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 |    My primary Writing.com blog. |
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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:  "The Soundtrackers Group"  "Blogging Circle of Friends " "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" "JAFBG" "Take up Your Cross" Thanks for stopping by!  |
I just read an article from Hello! Magazine (already an auspicious start to a blog post  ) titled, "The Billionaire Club: Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift - How They're Singing All The Way to the Bank," and it included some pretty staggering assumptions about Dua Lipa's music. If you haven't heard the Taylor Swift side of this, she recently became a billionaire thanks to her wildly successful Eras Tour, which put her over the line and into the ten-figure net worth club.This article starts with the sentence, "Forging the way for other young female performers, Dua Lipa is on track to become a dazzling new addition to the exclusive dollar-billionaire club, following in the footsteps of fellow pop star Taylor Swift by hitting a ten-figure fortune in a male-dominated industry. Traditionally, the billionaire club is the province of industrialists and businessmen, but now one of the most successful female artists in showbusiness could be joining trailblazer Taylor in their ranks." Here's the problem... last I checked (which was quite recently because I looked it up for this blog post), Dua Lipa's net worth is somewhere around $35 million as of 2022. Apparently some new "wealthiest celebs" list this year says it's £75 million (about $94 million USD according to Google's currency converter). Which is certainly an accomplishment in and of itself. But saying someone is "basically already a billionaire" because they have less than 1/10th that amount of money now is kind of like someone who runs a 5K saying, "I'm pretty much a marathon runner already." It turns out, the article's argument is this: Displaying a business savvy as sharp as her songwriting, 28-year-old Dua, who ranked 21st in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List for under-35s, with an estimated worth of £75m, could hit the billionaire mark after parting ways with her former management company. She has bought the rights to her publishing catalogue and joined forces with her businessman father, Dukagjin, known as Dugi, to set up a company to manage all her commercial assets. “Essentially, the move has echoes of Taylor Swift – a huge female pop star rewriting the narrative and making money on her own terms,” a source told The Sun." Okay, so she bought the rights to her own music catalogue so she can make the business decisions about how to capitalize on it. Cool. Great. That's honestly probably a fine business strategy. But if you want a look at what music catalogues are worth, it's probably a good idea to see what private equity firms are paying these days to buy them up from music icons. Here are a few artists that have sold their music catalogues recently... and what they got for them:  Bob Dylan - $600 million between two separate deals for his publishing rights and his masters Bruce Springsteen - $550 million Phil Collins & Genesis - $300 million David Bowie - $250 million Katy Perry - $225 million Dr. Dre - $200 million Justin Bieber - $200 million Imagine Dragons - $100 millionDon't get me wrong, I love Dua Lipa and think she's super talented. She's young, so she has years and years left to invest wisely and continue to grow her business. Maybe she will be a billionaire someday. But I don't think you can look at where she's at now, look at the estimated values of music catalogues that are more extensive that hers, and say that it's a foregone conclusion that she's going to be a billionaire because she and Taylor Swift happen to have a few things in common. And while I'm ranting a bit here, why is being a billionaire such a big deal anyway? I feel like most people could manage to be perfectly happy with a $35-94 million net worth (and many people are quite capable of being happy with quite a bit less than that!), and yet there are so many media stories like this now where it's like, "You're nobody if you're not a billionaire" or "This person is smart and talented... but how much money will they be able to earn???"  I think there's way too much glamorization of wealth right now, and not just wealth but obscene wealth. While I can appreciate a YouTube real estate tour of a sprawling mansion, or imagine how nice it might be to never have to worry about standing in the TSA line at the airport if I had a private jet, that's all just escapist fantasy. The problem is, it feels like everyone's taking those escapist fantasies and trying to convince you that you're nobody if you don't achieve them.Articles like this make me really sad and more than a bit angry because it feels like nobody's just okay accepting people as they are. It always has to be, "What are they doing next?" or "How will they top this?" or "What's their ceiling in terms of success and wealth?" And maybe it's just me, but I don't feel like I desperately need answers to any of those kinds of questions. What we do desperately need is for people to start accepting each other for who they are and celebrating the accomplishments they've already achieved, not making them feel the pressure to deliver whatever's next. |
