Magpies, Scratchpads, & Blocking
Insights on the thinking process, video on digital scratchpads, a class feature, a YT channel on the cinema language, and sayonara pocket
Hey guys, here’s some of the stuff that stood out in my past week:
On the Thinking Process
A few days ago, I read this really good textthat talks about the whole thinking process (it’s a transcript from a podcast, but couldn’t find the episode to listen to it.) I’ve always been curious about creativity, inspiration, and how our minds work. This piece introduced a few new insights and metaphors - like comparing the brain to a magpie, a bird that collects various items to build its nest. There’s something liberating about viewing the mind as a collector, a living catalog where everything might become useful someday.
There’s also this bit about thinking not just “harder,” but smarter—by creating spaces and systems that help us assemble better thoughts. It’s less about forcing our brain to work in a specific way, and more about curating the right inputs and giving ourselves room to move, both mentally and physically. In my own creative work, I always notice the difference when I step away from the screen, grab a notebook, or just go for a walk. This point about having the correct “inputs”, by the way, also goes hand in hand with the whole idea of having an information diet.
Oh, and the article’s idea that we’re “thinking with tools,” having a conversation with our materials, was on point! It came at the right time because I was trying to put together a video on how and why I use digital scratchpads. Honestly, I think there’s a lesson here about giving ourselves permission to play with our thinking—letting the process be a little messy, a little loopy, and not so linear. As someone who cares about productivity, creativity, and the value of reflection, a lot of my best ideas come when I’m not “working” in the traditional sense.
Highlights that stood out:
“What so often feels and looks like productivity and efficiency to us are often the very activities and habits that stunt our thinking. And many of the habits and activities that look like leisure, sometimes even look like play… those end up unlocking our thinking.”
“I compare the brain to a magpie, one of these birds that plucks a twig here and a piece of string here but also more unusual things… the brain is something like that. It’s assembling its thought processes from what’s available in its environment.”
“It’s not about working the brain ever harder. It’s about creating a space and a set of capacities wherein you have more and better resources from which to assemble your thought processes.”
“A computer would never have an idea printed out, have to read it with their eyes, make up lots of marks in the margins, and then pass it around to their colleagues and then have a whole new understanding of that idea. That’s not how computers work, but that’s how people work.”
On Scratchpads
A few days ago, I published this video where I walk through how I use digital scratchpads to keep my ideas flowing. If you are into productivity or note-taking, you probably know how important it is to get those random thoughts out of your head before they vanish. I actually think that everyone, regardless of the field they are in or their interests, should still pay attention to this habit. In my case, Bear, together with Yabai has become my go-to tool for this, and particularly the aspect of using notes as temporary scratchpads has made a big difference. Still, I know not everyone wants to dive into something as technical as Yabai, so I wanted to share a handful of alternatives that might be a better fit for you—there’s even some free alternatives mentioned in there which is always a plus.
On Skillshare
A few days ago, I got an unexpected email from the Skillshare team saying my class on writing with AI assistance was featured in their writing section! I didn’t expect this at all, mostly because I’ve always said this class is one of the simplest ones I’ve made—super basic, more beginner-friendly than most content I share.
This short course focuses on a practice I do almost every day. I try to set aside time for creative writing, stretch my imagination a bit, and then I bring in AI to help spark ideas or push them further. My process is a bit back-and-forth: I prompt the AI for ideas, then I sift through everything, rewrite, and mold things so they fit what I originally wanted to say… or sometimes the process takes me in a totally different direction. Whether I’m working with fiction or any other type of writing, I’ve never felt comfortable letting AI do the writing for me, at least not without heavy editing. If you’re curious about how I use this method—especially if you are into creative writing—you might want to check it out on Skillshare.
On YT
A few days ago, I decided to take a quick look at Every Frame a Painting—a YT channel I honestly thought had closed its doors for good. That channel meant a lot to me back when I was starting to get deep into wedding filmmaking, still searching for my own creative direction and trying to understand the whole idea of cinema as a language. I remember going back to those videos again and again, not just for technical know-how but for the way they managed those essays would explain the real soul of filmmaking.
Out of the most recent videos I watched, this one, discusses blocking—how you choose to place your actors and why that matters so much. By now, after years of working on lots of video projects and some narrative work as well, much of this comes instinctively to me. Still, I enjoyed checking this out. Blocking isn’t just about who stands where or how people move; it’s about what you want to say and how you want the audience to feel. It’s easy to get caught up in the technical side and forget that every shot, every bit of movement, is a chance to convey something deeper. When a scene clicks, it’s almost always because every decision is anchored in meaning, emotion, and sometimes even metaphor.
Excited to check out some more of the new content in there. Seems like there’s even some short film! I’ve put it in my read-it-later list.
On Pocket
This past week I heard that Pocket—the well-known Read It Later app—is finally closing its doors. It’s a bit of an end of an era for me, since I remember bouncing between Instapaper and Pocket myself, searching for the perfect place to save articles. I used the app for about a year and eventually, I moved to Readwise when their Reader app came out, and I haven’t looked back. For anyone who’s still looking for a Read It Later solution, I honestly think Readwise Reader is the way to go. It’s made a huge difference in how I handle my reading and knowledge management. If you’re curious, you can check out a bit of my Readwise workflow in this video—it’s more about how I use Readwise for highlights, which isn’t exactly the same as Read It Later, but it might give you a window into how I manage all this stuff. I wanted to bring this up since I know Pocket has a pretty big following, and some of you might be looking for a new home for your saved articles.
On Cinema
Black Dog (2024). For some reason it made me think about the black dog of Koudelka’s photo. The whole idea you know like criminal that is sort of an exile. I really liked this and surprised I didn’t hear about it until now. Synopsis: A teenage boy relives his traumatic past over and over again and must overcome his past to break free.
Happiness (1965). I’ve seen only a couple of films by Agnès Varda, but this one made want to watch more. A simple piece with so many elements of cinema language. Synopsis: A young husband and father, perfectly content with his life, falls in love with another woman.
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!