Weekly newsletter exploring AI automation, creative production, and hard-earned industry lessons. Curated articles, original photography, and stories from 20+ years in the trenches of VFX and digital production.
The stuff worth paying attention to before it becomes industry consensus.
Side Channels is my weekly filter for signal vs. noise. Three articles that cut through the bullshit, a photo that caught my eye, and one insight from the production trenches. No filler, no fluff.
Think of it as the tab you keep open all week - the one with links worth sending to colleagues who actually get it.
- Articles Worth Your Time: Three pieces per week on AI, automation, and creative tech that either change how you think about something or confirm you weren't crazy for thinking it
- Photo of the Week: Original photography - one shot that tells a story better than I could explain it
- Insight of the Week: Production wisdom from someone who's been in enough status meetings to know which patterns repeat
- From the Archive: Occasional stories from 20+ years in VFX and digital production - the lessons that stuck
- January 3, 2026 - Two Lines of Code Changed Everything
- December 27, 2025 - James Cameron Sold The Terminator for $1
- December 20, 2025 - Bourdain's Forgotten Lists + AI in Orbit
- December 13, 2025 - Summoning Ghosts, Not Building Animals
- December 6, 2025 - Computing's biggest shift in 40 years
- November 29, 2025 - When AI floods the zone, taste becomes the moat
- November 23, 2025 - Stories Last Longer Than Software
- November 16, 2025 - The AI Economy's Two Roads to Nowhere
- November 9, 2025 - When Narratives Meet Reality
- November 2, 2025 - One exhibition legitimized an entire creative scene
- October 26, 2025 - Game engines aren't just for previs anymore
- October 19, 2025 - Don't Believe the Hype
- October 12, 2025 - Tools, Not Threats
- October 5, 2025 - The 3-second choice that saved my career
- September 28, 2025 - Happiness, Hype, and Hard Edges of AI
- September 21, 2025 - Loops, Limits, and Letdowns
Because your inbox doesn't need another 2000-word thinkpiece written by someone who's never shipped a project. This is from the perspective of someone who's been on calls where "can you just make it pop?" was considered actionable feedback.
If you're sick of newsletters that waste your time, this might be worth a look.
Head over to banastas.substack.com to sign up. New issues drop weekly.
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