Month: December 2021

2021 In Lists

No quieter time than Christmas Day for looking back at the year. This time, I honestly thought that I’d do without the category “best of”, but I have a known weakness for lists, and for books and music. Movies were to scattered to write about, but for my reading an listening habits, I sometimes like to go back to a certain year for the “feel.”

Books that I enjoyed (old and new, mostly old)

“A Pattern Language” Christopher Alexander
Monumental work from 1977. During and after reading, you walk around noticing patterns on the streets, and looking at your own home with “pattern eyes.” I quoted Christopher Alexander here and here, I was really impressed by how structured and timeless the book is.

“Summer Snow” Robert Hass
A poet I really enjoyed.

“How To Cook A Wolf” M.K. Fisher
And old classic, unknown to me before. I really enjoyed it, not strictly as a cookbook, but as a sign of time (1942) and a nice retro guide to the modern-day quarantine problem.

“The Code Breaker” Walter Isaacson
Anything written by Walter Isaacson will get to my top list of the year. And a book written about people who worked on CRISPR technology is hard to miss.

“Antkind” Charlie Kaufman
A big novel by Kaufman — he goes beyond movies.

“Klara and the Sun” Kazuo Ishiguro
Ishiguro writes brilliantly, this one is about a future in which kids get an AI-friend.

“Downfall” Inio Asano
Graphic novels — a new genre for me in the past couple of years. Asano’s works are sad and beautiful.

“Noise. A Flaw In Human Judgement” Daniel Kanehmann
Like Isaacson, this author is one that I’d never miss, for non-fiction. Why people make bad judgements.

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” Rebecca Scoot
Fascinating story about immortal cell culture that has done a lot for science in the last decades — and a story of a person and her family, and her doctors, behind it.

“Binge” Douglas Coupland
One of my favorite modern authors published a new books — an easy read, of 60 connected stories. Something to really binge on.

“Crossroads” Jonathan Franzen
Another instant classic from Franzen.

Memorable music (released in 2021)

This will be without descriptions, just something that I really liked this year. I’m sure I missed something, but I don’t treat the end-of-year lists as seriously as I once did, so here goes:

  • Skarbø Skulekorps – Dugnad (Grappa Musikforlag)
  • Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (Luaka Bop)
  • Nils Frahm – New Friends (Leiter Verlag)
  • μ-Ziq, Mrs Jynx – Secret Garden (Planet Mu)
  • Space Afrika – Honest Labour (Dais Records)
  • Madlib – Sound Ancestors (Madlib Invazion)
  • Flying Lotus – Yasuke Soundtrack (Warp)
  • L’Rain – Fatigue (Mexican Summer)
  • Tricky, Lonely Guest – Lonely Guest (False Idols)
  • Sons Of Kemet – Black To The Future (UMG)
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December thoughts

A lot of things, once they become “life hacks” or “routines,” create a reflex-aversion in me. Gratitude, for example, became “a thing” — and immediately started shouting fake and pretentious. What’s wrong with gratitude in itself? Nothing! Amazing if you can feel it. But “cultivating gratitude” looks forced. There were things that haven’t been mainstream, like meditation. Maybe it was mainstream, but I found my own way to it, in a society that knew nothing about it, all on my own, when I was fourteen. I uncovered zen, and appropriated it, started breathing and living it, learning to weave it inside my all-too-western lifestyle. Now, meditation propaganda is everywhere, not as a way to experience the world, but more like a pill to achieve better results. Nootropes for the soul. Yuck

I realize that’s nothing but the ego speaking. Like someone who finds pleasure in listening to obscure music — and as soon as something becomes mainstream, they stop asking themselves if they like the music itself, it’s time to switch to something else. Using others as a reference point — the most common of habits.

The fight of niche vs mainstream is pointless, and it’s becoming less and less important. Subcultures are so numerous that it’s already hard to tell what is a chunk of mainstream and what isn’t, and whether something “niche” is necessarily cool.

Looking at what makes you click is the only measure. What you like.

I used to scoff at Christmas and New Year’s. First, it’s a marketing event. Second, it’s all for one night, maybe two, when people eat and drink (often too much) and open presents. Meh. Today, I have to admit, I like it. The festive season. The lights. Christmas markets, all of it.

Reasons? I have plenty.

One. I stopped thinking about it as one night, and experience it as a season. Two, Europe, where cities and homes actually look festive. Three, family with a small child. For children, it’s joy and surprises. Next, I really like the idea of making the cold and gloomy season less gloomy. We need celebrations in the cold and dark times. This time, homes become more important. I really enjoy baking cookies with the kid. I look forward to making a festive dinner. Hell, I even bought a sequin dress, knowing all too well that I’m probably going to wear it once or twice. But I’ve never had one before, and I really, really want a celebration. Joy and decorations and candlelight and smell of baking and delicious food and mixing some music and some drinks in the confinement of my home.

Stereotypical? Stale? So what? I’ll take it.

Posted on by T