Good Things

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

I record all the books I read on Goodreads. Ten of my favorites:

  1. Worm, Wildbow*
  2. The Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa
  3. Oblivion, David Foster Wallace
  4. Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Eliezer Yudkowsky*
  5. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, Lydia Davis
  6. The Dark Forest, Liu Cixin
  7. Getting Things Done, David Allen
  8. The Neapolitan Quartet, Elena Ferrante
  9. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
  10. Black Lamb and Gray Falcon, Rebecca West

* = 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, 2017, and 2018.

Movies // TV

I’ve rated every movie or TV series I remember watching on IMDB.

Top five for each:

Movies

  1. Life in a Day
  2. The Act of Killing
  3. The Incredibles
  4. Hereditary
  5. Kung Fu Hustle

Television

  1. Avatar: The Last Airbender // The Legend of Korra
  2. The Good Place
  3. Violet Evergarden
  4. Adventure Time
  5. Rick and Morty

Music

I listen mostly to electronic dance music, but also everything else.

Songs

Not my top 30, but 30 of my top 300.

  1. Just One Second, London Elektricity
  2. Ghost Love Score, Nightwish
  3. Come Together, Camo & Krooked
  4. Time Adventure, Rebecca Sugar
  5. Landsailor, Vienna Teng
  6. 13 Angels On My Broken Windowsill (Fractal remix), BT
  7. Only Now, Seven Lions
  8. Almost Human, High Contrast
  9. The Choice, Rory Kane
  10. 9x Outta 10, DJ Quik & Kurupt
  11. Teenage Birdsong, Four Tet
  12. How Could You, Maduk
  13. Without You, Danny L. Harle
  14. Urge For Going, Joni Mitchell
  15. July Flame, Laura Veirs
  16. Blinded by the Lights, The Streets
  17. Still With Me (Seven Lions Remix), Tritonal
  18. Popcorn, Hot Butter
  19. Ain’t Cha, Clipse
  20. Someone Great, LCD Soundsystem
  21. Never Say Die, CHVRCHES
  22. About Me, Koven
  23. Hitz, Chase & Status
  24. Here With You, Lost Frequencies
  25. You and Me (Flume Remix), Disclosure
  26. Stompbox (Spor Remix), The Qemists
  27. California, Grimes
  28. Without, Funtcase
  29. Pessimist, Koven
  30. Can’t Keep Me Down, Murdock & Shystie

Artists

A few favorites, in alphabetical order:

Adam Ant, Amon Tobin, Angel Haze, Aphex Twin, araabMUZIK, Arcade Fire, Axel Boy, Bjork, BLACKPINK, Broken Social Scene, Burial, Camo & Crooked, Chase & Status, CHVRCHES, Citay, Das Racist, Danny L. Harle, Dead Sara, Depeche Mode, Disclosure, Esperanza Spalding, Florence and the Machine, Four Tet, Fox Stevenson, Fred V & Grafix, Garbage, Gorillaz, Japandroids, Jlin, Joni Mitchell, Jurassic 5, Kathryn Calder, Kero Kero Bonito, Koven, Kurt Vile, Lizzo, London Elektricity, Lorde, Maduk, Manic Street Preachers, Melt-Banana, Merchandise, Metrik, Moby, Neko Case, Nero, Netsky, Nightwish, Noisia, Outkast, Pendulum, Phantogram, Public Enemy, Radiohead, Robyn, Roni Size, Royalston, Run the Jewels, Seven Lions, ShockOne, Skrillex, Sleater-Kinney, Sleigh Bells, Sophie, Special Request, Starkey, Tech N9ne, The Avalanches, The Chemical Brothers, The Chills, The Decemberists, The Flashbulb, The Lonely Island, The New Pornographers, The Stone Roses, The Streets, Thursday, Trentemoller, TV on the Radio, Venetian Snares, Vienna Teng, Wiley, Wilkinson, 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

Boy in Da Corner, Dizzee Rascal

Bright and Vivid, Kathryn Calder

Dark Machine, ShockOne

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

Kid A, Radiohead

New Forms, Roni Size & Reprazent

No Devolución, Thursday

No More Idols, Chase & Status

One Beat, Sleater-Kinney

Plastic Beach, Gorillaz

Selected Ambient Works 85-92, Aphex Twin

Silent Alarm, Bloc Party

Since I Left You, The Avalanches

Syncopated City, London Elektricity

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.

  1. Billboard, S-Type
  2. Turn It Around, Sub Focus (ft. Kele)
  3. More Than You, Koven
  4. No Turning Back, SPL
  5. Summer of the Occult, Seven Lions
  6. Led Astray (Culprate remix), Friction
  7. Between Two Points, The Glitch Mob
  8. I Need You (T-Mass Remix), Ramses B
  9. Let You Go, Chase & Status (ft. M. Ali)
  10. Mediums, The Upbeats
  11. Going Through Hell (Dot Rotten Remix), The Streets
  12. Jah No Partial, Major Lazer (ft. Flux Pavillion)
  13. Relapse, ShockOne (ft. Sam Nafie)
  14. Heartbeat (Calyx & Teebee Remix), Wilkinson (ft. P Money & Arlissa)
  15. Clockworks, Canblaster

Comics

  1. Subnormality
  2. XKCD
  3. Kiwis by Beat (especially Minus and Great) (complete)
  4. Calvin and Hobbes (complete)
  5. Transdimensional Brain Chip (complete)
  6. SMBC
  7. Hark! A Vagrant
  8. Digger (complete)
  9. Strong Female Protagonist

Transdimensional Brain Chip is 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.

Food: Hot chocolate from Spain, sourdough from San Francisco, sushi from anywhere, protein bars from everywhere.