***
It would be easy to promote, to write in parts, doing bits of songs on TikTok. But I'm not trained in Broadway singing or even talented in that kind of performance. I'd need to work with someone funny and charismatic and musically fantastic.
I just need a Broadway song about this idea and how, ultimately, I'm not going to do it. It's just another of my "unwritten books" — read about the rest here — and add that to the insanely long song.
***
I just need a Broadway song about this idea and how, ultimately, I'm not going to do it. It's just another of my "unwritten books" — read about the rest here — and add that to the insanely long song.
***
[Intro — Soft Piano / Strings]
(Spoken quietly, slightly wistful)
There are shelves in my mind —
shelves heavy with half-finished ideas,
half-imagined novels,
plinths and monuments,
fictional lovers, political satire, haunted history…
and none of them ever get off the page.
Verse 1 (The Inventory)
I think of all the stories I never finished,
All the chapters I never dared begin —
The “what-if” novels, and essays half-furnished,
Dreams that percolated deep in my skin.
There was a book about architecture,
Statues, plinths, the way we place our pride…
A world of monuments and clean pedestals,
Rising in my mind, but never fully realized.
Pre-Chorus
Oh, I feel the tingle — that quiet spark inside,
Saying “This could be something” — but then the fear divides.
The voice of caution says, “Don’t you dare start,”
And I wonder, again, will I finish, or just depart?
Chorus
It’s just another unwritten book,
Just another dream I never let be real.
I close my eyes, but still I look —
At the page where I never learned to feel.
All those nights I planned the plot,
All those mornings I forgot:
It’s just another unwritten book.
Verse 2 (Specific Unwritten Books)
There’s the novel of Lebensborn women in the future,
A sinister cradle, a dystopian design.
There’s the plinth-history book, a chronicle of pedestals
That mark our hero worship but also betray our decline.
I promised myself: I’d write the satire of Hillary,
Climbing Everest in metaphor, thawing ice with her voice.
But these pages lie blank — I never make the choice.
Pre-Chorus (2)
I feel ambition tugging, whispering in the dark —
“What if you really tried?” — but then I miss the mark.
The notebook’s empty, the outline never done,
And I’m left imagining what I might have become.
Bridge
What if I started now, turned these dreams to ink?
What if the plinths I built rose from memory, not just in my mind?
What if the politics, the satire, the moral swirl —
Could become a book, a world, unfurled?
(Spoken softly)
But maybe the dreaming is the thing I love more than the doing itself.
Verse 3 (Accepting / Relinquishing)
So I’ll cherish these shadows, these half-written lines,
Each imaginary volume that never meets the shelf.
There’s a beauty in the possibility, a sweetness in the “might-have-been.”
Maybe I don’t need the book — just the glimmer, just the dream.
Final Chorus / Coda
It’s just another unwritten book,
A melody that swells but never quite resolves.
I hold the title in my heart,
Even though the pages stay unsolved.
Yes — another unwritten book,
But maybe that’s okay:
Some stories belong to “someday,”
And I belong to this gentle delay.
Just another…
unwritten…
book.
Mga Post
48 komento:
Prof: "It would be easy to promote, to write in parts, doing bits of songs on TikTok. But I'm not trained in Broadway singing or even talented in that kind of performance. I'd need to work with someone funny and charismatic and musically fantastic."
I presume that is an example, produced by a human (you)? That could be Broadway recitative right there.
It reminds me of my song "I Want A Font" from my work in progress, "Helvetica - The Musical!" CC, JSM
The only part of this post written by AI is the song lyric at the end.
The rest is prompting, written by me, and actually used on Grok and ChatGPT. ChatGPT wrote a better song, so that's the one I quoted. I have elaborate answers to each of the prompts, but I must be very sparing in quoting anything written by A.I. Many people won't read it and even feel revolted at seeing it where they might accidentally read it.
Anyone who wants to see the answers can do their on A.I. prompting.
Yeah, there needs to be a Broadway show about me and my Unwritten Books. I'd love to see the scene about the unfulfilled promise of a book about the history of plinths.
The couple sitting next to us at dinner last night, she had to let slip she was an author then pulled back and said she was still writing the book. Are you entitled to credit for that?
‘Grok write me a documentary TV show about the making of an unwritten musical about unwritten books’…I fear this will be left unwritten…
"The couple sitting next to us at dinner last night, she had to let slip she was an author then pulled back and said she was still writing the book. Are you entitled to credit for that?"
1. Who uses the word "author" to describe himself? I think any real writer would say "writer." Saying "author" is like saying "attorney at law" instead of "lawyer."
2. If someone wants to know what you do and the answer is you're a writer, you're just answering the question, not seeking credit. Finished or not, published or not, you could be a shitty writer or a brilliant writer.
3. Why are you eavesdropping on people at other tables? What was going on at your table? I used to be married to a guy who would be at a table with me — me, a potentially good dinner companion or at least a person who'd ventured out with the idea that the conversation he'd engage in would be with me — and he'd be eavesdropping on the people at the next table. *He* was a writer.
