Sorry, Curt Schilling, If There’s a ‘Revolution’ It Will Be Blues Who Start It

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Not to sound too much like a political history nerd, but there IS a difference between a “civil war” and a “revolution.” What Curt Schilling believes should happen is a “civil war” while what Blues might do would be a “revolution.”

Reds are always talking about a National Divorce — which would cause a civil war — because 1) it’s the worst thing they can think of 2) they want to the opportunity to murder people like me with impunity.

Anyway.

The point is – “revolutions” tend to be center-Left in nature while what people like Curt Schilling want is a “civil war.”

I still don’t see why Schilling is so eager for a civil war — or whatever. MAGA is politically ascendant and MAGA just has to be patient and they will get everything want.

Unless there’s a revolution.

I’m Such A Storytelling Snob That I’m Struggling To Get Through ‘Tar’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have very strict metrics for consuming a story and if the story doesn’t meet those metrics, I bounce. And, yet, I can’t just read my own writing all the time. If I’m going to be a well-rounded author, I have to consume someone ELSE’s story on occasion.

I’m trying to watch Tar, but I’m not having much success. It’s a really good movie and if I was 20 years younger, I probably would really enjoy it. But I’m an old coot now who has spent a few years obsessing over the finer points of storytelling and I find it overwrought and sort of meh.

Get to the point, people!

But, whatever. It IS a good movie. I think I’m going to have to get so drunk that I don’t care and just sit down and watch it without skipping 10 seconds forward TOO many times.

‘The Sprint’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Ok. I’m not going to make my first deadline of June 20th for wrapping up the Public Beta of my first novel. But I still can make a July 4th deadline for this momentous event if I hunker down and get to work.

So, starting today, I’m going to begin to line edit a pre-Public Beta version of the novel I have. I have a number of blank scenes I have to fill out. But not so many that I can’t finishing something by June 30th.

That will give me a few days to do some of the post-production things necessary to get the Public Beta into people’s hands in a way that makes me feel good.

Anyway, let’s rock.

Triumph Of The Tribunes

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If we really are heading towards some sort of “Her”-like future, then people who can ask Her-like digital assistants will be the people with the most important jobs. And the people who can do that?

Usually, in today’s world, they’re journalists.

As such, there may come a point in the future where the skill set usually associated with journalists will be the most valuable in the marketplace. Remember, of course, that the path to such an idyllic future for today’s journalists won’t be a straight line.

Pretty much all knowledge economy jobs could become moot before it happens. It could be that not until the entirety of human civilization is reorganized will any such thing happen. There could “Tribunes” who are the people who talk to our new AGI overlords on a daily basis.

Something. Something like that.

Everyone else will be living off of UBI. And there might be a civil war / revolution in the US between now and this future (and a WW3.)

So, all the bitter journalists I know will still have every reason to be bitter for years — decades? — to come. But I do think that all these new jobs I’m being promised because of AI (AGI) may be a real revolution in how we view work. It will be people who can asks a good question who will have a job.

That’s it.

That will be the only job in existence — being able to ask a good question.

Funeral Movie Death Match

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I watched “This Is Where I Leave You” and all I could think was, “Man, this movie has really bad background music compared to The Big Chill.” The movie itself was pretty good. I didn’t roll my eyes too much. I did skip through some parts, but that says more about me than the movie.

But I will note — spoilers — that it would have been more interesting if the wife had slept with the “good brother” and they were forced to keep it a secret. This prospect happened in the third act and THAT would be have taken things to the nexxt level.

But, whatever. I’m just pleased I managed to get through a movie — any money. I’m so spoiled when it comes to storytelly that just the act of finishing a movie is a big deal for me. I usually get upset and don’t finish a story if it doesn’t meet my own very — very strict — requirements.

Class: America’s Dirty Little Secret

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have a few long-term friends who are in a different class than me and it’s…amusing? Class is a lot more abstract and intangible than race because if I blew up with my DJ money, I probably would be more accepted if I was a suddenly wealthy black dude than I would be if I was a suddenly wealthy white dude from a blue collar background.

