"No one thinks, at least not yet, that a robot should be able to compete for Olympic medals or be eligible for Nobel prizes."

"Protecting innovation by limiting awards to humans makes sense. But music charts are supposed to measure popularity among consumers. Perhaps AI bots could be assigned their own category. Labeling works as AI-assisted or -generated is a sensible nod to transparency. Beyond that, consumers should be left to decide what it is they want to listen to — even when, just like a dream, the music is not what it seems."

I'm reading "Who’s that bot? An AI cover of Madonna spurs industry changes. Instead of blocking AI-assisted songs from the charts, require disclosure and protect creators" by the Editorial Board of the Washington Post.

That's a gift link, so you can read about what it was about the artificiality of that one cover of "Like a Prayer" that stirred up serious opposition to artificiality in pop music. To my ear, things have been unlistenably artificial for decades. People have developed a taste for robotic singing, and the robots keep giving them more of what they like. The machine that is Spotify serves me music from the 1960s and the 1940s, because it can see that I respond to the human voice, but younger people do not, and it doesn't matter what happens with the various prizes. The algorithm will give them what touches them, even if we elders think they have bad taste.

Back in the 1960s, my father expressed the sincere opinion that the rock music I was listening to was not music because of the electric instruments and the voices processed through microphones.

"Installing AC simply wasn’t the British thing to do. He’d have to break a stiff-upper-lip mentality and make peace with a trade-off..."

".. that Europeans tend to view as taboo: Air-con accelerates global warming. Still, his mind kept wandering back to a Starbucks he had visited in Los Angeles. 'It was so temperate,' he moaned. 'So beautiful.'... In Europe, where homes tend to be older and climes fairer, residents mainly favored cross-ventilation over machines that leaders cast as pricey spewers of greenhouse gas emissions. 'It’s like living in a sealed jar,' one French columnist complained of AC in 1994. 'It’s unbearable.'"

From "European soccer fans enjoy a brief fling with America’s air-conditioned culture/Despite a deadly heat wave at home, many say they won’t permanently embrace Americans’ electricity-guzzling amenity" (WaPo).

Questions: 1. Who says "air-con"? 2. Wasn't that a movie with Nicolas Cage? 3. What would Americans do if they found themselves wrangling with guilt about global warming whenever they indulged in air conditioning.

Answers: 1. The British. 2. No, it was not. 3. Do what half their compatriots have already done and decide global warming is a hoax.

Bonus question: "'Con Air' won a Golden Raspberry Award in what category? Answer: "Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property."

At least he's in the Injustice Hall of Fame.

Perfection. pic.twitter.com/Gurj0l8nJn

— Savage (@SavageSports_) January 29, 2026

ADDED: Who else in in the Injustice Hall of Fame? Well, Tolstoy never won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Gandhi never won the Nobel Peace Prize. Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick never won a Best Director Oscar. The Monkees are not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Ken Doll is not in the National Toy Hall of Fame. And Hillary didn't get to be President.

"Now and again I would feel a bit of relief when I realised, to my mind, that it wasn’t a good book and I would stop reading."

"But [then it would] happen twice in a row and I started to feel a bit low because this is not what I have signed up for. I want to read good books."

Said Roddy Doyle, author of the Booker Prize-winning "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha," quoted in "Booker prize chairman laments poor quality of entries/A former prizewinner heading this year’s jury said many of the 153 novels submitted were not worth discussing as judges whittled down the list to six contenders" (London Times).

There are regularly more than 150 “literary fiction” titles in contention for the prize. New novels by all previously shortlisted authors are entered automatically, and some publishing houses are allowed several entries each depending on previous success.... 

Doyle said the number of books they all had to read was "daunting." He said that such were his reading responsibilities, one day he recorded only 17 steps on his pedometer "and it took eight steps to the kettle from where I was sitting."

That's why I consume my "literary fiction" in the form of audiobooks, but I guess Roddy Doyle is too virtuous to take shortcuts. And yet he does take the most obvious shortcut and stop reading at the point when he realizes — "realises" — that he's reading a book that hasn't got a shot. I guess it's annoying to see so many bad books presented to him as in contention for the prize. Depressing even, especially if you're not getting your usual walks.

"This show has become a sort of lighthouse show for people who want to believe that there are people in these hospitals who are dedicated, intelligent, compassionate, doing this kind of angelic work."

Said Noah Wyle, quoted in "'The Pitt' Defied Odds by Going Back to the Future/On Sunday, Emmy voters made a loud statement that there is an appetite for the kind of shows that used to dominate TV" (NYT).

I had never heard of this show, but apparently it's what people want these days. I'd watched "The White Lotus," which had a lot of nominations but won nothing. 

It seems that people are worn out and done with snark and irony. They want to be reassured that there are sincere, competent, hard-working people ready to help. (Note: Everything seems to relate to Charlie Kirk.)

Reminds me of "Hill Street Blues." Or... more on the subject matter: "St. Elsewhere."

"Bono has stood by his decision to accept the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, despite admitting to 'looking like a plonker' as President Biden placed it around his neck."

"The U2 frontman, who recently celebrated his 65th birthday, has no regrets keeping the award that he received in January for his humanitarian work in spite of claims that he was morally wrong to do so due to the former president’s track record over Gaza."

