Collage of books I read in 2011! See also my Goodreads profile.
Put together a list of sites and software that have come in handy in managing my own life and projects. Click through to see the full details - I’ve provided a run-down below.
Lists and Storage:
Listography allows you to make color-coded and topically arranged lists that are public or private as you choose. Great for to-do lists, lists of on-going projects, lists of thematically sorted links or ideas, and sharing lists with others.
Listography is not so great for unwieldy collections of links and assorted ideas. Evernote is much better for that, which allows you to quickly ‘clip’ an article, a link, or a full page and assign tags to help you find what you’re looking for later. I use a combination of Listography and Evernote to keep my immediate to-do items organized, store wish lists, and share lists of links with others (Listography) and quickly (and privately) store lots of articles, pictures, and links to access later (Evernote).
DropBox is what I use for sharing files that I will need to access elsewhere or collaborate with others on since managing permissions is easy and I can access my files on my own laptop as well as on-line from anywhere else (on one phone, too, if one has that capability). I use OpenDrive for music links.
Research and Learning:
WorldCat.org, “the World’s largest library catalog”. You can type in keywords, such as author and title names, and when you find what you’re looking for (easy since WorldCat has many options to help restrict your search), it will display a list of libraries near you that have the item in their collection and links to the catalogs of these libraries so you can find out the item’s call number and where to find it.
Google Books, Project Gutenberg, and Internet Archive
On the more explicitly learning-centric front, Anki is an excellent digital flash card program using a spaced repetition system (meaning, you’ll see flash cards more often that you’ve marked as not knowing or not knowing as well, and you’ll see flash cards less often that you’ve marked as knowing well).
Text: Creating and sharing text.
OpenOffice is the suite of programs I use on my laptop. Google Docs is what I use on the web and to easily access my documents (and make private or share, as desired) from anywhere without having to burn them to a disc, e-mail them to myself, or use a memory stick.
Creative Resources:
Audacity (sound recording and editing),COLOURlovers (for exploring colors, palettes, and patterns), and GIMP (a free alternative to Photoshop).
Everything Else:
SourceForge: Over 300,000 open source software projects are included here which range from celestial simulations (Stellarium)to FTP Clients (FileZilla). Narrow down your results to find exactly the type of software you’re looking for.
Since this is a meme going around…my top 25 games of all time! A bit tentative, the ones on the end there, since it wasn’t too long ago that I played them, but they are strong contenders. Top 20 are pretty much set in stone by now.
My most-listened to in 2010 / inspired to do one of these from trastorn
Marilyn Roxie’s Top Albums of 2010 (A Future in Noise)
1. The Black Keys - Brothers
2. Natural Snow Buildings - The Centauri Agent
3. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
4. Manic Street Preachers - Postcards from a Young Man
5. TwinSisterMoon - …And Then Fell the Ashes
6. Isengrind - Modlitewnik
7. Goldfrapp - Head First
8. Dead Times - I Love Myself and I Want to Live
9. Kisses - Kisses
10. Gorillaz - The Fall
11. Sleigh Bells - Sleigh Bells
12. LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening
13. Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid
14. Richey Hackett - Void Songs
15. Grinderman - Grinderman 2
16. The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter
17. Adam Green - Minor Love
18. Mad Sin - Burn & Rise
19. Mark Sultan - $
20. Brandon Flowers - Flamingo
21. Dean and Britta - 13 Most Beautiful
22. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
23. Beach House - Teen Dream
24. Connan Mockasin - Please Turn Me Into the Snat
25. Tamaryn - Waves
2006
1. Adam Green - Jacket Full of Danger
2. The Knife - Silent Shout
3. Belbury Poly - The Owl’s Map
4. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
5. Archie Bronson Outfit - Derdang Derdang
6. Ratatat - Classics
7. Natural Snow Buildings - The Dance of the Moon and the Sun
8. Hot Chip - The Warning
9. Nicky Wire - I Killed the Zeitgeist
10. Dirty Pretty Things - Waterloo to Anywhere
11. Zero 7 - The Garden
12. The Young Knives - Voices of Animals and Men
13. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
14. The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love
15. The Black Keys - Magic Potion2007
1. Chromatics - IV: Night Drive
2. HEALTH - HEALTH
3. Deerhunter - Cryptograms
4. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
5. The Horrors - Strange House
6. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
7. A Place to Bury Strangers - A Place to Bury Strangers
10. !!! - Myth Takes
11. Coconut Records - Nighttiming
12. TwinSisterMoon - When Stars Glide Through Solid
13. Babyshambles - Shotter’s Nation
14. Radiohead - In Rainbows
15. Beastie Boys - The Mix-Up
20081. thenewno2 - You Are Here
2. The Fall - Imperial Wax Solvent
3. Isengrind / TwinSisterMoon / Natural Snow Buildings - The Snowbringer Cult
4. The Kills - Midnight Boom
5. Adam Green - Sixes & Sevens
6. Burnt Fur - Unfurl
7. Blood Red Shoes - Box of Secrets
8. Department of Eagles - In Ear Park
9. Mt. Moon - A Burial in Seven Births
10. Panda steps in chocolate - Just Pretend You’re a Pegasus
11. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
12. The Legendary Pink Dots - Plutonium Blonde
13. Cheveu - Cheveu
14. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair
15. The Advisory Circle - Other Channels
2009
1. The Horrors - Primary Colours
2. TwinSisterMoon - The Hollow Mountain
3. Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
4. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
5. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
6. Natural Snow Buildings - Daughter of Darkness
7. Blank Dogs - Under and Under
8. La Roux - La Roux
9. Natural Snow Buildings - Shadow Kingdom
10. Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
2001
1. The Strokes - Is This It
2. Rufus Wainwright - Poses
3. The Fall - Are You Are Missing Winner
4. Manic Street Preachers - Know Your Enemy
5. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
6. Ladytron - 604
7. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Bravery, Repetition & Noise
8. The Beta Band - Hot Shots II
9. Alicia Keys - Songs in A Minor
10. Gorillaz - Gorillaz
11. Le Tigre - Feminist Sweepstakes
12. Muse - Origin of Symmetry
13. Robots in Disguise - Robots in Disguise
14. Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World
15. William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops
2002
1. The Libertines - Up the Bracket
2. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
3. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
4. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
5. The Young Knives - …Are Dead
6. Les Rallizes Dénudés - Heavier Than a Death in the Family
7. Doves - The Last Broadcast
8. Beck - Sea Change
9. Susumu Yokota - The Boy and The Tree
10. Ladytron - Light & Magic
11. Devendra Banhart - Oh Me Oh My… The Way the Day Goes by the Sun Is Setting Dogs Are Dreaming Lovesongs of the Christmas Spirit
12. Tom Waits - Alice
13. Glifted - Under and In
14. Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
15. Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy X: Piano Collections
2003
1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever to Tell
2. The Fall - The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
3. Goldfrapp - Black Cherry
4. The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?
5. Rufus Wainwright - Want One
6. The White Stripes - Elephant
7. Adam Green - Friends of Mine
8. The Kills - Keep on Your Mean Side
9. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
10. Blur - Think Tank
11. Room on Fire - The Strokes
12. Massive Attack - 100th Window
13. Lighting Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow
14. Jay-Z - The Black Album
15. The Rapture - Echoes
2004
1. Death From Above 1979 - You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine
2. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
3. The Libertines - The Libertines
4. The Killers - Hot Fuss
5. Manic Street Preachers - Lifeblood
6. The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
7. The Skygreen Leopards - One Thousand Bird Ceremony
8. Belbury Poly - The Willows
9. The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives
10. Madvillain - Madvillainy
11. Mark Lanegan - Bubblegum
12. Beastie Boys - To the 5 Boroughs
13. Interpol - Antics
14. Mission of Burma - ONoffON
15. Susumu Yokota - Symbol
20051. Gorillaz - Demon Days
2. The Kills - No Wow
3. Paul McCartney - Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
4. Adam Green - Gemstones
5. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
6. Grouper - Way Their Crept
7. LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
8. The Fall - Fall Heads Roll
9. Boris - Pink
10. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan
11. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
12. Franz Ferdnand - You Could Have it So Much Better
13. Patrick Wolf - Wind in the Wires
14. Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze
15. Beck - Guero
WOOT. It’s finally finished, my top 15 album picks for each year of the 2000s. I’ll be queuing them up here, but you can get the full selection all at once here: http://www.afutureinnoise.com/2009/12/favorite-albums-of-2000s.html
If there’s anything I’ve left of of these lists that I may not of heard that you think I might like, feel free to recommend them!
