Category: Culture

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s an Autumn Sunday morning. That means there’s Sunday Morning Reading to share. There’s a real mix this week from con artists to cruelty, from the political and the cultural to famous fart jokesters and a bit of tech thrown in for good measure.

Fallreadingbw

Con (I hesitate to call them) Artists are thriving in all forms of human endeavors these days. As blatant as some are, you never know who’s conning who. Pick your field and you’ll find them picking your pocket and often celebrated for it. Sean Williams takes a look at the True Story of Maverick Miles Nehemiah and The CONfidence Chroncies. Great story.

What is it about evil? Natasha MH cuts through some of the wonder in The Cost of Knowing and Our Thirst for Cruelty. “We are who we are. The question is can we live with the truth of who we are, and with the things we’ve done?”

Did you know that there was a new anarchy? Adrienne La France takes a look in The New Anarchy, arguing that here in this country we don’t know how to stop extermist violence. I’d say she’s spot on.

It’s the end of an era. Jezebel, long a source for great coverage of women’s issues is shutting down. Erin Gloria Ryan takes a good look back in Jezebel Is Dead. Long Live Jezebel.

In How the World’s Most Famous Book Was Made Tanya Kirk lays out a history of how Shakespeare’s First Folio was created and published.

Back to the con game that is life these days, Mike Lofgren takes a look at how Right-Wing Fake History is Making a Big Comeback—But It Never Went Away.

Did you know that an egg laying mammal that shared the planet with the dinosaurs still exists? They’ve been called ‘living fossils’ and are extremely rare. Jordan King takes a look in Echidna: Egg-Laying Mammal ‘Who Roamed the Earth With Dinosaurs’ is Rediscovered.

Technology drives so much of our lives. Always has. Always will. Joan Westenberg argues that 20 Years of Tech Has Made Life Easier, Not Better. I happen to agree with her.

On the other hand (or lapel) is the newly announced AI Pin. I’m not sold on the concept but find the technology cool, even if the announcement left me a bit cold. Om Malik is excited about it and lays out his thoughts in The Real Personal (AI) Personal Computer and also interviews one of the founders, Imran Chaudhri. This will be worth paying attention to as AI becomes more and more a part of our lives. I’m just not sure this product is the fulcrum.

And to round out this week, how about a look at 9 Outlandish Stories Of Court Jesters Throughout History, From the Medieval Flatulist to Lord Minimus from Austin Harvey. Thought you could use a laugh.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. 

We’ve Fallen and I Don’t Think We’ll Ever Get Back Up

I saw this Economist headline fly by today on one social media network or the other. It’s from the end of last month. In more ways than I care or want to count it sort of sums up exactly what’s happening on this planet. 

IMG 0619

Set aside the editorial judgment that went into the article and the headline. Instead focus in on the surreal, but very real reality, that for far too many most of the problems we’re facing don’t matter as long as the quarterly results and bank balances are positive.  

And you have to love this quote:

Could financial markets once again be underpricing the risk of a global conflict? 

We’ve fallen and I don’t think we’ll ever get back up.

Here’s the link to the article.

Starting Rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy

We’re starting rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square tomorrow evening with a Zoom session. Big play. Big story. Big anxiety. I wrote a bit about that for the publication Ellemeno on Medium. Hope you check it out. 

IStock 469108343bw

Here’s the link to I Have No Idea What’s Going to Come Out of My Mouth...

Words. Sometimes That’s Enough. And Then Again…

Sometimes all you need are the words. And sometimes the marriage of the words and a performer create a joyful coupling beyond just the meaning, but illuminating them just as brightly. 

Check out this video of Dame Judi Dench being asked to do a little Shakespeare on the Graham Norton Show. 

Word. 

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s been quite a week. Lots going on with work. Lots going on politically in the US and the world. People are dying. So is a country. A new granddaughter is about to be born. I’m deep into work as we begin rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square. Virtually at first. Deep enough to be tossing and turning in my sleep searching and grasping for questions, much less answers. Regardless, discovery never stops and that means reading. At times it feels like discovery yields a collection of whatever carcasses and stuff are randomly caught in a spider’s web. Out of the randomness it seems everything is pointed towards the work I’m doing. Either way here’s a web of Sunday Morning Reading to share.

Shutterstock 1033809520

First You Have to Row A Little Boat. It’s a piece by David Todd McCarty that cribs its title from Richard Bode’s memoir of the same name. Words resonating at the moment far beyond the original and McCarty’s riff. Happiness, perhaps should not be a life’s goal and the curiouser you are might lead to acceptance of that. Enjoy the stumbles and the mistakes as much as you enjoy the moments that seem like victories. If you can.

