Rhythm & Consistency
NanoBanana Pro prompting and character consistency, discoveries of the year, a new microphone ring for quick capture, tips for using a teleprompter, a different kind of Pinterest
Hey guys, here’s a few things that stood out from my past week:
On Nano Banana
I keep seeing NanoBanana prompts everywhere on my feeds. At this point I’m pretty sure the algorithm knows I’m into this and keeps showing related stuff everywhere. What I didn’t know is that there’s an official guide straight from the creators that shows how to actually take advantage of what the model can do. If you’re playing with NanoBanana, this is worth bookmarking for reference.
What I did to make everything a bit more practical was feeding all that text into Claude, and used it to build myself a prompt-creator specialized on Nano Banana. I’m using it with Superwhisper, mostly in Google’s AI Studio. It’s been a nice way to get better results without having to remember everything.
One detail I was not aware of: Nano Banana Pro supports up to 14 reference images (6 with high fidelity). That’s crazy. This is meant to help with character consistency across different scenarios. Still, I must say that no matter all reference images I use, I still struggle with getting images that look like me 😅 . I need to experiment more with this, but would love the character consistency I get from Sora 2 videos but for images.
On Quick Capture
This year (2025), I’ve slowed down a lot on buying/trialing new apps. I feel like my workflow is mostly set. Perhaps my biggest discoveries for the year were Craft, IdeaShell, and Alter (remember there’s a 10% off with code “AFT”). I also got Soundtoys audio plugins during Black Friday—I’d been waiting for this deal for about a year. Hardware-wise, one thing I did get that’s been pure joy is the OP-1 Field. I haven’t had as many long, deep sessions with it (it’s hard to carve out as much time as I wish), but still, it’s so much fun.
Now, speaking about physical products. Few days ago I came across this ring with a microphone that transcribes through your phone, and it instantly made sense to me. I’m always talking about having a quick inbox for capturing thoughts. These days I do most of that with my watch + IdeaShell, or directly on Bear with Superwhisper, but for a second I wondered if a ring might be even better.
While researching a bit I found this video which explains more about the idea and the product. It was there that I found my deal-breaker: the battery is non-replaceable. They claim you’ll get years out of it, but still, when the battery dies, you need to get a new one.
The idea is fantastic, and the pricing seems pretty good at first glance. But that battery aspect really bothers me and makes it all look like a hidden subscription.
If you don’t already have a good “capture in the moment” setup, it might still be worth checking out. Personally I’m going to wait and see if they release a version with an interchangeable battery.
On Teleprompters
I’ve been doing YouTube for a couple of years now, and while I still got stuff to improve, I feel like my overall workflow is solid. One thing that made a huge difference for me a while back was switching to this teleprompter and writing full scripts. At first I tried working off an outline and just rambling speaking. It was a struggle. I’d spend spend hours recording, re-recording, and then editing out my mistakes. The teleprompter basically saved my YouTube journey and stopped me from totally giving up.
Even after getting one, there’s still that awkward stage where you have to learn how to not look like you’re reading. Last week I watched this video and thought, ‘man, this would’ve helped me so much back then’. At this point I already apply most of what Gabriel talks about, but it’s still a great resource.
A few things from that really matter:
Distance from the prompter matters.
Text width / font size matters (keeping the line tight so your eyes don’t scan left-to-right too much).
Rhythm and speed matter more than people think.
There’s one thing I haven’t seen anyone talk about, and that is what I use when doing screen walkthroughs (without teleprompter). I’ll record my script audio first, and then I’ll listen to that while I record the video. It’s kind of like giving myself a “track to follow” so I stay natural and don’t get stuck or go off talking about something else.
On Sound Design
About a decade and a half ago, I was making a lot more music. I was experimenting nonstop, and one synth plugin that completely changed things for me back then was Absynth by Native Instruments. Unfortunately, this amazing piece of software was discontinued for years (I believe in part because of the Apple Silicon chip). But this past week, I found out it’s back!
So of course I got it. So happy to be playing with this again.
On Success
A few days ago I read this Sam Altman article on “How to be Successful. Written in 2019, it already feels like a different era of the internet. The blog design makes the experience hit even more 😄. You’d never guess who’s behind it.
I thought the piece was insightful, practical, and also pretty honest. A few lines I highlighted and kept thinking about:
“Compounding is magic. Look for it everywhere.”
“Self-belief must be balanced with self-awareness.”
“What prevents most people from reaching their potential? A combination of self-doubt, giving up too early, and not pushing hard enough.”
On Cosmos
A few days ago I was looking for thumbnail design references and ended up on Pinterest. I’ve had an account there forever, but I barely ever use log in (I think this was the first time I visited the website in all year). Pinterest feels dated, and I couldn’t find what I needed, so I started looking for alternatives.
So… I discovered Cosmos. It’s a modern take on Pinterest, but more focused on the art community: photography, design, fashion. I noticed right away that the content feels more curated. It was not a great place for me to find thumbnail design inspiration, but I think I did find a lot of other useful imagery that I can still use for reference in photography, filmmaking, color grading, etc.
Like with Pinterest, you can save stuff, but (apparently) there’s a limit of 500 items before you need to pay for a subscription. I don’t usually save things on these platforms anyway. I just grab what I need and store it locally. A solid resource if you’re looking for visual references!
On Cinema
Man Finds Tape (2025). I watched this one because I saw Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson were the producers. Has the same feel as their other works: independent, a very fresh take on suspense. Synopsis: Pulled in by a series of strange and unexplainable video clips, a brother and sister team up to investigate the events captured in the footage, only to discover a shocking secret that’s overtaking their small-town Texas community.
The Innocents (2016). I don’t watch a lot of historical dramas, but I’d heard great things about this one. It lived up to the expectations. Synopsis: Poland, 1945. Mathilde, a young French Red Cross doctor, is on a mission to help the war survivors. When a nun seeks for her help, she is brought to a convent where several pregnant sisters are hiding, unable to reconcile their faith with their pregnancy. Mathilde becomes their only hope.
Train Dreams (2025). So simple, relatable, poetic, beautiful, and sad. Synopsis: A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
A Summer’s Tale (1996). Wow. I’d heard of the works of Éric Rohmer before, and this is my introduction to him. I thought it was brilliant. Amazing really, it builds the entire story in the most ordinary way, through conversations. It reminded me a bit of Before Sunrise. Synopsis: Awaiting his girlfriend Léna’s arrival at the Breton seaside resort of Dinard, Gaspard befriends—and flirts heavily with—two other women, the companionable ethnology student Margot and the sensual townie Solène, making for a rather complicated situation when Léna finally arrives.
Die My Love (2025). This one was definitely a bit more experimental than I was expecting. I still loved it though. I liked the whole symbolism and the metaphors through the imagery. The editing was pretty brave too. Synopsis: Grace and her partner Jackson move into an old country house. She pursues her dream of writing, and the couple welcome a baby soon after. However, with Jackson frequently absent, and the pressures of domestic life weighing on her, Grace begins to unravel, leaving a path of destruction in her wake.
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Compounding is magic 🪄