Writing – Page 7 – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Sunday Morning Reading

Lots to think about in this helter-skelter moment we’re living through.

Back at it after a couple of weeks of traveling and dealing with a case of pneumonia. (All is well.) Certainly there’s a lot going on and most of it is happening in a such a rush that I’m not sure anyone has enough space to accurately write or think about all that’s happening. But there is some good stuff to recommend.

Leading off this week are some articles from folks who are concerned, distressed, pissed off, and searching for tech solutions that don’t rely on America’s big tech oligarchies.

First up is I’m Tired of Pretending Tech is Making the World Better by Joan Westenberg. Follow that up with Joan’s article on How I’m Building a Trump-Proof Tech Stack Without Big Tech. Good suggestions there.

Matt Keil has also published a list of non-U.S. tech apps and services for those looking to move things offshore called Migrating Away from US Apps and Services.

With all going that’s going on, Denny Henke at Beardy Star Stuff takes a look at Apple, big tech, lock-in and the corporate colonization of life experience.

If you’re one of those searching for different tech solutions, remember no matter how long a service may have been around or how big the company behind it is, it’s all impermanent. As an example, Om Malik takes a look at Microsoft ending the run of Skype this week in Skype Is Dead. What Happened? It might take awhile, but everything eventually dies.

Moving off of the tech beat, this story by Joshua St. Clair is tough emotional read, but well worth your time. The title tells you what you’re in for: What Do You Do After You Accidentally Kill A Child?

There’s lots of rethinking of lots of things these days. David Todd McCarty is Rethinking Pride.

Adam Serwer asks the question most are asking when it comes to the words behind the ugly acronym, MAGA: Just when was America great, exactly, and for whom? Check out The Great Resegregation.

We’ve yet to feel any real impact on the economy given all of what’s happening. At some point we will. Umair at the issue takes a look at what happens if capital flight occurs in How an America the World Can’t Trust Goes from Collapse to Implosion.

Tonight is Hollywood’s big night with the Oscars. In an article from 2013, Seth Abramovitch takes us on a look inside a moment when an Oscar opening number went horribly wrong in “I Was Rob Lowe’s Snow White”: The Untold Story Of A Nightmare Opening. Show biz is hard.

And to close things out, NatashaMH takes a look at simple acts of kindness in Of Munchkins and Manners. Do be kind.

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.

(image from Roman Kraft on Unsplash.)

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.

Where’s Wanda? Is Worth A Watch

Good laughs to be had in this screwball black comedy.

Where’s Wanda on Apple TV+ is certainly worth a watch but it also begs the question my wife asked after we concluded viewing the first season, “where was the advertising and marketing for this show?”

Perhaps we missed whatever short marketing window Apple opened for the series, but it escaped our radar, and we only recently stumbled on it at the tail end of our queue by accident. Regardless, as I said, it’s worth a watch, especially if you’re in the mood for some good laughter.

Where’s Wanda? is a German language streaming series written by British writer Oliver Lansley, and directed by German director Zoltan Spirandelli. It was and is marketed as a black comedy, but I think black screwball comedy is more appropriate. Yes, there are subtitles. They also have some fun with that throughout.

The Wanda of the title is a young teenage girl gone missing and the plot ends up involving not only her family but their entire small town in searching for her. While the family drives the story, they guide us through enough of the town to be charmed and amused by the folks we meet with both recognition and surprise, as the plot evolves and involves more and more of the town in its mysteries.

The cast is uniformly excellent and I especially thought Heike Makatsch as the mother was superb. The moments between the younger cast members were some of the most engaging, hilarious, and touching scenes about the awkward moments in young people’s lives I’ve seen in a while. Where’s Wanda? gets silly, it gets serious, and it gets under your skin because of excellent work all around by the team that put it together.

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.

Name Games On The Internet And In Life

Real names matter. Why is that so unreal?

I wrote a little something for the publication Ellemeno on Medium about names and anonymity on the Internet. Take a look at What’s In a Name?

Prompted by a new display name policy adopted by the publication, this is something I’ve been thinking about for quite some time. I always publish my writing and anything I do on social media under my real name. It’s the same way I conduct my professional life as a theatre director, always using the moniker I was given.

