Evolving Perspective
Tops of 2023, Reading Bad Books, Kogonada: His Vision and Perspectives, Text Workflow App, and Yabai Configuration Files
Hey everyone! First post of 2024. It’s been a year since I started this Newsletter, and I’m really glad I’ve been able to do it regularly. Right from the start, I didn’t expect a lot of attention for this publication, so I decided to treat it like an extension of my personal journal. It’s a way for me to take a break and look back at the content consumed or discoveries from my previous week. A copy of each of these posts actually ends up in my Day One journal, and I’m excited to see them show up in the ‘On This Day’ feature in the future, reminding me of what interested me in the past. I’m happy that many of you have also found value in this, enough to subscribe and keep reading. Thank you so much to those who have reached out with comments or said thank you whenever you found something useful. It really means a lot.
I’m a bit late for all of the “Best of 2023" posts, but I still wanted to share with you some of the things that I regularly write about in A Fading Thought and that I think stood out the most in the past year.
TOPS of 2023
My most highlighted book in 2023 was Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed. Even though I still haven’t finished reading this, I must list it here because it’s incredibly insightful, not only about cinema and art, but for any creative. It’s definitely not an easy-to-read book, and that’s why I’m taking my time. But almost every time I pick it up again, I find something new that I want to highlight and understand or apply for my own way of doing things.
My favorite novel in 2023 was Norwegian Wood. I don’t think I’ve read a novel that I enjoyed as much in recent years.
My favorite online class or course taken in 2023 was this masterclass: Neil Gaiman Teaches the Art of Storytelling, closely followed by Dan Brown Teaches Writing Thrillers. Both of these classes had so much practical and useful advice; it’s amazing. So much inspiration, really. These two were big motivations that kept me writing fiction consistently throughout the year.
My favorite podcast episode was probably this one with Tim Ferris and Rick Rubin.
My most highlighted article is a list of lessons shared by Nat Eliason.
On Top Apps I discovered in 2023 I must say that I started using Reader by Readwise, and this was huge for my own personal development. I started using Karabiner, and it transformed the way I use my computer. Also, discovering TypingMind has been like a gem in the middle of the avalanche of AI apps that appeared this past year.
I created and shared several Shortcuts throughout the year, but my personal favorite and the one that taught me the most about Shortcut creation is ToolVox AI, without a doubt.
When talking about films it gets a bit complicated. I don’t know if I have one single favorite, but I can tell you that from what I watched released in 2023, I loved Jethica (2023), Fingernails (2023), and Riceboy Sleeps (2023). From previous years—but watched in 2023—I loved Hit the Road (2021), Haru (1996), and Where Is My Friend’s House? (1987). A special mention to TV show Scenes from a Marriage (2021) that I also watched in 2023 and thought was amazing.
My favorite new things in 2023 were my NocFree keyboard and my Pilot Elabo SEF pen.
Now, let me briefly go over some of the highlights of my past week.
On Learning
I watched a YOUTUBE CLIP where writer Alan Moore suggests that you should also read “bad books.” This is something that several times I’ve thought about before, when watching films that I didn’t really like but still watched because there was something interesting about them or something to be learned. There is a lot to learn from works that don’t necessarily connect with you. Like one of the comments on the same video says, it’s like learning from mistakes, but they’re not your mistakes.
I recently read an interview with Kogonada where he talks about his journey as a filmmaker and how his perspective on life and cinema has changed over time. When I first became interested in film language, I discovered several video essays by Kogonada, who seemed to be a passionate content creator with many insights about cinema. Later, I had the chance to see his first released feature film, “Columbus”, and was amazed at how his knowledge translated into a completed piece. His 2022 film, “After Yang”, was equally impressive and inspired me to learn more about Kogonada and his vision and process. While he doesn’t make video essays anymore, interviews like this one still provide wonderful learning opportunities.
On Apps
I started using the Subscriptions App this week to track these types of payments. I don’t know why I didn’t find out about this app earlier. It is free to use, but some of the more advanced features, like tags, require a one-time fee. I highly recommend it.
I’m excited to have found Text Workflow app. On my Mac, I have been using Text Soap for all my text needs, but I’m glad to find an alternative for iOS. It’s much cheaper and seems just as good as TextSoap—maybe even more—especially now that Text Workflow has a Chat GPT action. On iOS, you can access the app in your share menu or create shortcuts easily, allowing you to do things like select text anywhere and perform a regex replacement. How cool is that!
I spent time this week fine-tuning my Yabai configuration and setup. I’m still super excited to have this as my windows management app, and the challenges it has presented have taught me a lot. Chat GPT4 has also been a great help in setting up scripts with Yabai and helping me set up rules or signals to trigger them. If you are a Yabai user and are curious about my setup, here is my config file. I have also created a folder with scripts that I use with it. If you want to see my specific key bindings, you can do so directly in my Karabiner configuration. One of the things that was a bit of trouble was making Yabai work together with Arc, but I found a workaround using OpenIn.
A few days ago, I released a new update for my ToolVox AI Shortcut. The Shortcut can now generate images with Dall-E 3, use the Vision model, and many other things. I hope you check it out if you are into LLMs and have an Open AI API token.
On Cinema
Saltburn (2023) . Beautiful cinematography. Crazy story. A bit predictable, and sometimes awkward, but great nonetheless. Synopsis: Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
If you liked this you may also enjoy some content I have up on my YT Channel! I don’t hang around social media a lot, but when I do I’m on IG or Twitter. You can also check out some of my online classes, listen to my music, or in case you haven’t already, subscribe to my weekly newsletter. Thank you for reading!