Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

The Catechism of A Christmas Carol

I wrote a few words about my experiences with quite a few productions of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol called The Catechism of A Christmas Carol.

“What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in ’em through a round dozens of months presented dead against you?”

Those words aren’t mine. They belong to Dickens. But it gives you a taste.

You can find all the words at the link above. Thanks to David Todd McCarty and NatashMH for letting me put those words down in the publication, Ellemeno.

Sunday Morning Reading

Some culture, some politics, some tech, and some fun to share in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading. There’s also a bit of Picasso tossed into the mix. I’m in Memphis starting rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square so life’s rhythms are a bit fractured currently, but life’s slower on the Mississippi.

Kicking it off, David Todd McCarty in We Could Be Heroes asks what do we do when mystery no longer sustains us after we’ve moved past enlightenment? I’m thinking the answer is either drink more or drink less. Pick your poison. Also check out his weekday daily columns here.

Susan B. Glaser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos explain How The American Right Came to Love Putin. My $.02? It’s simple. It’s not about Left and Right in the traditional sense. It’s about take what you can because the good guys have proven they can’t really stop you.

Ray Naler in Time Magazine has an excellent piece on Artificial Intelligence called AI and The Rise of Mediocrity. We’ve been rising/sinking to that level for awhile now. The pace is quickening.

Speaking of quickening, what was Twitter continues to quickly plunge into past tense. The Verge has an excellent and fun piece called Elon Musk Killed Twitter from a team of writers.

More and more journalism these days seems to be telling us what we already suspected, already surmised, or already knew. Jodi Kantor and Adam Lipton fill in a few blanks on how the disaster that was the Roe v Wade decision came down in Behind the Scenes at the Dismantling of Roe v Wade.

Jason Snell makes a case for Apple to develop its own clipboard manger for macOS. He’s right.

NatashaMH in The Madness of Pablo takes a walk into the wildside with Pablo Picasso.

Continuing on the art beat to wrap things up this week, have you ever asked What’s With Those Hilarious Medieval Portrayals of Animals? Well Elaine Velie did and wrote all about it.

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.

Lehman Trilogy Diaries: First Day in the Books

Nice to feel like a plan is going to work. The first day of rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy is in the books. I’ll call it a success because we accomplished what we set out to do and I feel good about the plan.

Tough not to feel good though, given the cast (Kevar Maffitt, John Maness, and Michael Gravois, pictured with Costume Designer Waverly Strickland) bringing all of their considerable skill to this challenge, married to a tremendous desire brought about by the opportunity to grab these roles and run with them. So my expectation is we’re going to have a blast in the next month. Along with a lot of work.

So many words.

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s a cold and gray December morning at the lake house. But it’s felt like a cold and gray winter morning for quite some time here in America. Maybe somebody is lighting a fire under the collective asses of the media to try and warm things up. That said, it’s time for some Sunday Morning Reading.

I’m in a bit of a sprint this December as I’m prepping to head out of town for the start of rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square in Memphis. Reading time is reduced as we’re adding mileage to the car heading from relative to relative between prep sessions for the show. That’s why there was no Sunday Morning Reading last week and why this week’s edition feels a bit slim. But it’s not.

There’s just one link. But it contains many you should explore. It’s to the January/February issue of The Atlantic. Two dozen Atlantic writers explore “What Happens if Trump Wins.” Good pieces by some great writers. Well worth your time.

That said, while these writers do an excellent job of essaying out the perils that loom, I’m left with the feeling that most of this could have been written everyday since January 6th, 2021, if not before. Loosely following the media in this crazy month of mine it feels like someone through a switch activating some collective editorial calendar meeting and said perhaps actual coverage of what the real stakes and possibilities might be a good thing instead of just milking the danger for clicks.

Regardless, the articles are worth your time. They are worth sharing. Let’s all hope it’s not to late.

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.

