#richard greenberg

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[80smovies]

[aaaaaa-musical-trash]

HAHAHA

this is from the violet hour

i love that that was her first thought

[chevril-glove]

Oh my god it's The Author's Voice by Ricard Greenberg

(sorta)

This gnome is imprisoned in a room in this guy's apartment and the guy is forcing him to write a book that the guy is planning to sell and claim as his own. Gnome's good at writing, has a clear voice, has ideas. Guy is terrible at writing. (So the gnome's not an AI, but the guy's still trying to get published without writing.) Finally the gnome gets mad at the guy bc the guy is cruel and unimaginative, and so, in revenge, he gives the guy a complete manuscript to publish. The guy is delighted and sends it off to the publisher.

Then the gnome gives him a copy of an obscure novel. Guy opens the novel, finds it's the same, word for word, as the manuscript. He has now sent a completely, obviously plagiarized book for publication.

I apologize if you’ve been asked this question before I’m sure you have, but how do you feel about AI in writing? One of my teachers was “writing” stories using ChatGPT then was bragging about how good they were (they were not good) and said he was going to sell them. To put aside any legal concerns in that, I’m just trying to talk him down from that because, personally, I would not enjoy dream job being taken by AI.

The poor man.

Many magazines have closed their submission portals because people thought they could send in AI-written stories.

For years I would tell people who wanted to be writers that the only way to be a writer was to write your own stories because elves would not come in the night and do it for you.

With AI, drunk plagiaristic elves who cannot actually write and would not know an idea or a sentence if it bit their little elvish arses will actually turn up and write something unpublishable for you. This is not a good thing.

[do-you-know-this-play]

[jessdyet]

Richard Courtney's 1982 cover art for the 'Flying Saucers' anthology, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh

[movie-titlecards]

Soylent Green (1973)

My rating: 6/10

[shanksfan1]

Happy 26th Birthday Stargate SG1

[waugh-bao]

[deadpresidents]

What are you currently reading?

I've been having trouble getting into just one book lately, so I've currently been reading parts of several books, hoping one of them hooks me. Guess what? That's literally never worked any time I've ever tried it, and yet, I still do it constantly. It always ends up taking me longer to read everything than if I just read the books one after the other.

Anyway, this is what I'm in the middle of right now, all of which are too interesting to keep me from focusing on just one at a time:

•Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk (BOOK | KINDLE) by Amy Greenberg •The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers (BOOK | KINDLE) by Tom Standage •King Faisal of Saudi Arabia: Personality, Faith and Times (BOOK | KINDLE) by Alexei Vassiliev

I'm also still on the Richard Francis Burton kick that I mentioned last year, so I've been reading these too: •Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: The Secret Agent Who Made the Pilgrimage to Mecca, Discovered the Kama Sutra, and Brought the Arabian Nights to the West by Edward Rice •The City of the Saints: Among the Mormons and Across the Rocky Mountains to California (BOOK/PUBLIC DOMAIN LINK) by Sir Richard Francis Burton

[mariocki]

Man in a Suitcase: Man from the Dead (1.6, ITC, 1967)

"Mac, don't go."

"I have to. I have to, I just... have to."

"Where're you going?"

"To Southampton. I gotta get my suitcase and my car."

"Are they so important?"

"Yes ma'am. They're all I own."

[infosisraelnews]

C'est fini : Daniel Greenberg et son partenaire millionnaire français se sont séparés

L’histoire d’amour courte mais intense entre Daniel Greenberg et l’homme d’affaires juif français Richard Orlinsky a pris fin. Les deux, se sont rencontrés dans le cadre d’une activité commerciale commune, ont eu une liaison mouvementée pendant trois mois, entre vols en avion privé, vacances de luxe sur la Côte d’Azur et rencontres à la Fashion Week de Paris. La première étincelle entre les deux…

[adamwatchesmovies]

Little Monsters (1989)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

I can’t believe this is the third time I’ve seen Little Monsters. The first time was in 2012. I didn't like it but my review was too short so I re-watched it AGAIN in 2016. I didn’t like it then either. In fact, I gave it a 0 score. Is the third time the charm?