| I thought it might be fun to play a little game of "Two Truths and a Lie." If you want to play, post your guess in the comments to this blog post. One guess per person and the first person to correctly guess the lie will get a thematically-appropriate merit badge. I'm going to include a little bit of detail, just to add a little flavor to the statements. 1. I've visited each of the fifty states. Thanks to a lot of childhood road trips, family located all over the country, and an insatiable love for travel to new places, I've officially visited each of the fifty states in the USA. For the sake of clarity, "visiting" means an overnight stay, an extended drive through, or feet on the ground in a particular state... flying over in an airplane doesn't count. 2. I'm almost a black belt. I took martial arts classes throughout elementary school, junior high, and high school and was training to take my black belt test, but I never ended up taking it. I haven't taken a class or trained in over twenty years, but belts don't have an expiration date, so I'm technically still a third-degree brown belt. 3. I don't drink alcohol and I never have. There's no religious or moral reason; it's probably because my teenage years involved being around more than a few drunk people doing stupid things and it just never seemed that appealing to me. But, yeah, I've never once had beer, wine, liquor, or any liqueurs (outside of ones that are used in cooking/baking). So... which one do you think is the lie? |
| Tomorrow (the 21st) is "World Television Day," and since my last blog entry was on my most anticipated movies of 2024, I thought I should probably do a post about television too. Television doesn't have quite the advanced notice that movies do, so instead of anticipated future series, I'm going to post today about the current shows I'm watching that I really enjoy. I'm only going to pick current shows, nothing that's been canceled, ended, or is in reruns. In no particular order: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. As the spiritual successor to The Daily Show (which is weird to say since it's still on), this is one of my favorite entertainment news shows. I love the format of doing a deep-dive on a particular topic rather than a sweeping overview of a lot of stories, and John Oliver's brand of humor is perfect for the often heavy topics that the show covers. It's one of the few shows that I can honestly say entertain me while also teaching me something about the world, and I try not to miss an episode. The Boys. An irreverent, gross, and disturbing send-up of superhero culture, this show is not for the faint of heart, but it's brilliant in the way it shows superheroes behaving badly and taking advantage of their supernatural abilities. The acting is great, and the show always comes up with really clever ways to shock and surprise the audience. I haven't seen the spinoff Gen-V yet, but it's at the top of my list of new shows to watch. The Bear. Both seasons have been amazing character studies, and it's about the world of restaurants and good food, so this is right up my alley. One of the episodes in the second season ("Forks") is one of my favorite episodes of television in the past five years. It's so well written and so emotional and everything I aspire to be able to write myself as a screenwriter. Only Murders in the Building. This show is just delightful. It's an old school murder-mystery show and it's great to see Martin Short and Steve Martin together again. Selena Gomez is an unexpectedly great addition to the cast, and each season has had a really intriguing mystery that's kept me guessing in the best way. The White Lotus. At first I wasn't really into this show, but I love the anthology approach to it, where each season is a different "White Lotus Resort" somewhere in the world, with a different cast of characters. That keeps it fresh and interesting and, of the two seasons its had so far, there have been some amazing characters to root for (and against). Selling Sunset and Selling the OC. This is my guilty pleasure reality show. Hot people selling hot real estate and getting into super-petty drama. It's a fun show to watch when I just want to mentally check out and watch something. There's a whole bunch of other shows that I've enjoyed that are limited series and therefore not eligible for this list, as well as some old shows that I'm just now getting around to watching and really enjoying. I'm trying to watch a handful of seasons of new (or new to me) television every month, so this list is always evolving. |