4. Why are you judging that woman? Is stomping on other people's dreams your vocation?
OLD LADY
I have always been wily and clever
At deceiving and swindling and such,
And I feel just as clever as ever,
But I seem to be losing my touch.
Yes, I'm clever, but where does it get me?
My employer gets all of my take;
All I get is my daily spaghetti,
While he gorges on truffles and cake.
CHORUS
What's the use? What's the use?
There's no profit in cheating,
It's all so defeating
And wrong, oh, so wrong,
That I just have to pass it along!
RAGOTSKI
That old hag is no use in this gyp joint,
Not a sou have I made on her yet,
And the one thing that pays in this clip joint
Is my fraudulent game of roulette.
But I have to pay so much protection
To the chief of police and his men,
That each day when he makes his collection
I'm a poor man all over again.
CHORUS
MAXIMILIAN
It's a very fine thing to be prefect
Shaking down all the gamblers in town.
My position has only one defect:
That there's someone who's shaking me down.
For this fellow unhappily knows me;
And he's on to the game that I play,
And he threatens to shame and expose me
If I do not incessantly pay.
CHORUS
CROOK
I could live very well by extortion,
But I simply can't keep what I earn,
For I haven't a sense of proportion,
And roulette is my only concern.
I've a system that's fiendishly clever,
Which I learned from a croupier friend,
And I should go on winning forever
But I do seem to lose in the end.
CHORUS
- Candide
A.E. Housman Nettle poem, offered as an example of an excellent poem that gives bad advice, against I.A.Richards's theory of excellence
Their seed the sowers scatter
Behind them as they go;
Poor lads, 'tis little matter
How many sorts they sow,
For only one will grow.
The charlock on the fallow
Will take the traveller's eye,
And gild the ploughland sallow
With flowers before it dies,
But twice 'twill not arise.
The stinging-nettle only
Will still be found to stand:
The numberless, the lonely,
The thronger of the land,
The leaf that hurts the hand.
…well since you asked so snottily we were seated at a banquette with a line of two tops quite close together, they arrived later than us, sat next to us and she was quite vocal and was curious when our appetizer arrived which struck up a pleasant conversation. They were visitors and were curious about where else to dine in the neighborhood. We gave them ideas, took their picture by the fireplace we were seated at and she shared the info…
…unprompted
…there was no judgement on our part but boy am I judging you right now…
Althouse said: Anyone who wants to see the answers can do their o[w]n A.I. prompting.
Ah, but that begs the question, if another person with Grok posted the exact same prompts, would they get the same replies from Grok, or would their answers be different based on what Grok knows about them?
Althouse, “ Yeah, there needs to be a Broadway show about me and my Unwritten Books. I'd love to see the scene about the unfulfilled promise of a book about the history of plinths.”
I can tell you from experience it is very difficult to take a finished work of artistic genius - like my “Frankenstein, Part II” - and get it on screen or stage.
Big questions are who plays Ann and who plays Meade?
I vote for Kristen Chenowith as Ann and Taye Diggs as Meade. Great voices!
The gentle nudge of somewhat later ...
Much as I love Kristen Chenowith, I don't see her as Althouse. My vote goes to Glenn Close.
"It's a piece of shit... Would anyone like to smoke some pot?"
Jennings: "Teaching is just a way to pay the bills until I finish my novel."
Boon: "How long have you been working on it?"
Jennings: "Four and a half years."
Pinto: "It must be very good."
Jennings: "It's a piece of shit... Would anyone like to smoke some pot?"
Aren't you worried that AI will just try to rip off the Beatles' Paperback Writer?
IMO, a writer describes anyone whom writes a lot, like a blogger reporter etc. An author is someone whom has successfully published several novels or plays.
From G K Chesterton, his best books the ones he’s never written:
“There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place; and I tried to trace such a journey in a story I once wrote. It is, however, a relief to turn from that topic to another story that I never wrote. Like every book I never wrote, it is by far the best book I have ever written. It is only too probable that I shall never write it, so I will use it symbolically here; for it was a symbol of the same truth. I conceived it as a romance of those vast valleys with sloping sides, like those along which the ancient White Horses of Wessex are scrawled along the flanks of the hills. It concerned some boy whose farm or cottage stood on such a slope, and who went on his travels to find something, such as the effigy and grave of some giant; and when he was far enough from home he looked back and saw that his own farm and kitchen-garden, shining flat on the hill-side like the colours and quarterings of a shield, were but parts of some such gigantic figure, on which he had always lived, but which was too large and too close to be seen. That, I think, is a true picture of the progress of any really independent intelligence today; and that is the point of this book.”
Yeah, Glenn Close as Althouse is a better choice.
“They were visitors and were curious about where else to dine in the neighborhood.”
