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2024 was a very good reading year overall. Looking back across the approximately 100 books that I read this past year, I was surprised to see that almost 20% were volumes of contemporary poetry. Novels constituted only about a quarter of my reading, if I exclude mysteries and police procedurals, many of which I found disappointing. But it was a good year for non-fiction and art books, several of which …

First of all, happy new year! I thought I should update this blog with some new pictures, my last post from Venice was long time ago. A very different place this time. Last summer I went to Canada. I was invited by the games studio I was working for the last 2 years to spend a week there. The reason was a celebration, we had just released Nightingale some moths …

I finally ditched Spotify at the end of 2024. I never loved it, and I felt extra icky about giving them my money ever since they had no trouble finding $250 million for the sham supplement salesman and douchebag magnet Joe Rogan, despite their inability to promote or pay the vast majority of the musicians who are the heart and soul of their service. The straw that broke the camel’s …

Band:OpethCountry:SwedenGenre:Progressive Death MetalYear:2024Buy the original!Download

Friends of the blog weigh in on another chaotic year. The post THE LIST OF LISTS 2024 appeared first on No Bells.

This piece, from Ed Zitron, is one of the best things I've read in a while. It puts into words what I've been feeling about tech recently better than I ever could. He's angry, but rightly so.The people running the majority of internet services have used a combination of monopolies and a cartel-like commitment to growth-at-all-costs thinking to make war with the user, turning the customer into something between a …

The start of the new year marks new beginnings and a fresh start on your goals and ambitions, so you’ll often see people manifest their resolutions for the year. By contrast, creativity is often considered something that cannot be forced but rather nurtured. However, portrait photographer Brandi Nicole has developed a movement for five years […]

This is the bowl I was carving in a post in early November. It was nice to carve 2025 on the foot. 4s aren’t as interesting to carve. I decided to do a small painted scene on the foot of … Continue reading →

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12. First Love (1978), directed by Dino Risi - I've seen a few Dino Risi films this year (mostly for the captivatingly beautiful Ornella Muti) and all I can say is that Italian sex fare has no business looking this good. Through a succession of accomplished cinematographers, including Tonino Delli Colli on this film), Risi's films take queasy romantics about the possession of a young Muti (usually) to new heights, …

Stanford’s William Mahrt, a leading scholar in early music, died today at 85. He conducted Gregorian chant for more than 60 years and inspired and guided generations of scholars. He directed Stanford’s Early Music Singers and St. Ann Choir, a Gregorian schola. He was also a personal friend. This is an article I wrote for Stanford Report about Bill Mahrt on October 2nd, 2007. For nearly two millennia, the sound …

The voice of Empathy Test reveals his plans for 2025. The post Interview: Isaac Howlett forges ahead as a solo artist appeared first on Synthpop Fanatic.

With 2024 now at an end, I’ve taken a moment to reflect on what has been an incredible and transformative year both personally and professionally. Here are some of the highlights: Laser Eye Surgery This was truly a life-changing experience. I’m amazed at how much it’s improved my day-to-day life, especially while travelling. If you’re in the UK and thinking about surgery, feel free to message me—I’m happy to share …

In her memoir about her father André, the famous mathematician, and her aunt Simone, the even more famous saint, Sophie Weil says the following: My father often said that Jews could be divided into two categories: merchants or rabbis. Naturally he classified himself, along with his sister, in the latter category, shich did not keep him from taking pride in almost always selling what he called his “modest merchandise,” or …

In my twenties, the 'twenties – by which I mean the 1920s – seemed the height of art, film, decadence, glamour, and romance.I'm not sure I was wrong.The decade also saw the the height of the novel, though perhaps not in Canada. My CanLit profs assigned works by Mazo de la Roche, Frederick Philip Grove and Martha Ostenso. How they paled beside Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Forster, Hemingway, Joyce, Wharton, and Woolf! …