| Now that the actors' and writers' strikes are over, there's been a huge push to get back into production on a lot of films and television, so I thought I'd put together a list of the movies that I'm most anticipating that are (as of now) slated to be released in the calendar year 2024. I'm going to list these in order of least to most anticipated. Dune: Part Two. I thought the first one was a little slow, but really well made. I'm looking forward to watching this one for the amazing visuals, but I expect this will be another one where it feels a little tedious to get through. Furiosa. Same as above. I liked Mad Max: Fury Road a lot, but perhaps not as much as some. A revisit to this world will be interesting and it's sure to be a fun time, but I'm not looking forward to it as much as some of the other movies on this list. Bad Boys 4. Martin Lawrence and Will Smith are never not fun together in these movies, although it'll be interesting to see what this movie looks like without Michael Bay's signature directing style. Challengers. This looks like a really interesting movie about a love triangle between a tennis player turned coach, her husband, and an up-and-coming star player. I love tennis (there aren't nearly enough sports movies set in this world!), and the character dynamics in this movie make it seem like an interesting watch. Sonic the Hedgehog 3. I'll admit that I like this series. My kids love it, and both of the previous two films have been fun to watch. Jim Carrey does a great job as the bad guy, and James Marsden is always a charming sidekick/protagonist. Ballerina. I haven't watched The Continental television series spinoff yet, but this is the first feature spinoff of the John Wick franchise. I've enjoyed most of the movies so far (although the last two have been a tad long), and a friend of mine created this world, so I'm always rooting for it to grow and develop into even more. It's crazy where this franchise has gone from what it was originally conceived as. Inside Out 2. The first film was really heartfelt and insightful; I'm excited to see where they go when they introduce puberty and new emotions like Anxiety. Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim. If it's Lord of the Rings, I'm in. It's an animated prequel directed by someone who isn't Peter Jackson so I'm curious to see how it plays out, but I'm definitely here for it. Transformers One. An animated Transformers movie about their origins? Yes please. Back to basics; Transfomers: The Movie from the 1980s is one of my all-time favorite animated movies so I can't wait to see this series return to its roots after a lot of not-very-good live action adaptations from the past twenty years or so. Despicable Me 4. I love me some minions. This franchise has surprised me with how popular it is and, while not all of them have been as stellar as the first couple, they're always entertaining. Illumination (the animation studio behind this, Sing, this years Mario movie, and others is on a real hot streak and I'm excited to see where this installment of the franchise goes. Borderlands. I don't know anything about this movie other than that it's based on the video game franchise which is one of my favorite games in recent years (well, the recent years in which I've played video games which aren't all that recent anymore... ), and that's all I need to know. I'm in.The Fall Guy. I don't know a whole lot about this movie other than the premise, which is about a stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter, and it's directed by David Leitch who is one of my favorite action directors of the past few years. He's a former Second Unit (stunt/action) director who started directing in his own right and has directed John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, and Hobbs & Shaw, among others. It's pretty safe to assume the action sequences in this one are going to be bonkers, and that's exactly what I want out of this kind of movie. Spider-Man Beyond the Spiderverse. This is such a great franchise, I can't wait to see where they take it next. I've seen the first film probably a dozen times (my kids love it too), and the second one I've seen only once but I'm already ready to watch it a bunch more. Hopefully the third installment lives up to the promise of the first two. Deadpool 3. This list was never going to end any other way. Not only is it the third film in a franchise that I have loved so far, but I actually get to work on this one. Ever since Disney bought Fox, we've dreamed up ways to merge the MCU with the Fox franchise films and, other than the live-action Spider-Man films (which are co-productions with Sony), this is our first opportunity to really play with these characters in our sandbox. The company showed a bit of footage during a recent town hall meeting and if the early footage is any indication, this movie is not going to disappoint anyone who was a fan of the first two. I can honestly say that I'm really looking forward to this one, both as an employee and as a fan. |
