Tag: Poetry

Sunday Morning Reading

The last Sunday Morning Reading column for 2023. Yet another year gone that I think collectively we’re all glad to see pass as we keep hoping for something better around the corner of the next one. There’s always hope. There’s always promise. There’s always the other side of both of those coins. So as we mark the passage of time from one year to another, here’s a short list of some good reading to share on the last day of 2023.

There wouldn’t be much to read if someone didn’t write it first. David Todd McCarty Writes Like You’re Running out of Time. Check it out and other excellent writers on Ellemeno.

I don’t know about you, but I do most of reading on the Internet these days. Anil Dash tells us That the Internet is About To Get Weird Again. Who’d a thunk it?

Time passes. Rivers run. Everything ages. Sit still and things can stagnate. Maria Popova tells us about John O’Donohue’s great book To Bless The Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings. Check out here article A Spell Against Stagnation: John O’Donohue On Beginnings.

And since we’re celebrating the passage of time, check out A Brief History of Time as told by a watchmaker by Jaq Prendergast

Here’s another piece worth your time from David Todd McCarty called Boys Don’t Cry, Men Don’t Bond. I’m in with part two. Not so much with the first. Must be an age thing.

And to close out the year and this edition of Sunday Morning Reading check out NatashaMH’s piece Writing Out of the Shadows.

Happy New Year!

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.  You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

My Picks Of The Year for 2023

Here’s a list of my favorites of the year in entertainment, books, apps, and a favorite gadget purchase for good measure. I don’t believe in “Best of.” There’s too much good being created by too many good (and some not so good) folks out there, that I just pick favorites. Lots of mediocrity out there, but here’s the cream that rose to the top of my list, though I certainly didn’t see or consume everything.

Movies

  • Oppenheimer
  • Barbie
  • Maestro
  • FinestKind
  • Blackberry

TV and Streaming

  • The Bear
  • Mrs. Davis
  • Drops of God
  • Silo
  • Slow Horses
  • Fargo
  • The Fall of the House of Usher
  • The Last of Us
  • Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl Shorts on Netflix

These films and streaming shows mentioned above contained some outstanding performances by Carey Mulligan in Maestro and Emily Blunt and Robert Downey, Jr in Oppenheimer. As for Oppenheimer all the hype was about the big boom. I loved it more for the explosive intimacy of the brilliant film making in the human moments. Brilliant acting from that entire ensemble. Also, episodes 7 and 8 of Season 2 of The Bear were two or the richest small screen viewing experiences I think I’ve ever experienced. Masterpiece work.

Books

  • Prequel by Rachel Maddow
  • Undertow by Jeff Sharlett
  • Sapiens Yual Noah Harari
  • The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in the Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta
  • The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Apps and Software

  • Paste. A terrific clipboard manager.
  • It’s an update to the iPhone, but The Action Button
  • Ivory. A Mastodon client.
  • IceCubes. Another Mastodon client.
  • Mona. Yet another Mastodon client.
  • Bartender 5 (It’s an update to an oldie, but always goodie)
  • The Double Tap Gesture on the “Is it legal or not legal?” Apple Watch

Gadget Purchase of the Year

GL.iNet Beryl AX (GL-MT3000) Travel Router. Excellent, powerful travel router in a tiny package that belies its size. Helps extend WiFi and provides on board VPN protection while traveling. A huge winner in a small package.

Here’s hoping you enjoy your New Year!

Sunday Morning Reading

Chili was on the menu last night and it’s a chlly Autumn Sunday morning. So it’s time to share some Sunday Morning Reading featuring a little poetry, some politics, some not so intelligent moves in the Artificial Intelligence world (is it a world?) and just some damn good writing worth your time.

Fallreading

Let’s start with the poetry. One of my favorite new writing discoveries is NatashaMH on Medium. She popped out a piece of poetry, Pereginations, the other day on Ellemeno and this morning she’s got a terrific piece called The Day I Learned Poetry. Good stuff. Good times. Good fun. Nothing artifcial about the intelligence happening there.

Speaking of AI, it was and still is quite a weekend on that front. OpenAI’s board surprisingly fired poster boy CEO Sam Altman, now he may come back after lots of hueing and crying.  Or he may not. Who knows. Om Malik has a great piece called Foundational Risks of OpenAI looking at the story but rightly hitting the bullseye that this is more than about corporate chaos and investment returns. I’m not sure AI, or its champions, is built for looking back with a long view.

Our politics here in the U.S is still a mess with no foreseable correction in the cards. Dan Balz, Clara Ence Morse and Nick Mourtoupalas take a look at some of the foundational biases in the U.S. Senate that, in my belief, need to change before any next card can be revealed. Check out The Hidden Biases at Play in the U.S. Senate.

Sometimes an outside view is needed for perspective. In this case not so much. Even so, The Economist weighing in with Donald Trump Poses The Biggest Danger to the World in 2024 offers good context in its global round up.

Like it or not, much of our life on the Internet is changing. Social Media is a crazy free-for-all and so is the world of entertainment. In How Social Media Is Turning Into Old-Fashioned Broadcast Media, Christopher Mims takes a look at the stew that’s stewing.

And where would we be without critics? Probably better off, but that’s not necessarily the point of Siskel, Ebert, and the Secret of Criticism by Richard Brody. Here’s a quote:

Criticism is a fraught profession because it’s parasitical. It depends on the work of artists, without which criticism couldn’t exist. A critic who acknowledges and accepts the fact of this dependence is trying to salvage the dignity of the activity; critics who don’t are just trying to salvage their own dignity.

David Todd McCarty is starting a daily column entitled A Bit Dodgy. I recommend subscribing, following, but most of all reading. I’m sure it will be quite a ride.

And in case you’re wondering, worried, or concerned about all of the insanity happening in the world that makes it feel like we’re approaching the End Times, Jeannie Ortega Law tells us that Left Behind author, Jerry Jenkins thinks that all of those End Times prophecies have been fulfilled. So check that off your list.

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.