My Favorite Things This Week #1
The Friday High 5 for December 16, 2022
By way of a quick introduction: I’m still figuring out exactly what this newsletter should be. What do I want to write about here (as opposed to on Medium, for instance), and what would be valuable to you, the reader. I cribbed this idea from author and life-hacker Tim Ferriss, who sends a list of 5 things every Friday. The alliteration appeals to me and I like the idea of sharing the stuff I’m digging at the moment. Plus, everybody loves a good list.
Stuff I’m Watching
I am loving Trying on Apple TV. It’s a cute show about a pair of British 30-somethings who are trying to start a family. Funny and life affirming. Not as good as Ted Lasso—what is?—but a good alternative until Season 3 drops. Really appreciate that episodes are only 30 minutes long—I don’t always have the time or stomach for an hour-long drama.
Stuff I’m Reading
I tend to be a distracted reader. I always have multiple books going at one time. It’s admittedly not the best way to read but I’m never bored.
Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation: I was at my peak gaming years between the late 80s and early 90s (read: a teenager with zero responsibilities). The title of this book is absolutely correct—it was a console war. Not really a fan of the book’s faux narrative style—there is a lot of dialogue, which while fun to read, isn’t realistic given this stuff happened over 30 years ago—but it’s great fun seeing what was going on behind the scenes.
Stocks for the Long Run: checked this out from the library after I saw a YouTube clip of the author (Jeremy Siegel) and he struck me as both knowledgeable and no-nonsense. Thought I was going to get investment tips, but the book starts out with a lot of history about the market itself. Currently reading about the 2008 crisis. He’s verbose so I’m skimming a lot, but it’s interesting.
Stuff I’m Playing
I’ve been replaying Bioshock Infinite for the last month or so. I started it a long time ago on the Xbox 360 but never got too far into it. Playing it on Xbox One through the magic of technology interoperability. Anyway, having a grand time shooting people across sky cities and ingesting bizarre chemicals that grant cool powers.
Stuff I’m Listening To
John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. The greatest Christmas album of all-time? Well, I think so anyway.
Stuff I’ve Written
A list of stuff I’ve published around the web in the past week.
Why I Canceled Xbox Live After 20 Years (The Gamer)
10 Game of Thrones Characters That Deserved Better Endings (Slashfilm)
The 10 Best Fight Scenes in The Lord of the Rings, Ranked (Slashfilm)
Star Wars Rankings - Updated (Medium)
What are you into at the moment? Drop a comment and let me know! Don’t be shy. :)
What I'm reading: Kristin Hersh's memoir "Rat Girl." I'm also a distracted reader, but really that just means it takes me forever to get through any given book.
Also: An absurd amount of year-end lists.
What I'm listening to: Ecstatic International's "EP" Just some fantastic (and danceable) post-punk from DC.
What I'm watching: My wife bats about .150 when getting me to watch shows with her. She knocked it out of the park with Yellowstone, though. I'm all in.
Console Wars. That sounds great and is on my Goodreads TR list!
What I'm reading (always 3 to 5 books I'm actively reading*) 😉:
I recently finished reading "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" to one of my kids. That was fun; I almost felt like I was 13 again and reading The Hobbit for the first time!
For myself I'm currently only reading non-fiction, including a review book: "Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller". However, not long ago I finished Four Past Midnight by Stephen King. I read it for The Langoliers. I thought that novella was great!
What I'm listening to. Well, this year I got into the rockin' grooves of Ghost. Much of Ghost' music reminds me 80's hard rock and metal groups I liked, including Scorpions and Accept! 🇸🇪🇩🇪🎸
What I'm watching: no series but having down time the past couple of days afforded me some time to watch a couple of movies: "The Highway Men (Netflix)" and "Sunshine (sci-fi, 2007). I thought the former was good and the latter, great!
Happy New Year!
*Most of my reading is via ebooks from the public library, I often don't finish in the three or four week time period, but I renew them or place holds. Unusually enough (for a Stephen King book) I was the only one checking out Four Past Midnight! 903 pages. 😉