Recommendations
A running ledger of recommendations including books, movies, music, video games, sustenance, and the rest. Annotated, opinionated, and updated when something earns more space, for better and for worse.
· 37 of 37 items
| Item | Type | Year | Rating | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Nolan | Movie | 2026 | ★★★★★ | An epic by modern and ancient standards. |
| Kenji Kamiyama | Movie | 2024 | ★★★★☆ | Enjoy the LotR universe again. It's a good entry with great voice acting and fine enough lore liberties. |
| Yasuhiro Nightow | TV Series | 1998 | ★★★★★ | A goofy OP protagonist waltzes through a post-apocalyptic world with a funny, rich set of great characters and fun animation. |
| Shinichirō Watanabe | TV Series | 1998 | ★★★★★ | A classic, beautiful anime with understated dialogue, kinetic action, and a phenomenal 26 episode arc. |
| Carl Sagan | Book | 1995 | Balancing science with wonder is hard, but Carl is the guy to do it. | |
| qntm | Book | 2025 | ★★★★★ | I believe SCP Foundation would be one of the forerunners to this book about clandestine organizations. |
| TJ Klune | Book | 2025 | ★★★★★ | What I anticipated: an intriguing concept, a dash of romance that I've recently dabbled with, and an enhanced sense of solidarity. And that's what I got! |
| Adi Shankar | TV Series | 2025 | ★★★★☆ | You need to be a bit of a cornball. And a badass. If you're that combination of person, you may enjoy the animated series whether you played the games or not. |
| Charlie Munger | Book | 2023 | ★★★★★ | Charlie Munger was anything but a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. |
| Justin Bonner · Kasey Turner | Sustenance | 2018 | ★★★★★ | Dry aged burgers, beef, and fish are the headline. |
| Jeff Tremaine | Movie | 2026 | ★★★★☆ | A nostalgic not-quite-cash-grab that's always funny. |
| Patton Oswalt | Stand Up | 2026 | ★★★★★ | The ticketing webpage had this categorized as "Spoken Word" but despite the lack of that it was still a great performance by Patton and opener Samantha Ruddy. |
| Sam Levinson | TV Series | 2019 | ★★★★★ | This is like if The Wire was more of a comedy and with less lofty, but equally poignant, ambitions. |
| Thomas Pynchon | Book | 1966 | ★★★★★ | Exceptional writing for a fever dream storyline on subversive culture networks. I think. I'm still processing what I just read. |
| Katie Dippold | TV Series | 2026 | ★★★★★ | A perfect blend of everything in 30-minute package -- small arcs + big arcs; comedy + horror + every genre; dynamic acting. It's got it all. |
| Michael Sarnoski | Movie | 2026 | ★★★☆☆ | Robinhood stole some of my time on earth with this one. |
| Beethoven & Dinosaur | Video Game | 2026 | ★★★★★ | Short, sweet, and exactly the type of game I enjoy these days with good art, a great soundtrack, and mercifully short runtime. |
| Mountain Dew | Sustenance | 2026 | ★★★☆☆ | A soda is nice once in a blue moon. |
| Eli & Casey Linthicum | Sustenance | 2024 | ★★★★★ | Perfect for Merriweather Post Pavilion visits but a nifty barcade worth a visit in its own right. |
| Steven Spielberg | Movie | 2026 | ★★☆☆☆ | Watching Spielberg's Disclosure Day felt very much like watching Scorsese's The Irishman |
| Kane Parsons | Movie | 2026 | ★★★★★ | Like describing a dog to somebody who has never seen one. |
| Curry Barker | Movie | 2025 | ★★★★☆ | Funnier than I expected and an incredible directorial debut. |
| Charlie Brooker | Movie | 2025 | ★★★★★ | Faux-shoshin mockumentary. Perfectly executed delivery on asking life's greatest questions. |
| Andy Serkis | Movie | 2025 | ★★★★☆ | Andy Serkis's animated take on Orwell. B-tier but unfairly maligned — Serkis and the voice cast deliver despite the discourse. |
| Mike Makowsky | TV Series | 2025 | ★★★★★ | Garfield's improbable rise and his assassin's stranger arc. Macfadyen, Shannon, and Offerman at full tilt. |
| John Wilson | TV Series | 2020 | ★★★★★ | A New Yorker's archive of footage rebuilt as quasi-poetry about scaffolding, wine, and being alive. |
| Bill Watterson | Book | 1995 | ★★★★★ | Perhaps the most formative work in my reading life. This is Bill Watterson distilling the universe into a teacup. |
| Goichi Suda | Video Game | 2025 | ★★★★★ | Another fever dream from Suda51 and Grasshopper with combat that suits simple sensibilities packaged in an ultraviolent revenge noir. |
| Charles Yu | TV Series | 2024 | ★★★★★ | Tropes deployed expertly to tell something stranger than your typical fare. a season-one ending that refuses to settle |
| Susanna Clarke | Book | 2020 | ★★★★★ | A novel that finds my exact wavelength. |
| Tony Tulathimutte | Book | 2024 | ★★★★★ | Short stories that stick like tar and a final piece that's prescient enough to think about for years. |
| Bill Watterson · John Kascht | Book | 2023 | ★★★★★ | Watterson and Kascht give adults the fable they didn't know they needed. |
| James Carbutt · Will Todd | Video Game | 2024 | ★★★★★ | An interactive movie of a game — a two-hour visual delight by Coal Supper, voiced by Matt Berry. |
| Henry David Thoreau | Book | 1854 | ★★★★★ | Food for thought that warmed my mind and continues keeping it kindled with inverse, rebellious thoughts. |
| Dan Erickson | TV Series | 2022 | ★★★★★ | Excellent but the pedestal it is being held on (and potentially chasing) should be knocked down to size. |
| Remy Siu | Video Game | 2024 | ★★★★★ | A visual novel sorta video game. Canada-built, Australia-published, and unlike anything else. A beautiful, tragic tale well-told that you cannot put down. |
| Todd Field | Movie | 2022 | ★★★★★ | A slow-burn drama for anyone who likes calling folks on their bullshit. Cate Blanchett at her most. |