- Alone (Season 8) – I started watching “Alone” while having covid mainly because of the picture of the the metal guy Biko and thinking it would be a good, non-thought-required sort of thing to watch hours and hours of without end, which I don’t ordinarily have the time nor the patience for. There are characters though, and a bunch of them are even women, namely the one who has a Phd in Stone Age tools and technology. I couldn’t help thinking though as I cringe-enjoyed watching 10 people descend into starvation and madness alone, surrounded by grizzly bears what I would have done differently, fully aware I wouldn’t last a week doing what these people do.
- The Metric System – Most people don’t think about measuring half as much as I do. Most people don’t think about quantitative value more than what you might have had for breakfast that day. This is because most people don’t give half a damn about standardisation, ease of translation or rationality.
- Celsius – You want to know why Celsius is better than Fahrenheit, beyond of course the measure of pure rather saltwater boiling and freezing being a lot more consistent, is that the entire planet uses it. Except for one place.
- Derry Girls – A comedy about a group of Catholic/Republican school girls in Derry, Northern Ireland at the 90’s tail end of The Troubles doesn’t sound like ripe situation for rip roaring laughs, but oh boy is it ever. Layer in loads of Catholic school gags, drop in an armored car and roadblock checks and then casual conversations about bombers and constant ripping on the British, it’s utterly hilarious. I can’t believe it’s even on TV when you read about it, but thankfully it is. If you were a fan of The Inbetweeners like me, this is so up your alley, or in your wheelhouse, or wherever your metaphor of choice wants to place you.
- Analog watches – I heard somewhere that a clock face is easier to understand in a temporal-spatial sense. I also understand as a human that none of us need another goddamn screen on us to tell the time or another thing to charge the battery of.
- Soul Glo “Diaspora Problems“ – This album title of course describes my life, but I’m nowhere near as cool as these 3/4 black hardcore band who are on the verge of being the Refused of the US 2020’s? Going from classic 80’s punk hardcore to bonged out beats, they have the commentary and the anger that made me fall in love with punk as a kid. But I’m old, and my kids are really into pop music, so maybe disregard all this.
- The ImportAI newsletter is more than your typical monthly takedown of machine learning and the like’s development and who’s getting funded gazillions to explore what, and that is because it always has a bit of fiction at the end where Jack does some insightful exploring himself of ramifications and scenarios which you never see this deep inside the industry.
- Sepultura “Chaos AD“ – This 1993 classic not only foreshadowed much of what followed in heavy music, but also the all too brief stomp that the metal underground took into progressive politics, in particular about indigienous people’s rights.
- The Litter “Distortions“ – Some good, solid garage/psych rock came across from 1967.
- Donovan “Sunshine Superman” – Never thought I would be listening to Donovan, but when you go down the psychedelic rock rabbit hole, you’re bound to I guess.
