It's an Amazing Time

It's an amazing time to be alive.  There are so many tools available to explore creativity.  A computer was always a tool to do work.  I'm finding that's true...  It's always been true.  

I'm using tools to create.  And the byproduct is work.

It's amazing what tools are available to use for free.

A phone.  Typically a communications device.  Just before Steve Jobs revealed the iPhone he said it was, "An iPod, a phone… and an Internet communicator."  

The next thing you know developers had their go with it and they turned it into so much more.

A camera.  

A video editor.  

A GPS and navigation system for your car.  Then for walking and navigating indoor space and outdoor spaces.

The range of uses is mind boggling.  You can use it to shop, make dinner reservations.

A handheld creation tool you can use anywhere there's a data connection.

ChatGPT by OpenAI is a game changer for what one person can do.  Learning how to use it effectively takes some trial and error.  I was talking to a friend of mine and she's launched a coffee business with it.  Used it to build logos, a website, pricing formulas and all kinds of stuff.  

The possibilities are endless.

This era of technology readily available to those willing to learn how to use it is amazing.  Absolutely AMAZING.

The everyday human can accomplish greatness with a spark of inspiration, a vision and working with the technology to execute that vision.

A person has never had such powerful tools available...  For little to no cost besides a phone, maybe a computer and a connection to the internet.  Two of the three and opportunity is yours. 

Facebook.  Instagram.  Tiktok.  Threads.  Twitter.  YouTube.  LinkedIn.  All of this can be leveraged in some pretty unique and interesting ways.  

I'm just scratching the surface.  

WOW!  Never in a million years would I think opportunity can be had for the taking.  

Reminds me of Disney's Figment... "One little spark, of inspiration Is at the heart, of all creation. Right at the start, of everything that's new. One little spark, lights up for you." 

Curiosity

Michael Pollan’s book is fascinating to me. Never before have I found a book that tickled and scratched an intense curiosity in me. Fascinating.  Also interesting inference that the plant world might be parallel to our world on the earths surface. And a world beyond our world is extended from both. 

Reading the book bright eyed and bushy tailed.  

Psychedelics is fascinating. I wonder if it was more common long ago and snuffed out of culture to suppress the information.  Those in power thought the substances were a threat to the social or economic hierarchy of society.  An effort to exert control and social order to maintain a pipeline of compliant factory workers for the industrial era.  

Shift

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There's something super cool about transitioning from consumer to creator.   

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Don't Make Me Laugh. Sorry. I can't help it.

The Washington Post ran an article asking whether "fat jokes" are becoming more permissible in our culture after having largely been banished as cruel or unacceptable toward CPC people—those experiencing caloric processing challenges. The question posed was whether this is simply self-deprecating humor making a return or something more harmful.

One commenter observed, "Fatphobia never went away. People who were fatphobic and quiet now feel emboldened to be loud."

Perhaps.

Humor is strange that way.

A riddle can be humorous or silly. "Thou who stands on toilet is high on pot." The offensive part of that joke, of course, is standing on a toilet. Or even using the word toilet.  How inappropriate.  Only ladders and step stools should be afforded such privilege.

Human beings gravitate toward negative experiences and emotions. We gossip. We argue. We rubberneck at car accidents. Social media monetizes outrage because outrage keeps us engaged. Why should humor be any different?

I don't believe humor is something that can be entirely controlled unless you first shift the culture surrounding it. Humor doesn't exist in isolation. It reflects us—the beautiful parts, the ugly parts, and everything in between.

Do fat people laugh at fat jokes? Some do. Some don't. Do they make people uncomfortable? Certainly. Does humor sometimes come at someone's expense? Of course it does. Does it occasionally reveal an uncomfortable truth? Absolutely.

Or perhaps humor is simply another piece of the complicated ways our minds respond to stimuli.

I've also observed that sometimes people laugh less at the joke itself than at the person telling it. The awkward uncle at Thanksgiving. The comedian walking the tightrope between brilliance and disaster. The friend who can't finish the punchline because he's laughing too hard at his own joke. Sometimes we laughing at the absurdity of being human as much as we're laughing at the words themselves.

Laughing is not entirely a conditioned response. It is, in many ways, involuntary. Surprise, tension, discomfort, incongruity, absurdity—our brains respond before we've often had time to consult our values or our politics.

That doesn't absolve us of responsibility for what we say. Humor can wound. So can silence. Both are true.

When culture attempts to legislate humor, however well intentioned, I wonder if it is attempting to legislate something more fundamental than words themselves. Humor is one of humanity's oldest coping mechanisms. It helps us confront death, tragedy, hypocrisy, suffering, and our own ridiculous nature. It is simultaneously cruel and compassionate, juvenile and profound.

Perhaps the better question isn't whether certain jokes should or shouldn't exist. Perhaps it is whether we possess the wisdom to understand why we're laughing in the first place.

Sometimes the joke reveals something ugly about humanity.

Sometimes it reveals something true.

