An appeal to the community for non-algorithmic recommendations
TLDR/BLUF: Kindly share your niche, off-the-beaten-path, quality blogs/articles/informational resources, books, quotes, etc. in any niche you are fanatical about.
Okay, here goes…
Hello Tildonians, Tildites, etc.
I have created this post in the hopes that, like me, a lot of you are tired of being thrashed about intellectually by the whims of an engagement-driven, algorithm-based feed. One that, may I add, is actively being wielded to dumb us down into herds of cattle so we may be more susceptible to influence (this is real, by the way)
I would like to propose a shared exchange of information that each of us has found that we feel is incredibly valuable (and perhaps a small explanation behind why we find it valuable). This may not be helpful to anyone else here (unless they are eager to share some new resource they have found, or they operate like I do and live in a constant state of near-fervent hunger for information), but I'd like to at least make an attempt.
So what am I looking for here?
Blogs
The Niche-r the content, the better. Do I really need to know about the eating habits of past queens? no, but I am an information-glutton and I will have my fill by life's-end.
Non-Prioritized content. Not everyone has a want or need to engage SEO keywords, or get their website put on google. I know that I don't. I want an unobstructed peak behind the curtain into someone mastering their craft, or annotating their life's experiences; without the metaphorical clanging of pots, "here I am here I am!" that comes with someone living for the clicks.
Kindly, No Self-Promotion. I am sure that your blog is good, just as I'm sure my own blog is good. /fib (after the comma). I just get enough of an indivual's own self in the comments here. I don't want it. I treasure your thoughts as they exist here, in this space.
(I have no qualms with Web 2.0 designs or content/navigation, as long as it doesn't fry my optical nerves upon loading)
Books
I want the most intimate of book recommendations. I want the books you are scared of recommending to your friends because if they insult them or don't like them, you will be personally upset.
Additionally, I want the crème de la crème of books for each genre, and even some staples. (Genre is loose, category would be better, but you get it. If you want to share exclusively Russian Classic authors like Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin, and Chekov, please be my guest.)
-Don't give me a recommendation you heard from a friend who heard about a book from Booktok, especially if you haven't read it. I have a lifetime of problematic relationship and age-gap books that will not leave my gray matter no matter how much Steinbeck or Wegner I try to push it out with. I also don't want a book that someone pulls up a "Top 100 books to read" list just to find, and pick arbitrarily.
Articles/Quotes/Shower Thoughts/Etc.
I want something that has been personally digested by the recommender for some time. Like, don't give me an apocryphal Ghandi quote and some ChatGPT thoughts on it. Maybe you watched Pirates of the Caribbean with your Dad or your first girlfriend, and some quote stuck woth you and crystallized that moment forever, maybe you watched a lot of westerns recently and the bad guy said something that still relates to modern conversation. I want the good-good.
As always: delete if not allowed, move me wherever, lots of love, etc.
(I'll comment my own examples as well so I can be critiqued as well)
Putting my money where my mouth is:
https://idlewords.com/
This little blog covers a variety of topics, the most recent being the ways a Mars mission could look like.
https://grimgrains.com/site/about
These guys are sailing about putting recipes down on a blog (I've tried a few and they are good). This was actually my first source for trying plant-based food.
https://onbeing.org/
The On Being project is something I've been keeping up with for quite some time, and the stories shared here (and on the YouTube channel) have given me a rich understanding of other peoples' lives, far deeper than something like a documentary can.
https://ooh.directory/
This is an excellent blog hub for finding blogs on many, many topics (this has been my go-to resource for blog-finding, but it lacks the communicative element)
https://doyouwriteunderyourownname.blogspot.com/?m=1
Three words: UK. Crime. Novelist.
This is a portal to another world for me. I get to slow down and just live in small posts with this guy and get excellent recommendations
https://itg.nls.uk/wiki/Introduction
This is the Chew Inclusive Terminology Glossary, which has been a tremendously helpful resource in learning LGBT+ Slang¹. I've spent many years asking "what is this Egg thing I keep seeing, what is an Ace (and how are so many 14-18 years olds getting 5+ air-to-air kills in combat).
1: It's important to note that I am not using the slurs and slang section in bad faith. I don't understand a lot of the concepts, but this page is basically a translator for me to have more meaningful discussions.
https://sf-encyclopedia.com/
https://www.isfdb.org/
Here's a two-for-one for the sci fi fans. Both of these are excellent resources for finding information about a specific science Fiction novel, or for someone looking for their next book. The award page on ISFDB is especially interesting, as it was the first time I'd heard of the "Gaylactic Spectrum" Award that featured content with positive LGBTQIA+ content. If you're the type of person that can see and enjoy the Transgender themes in the Matrix, the two volumes I've looked at on this list would be right up your alley.
