Tag: Burn Hollywood Burn

The Misogyny Directed Against Phoebe Waller-Bridge For Her Role In ‘Dial of Destiny’ is Shocking

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I found Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s role in Dial of Destiny to be one that established her as a Hollywood star. And, yet, from the way some commenters talk, you would think that not only did she suck, but that she took over the movie in a “woke” attempt to hand the Indy franchise over to her.

Now, here’s the context — there was a massive amount of bonkers chatter on YouTube that the time travel element of the movie was originially meant to be a way to turn Waller-Bridge into Indiana Jones by erasing Harrison Ford’s version from time altogether. They really got themselves worked out into an anti-woke Hollywood lather about this possibility.

And…then…it didn’t happen.

They claimed “victory” over the evil forces of Woke Hollywood, but I have my doubts. While I understand the fears — that definitely does sound like something Kathleen Kennedy would do to Indiana Jones — I just am not prepared to believe that was ever seriously considered, much less shot.

But, who knows.

The key thing to remember is I think, ultimately, the issue of who to turn the Indy franchise over to will be mooted because of technology. Soon enough, our digital assistant will scan our face, determine our mood and give us a very specific Indy movie that is completely different anything anyone else is watching at that particular moment.

It seems a foregone conclusion at this point.

I do wish, however, that Waller-Bridge could get her own franchise playing Dr. Susan Calvin of the I, Robot short stories. That would be great!

Video: A Hot Take On #AI & #Hollywood

Video: A Hot Take On ‘Dial Of Destiny’ & Other Things

Of ‘Asteroid City’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The thing about Asteroid City is it’s beautiful to look at. But, otherwise, it can sometimes come across as shrill and overwrought. I will try not to spoil it for you, but, let’s just say it has an….interesting…framing device that is rather convoluted.

But it was interesting. In fact, I never once felt like walking out, which is something I do all the time with movies because I’ve become something of a storytelling snob of late. The more I think about it, the more the movie reminds me of weird movies of the 1990s that I used to see with my girlfriend of the time. They were weird, thought-provoking movies that lingered in your mind.

Of note — the movie was not in any way “woke.” It just told a story that was interesting and thought-provoking. That’s it. It didn’t browbeat you with some sort of overarching Leftist political message. It was not until I had had time to marinate on the movie that this just occurred to me.

Anyway, I liked Asteroid City…I guess? There were elements of it that could easily enrage someone who might not be into the art-house aesthetic. But, lulz, it was nice to see an interesting movie that was Just A Movie, not some sort of political manifesto about how we need to slay the patriarchy.

The Rise of ‘Personal Media’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though soon enough there will be no more mass media, no more shared reality. If we reached the “Her” future, then rather than any form of mass media, we’ll have media that is designed specifically for us by an AI.

When this happens, Hollywood will pretty much no longer exist as we think of it at the moment. All that will exist is producers and software programmers who tinker behind the scenes behind the with AI. All the writers, directors and actors will no longer exist in any real sense.

Hollywood will be burned to the ground and everyone will will have a very specific media to the point that the idea of everyone watching the same thing with the same plot will be seen as rather “quaint.”

I just don’t think people appricate how perilous the future of Hollywood writers are. I just don’t see the shelf life of Hollywood writers being all that long — maybe five years? And there is always the chance that a lot sooner than we might see is the eternal “now” whereby Hollywood stars just never age and they are able to churn out movie after movie after movie with long-dead actors.

What’s more, the idea of “immersive” media should be take into consideration. Immersive mult-player media is pretty much the only thing that VR will be used for. You will essentially “play” your entertainment with a crowd of people in the metaverse.

Remember, of course, that I’m always wrong and, what’s more, no one listens to me.

Keep An Eye On Millie Bobby Brown

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve already done a Twitter video on this, but lulz, here goes. The thing that getting older gives you is perspective. And I definitely can remember how strange it seemed to me in the 1990s when all these “older” women were in Playboy. But now, as someone in my early 50s, it makes total sense.

It’s a prime example of how you can get what you want after you really don’t want it anymore. I mean, if someone like Britney Spears was in Playboy, I would totally buy it. She was always rather elusive when I was younger and seeing her Playboy would be pretty hot.

