191 - Content: Overload 📺📈
Hey there, !
There's just too much to do.
I don't know if y'all feel this as well, but there's just too many things going on that I want to do, and I feel overwhelmed trying to catch up.
There are movies, tv shows, restaurants, books, podcasts, hobbies, travel, people to meet, things to eat - just SO MUCH STUFF!
Take tv shows, for example: as I wrote previously, there's a number of reasons why there's so much content and why we aren't all watching the same stuff anymore - there are lots of fragmented streaming services where some insane talent goes, and to follow up on everything is so! hard! Everything is niche-ified and that means we aren't all exploring the same things - what can we even talk about :O?
And then, once a popular show gets to the 2nd or 3rd season, and people are hyped, you start feeling like you've fallen behind, and trying to catch up would just take FOREVER (i.e. for me this was Succession - I need to get into it!).
I remember hearing from a friend the other day that if our kids had to catch up on the entire MCU it would take 110 hours total runtime which is kind of insane if you think about it because there's just so much they'd have to get through to have that same experience you had when you got to Endgame.
And that's just one cinematic property to get through - imagine all the other cinematic universes, trilogies, cult movies, blockbusters - all of it that make up our cultural milieu.
Insanity.
I mean, juggling all the types of content I want to consume is tiring anyway. I'll try to make time to watch movies, but that'll take time away from books, and then I'll listen to podcasts in the meantime, but then I miss out on the new music I should listen to...
Honestly, it kinda makes me sad that a lot of the conversations we have or want to have with others about media we're consuming is so difficult - have you watched Ted Lasso yet? No? Ah well..by the time you've got to it I'll be on to the next thing. Oh, you just watched the latest season of Taskmaster? Oh I'm already on the next thing...
There's so much optimism in the things I do or the lists I make - and most of this time has actually replaced the actual watching of things too! I have a list for all of these types of media - movies, tv shows, books - and often I'll even go acquire them (mainly books and games) to be like 'yeah, I'll have time for this in the future - future me will have so much fun with this when he gets to it!' and it just...doesn't happen.
There just never seems to be enough time!
Don't get me wrong, I know it's because I spend a lot of time on social media (and get sucked into videos, reels, TikToks (through Instagram Reels), garbage content on reddit etc.). In addition, there are a lot of things you already have to do to survive as well.
But it's still difficult - it's hard to plan for a future version of me that I think is going to be different from the current version of me. I've come to a realisation that I overestimate change in my life way too much - that there are so many patterns and habits that have calcified, and require a lot of effort to overcome. Do you have this too...?
I don't actually have any solutions for this right now, but this Reddit blackout is going to help somewhat, I hope.
Anyway, got any good recommendations of things to watch/listen to/read/eat/drink? I'm always looking out for 'em ;)
Can't promise I'll actually do 'em - maybe when a little time frees up...
Chat soon :)
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✔️Real Life Recommendations
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Sunda - an Asian-inspired restaurant in Melbourne run by Khanh Nguyen (who also created ARU), with some fascinating flavours and dishes (a vegemite roti?! a quandong xo egg noodle dish? pork belly seasoned with Australian herbs and spices?). I went for my birthday and it was spectacular - really enjoyable, and a really relaxing but vibey atmosphere. Everything was shared plates, which we liked just fine. Highly recommended!
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Marameo - another fantastic Italian joint that had some fun and fresh takes on pasta and the sides that come with it (kentucky fried QUAIL?) - we got the Chef's Choice menu which included a beautifully salted seafood pasta that tasted of the sea, and an intensely cheese forward but balanced cacio e pepe. Again, highly recommended!
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Notes apps are where ideas go to die. And that’s good. - honestly, true. I might put some of my random notes in a future newsletter to see what I remember, and if there's anything I can vibe off!
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Multilingual Speech Recognition by Meta - they made an AI that can automatically detect what language you're speaking, and instantly translate it for you. WACK.
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Tempus Nectit Knitting Clock - it's a clock that knits! These are one of those side projects that I'm like 'yeah I would love to be a person that does this sort of stuff' but never get around to it because there's TOO MUCH TO DO.