religion – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Sunday Morning Reading

Hands on with playwrights, movies, smart toilets, and a discomforting rooster

Another Sunday. More snow overnight. More shoveling later. The holidays creep closer or perhaps they’re already here, given that grandpa mode has kicked into high gear. Started writing a new play out of the blue yesterday. I have no idea why, but it just tumbled out of my brain on to the screen via the keyboard. Time to share some Sunday Morning Reading. Read as you will, even if it’s on a smart toilet.

I often save the softer pieces for later in this column, but I’ll lead today with David Todd McCarty’s Christmas Means Comfort. Tell that to the rooster.

The world lost a treasure this week with the passing of architect Frank Gehry. Lee Bray writes a nice obituary and tribute. Check out Architect Frank Gehry Who Designed Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavillion and Foot Bridge Dies at 96.

Samuel Beckett’s Hands is a terrific piece by Rob Tomlinson about, well it’s about Samuel Beckett’s hands and how Dupuytren’s contracture may have influenced not just how, but what he wrote, given that Beckett always begin his writing with pen and paper.

While I’m sharing stories about playwrights, the movie Hamnet is garnering lots of attention and accolades. (I haven’t seen it yet.) Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s excellent novel of the same name, Hamnet mostly follows accepted scholarship that William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet while grieving the death of his son, Hamnet. (At the time, the two names were practically interchangeable.) As with most things Shakespeare, there’s generally accepted knowledge and there are always those who challenge it. James Shapiro takes a look at The Long History of the Hamnet Myth.

And while I’m sharing stories about movies, take a look at Susan Morrison’s piece on How Noah Baumbach Fell (Back) In Love With The Movies.

I linked earlier this week to a piece by Phillip Bump called There Are Limits to the Hitler-Trump Comparison. Just Ask These Historians. I don’t disagree with the thesis. I just think it stops short in the way most history usually does.

Rory Rowan and Tristan Sturm write that Peter Thiel’s Apocalyptic Worldview Is A Dangerous Fantasy. Here’s hoping this first draft of our current history proves lasting.

There’s been much talk about all things military recently given how the current administration is tossing away most of what we believe the military stands for as easy as my grandson tosses away toy soldiers. Carrie Lee says The Soldier In The Illiberal State Is A Professional Dead End. I concur. Sadly.

In the wake of the cataclysm that was Twitter, social media is essentially a messy muddle these days with users continuing to migrate from one platform to another seeking some sort of place that feels comfortable enough to share and often discomfort others. Ian Dunt writes what he calls a love letter to one platform with Thank God for Bluesky.

Smart toilets were in the news this week. I actually got to see and use one at a Christmas party last night. All I could think about while doing my business was this piece by Victoria Song called Welcome To The Wellness Surveillance State.

And to conclude this week, Amogh Dimri informs us that the Oxford University Press has chosen Rage Bait as 2025’s Word of the Year. Dimiri thinks it’s a brilliant choice. I guess it begs the question, if we’re angry enough to rage, is it really baiting?

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. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Read ’em. Maybe Weep. Maybe Get Pissed Off. But Read ’em

Blood, some boiling, some cold, but killer writing.

Life on the Wicked Stage readers will be familiar with the Sunday Morning Reading column wherein I share good writing and interesting topics. Sometimes things fly across my radar after I’ve published the week’s column. Three pieces hit and hit hard late on Sunday after the Chicago Bears continued a mysterious, but gratifying winning streak. I’m going to share those stories here, on a Monday. The writing is too hot to let cool, and the subject matter burns even hotter.

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First up, is an excellent piece by Will Bunch called The Night America’s Doomed Ruling Glass Gorged On Lamb, Blood, and Oil. Bunch puts the elite on the menu and carves them up with a bone saw.

Next, check out Anand Girdhardas’ excellent How The Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails. A vivisection that exposes what we all imagine.

Finally, read Tatiana Schlossberg’s A Battle With My Blood. A Kennedy family member, dying of incurable blood cancer eloquently tells her story, and ours.

You might think these pieces tilt into the category of just another round of depressing news and commentary. Partly that’s true. But it’s a small part for small minds. I find each of them reassuring. Reassuring that smart people, spilling words like blood on digital paper, can pour out the pain we’re all living through personal pain of their own, and decipher the day-to-day charades even as the current deadly and dangerous game continues.

I’d say the writing is courageous, but that’s obvious. The real courage comes in reading what’s written and paying enough attention to make it matter. Perhaps sharing them around this Thanksgiving week when we give thanks for our blessings with family and friends. Especially those we disagree with.

Be thankful. Be courageous.

