There was a lot of good music released in 2017. Here are my top five albums or EP’s that I discovered. There is an Apple Music Playlist of my top 10 favourite tracks here.
Yonaka – Heavy.
When I Was Young – MØ.
Truth is a Beautiful Thing – London Grammar.
Plunge – Fever Ray.
At The Rainbow – Hawkwind.
I continued the One Film Per Week thing I started in 2015 this year. I highly recommend it. From the 52 films I saw in the cinema here are my favorite ten, in no particular order.
2nd June – Wonder Woman.
Rating: 10/10.
31st March – Ghost in the Shell.
Rating: 9/10 – Read my review.
21st April – Their Finest.
Rating: 10/10. – Read my review.
4th July – Baby Driver.
Rating: 9/10.
29th July – The Big Sick.
Rating: 10/10.
24th February – A Cure For Wellness. Rating: 9/10.
18th March – Get Out.
Rating: 9/10.
15th September – Mother!.
Rating: 9/10.
6th October – Blade Runner 2049.
Rating: 10/10.
26th October – Happy Death Day.
Rating: 9/10.
I managed to read 52 books in 2017. Over the three formats of paper, iBooks, and audiobook. My favourites, in no particular order, are the six below. It was initially going to be a list of five, but Who Let The Gods Out? snuck onto the list in the final week of the year.
I wrote a post about my freelance writing output in 2015 a year ago. How did the 2016 writing output compare?
I wrote 50 new articles in 2016. As compared to 48 in 2015.
I edited, and rewrote, 16 articles by others. As compared to 24 in 2015.
I haven’t counted the words this year. It’s a meaningless metric. Articles are as long or as short as they need to be to get the ideas and information across.
I didn’t hit the 25% target for income from writing that I wanted to. It delivered 18.8% before Tax. I didn’t do as much writing as I’d hoped for a few months from May to July due to some very early starts. Getting up at 03:30 four days a week turns your brain to mush! Want to hit 25% at least in 2017.
Thanks again to those who asked me to do writing for them. Let’s create all the content in 2017 🙂
I saw 55 films in the cinema this year. Here are my top 6 from this years selection:
Room – This is not the film you would think it is from the description. It is not a horror film. It is not a explicitly sexual or violent film, although there is some of that. It is about a 5 year old boy, and his mother, discovering the world after she was held captive for 7 years. So the boy has always been a captive. He only knows about Room where they live. Until he turns 5 and his mother starts to tell him about the outside world. I cried, laughed, and at one point my heart rate must have been up about 140 bpm. The performances by Brie Larson as the mother and Jacob Tremblay as the boy are remarkable. I was fully invested in the characters. Hence the heart rate thing. The supporting cast are also good. It was easy to rate this 9/10. Came very close to being a 10. Once again, it’s not the film you think it is.
The Big Short – Can a film make you root for the financial traders and market analysts who foresaw the 2008 housing crash in the USA, and who bet that it would happen in order to short the market and make money? Turns out you can. Bankers don’t rate too well in opinion polls about professions. But at the end of the day they are just people. And if they are interesting people then their story will be interesting. The characters in this film are interesting. I really liked it. It breaks the fourth wall quite a lot and this usually makes me twitchy. But it works in this. I thought Steve Carell’s character and performance was great, although the whole cast is good. Vinnie Daniel politely asking the auditors to leave Mark Baum’s office is brilliant.
Maggie’s Plan – If you showed this film to someone without credits and told them it was a Woody Allen film they would believe you. It’s actually a Rebecca Miller film and its better than the film Woody Allen released in 2016. I loved it. Have watched it several times since seeing it in the cinema. As good every time. The whole cast are brilliant. Julianne Moore especially so.
The Neon Demon – What to say about The Neon Demon. It is sharp edged, stylish, colourful, beautifully shot, has a great score, and a set of background songs. It tells the story of a teenager who moves to Los Angeles to pursue a modelling career. She very quickly gets booked by some big photographers and fashion designers. Much to the chagrin of a group of existing models and fashion industry insiders. Who then take some extreme measures. It’s a wonderful film covering ego, jealousy, shallowness of people, and obsession. One of the best films I’ve ever seen.
