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:

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. Rick and Morty
4. Violet Evergarden
5. Gravity Falls

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. 13 Angels On My Broken Windowsill (Fractal remix), BT
4. Stompbox (Spor Remix), The Qemists
5. It’s Too Late, The Streets
6. Still With Me (Seven Lions Remix), Tritonal
7. Almost Human, High Contrast
8. Together, The New Pornographers
9. The Choice, Rory Kane
10. Come Together, Camo & Krooked
11. Just a Thought, Fred V & Grafix
12. 9x Outta 10, DJ Quik & Kurupt
13. Teenage Birdsong, Four Tet
14. How Could You, Maduk
15. Without You, Danny L. Harle
16. Urge For Going, Joni Mitchell
17. July Flame, Laura Veirs
18. Gohan Wa Okazu, Ho-Kago Tea Time
19. Popcorn, Hot Butter
20. Ain’t Cha, Clipse
21. Someone Great, LCD Soundsystem
22. Never Say Die, CHVRCHES
23. About Me, Koven
24. Hitz, Chase & Status
25. Here With You, Lost Frequencies
26. You and Me (Flume Remix), Disclosure
27. California, Grimes
28. Daydreaming, Paramore
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, 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, Koven, Kurt Vile, Lizzo, London Elektricity, Lorde, Maduk, Manic Street Preachers, Merchandise, Moby, Neko Case, Nero, Netsky, Nightwish, Noisia, Outkast, Pendulum, Phantogram, Public Enemy, Radiohead, Robyn, Roni Size, 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, 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

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.

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 Public
• Normal People
• Spies
• Sphinx in the Big City
• Meeting Your Possible Selves
• Zanadu

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.