Curiosity for curation, why I am starting again
Alternative futures, hidden cameras in Airbnb, information diet, how Lego became Lego, Ibiza life, and much more ...
If you are reading this, you might be new here, or you might have subscribed to this newsletter 4 years ago when I originally started this newsletter while living abroad in Madrid 😅 After stopping after three issues, I decided to start again this newsletter in 2023! 🙌
To be honest, this newsletter is an experiment. I do not recognize myself in the current state of social media, the endless feeds full of distracting content. I am still getting some positive aspects of it but while impacting my mental health and attention.
I would like to find a better way to share the interesting content I consume, outside of social media.
That’s why I am experimenting with a monthly newsletter, a much slower format to share content I like that might interest you and spark a conversation. For now, it will be a mix of curated content and personal news but it might evolve in the future.
✨ Highlights of last month
With my DJ collective APEX, we took a break in August, so I spent time with friends and family chilling between Nantes and Brittany.
I took a week off work and went hiking in the Jura region to see a friend for three days, which was awesome!
I made a quick afternoon stop in Paris after this before coming back to Nantes.
View during a long hike we did in the Jura region
📚 What I liked consuming last month
Let’s dive now into what I consumed last month and especially liked
Articles
How Lego Grows by Jaryd Hermann
One of my favorite in-depth analyses of this month. I played with Legos as a kid like many of us, so reading about the original story of how it became the colorful brick we know today was so interesting!
It was not all sunshine and rainbows for the company so the blog post is also full of useful advice for company building and beyond, with stories of great and bad business decisions they made that impacted the global business and vision.
[In French] Digger, un métier dangereux ? Les collectionneurs de l’extrême racontent leurs pires galères by Smaël Bouaici
Digging for the perfect track that everyone forgot but should listen to is something many music enthusiasts are passionate about. In this French article, we follow extreme diggers who won’t stop before they find the perfect vinyl, even if it means going to dangerous places.
The internet wants to be fragmented by Noah Smith
We centralized everyone on a couple of social media platforms, but it creates tension, hate content, and never-ending debates, …
“Getting screamed at and insulted by people who disagree with you doesn’t take you out of your filter bubble — it makes you retreat back inside your bubble and reject the ideas of whoever is screaming at you.“ Noah Smith
Noah Smith wants a more fragmented Internet. An Internet with countless small communities, separated by “semipermeable membranes” still allows disagreement and debates, but in a much more healthy way.
That is an interesting point of view that I agree with, and that Deep Work author Cal Newport talks about in his recent article “We Don’t Need A New Twitter”.
Breaking Up with Productivity Advice by Nat Eliason
“Don't Put the Tool Before the Craft”, that’s how we can summarize this article. In the productivity and self-improvement space, there is always a race to do more, to try the new and shiny tool that will improve your work. Some call it “productivity porn”. This is just a distraction from doing the real work.
I fell for that countless times in the past. GTD, Miracle Morning, Bullet Journal, Notion, Evernote, … I have tried a lot of systems and apps to improve my productivity in an endless quest for the perfect productivity system. But in the end, we just need to do the work with a simple system that works for us, not look forever for the trending new productivity app.
Like Nat says well: “It’s not like I’m launching rockets or creating new medicines or running for President.”.
Running Wild by Stephen Lurie
Running is a wonderful sport, but a sport where some people like to go to some extremes. We sometimes talk about the “Runner’s High” and some people get it from running long and difficult distances. In this piece, we follow a group of people running the D3 marathon, a 24-hour run in a circle, that is not well-known compared to marathons or Ironmans.
Books
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
I discovered this book on Goodreads, and it made me reflect on my personal life. With each decision you make, you follow a certain life path that would have been quite different if you made another choice. What would happen if you could live all these alternative lives that you regret not living? That is what The Midnight Library is about! I especially liked the way the author advises in this book. A book I highly recommend!
If you want to go further after reading this book. You can also listen to French creator Oceane Andrea talk about the book in her podcast “Page 222”.
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
I am sharing here a book from 1985 that, in my opinion, is still relevant today. By putting entertainment everywhere in what we consume, TV, radio, YouTube, and social media, we have transformed the way we consume and learn, and that is not without a huge impact. The author shares the impact each new medium of communication has on our society, especially how television impacted our society.
Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan is well-known for his phrase "The medium is the message" which summarizes well what Neil Postman shares in his book.
I found it crazy that many elements the author talked about are still relevant in today’s age, even if he only talks briefly about the Internet.
This book comforted me in my choice of changing my information diet a while back, how I have decided to consume information from now on, and where I get the information from. I consume no TV, less social media, more newsletters, and long-form video/writing content. I want slow media and not breaking news 24/24 media. Social Media feeds don’t healthily allow that.
Henry David Thoreau has a great quote on this, quoted in the book, about the launch of the first telegraph line, which impacted what a piece of news was after that:
“We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate. . .
We are bombarded by news that we do nothing about and this quote by Neil Postman summarizes it well.
How often does it occur that information provided you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides insight into some problem you are required to solve?
