One is a mix of the things one takes in. Here is a (far from exhaustive) sampler of what I read, watch, listen to, and play: # Writing ## Internet Writers * Cory Doctorow -- best described as one of the internet's great prophets. His near-daily newsletter informs a lot of my views on digital sovereignty. Read at: https://pluralistic.net/ * Holly Anderson and Spencer Hall -- of Channel 6, a twice-weekly newsletter descendant of the Shutdown Fullcast, the greatest writer/editor combo I know of and one of the best examples of healthy male/female friendship there is. Read at: https://channel-6.ghost.io/ * Kate Wagner -- heady without sarcasm, incisive without leaving a mess. Best sentence-level writing you'll find. Read at: https://www.late-review.com/ & https://mcmansionhell.com/ ## Internet Essays * *Do Elephants Have Souls* by Caitrin Keiper -- a beautiful, moving, exhaustive long-read about elephantine capacity for the mystical "it" that makes humans human. One of my touchstone essays for ecology and the ethics of the natural world. Read at: https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/do-elephants-have-souls * *The Despair of the Young* by Mary Gaitskill -- a career writer's reflection on the state of language, education, the youths, and how everything got so fucked up for higher academia. Read at: https://marygaitskill.substack.com/p/the-despair-of-the-young * *Eve Theory of Consciousness* by Andrew Cutler -- A claim that humans developed recursive language (and thus hyper sentience) via near-death hallucinations induced by snake venom. It's a lot to take in. But it's as compelling a thesis with research as the internet has. Read at: https://www.vectorsofmind.com/p/eve-theory-of-consciousness-v3 * *My Review of the World as a Whole* by Whimsi -- one blogger's attempt to reconcile the wide world of suffering we inhabit with the intersecting factors that bring all that suffering together. Gives the world a 3/10. I don't disagree. Read at: https://whimsi.substack.com/p/my-review-of-the-world-as-a-whole ## Newsletters * Garbage Day -- a thrice-weekly newsletter on all of internet culture and its intersections with the non-digital world. Stick around to the end for the thing at the end of every edition. Subscribe at: https://www.garbageday.email/ * Flaming Hydra -- a daily (!) pair of essays brought to you by some of the best writers on the internet. It is only $3/month which is a stupifying deal given the volume and quality of the content. Subscribe at: https://flaminghydra.com/ * Coda -- the best reportage and journalism on international affairs and power that the internet offers. They examine the world through recurring patterns of topics rather than by "here's what happened today" newsbeat. Subscribe to all three weekly products: https://www.codastory.com/newsletters/ ## Favorite Books ### Poetry * *The Descent of Alette* by Alice Notley -- maybe I favorite poetry collection I was assigned in grad school. Shout out to the great Paige Lewis. [Buy here](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-descent-of-alette-poets-penguin_alice-notley/397960/?resultid=f43bd66e-2eb8-4949-9b44-45d7dd7394da#edition=4709038&idiq=10476785). * *Neon Vernacular* by Yusef Komunyakaa -- the first poetry collection I read until the pages of the book detached from the spine. One of the great American poets at the peak of his powers. [Buy here](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/neon-vernacular-new-and-selected-poems-wesleyan-poetry_yusef-komunyakaa/306535/?resultid=da976c5c-5972-4804-8278-144df6796473#edition=3516217&idiq=5602444). * *Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude* by Ross Gay -- [the title poem is my favorite single poem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uURnrX_-v6o). I've seen Ross Gay read in person 5 or so times and it's always the best part of that month. [Buy here](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/catalog-of-unabashed-gratitude/9137068/?resultid=c81b93d9-4260-47b1-8657-ae37c2630917#edition=8427237&idiq=10170926). ### Nonfiction * *The Uninhabitable Earth* by David Wallace Wells -- one of the books that cemented climate change in my brain. [Buy here](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-uninhabitable-earth-what-climate-change-means_david-wallace-wells/19684527/?resultid=d10199d9-f716-45e8-878f-6121bbb6a1dc#edition=25210777&idiq=40814444). * *A Sand County Almanac* by Alto Leopold -- half conservationist essays, half create exposition. Could only be written by a uniquely brilliant person who sees nature for what it truly is. Everyone should read once in their life. [Buy here](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-uninhabitable-earth-what-climate-change-means_david-wallace-wells/19684527/?resultid=d10199d9-f716-45e8-878f-6121bbb6a1dc#edition=25210777&idiq=40814444). * *Second Wind* by Bill Russell -- the autobiography of who was, by the end of his life, perhaps the greatest living American. The greatest winner in the history of North American team sports, and the basketball is far from the most important part of this book. [Buy