Certainly there are reasons folks adopt other names, handles, and nom-de-plumes and I don’t judge anyone negatively for doing that in an increasingly dangerous world. That said, I’ve always believed the world would be a better place if we all had the courage to conduct ourselves under our real names. But that’s perhaps naive.

Obviously there’s a lot more to say in the piece. I hope you take a few moments and read it.

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.

Good Books Now In The Public Domain

Terrific early work by famous authors among this year’s entries into the public domain.

In addition to being the first day of the New Year, January 1 is also known as Public Domain Day, when titles previously under copyright enter the public domain in many countries, including the U.S.

Shutterstock 2494525843.

This year’s titles include a host of good books by some authors you might have heard of including William Faulkner, Earnest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Dashiell Hammett, Thomas Wolfe, Sinclair Lewis, Edith Wharton and Mahatma Gandhi among others.

Standard EBOOKS is celebrating by providing links to twenty of the titles available to download in different formats that should work with most ebook readers.

These book titles, were first published in 1929. I won’t get into the length of copyrights and all the issues surrounding that, but instead say this is an interesting collection of works, some early or first works by some of the authors listed above.

Keep in mind that on Public Domain Day a number of titles in other media also entered the public domain. Duke University publishes a more extensive, but not complete list that includes titles of plays, movies, characters, music compositions, art, and sound recordings. The date for sound recordings is 1924 and includes Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin.

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.

My Picks of the Year for 2024

Complex pieces, whether successful or not, dominate my end of year list for 2024

2024 was a complex year on many fronts in my life. We moved. Politics and culture seemed to daily turn the world upside down and inside out. And for some reason the movies, TV, and books I enjoyed the most were, while not necessarily the top of class, very complex.

I certainly didn’t see or consume everything during the year. Heading into the holiday movie release schedule I found myself thinking it had been a better year for streaming TV than it had for movies. I think that still holds. Some titles may have been released prior to 2024, but they didn’t cross my radar until this year soon to pass, so they get included.

For the record I don’t believe in “Best of.” As I continue to say, there’s too much good being created by too many good (and some not so good) folks out there, that I pick what attracts and holds my attention.

This year that leaned towards complex pieces that may or may not have been utterly successful. There’s also just some well done entertainment. There is still lots of mediocrity out there, but here’s the complex cream that rose to the top of my list. If I wrote something about the titles, there will be a link.

Movies

Ghostlight
Inside Out 2
The End
Poor Things
Wicked
Emilia Pérez

Streaming TV

Kaos
Slow Horses
Shogun
3 Body Problem
Bad Monkey
Shrinking
Pachinko
The Penguin
The Diplomat
Landman
A Gentleman In Moscow
Black Doves

Other Video

I’m not sure where to put YouTube videos on this list, but this presentation of Ubu and The Truth Commission by the Handspring Puppet Company was high on my list of favorite viewing this year.

Books

James by Percival Everett
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
On Freedom by Timothy Snyder
The Freaks Came Out To Write by Tricia Romano
Infinite Detail by by Tim Maughan

Apps

Either I’m slowing down or software App development is. There’s only one new App that landed on my devices that I would recommend:

Croissant. A social media cross-posting app by Ben McCarthy and Aaron Veigh. It’s still got some quirks, but it is handy enough that I use it frequently hoping they’ll work the kinks out.

Have a Happy New Year!

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.

Red One Will Make You Wince and Laugh

Red One won’t save Christmas, but it is quite jolly.

Red One, now streaming on Amazon Prime isn’t a classic, nor is it a loser. It’s fun in all the right places, and bad in all the right places. In the end, it’s worth streaming if you’re looking for some good brainless streaming fun over the holiday.

Overflowing with familiar names in the cast including The Rock, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J.K. Simmons, among others, it’s a romp that tosses a bunch of Christmas themed traditions into the mixer, shakes them up, and sprinkles enough one liners and almost too many special effects on top to keep it entertaining.

I’m not sure it’s quite family fare if you have wee young ones, but for an older mix of generations it’s might be worth the sleigh ride. Explaining Santa Claus might never been the same again.

The different world creation is a well done enough that the movie creates its own Christmas world view allowing a pretty insane mix of mythic magic and technology to propel the story as the characters try to save Christmas.

If you’re like my families, silly and goofy Christmas movies are a part of the holiday tradition. This one probably makes the cut going forward.

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

Drones may be circling and society may be circling the drain, but there’s always time for Sunday Morning Reading.