I love Idle Words! I've written fanmail to this guy. I still think about his entry on the primeval forest Bialowieza. (Just realized it seems to no longer be available on his blog but I linked to an archived version.) The one about steaks in Argentina is great too.
Wow! I would have never known there was a previous fish at the top of the page. Thank you for the link, I'll be checking that out right away.
It feels like no matter how random the topic, he always manages to deeply explore it (far better than I could, for sure.)
Should make this into a weekly topic -format, where everyone can freely speak their thoughts about something interesting they've read/watched/listened to. I see there's one specifically for books and for movies and games, but for general?
Alternatively, there could be a "weekly text" where users all read or take part in a specific blog/article/book/podcast/political treaty/Wikipedia article/Star Trek episode/libretto and then freely talk about it and recommend a somehow connected topic to be read next by the community, like in the game of telephone. The most voted recommendation would then be the next topic and so on.
Just my two cents, if you really want to maximize getting out of evil algorithms dictating your life and make it a community effort.
That idea actually sounds delightful, and I feel like such a practice would boost person-to-person discussion here without investing in a pre-arranged course like book club (no hate, Trevor Noah's Born A Crime was good reading).
I agree. I feel like most of the interesting stuff in life happens in the between-spaces. Like hearing a good quote on the radio and having it impact your own life, or seeing two squirrels fighting over a nut on a nature walk and being reminded that nature is a constantly moving thing, even when we are not in it.
My personal struggle is the phrasing. Most of my life isn't "in the last week". It takes me quite some time to philosophize on stuff, so even if I did watch something like The Watchers or Yellowjackets, all the connections and thoughtful critiques I will have take time. ( Once again, just a personal struggle, not really worthy of my mentioning of it, but since the topic was here already)
To regroup, I think your two cents is valid and appreciated. If anyone else shows interests, I second it.
You want niche? I'll give you niche.
https://medievalportablealtars.com/the-database/
"This is a database on known surviving medieval European portable altars, created between 600 and 1600 CE. Links to the current institution’s information and/or object biographies are provided where available."
This was compiled by someone I knew in college. She studied these for her PhD, I believe. I don't understand them and I am not sure exactly what their purpose was, but it's interesting to see someone take such a great interest in something so obscure.
You were absolutely right, this is incredibly niche, and yet, it is truly exciting. I had never heard about portable mass kits, let alone express the connection to materialism and it's effect of Catholicism at home.
This will be an intriguing rabbit hole to explore. I have so many hypotheses already.
I have always felt that the most obscure knowledge is typically the most valuable in times to the far-future. Now more than ever I want to learn about practices such as 1800s bookplate creation, collecting, and stamping, but the practitioners of the craft are mostly deceased.
Thank you for this recommendation. I will treasure this information.
One of the most important resources I’ve found in my ancient history research is this essential and well-maintained website, which is so much more than a collection of beautiful maps: https://indo-european.eu/
If you are at all interested in the migration of early peoples in Eurasia, as well as the genetics and linguistics of proto-Indo-Europeans, all illustrated with excellent maps and articles starting with pre-human populations through every major historical period.
A true labor of love, freely accessible to all.
What an excellent resource! I will wander through it's pages when I get a hankering for some classic Anthropology.
Additionally, I love using the Perseus Digital Library site for all my ancient reading.
I think I see what you are going for, and it is an interesting and admirable approach to recommendations. It is easy enough to just ask for something similar to XYZ and it will probably give good results. Asking more open ended and insisting that it is something I really can stand behind demands a bit more reflection.
So I have a fiction and a non-fiction book that came to mind.
The Clockwork Rocket by Greg Egan is a novel I have likely mentioned a few times here already, but with good reason. I think it is one of the best unique and mind-boggling science fiction novels and Egan does something no one else can do. It is set in a universe where the laws of physics are different than ours, mostly (in my layman understanding of it at least) from the speed of light not being a constant and thus the usual time dilation consequences of relativity work in reverse. The narrative is about a space mission saving the planet from annihilation, but it is everything around that that I found fascinating. Egan is able to make the thrill of scientific discovery and applying scientific reasoning and deduction into an exciting story. I admit it is full of stuff that I don't have the knowledge to fully comprehend, but you still get a sense that Egan knows his stuff and it is somehow still exciting to read simply because you feel the excitement and curiosity of the characters.