And sometimes, it's just a man standing on a toilet who should have used a ladder instead.

WNBA

 What does it say about the sport, the athletes and the fans when the most popular jerseys are Kaitlin Clark’s and Sophie Cunningham’s?  

Turning the Page on Homer's Odyssey

Do you like what I did with the title?  Homer's Odyssey?  Is that like Honda's Odyssey?  Never mind.

If you get the opportunity to see Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, DO IT!  Wasn't sure I'd like it.  Not sure I would see it a second time.  However, it is FANTASTIC!  Clocking in at the 3 hour mark.  In my mind it has a relevance in entertainment similar to James Cameron's Titanic released in the late 90's.  An epic story taking the time needed to tell.

Made for IMAX.  The movie almost demands large format screen to capture the visuals and a beyond capable sound system to carry the movie.  

This is probably the first movie I've seen in, well.....  ever that wasn't set in the 19th, 20th or 21st centuries.  Originally penned in roughly 700 B.C.  It's an oldie but a goodie.  The story was complex.  The story charts the full circle of Odysseus.  Rich with tension and conflict of a leader.  Convictions of perceived truth only to realize convictions can be misaligned by given authority transitioning to permission granted to lead.

There is one irritation with it I cannot put aside.  Elliot Page is in it.  For those who don't know, this person was born Ellen Page.  Sex was recorded female at birth.  And Ellen decided she was a he and did all the things to make the costume permanent.  Mutilated her body.  Completely.  Who does that?  I wonder if it is happy?  I am unable to understand how permanently altering your god given body cures mental illness.    

So essentially you have a girl masquerading as a guy in real life and in the movies. Once again, more cognitive friction to affirm someone's chosen identity. She doesn't look like a man. She can decide what she wants to be. At the same time, her facial and body structures are determined by the genetic differences between men and women. Her neck lacks laryngeal prominence. So sure, she's put the time in at the gym to become jacked in both film and life. But looking at photos of her, she's not a man. She's an expression of a man. That is not an authentic existence.

If you ask me, it's two levels of make-believe occurring at the same time. First she's playing a male role in real life, and then she's playing an additional expression of a man on film.

According to Page's biography, Page publicly came out as a lesbian in 2014. It seems to me Page wants to be a heterosexual man. My take: she's a homosexual woman.

Like what on Earth? How does one reconcile this from a truth point of view? I am unable to accept what I perceive as a departure from biological reality. That inability is mine, and it creates cognitive friction I cannot ignore.

Christopher Nolan could have cast any number of actors that would have captured the same visual and dramatic qualities without introducing that additional layer of cognitive friction for me as a viewer.

Overall, The Odyssey is a stunner of a film.

A well done adaptation of one of ancient literature's greatest stories.  Two thumbs up.  Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Charlize Theron and John Leguizamo as Eumaeus - Excellent.  The film and performances are worthy of recognition by critic, peer and public.  

Homer's Workout

Unusual email received today.

A while back I was curious about chair yoga, chair tai chi, or some other exercise routine requiring less athleticism than standing upright. I filled out an survey about my goals and moments later I got an email letting me know my custom workout routine was ready. I read further and saw the price. My interest in improving myself immediately lost a cage match with my interest in keeping my money.

A few days later I received an email informing me that my workout routine had been personally reviewed by an expert at the company.

Personally reviewed.

Not only had an actual human reviewed the program selected by their algorithm, through careful analysis of my body type, goals and habits they manually changed the recommendation to something they determined would better meet my needs.

That's amazing!

An expert at a virtual workout company took a personal interest in me. Me! A person who didn't buy anything and had absolutely no intention of buying anything at the price they were asking.  I wouldn't have bought it if it was free.

I was touched.

Wait...

There's more.

Today I received another email informing me that the workout plan specially curated for me by their expert is now sold out. If I want it, too bad. I'm forced to wait until it returns to stock.

Say what?

Let's review.

A computer analyzed me. Then a human overruled the computer because they cared more deeply about my wellness than either of us realized. They lovingly handcrafted a fitness journey uniquely suited to my body and aspirations despite my complete unwillingness to pay for it. Then they sold my destiny to someone else.

Apparently there are only so many copies of my digital chair exercises available.

I don't know whether to feel rejected or honored.

Somewhere there's a warehouse with empty shelves where my workout routine used to be.

Perhaps demand exceeded expectations. Thousands of Americans simultaneously discovered they could exercise while remaining suspiciously close to the couch.

I can only imagine the scene.

"Johnson! We're out of Chair Tai Chi for middle-aged Homers making questionable life choices!"

"Get manufacturing on the phone immediately!"

"We can't! Our coach hasn't personally reviewed any more of them yet!"

For now, I'll wait patiently for my custom curated workout designed for my body type, goals and habits to come back in stock.

If history repeats itself, I expect next week's email will inform me my personally curated workout routine is back in stock and available at at a discount. For a limited time only, of course.

Now they'd have to pay me to take it. I still wouldn't.