It’s great to try to be more selective about what we consume and make choices in curating our information diet.
In my opinion, this book is a great start to a conversation and debate on the topic of consuming content in our current society so I would love to discuss this topic more in detail.
Podcasts
Ibiza: What's The Big Deal?
Ibiza is the dream island for many music enthusiasts, DJs, and producers. But how did this Spanish island become the party island we know today? Sarah Story from BBC Radio 1 investigates by going on the island and interviewing people whom Ibiza had an impact on.
It was cool to hear the POV of artists I listen to like LF System or Dom Dolla. I still haven’t visited Ibiza, but this podcast made me even more curious about going there in the future.
Videos
“I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet - Finding Paul Miller“ by The Verge
Digital Detox, Digital Sabbath, Screen time, phone addiction, dopamine, … we hear and read more and more of these words nowadays as people want to disconnect more from their devices.
More than 10 years ago, tech journalist Paul Miller decided to quit completely the Internet for an entire year and write about his experience. It was interesting to watch and read about this year-long experiment this month even if many websites we use today were not used at the time. It makes you reflect on your own screen time. (What’s your smartphone screen time by the way?)
“Why Hollywood is Now Unpredictable.” by Tejas Hullur
“Barbenheimer” is everywhere right now and has been an enormous success. But we talk a lot less about the franchises that released a new opus alongside them, like Indiana Jones, Fast & Furious, or Mission Impossible, with less success.
Did they try to make too much money from these universes? Tejas Hullur dives into this topic and how Hollywood should evolve shortly.
I could not talk about the writers’ and actors’ strike going on right now so another of his videos is exactly on this topic.
[In French] “J'ai truffé un AirBNB de caméras” by Simon Puech
Most people have tried an Airbnb at some point. It’s convenient, cheap and you can find one almost everywhere. But some of them can become a nightmare when you discover inside yours that you’ve been recorded without your permission in private areas.
Simon Puech investigates this topic and how some perverted people are buying hidden cameras to spy on their guests.
“For those who feel like giving up” by Life of Riza
One of my favorite recent creators and someone you should subscribe to if you like great storytelling in a beautiful cinematic yet personal way. Riza has been praised by many US content creators recently and for good reasons.
After reaching 100k subscribers in 3 weeks, she reflects on her journey and shares some learnings with us. I have been a huge vlog watcher in the past and she is bringing her personal touch to this crowded video format.
“The Importance of Documenting Your Life” by Gene Yoon
Documenting your life can be done in many different ways, writing, filming, taking photos, and recording audio, … but it’s a process if you want to record the meaningful moments of your life. Gene shares his way of doing it in the video and photo format, and how his kids are even helping him do that :)
Why McDonald’s Is Better in Europe by Fern
If you know someone who lives in the USA, you know that McDonald’s is not as good in the USA as it is in France. The Fern channel goes into details about why “McDo” has been having a huge success in France, and why they launched durable packaging in France and not elsewhere.
Why Barcelona Looks Weird by Hoog
Visiting Barcelona or flying about it, you won’t miss its original architecture. But why does the Catalan city look like this? In the video, you learn who is behind this city's architecture and what was his original plan with it. So interesting!
Music
August 2023
Every month, I create a playlist sharing my favorite tracks of the month. Here is the one for this month. You can find the previous ones on my Spotify profile.
Cassö
I have been following this UK producer for the past 6 months and he went viral recently on Tiktok with a remix of RAYE and D-Block Europe track, Ferrari Horses. It went from an unofficial remix on SoundCloud to an official release as “Prada” on streaming platforms.
If you like this track, I also recommend this track, which has been on repeat for me so definitely check out his SoundCloud profile.
Keinemusik at Exit 2023
The DJ collective, composed of Adam Port, &ME, Rampa, and Reznik, as well as artist Monja Gentschow, has been everywhere over the past several years for their great tracks and fantastic tracklists during their sets. Their recent Exit festival set has been recorded and is available above and has such a cool vibe.
Symphony of Unity
Electronic music meets orchestra, this is what this video is about. During Tomorrowland 2023, an orchestra of 60 young musicians, led by Belgian conductor Dirk Brossé, played timeless EDM tracks like “Don’t Worry Child” by Swedish House Mafia or “Right Here, Right Now” by Fatboy Slim.
👀 What I’m up to this month
After a much-needed one-month break from DJing, I am back behind the decks tomorrow 🔥 I will be playing at an open air in Rennes at AVEC, invited by another DJ collective, Ramdom. More information here. Another gig is also happening in Nantes on the 15th at Salut Marcel. It is good to be back 😉
I have been missing having a running goal for the past few months, so next weekend, I will be running a 10K in Nantes with some teammates from Crisp. Looking forward to it 🏃♂️
This month is also a travel month as I am visiting one of my best friends abroad. I will be sharing photos and videos on Instagram later this month 📸
And that’s it for this first 2023 issue of Full-Time Curious 😁 If you enjoyed reading this monthly issue, you can like this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below, subscribe or respond to this email so we can chat.
Thanks for reading and see you next month!
Alexandre
Full-Time Curious