Swhack Mediography

Swhack book, movie, song, and other media recommendations. Maximum of five things in each list per person, please! So five books and five movies, for example.

Books

Arnia

  • 'Women, Fire and Dangerous Things' by George Lakoff (Arnia: the best account of how categorisation shapes our understanding and expression of the world and one of the greatest philosophy of language books to boot.)
  • 'Metaphors We Live By' by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (Arnia: argues cogently for metaphor's central place in human conception and inferencing)
  • 'The Foundations of Language' by Ray Jackendoff (Arnia: Jackendoff's immense work on the necessary features of a theory of language, and what human development says about language and vice versa)
  • 'The Literary Mind' by Mark Turner (Arnia: characterises humans as the narrative animal, with an ability to cope with novelty in situations which stems from our ability to handle stories, rather than the other way around)
  • 'Categories for the Working Mathematician' by Saunder MacLane (Arnia: the book which introduced category theory, the grand unified theory of mathematics, linguistics, logic and computer science)

Noah Slater / nslater

Sean B. Palmer / sbp

  • The Unfortunate Traveller and Other Works, by Thomas Nashe - a mind boggling and challenging writer of the highest degree; primarily known as a biting satirist, and yet more unknown for his extraordinary flights of humour, poetry, and general ambience
  • Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life, by S. Schoenbaum - the best biography of Shakespeare, definitive and eminently readable
  • Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman - such a remarkable mode of thought displayed throughout that it's an essential to any intelligent person
  • Tremendous Trifles, by G.K. Chesterton - a series of essays which thoroughly delights
  • Coleridge: Early Visions, by Richard Holmes - finally someone wrote a biography of Coleridge befitting the man; amazing that it took scholarship that long to catch up with him

tav

  • Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson -- hard sci-fi sprinkled with yummy bits of utopia. It focuses on egalitarian, sociological, and scientific advances in human culture and tackles everything from permaculture to the rising corporate rule to the (ir)relevance of technology and the advent of new economic structures (based on both altruism and the ecology). Not to mention the cool characters...

  • bolo'bolo by p.m. -- a social utopia for our times

the d8uv

  • 'Stumbling on Happiness' - Smart guy shows you how your brain works, and the secret on how to be happy.

  • 'Our Dumb World' - A satirical atlas. By the Onion. Less reading this more reading that.

  • 'Some Trolling' - Oooh, look at you, Mister Fancy, reading books. What's the matter, TV not good enough for you?

bancus

  • 'Stranger In A Strange Land', Robert A. Heinlein. Often credited with helping to launch the free love movement, it contains many discussions about the quirks of human society.

  • 'Atlas Shrugged', Ayn Rand. Loved and hated the world over. A story about what happens when the "oppressive capitalists" go on strike themselves.

  • The Dragonlance Series, Weis and Hickman. There are many other books written under the same name, but don't both with most of them. Read the Chronicles and the Legends. Perhaps a bit too heavily ripped in some cases from their forebears, the characterization is what makes these books worthwhile, especially in the Legends trilogy.

  • The Sword of Truth Series, Terry Goodkind. A lengthy fantasy series that takes some pages from Rand. My favorite book is The Faith of the Fallen.

  • I'll second GEB. I've only ever managed to read about half of it, simply because most of my reading occurs in the bathroom, and GEB is simply too massive a tome to permit comfortable reading in that environment. What I have read of it is amazing.

clsn

  • Can't dispute GEB. One of the formative books for me.

  • The Elements of Typographical Style, by Robert Bringhurst. An amazingly good book, and far-reaching, for all that its focus is on typography. A lot to be learned.

  • The Recursive Universe, by William Poundstone. Excellent merging on information theory, entropy, and Conway's Game of Life. Yes, they all make sense together.

  • Probably a lot more, and too many to list here at any one time...

darobin

  • Pattern Recognition, William Gibson. (comments to follow)
  • H2G2, Douglas N. Adams. (are comments really needed?)

Films

Arnia

  • 'Brazil' (Arnia: often described as a take-off of 1984, this film portrays a very different message of how a bleak and dystopian future can arise from the best of intentions.)

  • 'Lola Rennt' (Arnia: the world's most perfectly edited film. Every sequence happens at exactly the right moment for the tensions involved.)

  • 'Shadow of a Doubt' (Arnia: possibly the greatest thriller ever produced)

  • 'The Truman Show' (Arnia: asks important questions about the media, trust, human desires and about the delusion of reality. Plus it has an astonishingly excellent turn from Jim Carrey)

  • 'Threads' (Arnia: Watch. This. Film.)

