My Favorite Movies, TV Shows, Books, Podcasts, Music, Video games
created: ; modified:This is a list of my favorite movies, TV shows, books, podcasts, music, and video games
Movies
- Mr. Nobody (2009)
- Gladiator (2000)
- Morte a Venezia (Death in Venice) (1971)
- Before Sunrise (1995) + Before Sunset (2004) + Before Midnight (2013)
- Apocalypse Now (1979)
- Climax (2018)
- The Square (2017)
- Hardcore Henry (2016)
- Manifesto (2016)
- The Neon Demon (2016)
- Macbeth (2015)
- Ex Machina (2014)
- Духless 2 (2015)
- Kis Uykusu (Winter Sleep) (2014)
- Across the Universe (2007)
- Hercules (2014)
- Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
- Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
- The Departed (2006)
- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
- Equilibrium (2002)
- Annie Hall (1977)
- Pi (1997)
- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
- Project X (2012)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- Духless (2011)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- To Rome with Love (2012)
- Crank (2006)
- Crank: High Voltage (2009)
- Stalingrad (1993)
- Sin City (2005)
- Interstellar (2014)
- Брат (1997)
- Civil War (2024)
- Все умрут, а я останусь (2008)
- Metropolitan (1990)
TV shows
- Skins (UK, season 1)
- Generation Kill
- Project Runway (season 1)
Honorable mentions:
- True Detective (season 2)
- Слово пацана (Boy’s word) (2023)
- Breaking Bad
- American Dad
- Scrubs
- Daria
- My So-Called Life
- Futurama
Books
Autobiographies / Memoirs:
- Freeman Dyson’s From Eros to Gaia
- Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
- Steve Friedman’s Lost on The Treasure Island
- Vladimir Bukovsky’s To Build a Castle: My Life as a Dissenter (И возвращается ветер)
- Nikolai Ostrovsky’s How the Steel Was Tempered (Как закалялась сталь)
- James Watson’s The Double Helix
- Blake Butler’s Molly (2023)
Self-help
- Scott Adams’ How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big (2013)
Fiction:
- Richard Aldington’s Death of a Hero (1921)
- Milan Kundera’s The Joke (1967)
- Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov (Братья Карамазовы) (1872) & Demons (Бесы) (1880)
- Theodore Dreiser’s Trilogy of Desire: The Financier (1912), The Titan (1914), The Stoic (1947)
- Abbe Prevost’s Manon Lescaut (1731)
- Stendhal’s The Red and the Black (1830)
Non-fiction:
- Andrew Groen’s Empires of Eve
- William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience
- Robert Caro’s The Power Broker
- Michael Soussan’s Backstabbing for Beginners
- Занимательная Греция Михаила Гаспарова
- Ryan Holiday’s Conspiracy
- John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood
- James Gleick’s The Information
- Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things
- Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind
- Ryan Holiday’s Trust Me, I’m Lying
- McLynn’s Napoleon
- Montefiore’s Young Stalin & Stalin
- Garrow’s Rising Star
- Green’s Alexander of Macedon
- Jaynes’ The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (see also my critical review)
Podcasts
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
Note: after adding this I learned that HH has lots of serious factual errors (a). I still enjoy it a lot but think of it as “inspired by true events” kind of podcast now.
Best episodes: 01 - Alexander versus Hitler, 03 - The Organization of Peace, 05 - Meandering Through The Cold War, 09 - Darkness Buries the Bronze Age, 12 - Steppe Stories, 13 - Bubonic Nukes, 17 - Judgment at Nineveh, 19 - Apache Tears, 20 - (Blitz) History Under The Influence, 21-23 Punic Nightmares, 26 - (BLITZ) Addicted to Bondage, 33 - (Blitz) Old School Toughness, 34-39 Death Throes of the Republic, 50-55 - Blueprint for Armageddon, 61 - (BLITZ) Painfotainment
Music
A few of my most favorite songs ever:
- Two Door Cinema Club - Changing Of The Seasons
- Meg Myers - Sorry
- Marina and the Diamonds - Are You Satisfied?
- The Cardigans - And Then You Kissed Me
- The Cardigans - Paralyzed
- Garbage - Stupid Girl
- Atmosphere - The Waitress
- Eminem - The Way I am
- MS MR - Hurricane
- Aimee Mann - You Never Loved Me
- Tessa Violet - On My Own
- Владимир Высоцкий - Вершина
- Oxxxymiron - Башня из слоновой кости
- Noize MC - Когда-нибудь
- Земфира - Искала
English
- Aimee Mann
- Atmosphere
- Avril Lavigne
- The Beatles
- The Cardigans
- Eminem
- Florence + The Machine
- Garbage
- Gossip
- Highly Suspect
- Ida Maria
- Jack Wood
- Justin Bieber
- La Roux
- Lana Del Rey
- Lera Lynn
- Lil Peep
- Marina and The Diamonds
- Meg Myers
- MS MR
- The Neighbourhood
- Paramore
- Parcels
- PJ Harvey
- Tessa Violet
- Two Door Cinema Club
- The Pretty Reckless
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- N.W.A.
Russian
- CENTR
- Noize MC
- Oxxxymiron
- Андрей Макаревич
- Владимир Высоцкий
- Звери
- Земфира
Video games
- Battlefield 2
- Battlefield 3
- Mount and Blade: Bannerlod
- Starcraft 2
- Favorite players: Stephano (zerg), sOs (protoss), Taeja (protoss), Life (zerg), MC (protoss)
- Favorite matches: sOs vs. herO (IEM Katowice 2014)
- Europa Universalis 4
- Civilization 5
- CS:GO
Sports
- Favorite football players:
Food
- French Toast: Pinecrest Diner (401 Geary St, San Francisco, CA 94102).
- Burgers: Big Mac & Double Cheeseburger @ McDonalds.
- Diet Mountain Dew.
- Candy: Snickers, Twix, Bounty.
- Pizza: The Pizza Shop (3104 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110).
Appendix
Anirudh Kannan writes about How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big:
You mention that How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big is “probably the most important book [you’ve] ever read.”
I’ve had a similar experience with that book; I downloaded the audiobook in March 2020 and went from suicidal 19 y/o to profoundly optimistic (etc.) at 20. Hard to overstate the impact it’s had on me.