I enjoy learning about computer history in all its form and there are many great books I could recommend, from biographies to accounts from niche aspects of technical projects. To chose one that I think is a little overlooked, as I think there often is too much focus on business individuals as the true innovators, it would be The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner. As the title says, it is about Bell Labs and illustrates how real innovation comes from a free academic environment where people work together to research, and not look for profit opportunities. All the success stories from Silicon Valley wouldn't have happened without the groundwork made by these now mostly anonymous people.
I am hooked with this. I've said it a handful of times, but I am an absolute sucker for non-Euclidean space used to scare and alter the mind (thinking about that scene in an Exorcist(?) Movie where the tunnel shrinks and shrinks until the guy can barely crawl through it) or Control the video game +FBC-universe/SCP stuff.
I am one of many with that bias. When I think of innovation, I think of Steve Jobs (read his family's books, yikes!) as an example. So I think this book is going to do a good job of breaking down my ignorance in that department. Thank you for these recommendations!
Another Greg Egan book focusing on non-Euclidean space is Dichronauts. As with any Greg Egan book its an absolutely wild premise done by someone who actually did the math behind it to know that it works. I can't really explain the physics behind it that well, but the gist is that certain directions convey light and orthogonal directions convey sound because the curvature of the universe is a 'saddle' shape with a world positioned right on the saddle point.
Is this the famed Pringle-Universe I've heard so much about? I may just become a Greg Egan fanboy and snag his entire Biblio. Thank you once again for the recommendations, I've already got The Clockwork Rocket in my shopping basket, so why not grab the rest, right?
I mean, my personal favorite Greg Egan books are actually permutation city and diaspora, soooo...
Permutation city is an interesting thought experiment about consciousness, free will, and the nature of time. Basically, if your mind is just one state moving to another, why must those states be sequential or in order? Then take that premise to the extreme.
Diaspora is relatively tame in comparison but it's a great examination of post humanism and what the purpose of humanity is.
The books I always, always recommend to everyone is the Discworld series. I also recommend skipping the first three or four books, because Pratchet took a few volumes to come to terms with his material.
We have flowcharts. I recommend "Men at Arms" for a starting point, if you like detective novels.
Pratchett manages to be eternally relevant because he wrote about the human condition
Thud (2005)
And then, just when you thought it was as bad as it could be, up popped Grag Hamcrusher and his chums. Deep-downers, they were called, dwarfs as fundamental as the bedrock. They'd turned up a month ago, occupied some old house in Treacle Street and had hired a bunch of local lads to open up the basements. They were "grags". Vimes knew just enough dwarfish to know that grag meant renowned master of dwarfish lore. Hamcrusher, however, had mastered it in his own special way. He preached the superiority of dwarf over troll, and that the duty of every dwarf was to follow in the footsteps of their forefathers and remove trollkind from the face of the world. It was written in some holy book, apparently, so that made it okay, and probably compulsory.
Young dwarfs listened to him, because he talked about history and destiny and all the other words that always got trotted out to put a gloss on slaughter. It was heady stuff, except that brains weren't involved.
Amusingly, he often uses non-humans to discuss the human condition.
This is, in my opinion, mostly the task of science fiction, but it works here, too.
That's for the benefit of the audience I think: we're more ready to examine our own prejudices when it's presented in a new context away from our upbringing and inherited cultural prejudices.
Discworld has been holding firm on my Reading List, though I am trying to get them all in physical format so I can do a Discworld marathon.
I am glad to have gotten this pointer from you to start further in the series, but for completion's sake, I will have to return back and finish the series completely.
Oh, absolutely. The first few books area good, but some of the characters are not the same as they are a few books in. Same for the general tone of the books. For a while, he was doing direct parody of the fantasy genre. After a few books, he found his own voice, and the combination of comedy and philosophy is delightful.
Different people treat long series differently. If someone knows that they are committed to reading them all, there is no reason not to begin at the beginning and read in order.