| I've been following this OpenAI saga for the past couple of days, and it's fascinating. If you hadn't heard about the drama, here's a quick recap: Sam Altman is the CEO. He's fairly beloved among tech CEOs, and he recently testified quite well in front of Congress on issues of artificial intelligence (as opposed to certain other tech CEOs whose testimonies left a lot to be desired). He's, by all accounts, a celebrity CEO and widely-respected and yet, last Friday afternoon, the OpenAI Board of Directors (of which Sam was a member) announced he had been fired, and immediately revoked his access to his computer and company premises. The people who would normally be made aware of a big move like this (both internal executives and partners like Microsoft who has invested $13 billion in the company) found out as it was happening in real time. The stated reason was that Altman "was not consistently candid in his communications with the board," and that statement was not elaborated upon. By the end of the day, OpenAI's President and Chairman of the Board Greg Brockman (who was also caught unaware) had also quit in protest. By Saturday morning, Altman and Brockman were already starting talks with investors about launching a rival AI company and which OpenAI employees would be likely to join them in the new venture. By Saturday afternoon, there were threatened lawsuits by investors and shareholders. Things had shifted so monumentally, that there was talk of bringing Altman and Brockman back, and the entire remaining OpenAI board resigning. By Sunday, Altman and Brockman were in the OpenAI offices for meetings to talk about where to go from here. Even Mira Murati, the company's Chief Technology Officer who was named interim CEO after Altman's firing, is advocating for Altman's return and the firing of the current board.  Rumor has it that Ilya Sutskever, one of the OpenAI co-founders (along with Altman and Brockman) and the company's Chief Scientist engineered the board coup over a dispute about making ethical/responsible decisions versus prioritizing growth and advancement. I have a personal theory about this. It seems super weird that a board would just up and unceremoniously fire it's well-respected CEO at the drop of a hat one Friday afternoon. Especially after they went out of their way to say that it wasn't for any malfeasance or fireable offense on Altman's part. Which makes me think there was a political component of it. I think that Elon Musk (an initial investor - to the tune of $100 million - and recently an outspoken critic of OpenAI's operations), who has relationships with most of the people on the board (including Sutskever who he helped recruit to OpenAI from Google), helped engineer this coup to install people who were more aligned with his vision of where he wanted the company to go. That's complete conjecture on my part, but I just can't help but thinking there's more to it than just a board who, on its own, decided to vote out its CEO with zero advanced notice. It's also important, though, to acknowledge that Altman may have done something wrong. Especially in the USA, people can assume a charismatic, friendly CEO is the "good guy" and that may not bear out depending on how the details of this story play out. If rumors are to be believed, Altman was more in the "keep pushing the limits and going further" camp while Sutskever and a few other board members were in the "ethical AI" camp, which advocates moving slower to make more informed, responsible decisions. And don't forget, Sam Altman was the one who testified in front of Congress not too long ago and said that Congress needs to regulate this industry because otherwise the industry won't regulate itself. And while Altman as the CEO has a fiduciary duty to maximize investors' and shareholders' returns, if he was doing that in a way that was bypassing the board or not presenting them with a full suite of options when they make decisions, that could very well have been a reason for removing him (although I'd still argue that dropping a bomb on a Friday afternoon is probably not the best way of going about it). At any rate, it's a fascinating story that's developing quickly. It's been interesting to follow along with all the twists and turns of what, by all accounts, feels like an attempted corporate coup that backfired spectacularly. I'm curious to see what other details emerge as this story develops. |
| Today is National Fast Food Day, so I thought I'd take an inventory of my fast food habits. The most popular fast food restaurants I go to regularly are Chick-Fil-A, Wendy's, and In-N-Out Burger. And Jersey's Mikes, if you consider a sub sandwich place (or competitors to Subway) fast food. This is largely a function of them being nearby. Wherever we've lived, we've had a tendency to have a convenient fast food place within a short driving distance so that we have a quick, easy meal when we want one. Less commonly, I'll hit up Taco Bell, Chipotle, and Panda Express (a personal favorite of both of my kids, so we get that way more than I'd probably get otherwise). They're not part of my usual routine, but every so often they'll sound really good and I'll be tempted to run out and get it the next time I need to grab a quick bite on the go. Fast food restaurants I don't necessarily avoid but I just haven't been to in a long time include Carl's Jr., Burger King, Dairy Queen (although that's mostly due to limited locations... I actually love DQ), and Jack in the Box. I used to get Jack in the Box all the time in high school. It was the only place to eat between school and my part-time job, so I think I ate their one too many times and now it just never really sounds good. I'll stop there whenever it's convenient, but I never really actively seek it out. The one fast food restaurant