Drones may (or may not) be circling the skies overhead, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep our eyes peeled for some good writing and good reading. This week’s Sunday Morning Reading features a usual mix of writing on tech, Artificial Intelligence, politics, and culture. Buckle up and enjoy.

A man reading a newspaper on a porch with a sky full of drones and a cityscape background. AI generated

Speaking of Artificial Intelligence, Arvino Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor tell us that Human Misuse Will Make Artificial Intelligence More Dangerous. I’ve been saying that for a while and so have any number of science fiction writers. Still, this short piece is worth a read.

Matthew Ingram asks and answers the question Are AI Chatbots Good or Bad For Mental Health? Yes. Good read.

Reed Albergotti chronicles an interview with Google’s Sundar Pichai on Google going all in on AI and the next move, Agentic AI. Check out Why Sundar Pichai Never Panicked.

Rounding out this group of links on AI, take a look at this intelligent and very human piece from NatashaMH. In No Society Left Behind she posits that AI will still leave us with uneven playing fields across the different strata of society.

John Gruber has an interesting piece On The Accountability of Unnamed Public Relations Spokespeople. It’s politics specific but it also speaks more broadly about the, in my opinion, decline of PR as an effective tool.

We still haven’t come to grips with the shooting of the United Health Care executive and the reaction to it. Adrienne LaFrance takes that as a cue for Decivilization May Already Be Under Way. I would argue it’s been under way for quite some time now. Itt’s just accelerating.

David Todd McCarty says We’re All Going to Need To Hunker Down For A Long-Ass Storm. I concur, although I fear it’s going to be looked back on as a major climate shift.

Dave Troy in the Washington Spectator gives us The Wide Angle: “Project Russia,” Unknown In The West, Reveals Putin’s Playbook. It will never ceae to amaze me how we let this one slip by us.

Looking back a bit in history take a look at this piece from the Atlantic’s 1940 issue called The Passive Barbarian by Lewis Mumford. With the exception of a few references in the article and the publication date, I bet you would think it had been written in this current moment.

And finally, with the holiday drone buzzing around us David Todd McCarty offers up Struggling To Find Peace In The Midst of Exuberant Joy.

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. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

Sunday Morning Reading

Sunday Morning Reading is on the road but there’s still plenty to share.

We’re on the road this weekend to get the Christmas holidays started with the grandkids, but there’s still time to share a little Sunday Morning Reading. Enjoy.

First up is a piece by Margaret Dean called An Afternoon In My Strawberry Fields. You’ll enjoy wandering there.

I don’t think the sun sets anywhere on the planet that there isn’t a current political crisis. Artists and storytellers keep doing their thing regardless. This story from Tom Phillips and Etienne Cóte-Paluck tells of a Haitian theatre troupe still carrying on in the face of that island’s chaos. Check out ‘An Act of Rebellion: Haitian Theatre Persists Amid Political Crisis and Violence.

No crime story has quite captured public attention and exposed how insufficient American media is at reporting out what’s behind the headlines as the murder of United HealthCare’s CEO Brian Thompson. The act is shocking, the reaction to it is shocking as well, yet not surprising. Some of the best reporting I’ve seen so far comes from the BBC from Mike Wendling and Madeline Halpert in Killing of Insurance CEO Reveals Simmering Anger At US Health System.

If you’re wondering about that “simmering” and why I don’t think we should be surprised by what this event reveals, check out this guest essay in the New York Times from Dr. Helen Ouyang entitled What Doctors Like Myself Know About Americans’ Health Care Anger.

Casey Newton delivers one of the best pieces I’ve seen on Artificial Intelligence with The Phony Comfrots of AI Skepticism. You might want to hang on to this one for future reference.

Mark Jacob wonders Can Journalism Survive Billionaires? My short answer is not with this current crop.

If you think repealing women’s right to vote in America isn’t on the agenda of some in the world of MAGA misogyny check out Emma Cieslik’s piece Christian Nationalism’s First Item On The Agenda: Repeal The Women’s Right To Vote.

Brian Krebs is a name most on the Internet have run across as a top-notch security researcher and reporter. Robert McMillian and Vipal Monga have gone behind the curtain to reveal some of the lengths Krebs has to go through to keep himself secure. And not just on the Internet. Check out He Investigates The Internet’s Most Vicious Hackers-From A Secret Location.