However, the best books are frequently not the earliest written. Pratchett grew and changed as a writer. If one is only going to read a few, don't start with the beginning.
there are some really great book recommendation threads in ~books, and it's very difficult to recommend something without knowing the genre you want (or preferences on tone, style, length, type of POV, etc). That said, my current obsessed-with-recommending-it-to-everyone book is The Immortality Thief by Taran Hunt. It has the best protagonist ever and book 2 came out last month and it was also amazing. It's survival-horror/space opera in book 1, and pure space opera in book 2. I think it's worth giving it a chance even if you don't like horror because I don't like horror and I loved it; and if you do like horror this is like favorite-book-ever good.
I had originally intended for my comment to be in books when I started composing it, but I foresaw the problem of needing to make multiple posts for each type of media, or the post not fitting into the ~books topic because of the non-book related content.
That's the magic, I want it all. No holds barred on any of those (as long as it is within the parameters of being a truly personal recommendation and the person has actually read it and verified it to be the top of the top).
I don't want someone to guess at what I might like based on genre or tone or language, I want what they are personally in love with. Like a secret little piece of garbage a goblin holds onto as their most prized possession (I'm not calling any recommendations I'm getting as 'garbage' just making the point that I'm not after collective worth. If someone's favorite book is a Bionicles sticker book, I'm all for it. If someone's favorite book is truly Don Quixote, then again, all for it. I just want to understand people on a deeper level.
You make an excellent argument for reading the book, it is now on my new reading list. Thank you, this is just the type of thing I'm after.
Thing is, when you give absolutely zero parameters like this, you make the recommender do a lot of work to figure out what to say. There are no guidelines so idk should I say fiction? Nonfiction? Favorite series? Favorite standalone? Book I think has a deep message? Book you won't get recommended by most people? etc.
Also, I've recommended (or anti-recommended) dozens of books in various threads in ~books, and I am just one tilderidoo among many (with broadly differing reading tastes). So why discount all of those resources and have people say one at random here? Just so happens that I'm convincing everyone in my life to read this one book right now, but if you'd asked me this a month ago I would've not replied because of the lack of parameters & too much mental load for me to pick something to say.
I often agree that constraints provide freedom, but in this case, I'm pretty sure it's just "tell me what you like," and not "tell me what you think I'll like."
Something Bandon Sanderson said in an AMA stream impacted how I feel about this type of question a lot - he won't answer "tell me something interesting about Jasnah" because then he has the burden of deciding the topic. Questions have to be focused so that the asker defines a topic and then he answers it. To me that applies here too, "tell me a book you like" is making the answerer decide the scope too much.
But also I probably read too much to be able to answer this question easily.
I believe this part is perhaps something we will just have to disagree on. I think that given loose or non-existent parameters for suggestions creates a better environment for truly personal recommendations.
You can choose whichever categories you'd like. If I were presented the option of sharing with someone a truly personal recommendation, I'd probably say something like Wallace Stegner's Collected Stories which came to me at the perfect time in life to connect with the material. Even the introduction alone helped me with my own writing practices.
Or maybe I'd recommend Next or Terminal Man by Michael Crichton, as I'm one of those individuals who is cautious about the human use of emerging technologies (and corporate misuse of them to be precise).
Choice Paralysis is a real thing, a terrible curse to be put under, but I think people will prevail as you have.
I'm not discounting any resources, they just don't fit my goal in what I'm trying to achieve. Plus, I'm not trying to limit anyone to purely books. I'm after good information in whatever form it takes.
Then I'm glad I asked when I did, otherwise I would have missed out.
here is some very good and off beaten track writing i have been following recently,
Hmm, I've never heard 'agony aunt' before, and I'm always game to learn about mystic-branches of any faith, though I myself may not belong to that group either (sometimes those are the most fun things to learn about as an outsider.)
I am always happy to learn and understand poetry deeper. Coincidentally enough, I had just learned about and read some work by Bashō, the Japanese poet. Did you know there were (allegedly) written laws at one point about what themes a Haiku could be written about?
yes! traditionally haiku had to include a kigo or season word and a kireji or cutting word. i think when a lot of people write haiku in english, they over-focus on the wrong 'rule', i.e. the 5-7-5 format, and maybe not so much on the kind of soul of the thing ... for one thing, 5-7-5 doesn't fit english very well because of the phonological differences between the languages, and the same amount of semantic information isn't captured...
in my own practice i like to focus on the following:
anyway, i was rambling, i think these notions capture more of what is/has been intended by haiku
but of course, there are no rules
Daniel Brown's book Subjects in Poetry is clearly written, accessible and IMHO interesting. I enjoyed reading it. It doesn't include the text of the poems it discusses but they are easily found online.
