As I mentioned back in February, I’ve been musing about a longer piece about AI, the catch-all if imprecise term lobbed at the current crop of large language models (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Co-Pilot, Grok, Gemini, etc.). I get more examples of videos and articles motivating me to write that longer piece on AI every week. The current hucksterism selling AI strikes me as the same overconfident idiocy that led some to believe microwaves would replace…
I’m in the midst of some other writing, so to feed the Internet algorithm, I give you Screen Junkies’ now-annual tradition of explaining all the best picture nominees in their irreverent manner. You can check out all the nominees on the academy’s web page and if you’re wondering which films to cram in before Sunday’s ceremony, Joe Reid over at Vulture gives you his ranking of all 50 films nominated. It’s been years since I’ve…
Some folks may first think of Jim Cummings as the “new” voice of Winnie-the-Pooh (Hal Smith had a couple outings in the 80s, but most people probably remember the distinctive voice of Sterling Holloway as the silly old bear). Cummings has voiced a lot of characters in the past 40 years or so, not just Pooh, and he offers some very specific acting tips that are very welcome.
It’s definitely time people start thinking about making New Year’s resolutions or otherwise mapping out things they want to get done for the year ahead. And I’m suggesting that, whatever those plans are, it should include some art. This should not come as a surprise. I have advocated this whole wacky “making art thing” on this blog multiple times as my seven or nine regular readers may remember. Whether it’s a post I did about…
So remember that post last month about the Partial Veil crowdfunding? Well, I’m happy to say that it succeeded — and, in fact, we’ll find out this Sunday who falls victim to the Cruel Hand of Fate (scroll down to the “Cruel Hand of Fate” part of the description for unusual way for fans to influence the upcoming season). I think this is mainly for the characters in season two, in which the character I…
I thought of that quote this weekend and what it means to me. And boy, it takes some shifting of weight for this kind of creative loss. You see, British playwright Tom Stoppard has died at the age of 88. You can read obituaries and remembrances from: Tom Stoppard and his works have been dancing around my synapses for decades both as an audience member and as an actor. From seeing posts on social media…
You all may recall last year that I got an opportunity to play the good-natured Deputy Ray Lester in the freaky-natured horror podcast Partial Veil. Well, besides picking up some darn fine awards and acclaim, Partial Veil has continued with season two and now they’re looking for funding for said season with a twist: they’re giving some great swag as well as the chance to shape what happens in season three. Check out the Kickstarter…
It could be that growing up with both Count Gore De Vol and Count Floyd, I have a soft spot for “horror hosts,” those usually hyper-local curators of horror films good, bad, and ugly. Tea Krulos has a nice longer piece for Atlas Obscura that delves into not only the horror hosts, but the mission they serve in preserving frightening film history. Enjoy! And remember: there’s just a few more shocking days until Halloween!
Longtime readers may recall I do post about theater from time to time. I’ve worked for many theater companies and started attending theater performances long before then. The Washington, DC area has close to 100 active theater companies, a fact that seems obvious when you realize how clearly Washington likes drama. Alas, pretty much all theaters were hard hit by the Pandemic. Another issue then, and definitely now, is the availability of performance spaces. Now,…
I’ve been remiss in my shameless self-promotion, and this one is a treat, because I grew up with a lot of classic Doctor Who and this particular part reminds me of one of the villains you might hear facing off against one of those Doctors. I mean, who doesn’t want to voice an evil -er- a deeply misjudged alien intelligence? It’s all part of the Audible Visions podcast, which features a variety of shows. This…