I've never really been one for putting booze in the stuff, but good God do I love a glass of egg nog. For best results, serve with way too much cinnamon on top and a mincemeat tart or two.

Grimes is so good. "Flesh Without Blood" is what got me hooked.

I bought Floor Kids on launch day after months of anticipation, and I haven't been disappointed. It's a rhythm game, which I haven't played many of. But I really appreciate Floor Kids' more freeform style and WarioWare-like gameplay loop.

Believe it or not, you're hearing a trumpet and a male voice on this track:

That's the way I'm leaning. When things got really bad for me, Facebook was a top tier time waster.

I've been rediscovering a love of jazz lately, and picked up John Coltrane's My Favorite Things.

I usually have to take my time with Dickens, but this last one took months. I just couldn't seem to get into a good rhythm with it.

I like the name, Dragon's Teeth. What's it about?

Historical fiction about the Bone Wars. It's a previously unpublished manuscript, so it's in need of some editing, but I'm digging it so far.

And what's the biography of the Buddha called?

I thought maybe I was forgetting a subtitle or something, but the book's just called Buddha.

Finished Oliver Twist a little while ago after reading it off and on for the last few months. I enjoyed the book, but found it very slow going for some reason.

At the moment, I'm reading Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton and trying to get myself started on Karen Armstrong's biography of the historical Buddha.

I didn't realize the shark was CG. One less hour of my life to spend on TV, I guess.

The Strokes' "Last Nite" is the only song I've found that I sound decent singing. Once you've had enough to drink, the Julian Casablancas impression comes naturally.

A lot of the article seems to take the tone that we definitely know for sure this time, even though we thought we definitely knew for sure before.

I really haven't seen the spam that's got you so riled up. Care to share a few examples?

There's definitely a basis for criticising cultural appropriation in situations like what you're describing. I think the real problem with appropriation arises when ignorance comes into it. White people making burritos is fine, wearing a ceremonial Native American headdress to Coachella, simply because it looks cool, isn't.

Overwhelmingly, I get the impression that the definition of cultural appropriation is "cultural exchange that I don't like".

I found that first photo of the penguins very striking. It really gives you a sense of both the incredible beauty and the daunting conditions that Ballesta describes. Those penguins look so small and fragile.

I'll second Com Truise. He's got a really great atmospheric sound that I don`t hear in a lot of other synthwave music.

It never occurred to me to take notes on anything I'm reading for pleasure, but lately I've been thinking maybe I should. At least for non-fiction. I'm reading Gifts of the Crow at the moment and finding the neuroscience a little difficult to retain. Just the act of writing something down seems to help, even if I don't spend much reviewing.

It took a few days for me to get into it, but Arcade Fire - Everything Now has really grown on me.

I found this series of videos on samples in popular songs, which led me down a rabbit hole that eventually led to discovering Breakwater - Release the Beast. It was heavily sampled by Daft Punk for Robot Rock, but I really think Release the Beast is a far superior song.

Luft believes the results disrupt the notion of creativity, pointing out that the negative stimulation would not boost efforts in cases where individuals need to keep track of a number of different things at the same time. “It would be beneficial to think ‘what exactly do I need to be creative on this task’ rather than how to improve creativity in general,” she said.

I think this is one of the most important points of the results. Creative thinking and creative work are two different things, and this study does a good job of reminding us of the role that both reasoning and creative thinking play in creative work. Shutting off part of your brain can be great for solving individual tricky problems, but it's tough to take your ideas anywhere without that more logical, rule-following side.

Funny, I was about to say The Doors are underrated. It seems like popular opinion has really turned against them in the last few years.

Some atmospheric electronic music with a good beat:

Tunnelvisions - Tanami

The Black Madonna - A Jealous Heart Never Rests

... and some with no beat at all:

Isao - Tomita

I'd forgotten just how much I like Sleepy Sun, and "Seaquest" is really getting me pumped for the new album. Also got my cassette player working again just long enough to listen to an EP by The Abandos that I bought months ago.

I still haven't gotten around to the full album, but I had the singles on heavy rotation a couple summers ago. "Disciples" especially stuck with me.

Can't find a YouTube link, but I'm really digging the new Trans Am EP, California Hotel.

I have basically the opposite reaction. It really rubs me the wrong way when companies use any kind of political ideals, progressive or not, to promote themselves. On the other hand, I think the fact that a piece of art can be responded to and have its meaning changed is what makes it interesting. Of course, not being the artist himself, it's easy for me to say that.

I picked up WarioWare Touched and played through the story mode this weekend. The demo was actually the first game in the series I played, back when the DS first came out. EB Games had it set up, and I completely forgot what I went in for. The two GBA installments are some of my favourite games on the console, and Touched doesn't disappoint.

As always, I've been playing a lot of NHL 2K10. With the right gameplay sliders, it's probably the best hockey sim I've played. I let up a little with a 4-2 lead last night and paid the price, having to finish the game in overtime. There are no shortcuts to victory, just as it should be.

I remember finding Arlo Guthrie's greatest hits album in among my parent's old cassettes when I was younger and immediately falling in love with this song.

"Everybody Wants To Rule the World" might be a perfect song.

I'll cast a vote for Golem xiv, just because I've been meaning to get around to reading some Lem. I'd also suggest some Bradbury, maybe one of the stories from The Martian Chronicles.

I'm interested in joining. It'll be good to have some people to discuss these things with.