(I haven't been accepted to all of these yet, but I'm linking them anyway)
This is my page for all of my favorite stuff: software, music, albums, TV shows/movies, anime/manga, books, artists...you get the idea. Use the sidebar to navigate between categories. Once I make pages for my shrines and EDC I'll link them here too. Under construction!!
Basics
| Operating System | Linux Mint |
I've been using Linux Mint for about three years now. It was the first Linux distro I tried way back when I did a dual-boot install on my gaming laptop. In the time since I've tried Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Fedora but didn't like any of them. Mint just works, but has enough modularity I can tinker away with. Perfect for new and experienced Linux users. The community is super helpful too. See also: Website | Official Forums | r/linuxmint | Fanlisting |
Desktop Environment | Cinnamon |
This is the Mint team's in-house DE and ships pre-installed on Mint, so it was the first non-Windows DE I tried. I like how it retains the same feeling as Windows, which I always preferred over Mac. I've also tried KDE and GNOME. They both felt clunky and didn't come naturally to me (if you like Mac, you'll probably like GNOME). Now whenever I test-drive a new distro I always look for a Cinnamon flavor. Note that Mint also comes shipped with MATE and Xfce, as well as a Debian-based edition (LMDE). See also: Cinnamon Spices | cinnamon-look.org |
| Browswer | Firefox | Not much to say about this one. I've been using Firefox since I first got online. Here's an old screenshot to prove it. It's been my one constant across all of my different computers, operating systems, mobile devices, etc. It's my ride or die. I'm not too bothered by recent developments in how it handles user data (which to their credit is aggregated and stripped of personal information, and you can disable telemetry anyway in the settings). I'd rather use Firefox and beef up privacy with add-ons than get something private out-of-the-box but Chromium-based. |
| Email Client | Thunderbird | I never used a desktop email client before I got on Linux, but now that I have one I can't imaging going without. A desktop client is just a lot neater than a web client, and more streamlined too. With Thunderbird, I can keep all of my different email platforms and aliases together in one space. It also has a lot of great extensions and theme options. They recently put out a mobile version too! |
| Email Host | Fastmail | I switched to Fastmail after I decided to deGoogle. I also tried Proton but didn't like it as much. Fastmail's alias system is really convenient and allows me to silo web communications between all of my different accounts across many platforms in one place. Highly recommend. |
| FTP | Filezilla | I started using this when I first got my N3DS because I didn't want to keep removing the back plate to take out the SD card. Now I also use it to transfer files from my phone to my PC, as well as upload local .HTML and .CSS files to my Nekoweb server. Simple interface, intuitive to use, and just works. I like how you can keep a history of servers and load into them with one click. Makes webdev stuff a breeze. |
| VPN | Mullvad | I've been using Mullvad for years now. It's the only paid VPN I've tried. Great value and works well. |
| Cloud Storage | MEGA | I signed up to MEGA as part of my deGoogle effort. It's slick, easy, and offers a desktop client that backs up folders in real-time. I use a Solid Explorer plugin on my phone to create a mobile directory too for stuff I want accessible across devices. |
Downloads
| Torrent Client | qBittorrent | Not much to say. I used to use Bittorrent when I was a kid and dumb. Now I use qBittorrent. |
| Video/Audio Downloads | yt-dlp | Scrapes audio/video from different websites. Requires a little terminal know-how but nothing too daunting. I just copy and paste the same commands. Use with a VPN. |
| Video/Audio File Converter | Videomass | Converts audio and video files, helpful in conjunction with yt-dlp. I mostly use it to make .MP3s. |
Writing
| Text Editor | Sublime Text | I've tried several text editors (emacs, VSCode, Vim, etc) but always come back to Sublime. It just works. Simple, clean, and fast. Has a whole depository of plugins, tools, and themes. I use HTML5, MarkdownEditing, and the Gruvbox Material theme. |
| Distraction-Free Writing | FocusWriter | I've used FocusWriter since I was in high school. It's my favorite program to churn out drafts or free-write. Very clean interface with no frills, allows for custom themes. Exports line breaks and italics better than LibreOffice, but doesn't offer much else by way of formatting. |
| Word Processor | LibreOffice Writer | I don't use this as much, but if I ever need something formatted a particular way or printed I throw it into LibreOffice. |
Art
| Digital Drawing/Painting | Krita | I've been using Krita for three or four years now, after leap-frogging between Sai, GIMP, ClipPaintStudio, etc. It's an amazing piece of software considering it's all free and open-source. Community is great. Tons of modularity and flexibility with the UI, plugins, etc. I will never use another art program again. |
| Photo Manipulation | GIMP | I keep GIMP around for basic photo manipulation, scaling, file conversion, etc. |
| Color Picker/Color Scheme Generator | Gpick | Came pre-installed on Mint and I instantly fell in love. I use it to create color scheme files for my website and blog, as well as generate color schemes to use for painting/drawing, web design, etc. I didn't know I wanted software like this until I used it. |
Music Management
| Music Player | musikcube | TUI-based music library and player. Super lightweight and a breeze to use. |
| CD Ripper | Asunder | I use this to rip my CD collection. I've ripped nearly 50 CDs and only had a few tracks go wonky, but that was more of a problem with the disks than the program. It's nice to see software like this still maintained these days. |
| Metadata Editor | MusicBrainz Picard | GUI for the MusicBrainz database. I run all my music through this before I put it into musikcube or upload it to my MP3 player. |
Photography
| Photo Library/Editor | Pix | Ships with Mint. Very convenient for uploading files from my camera's SD card. Organizes directories well and is much easier to navigate large batches of images than a basic file explorer. Also has a robust image viewer and basic editor. I don't often need to do much else besides tweak gamma/contrast/curves so it works for my purposes. |
Reading & Studying
| PDF Annotation/Reader | xournal++ | Lightweight, renders PDFs well, handles my Thinkpad Yoga's stylus and touch input fine. Makes highlighting/annotating a breeze. Have yet to test out much of it's digital note-taking/journaling features yet. |
Released: 1991 | Genre: Math rock | Favorite track: Washer
This record changed my life, and remains my number one album of all time.
