September Media Review
Long story short, I am at a troubling point in my life. I am struggling with what to do next so I have been assembling ideas from various places. I am a fan of interviews (usually on podcasts) as it gives you a glimpse of what someone else is going through. However, there are all sorts of places to draw inspiration from. Come take a look at what I’ve been consuming and maybe avoid a few potholes on your own journey.
Books
Usually, I am not a book reader. I find that most books at extremely drawn out and I often lose interest (or focus). I still tried to give it a go
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
IMDB: 4/10
This one is a bit confusing. I find it very “surface level.” The first part of the book feels very pseudo-science and listicle-inspired. I suppose I am hoping for more of a framework rather than yet another piece of literature telling me to “eat well.” The second part of the book covers their interviews with some of the Japanese people living in one of the towns with the most 100+ year-old people. Long story short, they are active and social. Throughout most of the book, I kept thinking about Survivorship Bias. The interviewers managed to write a book about all of the planes that have returned from the war. Perhaps I should be reading a book about how to die the soonest and proceed to do none of those things…
Aside: the CDC contains all sorts of mortality data here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_tables.htm
My “favorite” table is the Life Table which gives the probability of dying from one age to another. Looks like I have close to a 0.000733 probability of dying! Coupled with the Kelly Criterion, I should be wagering… no, never mind, it doesn’t quite work that way…
Early Retirement Extreme: A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Financial Independence
IMDB: 5/10
I think the author suffers from “Do as I say, not as I do.” For hundreds of pages, the author harps on the classes of a society and looks down on rule-followers and corporate loyalists. It begs the question: “how, then, did you end up saving up the money?” The answer, of course, is a research position that, frankly, is pretty close to the people and lifestyle you despise. I don’t think that there is a silver bullet to retiring. I worry I am straying farther from the “we should improve society, somewhat” camp, though I think a near-galactic amount of work is required to change our existing systems (in the USA) to something more socialized. Essentially, design a system where this book could never have been written. A system where there mere though of this book would be met with “how embarrassing!”
However, there are a few diagrams that merits this books non-zero rating.
On Making Money
When I think of “sustainability,” I usually think of recycling: “reduce, reuse, recycle”. At its core, this book is about recycling. However, there are moments and lessons that “extend” from this ethos. One of these is a perspective on how to view tasks. Recycling is about efficiency. Why create a second widget when we can still use the first. Similarly, there are tasks in your life that you can “repurpose.” Another way of visualizing “What should I do with my life?” can be rephrased as “what do I currently have above this line? Do I have any skills below the line that I can bring above the line?” For students, this might be “what do I want above this line?”
On Problem Solving
Housing is probably the one item that doesn’t fit into the above framework. In most forms, you are almost always spending money on a place to live. I think finding your particular solution for housing really forces you to do two things:
- Rethink constraints/limits (list EVERY place you could sleep, list EVERY item you need. aside: Vitalik Buterin’s backpack guide)
- Be creative + maybe break the rules + maybe do it different (example: “maybe there is a weird n-th way to make this work”, example: maybe there is a smaller beard trimmer)
You can literally make up a new way to find shelter! Why not!
On Goal Setting
Using this diagrams I can map solutions that are the useful for Pareto efficient goal maximization:
- live close to parents
- continue working as a software engineer
Using these two goals, it is trivial to see that working in New York might make me a great software engineer but fails to deliver any result on Goal 2 (perhaps even setting it back!). I think one interesting point in using the diagram is that you might be able to *set the scale* for each axis. For the “live close to parents” (really, “see my parents more often”), you can make tick marks of “once a day,” “once a week” etc. This can give you a crude but real metric for something as intangible as where to live. Unfortunately, I am still deciding on my “Goals” so this framework only yields a fraction of its value.
Friendly Ambitious Nerd v1.0.
IMDB: 6.x/10
Visakan is my favorite new follow on Twitter (X rename be damned!). He has substantial replies, usually linking to further work or other threads he has made on various life topics. I decided to buy his book because, hey, why not?
The book is definitely in a rough and somewhat unpolished state. It is a chocolate box full of fun life-nuggets and I anticipate myself returning to reread and pluck a new obseration every now and again. Overall, I would say it provides an in-depth look at what the “Ikigai” book couldn’t. It it Visakan going deep on his own life, what worked and what doesn’t. It is his philosophy weaved into all sorts of stories and observations. It might qualify as “self help” but it reads like a friend sharing some cool shiny object with you. There is a considerable bit about marriage so I mostly skimmed through that bit.
I think the most striking and memorable part was the following:
I haven’t quite wrapped my head around the “Develop your taste” aspect. As I have aged, I have always wondered why older people seem “stuck in their ways.” I wonder if this is a part of taste development. Don’t like apples? F*ck ‘em! It is ok to be yourself, and damn-near unapologetically. In the end, not everyone can be your friend so you may as well stick up for yourself + your tastes. Perhaps the reason “Taste” is so enchanting is that it can only be experienced by you. You are then forced to use other means to convey and convert the sensation. I suspect that Visakan finds Taste as the quintessential item of cultivation because it is only appreciated when shared. Taste is the grounds for a future conversation connecting us. I sense that there is much more to be unearthed to “developing your taste” and I hope Visakan explores and elaborates on this idea further. 👨🍳
YouTube
Sequoia Capital’s Doug Leone on Luck & Taking Risks.
