2024 has been a mixed bag of delight, anger, frustration, joy, and disappointment. A year of questions, connections, and self-determination. There have been many beautiful things that I know I’m going to treasure, but unfortunately they didn’t come alone.

It’s fair to say then that 2024 has pushed me to reconsider many things, myself included. How far this is going to get me it’ll be next year’s real challenge.

Anonymous for the Voiceless

In terms of emotional turmoil this has to be the central experience of my 2024.

My journey with Anonymous for the Voiceless was what I needed to finally engage with activism. It also led me to meet awesome people who make me fell less alone in my resistance to a status quo that doesn’t understand how to care.

At the same time something didn’t seem quite right to me, and when everything fell apart I understood the true nature of this organisation and decided to leave.

However, I don’t intend to stop with my activism because of this sad outcome. I only need a better project to do it, so I’m exploring options.

Bluesky

Despite all my doubts and concerns I joined Bluesky last month and so far I’ve been enjoying the experience. I found a rich community of philosophers and academics sharing worthwhile content most of the time.

On the other hand, it doesn’t appear to be an entirely safe space. I also tend to get tired rather quickly with social media, especially if I feel like I’m wasting hours following nothing in particular.

Therefore when my next round-up comes I may not be on Bluesky anymore.

Books

I thought over and over again about my favourite books of 2024. It hasn’t been an easy task and I already know I’ll regret leaving some great reads out.

In order to avoid any further crime, I’m going to use a basic alphabetical order to list the most relevant titles, hence no real preference will be expressed. Here we go:

  • Animali si diventa (Federica Timeto)
  • The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)
  • Calibano e la strega (Silvia Federici)
  • Checkout 19 (Claire-Louise Bennett)
  • Cospirazione animale (Marco Reggio)
  • Del governo degli animali (Benedetta Piazzesi)
  • Dialoghi sulla religione naturale (David Hume)
  • Elizabeth Costello (J. M. Coetzee)
  • Estinzione (Thomas Bernhard)
  • The Fortnight in September (R. C. Sherriff)
  • Letteratura come utopia (Ingeborg Bachmann)
  • Lettere dal carcere (Antonio Gramsci)
  • A Little Life (Hanya Yanagihara)
  • Malina (Ingeborg Bachmann)
  • Perturbamento (Thomas Bernhard)
  • Poesie (Paul Celan)
  • Under the Skin (Michael Faber)
  • L’uomo senza qualità (Robert Musil)

Random notes:

  • Ingeborg Bachmann should be a mandatory read everywhere in the world;
  • every book I read about non-human animals makes me a better human one;
  • Paul Celan will keep me busy for at least another life;
  • Robert Musil is the perfect excuse to avoid direct sunlight;
  • Claire-Louise Bennett is the right writer at the right time;
  • Liberazioni has become my favourite periodical.

Missing from the list are a couple of books I spent a good chunk of hours on: the first volume of Karl Marx’s Il Capitale and György Lukács’ Storia e coscienza di classe. I have yet to recover from these challenging and deeply rewarding works, but everything I’ve been learning will stay with me.

Cinema

Overall I had great times with my old passion for cinema this year. The following selection is not strictly related to 2024 films because there is always something I missed from previous years. Anyway, here it is:

  • All of Us Strangers (Andrew Haigh)
  • The Animal People (Denis Henry Hennelly, Casey Suchan)
  • La Bête (Bertrand Bonello)
  • Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhang-ke)
  • Challengers (Luca Guadagnino)
  • The Dreamed Ones (Ruth Beckermann)
  • Emilia Pérez (Jacques Audiard)
  • L’étè dernier (Catherine Breillat)
  • Food for Profit (Giulia Innocenzi, Paolo D’Ambrosi)
  • Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki)
  • Here (Robert Zemeckis)
  • Judas And the Black Messaiah (Shaka King)
  • Sex (Dag Johan Haugerud)
  • Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Soi Cheang)
  • The Young Karl Mark (Raoul Peck)

Random notes:

  • nothing has come close to the devastating effect All of Us Strangers has had on me, and I won’t forget it any time soon;
  • Food for Profit should be a mandatory watch everywhere in the world;
  • sometimes a giant monster is all I need to be happy;
  • yes, Soi Cheang, I love Hong Kong cinema too;
  • if Karl Marx was as sexy as Peck’s version of him, why isn’t everyone a sworn Marxist yet?

Heart of Clojure

Beside confirming itself as the best conference I’ve ever been to, Heart of Clojure has had the perhaps unintentional side effect of forcing me to rethink my position in the IT world. I’ve been working on this ever since I got back from Leuven, but I have a long way ahead of me.

Other questions arose as well. Maybe one day I’ll come back to them with the proper state of mind and I’ll share my findings.

Music

What follows is a chart as temporary as any other, apart from the first two spots which are by miles the records I needed the most this year. Without further ado, then:

  • SEI ALMENO UN PO’ FELICE? (Olympia Mare)
  • Diamond Jubilee (Cindy Lee)
  • Brat (Charli XCX)
  • This Could Be Texas (English Teacher)
  • All of This Awaits You (Swami And the Bed of Nails)
  • stillness stop: you have a right to remember (Any Other)
  • Make It Fit (Karate)
  • Light Sides (Angie McMahon)
  • A Polaroid for Christmas (Memoria Polaroid)
  • Revival of a Friend (Sour Widows)
  • Searching (Staples Jr. Singers)
  • Where Next? (Sandwell District)

Random notes:

  • the deluxe edition of The Get Up Kids’s Something to Write Home About made me cry ten seconds after the vinyl started spinning;
  • a Marta Del Grandi’s concert proved that she is truly from another planet;
  • I’ve been listening to Pinegrove for an insane amount of hours in the last few months. I miss them so much.

University

There is little I can add to what I wrote already, so let me just say one thing. A younger version of myself couldn’t understand the value of studying at university. That boy had to undergo trials and errors, but he got there eventually. So much so he can’t really stop now.

To be honest in the last month I’ve had some doubts about what I really want to pursue with my studies. I’ll come back to this as soon as my mind is clear. For now, I see interesting paths in front of me.