When historians write about the tumult and chaos of this political moment in the United States this past week’s ascension of Mike Johnson to the role of Speaker of the House will be one of, if not the key moments. Everything changed if not during that culmination. Ruth Graham and Annie Karni in the New York Times give us For Mike Johnson, Religion Is At The Forefront of Politics and Policy, sketching a sketchy biography pulled from what little is known about the man, even as some of it is quickly disappearing from the Internet. But let’s get real. We may not well know this man’s bio. We well know this man and this moment.

One of the strands that allow me to discover is the Internet. Remember when we referred to it as the World Wide Web? It’s going through a moment of chaos and re-examination. Katie Notopoulos in the MIT Technology Review offers up How to Fix The Internet. She’s pointing to what feels like a change in the air. I think we have to fix humans first. Good luck with that.

This piece from January popped up twice in my Internet surfing this week. I believe in serendipitous discoveries, but I do not believe in coincidences. Louis Menard examines When Americans Lost Faith in the News.

Fran Lebowitz. You’ve got an opinion just from the name, assuming you’re aware. Constance Grady gives us an interview with Lebowitz that contains this nugget: “Art should be useless.”  Read the interview. 

And briefly back to the Internet, Casey Newton gives us Twitter Is Dead and Threads Is Thriving. I’ll agree with the first part. I’ll say this about the second. Threads may be thriving at the moment. But we’re in the moment before Threads becomes what we all know it will be. Two words. Mark Zuckerberg. All of our kids are adorable until they’re not.

Natasha MH writes about Letting Go of Perfection and the prisions we create for ourselves. A quote: “It’s art. You can’t ruin an artwork. It just becomes something else than what you started with. That’s the whole point. That’s where the fun is. If you ask me, I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m doing this because it feels great. Liberating.”

And closing out  this week, Spiders Might be Quietly Diisappearing. Betsy Mason takes a look beyond the ick. If they are disappearing, here’s hoping the webs, world wide and otherwise don’t and continue to catch things.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. 

Photo by Raldugina Oksana

Books Unbanned

I believe that if you’re afraid of a book and the ideas it contains then you’re actually afraid that what you believe in is wrong. If your belief or your faith can be so shaken by another’s ideas or words, then you’re on shaky ground to begin with. That obviously doesn’t stop cowards from banning books, a still surprising recent phenomenon that keeps gaining steam as it tries to rally support from the ignorant and the similarly close minded. 

XBHXY4H5YYI6VMHEGUHE4YGMSE

Books Unbanned is an effort to provide digital access to books that have been banned, especially to young people. Several public libraries have joined in under that banner first started by the Brooklyn Public Library. Kelly Jensen at Bookriot has and is compiling a list of libraries that do the same, promising to update the list as others join the effort. Here’s a quote:

This list is as comprehensive a roundup as possible of all the U.S. public libraries offering access to banned books. It includes the name of the library, the people who are being granted access to the collections, materials within the collections, as well as any other pertinent or relevant information.

A worthy effort for the unafraid. 

Two Shows Worth Putting In Your October Streaming Queue

Sometimes it’s about the script. Sometimes it’s about the performers. Often it’s about the directors. The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix and The Changeling on Apple TV+ are two streaming series I’d recommend watching for the directors. Especially if you like something fun and a bit scary during the Halloween season.

CleanShot 2023 10 22 at 14 24 37 2x

Personally, I’m not a fan of most of the Halloween genre. Hollywood has drained the life out of the fun and scary in the same way the overabundance of Christmas movies have stripped all of the joy out of that holiday viewing. But my wife enjoys a scary movie or two so we try to pick some that are worthwhile. We lucked out with these two.

Neither are perfect. Both have flaws. But both have directors who use the opportunity to experiment with their storytelling skills, the camera and the genre. Both are good viewing fun. Both are based on existing literature: The Changeling by Victor LaValle and The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. Although part of the fun with Usher is how so many other of Poe’s tales weave in and out of the main story. If you’re a Poe fan you’ll have a blast with the obvious and not so obvious references.

The directors for The Fall of the House of the Usher are Mike Flanagan and Michael Fimognari and the directors for The Changeling are Melina Matsoukas, Jonathan van Tulleken, Dana Gonzales, and Michael Francis Williams. All of the directors know when to crank it up and when to let their actors do their thing. There’s not much fear in creating fear here. But there’s more than enough intelligence in doing it well while only occasionally going over the top.

Both series also have some delicious performances especially Carla Gugino in Usher and Adina Porter and Jane Kaczmarek in The Changeling. That’s not to slight any of the other actors. Both casts have some remarkable opportunities and actors who take full advantage.

If you enjoy watching directors have fun I’d highly recommend both The Fall of the House of Usher and The Changeling. If there’s a disappointment it’s that there’s no news yet as to whether or not The Changeling will get a second season after it’s cliff hanger ending.

