Article Highlights for 2021

Collecting the articles (and videos) that stuck with me this year. It’s disappointingly incoherent, reflecting a somewhat unscrupulous news diet on my part. “American democracy” is not a heading I expected to require at this time last year.

Here’s hoping for a more equitable year in 2022.

American democracy

• Denial Is the Heartbeat of America - Kendi challenged my early attempt to internalize the riots
• The American Abyss - my introduction to Timothy Snyder–a historian whose words I found myself reading all year long. “Post truth is pre-fascism.” Fantastic piece.
• America’s brush with fascism—and how we can stop the country from sliding into it. [video] - a short conversation between two great political thinkers
• Your brain on authoritarianism: The inside forces that drive people to turn on democracy | On Point
• ‘A too-powerful presidency’: Will US ever rein in executive branch? - some optimism here, believe it or not
• Seeking justice through disruption – from the inside - my introduction to the Cantonsville Nine and a thoughtful parallel to today
• New Rule: The Slow-Moving Coup | Real Time with Bill Maher [video]
• October 16, 2021 - by Heather Cox Richardson - Letters from an American - the only newsletter I read this year; this issue goes into detail about what Texas’ S.B. 3 entails, and it’s fucking appalling
• An Open Letter in Defense of Democracy - published jointly by a right-leaning and left-leaning new source, which is encouraging in times like these. Like a lot of this writing, though, it doesn’t offer any real guidance.
• Frontlines of Freedom Open Letter
• Gavin Newsom pledges to model assault weapons ban on Texas abortion law S.B.8 - a sly proposal to force the Supreme Court’s hand, though as my brother points out, it’s a shame that legislators have to (?) play games like this

Tech ethics

• Thoughts on “Community” - cogent words on a word that’s overused in my industry
• Are We Really Engineers? - great analysis on a question I often ask myself
• “Free Software”: An idea whose time has passed - part of the pile-on against free software which followed the FSF’s blunder; I have all sorts of objections, but the author eventually makes a few good points.
• Not The First Time We Tried (FSF, GNU, RMS, etc.) - my introduction to Sumana, an inspiring free software advocate
• Statement on the Re-election of Richard Stallman to the FSF Board - a great take from the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Am I FLoCed? A New Site to Test Google’s Invasive Experiment - characteristically thoughtful coverage from the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• ‘Nothing actually changes’: Boston tech workers of color blast the sector’s attempts to be antiracist - suggesting that traditional higher education is a way for the privileged to transfer power
• Trump’s Social Media Platform and the Affero General Public License (of Mastodon) - it was nice to see the Software Freedom Consultancy getting national attention around this
• The Future is in Interoperability Not Big Tech: 2021 in Review - Cory Doctorow offers some hope at the end of the year; see also this interview from earlier in the year
• The Gift of It’s Your Problem Now - great sense of humor and a clear-headed commentary on the industry’s response to the log4j vulnerabilities

Gaming

• Silent Hill creator teases new horror game from Bokeh Game Studio
• Six Truths About Video Game Stories - the author’s critical of the medium without being pejorative, the example involving Persona 5 stands out
• Max Payne - 20 Year Anniversary [video]
• Mario Golf: Super Rush - Official Overview Trailer [video] - Nintendo’s still got it

Music

• Gwen Stefani - Let Me Reintroduce Myself [video] - nostalgia dialed to eleven
• Chick Corea & Gary Burton: Tiny Desk Concert [video] Corea died this year; this video highlights his incredible speed and precision
• Just the two of us (French Version - Chloé Stafler)
• JAMBINAI: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert - contender for the most badass thing I saw all year
• Diamante Eléctrico: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
• illuminati hotties - MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA - kinda like if Primus wrote a punk song
• Yola - Starlight
• Pom Pom Squad - Forever
• Chad Smith, Josh Homme, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Chaney, Danny Carey & Friends! (December 04, 2021) [video] - I don’t understand what is going on here or why, but it’s astounding

Pop culture

• Daft Punk - Epilogue [video] - sad to see them go; discovered their super-classy acceptance “speech” for Album Of The Year [video] as a result
• Tom Morello Remembers Meeting Chris Cornell for the First Time [video] - nice anecdote
• Aye y’all hear that new bop by Red Hot Chili Peppers?? [video] - technically from 2020, but I couldn’t help myself; I laughed at this for days
• Norm Macdonald: Conan O’Brien, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler mourn comedian - lots of nice quotes from lots of great comedians.
  • Seth Remembers Norm Macdonald [video] - especially resonated with me, from way back in grade school when I used to watch Norm in syndication on Comedy Central
  • I will not eat a single morsel of food until Margaret Thatcher is dead and buried! [video]
  • When the Guests Love the Joke - “I wouldn’t call myself a fan of steam punk, but I will say it’s the healthiest way to prepare punk.”
  • Norm MacDonald talks about cancer and not wanting to garner sympathy from others [video] - “If I had a specific ailment–and possibly I do, you don’t know–I would not talk about it. I hope I would not discuss it and just try to benefit monetarily from that.”
• Those Bullet Effects In Terminator 2 Weren’t CGI
• About Face – Popula - excellent comic on the misappropriation of the logo for Marvel’s Punisher character
• Endless Thread - MEMES, Part 6: Call me… The Punisher
• The story behind Irving Berlin’s ‘White Christmas’ - informative and sentimental

Miscellaneous

• Coup Caught On Camera: Myanmar Woman Goes Viral For Dance Video With Surreal Backdrop - absurd
• Scientists Talked To People In Their Dreams. They Answered
• Can the U.S. Win Back Its Climate Credibility? - The New York Times the most frank explanation about the politics at this scale that I’ve read or heard.
• Amazing Atelic Activities - nothing earth-shattering, but a simple and useful perspective.
• Bacon Could Disappear In California - interesting use of indirect legislation, manipulating the market to get the desired outcome
• Doctor’s Orders — Real Life - exploration of “medicalization,” fostering empathy toward anti-vaxers
• Jazz Age Fashion and Gender Non-conformity
• Underrated reasons to be thankful - great reading for a nerd on Thanksgiving day
• Speaking in Tales: conversing in Chinese means constantly alluding to folklore
• Triumph the Insult Comic Dog interviews “Weird Al” Yankovic [video] - I lost it at “Choosing My Persimmons.”
• Seagull riding on another seagull [video]
• Phil Tippett’s Mad God - Official Teaser Trailer (2021) [video] - enthralling and terrible
• Oreo CEO: Stop Making New Oreos [video]
• Opinion | Liberal Hypocrisy Is Fueling Inequality [video] - “In many states — including California, New York and Illinois — Democrats control all the levers of power. They run the government. They write the laws. And as we explore in the video above, they often aren’t living up to their values.”
• Everything Everywhere All At Once | Official Trailer [video]