* water issues/climate change in the Southwest:
- *Chinatown* (film)
- *The Water Knife* by Paolo Bacigalupi (sci-fi novel, described as "*Chinatown* meets *Mad Max*)
- *The Cadillac Desert* by Marc Reisser (nonfiction, part of a plot element in *The Water Knife*
- *Cadillac Desert* PBS documentary[1]
- *The Night Manager* by John LeCarre (novel, honestly not one of his best)
- *The Night Manager* (TV miniseries--much better than the book!)
- *The Ghost Writer* by Robert Harris (novel)
- *The Ghost Writer* (movie)
- *An Officer and a Spy* by Robert Harris (excellent and extensively researched historical novel, based on the Dreyfus Affair in Paris circa 1900)
- *J'Accuse (An Officer and a Spy)* (movie)
Over 200 hours in and I still haven’t discovered everything. In my opinion, no game in recent memory has had such an amazing core gameplay loop where you can spend either 40 minutes or 17 hours on a run.
Almost every weekend over the past 5 winters, I would drive 4 hours from my big city home to spend two days sliding and crashing in snow down a mountain. It's amazingly fun. This year, I moved to the mountain.
Last year, I picked FFXIV back up again after a 6 year hiatus and I probably spend a good 2 to 3 hours each day. Even when I'm not playing, I may be spending time creating task list or looking for blogs. There's a lot of content to do in FFXIV, especially if you're just starting. It's a bit too addictive and I'm worried about it, good thing winter has come.
- "Ted Lasso" on the other hand is funny and well done! [1]
My personal overwhelmingly favorite thing from these years is the album ‘Come and See’ by the band Mamaleek: https://mamaleek.bandcamp.com/album/come-and-see It's not a movie, of course, but I played it on repeat for about three days straight, then did the same with the rest of the band's discography. It's the first genuinely great-sounding thing that I encountered in over five years. However, one probably has to already like heavy music to appreciate it (though earlier ‘Out of Time’ and ‘Via Dolorosa’ sorta lean on lighter electronic side). Ah, and my favorite way to listen to the band is on long late-night walks through the city—same as with e.g. ‘Homotopy to Marie’.
For books, Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard, for reinforcing how important soil-health is to the growth of trees. I wish more of the old trees and not just Douglas Fir had been left around here, since they help the next crop of trees come up healthier, due to the mycorrhizal fungus that links the roots (and benefits from the sugars in what seems to be a mutualism). After a clearcut, the parasitic fungi are more likely to take over as they digest the lopped trees, making it harder for new trees to establish. Thanks to this book, Anna Octavia Butler and Robin Wall Kimmerer, I practice taking a longer view.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (even better if you liked Children of Time)
Ted Lasso on Apple TV+
Star Trek: Discovery on CBS/Paramount (especially Season 2)
Letterkenny on Hulu
Cobra Kai on Netflix
The Country Things album by Granger Smith
- Kingdom Reborns https://store.steampowered.com/app/1307890/Kingdoms_Reborn/
- Arcane League of Legends Netflix series (never played the game, loved the series)
Finally, still not made in the last three years, but chess. I want to get to 2000 ELO in bullet games, but I'm stagnating at around 1850 at the moment :/
The Amazon series The Expanse.
Auto-complete just suggested the novel "A Gentleman in Moscow".
Aristotle used to say that music and spectacle were a major part of drama, but music videos invert that and make the plot support the music.
Metallica really enjoy their storytelling, especially in live performances. You can tell they still haven't fully grasped Master of Puppets, so it's explored from different angles, from drug abuse to authoritarianism, from alternative metal to punk style rhythm. Metallica's One is more straightforward. There's a machine gun part that originally just emerged from the riff, but it's increasingly played up and synced with pyrotechnics.
Or if you don't want the showmanship, sometimes it's nice to just watch and listen to Avril or IU singing acoustic. Contrast the pop with their raw version. Take On Me is also a big inversion between their cheerful radio version to the sadder acoustic version.
It's the end of the Ronaldo and Messi era, each league is won by a new team each year. Different strategies are rolled out against each other. It's a golden age for football.
My last gaming device was a Gameboy Advance, until I bought a Switch.
What convinced me to get it was a discussion in HN about Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I bought the Switch just to play that one game, and it was worth it.
I think for cost versus hours entertained, the Switch and its popular games are worth it. It also takes a lot longer to "run out" versus an 90-120 minute movie, or a book that might take your 4 or 5 hours to read. I probably put in maybe 60 to 80 hours (very rough estimate) into BOTW, and it cost something like $60. $1/hour of entertainment is very good.
Expanse (the TV Show, books are on my to-do list).
Licanius Trilogy books are great too.
GRIS is a really beautiful story telling game about loss and grief. The story telling, art, and music are all beautiful. The gameplay is really fun too, even if it's not usually my kinda game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIXc0S3t3LY
Also looking forward to Mamoru Hosoda's Belle out Jan 2022
Joe Pera if you’re willing to invest in slow-paced, deeply rewarding meditations on Americana, existence, and pancakes.
The Charl Saga by Patrick Willems. He puts so much effort into such silly videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjKiJCq7WXD49XdeQ9h9hqAiX...
Highly recommend if you looking for something to listen to
It's a but over the top at times, but I enjoyed the drama of the interns joining the finance industry. Reminded me of what it's like to be in your twenties and not really know how life will turn out for you... Like Ted Lasso, it made me think of when I visited London for work.
Arcane
Better Call Saul
I saw a few better movies, but did not write about them yet. Gunda eg
Succession (2018 - present) Drama, Dark Comedy
Fleabag (2016-2019) British Dark Comedy
Undone (2019) Psychological Thriller, Drama
Other TV
The Expanse (2015 - present) Space Opera
Made in Abyss (2017 - present) anime
Mob Psycho 100 (2016- present) anime
Nirvana in Fire (2015) c-drama
Games
Through the Ages new story of Civilization, Board Game/Online
Divinity-2, Computer RPG
The Great
Succession
Snowfall
Best storytelling since Sopranos in those 3 I think.
Games:
Warzone
Hell Let Loose
Best social FPS (need friends for Warzone though)
Books:
Denis Johnson (all of his books)
Algorithms We Live By
Behave (best book of the decade imo)
Designer by Aldous Harding
Infinity of Now by The Heliocentrics
House of Sugar by (Sandy) Alex G
Sex and Food by Unknown Mortal Orchestra
FMTI by Dirty Art Club
Freedom's Goblin by Ty Segall
Sound Ancestors by Madlib
Foundation was pretty amazing.
Then link up with friends over video chat and try out all sorts of board games.
Time travel and twin swap: hilarity ensues. Bill and Ted if it were made under Czechslovakian communism.
Full "ridiculous films of yesteryear" playlist which will keep you busy for a while: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxtZMqA9k8-JIy6CBRbkq...