alp's recent activity
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Comment on Parseword - a delightfully complex word game from Wordle’s creator in ~games
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Comment on Best book you've ever read in ~books
alp Link ParentAppreciated necrobump! I’d bookmarked this thread back in 2018 (how the time’s flown) and proceeded to never actually take any of the wonderful recommendations strewn across here. Time to dig in :)Appreciated necrobump! I’d bookmarked this thread back in 2018 (how the time’s flown) and proceeded to never actually take any of the wonderful recommendations strewn across here. Time to dig in :)
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Comment on Gorillaz - The Mountain, The Moon Cave, and The Sad God (2026) in ~music
alp LinkMy expectations were already high from the album, but this video blew me away. Surely the best video they’ve done, stellar music aside! I’m so glad after fifteen years of more meagre output:...My expectations were already high from the album, but this video blew me away. Surely the best video they’ve done, stellar music aside!
I’m so glad after fifteen years of more meagre output: Gorillaz really are back!! I’m so, so happy:) -
Comment on What creative projects have you been working on? in ~creative
alp LinkMy album which I’ve been making for nearly 7yrs now has been creatively stalled for the past 18mo or so, so I recently impulsively signed up to a little workshop led by Daniel Lopatin (aka...My album which I’ve been making for nearly 7yrs now has been creatively stalled for the past 18mo or so, so I recently impulsively signed up to a little workshop led by Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never, the acclaimed musician and film composer), whose work I enjoy, but really I was just there because of the deadlined homework it would give me, hopefully to act as a creative impetus.
It worked, and I’m so happy about it! Foregoing the need for every element to be this epic and fully realised concept has been really freeing, and I think that by just making songs for their own sake has resulted in some of the songs of which I’m more proud than anything else that I’ve made! I can’t wait to play them live. Lovely album, I’m so glad that you’re coming back to me… :)
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Comment on What are some bands you regret not seeing live (or, just never had the chance to see in the first place)? in ~music
alp Link ParentOh no, I’m so sorry! Did you get into them after the, er, “iver” incident or were you just never able to make it to a gig when they were together? I miss them so much, and despite seeing them...Oh no, I’m so sorry! Did you get into them after the, er, “iver” incident or were you just never able to make it to a gig when they were together?
I miss them so much, and despite seeing them nearly 20 times I’d do anything for just once more…
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Comment on New Evangelion series to be written by Yoko Taro in ~anime
alp (edited )LinkThis is promising! Hopefully Taro can do something interesting with this fascinating IP and finally give it the instalment that it deserves by not spending half of the time zooming in on its...This is promising! Hopefully Taro can do something interesting with this fascinating IP and finally give it the instalment that it deserves by not spending half of the time zooming in on its teenage characters’ chests like its creator did…
Edit: I have been informed that Mr Taro, who I only knew from his work on Drakengard for the PlayStation 2, has a similar reputation to Anno in this regard. God help us all.
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Comment on new Date("wtf"); How well do you know JavaScript's Date class? in ~comp
alp Link ParentI’m going to cry. Separately, am I being silly here in not understanding why Invalid Date date objects even exist? Why not just throw an error?I’m going to cry.
Separately, am I being silly here in not understanding why Invalid Date date objects even exist? Why not just throw an error?
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Comment on new Date("wtf"); How well do you know JavaScript's Date class? in ~comp
alp LinkI work with this language every single day, and new Date(“maybe 1”) evaluating to 11pm on 30 April 2001 may be one of the most upsetting pieces of news that I’ve ever been delivered. I’ll be...I work with this language every single day, and
new Date(“maybe 1”)evaluating to 11pm on 30 April 2001 may be one of the most upsetting pieces of news that I’ve ever been delivered. I’ll be putting in my notice at work this morning. -
Comment on How a YouTuber’s self-financed horror film became a surprise hit in ~movies
alp Link ParentI had no idea that 10 Cloverfield Lane had those origins! That was such a brilliant film, what a lovely surprise to see it come from that. A year or two back I stumbled upon Skinamarink, which I...I had no idea that 10 Cloverfield Lane had those origins! That was such a brilliant film, what a lovely surprise to see it come from that.
A year or two back I stumbled upon Skinamarink, which I acknowledge was divisive but made me truly afraid like no film since… Blair Witch? I thought it was fantastic, and was shocked on reading its Wikipedia page afterwards that it was also a crowdfunded film made totally independently by a YouTube creator.
I’m all for more and more like this; what an interesting trend!
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Comment on UK retailer GAME closes all standalone stores as it enters administration in ~games
alp LinkTragic, as the end of being able to go into a shop and buy a new game in the U.K., although honestly I’m surprised it took this long. GAME being absorbed into Sports Direct was one of the most...- Exemplary
Tragic, as the end of being able to go into a shop and buy a new game in the U.K., although honestly I’m surprised it took this long.