Robert De Niro Claims Apple Censors Award Speech

Not a good look for Apple. Not a good look for anyone involved actually. Actor Robert De Niro says Apple employees removed a portion of his speech from the teleprompter at the Gotham Awards. And according to Variety an edited version of the speech was uploaded to the prompter minutes before the ceremony kicked off by someone claiming they were an Apple employee.

Of course there’s a denial or two with the company claiming they were just responding to the filmmakers trying to keep De Niro’s remarks focused on the movie, Killers of the Flower Moon.

Not one to shy away and play the game, De Niro, in his acceptance speech called out the problem, pulled out his phone and read the original. The text of which is below.

“History isn’t history anymore. Truth is not truth. Even facts are being replaced by alternative facts and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness. In Florida, young students are taught that slaves developed skills which can be applied for their personal benefit.

The entertainment industry isn’t immune to this festering disease. The Duke, John Wayne, famously said of Native Americans, ‘I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.’

Lying has become just another tool in the charlatan’s arsenal. The former president lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office, and he’s keeping up the pace in his current campaign of retribution. But with all his lies, he can’t hide his soul. He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature, and shows disrespect, for example, by using ‘Pocahontas’ as a slur.”

Concluding his remarks De Niro said he had planned to thank Apple and the Gotham Film & Media Institute “But I don’t feel like thanking them at all anymore.”

Not too hard to imagine future awards shows confiscating smartphones before presenters and speakers take the stage going forward.

You can watch De Niro’s full remarks in the video below.

For Want of a Comma

Commas can be troubling things. In legal proceedings, in writing, and in publishing. Apparently we’re going to have a debate over a comma in the upcoming Trump trials.

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In his book, So Help Me God, Mike Pence is quoted as saying, “You know, I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome…”. Pence has supposedly told Jack Smith’s prosecutors that the comma shouldn’t have been placed after “you know.”

Certainly it changes the meaning.

Smith’s indictment apparently takes Pence’s word over his published, supposedly proofread, account and removed the comma.

I hope this will just be a sideshow. Let’s leave debates about commas to all things Oxford.

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and also the Sunday after Black Friday which seems to have been going on since the 4th of July. To help you recover from the hustle and bustle, both behind and ahead, here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share. There’s not a deal to be had. Just some interesting reads and good thinking.

Kicking it off David Todd McCarty wonders just What Are We All Really Thankful For? There are times when my response would be “You got me.”

Chauncey Devega strings together a list of comments from a few pundits as they headed into Thanksgiving on the dangers they see ahead culturally and politically in Democracy’s Last Thanksgiving: Experts Imagine America in a Year if Trump Wins The 2024 Election.

Denny Henke (BeardyStarStuff) tackles the deepening political and social crisis we’re facing in this post with the looming threat of losing Democracy as we think we’ve come to know it. Here’s a quote: “It has been eroded to a thin veneer with little substance because the substance of democracy is the people. And the majority of people of the US stopped caring decades ago.”

State of play? State of Mind? With 2023 heading to a close that means 2024 beckons and so too does another presidential election in the US. But this one seems a bit, well, let’s just call it divisive. There’s certainly tumult ahead. Some are picking up and moving to safer places. Do those exist? Timothy Noah takes a look at The Red State Brain Drain Isn’t Coming. It’s Happening Right Now.

The bigger they are the harder they fall. But these days it just means they’re landing in a cushion of money. Douglass Rushkoff takes a look at the move fast and break things bunch in ‘We will coup whoever we want!’; The Unbearable Hubris of Musk and the Billiionaire Tech Bros.

Speaking of broken things, what’s going on in the world of Artificial Intelligence after last week’s craziness with OpenAI and Sam Altman? No AI engine could possibly figure it out, much less a human. But Christopher Mims seems to think that ‘Acclerationists’ Come Out Ahead with Sam Altman’s Return to OpenAI.

