I love seeing your weekly readings. Always found interesting topics through your posts!

I’m currently embarking on Matthew B. Crawford’s “The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction”…super interesting ideas here.

Work is stressful; the news is stressful; parenting is stressful; trying to stay healthy is stressful…

Ugh.

At least one thing is bringing me joy right now: listening to the audiobooks of The Lord of the Rings on my daily walks with my dog.

For some reason, I could never get into RSS readers. I tried, but quickly felt overwhelmed and gave up. I've tried to get back into it over and over again, but always get just absolutely rocked by the amount of content that can be pulled in and get discouraged. It's also hard and daunting to think about getting into it at this point, now, because there's so much content out there that I don't even know where to start with adding RSS links of stuff I follow...because sometimes I don't even know where I get my stuff from (just from all over, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, email newsletters, kbin, Google News, etc.)

A big part of it, I think, is the fact that RSS doesn’t have community curated content. to me, it just seems like such a wave of news content...but a lot of what I enjoyed about Reddit/social media (including kbin) is the community aspect, allowing for more nuanced and popular stuff to be driven to the top of the feed (based on upvotes, retweets, user activity, clicks, or what have you). So the lack of that in RSS stuff really hinders me from fully adopting it.

Are you going to post your list of books read in 2023?? I’ve really been intrigued by every one you have mentioned. @alayza

I absolutely adore U2’s Under A Blood Red Sky. U2 are my favorite band and I think I have other favorite live shows as bootlegs (Dublin 93!! Point Depot 89!!), but this is my favorite live official release. It is also my bucket list show. If I could go back in time, this is the concert I’d want to go to. Red Rocks is an incredible venue and the performance of The Electric Co. is, well, electric. Also “40”…just an incredible tune and the magic of hearing the audience chant “how long…” is spine tingling. Would have loved to be there.

I think one of my other favorites is Live After Death by Iron Maiden. They perform Flight of Icarus and Rime of the Ancient Mariner and it’s incredible. Also, Phantom of the Opera from the Hammersmith is included on this remaster and that’s in my top 5 Maiden songs.

Hey brother. I’m in a similar boat as you. I’m an attorney, naturally working long and stressful days and weekends, never finding time for myself, never able to decompress. I literally told someone the other day that I can’t remember the last time I was “relaxed”.

I wake up thinking about alcohol. The urge to pour a drink starts creeping up on me around 2:00pm each day. Sometimes I sneak out of the office and grab a pint at the local pub. Sometimes I pour boxed wine into my Yeti mug. The booze came my brain and helps me stop feeling all the pressure and demands of work and life. I usually don’t get drunk, just kinda numb my brain a bit… But it is a slippery slope and definitely comes at a cost. I find myself being unable to totally stop once I have that first drink. And having recently been told that I’m “not a fun drunk”, I’m worried and nervous.

Hang in there. Hopefully the new job is better. And take care of yourself.

I’d love to get into using Obsidian but it overwhelms me and freaks me out and also I just don’t know how to best utilize it for my personal work cases…I.e, how to blend professional/personal/creative uses into one all in app experience with Obsidian.

I recently got a convertible standing desk thing, with a treadmill/walking pad for underneath. It has done wonders for my mental health while at work. Reading boring real estate contracts is a lot easier to get through when I’m standing up and moving instead of falling asleep in my chair while simultaneously destroying my back/posture.

The entire Halo series.

I never owned an Xbox growing up when the games were originally releasing. I recently got a Steam Deck and bought the Master Chief Collection on sale last week. I’ve been having an absolute blast working my way through the campaign (still early in the first game!), and I’m just kicking myself now that I never got into this earlier when the multiplayer was more populated. This shit is such my jam.

I’m stressed. Burnt out. I’m not sleeping well, feel exhausted all the time, probably am drinking too much and just constantly feel like a failure.

This week has been a busy one, so I didn’t do much new music discovery. But have been pretty obsessed with Iron Maiden. Been listening through their discography alongside a Maiden podcast that discusses and analyzes each album. Have particularly enjoyed Somewhere In Time and really wish that the band was touring the US this year so I could go see them again.

Thanks for grabbing the thread for me this week! I’ve been busy so glad you caught it.

Last week I was obsessing over Iron Maiden. This week it’s been Megadeth. Rust In Peace is an amazing record.

I was also introduced to Rigor Mortis this week. Their self titled. Maybe some of you have heard of Rigor Mortis, maybe not. I had not heard them before until just the other day.

There’s really not a lot to say about this album other than it is pretty much the distillation of thrash in its purest form. Non stop skank beats, yelled vocals and hyper speed riffs - what more do you need? If you like Slayer or Razor, this is probably for you too.

Dishonored 2 is on a 90% discount! Just picked it up, never having played it before.

What’s the control layout you found that works best for you?

Oh it’s been the Serkis ones for me too! They are absolutely fantastic.

Please do! I am looking forward to it.

