This is a list of links to videos, albums, articles, and other stuff that I've enjoyed. It began as a series of Cohost posts (RIP), plus a few highlights from the backlog.
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Just so you know.
24.11.12
We Are the Mutants on Communion (1987)
Article
A great reflection on the recurrent American UFO mania, and Whitley Strieber specifically.
24.11.11
Video
Via the Tom Scott newsletter, a great talk about the life's work of a brilliant artist nobody knows about.
24.11.11
I ACCIDENTALLY WENT TO WORK DRESSED LIKE AUSTIN POWERS
Video
Brendan & Cory are doing something special by shooting their usual weird character stuff on real film.
24.11.07
Book
I love seeing someone else's sketchbook. Ryan Pequin put an old scan on Gumroad and it's lovely; a capsule of a period of life I remember but in a different time than I remember it.
24.11.06
Album
Really digging this new one (I liked Andy's 2022 record too). Super deep sound design with so much going on to pick apart but it manages to also be a fun pack of grooves as a whole.
24.11.02
Raising a person in a culture full of types
Article
This touches on something I've noticed and do not like about online; namely, the compulsive categorizing and Pokédexing of people, including the categorizer.
24.10.30
Obituary: Daniel Calhoun, murine music author, dies at 132
Story
I really love the work of ctrlcreep and I'm glad to see them write something with this length again. Very good.
24.10.24
Game
This game is both totally engaging and completely absurd. It's actually kind of insane how invested you can get in something with a single button.
10.21.24
Album
Really liking the specific sound here—feels like a RobKTAesque hardware-driven dance album but with the tempo & mixing pulled down a little to let it breathe.
24.10.17
Book
Downloaded this for a train ride and ended up pounding it in two days. Great hard sci-fi that asks as much of its own characters as it does of you.
24.10.17
The Men Who Promised The Impossible: Unlimited Energy
Video
Bobby has been quietly working up great science documentaries for a while and this is the most polished one yet. Really intriguing!
24.10.16
Here's Why Digital Cameras are Making a Comeback
Article
A good look at the digicam renaissance. I've been working with a newish camera for a while and some of the photos here make me want to find an old one.
24.10.13
Article
Kaleb's newsletter as of late has been supremely good. This one gets at a lot of my own struggles with nostalgia as a balm and a fiction.
24.10.11
Game
Really fun little game about putting stuff away and finding it again. A couch co-op game that isn't fucking Overcooked is so rare these days and Lauren and I are liking this one a lot.
24.10.01
Website
Live track IDs from an Android phone in a box on a pole somewhere in San Fransisco that's constantly Shazamming.
24.09.29
Logos of the Early UFOlogy Scene
Book
Fastest I've ever hit "add to cart" in my life. Some truly incredible amateur graphics in here.
24.09.25
John Wheeler Saw the Tear in Reality
Article
Great piece on a guy I'd never heard of who had some genuinely wild ideas I will now be thinking about a lot.
24.09.25
Article
Subsidizing the Internet with ads is probably one of the most damaging decisions in human history.
24.09.23
Slow Mafia: History in the Making
Podcast
This is absolutely the second stupidest thing the E1 guys have ever made. Listened to it while cleaning the kitchen and was losing my mind at Thomas being "Big Sneaky" and the beat morphing into cartoon Halloween music every time he's on mic.
24.09.21
Makeup and Vanity Set - DIGI-RES
Album
Finally, the answer to the question "What if MAVS made a Squarepusher album?". Sick, dense, texture-rich acid jungle.
24.09.19
Luke Winkie on Yogesh Raut's Weird Deal
Article
Love a profile piece about a weird guy with inscrutable grievances. You know you're about to read a wild quote when it's preceded by the phrase "In a heated 3,000-word Facebook post,".
24.09.19
Floating Points on Boiler Room
Mixtape
Really nice BR set of some low-volume funky obscura. Also it's five and a half hours long. Great for counting down the second half of your workday.
24.09.18
Datassette - Zetex (Live at Cafe OTO)
Album
I listen to this pretty regularly but I don't think I've ever recommended it publically. I just love hearing a soothing ambient-noise album that's punctuated every few minutes by applause because it was a live set.
24.09.15
Sam Wilkes, Craig Weinrib and Dylan Day
Album
Becoming a big Sam Wilkes head lately. This record is just so nice—jazzy and soft and melancholy. Meanders in a pleasant way without losing the groove.
24.09.12
Article
A good, very well-researched essay about why colonizing Mars is a bad idea.
24.09.11
Nicky Flowers on the death of cohost
Article
A heartfelt read about how good cohost was and what people who liked it will be doing next.
