Vol. 1 Issue 5

Hey there,

It's the end of October. I sent the previous issue out on the first weekend of October and this issue is getting published on the last weekend of the month. A lot of adventures have passed in between but more on them in the upcoming issues!

The previous issue was with Jayashree Sahithya, a fellow content creator. Continuing the trail of inviting my content creator friends to be a part of the newsletter issues, this issue is in collaboration with Panchsheel Gaikwad.

Panchsheel Gaikwad is a filmmaker and YouTuber based in Pune. Having completed an undergraduate program in filmmaking from Symbiosis Center For Media and Communication, Pune, he currently works as a freelance videographer and editor. He strives to tell an honest story through his work - be it through his podcast, films or YouTube videos.

Here are a couple of videos from his Youtube channel:

How YouTube Changed The World where he discusses the importance of YouTube as a platform in today's media landscape and how it has completely changed the way we consume video content.

WHY and HOW to read more? an episode from his podcast - The Panch Pod - where he, along with a few other people discuss why and how to read more.

I had the chance of being a part of Panchsheel's newsletter where he sends out weekly recommendations of content he has been consuming and enjoying. That is where the topic for today's issue came up - I realised that his newsletter was an effort to curate content - going a step beyond content creation.

As a guest on his newsletter, I had the opportunity to send out my recommendations as well - which turned out to be very fun!

Here's the link to that edition if you're interested.

We were talking about content curation and here are a few snippets of what came up:

With SO much content being produced every single day - it’s becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate good content from just noise. So much of choice for consumers can lead to analysis paralysis - what should I watch/read/listen to next?!

That’s where curators of content come in.

“The real scarcity isn’t content anymore. It’s attention. When it’s impossible to absorb everything from the flood of information, the best we can do is pick and choose what matters to us most — or, better yet, find the people who can do the curating for us”

- Gaby Goldberg

With curation - you’re basically relying on someone else’s good taste to better inform yours - this has already happened in a lot of cases (Chalchitra Talks’ YouTube channel, Newsletters - Varun Duggirala and Austin Kleon’s newsletters, and the Ken for business news). Curation also gives you an insight into what your favourite creator is consuming - kind of like a behind the scenes of what inspires them.

As Jayashree said in the last newsletter - “People buy the creator, not the product” - I think the same holds true for curation as well. You’re buying/subscribing to the creators taste in music/film/art etc. through their curation. 

“Content curation hooks people in with the promise of learning new skills while saving time, and it keeps them coming back by building a sense of community around a particular subject or vertical”

- Gaby Goldberg

I asked him to send in some recommendations for our Supplement community and here's what he sent:

5 videos/ podcasts that you really loved:

368 THE UNANSWERED QUESTION?:  This is one of my absolute favourite vlogs by Casey Neistat where he and filmmaker Dan Mace talk about creativity and what it means. (at 7:42 is my favourite bit)

Scenes From Summer: A beautifully shot and edited travel film by Will Darbyshire.

What Gordon Parks Saw: a great video essay by Evan Puschak (Nerdwriter) talking about the work of arguably one of the best photojournalists of America.

7 things I’ve learned about journalism in 7 years of being a journalist: Johnny Harris talks about what journalism is, and what it's becoming. He gives a fantastic insight into journalistic ethics and practices from someone who's quite possibly - the embodiment of a new age video journalist.

Death of the Author: Can art ever really be separated from the artist? I don't think so, but this video essay by Lindsay Ellis gives a bit of an academic and historical understanding of the phenomenon and throws up a lot more questions than answers about whether you should kill the author or not.

4 Instagram pages that you think are awesome:

Hustlerani: Ankita makes super informative reels about growing on Instagram. If you're a creator looking to grow on IG, you should definitely follow her

TheJamieBrindle: gives a lot of super helpful tips for freelancing, I have learnt SO much just from watching his content.

Artedkar: Rahee Punyashloka is one of my favourite artists. Through his art, he talks about the history of the Dalit movement and the resistance that it has put up to the oppressive Brahminical structures. I love his simplistic style and how he brings together complex historical and sociological elements in just one frame. https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/dalit-resistance-the-final-step-is-to-contain-the-agitation-the-anger-within-yourself-7464394/

ThePolicyGram: is a knowledge platform that aims to break down the complex world of public policy and simplify it so everyone can understand the often jargon-y and legal world of public policy.

3 Youtubers whose content you keep coming back to:

Will Darbyshire: Will makes absolutely beautiful slice-of-life type short films. He is one of the main reasons I'm doing what I do right now.

A Natty Nook: Singaporean booktuber - Nat covers topics like climate anxiety, the labour market, mental health and the general booktube community. One of my favourite videos from her is this one where she talks about how booktube is very US and global north centric - and in a sense it completely disregards the literature of most of the world.

Answer In Progress: is quite possibly one of the funniest educational-y type content on YouTube. Run by Sabrina, Taha and Melissa - AIP tries to answer the most random and sometimes super insightful questions about life.

For example - random video - Teaching AI to make Pasta and insightful video - why you hate learning. Super well made, funny and you always learn something new at their end of the videos.

2 books that have changed your life:

Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters: made me realize just how little I know about the trans community and gender as a whole. Someone called it "An unforgettable portrait of three women - trans and cis, who wrestle with questions of motherhood and family making"

Annihilation of Caste Dr B.R. Ambedkar: Ambedkar’s magnum opus - AoC is one of the most important works of political and sociological writing that has ever come out of India. It's a scathing critique of the caste system and why it must be annihilated for India to actually be called a democracy. Reading it completely changed how I look at Indian society and it's made me more conscious of social and cultural capital and how caste plays such a major role in our world.

1 tip/ life advice for the readers of the Supplement:

I don't really think I'm in a position to be giving any advice to anyone but I'll share a quote that always helps me. It's from one of my favourite shows - Doctor Who

"We all change, when you think about it, we're all different people; all through our lives, and that's okay, that's good, you've gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be.''

I always go back to these lines in times of uncertainty or doubt. It reminds me to not be afraid of change and acknowledge how far I've come.

Let's prep for November!

I want to hear from you!

How did you find this guest issue? I'm hoping to bring on more such lovely souls on The Supplement! Reply to this email with your thoughts!

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