Sorry to be snotty for a second time within this one comments thread, but thank you for giving me the opportunity to say something I’ve been wanting to say for a long time. I don’t like the word “dine” (or “dining”). You’re eating. Don’t say “dining.”There’s no good reason for saying “I’m dining” or “this restaurant has fine dining” or anything like that. Just like you wouldn’t say “supping,” don’t say “dining.”
Please avoid ‘plinth’ at all costs.
“Much as I love Kristen Chenowith, I don't see her as Althouse. My vote goes to Glenn Close.”
Glenn C lose is exactly my height, 5’5”. Kristen Chenowith is 4’11”. Close is also closer to my age. She is 77. Chenowith is 57. I’m 74… but the story of my unwritten books does go back a few decades. But the truth is — I’m almost sure — there will never be a Broadway show about blogging
“ An author is someone whom has successfully published several novels or plays”
Maybe, but this person wouldn’t say “I’m an author.”
“ Aren't you worried that AI will just try to rip off the Beatles' Paperback Writer?”
No, my character is distinctly different. The character in Paperback Writer is very eager to write things out into book form and will write anything the publisher wants. My character is someone who gets ideas on her own, but goes through a process of being excited about the idea and how it could be a book and then very quickly deciding the book does not need to be written, and the whole urge can be fulfilled by writing a blog post about it and giving the blog post the tag “unwritten books.”
I think there are three good rhymes for the word plinth
I laid out the cast for "Althouse - the Musical!" a few months ago. I think I maybe said Sutton Foster should play the Prof. I realized shortly thereafter that it should be Christine Baranski. I saw her live in "Mame" at the Kennedy Center a few years back. She has the voice, the moves, and she can also act. CC, JSM
…you can stuff your dining, too. Yes it’s eating but it distinguishes eating as something more, the short of ‘dining out’ and the implication of a social experience- a date, a group get together in a pleasant environment. Eating a sink peach is eating. Dinner at Nobu or Ad Hoc is dining, not ‘eating’ and definitely not supper. No way…just stop it…
…one could make the exception for the ‘supper club’, provided such establishment is located in Charleston or Savannah…
…funny, you do eat at a diner…
I've got to go with rehajm on this one. Dining is not the same as merely eating. I eat lunch at a deli, and I dine in a fine restaurant on occasion.
This reader interprets unrealized dreams as the exercise of wisdom, in most cases. Others may differ. There are as many paths as people, so pick one and be grateful for your wonderful life if you are me.
Those who did not have a father who never caught a break in life, not a single one, will come to this with a different perspective, as will those who are miserable in their daily existence. Not only am I happy to see you, I am happy to be seen.
Does essen = fressen, though? I'll ponder this over dinner. Or supper. Or brunch. Is brunching more drinking than eating? My experience yields an answer of "that depends."
A moment of thought makes me realize that my father did catch a break. It was when we dropped the bomb on Japan.
That meant he wouldn't have to fight his way in. The fact that I am even here is one result.
A dining room is not the same as a lunchroom, or a mess hall.
I always enjoy fine dining at the local Maid-Rite.
I was impressed by the versification and amazed that you found the time to put it together, but it's just AI. I guess that's the future of poetry. If people are having relationships with chatbots it might be because the chatbots are the only ones with the time and desire to write love poems.
"My Unwritten Books" was a collection of essays by George Steiner about the ideas he had for books that he ended up never writing. That is the result of having lots of ideas and feeling that the world needs to hear them, while not having the expertise to give one's ideas the best treatment (and perhaps realizing that the world really doesn't want to hear what one thinks).
"Help me flesh out this idea for a self-help book".
That is one of the few things it actually makes sense to ask Grok. Or Chat-Lie-to-me. Or whichever AI charlatan you are currently infatuated with.
"So, for example, you are brooding about growing old and not having achieved any of your real dreams, though others don't even notice you haven't, and you're left with this last shred of life and nothing in particular that you even want to do with it."
The rest of your life is all you ever had. "He not busy being born is busy dying".
"Flesh"...
"Help me"...
Interesting choice of words. Why not do the work yourself?
Don't mourn for the books you haven't written, proffy.
Mourn for all the books you have not yet read...
Ifkyk.
"So, for example, you are brooding about growing old and not having achieved any of your real dreams, though others don't even notice you haven't, and you're left with this last shred of life and nothing in particular that you even want to do with it."
That song has already been written and sung.
Bob Seeger Against The Wind Bob Seeger Against The Wind
“There’s Still That One Girl”
Feel free to use it as a prompt.
Dining is to eating as cocktails are to drinks.
You might find good rhymes for plinth, but you have to traverse a labyrinth.
Only if you're a pupil in theology, like my cousin Cynthia.
I'd have to say the Simpsons beat you to it with their Marry Poppins(Shary Bobbins) parody and song "Do It Half Assed"
T rose said, “ A dining room is not the same as a lunchroom, or a mess hall.”
The Army, at least, no longer calls it a mess hall. It’s now a dining facility!
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