Monthly library update: December

Date published: 2024.12.31

You might notice I am using exclusively “I” instead of “we” in this entry (and possibly in future ones too). This is because some of us have voiced their discomfort with feeling pressured to use “we” instead of finding safety in “the shared ‘I’” – as we / I call the usage of singular for comfort purposes, rather than masking purposes. I’m switching to using the plural “I” by default in entries like this one to see if this manner of speaking can make the system as a whole more comfortable in the long run. If it doesn’t, I’ll eventually go back to “we”.

Simply speaking, unless otherwise specified, every “I” used by me is plural in nature, and encompasses all of our headmates. Speaking as a whole, rather than as part of a whole. Etc.

I started learning how to play lyre this month. You most likely already know that. There are, therefore, a bunch of resources related to music and the lyre specifically. I will put them in a separate category at the bottom of the page so that you can skip them if you’re uninterested. Or, if you’re very interested, you can click here and go there instantly!

Articles and essays 📰

Never Forgive Them

Substack is at it again. “Why on earth would you brag to your users that you've partnered with a bunch of protofascists?"

Coming Home to Paganism: Theory of Religious Conversion or a Theological Principle? ( direct link to download the article – you should be able to find it on Google if you don’t trust me)

A deeper dive into the “Studies show that 1% of people have DID” claim

Actually, it’s about Ethics in Transgenderism (the article is about the queerphobia (especially transmisogyny) in the tech side of Fediverse. it’s very long, but worth reading if you have a fedi account. this is… quite a big deal.)

Video essays 🎥

Business Books are (mostly) Religious Propaganda

Why Does Snow Level Music Sound COLD?

Romance Polish isn't real, it can't hurt you

RWBY Is Disappointing, And Here's Why

Music Theory and White Supremacy

Music 🎵

OMEN (Deluxe) – Kasia Lins

I have beef with Kasia Lins. I adore her voice, and some of her songs are so beautiful ( Śniłam, że jest spokój being my absolute favourite of hers), while I absolutely can’t stand others. Each album of hers has both songs I adore and songs I just kind of… nope out at. This one is no different. (That is to say: there are hidden gems here.) Funnily enough, I think if you don’t understand Polish you might enjoy this album more than I did, lol. Favourite song from the album: Trucizna.

Why Would Anyone Want to Live This Long? – The Republic Of Wolves

Can’t believe I missed out on this release last year and only found it this month due to the band releasing a new single. The Republic Of Wolves never disappoint (if you don’t know them then you definitely need to listen to Shrine), but I especially love how personal this album feels (grief motifs in art my beloved…). Favourite song from the album: Mictlāntēcutli.

Mentors – Fish in a Birdcage

The album we’ve been waiting for! Came out on the 20th of December as an early Christmas gift for us specifically. ~~Except for Teo, who ended up hating Badger so much we had to delete it from our music library.~~ Favourite song: Long Way Home.

Isle Of Dreaming – Kate Price

An older find. Teo might have had some issues with the previous album I’ve mentioned, but this one went straight to his chill playlist. Favourite track: the Phoenix.

ELZA2 – Elza Kanzaki

Some nice Japanese pop that was released this month. Favourite song: 革命 - Kakumei.

Suisenka OST – Sapporo Momoko

Yeah, this month I’m bringing you an OST from an old horror eroge visual novel. So what. The music fucking slaps. Neither me nor you are likely to ever play the game itself due to it being difficult to obtain & available only in Japanese, but here’s a nice video essay about it. Favourite track: 水仙の君.

(And yeah, I’m linking you to a pirate site because I literally couldn’t find the whole soundtrack anywhere else. It’s really obscure. A shame because it’s so fucking good)

Kingdom Two Crowns: Call of Olympus (Original Soundtrack) – Andreas Hald

You already know what I think about it. But then again, I am a lyre player.

Favourite track: Omphalos.

For ASTRA. – HACHI

Another nice J-pop album. Favourite track: VESTIGIA.

NOW I SEE THE LIGHT – toe

toe’s instrumentals are genuinely beautiful. Guitar is one of the most often played instruments in the world, but most of the time it sounds pretty bland and neutral to me (background noise basically); toe really do know how to play their guitars though. Thank you for being great musicians toe.

Favourite track: 風と記憶.

Books 📘

Mangas 📗

Bocchi the Rock!

Chill comedy manga about girls in a rock band. Believe it or not, I did not pick it up because of my increased interest in music this month. I picked it up because I was told it had extreme yuri vibes. And it does. Do what you will with this information.

Movies & TV shows 🎞️

The Mist

The movie is super mediocre (well, still better than the short story it was based on ← Stephen King hater voice) but the ending is so, so worth it. I swear. Go watch it now if you haven’t yet.

Games 🎮

Forza Horizon 4

Recommending this game after it’s already been delisted is a bit silly of me, but I can’t change the fact that I only picked it up 2 weeks before it was gone. You can probably still get the key for it somewhere, but yeah, you won’t buy it officially on Steam anymore. Sorry.

Regardless, the game is amazing. The open world was exactly what I needed – I do have some other (also already delisted) racing games, but none of them offer the experience of just… driving around an open world. The FH devs are not planning to abandon multiplayer anytime soon either. There is a large amount of cars to choose from (even without the DLCs – I didn’t get any), the graphics look great even on the lowest settings, and the seasons mechanic is super fun and makes the game less boring. 10/10, favourite racing game I own, highly recommended (if you manage to hunt it down somewhere lol).