Bone conduction and studio interviews
Plus, a mobile game I finally love playing.
Today might have been the most eventful Tuesday of the year so far. Not only was it Google I/O day (where Google shows off all its new AI things) but Arsenal officially won the Premier League AND the Knicks are playing in the Eastern Conference Finals tonight. Basically, my day has been great.
in this issue:
💿 Mix with the Masters
🦴 Aftershokz OpenRun Pro 2
👾 Baba Is You
💿 Mix with the Masters
One thing about me is that I love BTS content. I've watched "Making of Planet Earth 2" episodes more times than the actual show itself. I love watching the process behind how something comes together, especially because the opportunity to watch true geniuses at work is so few and far between. That's why this new YouTube channel I just discovered is my new obsession. Mix with the Masters is basically an interview series with musicians about some of their biggest hits.
This one is a sit-down with Kevin Parker of Tame Impala fame to hear about how his song "The Less I Know the Better" came to be. It really reminds me of the Making of Redbone video from a few years ago. I do wish they would've dug a little deeper into some of the decisions behind why he made certain choices, but it's still interesting to hear early versions of such a popular song. This is just one of the many interesting interviews this channel has, so I can't wait to binge their back catalog.
🦴 Aftershokz OpenRun Pro 2
As of today, there are 166 days left until the NYC Marathon. And this is the year that I’m finally running it. I somehow let my sister talk me into it, so I’ve been slowly building back my mileage, which is a lot easier with music. A few months ago, my fiancée gifted me the Aftershokz OpenRun Pro 2, and I can’t believe it took me this long to get into bone conduction headphones like these. These aren’t like normal headphones, so you don’t have tiny speakers blasting sound directly into your ears. Instead, they use vibrations and bone conduction, so you can “hear” what’s playing without obstructing your actual ears.
This is perfect for running outside because I can listen to whatever I want and still easily hear what’s going on around me. For years, I’ve been a stan of just using any earbuds with transparency mode while running. The end result is more or less the same: you can hear your music while still paying attention to your surroundings, but I underestimated how much more comfortable it is not to have anything sitting in my ears. I’ve gotten so used to running with earbuds that wearing these has been a joy.
👾 Baba Is You
Like most people living in NYC, I spend way too much time using public transportation. Every day, I spend almost 4 hours in total riding trains and buses. That’s a lot of time with no service or while holding onto a handle with one hand. I’m not big into mobile games, but I decided to try a few since I have so much time on my commutes, and the one I’m enjoying the most is called Baba Is You. I’m very late to this because it was apparently released way back in 2019, but if you passed it over for some reason, I definitely suggest checking it out.
The game is half pixel-art puzzle game and half programming game? The rules aren’t explicitly explained, so you have to figure them out as you go, which is half the fun. Every level so far has had a very obvious twist that makes you go "duh" but only after spending way too long failing miserably. If you’re looking for a fun and rewarding time waster, this is the one.
