About MALF
Hello there! I'm MALF and this is my personal website where I've centralized my online presence. I'm primarily a streamer, but love to dabble in all manner of hobbies and projects.
You'll find links to all the online platforms I frequent and the blog I publish. I'm currently in the early stages of developing a game and in the near future, I'll be conducting hot sauce reviews – both of which will be shared here.
I reckon the best way to get to know me would be to have a glimpse through some of my blog posts or perhaps be a fly-on-the-wall during one of my daily livestreams. Alas, I suppose I can hit a few of the high level things about me in the form of Q&A.
What does 'MALF' mean?
My name is Michael A. L. Fox, so my initials are M.A.L.F. It's how most people have referred to me for over the past decade now. While my handle pretty much everywhere is 'michaelalfox', MALF is much easier to type and say. Though, I often get confused when people say the word 'mouth' and think they're talking to me.
Quick Facts
- Born and raised in rural Ontario, Canada
- Youngest of four siblings
- Six is my favourite number
- I'm a rambler
- I'm a vegetarian (vegan, someday)
- Poutine is my favourite dish
- Breakfast is my favourite meal
- Butter tarts are my favourite dessert
- Detroit-style is my preferred style of pizza
- I graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in urban planning
- I worked in the power industry for over a decade before leaving to play video games
What do you like?
I'm the youngest of four siblings, so I think that's a large reason why I tend to like a little bit of everything. The interests and hobbies of my siblings sort of rubbed off on me in my earlier years and sort of stuck.
Gardening – Most of my family have been gardeners longer than I've been alive, so it only seemed to be a matter of time before I dove in. I started by growing a few peppers and tomatoes in containers on my balcony over a decade ago and each passing year things seemed to double. Peppers are my main joy, but I love growing any vegetable and try my hand at different fruits and herbs. More recently, I've leaned into various trees, perennials, and wildflowers. Gardening has led me to an interest in a variety of offshoot topics – food preservation techniques, permaculture, and sustainability as a whole.
Hot Sauce – Peppers being my favourite plant to grow and the increasing desire to understand methods of preserving and processing them has inevitably led me to the vast and expanding world of hot sauce. In studying the different ways to make hot sauce, I quickly learned that each form of pepper can offer a distinct and noticeable difference. From fermenting, dehydrating, pickling, smoking, and others I've yet to explore, these preservation techniques can all be used to keep peppers after harvest but also lend wonderful and unique character to hot sauces.
The combination of growing peppers and a multitude of other ingredients in my backyard, fermenting them for several weeks or months, and then turning it all into a hot sauce to share with friends and family feels so pure and sincere to me.
Aquascaping – Think of aquascaping as the combination of aquarium keeping and underwater gardening. As a youngster, we could only have hamsters and fish as my mom has always been quite allergic to cats and dogs. My dad kept a large community aquarium with all sorts of plants that would capture your gaze for hours on end. Unsurprisingly, I wanted to keep my own aquarium and my dad happily obliged. Through the years I grew to focus more on real plants rather than the fake plastic ones and understanding what it took to keep them happy.
It didn't take long for me to appreciate the balance of an entire ecosystem in a small glass box. These days I focus on the plants and hardscape elements first to make sure the environment is appropriate for any aquatic creatures. As such, I plan out the aquarium the same way you would a garden in your yard – some plants are better in the background while others in the foreground, understanding the different lighting and nutrient requirements, and knowing the growth rate of each one.
Hockey – I doubt it comes as much of a surprise that a Canadian enjoys hockey. To be fair, I grew up enjoying nearly every sport and activity I could watch and play, however, as I've grown older and my ability to partake in and consume sports has lessened, it's reduced mostly to hockey.
I've never played hockey outside of a little pond, ball, and street hockey in my younger years. Despite that, I still find it fascinating to watch – unlike most other sports where I only enjoy watching if I've played a good bit. I'm a Winnipeg Jets fan even though I've never set foot in the city (yet). I received some Jets pajamas when I was a kid and that was enough to form loyalty. True North, baby!
Drumming – As long as I can remember, I was bopping pots and pans or hamboning like a fiend. Growing up in a small house and not much money meant drums weren't a realistic option. It wasn't until 2011 when I had the opportunity to buy an acoustic set (Sonor Essential Force). Sadly, that lasted about a year before I moved to Toronto in an apartment where they would sit stacked up in a corner for close to a decade.
I've since moved to a small house where I could once again set them up, but the basement acoustics are atrocious and one of our cats, Bear, is petrified of my thunderous blast beats and will hide under the bed upstairs until the audio onslaught has ceased.
And thus brings us to the next chapter in the drum saga where I traded in the acoustic set for an electronic one (Roland TD-17KV). They've got these neat mesh heads, which feel surprisingly great with an impressive amount of sensitivity and responsiveness. Even how the drumsticks react shocked me for the first little while. Now I can play with unrelenting force and needn't worry about terrifying anyone. If I want to record myself it's as simple as popping in an SD card and hitting a button. Soon I plan to take a few lessons from a professional and pickup some techniques so I can better engage myself in methods of practice and self-learning.