2000
1. The White Stripes - De Stijl
2. Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain
3. Radiohead - Kid A
4. Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy IX
5. Air - The Virgin Suicides
6. Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica
7. Rage Against the Machine - Renegades
8. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
9. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
10. Broadcast - The Noise Made By People
11. Cat Power - The Covers Record
12. The Fall - The Unutterable
13. Outkast - Stankonia
14. Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun
15. XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 1)
YES. This post is finally complete - I’ve been procrastinating on my list and description. Boo-yah! You can read up on why we chose what we did over here:
http://www.afutureinnoise.com/2009/11/afin-teams-top-albums-of-2009.html
1. The Horrors - Primary Colours
2. TwinSisterMoon - The Hollow Mountain
3. Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
4. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
5. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
6. Natural Snow Buildings - Daughter of Darkness
7. Blank Dogs - Under and Under
8. La Roux - La Roux
9. Natural Snow Buildings - Shadow Kingdom
10. Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
Top 10 Independent Artist Submissions 2009:
1. Panda steps in chocolate - Creep of the Crop
2. Dead Times - Midnight Glass
3. E.K. Wimmer - The Invisible Audience
4. Caddywhompus - EPs
5. Oh Ne - Netzeband Gliterwelt
6. L’Avventura - Your Star Was Shining
7. The Long Afternoon - Signifying Nothing
8. Jordan Galland - Airbrush
9. Anton Rothschild - The Diffident
10. Seeland - Tomorrow Today
Top 3 EPs:
1. Spectrum - War Sucks
2. Spider and the Flies - Something Clockwork This Way Comes
3. John Carpenter - Possibilities
1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
2. The Horrors - Primary Colours
3. Marilyn Roxie - New Limerent Object
4. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
5. Panda steps in chocolate - Creep of the Crop
6. Atlas Sound - Logos
7. The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa
8. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
9. Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor
10. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
11. (Honourable Mention) Florence + the Machine – Lungs
1. The Whitest Boy Alive – Rules
2. Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
3. Lungs – Florence & The Machine
4. The Phenomenal Handclap Band – The Phenomenal Handclap Band
5. Nathan Fake – Hard Islands (EP)
(/and from the world of under-represented music…/)
6. Marilyn Roxie - New Limerent Object
7. Orioles – Let me be your partner
8. Jack Mountain – Conquest of the Planet of Rockers
1. R. Stevie Moore - Sentimental Ties
2. Marilyn Roxie - New Limerent Object
3. Julian Casablancas - Phrazes for the Young
4. Charlotte Hatherley - New Worlds
5. Micachu - Jewellery
6. Chester French - Love the Future
7. HEALTH - Get Color
8. John Frusciante - The Empyrean
9. Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
10. Blank Dogs - Under and Under
11. (Honourable Mention) The Powdered Cows and the Toy Throat Alarm Clock - S/T
I’ll do a bigger list closer to year’s end…this is tentative:
1. and 2. The Horrors - Primary Colours / Panda steps in chocolate - Creep of the Crop (it’s currently a tie)
3. TwinSisterMoon - The Hollow Mountain
4. Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
5. Dead Times - Midnight Glass
6. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
7. Fever Ray - Fever Ray
8. Natural Snow Buildings - Daughter of Darkness
9. Blank Dogs - Under and Under
10. La Roux - La Roux
