The Weekend Wind-Down #37 - November 10, 2024
I hope you're having a great weekend, here's the list!
What I watched this weekend
Tim Ferriss' interview with five-time Grammy Award-winner, Jon Batiste , is worth watching over just listening to. It was recorded in the recording studio designed by Jimmy Hendrix and the beautiful setting, Tim's dog, and musical instruments around all really added to the episode. The conversation was wide-ranging, philosophical, practical, and soothing all in one. Jon is far deeper than you might imagine and many of his thoughts on creativity, life, music, performing, and spirituality are inspiring. He shares how he didn't start speaking until he was 10 years old, and when he looks back on he feels like he just needed to see how the world is for a while before he started participating. Tim is also a joy to watch as an interviewer, being more focused on the skill of talking to people and asking questions recently it is fantastic to watch their connection grow through the episode.
Big AI news this week
A search function has been added to ChatGPT and I've been playing around with it a bit. I think it is going to take some getting used to, it is a lot different than using Google. Personally, I don't think it is going to be an easy switch for most uses. ChatGPT seems do deliver results in much the same way it does for its normal use, it is good at gathering data from multiple sources and summarizing it into an easily readable format. That is not how I normally use Google. When I Google something I'm usually either looking for a quick answer or fact, how to do something in Excel, what time the sunset is, when was something built, etc. or I'm looking for an answer to something that is more complex or subjective and I want to compare answers from various sources I trust, where is the best food in Singapore, how should I plan an itinerary for Taiwan, is it worth it to go see a movie. I believe that the ChatGPT search will be useful for certain things, but it will take a while to figure out what those are. For example, I asked it advice on starting a podcast, and part of the results it returned were advice to use certain platforms, that it found on those platform's websites. That also shows me this will start to impact marketing and I'm sure lots of people will be starting to think about that now.
What I read this weekend
I finished Talk to Me: How to Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers, and Interview Anyone Like a Pro by Dean Nelson. Dean has decades of experience as a journalist as well as being the founder and host of Writer's Symposium by the Sea where he interviews prominent writers and authors. This book is a comprehensive guide on how to be a good interviewer, for journalists, podcasters, and anyone else who wants to ask people questions and get answers. It's actually pretty hard to find books on how to be a good interviewer because the vast majority of them are on job interviewing. There's a lot of great advice in the book, especially about making people comfortable, actively listening, and asking follow-up questions. As I've already discovered in my first few podcasts, it is difficult to conduct an interview, know what question to ask next, be ready with your next question while still listening to what the person is saying, ask at the right point without interrupting them or letting them ramble too much, and much more. Was really happy to learn the advice in this book and I look forward to applying it as I work to become a better interviewer.
This week on Before We Get There Podcast
On Thursday my latest episode with gaming industry veteran and Brazilian Jiujitsu black belt, Michael Thompson was released. Michael is originally from Canada and has been living in Singapore for over 15 years. He worked for EA and Ubisoft on games such as FIFA, NHL, Ghost Recon, and many more, and currently teaches at DigiPen. We talked about many aspects of the gaming industry and some of the big projects he's been part of. Michael also shared lots of details about starting BJJ in the early years and how gyms and the sport have evolved over the years. We also went into how to measure progress and the best way to get better at jiujitsu. You won't want to miss this episode - watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify now!
That's all for this week, have a fantastic rest of your weekend!