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The stuff I enjoyed in 2012


Here is a list of the stuff that I enjoyed in 2012 analogous to the one I did in 2011. Thinking about a reason to do this I can only quote Kurt Vonnegut as the answer

“And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.” 


China Mieville Bas Lag rereads - I read all of Mieville again and I was amazed at how much I had missed the first time around. The Scar totally transformed itself into a bravura performance. Perdido and Iron Council embedded themselves in my consciousness. Thanks to knowing the big picture and the plot details I could really dive deep into his writing, his choice of words and get lost in the amazingly rich and intricate world of Bas Lag.

Nick Harkaway - Both his books Angelmaker and Gone Away World were fantastic to put it mildly. The verve, imagination and the sheer  brilliance of the storytelling blew me away. Angelmaker was a fascinating read melding so many elements into a seamless whole. Gone away world had a climax that shook me up when it finally happened, even though I was expecting it.

Chinaman -  Its about Sri Lanka seen through the eyes of a cricket loving 60 year old whisky addict. This is a great read full of wicked humour. If cricket fascinates you even mildly pick this up.

Octane Twisted - A stellar dvd that captures Porcupine tree playing The Incident. Everything about this is great. You are doing yourself a disservice if you have not heard Porcupine Tree yet.

Get all you deserve - Another concert but this is Steven Wilson's solo project. A brilliant showcase for a musician at the peak of his powers.

Life of pi - A great film with amazing visuals and a great soundtrack. I never imagined that such a big budget hollywood film could be made with a primarily Indian Cast. A novel that I thought would be hard to film translated beautifully to flim.

Cloud Atlas - The novel by David Mitchell was brilliant containing six spell binding stories collapsing on top each other. That the Wachowski brothers decided to make a film out of it was insanely ambitious. The result was a great film with some amazing performances by a recurring cast of characters.

There will be blood - Technically this film was released in 2007 but I really did enjoy watching this. Daniel Day Lewis gives what is probably the greatest performance of his career.

Make good art - This is a commencement speech by Neil Gaiman. Its a striking one right up there iwth the one Steve Jobs did. Beautifully written and delivered with a great deal of wit and charm.

Farnam Street - Contains  some of the best curated intellectually stimulating stuff on the internet.

and thats it for the year that went away never to return.

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