24.09.10
Album
Great new album from LB. It's funky, fuzzy, psych-y, it shreds and it bumps.
24.09.05
America Must Free Itself from the Tyranny of the Penny
Article
Kind of a long walk, but an enjoyable dive into the most American problem imaginable.
24.09.03
Album
Really sick dance record via Lauren. The sample-chopping on this is inspired, and the crunchy textures on everything else are delicious.
24.08.31
Why A.I. Isn't Going to Make Art
Article
Ted Chiang remains goated. The quote about how the purpose of generative software is to "reduce the amount of intention in the world" is tremendous and will be riding around in my back pocket for a long time.
24.08.30
The secret inside One Million Checkboxes
Article
The person behind One Million Checkboxes reveals a fun story from the time it was running.
24.08.29
Leo Vader on The Prisoner (1967)
Video
I forgot to put this on here when it dropped, but I really liked it then and I'm rewatching it today and liking it again. Leo is so good at skipping the pitfalls that make most video essays in this vein a slog: he's polishing it a ton, doing loads of real research, and choosing a topic that actually deserves to be talked about for two hours.
24.08.28
Video
I don't know if it's technically "analog horror" or what but I love the aesthetic of Carter Davis' videos.
24.08.26
Album
Thanks to my guy Jason for reccomending this on his summer playlist. This record is really great—ambient, soft, but deep and full of character. Light Cryptovolans vibes.
24.08.24
Physical Therapy - Physical Therapy
Album
FLOOR BABA showed me this record and I immediately knew it was going to slam because the official art on Spotify is a low-quality scan of a CD sleeve. Full-force, shredding, Weather Channel-core smooth jazz.
24.08.24
Album
RoBKTA is back and he is hitting dingers. This whole little EP kicks ass.
24.08.23
Website
Hundreds and hundreds of carefully scored reviews of different brands of chocolate milk. This is the only kind of website there should be.
24.08.23
Kelsey McKinney on Chappell Roan's Ascension
Article
First two paragraphs of this I was physically nodding along. Everybody needs to calm down so it's possible to be a "fan" of something again without being part of the problem.
24.08.21
Local news covering UFO sightings in Ohio & Kentucky, 1994-2004
Video
This is incredible. I love seeing the local news production style (awkward reenactments, lingering B-roll, narrators absolutely going for it) applied to coverage of UFO sightings. More than worth the runtime.
24.08.13
Article
Claire L. Evans talks about organic computing, imagination, and entanglement. Big recommend on Ways of Being by James Bridle if you like the ideas in this interview.
24.08.12
Website
An archive of the UK's many entrances to Hell, and a beautiful artifact from a Web made for much smaller screens. Like a website found in a blob of amber.
24.08.10
Why Star Trek's Graphic Design Makes Sense
Video
Adam Savage talks to Michael and Denise Okuda, who designed the LCARS screen interface for Star Trek: The Next Generation. So this is some extreme Nerd Shit but the Okudas seem very sweet and the story of teaching actors how to look confident using a made-up computer is really good.
24.08.07
Podcast
This is another thing I remember every couple of years and have to relisten to. Probably the best episode of This American Life they've ever done.
24.08.07
Game
Every couple of years I remember how much this game rocks, 100% it in a couple of weeks, and then put it back on the shelf for next time. Perfect video game except for the puzzle mode.
24.08.06
I Found That Jaguars Hat You Like
Article
I need more Defector pieces where Dave Roth gets to just riff unimpeded for a while. This one had me absolutely hooting.
24.07.31
When all of my friends are on at once
Website
A collection of stories about people's early experiences with the internet and the creation of the "online self," before that became the default.
24.07.29
The bizarre secrets I found investigating corrupt Winamp skins
Article
Jordan Eldredge performs a work of digital archaeology. Who made this stuff? Why was it packed up inside a Winamp skin? The internet is so beautiful.
24.07.26
Album
Really great jazz-fusion record from Louie. I hear plenty of Takanaka influence but it gives off a little of Shigeru Suzuki's "PACIFIC" on there too.
24.07.22
The Photos of Kobayashi Tetsurou
Website
Gorgeous photos of Japanese industrial installations. The fireworks ones are amazing.
24.07.21
The Expanse books by James S.A. Corey
Book(s)
I am finally reading these after really digging the show, and so far they kick ass. I don't remember the last time I tore through a series this fast.
24.07.20
Album
Gorgeous little EP of Utopian Scholastic MIDI tunes. The "World Music" flavor on the third track absolutely sent me.
