Example: I'd like to learn more about wine¹, but it seems very complicated and its hard to tell what's "real" and what's just stuff people have made up to be pretentious.

1. I recognize this isn't a "hobby" per se but I think it fits best in this group

Here's a list of a lot of things that came out in this past week, including many which are set to release on Friday. Of course, there's no way to be completely comprehensive with this and I avoided including things where information was too lacking, so feel free to mention anything that isn't on here that you think is worth mentioning. Beyond that, if you have any thoughts of any of these albums, it would be great to hear them :)

(oh and don't bully me for the genre tags, a lot of these things have very limited resources available and I couldn't individually listen to everything and determine what fits best, so I'm pulling from third parties and an artist's past work a lot of the time)

American Football - American Football (Midwest Emo)

Andrew Bird - My Finest Work Yet (Chamber Pop, Singer/Songwriter)

Anteros - When We Land (Indie Pop)

Aoratos - Gods Without Name (Black Metal)

Apparat - LP5 (Techno)

Aubrey Logan - Where The Sunshine Is Expensive (Vocal Jazz)

Avey Tare - Cows on Hourglass Pond (Neo-Psychedelia, Psychedelic Folk)

Bad Suns - Mystic Truth (Alternative Rock, Indie Pop)

Ballout - T.I. (Drill)

Battle Beast - No More Hollywood Endings (Heavy Metal, Power Metal)

Bill MacKay - Fountain Fire (Folk Rock)

Blue Angels - Sue EP (Ambient Folk)

Bonnie Tyler - Between The Earth And The Stars (Pop Rock)

Brian Carpenter’s Beat Circus - These Wicked Things (Avant Prog, Dark Cabaret)

Brim Liski - Duels (Shoegaze, Electronica)

Cellar Darling - The Spell (Folk Metal)

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - Ancestral Recall (Jazz Fusion)

Crows - Silver Tongues (Post Punk)

Dean Lewis - A Place We Knew (Singer-Songwriter, Pop)

Delta Heavy - Only in Dreams (Drumstep)

Dominanz - Let The Death Enter (Death Metal)

Donna Grantis (of 3rdEyeGirl) - Diamonds & Dynamite (Hard Rock)

Dos Monos - Dos City (Experimental Hip Hop)

Emily Wells - This World Is Too ____ For You (Chamber Pop)

Everglow - Arrival of Everglow (K-Pop, Dance-Pop)

Ex Hex - It's Real (Power Pop, Alternative Rock)

Extortionist - Sever the Cord (Deathcore)

Famous Dex - Wave Creator (Trap Rap, Pop Rap)

Flora Cash - Press (Indie Folk)

Flume - Hi This Is Flume (Wonky)

Fred Everything - Long Way Home (Deep House)

From Sorrow to Serenity - Reclaim (Deathcore, Groove Metal, Metalcore)

Heize - She's Fine (K-Pop, Contemporary R&B)

Ian Daniel Kehoe - Secret Republic (Pop)

Ibibio Sound Machine - Doko Mien (Afro-Funk)

Jayda G - Significant Changes (Deep House)

Jenny Lewis - On the Line (Pop Rock, Indie Pop)

Jeon Se Woon - Plus Minus Zero (K-Pop)

Johnny Booth - Firsthand Accounts (Metalcore)

Kevin Garrett - Hoax (Singer-Songwriter)

La Casa Azul - La Gran Esfera (Bubblegum, Indie Pop)

La Dispute - Panorama (Emo)

Lafawndah - Ancestor Boy (Alternative R&B, Art Pop)

Lambchop - This (is what I wanted to tell you) (Sophisti-Pop, Art Pop)

Leiva - Nuclear (Pop)

Lil Xan - Heartbreak Soldiers pt. 2 (Trap Rap, Emo Rap)

Lil Yee - Live 4 It, Die 4 It EP (West Coast Hip Hop)

Lucy Rose - No Words Left (Singer/Songwriter, Contemporary Folk)

Luther Dickinson And Sisters Of The Strawberry Moon - Solstice (Southern Rock, Blues)

Mary Lattimore And Mac McCaughan (of Superchunk) - New Rain Duets (Electroacoustic)

Matt Anderson - Halfway Home By Morning (Blues)

Maverick Sabre - When I Wake Up (Neo-Soul)

