Some excellent things:
The blank slate by Stephen Pinker. Everyone should read this book. Not only is it a clear guide to the current thinking on genetic influence on our lives but explains clearly why human rights and policies should transcend these issues.
English psychedelia - early Pink Floyd, Roy Harper (particularly "When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease"), Syd Barrett, Van Der Graaf Generator,Giles, Giles and Fripp, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, XTC's take on the whole thing (most noticeably on the Dukes of Stratosphere releases) and others. (adopts Homer Simpson voice) Ahh Nostalgia [...dribble].
Some new things - Alva Noto, Atom Heart, Bola,Sleepy Town Manufacture, Stephan Mathieu,
The Phoenix Browser. I no longer use Internet Explorer - Phoenix is so much nicer. Tabbed browsing is the future. The keyword searches and popblocking are also invaluable.
The Fith Element This is just so cool. I watched it again the other night. Wonderful.
Invisible Cities Take some time to explore these sound works. Each one is an artists personal "take" on a city that they live in. My favourite is the Berlin one - Stephan Mathieu clipped his microphone to his umbrella and went walking in the rain - simple,beautiful and full of space. The london one is quite cool too - Janek Schaefer sent a voice activated dicataphone through the post....
The track Growing Up from the new Peter Gabriel album Up.
15 Storeys High this started off on radio 4 but it works even better on TV - full of just slightly odd characters and events its a celebration of the weirdness of normality. Its also hillarious. My favourtite of all recent comedy - League of Gentlemen and Alan Partridge included.
This was going to be a much bigger update about this and that and the other however some passing nonsense has been depressing me today so I will just stick to the more whimsical part:
Years of having the cats and now this year Milo has left my normal sleeping patterns heavily disrupted. Most nights I am awake for a short or long period at some unearthly hour. The good thing about this (if there is one) are some of the odd things you get to see in the middle of the night:
Three Swans flying by - swans are beautiful when they are flying and particularly eerie in the middle of the night
A Satellite - high up in a clear sky an hour or two before dawn. It caught the sunlight briefly.
Shooting stars - I have seen quite a number of these. Its quite odd to glance up and see one. Not all during the leonids either.
A Fox - standing at the end of the drive looking at the house. Quite a big one as well. I also saw one running across the estate one dark and rainy night