Anger management: study suggests lack of fans has made players calmer | Football | The Guardian: On average, the study found that there were 19.5% fewer “emotional” incidents, such as arguments or altercations, in matches without fans. The results also showed a stark decline in interactions involving the referee. The lack of crowd also reduced the "home advantage" and changed how many goals were scored.
US police three times as likely to use force against leftwing protesters, data finds | US policing | The Guardian: The researchers found that the vast majority of the thousands of protests across the United States in the past year have been peaceful, and that most protests by both the left and the right were not met with any violent response by law enforcement. [...] The Guardian compared the percentage of all demonstrations organized by leftwing and rightwing groups that resulted in the use of force by law enforcement. For leftwing demonstrations, that was about 4.7% of protests, while for rightwing demonstrations, it was about 1.4%, meaning law enforcement was about three times more likely to use force against leftwing versus rightwing protests.
3D printed building that reached full certification in Germany (note - video sponsored by the builders, so you know, grain of salt with the big claim)
Cyberpunk 2077: how 2020's biggest video game launch turned into a shambles | Games | The Guardian: Cyberpunk 2077’s creators have issued a series of apologies and promises to make things right. It might seem impossible that a game this prominent, that’s been in development for this long, with such a lot of money behind it (game studio owners I’ve spoken to estimate that it cost more than £300m to make), could launch in such a state. It certainly points towards problems at CD Projekt, whose staff must surely be exhausted after months of overtime during the pandemic; the game had already been delayed twice since April to allow more time for improvement. Anyone who works in software can tell you how this tune goes. There was a deadline, it wasn't ready, they launched anyway.
Robin Williams's widow: 'There were so many misunderstandings about what had happened to him' | Film | The Guardian: After Williams died, it was widely reported that he had been suffering from depression, alcoholism, or both. To Schneider, this shows “how we as a culture don't have the vocabulary to discuss brain disease in the way we do about depression. Depression is a symptom of LBD and it's not about psychology – it's rooted in neurology. His brain was falling apart.”
Now in YouTube and Spotify flavours, noting each platform is missing a different track.
Background if you care:
Play Dead - Björk. I discovered that this track was a bonus track added to the Australian re-press of Debut. Despite it also being the third single released 'off the album', when I shared this on teh socialz a few people said they'd never heard it. It amazes me that this wasn't part of the original album, it fits so well. Though I like The Anchor Song, it's a challenging track to finish an album. Play Dead though... those soaring strings, big vocals and deceptively tricky drum line... what a finish. It's one of my Bjork favourites and I'm glad I got the allegedly obscure edition of Debut that included it.
Pneuma - TOOL. Tool turned out to be my only gig of the year, thanks to the covid lockdown. First time I had properly seen them live - despite seeing them at Alternative Nation in '95, I knew them but wasn't a fan yet so that didn't really count. It was a great gig :)
Catch 22 - Butterfingers. New album with an ecclectic mix, oddly this was the track I got stuck in my head the most (it was going to be this or Dem Billz for the mix tape).
(not in youtube playlist) The House - Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer. Mr.B dropped perhaps the most-2020 album of 2020 with A Very Modern Existential Crisis. Songs of isolation, garden envy and the social minefield of Zoom calls.
Inside - Moby. Having my own modern existential crisis, stuck at home, I went back to a fair bit of older music. This one's almost meditative.
Skyhigh - Yan Cook. Yan Cook was both a new discovery and my most-listened artist of the year. Drawn in by some cool tutorial videos he's made about music production, I listened a live set mix and I just haven't enjoyed a mix as much as that in a long time. So this track stands in for a whole lot more.
The Business - Tiësto. Not sure how I ran into this one, think it was a YouTube or Spotify recommendation/autoplay. At a tiny 2:41 it feels like a sketch for a full track that got cut off early, but the goofy film clip (zombie breakup song? why not I guess) and weird vocals got stuck in my head so here it is.
Avenue - Paul Van Dyk. Another one from the vaults, turns out I'll never tire of Out There And Back (2000). I love the big sweeping lines of this track, but most of all the chirpy/bleepy bridge at around 4:15.
Get Smart - Melbourne Ska Orchestra. Another YouTube discovery. It's just fun. I mean, why NOT do a ska version of the Get Smart theme?
Sad but True - The Hu. I think we can all agree now that Metallica just wasn't Mongolian enough.
Mad Poet - Phunkey Rhythm Doctor aka Cari Lekebusch. Somewhere along the line I got into a big 90s techno kick. As in, the actual genre Techno and not just 'some people call all electronic music techno'. A lot of this stuff is tenuously hanging on thanks to perilously-copyright-infringing YouTube rips of obscure limited-press vinyl. Some stuff is in Spotify/iTunes/Bandcamp though. Also I figure 14-20min tracks don't work well in the middle of the mix tape. So this is another kind of 'stand in' track for a whole lot of other stuff.
(not in spotify playlist) Goth Night (2020 mix) - Cari Lekebusch, Krister Linder. Another Lekebusch track, although I didn't know it when I first picked these two so it stays in ;)
The Blame Game - HVOB. This is used heavily in the soundtrack for Pikes Peak: On The Edge. So this track got in my head alongside images of cars ripping up the mountain, and it all just works together. Plus it's a weird crossover style of electronic and guitar, so I actually thought it was parts of two different songs until I gave this a listen. When you hit the change at 2:30 you can probably see why.
The Mr.B album isn't on YouTube, but you can listen on Bandcamp and Spotify:
The Yan Cook mix - my reaction to this is a bit complicated. Somewhere between wanting to dance in a very dark room, and feeling like I'm wrapped up in a warm blanket.
Whole playlist of 90s techno:
Honourable mentions to Leo's cover of Walk Like An Egyptian...
...and to The Police, think I need to spend some more time on their back catalogue.