Random Things for a Wednesday

“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.”

Kurt Vonnegut

I think I need to read more Vonnegut. I’ll add it to the “Big Ass To Do List.”

Internal conversations with myself lately have been asking where I find the balance between writing, art, and theater. And how do I accomplish that while still maintaining relationships with family and friends, finances, the house, the yard, the soon-to-be-ending day job.

Let’s not talk about the things that didn’t even make that list.

If you have the answers, feel free to put them in the comments.

Yesterday, I finished reading Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work. Austin is one of my favorite guys to follow on the Interwebz. He says he’s a writer who draws.

I don’t know. Maybe like me?

I can’t believe this book has been around since 2014 and I’m just finding it. I’ve previously read Steal Like an Artist and Keep Going and I’ll jump back to them periodically when I need some creative inspiration.

The basic message of this book is to show your work in whatever stage it’s in currently. That, and keep going.

To that end, I’ve come back to more consistent posting here, and I’m daily posting something artsy on Instagram.

I don’t know where this will take me. Perhaps it’s just doing the things I love.

If I don’t sell a million copies of my books, or my art, perhaps there’s the lottery.

Dear Virginia Lottery,

You don’t write. You don’t call.

At least once in every conversation with my 90-something-year-old Mother, she says “maybe we’ll win the lottery.”

We might. If we played.

I have played, and when the Powerball or Mega Millions get to certain amounts, I’ll play again. The irony, of course, being that with ever increase in the pot, my odds of winning decrease exponentially.

It’s Wednesday.

Use it wisely.

IN OTHER NEWS

Hochul slammed for saying black kids in the Bronx don’t know what the word ‘computer’ means
New York Post
Bronx politicians ripped Gov. Kathy Hochul after she asserted that some black children in the borough don’t know what the word “computer” means.

Trump: “Our Constitution Is Much More Important Than Jail, I’ll Do That Sacrifice”
Real Clear Politics
DONALD TRUMP: I thought they were going to be finished today and they want 2-3 more weeks, they’re playing right into the judge’s hands. The judge is so happy about 2-3 more weeks, because they all want to keep me off the campaign trail. That’s all this is about. This is about election interference, how can you stop it? And it’s a disgrace.

A little bit of home.

Meet Virginia: Betsy Wood
WVTF
So, in the early 2000s, with the support of the school board and principal, Wood created an elective on Appalachian culture, Giles County’s first. The class offered mostly 11th and 12th grade lessons in Appalachian history, writing, music, and crafts.

Uighur Slaves Struggling To Keep Up With Demand For Palestinian Headscarves
The Babylon Bee
XINJIANG, CHINA — Thanks to the recent uptick in awareness of worldwide injustices and inequalities, Uighur slaves are struggling to keep up with the demand for more Palestinian headscarves.

Am Yisrael Chai

 

 

Available on Amazon.

Is it live? Or is it Randy Travis?

“My future plans are simple. I’m going to love God forever.
I’m going to love my family and friends forever. I’m going to love my fans forever. And I’m going to love you “Forever and Ever, Amen.”

Randy Travis, Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life

DISCLAIMER: This post is not AI generated.

SECOND DISCLAIMER: I have used ChatGPT to generate “articles” which I have then re-written in my voice.

I once heard Randy Travis at the Grand Ole Opry. I had planned a convention at the Opryland Hotel. We had a great lineup the night we went to the Opry, including Travis.

Driving into work yesterday, I heard Travis doing an interview with radio personality Bobby Bones.

Well, it sounded like Travis. To me, anyway.

I’m not sure it would have to my aunt’s cat, Kazimir, a Randy Travis fan. This is a true story, I saw it myself. My aunt lived with her daughter near the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Beach. They adopted a stray black cat. Kazimir was beautiful, shy, and huge. I rarely saw him on visits.

But Kazimir loved Randy Travis. I swear I am not making this up.

When my aunt or my cousin would put on a Travis recording, Kazimir would come and sit in front of the stereo. If you tried to fool him with a collection of random country artists, he would walk away. His heart belonged to Randy.

Back to the story.

Eleven years ago, Randy Travis had a stroke that left him unable to speak or sing. But thanks to AI, he’s just released a new single. Engineers took prior recordings of Travis and fed them into AI and generated “Travis” singing. The video is below. In the interview segment, Bones also “interviewed” the AI Randy.

I’m old enough to remember the audiocassette tape commercials with Ella Fitzgerald shattering a glass with her voice. The commercial asked “Is it live, or is it Memorex?”

No glass was shattered, but it sure sounded like Randy was singing. The interview with AI Randy was a little more obvious.

As a writer and artist, who sometimes also does voice performance, this both fascinates and terrifies me. I’m not alone.

The Write Side Shop

You’ll recall last year that last year Hollywood screenwriters went on a 148-day strike because of the use of AI in script writing. They reached a tentative agreement and that’s another story. We haven’t heard the end of it.

It’s fascinating technology, but also a little scary.

Here we are in an election year. How do we know what we’re seeing and hearing is really the candidate?

Please don’t insult either of us by suggesting that AI will only be used ethically.

Used properly, AI can be a helpful tool.

But we would be wise to remember the lessons we learned from the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica.

So say we all.


IN OTHER NEWS

An AI-controlled fighter jet took the Air Force leader for a historic ride. What that means for war
Associated Press
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of U.S. airpower. But the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence, not a human pilot. And riding in the front seat was Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.

People Blocking Students From College Based On Race Probably On Right Side Of History Again
The Babylon Bee
U.S. — Groundbreaking, surprising new research suggests that people who block students from higher education based on their race are once again the good guys and history will almost certainly look back on them in a favorable light.

Noem suggests Biden’s dog also should have been shot
The Hill
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), who has recently come under fire for shooting her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, suggested in a Sunday interview that President Biden’s dog, Commander, should have met a similar fate.

Please stop talking.

My father survived the Holocaust. Why are students taking part in a new call to violence?
Elisha Wiesel, USA Today
My parents had endured unspeakable horrors to arrive at this promised, if imperfect, land, to make common cause with her most deeply held values. I had been not only ungrateful, but blind.

Available on Amazon.

Am Yisrael Chai