misc

wow, this is amazing

At least we can be thankful that this company, working to literally alter the operation of our brains, is owned by such a mentally healthy and non-egotistical guy.

Fuckin autechre man. They're too good to us

wow that was so great. cheers mates

fuckin hell this is so lovely

"ANIMA, a new record by Thom Yorke. Out on digital 27th June, physical 19th July. A "one-reeler" film of the same name by Paul Thomas Anderson will appear on Netflix on 27th June, in collaboration with Thom Yorke and the choreographer Damien Jalet featuring music from the record. Thom is also back on tour with the Tomorrow's Modern Boxes project, alongside Nigel Godrich (who produced the record) and Tarik Barri's live computer visuals. Full details in the Schedule section." https://anima.technology/

Some info about the black hole to put in perspective just how impressive this is: - It's the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Messier 87 galaxy - It's 55 million light years away from earth - It's mass is 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun - The event horizon is 40 billion km across. For reference, the distance from the Sun to Neptune, the outer most planet in our Solar System, is 4.5 billion km Just completely insane scales all round, and we've just gone and taken a snap of it. Also rumors are circulating that an image of Sagittarius A, the black hole at the center of our galaxy, may be soon to follow.

Here's the high def image. Truly an incredible feat.

The Event Horizon Telescope are announcing a "groundbreaking result" next week on Wednesday. Could be the first ever image of a black hole. https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=298155&org=NSF&from=news

https://youtu.be/LSvNdVVj-a4

Ah you talking about Pynchon in Public by any chance? I've listened to that one a few times, and it is pretty good, but far more of a bookclub style. This one's just one guy and so far has focused more on the historical and political placing of the novel, rather than working through it chapter by chapter. Guy has really got that Pynchon sense of humour down as well. If it's the one that starts with the recreation of one of the pynchon drinking songs then that's it yah. Yeah one of the big differences I'd say between reading him back in the 70s and 80s and readin it today is you can google/wiki every obscure historical reference you don't get. It's much more illuminating that way. Totally sends you down a rabbithole though. I remember one thing I looked up in Vineland that was a cut of steak the Japanese named after a famous opera singer, and it was just a throwaway line with some characters ordering food while in Japan. Hmm maybe not then, I don't remember that at all. If you remember the name of that one lemme know, I wanna do a GR reread at some point soon.

Ah you talking about Pynchon in Public by any chance? I've listened to that one a few times, and it is pretty good, but far more of a bookclub style. This one's just one guy and so far has focused more on the historical and political placing of the novel, rather than working through it chapter by chapter. Guy has really got that Pynchon sense of humour down as well.

Any of you Pynchon nuts listened to the podcast Death is Just Around the Corner? Just discovered it and listened to the first episode (episode 67). It begins with a proper deep dive on Inherent Vice bringing Hardcore History levels of context to where Pynchon was coming from with the main themes of the novel. Really really brilliant stuff. Looks like he's done a pretty hefty series on Gravity's Rainbow as well.

You could check out Book of Numbers by Joshua Cohen. It's a blisteringly modern book which pretty much has the "now" infused into every sentence. He has quite a similar style to DFW with that hyper-analytical detail and the ability to drop incredibly niche references to a massive variety of fields. I should say though, I really hated it. I can't quite place what it was that turned me off so much, but by the end I just felt pissed off and relieved to be done. Still though, that could just be personal preference and it might fit your description pretty well.

Just finished this and absolutely loved it. Easily the most interesting take on first contact I've read, although completely depressing. Brilliantly illustrates how quickly things could go wrong when entering a completely alien situation with an anthropocentric mindset. Loads of interesting detours on AI, reanimation, the nature of scientific progress etc, as well. This is only the second Lem I've read after Solaris but I'm completely hooked on his work now. Anyone else read this?