The Tetris Effect 🕹
Shuffle Sundays #18 • May 2, 2021
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Hello and welcome to Shuffle Sundays, a weekly curated list of content I thought was worth sharing with more people. Hope you enjoy this week’s issue!
So… this past week this very Newsletter hit the mark of 100 subscribers! This may not sound like a big number, but it’s a huge milestone in the online world. Maybe you don’t know, but one of the things I promised to myself is that I would never add anyone to this list that didn’t intentionally decide to subscribe. That means that I started this project completely from scratch with 0 people on my list, and the growth so far has been totally organic, which gives this milestone an even more special taste.
So for each and every one of you that has been receiving and enjoying these emails since the first issue, a big THANK YOU! It really means a lot that you stuck around.
🎧 Soundtrack: Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks Of God
💽 Duda Beat - Te Amo Lá Fora
{something to listen to • album, 38 minutes}
Have you ever started to listen to an album with very low expectations, only to be completely blown away by the first minute of it? That’s exactly what happened when I pressed the play button on Te Amo Lá Fora, the second studio album from Duda Beat, released this past week.
Not that I didn’t like her first album, which was extremely well received by critics and fans, but there’s something about this new one that really hit me differently. Beat continues to follow the path paved in “Sinto Muito”, mixing regional Brazilian rhythms to her (essentially) pop songs, but here adding a much bigger layer of electronic sounds through the heavy use of synthesizers, that surprisingly never feels overwhelming. And for me, it was the perfect flavor that I was probably missing on her debut.
It was love at first listening and it’s already one of my favorites of 2021.
🎬 My Octopus Teacher
{something to watch • documentary, 85 minutes}
My Octopus Teacher has been on my radar since it was released last year, but I kept putting it off until last week, and I am so glad that I finally took the time to watch it. The documentary tells the story of an unusual “friendship” between a filmmaker and an octopus living in a South African kelp forest.
What starts as a curiosity, quickly becomes a life obsession and one of the most unique and fascinating stories you’ll see in a nature-kind documentary. It’s just one of those things you have to see with your own eyes to believe it. And I won’t be surprised if you shed some tears at the end…
🕹 Tetris Effect
{something to play • videogame}
Tetris is probably one of the most famous videogames of history, and one that almost everybody has played at some point, whether you are a fan of videogames or not. Its simplicity makes it easy for anyone to have fun with since it’s one of those games that you can play super casually or take it as seriously as you want. And although it was released in 1984, I’m amazed to see how relevant and fun it still is, thanks to many iterations it had over the years.
This brings us to Tetris Effect, a re-imagination of the classic, released in 2018 for the Playstation 4 and later to other platforms. The core of the gameplay is still exactly the same, where “players complete lines by moving differently shaped pieces (tetrominoes), which descend onto the playing field. The completed lines disappear and grant the player points, and the player can proceed to fill the vacated spaces.” What Tetris Effect brings to the table is the addition of various themes and music across several different stages where the gameplay is tied up to the beat of the music, bringing the original experience to a whole different level, especially if playing with headphones.
Watch the trailer on YouTube
📨 Creativerly
{something to read, get inspired by • newsletter}
Written and Curated by Philipp, Creativerly has become one of my favorite newsletters I look forward to receiving in my inbox. Every week you’ll learn about tools to boost your creativity and productivity, rather you’re someone who’s looking for new apps or maybe just enjoy knowing what’s out there.
Besides being impressed by the number of different tools he manages to find and bring on every issue (seriously!), I really enjoy the curated articles he shares under the “Mental Wealth” section, like “Do Useless Things” recently shared on issue #114.
Learn more and subscribe at Creativerly.com
🔀 On a different note:
👩🏻🎤 • Singer song-writer Billie Eilish announced her anticipated second album, titled “Happier Than Ever”, to be released on July 30. Here’s the music video for the first single “Your Power”, pointing the artist in a very different direction:
⚡️ Something to Inspire
Cait Oppermann is a New York-based Photographer whose series capturing swimmers in the Dead Sea fascinated me. Check out her website or Instagram for more. Here are some favorites:
💽 New Music
{something to listen to • albums & singles}
This week I'm particularly interested in checking the new albums from Flying Lotus, Manchester Orchestra, and Royal Blood. Also, new tracks from Twenty One Pilots, Mat Kearney, The Maine, Starset, Shaed, and many more. If you’re curious to hear some of these songs and more, make sure to follow my 2021 playlist on Spotify, updated weekly with new releases:
👋🏼 See you next Sunday
My name is Leo Mascaro and you are receiving this email because you signed up for Shuffle Sundays, a weekly curated list of content I thought was worth sharing with more people. If this email was forwarded to you, subscribe using the box below:
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Congrats on the 100th subscriber. Love your work!