Reading

I Don’t Believe in Full-Stack Engineering by Robin Rendle. A bit of a (self described) rant about why you can’t really do good front-end development unless your whole thing is about doing good front-end development. It’s a skillset and a role that stands alone and justifiably so. I’m biased, obviously, but I agree.

Engineering the Wu-Tang Clan – An oral history of what happened behind the console during the making of one of the most important debut albums in hip hop. It’s a very tech heavy piece, with references to specific keyboards and microphones, but it’s a side of the early Wu-Tang story that I’ve not heard before and I’m always happy to dip back into that album at any available opportunity.

I got the impression they were dealing with a much larger plan than just making this record. They were planning many records, so if something didn’t work for this, it could be part of another record or another track. RZA seemed to work very fluidly but always had a very focused eye on the big picture.

Listening to

Death, Sex & Money: Manhood, Now. An episode of short chats with a range of men about their views on masculinity an how it’s shaped their lives and behaviours. I think it’s great that there’s more of these types of discussions popping up – plenty of bits in here worth looking at. There’s a part about being a stay-at-home dad which rang true with me. I’m not a stay-at-home dad, though I sort of wish I could be, and I do do as much parenting as I can… it’s an odd world to be in sometimes, which it totally shouldn’t be in this day and age, but it is. More on that at some point possibly, but for now, it’s good to hear other people having the same concerns. Sharing is caring.

Invisibilia S04E02: The Other Real World. Trying to stop war and promote democracy through the medium of reality tv. Sounds ridiculous, but I loved this piece about the X Factor style show Inspire Somalia which, as it turns out, had a big positive impact. More than just details about getting a programme like that together (which it has), this delves into the ethics of foreign governments actively trying to impact the politics of other countries, the Somali civil war, and what winning hearts and minds in the 21st century looks like. It’s really a fascinating listen.