I watched #Shazam last night (somehow) for the first time, and of the DC films I've seen, it's my favorite by a mile! To be fair I still haven't seen Aquaman or Birds of Prey, but my guess is that Shazam will still be my favorite when I do. My (probably) luke warm takes, below 1/

I thought I'd like it but I didn't know I'd like it as much as i did. Setting it in Philly endears it to me even more! I adore Philadelphia, so when movies are set there it probably makes me like them a little more than I otherwise would. That's just a thing for me. 2/

I also feel this movie made me believe that regular people in this world love the other DC heroes, specifically Supes and Batman. It just felt like a given in this story when they were brought up. Like "yeah of course heroes exist here!" It was part of the fabric of this world 3/

In my own headcanon, until it's contradicted, this film takes place in an area of the multiverse seperate from the other films. One where things are a little less grim and Supes isnt at all conflicted about being Supes, Batman isn't a murderer, WW is I guess the same, idk. 4/

After I finished it I couldn't help but wonder what a DCEU would look like if this had been the 1st movie in the series. If DC wanted to start their world with the idea that all the big heroes already exist, this would have been a perfect way to introduce that concept! 5/

Now that the year is actually at the end and I have seen almost all the movies (haha not even close), I will list my favorites in no particular order in a thread no one will care about but me. But first, @letterboxd says there are 22,519 films released in the 2020s. Yikes. 1/?

#1 @MinariMovie by @A24 which is genuinely a movie I have thought about regularly since I saw it in January. Wider release in 2021 and do not sleep on this one. Gorgeous Korean American Arkansas farmer story of building a new future and generational gap. 😍🥰

#2 @nomadlandfilm by Chloe Zhao which is a sweeping hybrid film of the new American west and the death of the American dream. @Criterion needs to go ahead and collect. 3/?

#3 @americanutopia by Spike Lee brought us the reminder of music, theater, audiences, joy at a time when we needed it most. Oh David Byrne. Thank you.

#4 David Attenborough's A Life on Our Planet reminds us that Earth is a gorgeous place we are screwing up pretty royally. Cinematography alone worth a watch.

"What would you say if I asked you to run away with me?"

Asahi stills, the tip of his pencil hovering over his notebook, and looks up at Nishinoya seated across the table from him.

Nishinoya is staring out the window, chin propped in his right palm as he idly stirs the soda in

front of him with his left hand.

The question takes Asahi by surprise.

Noya had never asked anything like that before.

"What?"

Noya turns his head away from the water droplets streaking the glass window to fully look at Asahi. "If I said "Hey, Asahi-san, let's run away,"

what would you say?" Noya rephrases.

He's joking.

He's got to be.

After all, they're here right now helping Yuu study for his entrance exams in three months. They'll be in different courses, but Yuu is aiming for the same college as Asahi. Asahi's already been cleaning out

his spare room so Noya can move in with him until he finds a place in Tokyo.

Plans for the future have already been made, so Noya /must/ be joking.

But with the way Noya's watching him, waiting patiently for an answer, it doesn't feel like a joke.

"...I would say... that you

need to stop joking around and focus on your entrance exams." Asahi smiles, but it feels awkward, forced. "If you don't work a little harder on your math, you won't make it into the same college as me."

Noya watches him for another minute, and Asahi swallows, anxiety tying his

The following puts everything in a nice neat package. Lets do this! 🔥🔥🔥

THREAD: My top music picks for 2020. An ongoing tradition I’ve maintained for years, here are my favorite music projects of the year:

25: Brandy - B7
24: Lady Gaga - Chromatica
23: Niia - La Vita Bella
22: Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind
21: Grimes - Miss Anthropocene

20: Orion Sun - Hold Space For Me
19: Moses Sumney - Grae
18: Disclosure - Energy
17: Purity Ring - WOMB
16: Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

15: BOSCO - Some Day This Will All Make Sense / Car Therapy
14: Little Dragon - New Me, Same Us
13: Jessie Ware: What’s Your Pleasure?
12: Lido Pimienta - Miss Colombia
11: Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas

10: Durand Bernarr - Dur&
9: Allie X - Cape God
8: Shygirl - Alias
7: Empress Of - I’m Your Empress Of
6: Kllo - Maybe We Could

What I Read In 2020 (A Thread) [ Let me know if you read any of these because I want someone to talk to about these books or if you want my full thoughts on anything ]

So overall I read about 28 books and 11408 pages. I had an initial goal of 24 but lockdown kicked in and I also had some big boy books too. Here's as much as I can get into a single thread:

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris: The first Hannibal Lecter book. I've always been a fan of the Hannibal franchise so I enjoyed this book. I thoroughly enjoyed Francis Dollarhyde as a tragic villain. Very cool crime thriller.

Animal Farm by George Orwell: As much as I shitpost about 1984 and George Orwell, I do enjoy what works of his I have read. Very short endearing book about a bunch of animals that get into some wacky shenanigans.

Dune by Frank Herbert: This is the first Sci-Fi book I read of the year and what sparked that book club I set up early this year. I went on a bit of a Sci-Fi binge. Dune is a very well written book, the world building is really well done and I liked the big worms a lot.

I'm a nerd re: productivity systems, so here's a thread of some books and things that helped me this year, and might be helpful for some of you making New Year's resolutions:

I like books that use behavioral science and / or neuroscience to guide recommendations. To that end, @bjfogg 's Tiny Habits is really good. Maybe the best productivity book I read all year.

