The Weekly Write-Up #8
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever REVIEW!
In this newsletter…
I finished another book!
Did Black Panther: Wakanda Forever meet my expectations?
I use these headphones for AT LEAST 3 hours a day!
The BEST music for working/studying!
Something I Read
THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK
This is the most recent book that I finished. This is the second book that I’ve finished for school this year, and while not as good as To Kill A Mockingbird, this was a pretty decent book. The Souls of Black Folk is a collection of essays about race and how W. E. B. Du Bois, the author, views the world. This is a powerful book, and I feel like I learned a lot from it. As a result, I will talk about some pros and cons of this text.
First, the pros of this book. Through this book, Du Bois conveyed a powerful message through beautifully written words. It seemed as though every sentence had tons of thought put into it. His points were direct, clear, and powerful. Reading this book really taught me a lot and slightly changed my perspective of how I look at the world. This book was very influential during the period in which it was written, and I think it is still influential today.
Now, I will admit, that as I was reading through, I didn’t really like it and thought it was very dry. My problem was that my expectations for the book were different from what it was. Allow me to explain. The first story that I read was told in a story form, but most of the rest were written in essay form. It depended on the chapter. Even though I thought it was slightly boring, I did notice the beautiful language that Du Bois used to convey his message.
After reading back through the epilogue, I realized that Du Bois warns the reader of this. He says, and I quote from his book, “Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century.” He specifically says that the reader will have to ‘dig’ to find the meaning and exercise patience as he reads the book. When I keep this in mind, I realize that this is a very well-written book. So, I would say that if you are willing to exercise patience and ‘dig’ for the purpose of each essay, this would be a worthwhile read. Also, many things that are worthwhile take hard work, and I think that this book takes hard work to read. Once you read it, I think you will come to appreciate all that W. E. B. Du Bois has to say. Buy this book here!
Something I Watched
BLACK PANTHER
I went back and watched the first Black Panther movie recently in anticipation for this movie! Chadwick Boseman, the actor who played Black Panther in the past, passed away about 2 years ago, meaning that he would not play the Black Panther in this movie. Honestly, I was disappointed by this news since he did such a great job in the first movie (and obviously such a tragedy that he died so young!). I got to see this movie today with a few friends (which is why this newsletter is so late), and I want to review it! Don’t worry, I WON’T give anything away because I HATE spoilers!
Being a Marvel movie, the intensity and action in this movie was obviously very spectacular. The actors all played their parts very well and made the movie really come to life! The plot line for this movie was actually excellent! I want to avoid spoiling too much, but it was really well written! It was unfortunate because obviously King T’Challa/Black Panther dies at the very beginning. While his death did feel abrupt, Marvel really didn’t have another choice besides recasting him. It really is a shame he couldn’t continue this role, but nonetheless, Marvel still made an exceptional movie!
This movie shows how his sister, Shuri, and the rest of Wakanda recover from his death and fight a new enemy. Watch the trailer here.
My expectations for this movie were set pretty low because Chadwick Boseman wouldn’t be in it and because some recent Marvel content has been just…eh. The movie was actually pretty good! I really like movies where you have to think a little bit, but not overthink the whole thing. This was one of those types of movies that is in the middle. You have to think about morals during the movie, and the line between good and bad isn’t obvious! This movie was also pretty clean and didn’t have too many objectionable things in it, which is good. I would definitely recommend going to see this movie if you are a Marvel fan because it is one of their best! In conclusion, it wasn’t what I expected because it was better!
Tech Thoughts
3RD GENERATION AIRPODS
Today we are talking about some great earbuds. I use the 3rd Generation AirPods, and I LOVE these things! This is actually my third pair of headphones: My first pair of headphones were the Soundcore Liberty Neo’s for $20 and they were fine for what I needed. Thereafter, I got the 1st Gen AirPods (you can’t really buy these anymore). Now I have the 3rd Gen AirPods, which I literally use every day for at least 3 hours! They are almost always in my ears while I’m doing school to “block out” the noise and help me study. There are three main things that I look for when buying headphones, and I think these AirPods check all three. The three main things are sound (obviously), comfortability, and convenience.
