Certain movies, songs, and books have given shape to my life and work. Others have given me some of my happiest moments. I’ve tried to gather all the best stuff on one page.
Books
Movies // TV
Music
Comics
The Real World
Books
I record all the books I read on Goodreads. Ten of my favorites:
- Worm, Wildbow*
- The Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Eliezer Yudkowsky*
- Oblivion, David Foster Wallace
- The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, Lydia Davis
- The Dark Forest, Liu Cixin
- Getting Things Done, David Allen
- The Neapolitan Quartet, Elena Ferrante
- Catch-22, Joseph Heller
- Sapiens, Yuval Harari
* = Free to read online
I’ve reviewed many books on Goodreads. I’ve also written about the best books I read in: 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
Movies // TV
I’ve rated every movie or TV series I remember watching on IMDB.
Top five for each:
Movies
- Life in a Day
- The Act of Killing
- The Incredibles
- Hereditary
- Kung Fu Hustle
Television
- Avatar: The Last Airbender // The Legend of Korra
- Rick and Morty
- Gravity Falls
- Azumanga Daioh
- Freaks and Geeks
Music
I listen mostly to electronic dance music, but also everything else.
Songs
Not my top 30, but 30 of my top 300.
- Just One Second, London Elektricity
- Ghost Love Score, Nightwish
- 13 Angels On My Broken Windowsill (Fractal remix), BT
- Stompbox (Spor Remix), The Qemists
- It’s Too Late, The Streets
- Worldwide Choppers, Tech N9ne (ft. lots of other people)
- Still With Me (Seven Lions Remix), Tritonal
- Almost Human, High Contrast
- Together, The New Pornographers
- The Choice, Rory Kane (ft. Nika Rosa Danilova)
- 9x Outta 10, DJ Quik & Kurupt
- Just a Thought, Fred V & Grafix (ft. Reija Lee)
- You and Me (Flume Remix), Disclosure (ft. Eliza Doolittle)
- Stem/Long Stem, DJ Shadow
- How Could You, Maduk
- Without You, Danny L. Harle
- Moving Glowstream, Eskmo
- Urge For Going, Joni Mitchell
- July Flame, Laura Veirs
- Popcorn, Hot Butter
- Ain’t Cha, Clipse
- Someone Great, LCD Soundsystem
- Never Say Die, CHVRCHES
- Archangel, Burial
- Hitz, Chase & Status (ft. Tinie Tempah)
- XO, Beyonce
- Come Together, Camo & Crooked
- California, Grimes
- Daydreaming, Paramore
- Pessimist, Koven
Artists
A few favorites, in alphabetical order:
Adam Ant, Amon Tobin, Angel Haze, Aphex Twin, araabMUZIK, Arcade Fire, Bjork, Broken Social Scene, Burial, Camo & Crooked, Chase & Status, CHVRCHES, Citay, Das Racist, Dead Sara, Depeche Mode, Esperanza Spalding, Florence and the Machine, Fox Stevenson, Garbage, Gorillaz, Japandroids, Jlin, Joni Mitchell, Jurassic 5, Kathryn Calder, Koven, London Elektricity, Lorde, Maduk, Manic Street Preachers, Merchandise, Moby, Neko Case, Nero, Netsky, Nightwish, Outkast, Pendulum, Phantogram, Public Enemy, Radiohead, Robyn, Roni Size, Run the Jewels, Seven Lions, Sleater-Kinney, Sleigh Bells, Special Request, Starkey, Tech N9ne, The Avalanches, The Chemical Brothers, The Decemberists, The Flashbulb, The Lonely Island, The New Pornographers, The Stone Roses, The Streets, Thursday, Trentemoller, TV on the Radio, Venetian Snares, Wiley, Yo La Tengo
Albums
A Long Way to Fall, Ulrich Schnauss
Black Noise, Pantha Du Prince
Blackwater Park, Opeth
Blueberry Boat, The Fiery Furnaces
Body Talk, Robyn
Book of Dogma, The Black Dog
Bright and Vivid, Kathryn Calder
Dig Your Own Hole, The Chemical Brothers
Endtroducing, DJ Shadow
Endless, Fox Stevenson
For The Masses, Merchandise
Funeral, Arcade Fire
Hug of Thunder, Broken Social Scene
I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, Yo La Tengo
Imani Vol. 1, Blackalicious
Immersion, Pendulum
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Public Enemy
New Forms, Roni Size & Reprazent
No Devolución, Thursday
No More Idols, Chase & Status
Plastic Beach, Gorillaz
Selected Ambient Works 85-92, Aphex Twin
Silent Alarm, Bloc Party
Since I Left You, The Avalanches
The Mystifying Oracle, Ghastly
The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco
Drops
Songs that are good overall and also have ten seconds that make me want to jump over a building or surf through a volcanic eruption.
- Billboard, S-Type
- Turn It Around, Sub Focus (ft. Kele)
- More Than You, Koven
- No Turning Back, SPL
- Summer of the Occult, Seven Lions
- Led Astray (Culprate remix), Friction
- Between Two Points, The Glitch Mob
- I Need You (T-Mass Remix), Ramses B
- Let You Go, Chase & Status (ft. M. Ali)
- Mediums, The Upbeats
- Going Through Hell (Dot Rotten Remix), The Streets
- Jah No Partial, Major Lazer (ft. Flux Pavillion)
- Relapse, ShockOne (ft. Sam Nafie)
- Heartbeat (Calyx & Teebee Remix), Wilkinson (ft. P Money & Arlissa)
- Clockworks, Canblaster
Comics
- XKCD
- Subnormality
- Kiwis by Beat (especially Minus and Great) (complete)
- Calvin and Hobbes (complete)
- Transdimensional Brain Chip (complete)
- SMBC
- Hark! A Vagrant
- Digger (complete)
- Strong Female Protagonist
Transdimensional Brain Chip is much, much better than it looks.
Subnormality is hard to get into, but it’s worth the effort once you’re through the early comics. Here are a few of my favorites, all of which can be enjoyed without reading the rest:
The Real World
Laser Tag: My favorite thing to do in physical space. I hope it becomes a professional sport once we live in a post-scarcity society.
Frisbee: My second-favorite thing to do in physical space. Projectiles that fly reliably in straight lines aren’t nearly as much fun.
Food: Hot chocolate from Spain, sourdough from San Francisco, sushi from anywhere, protein bars from everywhere.