Oh also, randomly, Warframe is my most played game on my Deck! I got the Steam Deck for the first time a couple weeks ago and then went and bought a bunch of new games with the recent sale…but a free MMO shooter is what has kept me hooked the most lately.

Just downloaded DayZ on Game Pass! I'm going to check it out based on your experience you shared. Thank you!

Thanks for sharing that book! The premise is intriguing and I’m picking up a copy soon. I love Montana but had no idea about the prevalence of communism there.

I actually just downloaded this on Game Pass - excited to try it out. Your description and recommendation is great!

I’ve never played these games but have always heard about them…maybe now is my chance to check them out!

Ooh - I had never considered these tips!

S&M is amazing!! How do you like the second one? Any hopes for an S&M3? I’d love to see some of the new 72 Seasons songs done with an orchestra. And we need more Death Magnetic!!

Fear of the Dark live is always magical.

The suggestion on keeping a separate SD card just for emulation is great! I have an extra SD card, ready to do this. Do I just need to install EmuDeck (on the SD card itself) and then add ROMs to it and it's that easy?

Also, as a follow-up question: do you know if using FileZilla/SSH is possible to transfer files between a Macbook and Steam Deck? I have a PC, but it is admin-locked via my work. But I'm trying to figure out the best way to use my personal Macbook to do file management with Steam Deck.

This is very helpful!! I’m feeling a lot of FOMO pressure what with the Steam Autumn sale going on right now. There are so many games I have always wanted to play but never had a chance to…and now I can play them all at my fingertips! (For example: Halo: MCC, the Fallout series, and Persona 5). I’m tempted to snag MCC and Fallout 76, or New Vegas, because those prices are awesome.

Can you expand more on the Deck’s quick menu performance options? I’ve already learned about “the Golden 40”, and have locked most if not all of my games to 40fps…but what other “quick menu performance” options should I be sure to optimize?

This is great to know! Especially coming into this system with very little knowledge of how things work, or how to "optimize" games.

Hahaha I was waiting for someone to toss out Throwing Copper!

I need to check out Time Machine…I love Rush and am sad I missed seeing them live.

Is Time Machine the tour where they performed Moving Pictures in full?

I’m gonna spin this one today I think. Damn, I am sad that I never got to experience Rush live.

Thank you so much for your detailed suggestions and recommendations! I am very excited to get my hands on my Deck and start playing. My wishlist has only grown and grown.

Speaking of Spider-man: I actually played through that when it first came out on PS4, but I've been itching to get back into it - and the Miles Morales game seems really cool!

I've had Speak Now (Taylor's Version) on repeat since it released.

Also really been enjoying getting back into Rush with their 2011 live album, Time Machine.

Thee Oh Sees are a band I’m still trying to find a decent entry point into. I’ve heard lots of comparisons to KGATLW in terms of output, and in fact I saw them perform a live set at a festival about a month ago! But to me it just seemed like a lot of noise and smashing and crashing with no rhyme or reason and I couldn’t get into it. Maybe I’ll check out this song you shared and keep trying.

Maybe I'll finally get around to playing the Persona series with my Steam Deck...

Ooh, I've never heard of this one. I'll have to check it out!

For me, I’ve been listening to In The Shadows by Mercyful Fate and have been enjoying it a lot. Wasn’t super familiar with MF before so I’m exploring their discography.

Last week, another user shared Endless Battle by Wytch Hazel with me and it’s been my favorite song I’ve heard in a long time.

Finally, discovered Crown Lands today...they're like a modern day Rush revival...I am quickly getting addicted to this. Their recent album, Fearless, has extreme 2112 vibes.

I’m really excited and happy to be a mod here. It feels supportive, friendly, and useful. I enjoy the transparency and the community aspect that all Beeples share. I am looking forward to the next steps in our adventures!

I had no idea that they had a new record out and randomly saw it recommended to me on Spotify’s new releases. It’s excellent. Doubt is great, and I’ve had Grim Generation stuck in my head for days!

This is now the fourth or fifth time someone has recommended this one to me....I think it is high time I pick it up!

Any advice for a first-time player?

This was my pick too. I've actually never watched the video, but I'm going to now!

I also prefer Last Word over this one, but still...excited to get new Baroness!

Hell yes! So happy to find some other metalheads here. I’m sort of “basic”, I guess, in terms of my metal tastes. I haven’t been able to get into any harsh vocals. I can get into Mastodon’s harsh vocals and enjoy some of Gojira and Opeth. But other than that, I’ve never had harsh vocals “click” for me.

So I mainly love and always listen to Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and Megadeth…NWOBHM stuff mainly. But I want to branch out and get into some newer stuff.

Recently I’ve enjoyed the latest releases from Blood Ceremony, Blood Star and Oozing Wound. Sleep is pretty cool, and I enjoyed Thrice’s newest release.

So I’m interested in finding some new music to check out with you fine folks!

Ooh what’s this one like? How is it different from other gacha/ anime style games?