The first of these is sound, which is probably the most obvious of these three. The sound of these AirPods is great, and I would much rather use these than my built-in iPad speaker when jamming out to music, watching a movie, or taking a phone call. Spatial Audio, which makes the audio sound like it is coming from all around you, is also a game-changer. I always have this turned on because it just sounds so good. Now, granted, it sounds much better with some songs and movies than others, but it sounds pretty good with everything. One more thing, these headphones DO NOT have noise-cancelling, but I still use them to “block out” noise. In conclusion, the sound of these is great and absolutely sufficient for use in daily life.
The next quality of AirPods is that they are very comfortable. These sit in my ears for at least 3 hours a day, and I don’t mind them at all. The reason I used the word ‘sit’ is because that is precisely what AirPods do. At first, they feel like they are going to fall out of your ear, but they don’t, and you get used to the feeling. Also, AirPods leave a small space between your ear so that you don’t feel trapped. The 3rd Generation AirPods actually have a redesigned shape from the 1st and 2nd Gen AirPods, and I really like this redesign. The moral is, you can leave AirPods in your ears for a long time and they will stay in and be comfortable.
There is literally no hassle to pair, charge, and use AirPods every day. I never have to re-pair my AirPods. When I need them, I take them out of the case, put them in, and turn on the content I want to listen to. This is truly so easy and fast since they automatically connect! Charging is also easy because the AirPods charge in the case, and you can plug in the case to charge it. Some 3rd Generation AirPods cases also support wireless charging!
These are seriously superb headphones! When you are considering what headphones to buy, I would say it depends on how much you want to spend. If you are willing to spend $100-$200, I would undoubtedly get AirPods! Which AirPods really depends on whether you want noise-cancelling or not. In the case that you do, the AirPods Pros are for you. If not, you can settle for the 2nd or 3rd Gen AirPods. Apple also offered AirPods Max, which are over-the-ear headphones and are way pricier! The moral of this rambling is that if you want fantastic headphones, AirPods are a great option!
Tech Deal: The case that you see featured on my AirPods is the Speck Presidio case for the 3rd Generation AirPods. This case can be found on Amazon and is on sale there right now for $11.59!
Wild Card
BEST STUDY MUSIC
Along with talking about AirPods in the previous section, I want to talk about what I listen to in those AirPods. I mean, I said that I have my AirPods in for 3 hours a day. What in the world am I listening to during that time? Since generally I have my AirPods as I’m doing school, I specifically want to talk about study music. I listen to two kinds of study music: Classical Music and LoFi music.
Going off this, I want to share some playlists that I’ve been listening to as I study. Personally, I use Apple Music, but I know that other people use Spotify and Amazon Music as well. I will link some playlists from all 3 of these below…
Classical Music
Since this one is extremely broad, you can find this in tons of playlists, but here are some that I really like:
Apple Music: I have been listening to this Classical in Spatial Audio a lot during the past few weeks! I love listening to music in spatial audio, and this is a great classical playlist in spatial audio!
Amazon Music: Classical Music for Studying is another great classical playlist, but found on Amazon Music, rather than Apple Music.
Spotify: Classical Music for Studying has the same name as the last one, but the music is just a bit different and is found on Spotify instead!
LoFi Music
Not many people know what LoFi music is, and not everyone likes it. I’ve found that it is helpful for me as I study and work on various things. It helps keep my mind focused and on track, when other music doesn’t. Here are some good LoFi playlists:
Apple Music: LoFi Sunday is the one I listen to most (I don’t just listen to it on Sunday) because I really like the songs in it. Another good one is LoFi Chill Study Beats. I also created this Study Songs playlist with a TON of different songs.
Amazon Music: If you are someone who uses Amazon Music, you can check out this LoFi Study Music playlist, which is pretty good!
Spotify: Finally, Spotify users can listen to this Chill LoFi study beats on Spotify which has some great LoFi songs
In addition to Classical and LoFi music, I also have been listening to Christmas Music recently (sorry Scrooge and Grinch) because it is almost Christmas! Another playlist, is this Lord of the Rings playlist that I created on Apple Music. It compiles all the music from all the Hobbit movies, The Lord of the Rings movies, and The Rings of Power series.
I apologize for the late post, but I hope that it was worth it! Thanks for reading!
I love your article Carter and I enjoy reading it every week. I really appreciate the fact that you specifically said that you were not going to include spoilers for the new Black Panther movie. I. looking forward to seeing this movie when it premieres on Disney+. Keep up the great work!