I just can’t help the past. I just can’t help my background.

No amount of money will change that I went to a public university rather than some elite private college. Fuck that and fuck you if that matters to you. But it definitely matters to the type of people I would want to hang out with if I blew up with my (novel) money and wanted to remake myself in the guise of, say, Thom Wolfe.

I think I’m stumbling into something that has been written about at great length, most specifically in fiction in The Great Gatsby.

The issue is — generally, everything sucks.

Once you reach a certain age, if you get what you want, you don’t get what you want because of age and background. Lulz. Add to this that I’m bonkers and like to drink a lot and, well, even if I get the fame and success that I believe I deserve….the context won’t be want I want it to be.

And never will be.

‘Just Tell A Good Story’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have a closing window of opportunity, I fear, before all entertainment is totally out of the hands of humans and is, rather AI generated. So, I really need to put up or shut up about this novel.

I’ve been working on it for years and if I don’t wrap this baby up by July 4th, I’m afraid I will be at the very same place a year or two from now.

Anyway, this novel is meant to be an Old Brown Shoe for people who enjoyed the original Millennium Series written by Stieg Larsson. He used multiple POVs, so, lulz, I wanted to too, not realizing how problematic that is.

It’s been a real struggle to figure out how to switch from one POV to the other in a way that doesn’t confuse readers. I THINK I may have figured out something, but, who knows. I suppose I’ll know one way or another once the Beta Reader process really gets going.

We Have To Take The Possibility Of A Second American Revolution Seriously — And It Will Come From Blues

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It has taken me a long, long time to figure this subtle difference out, but I finally have — it makes no sense for Blues to secede from the Union in late 2024, early 2025 should Trump win re-election.

What DOES make a lot of sense is a Second American Revolution.

As such, the war aims would not be secession, but the overthrow of a tyrannical “Magadonia” regime. Blue States wouldn’t want to start their own, new nation, but bring freedom and prosperity back to a America under the yoke of tyranny.

I don’t know how much of that is me making myself feel better — I mean, I don’t want to start a Blue nation, I want to live in a free and united America — and how much of that is actually something that might happen.

Anyway. This is a distinction between Red war aims and Blue war aims that make me feel so, so, much better. I’m not much for secession, but I am willing to, in an abstract way, entertain revolution. But, even then, it’s an abstraction. I hate violence of any sort.

I would much rather we just muddle through and transition into some sort of “light touch” autocracy. I really do hate violence that much.

If I Ever Blow Up With My DJ (Novel) Money, I May Have To Do A Drinking Tour Of Latin America

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Much of any success I had in South Korea while I was there came from how entertaining I was to Koreans when I got drunk. They were impressed with how much I could drink. I find myself wanting to return to South Korea for a huge bender, but I’m just too fucking broke to do such a thing anytime soon.

But I also find myself thinking about how there have been a few times when I went to an “authentic” Mexican restaurant and they were willing to embrace my high levels of drinking with open arms.

As such, I think if I ever fall into some money, I may take a drinking tour of Latin America. Start off in Mexico, then maybe go to Columbia, then find myself in Chile then Argentina then Brazil before coming home.

I think — if I could avoid being murdered in a gun battle — a lot of fun would be had by all. There seem to be the Latin American equivalent of Korean “ahjumas” who would be willing to help facilitate any such bender.

Anyway. That is probably years — if ever — from happening.

The Problem With The Movie ‘She Said’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I really liked the #MeToo books She Said and Catch And Kill. They were insightful and interesting. But I find myself watching the movie adaptation of the former book and it comes across as a humorless Very Serious Film.

I’m just starting it, but I can see what it didn’t do very well in the box office, especially given how divided America is. The movie doesn’t seem to have much heart. It takes its subject matter So Seriously that it can come across as sort of plodding.

But I’ve just started. Maybe it will get better.