Sunday Morning Reading

Fall’s shadows deepen daily, so too do troubling clouds darkening our skies. And yet another Sunday morning dawns. With that here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share featuring a mix of interesting writing and topics unveiling a few writers looking into some of their own and the world’s shadows.

Fallreading

The United States is consumed with what pretends to be politics but discerning eyes are on the difficulties in the Middle East. Wherever you cast your gaze you can find hatred fuelling conflict. But you can still discern moments of hope. Natasha MH looks in on that struggle in The Highland Between Conflict and Peace. Here’s a quote: “So much absence of truth is robbed by our ego, our vanity, our obsession for power and control.”

And on the western shores of Lake Michigan Greg Jaffe and Patrick Marley rack focus from the larger world view down to the local, yet still revealing the same challenges in The Pandemic Is Over In This Michigan County. The Mistrust Never Ended.

Speaking of smaller views into smaller pictures, Daniel Immerwahr in his piece Beyond The Myth of Rural America takes a look at Steven Conn’s The LIes of the Land: Seeing Rural America for What It Is —and Isn’t. 

Nitin Dangwal takes a look at The Language Of War and the stories it tells. Over and over again.

Robert Sapolsky doesn’t think Free Will is a thing. Scary concept given all that’s going on in the world currently. Corrine Purtill takes a look at his thinking in Stanford Scientist, After Decades of Study, Concludes We Don’t Have Free Will.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball links to a Washington Free Beacon piece, NYU Law Students Say Classmate Losing Job Offer Over Pro-Hamas Statement Is ‘Violence.’ John chimes in with his thoughts on this and I’m linking to Gruber’s link for his comment on that article. Well said.

There certainly seems to be a lot of bad news, fake news, news news, and it’s all tough to discern what’s what. (I’m bordering on depression just sharing these links). Annie Lowery takes a look at how frustrating it is for consumers these days in The Annoyance Economy.

And to close out this week’s edition David Todd McCarty takes a look at the discerning difference between discerning and difficult in A Difficult Man.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. 

Netfilx Prices Going Up and the Internet Yawns

Once again Netflix is raising prices. Gotta keep that bottom line solid, show some growth, or maybe it’s to help fund the new Netflix Destination nonsense. Who knows. The reality is Netflix is raising prices. And the Internet just yawns. Sure, people are bitching on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, etc…and probably around a kitchen table or two. But the cash registers still ring.

Gsmarena 001

There’s really nothing to keep streamers and other “got you for life” services from raising prices. Except customers simply amputating the stream. But obviously not enough to staunch the bleeding. Certainly there are reasons people don’t want to let go, but doesn’t this seem just tailor made for an Internet protest moment?

I mean everything gets a protest these days. Most don’t matter. But I would think that any loosely organized Internet campaign getting users to cancel Netflix for a month or a quarter would be able to gather some quick steam before it fizzles out. One hit on those quarterly numbers might have an effect.  But that’s probably just hot air. It would have to be large numbers to have any real meaning. It takes a lot to overcome inertia.

The wheel always turns and the prices will always go up. Pipers have to be paid and quarterly numbers have to show growth. Until they don’t.

Sunday Morning Reading

Time for another edition of Sunday Morning Reading. Today’s collection is a scattered selection of topics some of which might feel a bit dark. But it is a dark time scattering many of us into our corners or maybe to have an extra drink or two.

Readinginabar

For reasons, other than stupidity, we’re steal dealing with forces that want to ban books in America. This sadly isn’t a new thing, and Chris Klimek gives us A Brief History of Banned Books in America in this podcast transcript from the Smithsonian magazine podcast “There’s More To That.”

What’s happening and about to happen in the Middle East has the world on edge. Technology brings these moments to us in moments. Joanna Stern in the Wall St. Journal gives us a look in When Our Smartphones Became Windows to a War.

Continuing with that news of the moment Anne Applebaum in the Atlantic gives us There Are No Rules. As she describes it, our norms and values define how the world ought to work. We continually learn that’s not the reality.

Here’s a pallet cleanser with the first of a couple of tech topics. Jared Newman in Fast Company takes a look at the note-taking app Obsidian in The Cult of Obsidian: Why People Are Obssesed With The Note-Taking App. 

If you’ve paid attention to my tech writings here you’ll know I’m having some challenges with Apple’s iCloud failings and flailings. I’m not the only one and my challenge isn’t the only iCloud issue. In TidBits Glenn Fleishman describes his in Cloudy With A Chance of Insanity: Unsticking iCloud Drive.

And back on the politics and follies of mankind beat, this piece by Michael Tomasky, I Never Thought I’d Live to See Democracy Die. But Now I Wonder is worth a look. He’s not alone in his wondering if Democracy is just a phase.

And after all of that, if you think you might need a drink, here’s a look at The Bad Law That Made Good Bars, from Peter Suderman on The Raines Law. Never heard of it? Pour yourself a beverage of choice and take a read.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.