Year in Review

A list of things that didn’t qualify as slop in 2025. There’s a loose thread of conviviality running through some of the things here that I would like to explore further in 2026.

Not Tech

Books

The Last Samurai

I can’t say that I’ve ever read anything quite like it. Both stunningly beautiful, laugh out loud funny, and full of fresh formal hijinks.

Benito Cereno

Melville saw clearly into the dark soul of America in a way that still sparks wonder and dread. A real historical event shaped into a flawless gem about freedom and its inverse.

I’ve been meaning to read this since I was 10 years old. The first book was an absolute delight. The second book was a complete slog. The third redeemed the second one by considerable measure. I took a break after that.

Parable of the Sower

Took way too long for me to get around to reading this. Reminded me of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road but way better and, you know, written thirteen years earlier. A very dark book and one to read closely in these interesting times.

Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination

Required reading for any lover of American literature. I don’t think about American writing in the same way on the other side of it.

Movies

Unknown Pleasures

One for the hard core film buffs. Two young men with absolutely no prospects and their misadventures. High art this one.

Music

Cocteau Twins

I did listen to a bit of music this year but not nearly as much as I should have. One standout is that I went through a good chunk of the Cocteau Twins catalog. I’m sad I arrived at it so late but also happy it’s fresh to my ears.

Autechre (Live)

I’m not a big Autechre head but thoroughly enjoyed seeing them live. They played in complete darkness for an hour and a half.

Writings Tools

Sailor Pro Gear Fountain Pen with 21K F nib

I’ve tried a bunch of fountain pens (Preppy, Kakuno, Lamy, TWISBI, Faber Castell) but the Sailor Pro Gear (and Slim) line is the only one I had any real connection with.

Midori B6 Notebook

After a year long flirt with the Hobonichi Cousin I decided it wasn’t for me. The paper and extra space is glorious but I take notes too sporadically and the planner format just wasn’t a good fit. The Midori B6 Notebook suits me better and the paper is glorious in its own way.

Music Tech

Convivial Hardware

Dirtywave M8 Model 2

A brilliant portable tracker labor of love created by one person. It recently got the ability to mount as a USB drive and stream 24 independent tracks of 24bit USB audio. It’s incredible what a 600mhz processor can do when there’s no cruft between you and your music.

Hordijk Modular System (2020)

Year five of living with this beast of a modern modular synth built using bespoke methods inspired by the original RA Moog Co. Factory. Nowhere near the bottom of this one. Rob Hordijk’s convivial approach to life and instrument building is something to strive for. He built his instruments so they could be learned and played over a lifetime.

Nerd Tech

Hardware

Kinesis Advantage360 Signature (Wireless)

Best computer related hardware upgrade I’ve made in 15 years. The 360 can be programmed via ZMK, I use Nick Coustos’ handy editor. One nice feature of a symmetrical keyboard is one-handed typing via mirroring. I’ve customized it so that holding down space presents the mirror layer.

The industrial design of the keyboard is a delight. I have two of them, one black with blank key caps and one black with steel blue key caps. I only need to charge the keyboard once every two months. Clearly built to last 10+ years, every bit of technology should be made this well.

DXT 3 Mouse

I spent some time with the Logictech Vertical MX mouse before switching. While the MX felt good, I don’t think it was actually was doing anything positive for my hands and the Logictech configuration app was effectively buggy malware. The DXT 3 design encourages holding it more like a stylus with a very light grip. I have two so I can easily switch hands. I’ve charged them once 6 months ago.

Software

SteerMouse

A lovely Japanese app for configuring your mouse. Just works.

Aerospace

A year and a half ago I got fed up with Apple’s window/app “management” tools and switched to Amethyst. Conceptually I liked it but it was just too buggy and slow. I switched to Aerospace: configuration in a text file and much snappier.

Emacs+

I used IntelliJ + Cursive for Clojure dev for a decade. Powerful combo and I would still highly recommend it for Clojure folks looking for a comprehensive IDE experience. But I never gave up on Emacs, all my thinking happens inside of org-mode. IntelliJ’s support for Emacs key bindings is impressive, but I finally got fed up with the various situations where it breaks down. I wiped my init.el clean and started rebuilding with modern packages. The new packages are simpler and significantly more composable. For Clojure work I have a fine set up without LSP, just Citre and flycheck-clj-kondo. I also picked up some new essential everyday tools: eww, avy, elpher, gnus, olivetti.

Not Slop