Thom's Link Emporium - 0027 - 1 August 2022
It’s been a strange but very rewarding week for reasons that I might cover in the future. In the meantime I’ve got some links on why it’s awful to work at Facebook now which rings many bells from organisations I’ve worked in going though panicked ‘transformations’ - the only difference being that this one is announced by someone in a hoodie.
I hope you’re all having a lovely week yourselves. If you’d link more of this sort of stuff, you can subscribe here.
Links
What impact did the study of classics have on Christianity? What I find enjoyable in this story is that Christianity has been trying to defend itself against outside influences for centuries. Perhaps one could argue that it’s only the reaction that stops Christianity being destroyed, or perhaps, just possibly, it’s much, much more resilient and adaptable than its followers seem capable of believing.
Doesn't sound like fun to be at Facebook right now. I feel for them. Typical of seniors in these companies that their employees being content at work goes out of the window the moment they’re under pressure.
TalkTV is still chugging away, burning money, despite, on average, people watching for only eight seconds. Although eight seconds sounds like more than I could manage. "Despite big investment in staff and studios and a listing on Freeview, TalkTV reaches only 3% of the UK TV viewing population per month for an average of visit length of eight seconds, according to Barb."
Frequency of compound insults on Reddit (dumbass is more popular than dumb shit, wankclown not popular at all, unfortunately)
The collapse of a huge glacier in Kyrgyzstan. Beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.
Impressive. The collapse of a huge glacier in Kyrgyzstan. The author of the video managed to hide behind a large stone and survived.
4,905 Retweets28,664 Likes
The story of Alex Jones's defamation trial. We’re all guilty of believing what we wish to be true. In this case, Jones and his idiot followers have taken it to horrendous extremes, but when you’re trying to square GUNS with MAKING YOU SAFER you really do have to do some extreme believing of utter bullshit.
Listening
Here are my favourite albums July 2022. They weren’t necessarily released in July, but they’re all from 2022.
1. Big Time - Angel Olsen
Singer songwriter Angel Olsen releases what might be favourite album of hers. A great collection of tracks, of which the title one and All The Flowers are a couple of my favourites. (Apple Music, Spotify)
2. Diaspora Problems - Soul Glo
Brooklyn hardcore band Soul Glo may get at some attention for all being black, but it's the extraordinary power of their music that's the most exciting thing as far as I’m concerned. I particularly fell for Spiritual Level of Gang Shit which saves its chorus until the very end in a beautifully crafted exercise in layering excitement. (Apple Music, Spotify)
3. Playa 312 - Nose Nomas
A latin album (with multiple influences across the globe) that was made in a bedroom and is fun throughout. (Apple Music, Spotify)
4. Sore thumb - Oso Oso
If you wondered what a Blink 182 might sound like in 2022, I'd say, something like this. (Apple Music, Spotify)
5. Palaces - Flume
Certainly the most disappointing album from the list. Honestly, with a cast list like this, it should have been much better. (Apple Music, Spotify)
Reading
I finished off James Acaster’s Perfect Sound Whatever this week. The story is that in 2017, Acaster had a break-up and then a breakdown and started obsessively collecting albums from 2016, which he now regards to be the best year in music ever. He makes a persuasive case, but really what this shows is that, if you delve far enough, there’s a wealth of amazing music being created every year. If you don’t want to commit to a full book, you can try his podcast, Perfect Sounds which has a new album from 2016 and a new guest each show.
Watching
Disney+ has a new series about the creation of ILM - Light and Magic. It’s a fascinating story that will eventually lead to the creation of Pixar and it’s excellently told with interviews with pretty much all of the key players. Those interviews are done by Lawrence Kasdan, the writer of The Empire Strikes Back (amongst many other films) and it seems as if the interviewers open up more to him than they might to others.
If you have any interest in visual effects and/or Star Wars, it comes highly recommended.
Quote
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
Maya Angelou