Anyway, the point is — for a lot of younger people, Millie Bobby Brown is a cultural touchstone because they were going through adolescence when they first encountered her. So, the idea that Brown might let slip a little T&A (or more!) for the sake of her career would be A Big Deal for them.

I’ve seen a number of signs that she’s about to break out the nudity pretty soon. Remember, I’m saying this not as a Creepy Old Man, but as someone who knows what it’s like to be young and then get older.

I will note that young people are so fucking prudish compared to earlier generations. They have all this access to hard-core porn…and they are shocked SHOCKED by a little T&A in their mainstream movies.

Ugh. It’s so fucking annoying.

While we’re talking about such things, there is one person who would break the Internet if she did ANY form of T&A — Taylor Swift. It would be jaw dropping if she decided to change her image just a little bit and be a normal human being to the public by showing a little T&A here or there. She’s done faux nudity in a video, but, really, she’s been very chaste.

She’s managed to get away with it because her audience is mostly liberal white women. BUT there will come a point when she kind of reaches a fork in the road if she wants to EGOT. If she wants an Oscar, she’s going to have to gift us some T&A in some way. And that doesn’t even begin to address the issue of her needed / wanting to get married and have a baby or two.

Her base is growing older and doing fucking normal things like settling down, there’s going to come a point where Tay-Tay is going to have to figure out if she’s going to follow suit or not.

Hollywood’s Real A.I. Problem

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The real A.I. problem that faces Hollywood is not what you might think. The issue is not so much it taking creative jobs, it’s that most of what Hollywood creates at the moment with people is, well, rather formulaic.

As such, it’s very easy to assume that very, very soon most of Hollywood will AI generated and no one will notice because of how bad what Hollywood generates at the moment is.

It sucks, but it definitely seems to be the future. MidJourney keeps getting better and better and there will come a moment when MidJourney is hooked up to the moving imagine and ChatGPT and…ta-day….99% of Hollywood is AI generated and the average person won’t even notice.

Is Madison Beer….Real?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m not being serious, obviously, but I sometimes wonder if Madison Beer is a a Simone kind of AI-generated personality. I’ve never heard her voice, even though she’s a “singer.” She’s got a perfect smile and a great body. So, while, yes, she’s obviously, real, we’re careening towards point where you could actually pull off a Simone-type AI generated celebrity, parasocial relationships and all, pretty easily.

I say this because it’s going to happen soon enough, one way or another. Once we figure out if America is going to have a revolution / civil war or turn into an autocracy, the thing thing we’re going to address is all the amazing cultural changes that are going to happen because of AI.

We may have to bomb ourselves into oblivion to get the “cool stuff” of AI, though.

Anyway. I think all human-generated art is probably going to fade away. It’s just a matter of how long it takes. It may be 10 or 20 years, but, in the end, Hollywood as we know it — actors and all — will be more industry built on software than celluloid.

AI is going to sucker punch Hollywood actors, directors and actors in a pretty astonishing way, leaving producers sitting pretty. Will a Simone of the future be able to win an Oscar? That’s a question we’re going to have to ask ourselves as a species, I’m afraid.

The End Of (Human Generated) Art?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As we all wake up from the Superhero movie era daze we’ve been in for 20 years, I think maybe we aren’t asking the right question. The question isn’t, “What type of movie genre will replace Superhero movies?” but, rather, “Is this the twilight of not just mass media, but human generated art?”

It’s very possible that a lot sooner than you might think, AI sensors on your TV and phone hooked up to “Her”-like technology will generate movies, TV shows, songs and — gulp — novels, that are designed specifically for what you want at that specific moment because of your mood.

Some 99% of what is generated by the hand of man when it comes to art is shit and, as such, 99% of all art could very well be, well, AI generated shit. AND, there won’t be any mass media anymore, no shared reality.

As such, the Singularity won’t come with us uploading our minds into computers, but with the very idea of human-generated art for profit being seen as a quaint notion of a bygone era. And that dystopian nightmare is probably going to happen a lot — A LOT — sooner than you think.

If it happens at all, that is.

And add the general tendency to name, shame and drug anyone who is “different” and, lulz, our posthuman future may already be here.