[a pleasurable headache] guerilla criticism
I've thought a lot recently about making these newsletters into blog posts instead. They would, I think, allow a great degree of flexibility and also allow me to add more personal commentary when I see fit, rather than feeling constrained or pressured to add it every week.
Plus, I'm always wary of platforms now. A blog, in theory, allows me to just up and take the posts with me if a host, service, etc. goes under or becomes a 'bad actor'.
Food for thought.
The last fortnight has been writing a story for a submission call set in the pre-existing world of a horror novel that came out last year. It's been a lot of fun trying to cook up a scenario that 'fits' into a world with its distinct set of rules and then extrapolating outward into all of the ramifications.
I've hopefully found a little corner of the world not touched upon in the source novel (I'm about two thirds through it) and now it's all about strengthening the piece through 'draft thunder dome' (i.e my usual process of many, many, drafts).
OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic
https://time.com/6247678/openai-chatgpt-kenya-workers/
Another article showing that if you scratch the surface of supposed AI, often what lies beneath is a load of bullshit and exploitation.
Case in point this Time article that reveals OpenAI used Kenyan workers on an exploitative wage to sift through mountains of horrid material in order to 'train' the AI.
Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter?
https://www.theverge.com/23658648/mastodon-ceo-twitter-interview-elon-musk-twitter
A nicely in depth chat with Eugen Rochko the current CEO (a traditional term that doesn't quite fit Rochko's role) of Mastodon.
I've found the platform to be a refreshing change to Twitter. I dip in and out and a bunch of folk actually look to be sticking around there now. In addition to that quite a few organisations and news platforms are also transferring across which gives me hope.
Speaking of Twitter...
Is Substack Notes a ‘Twitter clone’? We asked CEO Chris Best
https://www.theverge.com/23681875/substack-notes-twitter-elon-musk-content-moderation-free-speech
There was a whole host of shenanigans and drama when Substack unveiled their new Notes function, with Twit in Charge accusing them of stealing Twitter's database (whatever that means) and even censoring links and mentions of the platform on Twitter.
The above interview goes into some of that drama, but the interesting part comes about two thirds into the interview when Nilay Patel, the interviewer, asks Chris Best (Substack CEO) whether he would allow overt racism on the platform. The reply is...less than ideal.
The vide of the interview is even more uncomfortable, alas The Verge seems to have removed it from it's Twitter feed.
‘Super Mario Bros.’ Is Not Enough: David Lowery’s Case for Better Family-Friendly Movies (Column)
https://www.indiewire.com/2023/04/super-mario-bros-movie-interview-david-lowery-1234826802/
An interesting interview over at IndieWire with director David Lowery on standards and storytelling in family movies.
"It’s a sincere expression of something that is emotionally resonant for me but I know it will be seen by more people and could even be a formative experience for some of them. When you think back on the movies that have made the biggest impression on you in your life, so much of them are from when you’re young. For all the risks involved when you’re a creative, sensitive person and make a giant studio movie, it is worth it, because you can get something on screen that could make a valuable impression on an audience member just beginning their journey through life. That’s why I make these movies and I will seek to keep making them. It’s contributes more to the world than just giving something to me. It gives something to a future generation."
The Spectacular Leviathan
https://cohost.org/noescape/post/1308356-the-spectacular-levi
Another new platform I am currently enjoying/testing is CoHost. I'm in more of a 'reader only' mode over there. But this piece on criticism and culture caught my eye recently, extolling the need for cultural criticism and the anti-criticism mood that has arisen in the last few years. The piece calls for 'guerilla criticism':
"The kind of criticism I am imagining is a criticism that is inherently and radically skeptical of (especially corporate-backed) nostalgia; a criticism that is not necessarily hostile to fans but antagonistic toward fandom as a system which undergirds larger structures of power; a criticism that is as transgressive and playful in the forms it takes as it is with the words that fill those forms. I believe we are capable of performing criticism that disappoints everyone in delightful ways."
There was also a follow up post on the Aguas' Points blog about the same piece.
Let People Enjoy This Essay
https://www.gawker.com/culture/let-people-enjoy-this-essay
This, of course, sent me on a whole rabbit hole of articles, including this piece from last year at Gawker by B.D McClay about one of the more terrible meme/webcomics to emerge recently, as well as it's place in the rise of the anti-criticism movement.
"As much as I’d like to make the “let people enjoy things” problem about adults who enjoy comic books, it’s more deeply rooted: it is a pathological aversion, on a wide cultural level, to disagreement, discomfort, or being judged by others. “Let people enjoy things” is essentially the twitchy fear of “cancel culture,” translated over into the world of taste. There are reasons that it’s much more visible when it comes to comics, video games, and general fandom — among them, sheer numbers. But let’s not kid ourselves. It’s everybody’s problem."
Which lead me to...
Don't Let Peoply Enjoy Things
https://thebaffler.com/latest/dont-let-people-enjoy-things-wagner
This piece is by Katie Wagner at The Baffler.
"Let me be clear: this meme and its underlying ideology suck. There are unlimited problems with the “Let People Enjoy Things” (henceforth abbreviated to LPET) approach to art and culture, first and foremost among them the fact that franchises in question (GoT and Marvel Comics) are multi-billion-dollar corporate entities engineered to entertain in the same way Doritos are made so that you can’t eat just one. These are some of the most profitable media empires in history, and they will plainly not be harmed by a Twitter user posting about why they personally don’t like them."
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I'm off to gaze out at the unrelenting April showers. See you in two!