What I'm Into
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. Coming off a holiday, here’s another post about some of my favorite things I’ve watched, listened to, or read recently.
If you’re not interested in checking out my fantastic content recommendations but are yearning for something strictly finance-related, here’s a link to the main blog page where you can read past articles.
NOTE: The content is linked in the green titles.
Minimum Levels of Stress by Morgan Housel
“Part of the reason today’s world is so petty and angry is because life is currently pretty good for a lot of people.
As the world improves, our threshold for complaining drops. In the absence of big problems, people shift their worries to smaller ones. In the absence of small problems, they focus on petty or even imaginary ones.
Free from stressing about where their next meal will come from, worry shifts to, say, a politician being rude. Relieved of the trauma of war, stress shifts to whether someone’s language is offensive, or whether the stock market is overvalued.
Imagine a fictional society that has unlimited wealth, unlimited health, and permanent peace. Would they be overflowing with joy? Probably not. I think their defining characteristic would be how trivial and absurd their grievances would be. They’d be enraged that their maid was 10 minutes late, stressed about whether their lawn was green enough, or despondent that their child didn’t get into Harvard.
The dumber the disagreements, the better the world actually is.”
Something Alarming Is Happening To The Job Market by Derek Thompson
While the national unemployment rate remains at historic lows (4.1% in May), I’ve seen some data pop up in several different places that the hiring rate for recent college graduates has slowed down considerably. Especially for M.B.As from elite programs.
There are likely many contributing factors, but here’s one theory from Derek Thompson:
“The relatively weak labor market for college grads could be an early sign that artificial intelligence is starting to transform the economy.
‘When you think from first principles about what generative AI can do, and what jobs it can replace, it’s the kind of things that young college grads have done’ in white-collar firms, Deming told me. ‘They read and synthesize information and data. They produce reports and presentations.’
The strong interpretation of this graph is that it’s exactly what one would expect to see if firms replaced young workers with machines. As law firms leaned on AI for more paralegal work, and consulting firms realized that five 22-year-olds with ChatGPT could do the work of 20 recent grads, and tech firms turned over their software programming to a handful of superstars working with AI co-pilots, the entry level of America’s white-collar economy would contract.”
If you haven’t watched this HBO/Max docuseries yet, please do. I just finished the third season, which only had 5 episodes, and I wish it had 20.
The show follows several big wave surfers as they travel the world and put their lives at risk chasing monstrous waves. At its core, it’s a character study of why these people choose to live the life they do. But on top of that, I would recommend the show for the cinematography alone. The continuous shots of these massive waves are somehow adrenaline-filled and meditative at the same time.
If you’re looking for a half-hour comedy show that’s an easy watch and an industry satire on what it’s like to work in Hollywood and the movie industry, then The Studio on Apple TV+ is the show for you.
It’s witty and funny, and I enjoyed the entire season.
Here’s another Apple TV+ show that follows a hedge-fund manager who is fired from his job and confronted with how he’s going to maintain his luxurious lifestyle.
Jon Hamm anchors the show; he’s awesome in it. Don’t think about this one too hard; it’s simply an incredibly entertaining season of dramatic TV.
I’ve been making my way through Wes Anderson’s filmography over the past few months, and I’ve got to say my truth, I think Fantastic Mr. Fox might be my favorite. It has Anderson’s classic slapstick and dry wit humor, but it’s also fun and surprisingly profound at times.
I’ll end on my favorite thing I’ve watched over the past few months. I loved Sinners so much that I saw it twice in theaters.
From director Ryan Coogler (Creed, Black Panther), Sinners is a horror movie, musical, and period thriller all in one. It wraps you up and takes you to a different place. The music took me by surprise; I can’t stop listening to the soundtrack.
If you have any other content recommendations, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email. I’d love to hear them!
Thanks for reading!