The Meddler – Another film with a Woody Allen vibe. Which is a lazy description. It’s much more. Susan Sarandon plays a widow who moves from New York to be near her daughter who is a screenwriter in Los Angeles. She can’t help getting involved in her daughters life, and when rebuked, her friends lives. Great script and performances from Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne as the daughter, and J. K. Simmons as a retired cop.
Me Before You – There was a lot of negative flak about this film before it was released. People said it promoted the idea of euthanasia for people with disabilities. Turns out the film isn’t pushing that agenda. If anything most arguments in the film are against doing that. I’ve never watched Game of Thrones so hadn’t seen Emilia Clarke in that, but I had liked her in the latest Terminator reboot. I liked Sam Claflin in The Hunger Games. Both are brilliant in this film. Emilia Clarke has one of the most expressive faces I’ve ever seen. Her eyebrows seem to have a life of their own. She is awesome in this. Sam Claflin is also great, and he is only using his head to act as he’s playing a character paralysed from the neck down. This film raises several important issues, and deals with them responsibly. At the same time it is a funny and poignant story in its own right.
I only managed to get through 16 books in 2016. I had to do some very early starts (03:30 four days a week) in day job for a few months and it turned my brain to mush. That’s all sorted now, so hopefully I’ll get more reading done in 2017. From the books I did read here are my top five. These would have been up there even if I read 50 books this year.
Speak – Louisa Hall. View on iBooks – Amazon – Audible
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street – Natasha Pulley. View on iBooks – Amazon – Audible
Join – Steve Toutonghi. View on iBooks – Amazon – Audible
The Big Picture – Sean Carroll. View on iBooks – Amazon
Europe at Midnight – Dave Hutchinson. View on iBooks – Amazon
Here are my favourite new tracks released in 2016.
Mr David – Laura Doggett. Listen on Apple Music or YouTube.
Scars – Tove Lo. Listen on Apple Music or YouTube.
Interlude: I was Never Here – The Glass Child. Listen on Apple Music or Soundcloud.
Perfect Illusion – Lady Gaga. Listen on Apple Music or YouTube.
Growing Pains – Birdie. Listen on Apple Music or YouTube.
Here is an Apple Music Playlist with the 5 tracks.
Only 2 days left of 2015. Here are my stats for freelance technical writing I did this year.
I wrote 48 new articles that added up to 46310 words.
I also rewrote 24 other articles by others. There were 19412 words in total in those.
Writing delivered 19.2% of my income in 2015 before tax. I want to increase it to be at least 25% of my income in 2016. And then 100% at some point in the future a few years from now.
Some examples from 2015:
Building an Application Delivery Platform
DevOps – where software development and operations collaborate
Why Microsoft Lync is a business conversation first and foremost
Thanks to those reading this who commissioned me to do technical writing. I enjoyed it. I know you like the results. Looking forward to doing even more with you next year!
Like I did this time last year I’m picking my five favourite new tracks from 2015 rather than an album of the year. I have 301 tracks in my 2015 playlist in iTunes. Here are my picks from that selection. I’m not going to say a lot about them. Just go listen via the links to Apple Music, YouTube or Spotify. I’ve created an Apple Music Playlist for the tracks.
