Gillinator.com -- Da Obsession

	Gillinator vital stats: Birthday: March 19, 1978 Height: 5Õ6" Weight: 125 lbs. Hometown: Ashville, Ohio Current Residence: Aurora, Illinois Spouse: Brittany Gillen Occupation: In-Home Specialst for Tweeter / Aspiring Radio Personality Hobbies: Skiing, Biking, Filmmaking, playing the piano and clarinet Favorite Arnold Movie: T2
What da hell are you? IÕm a Gillinator, of course. IÕve decided it was time to give a little glimpse into the life of this egnimatic persona, so you may see where IÕve come from and what led me to become so devoted to The Austrian Oak.
My childhood was not nearly as exciting as ArnoldÕs. Just let me say that I was a weird kid, but darn proud of it. As you can see by my weight, my calling was not bodybuilding, it was instead music and radio. I was always listening to music of all kinds, and imitating the DJs on the Columbus stations. I would sometimes call them up on the request line, and then one of them, Dave Sharp the overnight guy at WNCI, invited me to visit him in the studio. I can compare my first experience in a radio studio to ArnoldÕs first experience in the gymÑI knew this was where I belonged. I decided against my first idea of studying music in college, and instead went for Northwestern UniversityÕs program in Radio, TV, and Film. While there, I lived in the Communications Residential College (CRC) for all four years and became part of a close knit group of friends who were as weird as I was. I got my fill of radio by hosting shows on the dorm station, WXRU, which served up a whopping 2.5 watts of AM power! Reception gets fuzzy on the 3rd floor. The one upside to having a station less powerful than a hair dryerÑno FCC! We could play and say whatever we wanted, and it was truly "Mayhem on the AM". I became the station manager for my last 2 years, and vastly increased our potential audience by initiating a webcast on the internet. During the summers, I interned at WCKG in Chicago on The Steve Dahl Show, and became the Man on the Street, asking hard-hitting questions like "Which presidential candidate is better in the sack?"
Me (in blue) with best buds Ted and Randy	So when did a massive Austrian superstar make his way into all of this? Well, it began in 1991 with the release of Terminator 2. This movie blew me awayÑit was by far the biggest action movie ever, and Arnold was so cool and badass, I couldnÕt help but to want to be him. It also had such an epic feel and emotional impact more than any other action movie IÕd seen, and thatÕs what made me see it again and again. I currently own 5 versions of this movie: the regular VHS, special edition VHS, special edition laserdisc, DVD, and Ultimate Edition DVD. I like it a lot. After T2, I made sure I saw every new Arnold movie right away, and I loved to do impressions of him or "Hanz and Franz" from Saturday Night Live. I was a fan, but not obsessedÉ yet.
With the liberation that college gives when one leaves home, I began to develop Arnold as an interest that hadn't been fully explored. It was during the big promotion of Batman & Robin when my true "Oak" instincts began to kick in, in the form of "Ah-nuld speak." My friends and I started constantly quoting Arnold from the Batman & Robin trailer: "Batman will watch his beloved Gotham paerrrish" and "...the chilling sound of your doooom!" led to bizzare combinations like "Paerrrish in your doooom!" Before long, I was just using "Ah-nuld speak" in my everyday language (mostly among my friends, of course. IÕd get weird looks from outsiders.) We still use it whenever I talk to them. The appropriate greeting when they see me is "Gillen! You sunovabitch!" which is a line I took from Predator where Arnold greets Dylan and digitally doctored it so that he instead utters "Gillen!" Eventually I decided that I would start collecting all of Arnold's movies, even the obscure ones that I hadn't heard of before. This was at the end of my freshman year.