GAME being absorbed into Sports Direct was one of the most baffling changes to the high street those years back… I’ll never forget, being based in Leeds at the time, initially having to walk into the pungent realm of Sports Direct, climb upstairs, and spelunk through the men’s underwear section to reach GAME; and then, a year or two later following a further surely malicious relocation and having got directions from staff after an age of confused wandering, to enter a small door on one floor, ascend what seemed to be a staff back staircase for several floors, and weave through a series of intoxicating series of passages and spaces of varying sizes worthy of mention in the Navidson Report, to finally stumble bleakly on the lines of man-sized cages of Charmander and Foxy plushes, great biblical walls of TCG boosters, and a single small shelf with a few Switch games thereon.
I’ll miss you, GAME!
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Comment on Actual underrated films of the 2020s so far in ~movies
alp LinkFar from under the radar, and I also believe it might have got a Golden Lion nomination amongst its sea of Razzies, but I was really impressed by Joker: Folie à Deux last year. Following that...Far from under the radar, and I also believe it might have got a Golden Lion nomination amongst its sea of Razzies, but I was really impressed by Joker: Folie à Deux last year. Following that fantastic first film that was written to be self-contained must have been a tough approach, but the metafictional response it took was… well, for a film of its status, brave, I thought. I thought it unfair that this film was near-universally panned for taking the route that the Twin Peaks reboot was adored for!
Folie à Deux was hardly a masterpiece but I respected it so much for doing what it tried to do and I think it succeeded almost across the board.
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Comment on How have you changed in the last year? What are your goals for this year? in ~life
alp (edited )Link ParentI’ve upgraded over the years as I’ve learned things and got better at this hobby, but my newest setup and method really made me so much more happy with and proud of my recordings! These days I use...I’ve upgraded over the years as I’ve learned things and got better at this hobby, but my newest setup and method really made me so much more happy with and proud of my recordings! These days I use two DPA 4061 lavalier mics, plugged in through Microdot to XLR adapters into my Tascam DR-40X recorder. The DPAs are expensive but beautiful in how they sound, so so worthwhile. The DR-40X is massive and has huge (albeit surprisingly good for what they are) internal mics attached, which make them a hassle to get into venues with overzealous security checks and overly unwieldy to use in the moment, so I plan on replacing that with a smaller recording unit without internal microphones.
I record binaurally these days, too: I repurposed some silicone ear clips and use them to hang my mics through my clothes and over the back of my ear and hanging in the centre of my ear pinnae, so they can catch the reflections of what I’m recording from the shape of my ear. While I used to stand further back when I used cardioid mics for a good stereo image (a 90° PAS—the angle between the left speaker stack, me, and the right speaker stack), I combine this binaural method and these omnidirectional mics with a nearly 180° PAS, i.e. at the front, a couple of metres from the performer(s). This brings a pretty different, very wide stereo image with lots of separation between the instruments in the recording; perhaps not to everybody’s taste but I’m proud of it!
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Comment on How have you changed in the last year? What are your goals for this year? in ~life
alp Link ParentWow, what amazing news; not sure if there’s any better form of change than this! All congratulations!!Wow, what amazing news; not sure if there’s any better form of change than this! All congratulations!!
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Comment on How have you changed in the last year? What are your goals for this year? in ~life
alp Link ParentThank you very much! I think a lot of the poor way I treated them was down to a shift in attitude: because I’ve always had the poor habit of making excuses for others and assuming positive intent...Thank you very much!
I think a lot of the poor way I treated them was down to a shift in attitude: because I’ve always had the poor habit of making excuses for others and assuming positive intent to a fault way beyond the benefit of the doubt when others treat me poorly, I caught myself transferring that to other people in my head. So in this period when all relationships were overwhelming me and I just felt like running from those I cared about, I justified letting obligations slip and letting friendships fizzle because I thought “oh, they’ll coldly understand that I still love them and mean only the best while I pretend they don’t exist.” It took a couple of my closest relationships separately sitting me down and telling me how hurtful my doing this had been and how unloved I’d made them feel for me to snap out of this terribly unempathetic line of thinking that assumed that only I had feelings, and that the warmth I feel from my friends’ love is still symmetrical no matter how I view it in my head during a slump!
Since then, while remnants of the burnout still linger, I’ve just been really throwing myself into actively reïnforcing that symmetry, not just despite but especially when I’m in a period like this. It’s a pretty universal (almost juvenile) revelation, but I suppose that with things like this we learn them once intellectually and a second time truly, when we lapse and have a rude awakening, so I suppose this was my second learning. The past year seems to suggest that this approach has been somewhat successful but it’s an ever ongoing effort!
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Comment on How have you changed in the last year? What are your goals for this year? in ~life
alp (edited )LinkWhat a wonderful thread idea; thank you! In 2025: I finally learned (very late) that universally vital truth that it’s always possible to really hurt those you love, no matter how kind your...What a wonderful thread idea; thank you!
