A Note, a Quote, a Movie... and 'Speechify'
Hello from the Pacific North West!
...where the skies are grey, much like the mood in the country right now.
First, I must address what's happening in the States, where I currently live. Protests that started after George Floyd's murder have turned into a huge movement, and it definitely feels like we are on the precipice of major change, with not only admistrative reform but also so many people recognizing and learning about the realities of being black. To that end, if you are looking for resources to educate yourself - about racial discrimination in the US, its history and how to be a better ally, here is a document with a list of books, podcasts, articles and movies for it. If you're looking for a show to watch which is also engaging and entertaining, I'd recommend Dear White People, a fantastic show which follows the story of a group of Black students at a predominantly white Ivy League college. Dear White People digs deeper, tackling topics from blackface to sexual assault.
Yes, it is another day, another news cycle with another ten thousand grim events which we have become so accustomed to that perhaps it’s stopped affecting us as much. In such times, it's easy and convenient to let your idealism fade away, to become a cynic. But, as Sharukh Khan once said 'becoming cynical is the single most destructive thing you can do.' - this applies to your own life, as well as towards the state of the world.
I am also reminded of a poem by the great Indian Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, Where The Mind is Without Fear:
“Let My Country Awake”
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action
– Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
'Speechify' and Why I'm Finally Going to Try AudioBooks...
I discovered this app called Speechify which is a text to speech application. You can provide it text in any format- a pdf, a picture of a book, a newspaper - and it converts it into speech audio format and reads it out to you at your preferred speed in your preferred accent. It's absolutely incredible!
What's even more incredible is the story of the founder. Cliff Weitzman has had dyslexia all his life and struggled through school because of this. If you have dyslexia or know someone who does, you know the struggle - not being able to focus, struggling to form each and every word in your head...
But Cliff loved to read and learn. It wasn't until he discovered audiobooks in his teens when he could finally fulfill his curiosity and desires to learn. But he didn't stop there. He built this app to help himself and people like him read and comprehend faster.
The app was originally designed for people with learning disabilities like dyslexia and ADHD but has his since expanded and now most users are people without any learning disability- hardly surprising when you consider this:
When you read 70 % of your brain is dedicated to decoding the words on the page and only 30 percent remains for comprehension. When you listen 3% is dedicated to processing and 97% is dedicated to comprehension.
The general idea is that with listening you outsource the cognitive workload of computing the words so that you can focus more on understanding the content as opposed to the computation of the words.
Cliff is also a big fan of listening at 2x (and even faster speed). The average reading speed is anywhere between 200-250 words per minute. I listened to a piece of text on the app when I was trying it this weekend and I was able to comfortably listen at 380wpm, and I'm certain my reading speed is not above 300wpm. So that's already a jump of 80wpm. But I'm new to audiobooks and listening to content generally - I'm sure if I keep doing it I could increase my listen speed to at least 450wpm. That's more than double the average already. Cliff argues that you should always challenge yourself to listen at the fastest speed whilst still comprehending and not being 100% comfortable. By being just slightly uncomfortable you can increase your listening speed over time. But of course, as with everything else in life, "You shouldn’t expect to be a good listener immediately – it takes practice. But once you get to your 11th audiobook you’ll start to see the benefits. You’ll be able to comprehend more, your speed will increase and you’ll be able to multitask whilst listening”.
I'm quite excited to get more into audiobooks and listening to any and all forms of text. I don't think it'll replace reading for me, but I think it will allow me to increase the amount of content I can consume in a day or week.
Videos this week
I published two short sketches over the last week or so - both on the theme of living in lockdown. Check them out!
And tell me what you think :)
Movie recommendation - What are the Odds
What are the Odds on Netflix, tells the story of two teenagers who are very unlike each other and develop an unlikely friendship over the course of a day spent bunking an exam and running into quirky characters as seemingly mundane but consequential events unfold through the day.
What I loved / Reasons to watch it
It’s a story of an unlikely friendship, and not a sappy love story. The depiction of teenagers isn’t overly sexual as is the case with literally anything ever made on teenagers.
In the words of the director : “They have that asexual chemistry between them which was beautiful. I am sick and tired of teenagers being hypersexual. They both are very attractive young kids and it’s very easy to have on set crushes. But the fact that they maintained that level of dignity towards their characters, never crossed a line is what worked for the film”Element of magical realism - there’s a hint of it here and there, and it pushes the audience to believe, to be sucked into this world where at first not everything makes sense.. where in a few scenes you’re not entirely sure if the scene that’s unfolding on the screen is actually happening in the story or is an imagination of the character, but that’s the beauty. You must let yourself get sucked into the reality of it, as a child would. Once you do, you feel the magic.
The music (all original soundtracks) is lovely.
It portrays an almost innocent view of life through the lens of a teenager who thinks they know what life is like. This is unusual and interesting because we rarely see that. In shows like Riverdale or Sex Education, the audience is always on the outside looking in at the teenage characters. In this movie, you are seeing it from the perspective of the teenager and then you understand instead of question, you learn instead of mock their naivety.
Quote of the Week….
"A little bit of slope makes up for a lot of y-intercept"
~ John Ousterhaut, Stanford Professor
“In a mathematical sense it’s kind of obvious. But I didn’t really mean in a mathematical sense, I think this is a pretty good guideline for life also. What I mean is that how fast you learn is a lot more important than how much you know to begin with. So in general I say that people emphasize too much how much they know and not how fast they’re learning.
…
That's good news for all of you people because you're in Stanford and that means you learn really, really fast. This is a great advantage for you. Now let me give you some examples. The first example is: you shouldn't be afraid to try new things even if you're completely clueless about the area you're going into. No need to be afraid about that. As long as you learn fast you'll catch up and you'll be fine.”
Until Next Time,
Manan
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