Shelf

Imagine this was my shelf. It has some books, music albums and maybe other stuff laying on it occasionally. These are the things I find special, or used to like in the past, or just recommend in general. And since it's the internet - there's really no need for the things to be physical.

Showing this shelf content seems a nice way to introduce myself, so here you go:

Books

Sci-fi

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson (2003)

[Pattern Recognition cover]

Cayce Pollard is an expensive, spookily intuitive market-research consultant. In London on a job, she is offered a secret assignment: to investigate some intriguing snippets of video that have been appearing on the Internet. An entire subculture of people is obsessed with these bits of footage, and anybody who can create that kind of brand loyalty would be a gold mine for Cayce's client. But when her borrowed apartment is burgled and her computer hacked, she realizes there's more to this project than she had expected.

William Gibson is a father of cyberpunk (in it's true, "punk" sense) This book is sort of that - a cyberpunk with "modern", not a flashy neon sci-fi, but a book about how virtuality is now as real as the physical world. And also one of my favorite books of all times. The entire "Bigend" trilogy is nice, too.

And right now there are three people in Chat, but there's no way of knowing exactly who until you are in there, and the chat room she finds not so comforting. It's strange even with friends, like sitting in a pitch-dark cellar conversing with people at a distance of about fifteen feet. The hectic speed, and the brevity of the lines in the thread, plus the feeling that everyone is talking at once, at counter-purposes, deter her.

He took a duck in the face at two hundred and fifty knots

Ubik by Philip K. Dick (1969)

[Ubik cover]

Glen Runciter is dead. Or is everybody else? Someone died in an explosion orchestrated by Runciter's business competitors. And, indeed, it's the kingly Runciter whose funeral is scheduled in Des Moines. But in the meantime, his mourning employees are receiving bewildering — and sometimes scatological — messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping in ways that suggest that their own time is running out. Or already has.

One of the most unusual and atmospheric books I have read. It has this sense of virtuality, ever changing yet looking so real. Also it has a great plot twist.

Ubik - safe when taken as directed.

I’ve never been sued by a door. But I guess I can live through it.

The underlined crosses did not symbolize what he had told her. They meant 'Watch this person. She is a hazard to the firm. She is dangerous.'

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany (1966)

[Babel-17 cover]

Babel-17 is all about the power of language. Humanity, which has spread throughout the universe, is involved in a war with the Invaders, who have been covertly assassinating officials and sabotaging spaceships. The only clues humanity has to go on are strange alien messages that have been intercepted in space. Poet and linguist Rydra Wong is determined to understand the language and stop the alien threat.

Well, most textbooks say language is a mechanism for expressing thought. But language is thought. Thought is information given form. The form is language.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (1992)

[Snow Crash cover]

In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous… you'll recognize it immediately.

This book is legendary. I believe, it's responsible for the term "metaverse" getting popular (and getting ruined by Facebook). It is one of the most atmospheric and dear to me books. And it is a weird mix of a sci-fi and babylonian mythology (sic!). Oh, and also it inspired Phillip Rosedale to create SecondLife.

  • This Snow Crash thing - is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?
  • What's the difference? - Juanita shrugged

Vacuum Flowers by Michael Swanwick (1992)

[Vacuum Flowers cover]

Among the vanguard of today's boldest writers, Michael Swanwick presents his world of plug-in personalities, colonized asteroids, and a daring fugitive named Rebel Elizabeth Mudlark, a high-tech criminal seeking refuge on Earth's orbiting settlements--where all human evils blossom in the vacuum of space.

  • Won’t they have a sentient program on the job then?
  • After what happened to Earth?

Fantasy

Myth Adventures series by Robert Asprin (1978)

[Myth Adventures cover]

Skeeve was a magician's apprentice—until an assassin struck and his master was killed. Now, with a purple-tongued demon named Aahz as a companion, he's on a quest to get even.

These were literally the first books I've read, when I was 6. And what a great start it was! I think it kind of made me prefer fiction literature and I'm completely sure it shaped my worldview. It has the humor, the magic and the wisdom. A mix of fantasy and modern, real-life concepts.

  • Are they warriors? Mercenaries?
  • Worse! - he answered. - They're merchants.

A dung heap! I had been following the smell of a dung heap!

  • Say, Aahz?
  • Hmm? Yeah, kid?
  • What dimension do you come from?
  • Perv.
  • Does that make you a Pervert?
  • No. That makes me a Pervect. Now shut up!

Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin (1968)

[Earthsea cover]

Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.