Mayfield - Careless Love (Post-Hardcore)

Meridian - Margin of Error (Heavy Metal)

Momoland - Show Me (K-Pop, Dance-Pop)

NAV - Bad Habits (Alternative R&B, Trap Rap, Pop Rap)

Niggght - Violent Delicacy EP (Doom Metal, Blues)

Nilüfer Yanya - Miss Universe (Indie Pop, Indie Rock)

No Win - Downey (Indie Rock, Power Pop)

Obsidian Sea - Strangers (Progressive Rock)

Orville Peck - Pony (Singer/Songwriter, Alt-Country)

Parting Gift - Ensom (Alternative Rock)

PnB Rock - TrapStar Turnt PopStar (Trap Rap)

Problem Daughter - Grow Up Trash (Pop Punk)

Queen Key - Eat My Pussy Again (Trap Rap)

RPWL - Tales From Outer Space (Progressive Rock)

Rachael Sage - PseudoMyopia (Singer Songwriter)

Red Sun Rising - Peel EP (Post Grunge)

Rich the Kid - The World Is Yours 2 (Trap Rap, Southern Hip Hop)

Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor (Gothic Country, Gothic Rock, Post-Punk)

Robin Trower - Coming Closer To Day (Blues Rock)

Ruth B - Maybe I'll Find You Again (Singer/Songwriter)

Sermon - Birth of the Marvellous (Alternative Metal, Progressive Rock)

Shawn James - The Dark & The Light (Contemporary Rock)

Shlohmo - The End (Electronic)

Sleep In. - The Stars On Your Ceiling (Emo)

Sleeper - The Modern Age (Britpop)

Slow Caves - Falling (Indie Rock)

Spiral Stairs (Pavement’s Scott Kannberg) - We Wanna Be Hyp-No-Tized (Alternative Rock)

Stillhound - Stillhound (House, Indie Rock)

Strand of Oaks - Eraserland (Indie Folk, Indie Rock)

Suzi Wu - Error 404 EP (Indie Pop)

Taali - I Am Here (Art Pop)

Tamaryn - Dreaming The Dark (Synth Pop, Dream Pop)

Terry Allen And The Panhandle Mystery Band - Pedal Steal + Four Corners (Singer Songwriter)

The Flaying - Angry, Undead (Death Metal)

These New Puritans - Inside The Rose (Art Pop, Darkwave)

They Hate Change - Clearwater EP (Experimental Hip Hop)

Trevor Daniel - Restless (Pop Rap, Emo Rap)

Truth Corroded - Bloodlands (Thrash Metal, Death Metal)

Tyson Meade - Robbing The Nuclear Family (Indie Rock)

VAV - Thrilla Killa (K-Pop, Dance-Pop, Electropop)

Vendredi sur mer - Premiers émois (Electropop, French Pop)

Wallows - Nothing Happens (Indie Rock, Indie Pop)

We Show Up On Radar - Zanzibar Whip Coral (Indie Pop)

Wild Belle - Everybody One of a Kind (Pop Reggae, Indie Pop)

Yawners - Just Calm Down (Indie Rock)

Yerin Baek - Our Love Is Great (K-Pop)

I'm trying to recall a short story I read about 10 years ago in English class in school. It would probably be fair to call it "sci-fi", but I'm not sure how important that is.

What I remember: the story was set in the midst of an escalating arms race, Cold War-style, and the characters were chiefly military personnel (I think).

At some point, a chief actor obtains technology that is designed to (from memory) "disintegrate all weapons (certain materials/metals?)" within a vicinity.

I believe the technology is then used, and what ensues is a world-enveloping nuclear winter. I'm not sure how the weapons disintegration tech leads to a nuclear winter. It's also quite possible that I'm conflating two separate stories I read in that class.

Anyone have any idea what short stories I could be thinking of? This would be at the very latest pre-2010 stuff, and knowing my English teacher (old bloke from Yorkshire) probably 20th century. Probably.

What do you want to read in 2019?
For me, I've not read nearly enough Terry Pratchett, so I think I'm going to devour a lot of his works. I've promised my daughter that we're going to read the Hobbit together when we finish her current bedtime story (so excited for this). There's a lot of non-fiction in my want to read list as well, Homo Deus, and Other Minds spring instantly to mind.