Yesterday, finished Stephen Markley's The Deluge, a great read and a tremendous effort - highly recommend it.
The Deluge is a speculative fiction novel that focuses on the sociopolitical, economic, and ecological development of a series of catastrophic personal and global events stretching from the late 2010s with the narrative concluding around the late 2030s.
It's a longer novel, around 800 pages, if you prefer something more compact Markley's previous novel Ohio is terrific as well.
Highly recommend, I think audio books get a bit of grief, but it's a really convenient way to engage with text you may not have before.
House of Leaves has several concurrent narratives tracking through it and it's a novel that benefits from a physical edition because you can tease the threads in the order you like.
I think there is an ache that comes from living here, and I feel it's more of a consequence of high cost living in major urban centers as opposed to being unique to Seattle.
It's expensive here, but it's supposed to be worth it because ultimately Seattle and Washington and I are wanting to see the same type of communities and culture thrive.
Every action is a political one and by living here versus somewhere else we're actualizing the political power of our time, money, and geography.
Same boat, deleted it last week and honestly felt a little bad so I re-download it and now it just hangs in the app drawer. I just like that little rocket. 🚀
Tin foil sales about to rise?
Agreed! There is a sequel that was released that I haven't gotten the chance to play yet. I remember sneaking the booklet out of the case at an EB Games and just devoring it because we couldn't really afford too many games so I would just read and reread the inserts.
A lot of great memories on the PSP, have been heavily considering a modded one!
Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition & Death Jr. were the first two games I had, along with a UMD of Click, lol.
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
GTA: Liberty City Stories
Kingdom of Paradise - the PSN re-release some months ago was such a nice surprise
Marvel - Rise of the Imperfects and the first Ultimate Alliance
PaRappa!!!
Rengoku: The Tower of Purgatory
Lol, not Hell in a Cell, but it is the 30th anniversary of Lex & Yoko aboard the USS Intrepid.
For a long time the naked version of "I Me Mine" was my favorite underrated Beatles song.
I really liked my Oneplus 8T for about 90% of the time I had it. Liked the look, good size, felt well built with that glass back, but then it just completely became unusable in the span of about three months. Definitely in "good" phone territory, but am a little hesitant to get another device.
I think the issue there is that eink screens are super low refresh rate. The new razr plus has a very usable and low demand outer screen that could get you close to that.
Similar experience here, the curated feed and smaller community seem to encourage more at ease discussion, I feel more inclined to engage with the content.
Crisis of Faith? A First Time Listen to Bad Religion's Into the Unknown
Currently undertaking a little project, inspired by a friend, where I listen through the Bad Religion discography.
Bad Religion's second album Into the Unknown is their follow up to debut How Could Hell Be Any Worse?
From the warbling swell that starts the album's jumpy anthem "It's Only Over When…" ItU is unabashedly not a punk album, in the traditional mode. The prog tinged synth escapades cross 8 tracks and clock in at just under 33 minutes. Slower in pace than their previous releases the songs on ItU don't dwell in their larges, a fair critique of prog/new-wave, but shuffle along informed by Bad Religion's punk roots. "The Dichotomy," in particular, has a forward momentum that takes advantage of the additional sound space.
Lyrically Into the Unknown has been critiqued for straying from the socio-political commentary of Bad Religion's other efforts. Although there is definitely a cosmic flair to the album many of the songs track with the band's pointed pov. Misanthropic, perhaps, narrative, yes, rooted in anti-capitalism "Losing Generation" is the best example of the costumed take on the group's attitudes.
"The systems of life hum accordingly Every day, every year, every century But everywhere humans go, things get worse and worse Can't you tell through the smoke of the dirty city?
The jungle was once a tranquil hideaway For the king of the trees and the mountains themselves But man those things sell a million dollars a pound Cut 'em up, dry 'em out, good display for the shelves
Why can't we just leave them alone?
Who is the animal? Who is that dangerous beast? Why were the other ones made? I know it wasn't just for our feast
And now they're down to 250 lone souls They're a breed of a losing generation, it seems The killers are ourselves so you know who to blame It was man with his plan and his frightening greed"
I think this is a great album. I can definitely understand why a punk purist and/or a Bad Religion devotee might dislike the work. It's an oddity in Bad Religion's discography and doesn't seem to get much positive attention, I think that's a shame. Minor Threat's Out of Step is probably the best, capital p, Punk album to come out in 1983 and if that's the measure for punk albums then Into the Unknown doesn't ever get a fair shot. Appreciated on it's own merits and coming to it without a known is what truly allows the album to shine.