I believe this one is one of the best fantasy books I ever read. It taught me a lot when I was a kid - about balance of good and bad, about responsibility and about choosing the path in life.

Do years and distances matter to the dead? Do the Songs lie?

Music

There are some music albums that are precious to me. Some of those even had changed my view on things some time ago

I still listen music from my player. Music tends to get deleted/region blocked on Spotify and likes, So streaming services is a no-no for me.

HKE - HK (2015)

[HK cover art]

This is the kind of music that plays in my head every time I close my eyes. It is sort of hard for me to explain what does "Dreampunk" mean, and wikipedia article is no help. I think, it's more of a musical subculture than a genre, really.

Well, this particular album is a mix of vaporwave and ambient music, and for me it is an iconic thing.

Deep Purple - Purplendicular (1996)

[Purplendicular cover art]

Listening Deep Purple my entire life. It started for me with my father's vinyls, and with Smoke On The Water, of course, which played everywhere.

And much later, when I moved from my parents, this album sort of became a soundtrack of my life.

EEDL - Everse (2007)

[Everse cover art]

Electronic music began with this album for me. Well, listening of entire electronic music albums did. I stumbled upon it around 2008 while scooting through chromeexperiments website, that featured a number of things one could do with JavaScript, and one of such things was a bar visualization, that used Slumber track as an example.

At first I was irritated by the sound of it, but then wanted to hear more. Spotify did not exist back then, torrents weren't popular and all the websites offering to download MP3s were just scams trying to lure money out of you - so finding more tracks of EEDL was a quite a quest by itself.

Vangelis - Spiral (1977)

[Spiral cover art]

A very significant album for me. I believe, Vangelis was like Johan Sebastian Bach or something, but modern.

The spiral song itself is a masterpiece.

Linkin Park - Meteora (2003)

[Meteora cover art]

A friend of mine introduced this album to in my teen age. The very genre of it was novel to me back then, and I quickly became a fan. If I had to pick one Linkin Park album - it definitely would be Meteora.

Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000)

[Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water cover art]

Definitely one of best albums of all times. I kind of realized I can listen this one in any mood, anytime.

Tribal Ink - Surrounded By Freaks (2003)

[Surrounded By Freaks cover art]

I first heard this album when I bought a "new" Linkin Park MP3s CD on a local market. I used to approach the seller once a week asking if there is something new from Linkin Park - and he said Yes, there is - and tossed me a CD case.

The CD had an album called "Erection" and featuring man's hand holding a penis on its cover. Back then I decided it was so cool and brave of Linkin Park to release an obscene album, which turned out to be a bootleg compilation of random musicians, with most song being Tribal Ink songs renamed with raunchy names.

Oh, also that bootleg had (hed) P.E.'s Bartender song, check it out.

Mad Capsule Markets - 010 (2001)

[010 cover art]

This one was quite a discovery for me some time ago. A mix of punk and electronic music, from Japan. I read about it in an interview with some musician, in some glossy colorful magazine..

Easily one of my favorites.

Atlantida Project - BEZDNA (2016)

[BEZDNA cover art]

An atmospheric mix of hard electronic music and "White voice".

Their singer had passed away, but she has left quite a legacy - an album that is kind of universal (totally random people like it) and fits almost any atmosphere and mood.

Deadушки - PoR.no (2001)

[PoR.no cover art]

I believe this album is a part of an own, very unique cyberculture of 2000s russia, that has died pretty quick and has left only few artifacts after itself, including this album.

It is sort of hard for me to describe what is so special about it even.

Purple Motion - Tracked (1991-2000) (2019)

[Tracked (1991-2000) cover art]

Purple Motion is one of the famous tracker musicians. And this one is a collection of his early tracks, some of which inspired entire generation of tracker and electronic musicians. In fact, I first heard his Satellite One track as a remix by Ariel Gross in an arkanoid game called Tronic.

The album is not modules, of course, as spotify won't allow it, but most of them you can find on the web as modules.

Carbon Based Lifeforms - Interloper (2010)

[Interloper cover art]

My love for Ambient music started with this album. And it is still one of my favorite pieces - I can loop playback and listen it for hours.

It is really hard to pick a favorite album (but do I really have to?) of Carbon Based Lifeforms for me - I guess it all started with a song called Terpene.

Metric - Synthetica (2012)

[Synthetica cover art]

I can listen this one hundred times on repeat without getting tired of it. I first heard their music in form of Black Sheep song in Scott Pilgrim movie.