Its lyrics and sound are meticulously crafted, characterized by quiet, haunting refrains that get churned into crunchy, fuzzy, velvety explosions of sonic catharsis. The conception of the album itself is marked by legends of the band members' mental breakdowns and psychological ruin.
All of its members had been previously active in Punk, Hardcore, and/or Metal projects. This is made obvious when you listen to Slint's lesser-known first album, Tweez, an experimental project in which each of its tracks are named after a band member's father or mother. Within its sound is a grotesque irreverence inspired by the likes of Fugazi and squeezed through a barely-constrained pretense of music, produced by none other than Steve Albini (of In Utero fame).
The deposit that resulted from Tweez's filtering became the soil for Spiderland. Its starting track, Breadcrumb Trail, a vaguely analogous story about a boy and a girl fortune teller riding a rollercoaster, acts as a prologue for not only the album as a whole, but Slint's newly refined sound, which features spoken word interludes intersected with raw, throaty screams of post-adolescent confusion and anguish, as well as patterns of soft-hard/slow-fast instrumentality.
Jarringly concluded in the closing track Good Morning, Captain, Spiderland isn't just a progenitor of MathRock, but a masterpiece in its own right, and a timeless confrontation with your own subconscious.
Listen
Every time I ever cried for fear
It was just a mistake that I made
Wash yourself in your tears
And build your church
On the strength of your faith
Released: 1995 | Genre: Alt-rock | Favorite track: The Bends
I discovered Radiohead as an early teen while listening to Death Note playlists on 8tracks that I had found from Tumblr. If you followed any of that sentence, congratulations, you are old like me.
I can't remember what songs I heard first. I think it was something from Amnesiac. After that I went to OK Computer, which I consider to be the most "Radiohead" album and therefore the perfect gateway to their discography. From there I went backwards to The Bends and forward to Hail to the Thief, then explored the rest of their catalogue. FWIW, I think the best Radiohead album is A Moon Shaped Pool, but The Bends remains my favorite.
I love everything about this album. I'm a huge 90s rock fan and absolutely adore how grunge-y it is whilst still retaining the special sauce that makes Radiohead, well, Radiohead. The lyrics are though-provoking yet catchy, and all the tracks are underlined with weird, esoteric instrumentality that somehow blends right in to its poppy overtures, a dynamic that forever see-saws throughout the rest of Radiohead's albums.
Most of all, I love how well the album illustrates youthful melancholy and the weird vestigial optimism that manages to squeeze through its cracks. The record's subject matter is depressing, yet its sound is as jubilant as at is mournful. Both elements are juggled between acoustic-electric guitar and bass riffs, dictated by whisper-soft retrospectives and enraged manifestos that explode into full-chested closing statements accompanied by sweeping string sections, harmonized synths, raucous drums, crunchy guitar, and fuzzy bass.
Listen
I wanna live, breathe
I wanna be a part of the human race
Where do we go from here?
The words are coming out all weird
Where are you now when I need you?
Released: 2024 | Genre: Alt-pop | Favorite track: Birds of a Feather
I wasn't a huge Billie Eilish fan before this album released. I didn't dislike her by any means, she just wasn't on my radar. I was old enough to be turned off by her "edgy teen" aesthetic when her debut dropped, so I never heard much outside of Bad Guy. When Happier Than Ever came out I gave it a cursory listen but it didn't leave an impression either. Then came HIT ME HARD AND SOFT. It's now one of my most listened-to albums ever, and I consider it to be an absolute masterpiece; it's also made me more sympathetic to her earlier discography. I'm not as obsessed with her first EP and debut album—although they each have some really good tracks—but I have since come around to Happier Than Ever and like it nearly as much as HMHAS.
The record is a huge accomplishment—for Billie as a vocalist, FINNEAS as a producer (whose own solo works I really enjoy), and both of them as a creative duo. Pretty much all of my favorite albums involve unique sonic atmospheres; the one these two constructed together is nearly beyond belief given their age. To have such strong musical instincts so early on in their careers is very exciting. I can't want to see what else they make together and individually.
There's so much to bite into between Billie's vocals and FINNEAS'S arrangements. Every track is intricately layered and masterfully plotted out from start to finish. I feel like I hear something new every time I listen to it, which for me has only happened once before with Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool. It's just a super slick, tight record. You can hear how meticulously it was made. Nothing goes to waste, and everything is intentional.
Birds of a feather
We should stick together, I know
I said I'd never
Think I wasn't better alone
Can't change the weather
Might not be forever
But if it's forever, it's even better