(Image from Militarist on Shutterstock)

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

Balancing on the edge of a coin

Regardless of the many problems with the Internet, there’s no denying its benefits. One of those is the pleasure of reading stuff I probably would never be aware of without it. In many ways that’s what this Sunday Morning Reading column is about (as well as my life in general on the Internet.) When you read and live life enough, you discover that the trick is always balancing on the edge of the coin that separates the two sides.

There’s comfort perhaps landing on one side or the other, but life is actually in the fragile middle of the muddle somewhere, even if it’s a fine, and increasingly thinner line, often hard to discern.

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First up this Sunday is a piece by Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo called Fear, Greed, Civic Virtue and the Fall of the Elites. Pay attention to that word “virtue.” As Marshall points out it originally meant “manliness.” The word’s evolution is as tricky as the concept itself.

Follow that up with Ian Betteridge’s The Politics of the Missing Middle.

Ian Betteridge’s law of headlines that says any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered with the word “no.” Steven Levy falls into Betteridge’s trap in his piece, Can AI Avoid The Enshittification Trap? Cory Doctorow’s theory of Enshittification has been a popular topic in this column and Betteridge’s law certainly applies here. For those looking for a primer on enshittification Greg Rosalsky has a a quick primer on the topic in A Theory Why The Internet Is Going Down The Toilet.

While technically not falling under the umbrella of enshittification, some of the ways folks are using AI sure sound shitty. Check out Alexandra Jones’s I Realized I’d Been ChatGPT-ed Into Bed: ‘Chatfishing’ Made Finding Love On Dating Apps Even Weirder.

Things are getting weird indeed. Adi Robertson tells us that The Next Legal Frontier Is Your Face and AI.

Several pieces on the arts and creativity stood out to me this week. David Sparks’ The Inherent Value Of The Creative Act reflects on his creative life and his resistance to using AI for the work of creating, but it helps with his administrative tasks. There’s that edge of the coin again.

Authoritarians always target art and artists first. You don’t need an Internet to discover that history, or perhaps we might if the current forces in charge have their way. Andrew Weinstein discusses Trump’s Campaign To Defund The Arts—and Rewrite History.

Speaking of creativity or rather the other side of that coin, Joe Rosenthal takes on Creative Neglect: What About The Apps In Apple? I mentioned some of this in a piece I wrote this past week.

Speaking of that edge and to close out this week, here’s an image of a Mastodon post by friend David Todd McCarty from this morning.

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(Coin Image above from ABARONS on Shutterstock)

Sunday Morning Reading

The lazy days of Summer

We’re technically out of the Dog Days of Summer, but it doesn’t feel much like it. It’s the kind of hot Summer I remember as a kid when the dogs would spend the hot part of the day lazing under the porch. I’m spending mine traveling (too much traveling) and sharing what I can here and there. Find some shade and check out this week’s Sunday Morning Reading.

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Peter Wehner thinks the only way out of the wreckage we’re in is to rewrite the cultural script. Tall task. He spells it out in The Virtue of Integrity.

Knowing is half the battle. What you do with knowledge is an altogether different story as knowing and knowledge are two different things. Check out Jim Stewartson’s piece The War on Knowing.

Somehow in all of the wreckage we’re sorting through, empathy became a bad thing for those doing the wrecking. NatashaMH thinks this crazy Artificial Intelligence race we’re in is taking the human out of being human. If you ask me it’s all a bit too human as we look to foist off responsibility for the choices we make. The Risks of Synthetic Empathy is a great piece. Give it a read.

Then take a look at Mathew Ingram’s piece, People Fall In Love With All Kinds of Things Including AI Chatbots. When chatbots start filing for divorce I think we might have created Artificial Generative Intelligence.

Kyle Chayka is exploring The Revenge of Millennial Cringe. Home may be where the heart is, but it was a terrible song.

Stephen Marche is talking about Profound and Abiding Rage: Canada’s Answer to America’s Abandonment. Abandonment is a good way to describe what we’re all feeling these days.

Apple’s about to unleash new operating systems for its devices in a few weeks and the one that has my interest is for iPads. From what I’ve seen (I don’t run the betas) the changes to the multi-tasking capabilities will be a positive step forward. Craig Grannell takes a look at how long it took for Apple to finally make these changes in Apple Finally Destroyed Steve Jobs’ Vision of the iPad. Good.

Chicago’s Uptown Theatre celebrated 100 years this week. Robert Loerzel takes a look in Uptown Theatre: 100 Years of Glory and Decay.

When you think you’re the center of the universe it can rock your world when you find out you’re not. Kids learn this. Republicans in the current administration have not. Eric Berger writes about NASA’s Acting Chief Calls For the End of Earth Science at the Space Agency.

