Musings on life, the theatre, technology, culture and the occasional emu sighting
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.
Here’s the link to I Have No Idea What’s Going to Come Out of My Mouth...
We’ve just marked the anniversary of Elon Musk purchasing Twitter. You could call it the beginning of the end. Many see it as a dark day. I’m just the opposite. Musk buying Twitter and then selfishly and sadistically delighting in destroying it will probably go down in history as one of the best things that could have happened to and on the Internet. And perhaps civilization. Maybe not. Regardless, Musk jolted folks out of complacency and into a self-reexamination that in my opinion tilts the scale of humanity to the better side.
We’re a year into whatever this moment is or will be and it’s been a bumpy ride. Like many of those who saw what was coming I began looking for a new social media home. I’ve tried out most of the social media alternatives that have sprung up. Currently I’m on Mastodon, Bluesky and Threads. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram and a few other places. Regardless of the digs, my shingle is my real name. But where I feel the most comfortable, most informed, most entertained, and most aligned is Mastodon.
Welcome to the land where Mastodons roam. Here’s why and here’s how I use Mastodon.
Of the many things I’m interested in I like to keep current with events. I like to discover new things. News, yes, but not just news. Every day I learn something new is a good day is not only my mantra but it’s why my two great passions in life, making theatre and playing with technology, keep me going. I also love to share discoveries. I’m a theatre director. I share stories that others write. I write the occasional one myself. So, yes I’m a storyteller but also a story sharer. Combine all of that into a mix and I think that’s why the Internet should exist. And for me, that’s why social media as a construct works. Here’s the bio I use on social media websites:
Gadfly. Flying through life as a gadget geek and theatre artist…commenting along the way. Every day I learn something new is a good day. Boosts offered without endorsement. Comments on the other hand…
When it comes to comments and opinions I’m an opinionated SOB. I’ve got enough mileage on me to not give a damn if you disagree with mine, but to respect that you have one. Even if you’re wrong. I find humor and sadness to be two sides of the same coin. Pain and joy the same. I wish we lived on the edge of those coins more than we’re able or comfortable with. Because the highs and lows of life really are on the edges. Not on flat surfaces lying on flat surfaces held down by gravity.
Mastodon was and is a reaction to the evolution and destruction of Twitter. I first opened a Mastodon account long before Musk mucked up his new joint. But I didn’t really start using it until I was a part of the first big wave of Twitter refugees looking for a new place to do the things social media does for me. Mastodon, a year into regular usage does that.
Now let me be clear. In my view the success or lack thereof of any congregation depends on the users and those who own or control it working in tandem. Users are like having employees. The minute you have one employee you have an employee problem. Given Mastodon’s place in the larger Fediverse and the large number of federated servers, many with different rules of the road, I’m amazed things seem to have settled in they way they feel to me. There have been some hiccups, and moments of angst, but the folks I’m following and who follow me seem to be the sort of characters I’d like to hang out with in a bar. I’m constantly exposed to new thoughts, new things, new people and I feel like what I share is generally welcomed, agreed with or not. There are very few days when I feel I haven’t learned something new.
Is it a place just for like-minds? Maybe. Time will tell. But I think not exclusively. Witness the discussions currently as the world is experiecing the trauma in the Middle East. There’s tension. And it’s real. There’s divergent views. How could there not be? If there’s common ground it’s one that feels grounded somewhat in respect. I could be wrong, that could change, but that’s how I feel it at the moment.
Do I think that will last forever? Not on your life. As far as Internet gathering places, and I’ve gathered at a bunch from BBS’s to forums to chatrooms to where we are today, they always end up changing. Typically for the worse. Users and waves of users come and go. Things change. Such is life.
So that’s the WHY. Here’s the HOW.
I also have lists for Science, Photography, Theatre, and the Arts. These I follow as hashtags. I create others as I discover things of interest I want to follow.
Within that VIP List I have a select few folks I’ve set up Notifications for. Meaning if they toot I’m going to see it on my iPhone or my Apple Watch.
On the Mac via the web I use the Advanced Web Interface mostly because it constantly updates the number of columns I’ve chosen. Occasionally I’ll use Ivory. I’d use it more if it updated continuosly. (Can you tell I miss Tweetdeck?)
On iPhones and iPads I’m using a combination of the apps Ivory, IceCubes and Mona. I like to vary things up a bit. Ivory is my go to on the iPhone but there are things I like about IceCubes and Mona as well. Mona is my go to on the iPad. I like its handling of columns the best on that device. With Ivory on any of those devices I can also keep track of and post to my acounts on Bluesky and Pixelfed.
I have an older Android phone for testing some things out and I use the app Trunks on that device.
On my Apple Watch I use the excellent app Stomp. I don’t spend much time with it (or any app for that matter) on the Apple Watch, but if I’m out and about and I get a notification from someone on my VIP list, it’s a handy way to quickly glance at what they’re tooting about.