I tend to actively avoid is McDonald's. The last time I had McDonald's was actually when we were traveling abroad and were tired of picking local restaurants and hoping they would have something that sounded good; we just wanted a predictable meal where we knew what to expect. (If you know me at all, you'll know how desperate I'd have to be to do that... I'm usually all about finding local places you can't find just anywhere!). But that trip was probably ten years ago at this point, and I haven't eaten anything at a McDonald's since. Generally speaking, we try to avoid fast food whenever possible... but as a family with two young kids, sometimes fast food is just the only thing we have the time or energy for. And, sure, we pretend to go to places where the food is a little better than at other chains... but I don't think we're winning any nutrition awards or good parenting trophies just because we pick Chick-Fil-A over McDonald's. Neither one is ideal and we should probably work a little harder to make sure we're not going out to a fast food joint more than once a week or so. |
| "I Love To Write Day" was apparently on November 15th, and it made me question whether I actually do love writing. I definitely like having written something, but do I enjoy the actual process of coming up with an idea, getting it down on paper (or computer), revising it... revising it again... and getting it from concept through execution and into publication (or other distribution). I think the answer is still 'yes,' although it's definitely been hard lately. Other than my entries for "Twenty-three in Eleven " , I haven't written much this year. It's actually been a long time since I've really focused on my writing, more than just a short story or a blog entry or a poem here or there. I'm definitely out of the writing habit, and I suppose that makes it difficult to figure out if it's something that I'm still in love with, at least to the extent it applies to the longer-form writing that I aspire to do one day (screenplays, novels, etc.).I definitely love the feeling of finishing a piece of writing and having something I can look back on and be proud of. And I love the process of coming up with ideas and exploring and developing them. It's just the whole "actually go from concept to finished product" that's so challenging |
Today I'm feeling a little sullen. If you pay attention to the happenings in the entertainment industry, you might have noticed that my company's latest film, The Marvels, had the lowest opening weekend performance of any film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with only $46 million at the domestic box office. It's a misfire, for sure, and I'll admit the movie isn't one of our best (although it's also far from one of our worst). The reason I'm feeling sullen, though, isn't because of the disappointing box office. It's because the disappointing box office is coming on the heels of a series of articles and analyses predicting the demise of Marvel. There have been articles like these for months: Crisis at Marvel In Marvel we no longer trust Why 'The Marvels' can't solve the Marvel Studios brand problem Marvel's Release Delays Mean The MCU Matches DC In One Very Disappointing Way Marvel used to reliably churn out billion-dollar hits. Now Disney has a mess on its hands The MCU Is In Big Trouble Second off, I can take criticism of my employer and my work... when it's warranted. The problem is, I don't really think it's warranted. Marvel Studios has presided over a record-shattering run of success in Hollywood. To date, it's released 33 films that have grossed a collective $30,000,000,000 at the box office. For context, the next highest grossing franchises are Sony's Spider-Man franchise at $10.5 billion (also a Marvel property, which isn't factored into the MCU's grosses), and the Star Wars franchise at $10.3 billion. For reference, other franchises like Harry Potter, Fast and Furious, James Bond, Batman, Jurassic Park, Transformers, and Lord of the Rings are all less than $10 billion each. Having a string of 32 consecutive profitable films is unheard of at pretty much any studio or production company in the industry in the last 75+ years at least. So it feels like maybe declaring the MCU dead and buried after a handful of less than stellar (but still profitable) films and one actual bomb feels a bit presumptuous. It's like looking at a baseball player who goes 32-for-32 with 20 home runs, 8 triples, and 5 doubles to start the season, then strikes out once and suddenly everybody throws up their hands and goes, "Wow, their season is basically over. What a failure!" Third off, I think it's gross when people pre-judge the success of something before it comes out. When I was first starting my career in this industry, I worked on a movie called Who's Your Caddy? which is objectively not a good movie, and is currently #40 on IMDb's "Bottom 100" list of Lowest Rated Movies. Here's the thing though... and this was one of my first lessons in how social movements can shape opinion... that movie was #3 on that list a week before it was released. Voters on IMDb decided they hated the movie and gave it a bunch of one-star ratings before any of them actually had a chance to see it. And the same thing kind of happened here. All the Marvel Studios hit pieces, the rumors that this movie was going to tank... all the negative talk started weeks ago. There are flaws with The Marvels for sure. And Marvel Studios is going through a bit of a rough patch right now for sure. But it's weird how many people were so convinced this movie was going to bomb without having seen more than a trailer or a TV spot.  