I shpongled my Genesis

Wow, first post in the new year. So exciting. What happened? I got sick, came back from Egypt, Venezuela got invaded, Greenland is about to become American, oh and oh, I started another attempt to finish my next digital painting.

It’s a lot of work. Lots of pixels to be drawn. Which means I got lots of time to listen to podcasts and audio books while drawing it.

Arisen: Genesis

This is some airport thriller zombie novel. Like, the kind of stuff you pick up at an airport, before going on a long flight. It starts out in eastern Africa, describes the local militia in kinda racist terminology. But it’s ok, since the main protagonist is African, too. I stopped listening after an hour, the characters are not that interesting. Some gung-ho Marines or Navy Seals, who cares. Our main guy is some science-y CIA guy, so he’s the brains of the operation. You probably need to be more patriotic or into military novels to appreciate it. Maybe a good preparation for the coming world order?

Heretics of Dune

The fifth novel in the Dune series of books. By Frank Herbert, not his son, who wrote some of the later novels. Just started it, but it contains the usual politicking and mindfuck games between the various factions. The Sisterhood is still around, but split in two factions, there are other alien factions like the Tleilaxu who get a bit more attention this time. Btw, this is several thousand years after the first book, so don’t expect Paul to show up. Arrakis is green, the Harkonnens are gone (?), and space travel no longer relies on spice (kinda). Yeah Arrakis still has sandy bits with worms dashing around, so there’s that bit of familiarity.

Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser

This is a German book for young adults who are curious about world history. But really it’s for everyone who needs a refresher or who is scared of history, and does not know where to start. It’s cool! The narration is by Christoph Waltz, a famous German actor who does a great job of reading and presenting the material. Great birthday present for a curious mind.

Hegel: A very Short Introduction

A short intro to Hegel by Peter Singer. He wrote some other books about Hegel, I guess he has some sort of reputation. Because otherwise I wouldn’t have bought this. It starts off with Hegels life and times, still have to get to the philosophy bits. Hegel is a pain in the ass to understand, so I’m curious how Peter Singer will make him more approachable to the layman.

The Force of Nonviolence

Book by Judith Butler about nonviolence. To early to tell. Very daunting and complex, a bit scary. She tries to take a lot of things into account when talking/examining nonviolence. What it means, what it can mean, what meaning it has to different people, why we need it, and so on. Challenging.

Cliffhanger (1993)

I watched Cliffhanger, an action thriller with Sylvester Stallone from 1993. Very entertaining! I don’t know why its score on IMDB is so low, fuck IMDB. Philistines.

High on Life & Blaster Master

Bought High on Life in the latest Steam Sale, and played some Blaster Master in Retroarch. Blaster Master is really cool, I would have loved this when I was a kid. You drive around in your little tank, and you can get out of the tank and walk around, plus you need to find upgrades and stuff. And there’s different game modes? Wowa. So much fun from 1988. The NES console was truly one of the greatest.

Type O Negative: October Rust

I did some musical history research, specifically the 90s, specifically Type O Negative. I don’t know why people hate this band, Black No. 1 and My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend are both hilarious. Catchy dumb fun.

Shpongle: Codex VI

Back in the 90s I went to see Ozric Tentacles. It’s some trippy psychedelic electronic music, perfect for chilling out. Shpongle is good, too. Great to see people are still making this kind of stuff. Also be sure to check out Globular, a similar artist.