Books
- Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. Interesting, albeit obviously not convincing. Just me trying to get a sense for how international relations debates work.
- Rosling, Factfulness. Decent for what it’s trying to be. Similar in spirit and content to Enlightenment Now, but narrower in scope and written for a wider audience.
These days I finish fewer books than I used to, and prefer to skip around more.
Music
Spotify playlist here.
Music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:
- Joe Fiedler: Like, Strange (2017)
- Taal: Skymind (2003)
- Circus Maximus: “Biosfear” (2005) 1
- Sameer Gupta: A Circle Has No Beginning (2018)
- Toby Fox: Undertale (2016)
- Blanck Mass: “D7-D5” (2016)
- Baaba: Baaba w Akwarium (2008)
- Maestro Trytony: Enoptronia (1997)
- Eskaton: 4 Visions (1981)
- Danielle Dax: Pop-Eyes (1983)
- Ex Orkest: Een rondje Holland (2001)
- Uz Jsme Doma: Uprostred Slov (1990)
- Godley & Creme: L (1978)
- Visitors: Visitors (1974)
- Nik Bartsch: Awase (2018)
- Guapo: Five Suns (2004)
- Kingdom Come: Journey (1973)
- Samla Mammas Manna: Familjesprickor (1980), Kaka (1999)
- Von Zamla: Zamlaranamma (1982), No Make Up! (1983)
- Munju: Moon You (1978)
- Magma: K.A. (2004), Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré (2009), Félicité Thösz (2012), Šlaǧ Tanƶ (2015)
- Offering: Part 1/2 (1986), Part 3/4 (1990), A Fïïèh (1993)
- Jean Claude Vannier: L’enfant Assassin Des Mouches (1972)
- Serge Gainsbourg: “Cargo Culte” (1971)
- Laura Marling & Mike Lindsay: LUMP (2018)
- Jon Hassell: Listening to Pictures (2018)
- Barney Wilen: Dear Prof. Leary (1968)
- Caveman Hughscore: Caveman Hughscore (1995)
- Brainstorm: Smile a While (1972)
- Anna von Hausswolff: Dead Magic (2018)
- Kamasi Washington: Heaven & Earth (2018)
- Maneige: Les porches (1975)
- John Coltrane: Both Directions at Once (2018, rec. 1963)
- Gong: I See You (2014)
- However: Sudden Dusk (1981)
- Robert Wyatt: ’68 (2013)
- Weidorje: Weidorje (1978)
- Virgil Moorefield: Distractions On the Way To the King’s Party (1994)
Had completely forgotten about, now rediscovered and really liked:
- Arthur Brown: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968)
- Pearls Before Swine: Balaklava (1968)
- Les Maledictus Sound: Les Maledictus Sound (1968)
- David Axelrod: Songs of Innocence (1968)
- Van Der Graaf Generator: H To He Who Am The Only One (1970)
- Nektar: Journey To The Center Of The Eye (1972), A Tab in the Ocean (1972)
- Jade Warrior: Last Autumn’s Dream (1972), Waves (1975), Kites (1976), Way of the Sun (1978)
- Gentle Giant: Acquiring the Taste (1971), Three Friends (1972)
- Samla Mammas Manna: Samla Mammas Manna (1971), Måltid (1973), Klossa Knapitatet (1974), Schlagerns Mystik (1978)
- Banco del Mutuo Soccorso: Darwin! (1972)
- Area: Arbeit Macht Frei (1973), Caution Radiation Area (1974), Crac! (1975)
- Picchio dal Pozzo: Picchio dal Pozzo (1976)
- Magma: Köhntarkösz (1974), Üdü Ẁüdü (1976), Attahk (1978)
- Catherine Ribeiro: Paix (1972)
- The Flock: The Flock (1969)
- It’s a Beautiful Day: It’s a Beautiful Day (1969)
- Gong: Camembert Electrique (1971)
- Hugh Hopper: Hopper Tunity Box (1977)
- Hatfield and the North: Hatfield and the North (1974)
- Greaves / Blegvad: Kew. Rhone. (1977)
- Slapp Happy: Acnalbasac Noom (1982, rec. 1973)
- Peter Blegvad: The Naked Shakespeare (1983)
- National Health: National Health (1978), Of Queues and Cures (1978)
- La Düsseldorf: La Düsseldorf (1976)
- Popol Vuh: Seligpreisung (1973), Einsjäger & Siebenjäger (1974), Letzte Tage, Letzte Nächte (1976), Sei still, wisse ich bin (1981)
- Eberhard Schoener: Trance-Formation (1977)
- Agitation Free: Malesch (1972)
- Michael Hoenig: Departure from the Northern Wasteland (1978)
- Between: Einstieg (1971), And the Waters Opened (1973), Dharana (1974)
Why so many re-discoveries this quarter? I’m listening through the history of rock music again and constructing this playlist along the way. Many great albums aren’t listed above because I hadn’t forgotten about them. 🙂
Movies/TV
Ones I “really liked” (no star), or “loved” (star):
- Christopher Guest: Mascots (2016)
- Various: Atlanta, season 2 (2018) ★
- Blue Planet II (2017) ★
- Ramsay: You Were Never Really Here (2017) ★
- Linklater: Last Flag Flying (2017)
Games
Ones I “really liked” (no star), or “loved” (star):
- Alto’s Odyssey
Old favorites
Discovered long ago…
- Book: Understanding Comics by McCloud
- Music: “Starless” by King Crimson
- Movie/TV: Dogville by Lars von Trier
- Game: Lemmings by DMA Design
- Quite similar to Dream Theater’s classic “Dance of Eternity”![↩]
Hey man don’t know if you check these comments, but I just saw some interview with scaruffi you held a while ago on posted on the now defuct listology, there’s a bad link to “my scaruffian history of videogames”. Any way someone would be able to see that videogame thing?
https://web.archive.org/web/20140715182916/http://listology.com/story/critical-history-videogames
Thanks man, when I clicked the link on the Scaruffi page webarchive said it wasn’t saved? I love lists and I love scaruffi too (maybe a bit more ironically than you, but still very often unironically)
Hey, this is totally unrelated to this post, but I have read a ton of your own blog – commonsenseatheism – and I read a particular post where you reviewed William Lane Craig’s debates. I noticed that the debate between him and Sean Carroll had not happened at that point, and I wondered if you ever saw it, and if so, what you thought of it. I couldn’t find you commenting on it anywhere.