There’s two things that happen every year around the end of March / early April: my birthday and Wrestlemania.  

And as much as I’d love to write an issue solely on my birthday, I think Wrestlemania is a bit more culturally relevant.  And I actually watched it this year - well, day 2 of it.  When did they split it up into two days? 

If you grew up watching wrestling in the late 90’s / early 2000’s (aka the “Attitude Era” then you were a fan of ‘The Rock’.  And if you are a fan of the Fast and Furious franchise then you probably are not.  Seriously, who is his acting coach and why do they tell him to play the exact same character in every movie he’s in?

In January Dwayne Johnson joined TKO Group Holding’s board of directors, the company that bought the WWE and also owns the UFC.  Since January there has been a subsequent build up around The Rock going to Wrestlemania to fight someone.  Fast forward to April and he fights alongside his real life cousin Roman Reigns against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins.  

Although I barely knew any of the wrestlers in general, Wrestlemania 40 was a lot of fun to watch and definitely had sprinkles of that Attitude Era that I grew up with.  And I’m sure The Rock’s plan was to take an era of wrestling from 20 years ago (which was supposed to be the modern era of wrestling back then, ironically) and modernize it in order to get people like me into watching again.  Well he succeeded, as Wrestlemania 40 is being touted as the biggest and most successful Wrestlemania of all time.

Selfishly I think Wrestlemania 18 is the one because I was there in Toronto when we all cheered for Hulk Hogan, who was supposed to be the bad guy, instead of The Rock, which flipped the match upside down.  But hey, it’s not real anyway, right? 

This week's issue is a 4 minute read:

🌚 Eclipse Shmilpse

🧒 Is AI smarter than a 5 yr old?

🤳 Vloggers to watch now

TikTok Eclipse Reviews

How can I let this week pass without mentioning the eclipse or world’s most famous cloudy sky, depending on where you live.  Did you see it?  Did you burn your eyes?  Google search for “my eyes hurt” and “eyes hurt after eclipse” spiked on Monday for very obvious reasons.  Don’t tell people to do something and they want to do it even more, including going blind.  Depending on where you lived, you could look up at the sky safely though given all the cloud cover parts of Canada and the US experienced.  

While couples used the eclipse as a unique opportunity to get married, TikTok was smattered with eclipse reviews, a lot of which weren’t very shining (HAHA!).  

There were the residents across Ontario who just faced cloudy skies for the most part...

@livncare_

Guys wasnt it so stunning! Like nothing ive ever seen before! So worth the hype! #eclipse #solareclipse #totaleclipseoftheheart #eclipse20... See more

A big ol waste of time - “I thought my chakras would go into overdrive and I would get some super powers” - me too buddy, me too.  

@tyreaktoldyou

I gave the eclipse a 3/5. Super overhyped. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #TyreakToldYou #Eclipse #Overrated #OverHyped #Atrology #Astronomy #LunarEclipse #NYC

I think this summarized my sentiment quite accurately.  I spent the majority of the time at the gym while the moon slowly moved over but by the time it happened it just looked like when those dark storm clouds are on their way in the summer.

@madison.humphreyy

That was the weirdest experience ever haha #fyp #comedy #relatable #skit #foryou #trending #solareclipse #eclipse #pov

AI vs Kids

You ever use ChatGPT and just get so frustrated with it?  Sure it can do some marvellous things like spit you back a full legal contract in a matter of seconds.  But you ever get annoyed when it gives you answers that you never asked for or instead of just getting to the point it goes on and on about the topic before finally answering in a roundabout / vague way.  

I don’t care what anyone says, we’re not that close to AI taking over.

In a recent study performed by the University of California, Berkley, researchers performed an experiment having kids aged 3 to 7 take on AI in two rounds of tasks to see who was the better performer.

In the first round, the test consisted of being given a list of objects and then matching the list to a particular tool.  For instance, hammer and nail.  The second round consisted of the participants being given everyday objects and then asked which one would be useful to complete a task.  However, none of the objects were directly related to the task - for instance if they were given a nail, they weren’t given a hammer and so they’d have to figure out which object might work best to hammer the nail.  

So who performed better, the kids or the AI?

Well, when it came to retrieving information about well-known scenarios, the AI, powered by ChatGPT, performed better.  However, when it came to thinking creatively, like figuring out what would be a good object to hammer a nail, the kids DESTROYED the AI, where four year olds were correct 85% of the time vs the AI which was only right 8% of the time.

Essentially the ability to have an imagination and use things like EQ sets us so far part from AI that it’s not even a comparison.  Maybe one day it may feel like an AI has an organic genuine personality but I don’t know, something tells me there will always be this machine robotic quality about AI that will at times make us chuckle, “stupid robot”.  

Vloggers that are just fun to watch

I’m sure like most people, during the pandemic I just watched a lot of YouTube videos about other places I couldn’ actually travel to.  My YouTube algo became littered with travel vloggers and I found myself mindlessly watching other people go places while they talked to a camera.  When the pandemic finished I realized I just really enjoy good content around people vlogging while travelling.  And so I thought I’d share some of the ones that consistently land in my YouTube recommendations.

I’ll kick it off with this crazy Aussie, Brodie “Youngblood” Moss better known for the YBS Youngbloods channel.  I first found YBS Youngbloods when he was trying to catch lobsters with his bare hands while free diving off the coast of a deserted island near Australia.  Brodie is a mix of save the planet sustainably meets rockstar wild child vibes.  The whole mantra of his channel is living sustainably...by sometimes risking his life diving in shark infested waters trying to spear a fish.  

And then he cooks the fish on his boat or on the beach and it looks damn good.

The next one that is just interesting because he tends to give a good history lesson is Sabbatical Tommy.  He’s this guy from New York who essentially just keeps travelling.  His videos make it feel like you’re walking alongside him - the below video where he’s in Ethiopia gives those vibes.

If you know me then you know I think of Japan basically everyday.  I could easily do a newsletter on Japan and everything I love about it (...maybe I should).  As a result, my YouTube also is blessed (...really littered) with all kinds of Japan content.  One of the YouTubers I enjoy out there who is more of an in-country blogger but she still goes around a lot is Sundai Love.  She’s originally from the US with a spunky personality that contrasts the typical Japanese demeanor.  Also she tends to do a good job with the aesthetic of her videos as you’ll see here:

And then there’s Luke from Outdoor Boys who does some pretty crazy camping, typically in treacherous places.  I mean, just start this video, the first 4 seconds should give you an idea:

Happy watching!