Converge Newsletter
Browse all 194 links from 21 issues.
Flash player emulator
Appreciate that this is only likely to be useful to a small minority of you as it’s a bit of a niche use case, but I still think it worth including, as it was recently a real godsend for me.
Website framework
I’ve had a bit of a hiatus from building websites in recent years. This is driven in part because I don’t like the deluge of over-engineered JavaScript frameworks that push you to build sites bloated with unnecessary JS. They’re often a very enormous hammer for quite a small nail, or at least in my case.
Film
This has been on my watchlist for a few weeks and I finally got round to it. It didn’t disappoint and it’s absolutely bananas. Such a fun, energetic film with mind-bending multiverses and a magic blend of sci-fi and comedy.
🔗 youtu.be
Stand-up comedy
Stewart Lee is a bit like Marmite, but I’m definitely a lover not a hater. In this hour, he offers his usual brand of deconstructive, acerbic comedy, tackling cancel culture, free speech, identity politics, and being woke. All from the position of being a self-confessed nowflake.
TV Series
For transparency on this one, I’m not a football fan. I don’t have a team and I’m one of those people who just watches the odd World Cup game, or bits and pieces of the Euros.
EP
I’ve loved Jacques Greene‘s stuff for a while, first picking up on it with the sublime Another Girl back in 2011. The Canadian DJ / producer’s latest EP, Fantasy came out earlier in 2022 and also does not disappoint.
Non-Fiction
Like most folks, I’ve become really tuned into the urgency of action needed to deal with climate change. But also I feel totally numb to all the doom-mongering and negativity – it’s just too much to bear day-to-day.
Single
Can’t get enough of this 2020 tune from German producer, Ludwig A.F.
3D Printed Homeware
UAU Project is a design studio creating and selling incredible, sustainable homeware. The Warsaw based duo experiments with 3D printing and high quality materials to create environmentally sound, beautiful products.
Interactive Learning
Learn about synthesisers in this magic site from Ableton. Play with a synth in your browser and learn all the different features to create your own sounds. This is an old favourite I’ve lost quite a bit of time to.
Online Guide
A nice little online catalogue of user interfaces that captures some key moments in the history of human-computer interaction.
TV Series
We just finished this four-part BBC series and thought it was both brilliant and unbearable in equal measure. I recommend it with some trepidation as it won’t be for everyone — the pace and tension are so excruciating as to be almost unbearable. But there’s also a lot of humanity in there and we found it worth sticking with. And it has Sean Bean, so there’s that too.
🔗 youtu.be
Film
With all the talk of Thirteen Lives recently (about the Thai boys that got trapped in the cave), I was surprised that a lot of folk I’ve spoken to hadn’t seen The Rescue on Netflix. It’s an incredible documentary on the same subject by Free Solo directors, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.
🔗 youtu.be
Album
I can normally take or leave most of Max Cooper’s stuff without the accompanying visuals, but Unspoken Words from earlier this year has really stayed with me – it’s got great pace and tempo, a proper vibe. Exotic Contents and Symphony in Acid are such good tunes.
Album
One of my favourite bits of pop culture to come out of the lockdown in 2020/21 was Bo Burnham’s Inside (very worth a watch on Netflix first if you’ve not seen it). Assuming you have already, this recently released playlist is a collection of audio outtakes and previously unreleased stuff from the production.
Book
I’m a latecomer to the work of Jon Ronson having only been vaguely aware of him, but never having dipped my toes into any of his books. I’ve discovered I quite like his brand of journalism.
Single
I’m a big fan of Ryan West AKA Rival Consoles. He’s a bit of a master of layering up beautiful, melodic and percussive soundscapes that build and recede. This recent one, Echoes is no exception – a total beaut.
Creative platform
As I get increasingly jaded about the likes of Instagram and other social networks, it's nice to see smaller contenders popping up with decent values and a positive vibe.
Analytics
I was looking for a decent alternative to Google Analytics for my site and found one in Splitbee. It's just simple metrics to satisfy my curiosity, while respecting the privacy of users. And I am so glad to finally be shot of the over-engineered mess that is Google's UI.
Social network for reading
For a better designed alternative to Good Reads, check out Literal, which I've been using since it's private beta. You can track and share the books you read and get inspiration from others on what to read next. Lovely. And now publicly available too.
TV Series
We've just finished this brilliant series on Apple TV+, based on the real life case of Larry Hall. Taron Egerton plays a drug dealer who is offered the chance to clear his sentence by the FBI if he can elicit a confession from a known serial killer before his appeal comes up.
Film
My wife and I recently went to see Brian & Charles having no context beforehand on what we'd be watching.
Playlist
This is a lovely mixed bag of stuff curated by Von. It's 'a playlist to interest but not interrupt. Good tunes at a good pace spanning genres and eras.'
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