Tag: Burn Hollywood Burn

I Suspect Hollywood Will Love The ‘Part-Time Sex Worker’ Element of This Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Whenever I get a little nervous about having my heroine be a part-time sex worker — stripper — I remind myself how freaky most Hollywood actresses are. And, what’s more, I don’t even really have anything all that bad happen to my heroine compared to, say, what Stieg Larsson puts Lisbeth Salander through….Jesus Christ.

So, I think that while a certain portion of the reading public will be turned off by this particular element of my heroine’s character, the people who might actually one day adapt it into a movie — if it ever became that popular, natch — will really dig it.

Having her occasionally strip to relax adds a lot of complexity to her character and evokes an emotional reaction of some sort, which is what all good storytelling does. I am well aware of how some people will want to throw the book across the room the moment they realize that it’s a smelly CIS white male writing from a female POV instead of an undocumented trans woman, but, lulz, slings and arrows and all that.

It will be interesting to see what happens, regardless.

I Just Don’t See How Human Hollywood Survives AI Without Legal Carveouts

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

From what I can tell of OpenAI’s Sora software, we’re rushing towards a future where human Hollywood becomes moot. What’s more, it seems as though the far Left and the far Right might fuse into some sort of anti-AI coalition that would demand legal carveouts for human Hollywood and human transportation workers.

I do think that, no matter what, human generated art will thrive, just the context will be different. It will be that 99.9% of all media is AI generated, and the little bit of pop art that is human generated will be really, really good. The one genre of human are that will probably see the most success because of AI is live entertainment ranging from sports, to music to theatre.

Actually experiencing something in the real world, rather than via AI generated VR wearing your Apple Vision Pro will start to be valued a great deal by the average person. I could see Broadway and live theatre in general replacing most of the current movie going experience because it will be real and true and human.

I love movies, yes, but in the future it could be that people will be so used to “playing” their gamified VR movies that if they are going to take their headset off, they’re going to want it to be a live experience. I will note again that scifi novel The Unincorporated Man talks about the downsides of VR in a really interesting way.

Anyway. It will really be interesting to see how things play out. I would like to think that I still have a window of opportunity to finish my novel and see if I can successfully querying it.

A Brief Remaining Window Of Opportunity: Developing, Writing & Finishing This Novel Is Existential To Me

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So. I have a window of opportunity before either The Fourth Turning destroys the country and / or AI makes all human generated entertainment moot. So, I have to hurry. At this point, finishing this novel is now existential and, to some extent, irrational.

I should just give up and stare at my ceiling all day until I die of boredom. I suppose that’s what a “normal” person would do — just give up.

But fuck that. I’m not normal. Never have been. So, once more into the breach. Now that I’m sober, I feel in a better position to sprint. All I want to do is to express my humanity by telling a great story that one — one! — person who isn’t related to me or who doesn’t know me personally finishes and really likes and wants to read more.

That, in my mind, will prove that I don’t suck as a writer.

Hollywood Just Hit The Iceberg: OpenAI’s Sora Is A ‘Burn, Hollywood, Burn’ Advance In AI Movie Technology

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It may take a little while — 18 months? — but there is going to come a moment in the not-so-distant future when we have a Her movie future where our digital personal assistant will, on the fly, churn on VR narrative immersive media for our Apple Vision Pros.

The beautiful Zendaya.

I don’t see how “human” Hollywood has much of a long term future unless Congress passes some sort of carveout whereby a certain amount of entertainment HAS to be created by the hand of man, rather than an AI. And if we’ve gotten to that point, I could see maybe neo-Luddism being the natural evolution of MAGA.

I mean, if 3 million high paying blue collar transportation jobs go poof overnight, that is going to have a severe economic impact. At this point, my only question is if “The Fourth Turning” is going to somehow pause development of all this cool shit while we bomb ourselves into oblivion because of “vibes.”

I continue to feel very uneasy about America’s political future. Shit is going to get really complicated really soon and it could be that all this cool stuff we keep expecting to happen in the next few years simply will be punted down the road until we decide if we’re going to be an autocracy or not.

Good luck.

I’ve Tentatively Locked Down The First Chapter Of The Third Draft Of The Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have handed out the first chapter of the third draft of the novel in an effort to sort of force my hand. I have to lock down things sooner rather than later or I’ll wake up in a year an be exactly where I am now.

My goal is to write a novel as popular as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

So, I am going to chill out for a little bit today then sit down and see if I can flesh out chapters two and three. Then, I can use the first three chapters as a cornerstone for the rest of the novel and things will go really, really fast. That’s the hope.

The big issue is word count. At the moment, I’m hoping to come in at no more than 140,000 words. My fear is that I’ll be closer to 200,000 words. If that happens, then I’m going to split the novel into two.

A first novel with 200,000 words is just too fucking long. I would never be able to get a first novel of that length published. So, like I said, splitting the novel into two would probably be the best option.

And I also need to start working on the various scifi novels I have floating around in my mind. I really need to stop daydreaming about these stories and start writing them.