Better Than That – Marina and The Diamonds. This won’t surprise many people. Marina and The Diamonds are my favourite artist at present. FROOT made the list last year as it was released in 2014. Better Than That came out in March this year I think. It’s stupendous. The vocal in the middle 8 section is the best singing I’ve heard in a long time. It wasn’t part of the live set when I saw them in Belfast. Maybe because that middle 8 section would be too hard on the voice night after night. If you have a chance to see Marina live then take it. [Apple Music link] [YouTube link]
Rey’s Theme – John Williams & freelance orchestra. This made a late appearance in the year and went straight on to my favourite tracks. Last years list had two tracks from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 soundtrack. Just the one soundtrack entry this year. From the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens score. I’ve more or less had this on repeat for a week. Loved the film too. The best of all the Star Wars films in my opinion. More about that in a separate post later. [Apple Music link] [YouTube link]
Northern Lights – Kate Boy. I can’t recall how I discovered this. It may have been a recommendation from Apple Music based on my love of The Knife. I’m glad I did though. I love the sound of Kate Boy. An electronic trio from Sweden and Australia. Very reminiscent of The Knife while also great in their own right and with their own sound. Northern Lights just reaches into my brain and sets it alight. [Apple Music link] [YouTube link]
The Red and The Black – Iron Maiden. Still going strong after all these years. They have a formula and they stick to it. Every now and then that formula conjures up an absolute gem in the rock music pantheon. It happened this year with the track The Red and The Black from their new double album. It’s epic. With harmonised vocals, tempo changes and guitar that will melt your head. And just listen those power chords? Classic. [Apple Music link][Spotify link]
Raw Honey – Du Blonde. I got through 50 weeks of 2015, and my life before that, without ever hearing of Du Blonde. But Twitter saved me when Marina Diamandis tweeted that the Welcome Back to Milk album was her favourite of the year. So I had to listen. She was correct. It is a fabulous album. But Raw Honey is the one that grabbed me the most. It has a Red Hot Chilli Peppers vibe to it in my opinion. And that’s a good thing. Interestingly I discover nearly all new music via Twitter now. From recommendations, musicians following me, and Retweets. [Apple Music link] [YouTube link].
I read 39 books this year. Here are my favourite five. Spoilers below obviously.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August – Claire North. Novel about a man who is reborn again and again after he dies. With all his memories from the lives he has led. Not reincarnated after he dies, but rather reborn at the same time in the past. Same birthday. Same place. He discovers that he’s not the only person like this. The book covers the first fifteen of his lives and his interactions with others like him and normal humanity. It starts slowly, but picks up and is a great idea and is very well executed. Has good plot twists and turns.
Touch – Claire North. Read this after liking The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August so much. This is just as good or maybe even better. Deals with a similar subject. The essences of certain people are able to transfer between human hosts just by touch. They then take over full control of the human they are inhabiting and use them as vessels for a while. Could be for minutes, or for years. But someone is hunting people with this ability and killing them. A brilliant sci-fi thriller. Claire North is a real talent.
The Silk Roads: A New History of The World – Peter Frankopan. This came up in recommended titles on Audible when I was looking to spend a monthly audiobook credit. It looked interesting so I got it. Really good decision. This is the best history book I’ve ever read. It presents a view of the world beyond the western European centric one I got taught in school. The book is presented as a series of essays based around the Asian and Near East Silk Road trade routes, and covers a time period from antiquity up to the 21st century. I liked the audiobook so much I bought the hardback as well. It is a beautiful book. Everyone should read this. It should be mandatory reading in all school history curricula in the western world.
Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel. I can’t remember how I discovered this book. But I’m so glad I did. It is set around the Great Lakes region of a post apocalyptic North America after 99% of humanity has been wiped out by a very fast acting variant of the influenza virus. In a few weeks nearly everyone is dead. It tells the story of a few bands of survivors eking out a living after the collapse of the modern world we all rely on. There are also retrospective storylines based around the life of an author who wrote, and self published, a comic book series called Station Eleven. All the stories about the survivors are in some way intertwined with this comic book, its author or her acquaintances. The writing is sublime. The way the threads all come together at the end is superb. This is a stunning novel. Everyone should read it.
Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software – Scott Rosenberg. A really enjoyable book about the failed development process for the Chandler Personal Information Manager. Probably my favourite book that is about the technology industry. Everyone involved in software and technology should read this book. I especially liked Rosenberg’s Law.