Noah Slater / nslater

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey

  • American Beauty

  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show

  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

  • V For Vendetta

tav

  • Before Sunset

  • Devdas

  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

  • Fight Club

  • Requiem for a Dream

jsled

  • Thir13en Ghosts (2001) A great remake, fully taking advantage of modern technology, and adding beautifully to the telling of the story.

darobin

  • In The Bleak Midwinter, Kenneth Brannagh.

Sam Lee / glen_quagmire

  • Old Boy: violent and sick. But has nice rhythm and entertaining.
  • The Iron Giant: the best animated cartoon I have encountered.

Pedro Ferreira / mahound

  • Blade Runner

  • Brazil

  • Brick

  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail

  • Mulholland Dr.

  • Requiem for a Dream

Music

Sean B. Palmer / sbp

  • She Left, by Led Zeppelin

  • Don't Tell Him, by Bob Dylan

  • The Bourgeois Blues, by Leadbelly

  • Time To Know ~ Be Waltz, by The Seatbelts

  • Folie à Amphion, by Django Reinhardt

Noah Slater / nslater

tav

  • Where You Go, by Au Revoir Simone

bancus

  • Lateralus, by Tool. A true, true, work of art. For all those who lament the lack of artistry in modern music. Also, I strongly disliked it the first time I heard it. You really do have to give it an honest try. Ideally in a dark room with headphones. For some ideas, look at http://youtube.com/watch?v=wS7CZIJVxFY If for some reason you hate guitars, check out http://youtube.com/watch?v=zOGCDc34m-4

  • The Downward Spiral, by Nine Inch Nails. A classic. There's a story there, although it can be a bit subtle in places.

  • The Dresden Dolls, self-titled. A different sort of music. Piano, vocals, drums. Occasionally acoustic guitar. If you ever have a chance to see them live or even on video, the drummer is pretty awesome. (For some reason, he's better live than on the albums.)

  • Meet John Doe, by John Doe. A throwback to my youth. This is probably the closest I get to country.

  • Tidal, Fiona Apple. I had a hard time choosing between this and her second album When The Pawn... Sultry voice combined with stories and ideas that remind me of my own past.

Adam Wendt / thelsdj

  • Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, by The Flaming Lips

  • August and Everything After, by The Counting Crows

  • Diablo II Soundtrack, by Matt Uelmen

  • ESCM, by BT

  • Chill Out, by The KLF

darobin

  • When The Pawn..., Fiona Apple.

  • The Dresden Dolls, The Dresden Dolls.

  • Routes 88, Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine.

  • American III, Johnny Cash

Sam Lee / glen_quagmire

  • Deep River, Utada Hikaru
  • Summer Smile, RAG FAIR

Pedro Ferreira / mahound

Albums/Opus:

  • Amnesiac, Radiohead

  • Canto, Mísia

  • A Night at the Opera, Queen

  • In Absentia, Porcupine Tree

  • Requiem in D minor, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  • Scenes from a Memory, Dream Theater

Songs:

  • Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen

  • Cafe 1930, Astor Piazzolla

  • Citizen Erased, Muse

  • I will, Radiohead

  • Garota de Ipanema, Jobim/Moraes

  • Guitar Lesson, Momus

  • Trains, Porcupine Tree

  • Many others: Aphex Twin, Astor Piazzolla, Bach, Carlos Paredes, Charlie Haden, Chico Buarque, Muse, Opeth, Pink Floyd, Steve Vai, Tom Jobim, Vangelis, Vinicius de Moraes...

Art

Fonts

Sean B. Palmer / sbp

  • Joanna - Classical elements but with a modernist realisation that pretty much sums up Eric Gill. Not suitable for everything, but it's such a great æsthetic.

  • Galliard - Quirky in an understated way. It's a very easy font to read, and yet very characteristic. Has a professional feel to it.

  • Adobe Garamond Pro - Standard body text.

  • Gill Sans - The classic Eric Gill sans; doesn't really need introduction.

  • Hoefler Text - Apple's showcase font, it's actually very good for headings and things. Not sure why I chose this over, say, Mrs. Eaves...

Terje Bless / xover

darobin

  • Gill Sans Light - I only really like the light variant, but I do love it for sure.

  • Futura - for titles, mostly

Sam Lee / glen_quagmire

TV Shows

darobin

  • The West Wing

  • Firefly

  • Buffy

  • The L Word

changed September 16, 2008