Fourth off and finally, and somewhat related to the point above, I think life is hard enough right now without a bunch of people rooting for things to fail. So many companies (Disney and Marvel Studios included) have just gone through rounds of layoffs and cost-cutting. There are or have been labor strikes in multiple industries. Income inequality has never been worse, and many people are having a hard time just making ends meet. It feels like a weird time to root for things to fail, knowing that failure could very well affect people's livelihoods. I know that bad news is far more engaging than good news and everybody loves to watch a train wreck, but it almost feels like we're reaching a point as a society where we're gleefully hoping to create train wrecks so we have something to entertain ourselves with. It makes me really sad, and sullen, that there are so many people out there who revel in and even celebrate others' failure. So, yeah, I'm feeling a little sullen today. The opening weekend of The Marvels was a disappointment, to be sure. The next project I'm working on is really frustrating me because of a few wrinkles I'm trying to iron out. But I'm also super excited for our upcoming slate of projects. Deadpool 3 is going to be amazing, and I'm really looking forward to Captain America 4 as well. Disney as a company (including Marvel) has pivoted in a lot of ways, and it feels like we're coming out of a rough season and headed into a new one with a lot of optimism and enthusiasm. I'm not sure it's sustainable to expect that we're going to continue to hit home runs every time we step up to the plate, but that's okay too. Even if there are more misfires in our future, I still love the types of movies and shows that we produce, and I love my job contributing to the process. |
| Write about scents you just absolutely love. I'm not really big on fragrances in general... I don't wear cologne and I rarely pick personal hygiene products based on the nuances of how they smell. Which is not to say that scent doesn't do anything for me... it's just rarely a priority compared to other considerations. That said, there are a few types of smells that I have and probably will always love because they're just so comforting: Cedar1 Cinnamon Citrus + Something2 Cotton / Fresh Linen Freshly Baked Bread, Cookies, Brownies, etc. VanillaCombination scents (and flavors) are something I'm really fond of. Especially in a drink like a tea... I love Republic of Tea products because they have a ton of really interesting combinations that taste delicious. My favorite is probably their Ginger Peach tea, but I've also tried their Blackberry Sage, Cranberry Blood Orange, and Vanilla Almond, among others. But I suppose that's more appealing because of their taste rather than their scent.  Footnotes |
Write about an extreme or silly sport. If none inspire you, make up the rules for your own game. The game that this blog prompt immediately made me think of is Calvinball, the made-up game that Calvin from the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes invented, which only has one rule; that the game can't be played the same way twice. In the comic, the game uses a variety of sports equipment, including: croquet mallets and wickets, volleyballs, badminton birdies, tennis racquets, footballs, soccer balls, cones, masks, buckets, and - of course - water balloons. Throughout the comic strip it's implied that Calvin invented the game when he got bored with traditional, organized sports... and many of his and Hobbes' games eventually evolve (or devolve, depending on how you look at it) into Calvinball. Calvin & Hobbes is probably one of my Top 10 literary influences from my childhood. I have the entire collection in a two-volume hardcover boxed set, and I go back and re-read it every couple of years. It's such a perfect distillation of the experience of being a kid and, even if some of us aren't as wild as Calvin, I think everyone can relate to his observations of what childhood (and adulthood) is like, and many of us can identify with his rampant imagination getting him into trouble at school, at home with his parents, etc. One of my favorite Calvinball strips was when Rosalyn, Calvin's babysitter, eventually agrees to play in a bid to get him to go to bed... and then completely capitalizes on the fact that you make up the rules as you go along and uses it to dominate the game. Calvin even exclaims, "She picked up the nuances of this game fast!" which is such a perfect observation for a kid who has a limitless imagination, but is playing with an older teenager who knows how to use logic and strategy to her advantage in an effort to get him to go to bed. |
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