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  • 66 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: June 18th, 2023
  • Bldck@beehaw.orgtoAsklemmy@lemmy.ml•What books do you consider must reads?English
    1·
    2 months ago

    The Passenger is mild… but only half the story. You want to read the companion novel Stella Maris too

    Some of his books are fucked up. The Road and Blood Meridian are stomach turning, gut-wrenching explorations of the awful side of humans.

    All the Pretty Horses is: young man likes horses. Moves to Mexico to work on a ranch. Young man falls in love with woman. Hijinks. horses. Done

  • Bldck@beehaw.orgtoAsklemmy@lemmy.ml•What books do you consider must reads?English
    81·
    2 months ago

    • All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing are beautiful western novels by Cormac McCarthy. Both are very much “a boy and his horse” kind of stories about learning to be yourself. They’re loosely related and there’s a third book that brings the boys together and concludes their stories

    • The Jungle and Oil! by Upton Sinclair are novelizations of Sinclair’s investigative journalism work in the meat packing industry and the nascent workers rights movement respectively. Oil! was very loosely adapted into the film There Will Be Blood (the film covers maybe the first 3-4 chapters by greatly expanding upon the material

    • Hatchet by Gary Paulsen was a very impactful book for me as a child. It’s a YA novel, but still worth a read. The main character Brian survives a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness and is forced to find a way to survive on his own

    A few more recent novels that I enjoyed:

    • Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Won the 2024 Booker Prize (best English language novel) about an authoritarian government taking power in Ireland and how that unfolds from the perspective of a mother with young children. It’s a hard read, but very well written

    • Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez. Translated into English. A friend described it as “sexy witches in South America deal with authoritarian rule.” And that’s pretty close…

    • Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park. A semi-fictionalized history of the Korean Peninsula and the desire to have a unified identity. Many people come to the peninsula (same bed) with very different goals for its use (different dreams). Really fascinating book and engaging

    • Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Follows a trio of friends as they explore the world of video game design. Starts in the early 80s and runs through the 2000s. Reminder me very much of the show Halt and Catch Fire.

    • My Friends by Hisham Matar. Follows a Libyan immigrant living in England in the 80s through 2010s as he wrestles with his identity, his homeland, his friends and family. Khaled’s closest friends serve as foils to his own feelings, reacting to the same circumstances very differently from himself

  • Bldck@beehaw.orgtoPlex@lemmy.ml•how are you labeling the new season of Futurama?English
    9·
    3 months ago

    Futurama is a hot mess of a show because of how Fox butchered the original broadcast order.

    This [latest] season has alternatively been titled the ninth season (production) and the twelfth season (broadcast). This list follows the previous season box sets, which feature the episodes in the original, intended production season order, ignoring the order of broadcast.

    I would recommend picking a convention (production or broadcast) and sticking with it. It looks like tvdb prefers the former (hence only 9 seasons)

  • Bldck@beehaw.orgtoAsklemmy@lemmy.ml•TV nerds: what should I watchEnglish
    3·
    3 months ago

    My top ten-ish tv shows

    1. The Wire
    2. Bojack Horseman
    3. Patriot
    4. The Americans
    5. Better Off Ted
    6. Arrested Development
    7. Pushing Daisies
    8. Gravity Falls
    9. The Bear

    Honorable Mentions

    1. Over the garden wall
    2. Luther
    3. Friday Night Lights
    4. The Queen’s Gambit
    5. GLOW
    6. Mindhunter
    7. Sports Night
    8. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
    9. Atlanta
  • Bldck@beehaw.orgtoTechnology@beehaw.org•Why are US states, school districts banning smartphones in schools?English
    27·
    4 months ago

    In the 2000s and early 2010s, less of your life was lived on a cell phone or smartphone.

    For kids now, it’s 100% of their lives. Post-COVID, the majority of social interaction between peers is through a social media app.

    That means that close to 100% of kids are on their phones during the school day. If you aren’t, you run the risk of social isolation and FOMO.

    Administrators can’t send a kid to detention for using their phone because ALL kids would be in detention every day.

    Here’s one article that examines the problem

  • Bldck@beehaw.orgtoYUROP@lemm.ee•Europeans, do you take the train to travel to other countries?English
    6·
    5 months ago

    Just got back from a two week train trip across Europe. Overall, found it very easy and accessible to move around.

    Here’s the general itinerary:

    1. London to Brussels
    2. Brussels to Prague (night train)
    3. Prague to Vienna
    4. Vienna to Zurich (night train)
    5. Zurich to Bern
    6. Bern to Lyon
    7. Lyon to Nîmes
    8. Nîmes to Barcelona

    The only train problem on the trip was our night train to Prague. The carriage was 28-30° C and very uncomfortable. Especially for a 16 hour trip.

    The inconsistency of scheduling, signage and trip information was a challenge. Especially when you add in the language barriers.

    My ranking of the train systems:

    1. Switzerland (obviously)
    2. Austria
    3. France
    4. Spain
    5. Czechia