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JOE KURMASKIE

Joe Kurmaskie is an award winning journalist, adventurer, activist and bestselling author of Metal Cowboy, Riding Outside the Lines, and Momentum Is Your Friend. www.metalcowboy.com

Kurmaskie writes for Bicycling, Backpacker, Details, Outside, Parenting Magazine, Men’s Journal and other publications, and he frequently reviews books for The Oregonian. He teaches writing in the schools through Literary Arts Inc., Community of Writers, and founded Camp Creative, a summer arts program for children and young adults in New Mexico and Oregon. He recently kicked off a campaign to giveaway 1,000,000 bicycles: www.onemillionbicycles.org

Kurmaskie’s one-man show, “Metal Cowboy Mayhem and Misadventure,” has graced hundreds stages across the country. Called “A Modern day Mark Twain on Two Wheels” Joe’s response, “If that’s true, somewhere a riverboat captain weeps.” His book, Momentum Is Your Friend, has received starred reviews including Publisher’s Weekly, The Toronto Star and St. Petersburg Times. His nationally syndicated monthly column appears in several dozen newspapers. Kurmaskie’s latest book, Mud, Sweat and Gears, will hit stores Fall 2008.

Joe's column "Freewheeling" appears every Tuesday...
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GIGI BURGDORF

Gigi is a freelance writer with a penchant for late nights, city life and fine dining. Her early years were spent yearning for the bright lights of New York where she later got her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. From her current base in London, she enjoys writing travel and restaurant reviews, inspirational articles, blogs, technical manuals, marketing material and website content.

Gigi also works in the theatre as an actress, audio describer and captioner. She has achieved several items from her 2Do Before I Die list, including a tandem skydive which helped her overcome her fear of flying. The DVD of that jump is one of her most prized possessions.

Gigi has contributed to 2DO Before I Die previously - see her earlier column here: 'Conquer My Fear of Nudity'
Also:
Gigi's Guide to London

Gigi's column "Working Life" appears every Wednesday...
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STONEY SCHAFFER

Stoney Schaffer is spending the next two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in South East Asia. He's been kind enough to share extracts from his letters back home here with 2DO.

My name is Stoney Schaffer and I am from Atlanta, GA. I am 25 years old and currently, I am a Community Based Organizational Development volunteer in Thailand for the Peace Corps. I first discovered that volunteering is really an enjoyable and rewarding experience when working with the elderly and Latino
children in South Georgia.

Wondering what other types of volunteering I could get involved in, I found myself sitting in a Peace Corps information session and I knew it was what I had been looking for. After two years of applying, interviewing, waiting, being deferred, waiting again, and then eventually being invited, I arrived in Thailand at the start of 2008. The terms of job are 10 weeks of training and 24 months of service.

Working here in Northern Thailand is a challenge every single day, but at the same time, I find that with the difficulites I face I am rewarded more than I could have ever imagined. I have the privilege to be able to create my own projects here, but with a bachelor's degree in International Affairs and no specific skills, creating a sustainable, capacity building project will be the greatest challenge I have ever faced.

Stoney's column "Postcards from the Peace Corps" appears Thursdays...
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TIM THORNTON

Tim Thornton was born in 1973. Despite a boarding school education and a degree in Drama, his adulthood has largely been spent playing the drums, most recently for indie/folk artist Fink. Along the way he has delivered daily newspapers in Copenhagen, changed light bulbs at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and pulled one of the first rickshaws in London.

His writing work first appeared in the book version of 2DO Before I Die in 2005, since when he has performed numerous literary stunts for the 2Do stable, some of which have actually happened.

Tim's first novel The Alternative Hero will be published by Random House in early 2009.

He's also written for us before - see his 'Trials of Tim' for more

Also:
Tim's Myspace
Tim's band, Fink

Tim's column "Tuning In" runs every Friday...
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