In 2025:
- I finally learned (very late) that universally vital truth that it’s always possible to really hurt those you love, no matter how kind your intentions are. On the recovery from a bad burnout in 2024 I found myself lapsing in the consideration with which I treat my most precious people, and I’m so lucky that those people are patiently still close to me, after I’ve really worked to keep this lesson in mind no matter the state I’m in. This is something that will be in my mind through 2026 and I hope every year thereäfter to ensure I’m being as considerate and caring as my loved ones deserve.
- I unexpectedly discovered, following a happy change in job and sector, a real enthusiasm and love for financial regulation in central banking, and it’s strong enough that I’m now dedicating myself in the year and years to come to using the opportunities available to me to reskill from my data science background into prudential supervision. It is SO fun!!
- Having moved away to a quiet serene old village last year, I also picked up a lot of those little tenets that are important when working to actively maintain a social life with those one loves when distance is no longer to hand. Through actively working to strengthen those relationships that I could potentially have been taking for granted prior, I’ve furthered my hobby of mountain hiking and scrambling and hope in the year to further my goal of bagging each of the 242 English summits!
- I’ve also this past year accidentally stumbled into a side role as a live concert engineer, where my hobby of discreetly making high-quality audience audio recordings of the many concerts I attend gathered enough steam to have three of my favourite artists release said recordings as physical live albums, one of my proudest achievements! I really hope to carry this momentum into 2026 and keep these contacts I’ve built up in this process to reach out to more artists and do things more above board and officially where I can, and seeing where it goes. One of these contacts, a documentarian I already greatly respected, has already invited me to work on audio for his coming film, which is such an exciting progression for me already!
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Comment on What's a culture shock that you experienced? in ~talk
alp Link ParentDitto here—not sure if it’s regional but that very cat’s-mother quote is exactly what I’d be told as a child in Yorkshire! How interesting that this exists in both the U.K. and France but not our...Ditto here—not sure if it’s regional but that very cat’s-mother quote is exactly what I’d be told as a child in Yorkshire! How interesting that this exists in both the U.K. and France but not our neighbours; I’d really love to know the history here.
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 16: Hide + Seek United Kingdom | Trailer in ~hobbies
alp Link ParentAs a Hebden Bridge lifelong local who spent most of that episode getting giddy about everything little thing they passed in that episode (and cringing at the unpleasant and unrepresentative child...As a Hebden Bridge lifelong local who spent most of that episode getting giddy about everything little thing they passed in that episode (and cringing at the unpleasant and unrepresentative child on the canal), and who also coincidentally happens to be a lesbian, I can definitely confirm your assessment of that legacy! The reputation at some point definitely started to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and by 2026 you’ll definitely struggle to walk through the centre for more than a few minutes at a time without encountering a happy couple or two.
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Comment on Not-so-humble brag: What are you proud of that you don't normally get to talk about? in ~talk
alp LinkI’ve been so, so happy and proud of myself this year! My longtime hobby of making audio recordings of every concert I see this year accidentally seemed to turn into something else, as 3 out of...I’ve been so, so happy and proud of myself this year!
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My longtime hobby of making audio recordings of every concert I see this year accidentally seemed to turn into something else, as 3 out of probably my top 10 favourite artists all separately have released (or are in the process of releasing) my recordings as live albums. The honour of seeing artists who mean so much to me, and then to hold in my hand an album of theirs that they have released that contains my own tape… what a feeling!
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I’ve also switched jobs and sectors, moving to the public sector to the Bank of England, and for the first time in my life not only am I working for the public good over a company’s bottom line, but I actually feel respected and known for my own skills, and honestly seen; for the first time I feel happy and at home in my career and can clearly see a plan of what I want to do and how I want to move forward from here, and to happily plant my feet in the fascinating word of financial supervision is something that I’m so truly excited to do.
Thank you, 2025! And thank you @DefinitelyNotAFae for such a lovely thread :)
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Comment on The Berkshire mystery: Where exactly is "Berk"? in ~humanities
alp Link ParentAbsolutely! Although the footnote concerning Devonshire threatened to be more interesting than the main subject of the video—definitely a good diving point for further research!Absolutely! Although the footnote concerning Devonshire threatened to be more interesting than the main subject of the video—definitely a good diving point for further research!
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Comment on Offbeat Fridays – The thread where offbeat headlines become front page news in ~news
alp LinkIn today's BBC: Woman's shock as goose smashes through front door. Geese do what geese do!In today's BBC: Woman's shock as goose smashes through front door.
Geese do what geese do!
First the Americans came for Lingo
Then they came for Only Connect Word Walls
Then they came for cryptic crosswords…
Jokes aside this is a fun take on cryptic clues! I hope it gets some people into a puzzly pastime that’s infamously hard to learn.