here](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/second-wind_bill-russell/248311/vintage/?resultid=9eeeda0b-4478-4246-a75b-7336b8eac43c) though I recommend trying to find it (and all books) at your library. * *The Dolphin Letters 1970-1979* by Saskia Hamilton -- the best example of my favorite niche genre of books: collected correspondence between 20th century poets. [Buy here](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-dolphin-letters_elizabeth-hardwick/14568179/?resultid=22cc8509-2860-483b-8a84-05122606eece#edition=15453868&idiq=40042437). ### Fiction * *Naussica of the Valley of the Wind* by Hayao Miyazaki -- my favorite story ever put to fiction. Gorgeous, moving. Environmental and prescient. Subtle and subversive. Gargantuan and precise. I read it in its entirety once a year. [Buy here](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/nausicaa-of-the-valley-of-the-wind-box-set_hayao-miyazaki/9774268/#edition=11234865&idiq=16188946). # Listening ## Podcasts * Shutdown Fullcast -- a weekly podcast about "college football" that's really about everything else. I've listened to every episode the week it dropped since about 2014. Their "disaster" series is the best running audio series on the internet. [Listen here](https://media.rss.com/shutdown-fullcast/feed.xml) or wherever you get your podcasts. * Never Post -- a weekly podcast for and about the internet. Combining journalism and fun with my specific interests is a very good way to make me a paid member. You should be one too; [listen here](https://www.neverpo.st/) or wherever you get your podcasts. ## Music ### Favorite Artists * Metallica -- The musicians who taught me to have my own taste. The first group I ever liked that I chose for myself. Lucas recommends: [Creeping Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNvktQLf_zs)(live 1989), [Master of Puppets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy0J2u1BlTA) (live with SFSO) * Stevie Wonder -- Comparable only to Shakespeare for the originality, virtuosity, and infinite richness of his work. The prism through which all music before 1971 and after 1975 intersects. No one else made music in that window. Lucas recommends: [Superstition ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7X5js1vE)(on Sesame Street), * Prince -- The incomparable. Lucas recommends: [Anything from the 1985 Syracuse show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMF6uqMx-LU) * Kate Bush -- Punky, flirty, weird, evasive. She was making the sounds of the future. Lucas recommends: [Sat in Your Lap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4csr6pLZLg), [Cloudbusting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllRW9wETzw) * OutKast -- The rappers who said what the South had to say. Lucas recommends: [B.O.B.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVehcuJXe6I), [The Way You Move](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI5NQ-0Ubfs), [Ms. Jackson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYxAiK6VnXw) # Watching ## Television shows * 30 Rock -- The best sitcom ever made for my money. A show better on the 8th re-watch than the 7th, somehow. Own a box set if you can. * Avatar the Last Airbender & The Legend of Korra -- Holy texts. ATLA is more like a novel and TLoK more like a short story collection. Both are great in very different ways. Can, do, watch them endlessly. ## Movies * Apocalypse Now -- I am an unabashed dude in my taste for movies. Three hours of Coppola riding a river boat adapted from a Conrad novel? My kind of cinema. * Casino Royale -- I love Daniel Craig's James Bond and no better single movie exists in the franchise than his first entry. [Read the screenplay](https://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/Casino-Royale.pdf). * Goodfellas -- The best parts of Casino without the wallowing in the desert. The best parts of Raging Bull without the dour seriousness. A good time from the first line to the last. # Playing ## Board Games * Smash Up! -- The combination deck-builder of infinite replay-ability. First timers will have it figured out before their third turn. People who play for years will never master it. The only board game for which I own every expansion pack. [Get yours](https://www.alderac.com/smash-up/). * Tiny Towns -- An intelligent, sociable puzzle-solving game that combined little animals with city planning. Essentially a perfect game for me and my partner. Perhaps it is for you as well. [Get yours](https://alderacstore.com/tiny-towns/). ## Video Games * No Man's Sky -- My desert island video game. The only thing that keeps me from having a 3000+ hour save is that fact it is too hefty for my poor PS4 to run any more. I am considering a gaming PC just for this game. [Check it out](https://www.nomanssky.com/). * Stardew Valley -- A perfect video game which I have 100%ed more than once and am certain I will do so again. [Buy it](https://www.stardewvalley.net/). * Pokemon Seaglass Emerald -- Game Freak has been behind the pace on great pokemon games for about a half decade now. [See what a really great fan game can be](https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonROMhacks/comments/1fm9sbg/pok%C3%A9mon_emerald_seaglass_version_30_is_out_now/?rdt=62622).