IMDB 6.0/10
The most memorable part of this conversation was about luck. I think Doug is quite realistic about where he is and how he got there. I think he also mentioned fear as the great motivator (maybe named as paranoria). I believe there is quite a bit of truth to this. It certainly could lend itself to some of the decision making frameworks I listed above (like Listing All Constraints). If you are so worried about failure, surely you would aggregate as much information as possible to make a decision.
Vinod Khosla, MBA ’80: Failure does not matter. Success matters.
IMDB: 6.5/10
This one was a refreshing one. I would recommend watching just to get a flavor of a person who is quite honest and perhaps brutal with how he views the world. There is a wonderful quote in the middle:
Now, again bringing back to leadership, it’s about having a point of view. It’s about having an internal compass. This is a great point in your life, to actually decide which one of those. Do you have a belief system? Or are you going to do what other tell you to do? Whether it’s written up in the New York Times, which, which somebody wrote up who doesn’t understand the context. Whether it’s the McKinsey report or a G-Forecast, or a Goldman analyst, OR are you gonna do what you believe in? And unfortunately, very few of you will do that.
~33:00
Damn! Nothing quite like telling it like it is! Let be real, though: he has a point. You need Taste, but you also need the conviction. Overall, I can’t say this necessarily helped me decide where to take my life but Vinod is definitely someone who I would want on my team, maybe with just a ~little bit more filter 😂
Podcast
Flirting with Models — Darrin Johnson — Independently Shorting Volatility.
IMDB: 6.6/10
I finally caught up on my Moontower Meta backlog : https://moontowermeta.com/darrin-johnson-on-flirting-with-models/ . There is a ton of interesting media that
There is a ton of juicy trader-specific stuff in this one. IMO, this interview is a step up from most trading interviews as it is really grounded in first principles. It covers everything from Darrin’s upbringing to alpha searching and providing a service to the market. One of the most important things that Darrin brings up (one that I keep coming back to) is that there are some markets (and inefficiencies) that are too small for large market participants to pay attention to. I would like the believe there is a specific problem out there that is “just my size,” something that others would overlook but would be perfect for my combination of skills and qualities.
Goldman Sachs Exchanges — A conversation with Renaissance Technologies CEO Peter Brown.
IMDB: 4/10
Similar to the YouTube video above with Doug Leone, I think Peter does a great job highlighting the “luck” part of his life’s events. I woudn’t really say there is much to mimic in this interview other than sticking with one thing in anticipation for the next role. I think Peter’s relationship to Robert Mercer is quite notable. I have found that the places I have enjoyed working are almost always due to the people surrounding me. I suspect the same is true for Peter (and for other professionals).
Movies
Manhattan (1979)
IMDB: 6.9/10 (maybe 7.1/10)
Definitely one of the better films I have seen recently. I found it mostly entertained as the characters live a suspiciously social life far different that my own. It is a comedy at heart and is somewhat chaotic underneath it all. It remined me of Uncut Gems in the tragic nature of it all. I suppose I am bit dark for liking such a film but it felt very real, like you could really understand and feel what was happening. Not sure I will find myself returning but definitely worth the hour and a half.
Moonlight (2016)
IMDB: 6.7/10
Definitely a great film, though I don’t really understand why it is lauded with such high scores. Perhaps this movie means more to Black folks or people thinking about (or dealing with) masculinity. To me, I see another person finding their way in an unforgiving and unfair world (albeit under more constraints / less “privilege” etc). Probably won’t be re-watching.
Chungking Express (1994)
IMDB: 5/10
Definitely not worth re-watching. Perhaps if you are the type to pick apart the characters and scenery, there is something here for you. For me, I have completely missed the message and could not recommend this film to anyone on good faith. I wouldn’t call it empty or undeserving, but it didn’t really leave a lasting impression. *shrug* not for me…
Anime
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
IMDB: 6/10
A typical Mecha anime. I wouldn’t say the characters are super like-able but the animation is quite nice and nostalgic. Like clockwork, there are battles in every episode so always some tension/drama. I am getting through an episode or two every day so should be able to wrap this one up soon.
Gintama.
IMDB: ?/10 (maybe 6/10)
I’m slowly finishing this one. Gintama doesn’t quite fit the mold of any other media I have consumed recently. It is a comedy and its characters are lovable. Unlike pretty much all of the Gundam series, there isn’t really any tension or character development. Each episode if mostly self contained though most characters weave in and out of different story lines. I am not making the most progress on this one but I almost always find myself laughing. Definitely great for the lighthearted viewer.
