Recommendations for all sorts of things that donât cleanly fit in a blog article or a Related Reading section.
In the spirit of trying to be useful, I wonât include extremely well-known items on this list. You donât need me to tell you to play Half-Life or read GEB, but you might appreciate a nudge towards Superliminal or T.C. MITS. This is meant to be stuff you might not have heard of, not a drop-in replacement for top charts.
Iâll also try to avoid superlatives. Just know that if it made this page, I like it. In a similar spirit of concision, Iâll avoid recommending projects Iâm personally involved in. Check the olâ portfolio for that.
(Work in progress)
Articles
âLink In Bioâ is a slow knife | Anil Dash, 2019
A really great opinion piece about how modern web âappsâ try to maintain walled gardens at usersâ expense.
Privacy and Power: Computer Databases and Metaphors for Information Privacy | Daniel J. Solove, GW Law, 2001
This is a relatively thick academic paper that essentially makes the argument that Kafkaâs The Trial is a better metaphor for modern internet privacy issues than Big Brother.
Confessions of a Former Bastard Cop | Anonymous, 2020
This article written from the point of view of an ex-cop explains the systematic issues that encourage abusive behavior among police officers and how the structural corruption makes questions about the motives of individual officers less relevant than they would like you to believe.
Nintendo Conducted Invasive Surveillance Operation Against Homebrew Hacker | Andy Maxwell, 2020
A good overview on the shockingly dystopic Nintendo anti-modding campaign and the terrifying, personal war they waged on prominent researchers.
Books
The Education of T.C. MITS: An truly unique book published in 1942. A treatise on the scientific and mathematical thinking written in something akin to free verse. It is a study in mathematics, an analysis of society, a defense of science, and a scaffolding of philosophy all at once. I own multiple copies of this to lend people.
Videos
Why Electronic Voting Is Still A Bad Idea | Tom Scott, 2019
A short, simple video that clearly and effectively explains the basic reasons why electronic voting systems are inherently dangerous, despite whatever the latest technical innovation/fad might be.
YouTubeâs Copyright System Isnât Broken. The Worldâs Is. | Tom Scott, 2020
A long, interesting, in-depth about the reality of modern copyright law and the strange and often counter-intuitive way it intersects with internet culture and modern entertainment. (I also recommend many of his other videos!)
CO-VIDs: the gandhi trap | Ian Danskin, 2020
A short video essay about the optics of brutal state violence against peaceful protesters â Bob Altemeyerâs âGandhi trapâ â and the use of intentional disinformation campaigns to manipulate them. (I also recommend many of his other videos!)
The Death Penalty feat. PragerU | shaun, 2020
A long video essay about the political debate over the death penalty, the various factions pushing on both the issue, and their arguments. (I also recommend many of his other videos!)
CTRL+ALT+DEL | SLA:3 | hbomberguy, 2018
This is an exploration of CAD (and other weird gamer webcomics in general), but it also makes the key point that fiction can offer perspective into how the author sees the world, especially when seemingly distorted and out-of-touch with reality without meaning to invoke camp. (I also recommend many of his other videos!)
The Strange World of YouTubeâs Corporate Propaganda | Big Joel, 2020
A video essay about YouTube and modern content platforms in general. Makes the excellent point that YouTubeâs business model depends on it seeming like an invisible, natural force, when in fact it actively engages in relationships very similar to employer/employee, but with fewer protections.
Letâs go whaling: Tricks for monetising mobile game players with free-to-play | Torulf Jernström, 2016
A talk from a mobile game development conference that explores the âdark patternâ design techniques to make addictive video games that extract as much money from the public as possible. Dark stuff.
Software
Vivaldi: A web browser based on Chromium. Extremely customizable with lots of quality-of-life features and full support for Chrome extensions. Akin to what Opera used to be.
Greenshot: Excellent screenshot software. Low overhead with hotkeys for capturing a window, screen, or arbitrary region. FOSS.