The best one I read last year was @jamesclear's Atomic Habits. It's a quick, easy read and it prompted me to start habit tracking, which has been really useful:

I don't have hyperactivity issues but I have big inattentive issues, so CBT strategies for adult ADHD have been very helpful for me. This one's a little pricey, but had some techniques that I hadn't seen before:

This one is about systematizing research and ideas using a methodology called Zettlekasten that was developed by a German sociologist.

What a year 2020 has been...

Earthquakes
Tsunamis
Cyclones
Floods
Volcanic eruptions
Massive forest fires
Unprecedented pandemic
Economic crisis
Social disharmony
Terrorist attacks
Armed conflicts and hostilities

A truly abysmal year, but thankfully, we survived...

We have also been spared much worse eventualities (so far), such as:
Solar storm
Nuclear war
Asteroid impact
Blazar

This has made me realise that our humble existence is an underappreciated facility.

This year seems to be a massive experiment in social engineering.

While coping with a sudden disruption in commercial activity leading to a brief spell of global socialism, we saw hijacked, outsourced and sponsored protests fuelled by social divisions and insecurities.

Personally, I experienced a complete collapse of my reward mechanism throughout this year, resulting in low motivation levels for prolonged periods. I couldn't even find the motivation to post much on social media.

It made me realise the incompetence of reward-oriented work.

Happiness (being home after 5 years) was in stark contrast of sorrow (loss of friends and family), effectively flattening any emotional upheaval.

From the yogic perspective (सुख-दुःखे समे कृत्वा), this was certainly an educational year but was devoid of satisfaction.

Good night, you wild bells of Maine, you Christs to be of New England.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

LIVE AMA THREAD 🧡 🧵

High level updates will be posted here 👍🏼

Alex says acceleration in AUM and users is the highest it has ever been 🔥

A special mention for the 24 hour community call setup by @dollarcostcrypt @Crypto_Flippin and @1trillionCEL from Zach. Alex attended and appreciates the effort from you guys!

Alex shows the “Channel of Dreams” created by @Crypto_Flippin 🔥

Pretty sure that name was created when @Crypto_Flippin and I were running together earlier in the year 🙌🏼

Alex confirms that Cardano #ADA will be added to Celsius wallet in Q2 of 2021 👍🏼

THREAD: 1) Hollywood Celebrities and the "Elites" (of DC & the Media) tell you it's an oppressive system because they not only preside over that system of YOUR oppression, they financially benefit from that illusion as they cash the check from their owner.

The Iron Law of Oligarchy:

The iron law of oligarchy is a political theory, first developed by the German sociologist Robert Michels in his 1911 book, 'Political Parties'.

It asserts that rule by an elite, or oligarchy, is inevitable as an "iron law" within any democratic organization as part of the "tactical and technical necessities" of an organization.

Michels's theory states that all complex organizations, regardless of how democratic they are when started, eventually develop into oligarchies. Michels observed that since no sufficiently large and complex organization can function purely as a direct democracy,

...power within an organization will always get delegated to individuals within that group, elected or otherwise.

Michels argues that democratic attempts to hold leadership positions accountable are prone to fail, since with power comes the ability to reward loyalty,

...the ability to control information about the organization, and the ability to control what procedures the organization follows when making decisions. All of these mechanisms can be used to strongly influence the outcome of any decisions made 'democratically' by members.

Ok. Here goes.

I track all my books at https://t.co/WLPKFEPoYK. I am going to go through the list and talk about the books I read in 2020 that struck me. Hopefully this won’t be 55 tweets long.

The first book I read in 2020 was this book about punk rock I think recommended by @dansinker

I love books about music and especially music that I enjoy. I learned a lot reading this book and it introduced me to a number of bands. Was fun.

I will read anything by Ken Liu. This collections is wonderful. The story “The Paper Menagerie” broke my heart. I loved it so so much.

A friend recommended Infinite Detail and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I often think about the techno utopian world that we have build and what will happen in the future. This book details a very bizarre and weird future building on a lot of those ideals.

I loved reading this book. I didn’t really know anything about Jessica Simpson before - but really enjoyed her autobiography. Who knew!

So I finished reading The Velvet Rage today( I think it was Owen Jones who first put it on my radar) and it's been on my wishlist for a while, I had some extra cash thanks to some stocks I'd invested in so I decided to treat myself.
I have some thoughts™ (thread)

First off, the beginning chapters of this book are very good. They describe an experience growing up gay that I as a self identified queer man can vibe with. Even in a supportive household queer kids learn all too quickly what is and isn't acceptable parts of themselves to show

It stresses the book is writing very clearly about the gay male experience and acknowledges that the broad strokes it paints with could apply to lesbians too but are expressed in different ways. No acknowledgement is made however in highlighting the exp of non cis, non white gays

Topping that off, the book feels horribly upper middle class; talk of clients from executive backgrounds being ashamed of who they are. That may not be the experience of every gay. Theres also an assumption that most gays come from a home with a caring mother and distant father

It takes a certain view on non-monogamy and promiscuity, framing it as a symptom of trying to overcompensate for a lack of validation in teen years and while that's certainly probably the case for some, it doesn't frame anything other than monogamy as intrinsically rewarding.