Once I Stabilize The First Three Chapters Of The Third Draft Of This Novel, Things Should Move Really Fast

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I am so close to stabilizing the first three chapters of this novel to the point that things might start to go really fast. One huge problem I face is I’ve so forked the story from what it was intended to be in the second draft that I have a huge amount of writing, rather than editing, ahead of me.

My dream is to write a novel as popular as Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

I’m going to have to just throw everything up in the air and reimagine a lot of the novel on a specific basis, with the third act really being something I have to work on. The third act of the second draft s u c k e d. It was horrible. So these days I spend a lot of of my time thinking in the back of my mind about how I can straighten out some serious problems in the third act.

Anyway. My storytelling and writing ability have both gotten significantly better. Some of it is I’ve being using AI some to help develop the novel — but not write it — because I’m doing everything in a vacuum and I have nothing to go on but my gut.

And sometimes my gut just doesn’t cut it.

But, in general, I’m very pleased with what I’ve managed to come up with. One key thing I have to do is stop being such an absolute perfectionist. The point is to finish a third draft THEN go back and edit it some. This business of forking the Goddamn thing all the time has got to stop.

If It Wasn’t Taking Me So Long To Simply Finish The Novel, I Might Daydream About Sydney Sweeney Playing A Character In The Movie Adaptation

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’ve talk about this before, but as I write this novel, there is a character that I keep imagining Sydney Sweeney playing in any hypothetical movie adaptation. It is comical for me to any propose such a thing at this point in the process — I haven’t even finished the fucking novel yet.

But I’m a fan of Ms. Sweeney and daydreaming about such things give me a brazen excuse to show you a picture of her.

Sydney Sweeney

She’s a real babe — as you can tell — and she’s exactly the phenotype that I have rolling around in my head as I write a secondary character in this novel. The character is kind of a wild child who serves as both a little bit of comic relief and a “truth teller” who helps move the plot along.

But, as I said, I’m being silly to even worry about such things at the moment. I just think Ms. Sweeney is hot and I wrote this post as an excuse to show a picture of her.

Petite Singularity: The Combination Of AI, Robot Tech and Apple Vision Pro Will Lurch Us Into The Future

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m well aware of all the problems with both Apple Vision Pro and existing AI models. But I’m old enough to remember the early days of the Internet and how in fits and starts that technology gradually took over the world.

Again, remember, before I continue that there IS the issue of The Fourth Turning to worry about. It could be that much like WW2 delayed the development of TV, so, too, will the collapse of the US and WW3 could delay the actual Petite Singularity from happening.

But back to the point — when AI Generated Media is available on something like an Apple Vision Pro, then, lulz, we’re definitely in a Burn, Hollywood, Burn type scenario. In fact, the only way I could see Hollywood surviving such a thing is Washington passing some sort of carve outs for humans created art.

I could also see passive, human Hollywood surviving in some way if we, as a society, begin to give human-made media some sort of specific cultural value. In line with that, I could see Broadway really becoming culturally white-hot because Hollywood has been consumed by the technologies associated with the Petite Singularity.

And that doesn’t even begin to address how things might be disrupted if we can figure out a way to stick LLMs into android technology. It’s at least possible that if all the DDD jobs that immigrants come to the US to fill simply are done by androids…that MIGHT solve our border crisis. (Though, I will not that the racism of the Right is white hot that it could take decades for them to calm down about the lack of those sweet, sweet white babies — even if technology makes their concerns moot.)

Who knows. I can’t predict the future. But I do think that the next 18-odd months could be some of the most eventful on both a technological and political manner in recent human history.

Slow & Steady Wins The Race

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The novel is getting really, really good. It’s just taking a lot longer than I would prefer for me to get past the thrashing around in the water phase of things. But I am slowly but surely getting close to the second act.

The dream is to write a novel as successful as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

Of course, I still find myself worried about how long the whole thing is going to be.

And, of course, I still need to work on some backup stories in case disaster strikes.

But, in general, not only does the novel flow really well, but there is an ebb and flow to things that I think will appeal to readers.

It does help that I’ve stopped drinking entirely. I hate being a dry drunk, but hopefully — hopefully — I will be able to focus structuring my life in a much better way.

I have to stop pissing my life and time away by daydreaming so much.

Hollywood Is A Dead Industry Walking

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I love Hollywood. But I’m also a realist. And with the advent of the Apple Vision Pro and all these AI image generators at the same time….oh boy. It is clear to me that barring some sort of “Fourth Turning” event starting in late 2024, early 2025….”human” Hollywood is about to have its goose cooked.

The very idea of humans being involved in any sort of entertainment creation may be pretty quaint. And I say this as someone working as hard as possible to finish a novel. As long as the AI Generated Media is “good enough,” audiences will gravitate to it.

We are probably 18 months away from a Toy Story-level AI-generated movie being produced and released. And once that happens, it could spook everyone so badly that Hollywood might demand some sort of carve outs legislation that requires humans be involved in the generation of art, no matter what.

Or not. I could happen so fast that there’s just not time for the slow moving U.S. Government to get around to doing such a thing. But I do think we have to realize that Hollywood is about to be disrupted in a rather dramatic fashion a lot sooner than any of us may have otherwise realized.