24.07.20
Kirby Air Ride Tournament Finals 2024
Video
I finally joined the competitive Air Ride Discord a while ago but I am still indimidated by entering a tourney. Some really high-level moves on display here and the guys announcing are having so much fun.
24.07.17
Barry Petchesky drinks every flavor of Red Bull
Article
I didn't clock the byline on this so I didn't realize until he referenced it that this is the 50 Eggs guy. Anyway, I like how this piece is more like a trip report than a review of the actual flavors.
24.07.15
Wizard of Loneliness - Draw a Crowd
Album
Really digging the earnesty and clarity of this record; it feels like a stripped-down take on WoL's album Last Words from a couple years ago but also reminds me of early TV Girl.
24.07.15
Video
Conner O'Malley is so good at shucking open the American male and exposing the dark pearl of futile violence inside. He's the only person documenting society's rapid collapse with the level of ridicule we deserve.
24.07.09
Video
Really good video of a guy getting some extremely difficult stars in a version of Super Mario Galaxy with a lot of the parts you're supposed to stand or walk on removed.
24.07.09
Jimquisition on The Mascot Horror Grift
Article
There's this weird shadow economy of shovelware horror games that I'm too old to know about but that seem to completely dominate the mindspace of 10-year-olds and Twitch streamers, and it's always seemed scummy to me. Anyway, it's cool when the first time I hear about something is in the form of a brutal takedown.
24.07.03
The Story of Pittsburgh's Fake Burger King
Article
This story is from a decade ago now but I was reminded of it recently and had forgotten a lot of the amazing details, which still shine through the patina of the 2014 Cracked Dot Com writing style.
24.07.01
Ed Zitron on Shareholder Supremacy
Article
A great read on the pre-digital-age origins of rot-fueled capitalism, and why every company is either dying or fake now.
24.07.01
Video
Plants are so cool, man. This video reminds me of Charles Darwin's work on plant motion and his conclusion that they are just "very slow animals."
24.06.30
Toadchurch - Live at Pixy's Garden
Mixtape
Really sick to hear some new Toadchurch tunes and also very cool to see him flex that same post-online, hyper-textured maximalist style (Has anyone coined "ADHDcore" yet?) on the visuals. Ande is gonna be huge in a couple years. Get in now.
24.06.28
Album
Sweet little Australian psych-y funky indie record with some wildly sticky basslines. For fans of Psymon Spine, Spilly Cave, et cetera.
24.06.27
Website
This is what the Internet is meant to be: Mesmerizing in scale, globally interactive, and ultimately a silly diversion. Feels like a relic of the Koalas To The Max era of webtoys.
24.06.27
Bart Graft - Jewel in the Crown
Album
This record sounds like the way-too-good soundtrack to a forgotten PS1 platformer. Loaded with chorus synths and insane MIDI slap-bass. I can really imagine listening to this while hopping around various themed levels as some kind of low-poly critter with excessive 'tude.
24.06.27
Article
Another dinger from Dave, on Walter De Maria's 1977 installation sculpture, stubborn spaces, and how cities live.
24.06.25
Album
Absolutely stellar French nu-disco album. Feels a lot like the sort of house-influenced cyberfunk stuff I loved in high school but remade for 2024 and mixed incredibly clean.
24.06.24
Video
Great documentary about a hyper-ambitious idea that was popping off roughly when I was its target age and yet I somehow never heard of. Worth watching for the story and for some deeply unsettling footage of children roleplaying as Amazon warehouse employees.
24.06.13
Article
Maximillian Alvarez puts up an excellent and apparently unpublishable essay on a Netflix documentary I will not be watching because this piece has made me despise it.
24.06.10
Website
Really interesting blog from an anonymous IT employee at a South Pole research station.
24.06.09
Game
My buddy Noah made this cute little puzzle game that's basically a hybrid of pool and Suika. It's a delight, and it's like $4 which is the ideal price for a video game.
24.06.09
Perihelion & Aphelion by Kaleb Horton
Article
Kaleb Horton writes like somebody you'd meet once waiting for a bus, engage in a conversation with that stays with you the rest of your life, and then never see again. The scale and the closeness of this together are wonderful.
24.06.06
Website
A collection of gorgeous embroidered mission patches commemorating different scientific experiments by Patricia Klein. Exactly the kind of thing I would love to have made.
24.06.05
PRETTY GOOD, EPISODE 14: THE HISTORY OF SLIPPING ON BANANA PEELS
Video
Jon is in peak form here, making a dinger of a video on a completely silly premise that I was utterly riveted by for the entire length. This is probably up there with the Tetris thing as the best documentary of 2024. More than worth the five-buck cover to watch it on Patreon.