ScreenToGif: Speaking of screenshots, ScreenToGif is an casual screen recorder for capturing quick clips or interactions. Has a very nice built-in gif editor too. Not a replacement for OBS, but much better for quick jobs. FOSS.
PowerToys: Remember PowerToys from Windows XP? Microsoft brought the name back for a set of Windows 10 utilities. Includes a colour picker, SVG previewer, and power tools for renaming and managing files in explorer. FOSS.
Wiztree: A windows-optimized disk usage visualizer (in the vein of k4dirstat) with special optimizations for NTFS drives with a readable MFT. Freeware with a donate nag button (I paid for mine)
Games
(Links omitted, as games are often available on your platform of choice.)
OneShot, 2016: An RPG maker adventure game. Mixture of Undertale and OFF vibes. Great story, great characters, incredible gameplay mechanics.
Hack nâ Slash, 2014: A combination hacking/adventure game where you get in-game tools to modify aspects of the gameâs actual code. From DoubleFine, the developer of Psychonauts.
The Stanley Parable demo, 2013: Did you know The Stanley Parable has a free demo? Did you know itâs completely original content? Go play that sucker.
Hypnospace Outlaw, 2019: 90s internet simulator in an alternate history. Explore a network of terrible geocities template sites and find out a plot along the way.
Glittermitten Grove, 2016: A game with secrets in.
2064: Read Only Memories, 2015: A Snatcher-like adventure game. Itâs got a robot friend!
The Turing Test, 2016: A Portal-like from Square Enix. Talos Principle and Portal vibes.
The Beginnerâs Guide, 2015: From Davey Wreden, the creator of The Stanley Parable. âThe story of a person struggling to deal with something they do not understand.â An incredible experience.
Gunpoint, 2013: A break from all the high-concept stuff. A stealth puzzle platformer set in a noir conspiracy plot.
Superliminal, 2020: A 3D non-euclidean puzzle game that uses forced perspective and strange loops to explore dreamscapes. I remember seeing the first tech demos for this online!
Antichamber, 2013: A 3D non-euclidean puzzle game that uses an upgradable cube gun to solve a very wide array of lateral thinking puzzles.
Mobile
Device 6, 2013: Very interesting experimental storytelling that leverages the mobile platform. Good story, good puzzles, worth a buy. iPhone
Nier: Automata, 2017: Okay, I said I wouldnât include the obvious stuff on this list, but Nier Automata is so incredibly good I canât not recommend it. Possibly the best video game.
Services
pCloud: Cloud file hosting. Extremely feature-complete, with cross-platform file sync, selective folders, shared folders, and public file links. You can even send someone a link that lets them send you a file. Can be pricey though, unless you get the lifetime option on sale. Referral link, free month ($5)
DigitalOcean: Good web hosting with very affordable plans for low-intensity use cases. Referral link, $100Â credit
Music
I dunno Iâm really into electroswing lately
Michael Bowman: Indie rock(?), very good. https://bowman.bandcamp.com
Metric: Alt-rock, wrote that one song from that one thing. https://www.ilovemetric.com
Cement City: Mostly fandom/club mix music. https://cementcity1.bandcamp.com
Owl City: Electronic music project. Did Fireflies. Owl City
Casual Sunday: for my homestuck fans out there. https://casualsunday.bandcamp.com
Unsorted
Thrilling adventure hour 2011-2020: A stage show set in the style of old-time radio dramas. Previously a live show at Largo, now ended with occasional much-worse studio recordings. Distribution seems to be in a very odd place right now, but the full back-catalogue is available on their Patreon (as lousy as I find that practice to be.) (Edit: full backlog of the removed podcast available here)
Homestuck 2009-2016: Homestuck! Itâs a thing. A lot of archive content is unreadable on the public site right now, so I recommend using The Unofficial Homestuck Collection for the best reading experience.