When I came back to school in the fall, I boasted 15 videos, 2 posters, and a cardboard standup of Arnold as Mr. Freeze, who took a dominating presence in our suite and gave his COLD glare to everyone who passed. I had also bought the "Muscle & Fitness" magazine with a 50th birthday tribute to Arnold, read it cover to cover, and learned for the first time about Arnold's humble beginnings in Graz, his early fascination with bodybuilding, and his unparalleled dedication, will, and charisma that made him the best bodybuilder in the world and then the biggest international superstar. I was eager to learn more, to hear Arnold's story in his own words, so I got his book Education of a Bodybuilder. From page one it captivated me and I read it straight through. Arnold actually motivated me to start a workout program for myself, which I have since stuck to fairly well, and even though I'm still pretty scrawny (especially compared to Arnold!), I feel better about my body and know what it's like to have "da pump."		Me as Dutch from Predator and my friend Josh, who prefers Bond... James Bond.
Meanwhile, I was finding early Arnold movies like "The Villain" and "Carnival in Rio" that were hilarious to see with Arnold stumbling through lines and looking out of place, but also chronicled Arnold's progression in becoming a better and more varied actor who later took control of what projects he was involved in. I also began to learn HTML, which I utilized to create my first web site, "The World of Arnold Schwarzengger" which eventually earned a Fan Site of the Month award from schwarzenegger.com and has developed into the site you see now. It is also where I first initiated my Gillinator title. Yes, my last name is spelled with an "e", but for some reason "Gillinator" looks cooler than "Gillenator". During the holiday season in the dorm, our Freeze transformed into "Christmas Freeze" who was decorated with lights and a santa cap. I even composed a poem entitled "The FREEZE Before Christmas" which paid homage to several of Arnold's movies while also bringing out the holiday spirit in us all.
Will the Gillinator kill Sarah Conner? No, he will marry her! It's my lovely wife Brittany.	I now own almost every video Arnold has been in (anyone out there have a copy of "The Comeback"?) and every Arnold movie that is out on DVD. In March of 1998 I attended the Schwarzenegger Classic in Columbus (which happens to be near my hometown) for the first time and fulfilled a dream that would affirm my devotion for the Oak forever: I got to meet him in person! It wasn't an ideal exchange; I shook his hand and then asked him to sign a photo of our "Christmas Freeze." However, the marker I gave him didn't work when he scribbled on the picture, so he handed it back to me and said simply, "Writes really well." I didn't care, though, I was filled with the joy of having finally met the man who had become one of my personal heros. Later, it became a joke with my friends, like, "Just think, you got dissed by Arnold Schwarzenegger." We figured that he would always remember me as "dat kid wit da crappy pen!!" I saw him again at a Planet Hollywood Chicago appearance (may it rest in peace), where I got close enough to pat him on the shoulder, but I donÕt think he noticed. IÕm looking forward to the next time I might brush with greatness, and when I do, it will be documented on the Oak Encounters page.
So that is my story. I graduated from Northwestern, married my college sweetheart Brittany, and am currently looking for an on-air gig in the Chicago area. My ultimate goal is to bring "The GillinatorÕs Action Radio Show" to the airwaves and then not only see Arnold in person, but interview him! Stay tunedÉ IÕll be back.

I'm back! Fast, huh? Actually it's been a while since I've written this page so I thought I'd fill everyone in on the last couple years. Marriage has been fantastic for me, and Brittany and I have moved into a new house. It's very NICE and my Arnold cutouts are quite comfortable, although they do have a tendency to stand by the windows and freak out the neighbors (heh heh). After leaving a short stint with the Steve Dahl Show and working for pennies at Chicago Trax Recording Studio (home of the infamous R. Kelly), I now have a pretty decent gig as an In-Home Sales specialist for Tweeter, an audio/video retail chain with lots of cool home theater and HDTV stuff. So if you're looking for cool toys, I'm your cyborg specialist! I work out of the store in Aurora, IL, and the number is 630-820-2299. I'd be happy to help out any fellow Arnold fans. It works out nice for me, since I can demo Arnold movies all day and get an excellent home theater to watch them on at da new house! The Gillinator's system includes a Denon AVR-3802 surround sound receiver and some excellent Boston Acoustics cherry wood speakers. Now I just need a nice big Mistubishi HDTV so I can see Arnold life-size! Anyway, I will keep updating this page with some new pictures and goings-on in my Chicago suburbian life- so be back!