Welcome back to Dispatch, a personal roundup of videos, records, and anything that I found interesting this month. Think of Dispatch as my monthly mixtape from the internet with no real theme except “this was neat.”
For a moment I considered skipping this Dispatch. I had only saved most of these links but not described them which seemed like a tedious task. This meant I had to quickly skim some of the older links to jog my memory and avoid inaccurate descriptions. For one, I’ve learnt that I need to write a quick note for every single recommendation at the point of saving.
Videos
The BLUETOOTH CONNECTED Voice Actors - almost each one of us has heard of the classic “zee bluetooth device is connected successfully” and I really thought this video was about that voice actor but I was still equally impressed and left wondering if I can get in on the voice acting act.
Why You Can’t (Quite) Take a Train Across Africa - a bit of South African history primarily about Cecil Rhodes and why I think he deserves even more hate but predominantly about the difficulty of traversing the vast continent from Cape Town to Cairo.
Why Do the BEST Singers Always End Up Being British? - this is something I’ve noticed before but never thought to look into it. I think someone should make a video about British actors too.
How Bicycle Helmets Are Engineered to Protect Your Brain - this is one of those topics I didn’t know I was curious about but ended up being fully engrossed about the video especially with the direct and practical presentation style of the presenter.
Music
‘Human Nature’ - Jan’s Collective Live (feat. Josh Babu) - Michael Jackson and I might be the only people who haven’t watched his movie but my YouTube feed has been full of MJ related content. This orchestral arrangement of Human Nature is particularly impressive and beautifully done.
In other news, I’ve discovered Genesis Owusu through triple j from his ‘Paint It, Black’ cover. And so far I’m loving his discography including the few songs I’ve heard from his new album such as STAMPEDE and RUNNIN OUTTA TIME.
Books
I haven’t finished a single book this month but I realised I didn’t mention my favourite book from April. Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski was a beautiful read and I don’t I can describe it any better than how I did on my Goodreads review: “A quiet, aching book about forbidden love in Communist Poland, where the personal and political are impossible to untangle. The central moral dilemma hangs over every page. To betray your lover or country. The story is told in the past tense and addressed to Janusz meaning we get the sense of loss and feel the darkness from the first page. The prose is beautiful and vivid despite the bleakness of the world it describes. This is deeply moving and hard to put down.”
Articles
How to kill a blog - for all the bloggers out there and those who want to join the want, please don’t go niche.
Don’t reject yourself - in a similar fashion to the article above, just hit the publish button for the draft you have. Some of us as perfectionists but it gets to a point where you just have to release something
Software Engineering Practices (are also) Useful for Token Reduction - this is a clear reiteration on the importance of minimisation and maintaining good software engineering practices even more so with agents.
Signals #002: The Frame vs. The Framer - i consider this a hopeful food for thought for anyone who dreads an AI apocalypse. Christopher explores how AI benchmarks and automation operate inside human-defined constraints, so the deeper human role remains intact.
Reply by Email