I use Hashtags a lot and find them handy if I need to search for something. Being able to follow a Hashtag and pin it to a column in the Advanced Web Interface is a real plus. I also use Favorites and Bookmarks to keep track of toots I may want to refer back to. Favorites is also a great way to acknowledge someone else’s toot. I try to do a #FollowFriday toot each week sharing new folks I stumble across.
And yes I refer to what people put on Mastodon as a “toot.” I understand some despise the use of “toot.” Get over yourselves and welcome some whimsy into your life. (Told you I was opinionated.)
So there it is. The Why and How of why I enjoy Mastodon and spend the overwhelmingly majority of my social media life on that website. As I said, I’m also on Bluesky and Threads. I’m not sure Bluesky knows what it wants to be any longer, which is probably why I can’t figure it out either. I’ve still got some invites for Bluesky if you want to try and figure it out. And Threads is having a bit of of a social media moment, currently gaining traction among a new wave of refugees from Musk’s mayhem. What’s funny to have witnessed on both sites is the exact same series of new user reactions as I witnessed on Mastodon.
This place feels so much nicer.
There’s no nazis here.
Where is this feature?
I’m having a hard time getting my followers to move here.
I miss my “whatever number of followers” from Twitter but the engagement is better here.
Block liberally. We don’t want this here.
I’ve replaced Twitter with this app on my Home Screen.
I’m not contributing on Twitter any more except to tell my followers I’m here.
I’m not contributing on Twitter any more except to check in now and then. Boy has it gotten worse.
I’m not contributing to Twitter any more and I’m thinking of deleting my acount.
This is why I deleted my account on Twitter.
Which in the end points out that the only thing that separates social media interaction from the local bar or diner, the church recreation hall, or any place humans gather is use of the Internet. To each his/her own. At the moment I feel like Mastodon is the place I want to hang out for a few drinks and enjoy some fellowship. I’ll continue to visit others and participate there as well. Because you never know when someone’s going to come in and wreck the joint.
Oh, and you can find me at Mastodon here.
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.
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.
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
This article in the Washington Post caught my eye this morning. Announcing that Hearings Begin as Trump Critics Attempt to Kick Him Off Ballots. What caught my eye wasn’t the headline but this paragraph:
Starting on Monday in Denver, a week-long hearing featuring witnesses and legal scholars will explore whether Jan. 6 qualified as an insurrection, which could bar Trump from the ballot in Colorado. On Thursday, the Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether an obscure part of the Constitution might keep Trump off the ballot there. In coming weeks, courts around the country might hold similar proceedings.
First, I don’t think any legal proceeding is going to keep this decaying orange turd off of any ballot. I just don’t. But what grabs me and frosts my jib is that there’s going to be a hearing exploring whether or not what happened on January 6th qualifies as an insurrection.
Call me crazy, but if we’re going to legally try to parse what the world saw that day into a thumbs up or thumbs down on calling it an insurrecton than I say we’re already thumbs down on not only this process but our legal proceedings as a country.
Think for just a second. It shouldn’t take you that long. If some august body in a hearing determines that what happened on January 6th was not an insurrection it’s open season for all sorts of political mayhem and violence that, in my opinion, goes far beyond freedom of speech or freedom of assembly.
I get the impulse. We want to make sure we’re doing things the right way legally. That’s supposedly who we are. News Flash. We aren’t that anymore.
So, let’s get serious. We all wish some Senators had shown some backbone and convicted the guy after the Hosue impeached him. And when I say “we all” I mean a quite a few of those Senators who cowardly voted to acquit. That way we wouldn’t be dealing with this mess. I’m sure we’d be dealing with a different mess and will continue to do so until this decaying orange turd no longer breathes oxygen or we run out of lawyers willing to be thrown under the bus and not paid by their client.
If we have to adjudicate this I think we’ve lost more than the game. We’ve lost the playing field..
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Noted liar, insurrectionist, and favorite of those who cheer on child sex abusers, Jim Jordan, has decided not to seek a third humiiating vote for Speaker of the US House of Representatives. He still wants to remain the Speaker designee of the GOP and is reserving the right to ask for a vote on his chances in the future.
Here’s how this will play out. Congress has some big and serious issues on its doorstep. Action will need to be taken on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and hey, they actually have to vote on whether or not to keep the government open.
Regardless of which Republican has the gavel, compromises will need to be made. Compromise is a dirty word to the GOP. So, Jordan’s play is to let all of that work its way out with Patrick McHenry as the Speaker Pro Tempore calling the shots and taking all the fire.
If a motion is made to give McHenry more power that just sets the stage for one to be made to vacate the chair he would be sitting in after the compromises with Democrats actually keep the lights on. Then Jordan would move again. The situation is actually a setup that could be a win-win for Jordan in the long run and the rabble that wants to continue to gum things up in the House.
That prediction of course depends on the rest of the House Republicans continuing to keep their brains detached from the real world and not pulling off some other sort of compromise.
UPDATE: Apparently the temporary Speaker approach is now dead in the water. For now.
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.
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.
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 