(Image from Machekhin Evgenii on Shutterstock.)

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. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Pedophiles, Pulpits, and Politics

The irony is delicious. But it’s tough to swallow.

It’s entertaining, yet frustrating watching the MAGAts fight with each other over this Epstein saga. Frustrating because nothing will really come of it. Entertaining because even stupid comedy makes you laugh now and again.

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This is one of those rare moments when the age-old rule of politics that you shouldn’t get in the way of your opponents digging a deep hole for themselves should not apply. I wish whatever the Dem party is these days would just take the gloves off and start smacking them as the Pedophile Party with every communication. But that would be fighting dirty with dirty and Dems don’t do that on that high road they trapped themselves on.

There’s not only political hay to gain in this chapter of our decline, but there’s plenty delicious irony to boot. The party that loves its churchgoers might be causing a few twitches in the pews. But then again, those congregations have their own problems with perverts in the pulpits. The party that turned a sex trafficking ring into a conspiracy theory doesn’t seem to like it when they realize their propaganda actually worked on their own followers.

Those family values folks in Congress keep voting to keep this under wraps now that their own are under threat. But that actually makes some political sense. Too many of their donors are probably on whatever list may or may not be. If not they themselves.

What’s even funnier is the guy at the center of this can’t keep his mouth shut and actually keeps admitting there’s actually a there there every time he tries to shut it down. Attempting to blame the Democrats for creating and covering up the list actually suggests there is one. I’m guessing a copy might be in his former wife’s casket along with a few other secrets.

I’d use tired and insulting metaphors like circus or clown show to describe this gang and this moment, but that just devalues even the shadiest touring attraction that might ever have existed. Those crews were at least smart enough to know when to pull up stakes and leave town.

(image from Sam Maylyn on Unsplash)

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

Tough reads for tough times with a nod to the Commodore 64.

The rapid decay of all things continues. I’m not even sure if “decay” is the right word. “Collapse” might be a better choice. Regardless, there’s no “decay” or “collapse” in my sharing articles and writing every week in Sunday Morning Reading. Enjoy.

Russell Shorto tells us that the fracture we’re facing shouldn’t surprise in America’s Fatal Division Is Nothing New: It Was Baked In From The Beginning. He’s right and that’s also nothing new. We just have a propensity for ignoring what we shouldn’t.

Marc Elias says We Can’t Give In To Fear. He’s right. But with those we mistakenly counted on having already done so, it makes it tougher for the rest of us.

Brian Barrett of Wired (which continues to do excellent reporting) gives us a rundown on The United States of Elon Musk. Good piece with good context. I don’t disagree with his premise that it’s unsustainable. The larger concern is what’s left in its wake.

NatashaMH opens up a personal tale of exploring justice, relationships, and personal power in The Price of Guns And Butter.

Things aren’t just decaying on political and social fronts, technology is marching right alongside, if not leading the charge. John Gruber lays out a mea culpa of sorts in discussing Apple’s less than intelligent move into Artificial Intelligence in Something Is Rotten In The State of Cupertino. Om Malik also weighs in with Apple Intelligence, Fud, Dud or Both. I’ll have more to say on this later this week. I wrote a bit about it last week also.

Will Knight, (again in Wired) tells us that Under Trump, AI Scientists Are Told To Remove ‘Ideological Bias’ From Powerful Models. Tell me. Who didn’t see this kind of thing happening?

Cory Doctorow in Pluralistic lays out how Amazon Annihilates Alexa Privacy Settings, Turns On Continuous Nonconsensual Audio Uploading. One way user agreements flow only one way. Again, who didn’t see this coming?

In times of uncertain futures it’s always somewhat uncomfortably comforting to reminisce about simpler times. When it comes to technology there was perhaps no simpler or more innocent time than during the age of the Commodore 64, which was my first home computer. We’ve come a long way. Gareth Edwards takes a look at Jack Tramiel’s success in How Commodore Invented The Mass Market Computer.

(Image from Ashni on Unsplash)

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.

Ubu and The Truth Commission

An often reviled 1888 play always returns to remind and haunt us when history recycles bad guys.

Alfred Jarry’s 1888 play Ubu Roi never goes out of style. It may disappear from the spotlight but always returns when ostentatious, overbearing, overeager and slobbish rulers ascend to power and use it injudiciously to cause harm and destruction. The message, like these monomaniacal megalomaniacs, recycles again proving there really isn’t much new under the sun.