24.06.05
Video
A completely weirdo idea (recording a comedy special at your old high school for an audience of 15-year-olds) executed in a way that somehow works. This one took a little bit to warm up but is great by the end.
24.06.04
Album
My buddy found this in a dollar bin and put it on during a hangout and I kept holding up the conversation to make crazy faces at how hard this slams. Pure new-age MIDI-core gold.
24.06.04
Comic
A great little comic about video games. The point is worth considering, but the first page is gonna stick with me from this one.
24.06.04
Video
I really love Trevor Roberts' Mystery Flesh Pit National Park project, which is equal parts alternative-history, ecological allegory, and massive-scale body horror. Check it all out if you haven't, but this video on a specific expedition is wonderfully crafted.
24.06.04
Website
A blog of strange and beautiful scenes found on Google Street View. This is an all-time classic that I was revisiting today.
24.06.03
Album
The clerk at a record store (shoutout Plan 9) recommended this to me because some Fattburger was playing in the shop and I brought up my weather-channel playlist. It absolutely rips.
24.05.31
Band
Wandered into a show these guys were playing in Richmond and I was going nuts at how good they are. My buddy described it as "Casiopea off a joint," which is pretty accurate.
24.05.25
The NTS Guide to Early Vaporwave
Mixtape
Two great hours of vibes from back in the good ol' days, when vaporwave meant something. Which I guess makes this a second layer of refined nostalgia.
24.05.23
Website
A crowdsourced site ranking all the types of apple. Honeycrisp (my #1) is the globally-ranked #4.
24.05.21
Video
Bob is the absolute man. It's so sick to release a record like One that gets sampled a million times and then decide to collab with the guys sampling you. Also, the guy drumming on this is going absolutely bonkers.
24.05.13
The History of Tetris World Records
Video
You've probably seen this by now but it's genuinely one of the best documentaries I've watched in years. I want to bring special attention to the incredible spreadsheet-panning homage to the long jump record reveal in The Bob Emergency, which made me pause because I was laughing so hard.
24.05.12
Book
I don't remember who recommended this to me but I am really digging it. Plant-based science fiction with some cool ideas and a great sense of scale.
24.05.08
Album
Random algorithm discovery that I found myself fully charmed by after a couple of tracks. Wet Leg for boys.
24.05.01
Video
The thing I liked the most about the Secret Base Minnesota Vikings documentary was that a lot of it was just a parade of the weirdest guys you've ever heard of. Jon's new solo project about the late '90s third-party and its various insane characters is even more of that.
24.04.09
Psymon Spine on Audiotree Live
Video
I love when a band with a really studio-built, synthetic sound does a live set and approaches their songs from a new angle! The GUM Audiotree set from a couple months ago has been on heavy rotation for me and this one is now on equally heavy rotation for me.
24.04.07
Website
Lovely blog of great photos of run-down and boring locations. This is exactly the way I take photos except that mine aren't this good.
24.04.05
Website
Having a lot of fun clicking around this real-time model of the solar system, including all the little probes and satellites and stuff.
24.04.05
Conservative Comedy Ruined my Life
Video
This is a really good video essay (getting increasingly rare!) that examines conservative comedy, its inability to work outside its target audience ever, and imo does a great job being entertaining without the presentation getting weighed down by doing jokes all the time.
24.04.02
A Visual Guide to Alien Beings by David Chace
Book
I uploaded the best copy of this I could find to arena but if anybody knows where I can get a high-res version please let me know. There's so many great little guys in here.
24.03.23
Mixtape
A two-hour compilation of all of Datassette's Businessfunk mixtapes of extremely tight vintage library music.
24.03.23
Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games
Website
Good website! Good websites might be coming back? This one is a ton of really well-researched trivia items.
24.02.14
What If "Face to Face" by Daft Punk Used Newer Samples?
Video
Insane how much I was smiling listening to this. A completely crazy idea executed perfectly.
24.02.13
Website
This is wonderful. So many of these are, like, heartfelt love notes accidentally left in a thrifted cookbook and then some of them are like a sticky note that says "Emma is a bitch" blowing around a parking lot. The world is so big and full of stories.
24.02.09
Video
A hallmark in the "descent into madness" genre of video. Amazing moments throughout.
24.01.17
Video
This is the best GDQ run of the year: an already very impressive 16-star speedrun of Mario 64 played with a drumset instead of a controller. I was absolutely hooting when he pulls off the first Bowser spin.
24.01.11
Website
Perfect, beautiful Tumblr of pics abandoned on Flickr from past decades. It's not often that I am truly mesmerized by a blog.