After moving to a new house and new school, Brian (Fred Savage) is miserable. His parents (Margaret Whitton and Daniel Stern) are always fighting, he’s getting blamed for every random thing that happens around the house and his brother Eric (Ben Savage) keeps bugging him about monsters living under his bed. Then, Brian discovers there IS a monster living under the bed. His name is Maurice (Howie Mandel) and he loves to pull pranks.

The worst part of this movie is Howie Mandel. His character is so annoying you’ll reach for your torch and pitchfork seconds after he appears. He’s always talking, always trying to make you laugh, always moving and gesticulating. I won’t blame the actor. I’ll blame director Richard Alan Greenberg, along with writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott. The mantra must’ve been “If someone isn’t talking, the audience won’t be laughing”. They couldn’t have been more wrong. This film only contains one funny joke and to give credit where credit is due, it’s from Mandel. Nonetheless, you can’t stand him. He’s playing this imitation Beetlejuice - one of many we saw starting in 1989. I’ve only ever seen two fast-talking outlandish supernatural sidekicks that worked - The Genie from Aladdin and the aforementioned ghost with the most. Everyone else you want to beat to a pulp with a shovel before burying them in the backyard.

With the main draw being as pleasant as a dental exam, Little Monsters was instantaneously doomed but the problems don't stop there. This film is so mean-spirited you’ll wind up cheering for the villains and hating the heroes. Case and point is an extended scene in which Brian and Maurice travel from one house to another, pulling pranks on children while they sleep. They paint the walls, put plastic wrap on toilets, peanut butter on phones, etc. That doesn’t sound so bad but they shave a cat off-screen and then take revenge upon Ronnie (Devin Ratray), a bully who tormented Brian and his brother earlier. They put cat food in his lunch and replace his apple juice with urine. I know kids pretend that any yellow liquid is piss all the time. The difference is that in this movie, we see Maurice gulp down all Ronnie's juice so he can turn around (away from the camera) pull out his blue monster dick and fill Ronnie’s bottle. the movie goes too far, particularly since we get to see Ronnie attempt to wash down the taste of the cat food with it the next day.

Speaking of Ronnie, I feel like doing a bit of nitpicking. I mean, why not? This movie is mean. It deserves a bit of its own medicine. Here’s how his introduction works. Brian and his little brother are on the bus. After an argument (related to the mysterious pranks around the house), Brian tosses Eric's lunch out the window. That's when Ronnie enters. The lunch hit him in the head. Ronnie threatens Eric, Brian defends his little brother and after a quick verbal back-and-forth, Ronnie is humiliated and gets off the bus. Wait. What happened? Was Ronnie part of the route? Like was he supposed to be picked up by the sassy bus driver? Or did she just let him hop on randomly? Either way, I guess he walked the rest of the way. Eventually, the character returns for the final act when he is recruited as one of Brian’s allies against Boy (Frank Whaley), the monster world’s evil ruler. I know what the movie is trying to do. The idea is that Brian and his bully are setting aside their differences for the greater good. Maybe they’ll even become friends. Inside the movie though, this alliance means nothing. Ronnie doesn’t know Brian was responsible for the cat food and piss in his lunch. He's not "forgiving" anything.

I've become more invested than I should in a movie that doesn’t deserve to be remembered. Little Monsters is mean, gross and ugly. The monsters are unappealing and not even in a “they’re monsters, they should be kind of scary” kind of way. One look and you'll “No thanks”. In fact, you can skip the look. Just say “No thanks” to Little Monsters. (February 10, 2023)

[70sscifiart]

Richard Courtney's 1982 cover art for the 'Flying Saucers' anthology, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh

[autumncalls]

Love that the fiction novel I'm currently reading just had a character say how much he likes bitcoin for crime because it's virtually impossible to track, while the nonfiction audiobook i am also working through atm is literally about how tracking bitcoin is actually easier than most people think

[facesofcinema]

Little Monsters (1989)