I also enjoy captain awkward, and I found them through ask a manager which I also find enjoyable to read (as you might guess from the name, it focuses on advice about the workplace).
In the spirit of the thread, I'll open with:
Then one of my favorite quotes, from one of my favorite books:
Then, the Waiter Rant blog. Back in the early 2ks, it was all bad patrons and thousand yard waiter stares that eventually culminated in a book deal. These days he has a wife and child, and it's deeper, more introspective musings. But the guy can write. Here's a bit:
And finally: Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques, the only web comic that survived my reading list coming out of college. Slice of life with memorable characters and a good dose of humanoid AIs.
I have 1065 more quotes, but I'm not sure if the collection counts as self promotion, so I won't link them here.
This is a good smattering of quotes, and I'm tempted to steal a few…
Neal Stephenson continues to crop up as an author to read, though Snowcrash is in my top 10 book recommendations, so I'll hit Anathem right after. I've heard many, many good things about it.
I had never heard of Jeph Jacques, though, and am thrilled to get some additional slice of life material to digest.
Thank you for these quotes, please enjoy these three at your leisure:
"Make each day your masterpiece"
– John Wooden
"While it is always best to believe in oneself, a little help from others can be a great blessing"
– Uncle Iroh, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Span of time is important; the 3-legged stool of understanding is held up by history, languages, and mathematics. Equipped with these three you can learn anything you want to learn. But if you lack any one of them you are just another ignorant peasant with dung on your boots.
– Robert Heinlein, "The Happy Days Ahead" in Expanded Universe (1980)
I actually have a tattoo with a concept around the first quote, I love it so much!
I am a fan of Orson Scott Card's books. The Worthing Saga and Treason are both single book excellent sci-fi stories. I originally picked up his book Ender's Game and it drove me into the genre altogether so I went looking for more. I found those older stories to be quite enjoyable and engaging.
All that said, he holds some views I don't align with but I read his books long before I knew about them. I still hold them in high regard and try to separate the author from their works within reason.
I got a strong taste of this with Frank Herbert of Dune fame. The only major benefit being he can no longer gain fame or money from me purchasing his books. Same for Asimov.
Strangely enough, I had never heard of these, and I have a decent-sized collection of OSC Ender-verse stuff. It's about time I round out the collection (whenever it comes to living authors with gnarly prejudices, I try to borrow from friends who have it, or shop second-hand at a retailer that doesn't measure author metrics, like Goodwill or small bookshops)
I have a concept, represented by a word, that I've been obsessing about lately:
dignity
Some of the questions that bounce around my mind are:
I'm sure there are books about it, but I'm interested in personal thoughts and perceptions (although ofc they might be formed based on books, but there is something fleeting I like about conversations around a campfire that doesn't translate well into books)
Your thoughts on dignity arrive at an intersection with my thoughts on respect and my core values
When I think of dignity I think of "giving every person basic human dignity as a baseline", which is an element in my value system.
I understand this sentiment wholeheartedly. I prefer your analogy of a campfire conversation over mine, which I usually describe to people as two philosophical Bigfoots zipping past each other in the wilderness buck-naked and high-fiving.
For just a brief moment our psyches meet wholly open and then it's gone, a moment suspended in the larger narrative of our life. I love it.
I agree, but I also fear there is a part about not accepting help that could be
co-opted(TIL apparently the correct word is:) recuperated by our current non working societies.Maybe, also it is a concept that is too hard to define well enough to be useful, like love, respect, etc?
This is a lovely image, something about the brutishness appeals a lot to me! (ofc I don't know anything about bigfoot society, my prejudice just thinks it is not very advanced wrt philosophy)
an article about irving finkel, a really interesting assyriologist (I don't know quite how to describe him). (warning, this is on substack, but there are also some quite good videos on the british museum youtube channel and a bunch of articles about him if you want alternatives)
square wheels is a personal website that I find beautiful, with some cool stories as well!
marginalia search engine is an alternative small-web search engine optimised for finding interesting, non-seo'd links which are harder to find in google/bing/etc.
Excellent resources! The marginalia search engine is a particular favorite from this group. I will use this new tool to the maximum.
Irving Finkel feels like a familiar name on the brain, but I can't formalize any connections on him, so I am excited to learn about this man to the fullest extent possible. I am slightly familiar with cuneiform as part of general anthropology, but haven't had an excuse to dig deeper. Now is my chance.
