If you’ve never been to a tour, a sample, a sharing experience at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, you need to attend the next one. Peg and I joined hundreds Sunday evening at TMP and were immensely convinced about the entertainment value of the production Once on This Island which opens on your lucky day, Friday the […]
To Ponder
The Last Sunset – Interesting Star Studded Western
Storyline: Brendan O’Malley (Kirk Douglas) arrives at the Mexican home of old flame Belle Breckenridge (Dorothy Malone) to find her married to a drunkard getting ready for a cattle drive to Texas. Hot on O’Malley’s heels is lawman Dana Stribling (Rock Hudson) who has a personal reason for getting him back into his jurisdiction. Both […]
Your voice is needed to address the drug fueled crime wave in Tacoma
Tacoma Business Council announcement. The Pierce County Prosecutor is urgently seeking change to our state law on drugs in order to address the crime wave we are all experiencing. In November she wrote the State delegation (read her letter here) asking for these critical changes to address crime. That letter was joined by 16 cities […]
Letter: Much Ado About Nothing
At high noon on January 1 – and absently I checked my watch and sure enough it was twelve noon exactly – I heard what sounded like a woman screaming at a main intersection near here. As I drove in that direction, I thought I should call for back up but as the crying was […]
Faster and Faster; part 4, ‘More Powerful Than You Can Possibly Imagine’
If you have a minute of audio of a lost loved one… now you have their voice forever. Just add anecdotes to flesh out family histories that, in a way, never die. https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/10/18/1061320/digital-clones-of-dead-people/ Now take the next inevitable step of combining audio and deepfake AI to create… Well, you have to see it for yourself. […]
Faster and Faster; part 3, ‘What You See Will Defy Explanation’
For sheer breathtaking fun and amazement, it’s hard to beat generating beautiful visuals with just a few words. Think of an entity. Now think of a visual style. Then… https://www.midjourney.com/showcase/recent/ Next step, create conceptual worlds that never existed (until now). https://labs.openai.com/ Now… let AI create a comicbook series. https://www.cnet.com/culture/ai-drew-this-stunning-comic-series-youd-never-know-it/ Or create people that never existed. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/thanks-to-ai-its-probably-time-to-take-your-photos-off-the-internet/ If […]
Doctor Weirdo Five Minute Mystery Episode 25 – A Tad Judgmental?
Rose needed a present for a friend. I dropped her off near the west side door of Fred Meyer and then circled the parking spaces until I found an empty one that allowed me to check in the rearview mirror for Rose, to easily “beep” her for attention, so she could see where I had […]
Faster and Faster; part 2, ‘Eye of the Beholder’
Artists may tremble at the variety of image tools available to the populace. Or they can use them as well. Here are but a few of the mind-bending tools available to armchair Picassos. Want to see a new you? Upload a few selfies, then you can render a composite in any style imaginable (and maybe some […]
Letter: Inklings
Submitted by Bob Warfield, Lakewood. Thinking back to first inklings, spun from imaginings, scraped from the residue of conversation, ginned-up in discussion around the coffee served, second cup or third at Burs, I’m called to remember the first outline of what became Our Town, our very own prospering and happy local jurisdiction. Tracing definition to […]