Cultural Globalization’s Demise Is Greatly Exaggerated
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Category Archives: art
Meet an Amazing High School Muralist
Maverick Collins for the win. And Nick Rekdal.
‘You Are Not Alone’
Check out our YMCA’s “You Are Not Alone” mural. Because I’m so outgoing, I chatted up the artist while she was outlining it. Turns out, there’s a movement of “You Are Not Alone” artists who want to use wall murals to instill hope and connection while fostering more discussion of mental health.
I suspect their murals are more likely to accomplish the later than the former. I’m just not clear on how the murals might spark social connection which social science increasingly suggests is as close as there is to a loneliness panacea.
Do not mistake my lack of clarity, or even skepticism, as criticism. These are kind and caring people with the best of intentions.
Dear Taylor
Dammit, I can’t take it any more. A few months ago the word on the street was Austin Reaves. Now it’s Travis Kelce.
Gerl, if you’re really interested in a long-term stable relationship, you gotta quit with the professional athletes, actors, and musicians.
Repeat after me, no public figures.
You need to find yourself a librarian who makes time for his grandmother on Sunday afternoons.
Granted, settling down with a normie may not be great for your art, but there are always trade-offs in life. If you want a family, find yourself a nice librarian and do your best to keep it on the down-low.
You’re welcome.
Ron
It Appears One Is Trying Harder Than The Other
Scratch That From The Record
For those scoring at home, give me an error. I would blame my editorial staff if I had one. I recommended ‘The Rich Men North of Richmond’ way too quickly.
Who is Oliver Anthony and what’s the deal with ‘Rich Men North of Richmond?’
‘What’s it like to be bald?’
That’s what one of my first year writers asked me last year. “Let us know what it’s like repeating WRIT 101,” I replied to his classmates’ delight.
I am not bald. I just decided to take it down today as a preemptive strike against climate change and as a tribute to Sinead O’Connor who I’m listening to nonstop.
Sinead O’Connor
Artist.
Actors And Writers Are Up Against It
In the entertainment labor battle that’s just getting going, the Screen Actor Guild members and Hollywood writers are severe underdogs. They’re up against it. “It’ being a combination of C-Suite greed; artificial intelligence-based content; too many streaming services chasing a fixed number of people with finite disposable income; a decline in digital advertising dollars; and Peter Santenello.
I didn’t know Santenello until yesterday, when a YouTube algorithm correctly guessed I’d like his stuff. Long story short, he’s a do-it-yourself filmmaker. Tonight, after my dinner date with the GalPal, I’ll watch the bulk of this film I started last night.
It’s very good in a substantive, folksy, documentary kind of way. Not slick or sensational, in this case, an up close look at some of the poorest counties in the country. Lots of other people agree apparently. The film sits at 10 million views in 7 days.
There are Santellos everywhere you look on YouTube and TikTok and other similarly ungated, entirely democratic/meritocratic outlets.
There’s a parallel development in journalism of course, where thousands of substacks are blooming. And just as with visual media, a portion are truly outstanding.
The Santellos of the new digital landscape are saying, “We don’t need television or movie studios or newspaper companies to take our content directly to people, all we need are our cameras, laptops, editing software and open access formats.”
Santello and other insightful, creative, hardworking entrepreneurs like him have breeched Hollywood’s moat. They have no intention of sharing profits or creative control with middlemen in hierarchical organizations.
This grassroots content is as predictably constant as the waves rolling in on Santa Monica beach, down Sunset Boulevard from Hollywood. It will be very difficult for SAG members and Hollywood writers to win much at negotiations from such vulnerable gatekeepers of the past.
Right now the two sides are not talking. Some expect the strike to go into 2024.
I’ll be splitting the difference, watching Santello’s stuff while rooting for the underdogs to defy the odds and somehow pull off the upset by improving their compensation.
The Bear
On Hulu. So, so good. Best thing I’ve seen since Shtisel. The story of a dysfunctional family and a Chicago eatery peaks in a cameo-filled season 2 episode 6, which at an hour, is twice the normal length of episodes. Jamie Lee Curtis, among others, will win an award for that episode.
Each character’s story pulls at the heartstrings. A truly touching love story is evolving on top. Television at its best.
Pressing Pause 