Apple doesn’t like to admit mistakes and makes us live with some of them far too long. *Cough* *iCloud* *Cough*. Jason Snell lays out A History of Apple’s Mistakes and Failures—and How It Hates To Fix Them.

And from the world of entertainment John Carreyrou takes a look at another episode of not admitting costly mistakes in The Strange $55 Million Saga Of A Netflix Saga You’ll Never See.

Just for fun, here’s another entertainment industry piece, Caity Weaver takes a look at the career of Flo. You know Flo. She sells insurance. But do you know the actress who plays her? Check out Everybody Knows Flo From Progressive. Who is Stephanie Courtney?

And since you’ve read all of this on some screen or the other, take a look at this piece from Scott-Ryan Abt as he wonders What Happened to the Man on the Train? Here’s quote: “Maybe there was a time when people didn’t stare at their screens, but those days are forgotten. Maybe there was a time when you’d have a shared human experience on a train, at an airport, at a coffee shop, or on the street. Screens have changed that.”

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.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate. May you find joy, comfort, laughter and love in the company of family and friends today. If you don’t I hope you find something that floats your boat.

And when the eating and drinking are done, may you find a moment’s peace napping on the couch. (Pictured: My sisters and brothers-in-law getting ready for the traditional post holiday meal nap.)

Thermonuclear It Ain’t. But Musk’s Lawsuit is More Than a Sneak Preview of What’s to Come

Another failed launch. Elon Musk continues mucking up all things that used to be Twitter and most anything else he casts his gaze on. After ripping off his thinly veiled disguise as a free speech advocate, he’s now enlisting fellow right wing crazies in his “thermonuclear” legal response to advertisers suspending or pausing their ad spends on the cesspit that remains of what Twitter once was before he X’d it into a bad SNL parody.

Thermonuclear it ain’t. As TechCrunch writer Devin Coldewey points out the defmation lawsuit actually confirms that the legal filing actually turns in on itself and reveals the behavior it is supposedly being defamed for. It would be entertaining if not for the fact that it reveals exactly where we’re headed politically.

Texas’ criminal-in-chief, Attorney General Ken Paxton, is once again leading the charge. You might remember him for his many legal screwups, cheating on his wife, trying to declare elections in other states as illegal, and how he managed to recently avoid impeachment. But he’s just a player with plays to make if Donald Trump somehow manages to get re-elected. Paxton proves that those like him, Trump, and Musk can’t wait to use whatever mechanisms of government they don’t dismantle to screw the rest of us over.

This is supposedly a battle over Free Speech. But that’s bullshit. “Free Speech” has become the new shield to wield supplanting “States Rights” and “Religious Freedom” to bash stupefied opponents into inaction. These folks are going to use the laws they like as blunt instruments because they don’t need sharp-edged weapons or the precision they require.

We’ve been warned. We aren’t paying attention.

Artificial Intelligence is No Match for Human Goofiness

Everyone’s intelligence is being challenged given the decidely human drama going on over OpenAI’s adventures in whatever it is adventuring in. The story’s not over by any stretch of the imagination (or hallucinating) but from what we know it only proves that anything humans touch, humans can screw up.

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Here’s a link to a story on TechCrunch about what, at the time of its publishing, was the latest news that Microsoft. CEO Satya Nadella, exercising the muscles Microsoft built up with its 10 billion dollar investment in the company, hired Altman and the company president Greg Brockman after a weekend of boards, CEOs, directors, and investors doing what they typically do. Employees of OpenAI have signed a letter saying they’ll leave unless Altman is brought back. Even the guy who suggested outing Altman has signed on to do so. Goofy? You bet.

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But I’m thinking all the horses are out of the barn into more Azure pastures.

All of this is about AI, a powerful and world changing technology, fraught with possibly as much potential harm as promise. That genie is out of the bottle, never to be put back in with a future no human or AI model can really predict. This story will continue to unfold, as will the technology. What won’t change is what I said in the opening paragraph: Anything humans touch, humans can screw up.