Recent reads I enjoyed:
The love story of two men on an Antarctic expedition in the early 1900s
How Geocities began in 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet
The last thing you see before you die, if you are a crab getting eaten by a cuttlefish (visuals are included)
A free scifi short story involving cats in space-- I think I especially enjoyed this one because it reminded me of another scifi short story with cats in space by one of my favorite authors, A Game Of Rat And Dragon by Cordwainer Smith
I live for the visuals. That is terrifying (Though not as terrifying as ΔP crab footage )
The Discovery Service has always had some level of mystery about it and I am glad to have one small piece of that mystery revealed, with the extra goodies of a love story. Exceptional read, and I thank you for sharing these.
So a rabbit hole that I went down in my twenties was the study of religion. Evelyn Underhill's book on mysticism is a thorough, accessible resource for anyone who might be interested. Likewise historian Jaroslav Pelikan's books Jesus through the Centuries and Whose Bible is it.
An obscure novel that I was recommended by a man I knew who had dedicated his life to the study of martial arts is the Ronin by William Jennings. It packs an emotional punch. (Context American man in Hawaii and Los Angeles, 60s and continuing)
A novel that really gets into American blues music is White Tears by Hari Kunzru.
Within the last five years I learned a lot from and was intrigued by Frans de Waal's book about Gender in primates.
Good resources on religious study are very difficult to find these days, so I thank you.
Pelikan's name sounded familiar to me, though I do not recognize any of the titles within his Bibliography section, was he notable for some other reason that you are aware of?
I've spent the past few years actively avoiding primate studies stemming from a personal grudge with a colleague, but with your recommendation, I shall overcome that. I thank you doublefold for that, boxer_dogs_dance.
You're welcome.
Re Dr. Pelikan, did you check Wikipedia
I don't know more than that.
Articles
Instead of recommending specific blogs which often vary in quality... I'll tend to recommend articles.
The algorithm is me but if I truly thought about something longer than a day or if I see something that I hadn't ever believed useful/possible then I'll put it here:
journal/lists/knowledge.list
As an example, yesterday I stumbled upon the concept of a "Shot Tower" so I added that Wikipedia article to my knowledge bank. I had no idea that something like this existed or that it actually works even though I'm familiar with the concept of gravity and the behavior of clouds and rain, etc.
Quotes/Shower Thoughts
Similarly, I record things that sound good here:
I suppose we are all algorithms in the same way we are all robots, with chemical signals being our commands or our parameters.
But then, I also suppose the intention is different (in that we can even have intention in the first place, for one). My intention with sharing is to support, or help, whereas I believe the algorithms provided by content platforms emphasize engagement more than learning.
Your resources are very thorough, I can tell you that. I had never thought of using Github for this purpose, as I'm a diehard Obsidian fan. I applaud you for you creativity, or if it was a concept you built upon, your willfullness in using it.
I may do something similar now, if I can find a way to do it in line with my own system.
I'd like to recommend the blog Twenty Sided Tale by Shamus Young. If you recognize any of it, you'll probably recognize DM of the Rings, the screencap webcomic that (as far as I know) inspired all the other webcomics that are in the same style, such as Darths & Droids.
Sadly, Shamus passed away a few years ago, but there is quite a lot of content to mine. He wrote long-form content on a variety of topics, all of them very geeky. There was quite a lot of video game analysis, but also a lot of talk about programming, internet society, narrative structure, and miscellaneous other topics, as well as posts made for pure entertainment. (Some of my favorites were his humorous Let's Plays in text-and-screenshot form: Champions Online, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online) He also had very thoughtful commenters for the most part, and quite a lot of discussion took place there.
Today, Shamus' family keeps the blog alive. They're remastering DM of the Rings (being from so long ago, the original images were quite small for today's monitors) and putting up new content. Unfortunately I never quite had the heart to keep visiting the site after he passed, but Shamus was always proud of his family and they were pretty involved while he was still posting, so I don't doubt there is still quality content going up.
Ironically(? Never got the nuance of this word), my favorite new niche thing came from the youtube algorithm. Feral Historian is a video essayist living somewhere in the dakotas, reviewing media some familiar, some obscure, and commenting on their relationship to history and society.
He has a political stance bit it is nuanced and difficult to pigeonhole. He’s smart and sometimes funny, and down to earth. He loves the draka books about an alternative history where elon musk’s people take over the world after wwii.
This is not a recommendation but an aside: there is a shocking amount of youtube content of people arguing with christian fundamentalist apologists.