Various and Sundry

Wait! Those Wacky Liberal Arts Folks Might Do Well in the World of AI?!?

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

The shadow of AI continues to loom over the workplace as the AI companies have their IPOs, but don’t worry, McSweeney’s has a handy guide to understanding the economics of the situation. Meanwhile, on a personal level, you might be wondering how your job may or may not be impacted or outright obliterated by the implementation of AI. However, thinking of my AI post last month, there are several people who are noting the sometime…

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Various and Sundry

Dads Wanting it All

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

With another Father’s Day in the rear-view mirror, I happened across this older article by Brigid Schulte for the Washington Post about how dads also want to have it all. It’s from 2013 and a book of hers also delves into the modern overwhelm, which I should check out. But I also found myself wondering about what studies have happened since then, what the Pandemic did to help or hinder that quest for it all…

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Various and Sundry

Before Loving v Virginia, Another Trial About Interracial Marriage

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

It’s Loving Day today, a relatively recent and unofficial day celebrating the anniversary of the 1967 decision in Loving v Virginia which struck down laws banning mixed-race marriages. I’ve been reading and watching more about the 1920s recently and this article by Bryan Green for Smithsonian magazine reminded me of how much class and race were very much on the minds of ‘proper’ folk then — to say nothing of eugenics. It’s well worth a…

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Various and Sundry

AI Entering the Danger Zone?

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

As AI continues to tap-dance through the zeitgeist of society, I don’t have any family references this week, but I do have an Archer/Kenny Loggins reference, and isn’t that the same? An AI chatbot would say so… unless you correct it. Anyway, OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX are all looking to have IPOs this year which has market musing being cranked up to 11 (if you want analysis in manic video style, Hank Green has your…

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Various and Sundry

AI as a Kind of Magic Trick

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Growing up, my dad exposed us to a number of board games and, while he was open to all sorts of game mechanics, he especially enjoyed the wonkily strategic ones that might be best described as “simulations.” Yes, we’re talking cardboard chits and plenty of rules in strict number-outline order about how those cardboard chits operate. My dad was tough to beat in such simulations, because he absorbed the rules with a precision that many…

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Acting

All Good Things to Those Who Persist

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

A little over a year ago, I felt the need to post a motivational video about beginnings. Today, we’re beyond beginning, into persisting with a video from Lewis Woods that reminds us that it’s not about the expectant outcome, but the journey and the journey and, yeah, we’re still journeying. And it doesn’t hurt that he references the always reliable Bryan Cranston. So keep on showing up. Keep on creating. True, one day you might…

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Producing Various and Sundry

Stephen Colbert takes another Michigander at Monroe

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Still thinking of The Late Show coming to an end last week, I enjoyed one of Colbert’s jokes: that he’d probably wind up hosting a cable access show. I clearly forgot that, back in 2015, that’s exactly what he did in the run-up to his tenure on The Late Show. So, in what must have been planned as part of his exit, Colbert closed his show Thursday… and then he went back to host that…

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Writing

When Writing, You Can’t Beat the Beats

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Writers are sometimes asked if they fall into one of two camps. First is the plotter: someone who outlines their work assiduously and only then begins their draft. Second is the pantser: someone who discovers the plot as they write. There is a third proposed faction called plantsers, which I may arguably belong to, but I do not identify as such. On the one hand, being a plantser sounds like a condition for which I…

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Producing

A Great Show Needs a Great Theater

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Speaking of all good things coming to an end as I was on Tuesday, tonight is a good thing I definitely don’t want to end: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Tonight is its last night. In fact, they may have finished recording their final episode by the time you’re reading this. And I was reminded by a fellow theatrical how important a theater space is. That it can be like a garden where people…

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Various and Sundry

You Weren’t Wrong About Panera

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

They say all good things come to an end, which mainly makes me feel “They” need to stop doomscrolling and go outside. However, one thing I don’t remember them touching upon is how some good things don’t just end, they wither. And that withering often comes from a serious of decisions. For instance, take Panera… and if a bunch of you just reflectively reacted “No, please no!” you know where this is going. Back in…

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