Every now and then new productions or adaptations Jarry’s work hit stages to remind us and often revolt us. The original production of Ubu Roi, and many others since, have been reviled as offensive as the grotesque behaviors and characters the story reveals. At its core, Ubu Roi is a sort of parody of Macbeth with a little Hamlet tossed in along the way. To give you an idea, the title of the play is occasionally translated as King Turd.

In 2016 The Handspring Puppet Company presented their multi-media version Ubu and The Truth Commission, featuring live actors, puppetry, documentary footage, music and animation. It’s worthwhile viewing anytime, but in our current moment it’s a necessary kick in the teeth. You can see the entire thing (about an hour and a half) on YouTube at the link in the featured video below.

Handspring makes the story, like all of their work, entirely their own and it’s not only quite a treat, but given that this production happened in 2016, seems eerily and entirely prescient for the moment we’re living in.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

When ‘Shock and Awe’ Turns Into ‘Aw Shit’

Put on your waders. Shit’s getting deep.

Shock and Awe! Shock and Awe! Yes, we’re all shocked but I think there’s more of an “Aw Shit” response than there is any real ‘awe.’ At least I hope so. If that’s not the reaction, then you’ve been holed up like a groundhog or in some fantasy of your own creation for far too long. 847a798f f09a 4cfe aa65 e19a439daf13_w1080_r0_s.jpg.

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Of course I’m referring to all of the insane stunts that are happening during these early days of the end of the American Experiment. Don’t blowback on the use of the word “stunts.” People get hurt doing stunt work all the time. Some have died. Both are going to happen at some point in our future. But make no mistake, these “shock and awe” stunts are literally intended to do real harm while overwhelming any attempt to impede them. It’s designed to create chaos. Sadly, it’s working. To say the Democrats are in disarray is to spit out a bad cliché like a rotten sunflower seed. To say whatever used to be the GOP has surrendered everything except their daughters to Trump is also old news. That last part might also be premature. To say the fourth estate is complicit misses the point completely. Ask yourself where the cameras were during all of Elon Musk’s frat boy takeovers this weekend. Perhaps if a plane had crashed into the Treasury building they would have been there. To say the oligarchs and tech bros are the real winners is watching a trailer for a comedy action thriller that leaves out the spoiler in which everybody dies in the end. Josh Marshall has two good pieces about this that are worth reading here and here. They both reveal that we’re cascading down a series of rapids, without a paddle, heading towards a waterfall without a life preserver. One line stands out “The point is that you do ‘shock and awe’ when you don’t actually have the power to pull the job off.” He’s mostly correct there, leaving out only the important part about also having the smarts. Just remember how shocked and awed we were when the bombs dropped in Baghdad. Also remember how much of a shit show we turned that into. You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Bible Thumping, Baptisms, Softball and Preachers’s Daughters

Putting the pit in the pulpit.

These days religion ain’t old time and it’s a gimme that too much of it is departing from anything I’d call spiritual. Shutterstock 1765366676.

I wrote a bit on my thoughts and some of mh history walking down and away from church aisles that formed those thoughts in the publication Ellemeno on Medium. The piece is called Whatever Gets You Through The Night. Yes, you can thank John Lennon for the title, actually you can thank John Lennon’s inspiration for the title, the Reverend Ike as well. As I say in the piece:

The rules matter until they don’t. The stories matter until they don’t. The questions always matter. Especially the ones we can’t answer.

I hope you check out Whatever Gets You Through The Night. You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Facebook Is Now Official State Social Media: Users Can’t Unfollow Trump/Vance

Meta and Zuck Find New Ways to Suck and Suck Up to Trump

This is weird and weirdly disturbing, though not surprising in our new world. I’ve heard from several friends this afternoon who have claimed that both Trump and Vance are showing up in their Facebook newsfeeds. They were not following the convicted felon and his vice president previously.

What’s disturbing is Facebook won’t let you unfollow them. You can only hide their posts. Thanks to Dave Spector on Mastodon, it appears that if you try to unfollow the accounts you’re immediately and automatically re-followed back on your account. I haven’t been on Facebook in a while, but the friends I’ve heard from are pretty upset.

I guess this means Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is now the official state social media for the new regime.

That’ll probably accelerate the exodus that was already underway given Zuckerberg’s knee-bending, ass-kissing attempts to keep his own ass out of jail.

A couple of updates here.

First, apparently this is a moving target. Some are seeing this as described. Some not.

Leaving it to the younger generation, one of my friends said her daughter figured out how to stop the re-following was to unfollow, then quickly block the account. Your mileage may vary.

More updates:

This BBC link reports what I’m hearing others are experiencing who use Instagram. The issue is if you search fore #Democrat or #Democrats you get a response that says “results hidden.” Meta says it’s working on a fix urgently. Sure they are.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.