From "Bono has no regrets about accepting White House honour/The U2 frontman addresses backlash over accepting the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, citing his longstanding humanitarian work and collaboration with Joe Biden" (London Times).

According to the OED, "plonker" has meant "A foolish, inept, or contemptible person" since 1955. John Lennon muttered it on TV in 1964. "Plonker" also means "penis." Published examples go back to the 1920s: "Last night I lay in bed and pulled my plonker." I was amused to find that in the OED, but there it was. An older meaning of the word is "Something large or substantial of its kind." You can see how one thing leads to another.

"Who would have ever thought that honouring someone who has been exonerated in every single courtroom he’s ever walked into would be thought of as a brave idea?"

"The two-time Oscar winner went on to compare his exile from Hollywood to the blacklisting of screenwriters under Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist witch-hunt in the 1940s and 1950s. “There are times when one has to stand up for principle,” Spacey said. “I have learnt a lot from history: it very often repeats itself. The blacklist was a terrible time in our industry, but we must learn from it so that it never happens again.”

Said Kevin Spacey, accepting a lifetime achievement award at Cannes, quoted in "Kevin Spacey won at Cannes — but Hollywood’s ‘sharia court’ finds him guilty/Industry insiders are conflicted as the Oscar winner, acquitted twice for sexual misconduct, plots a comeback" (London Times).

Also: "One senior producer said Spacey... deserved a second chance, but judgmental studios were still 'performing as a sort of odd sharia court, outside of judicial jurisdiction, pretending to be judge and jury on a hearsay whim.... So many lives have been ruined for no reason. Kevin Spacey received a not-guilty verdict.'"

"Alcohol abuse is also under sharp scrutiny. That fella probably scrutinized it."

Lost in time is a moment most never saw or never heard of.

It was 1992: President Ronald Reagan’s glass award shattered by a “protestor”. pic.twitter.com/a9vaVeVCYl

— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) March 29, 2025

"Thank you all for coming, and shame on you for being here."

Said Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, quoted in "'Twain hated bullies.' Conan O'Brien receives Mark Twain Prize at the Kennedy Center" (NPR).

I'd love to hear a lecture demonstrating — with lots of quotes — Mark Twain's hatred of bullies. I have a Kindle copy of "The Complete Works of Mark Twain" (only 99¢ at Amazon!), so I can easily do my own search, though it's hard to do a search for the word "bully," since many of the occurrences are in things like "Bully for the lion!" — shouted by "young ruffians" during a tour of the Coliseum in "Innocents Abroad" — an archaic usage.

But how can you delve into Twain and his times when you've got Trump... and your "shame" for showing up in what was once an arts paradise and is now the humbled plaything of that garish clod who is remaking everything in his own horribly orange image?

Make acting great again: "Greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that."

"I know we’re in a subjective business, but the truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats. I’m inspired by the greats. I’m inspired by the greats here tonight...."

Humility is the go-to tone for awards accepting, and Timmy eschewed it. He came right out and said he's aiming for greatness. "I know the classiest thing would be to downplay the effort that went into this role and how much this means to be, but... I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr. Bob Dylan, a true American hero...."

I hear Timmy's speech as part of the new masculine pride, which I associate with Trump and those in his vicinity, which is not Hollywood. But it belongs in Hollywood, and Timmy's a good exemplar of hard work and aspiration to greatness. It's okay again — isn't it? — to strive to achieve.

The fact that I'm wondering if the things said to be "a real program" are perhaps not actually real — that says enough.

I found this because it's easy to find things tweeted by Elon Musk in the last 24 hours:

pic.twitter.com/VyFYXCDG9p

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2025

I am reminded of the old "Golden Fleece Award":

The Golden Fleece Award (1975–1988) was a tongue-in-cheek award given to public officials in the United States for squandering public money....

One man controlled this award: Senator William Proxmire. His idea of what sounded stupid ruled. You had to be careful about how your research project looked, at first glance, to a politician who wanted to make a general point about out-of-control federal spending.

Nikki Glaser's Golden Globes monologue.

Great? Good? Okay?

"Glaser... was still questioning the point of view of a few jokes. She was still going back and forth about the sexual jokes..."

"... counting the number of references to her being horny, feeling there were too many, but now thinking she’s good at them, so it’s the right number. And the 'Wicked' jokes were still fluid. Glaser was adding to things to obsess over. 'Do we have too many jokes about pedophiles?' she wondered. This wasn’t exactly the panic attack she had predicted. But Glaser said she had performed the jokes at clubs so often (91 times before the ceremony) that she could no longer tell if they were funny. How could she? She knew every surprise coming. She likened her relationship with her material to a marriage where she’s not gaga anymore. The jokes have been reliable, sure, but a political one that always kills recently bombed. That rattled her. 'Maybe it bums people out,' she said, sounding confused...."

From "Nikki Glaser Wants to Kill as Host of the Globes. Is She Overthinking It?/ To refine her monologue for Sunday’s show, she relied on two writers’ rooms and 91 test runs. Then came the fickle audiences and a crisis of confidence" (NYT).

Should a standup comedian reveal the inner workings like this? It can't make anything funnier for us, the audience. Eh, but who watches the Golden Globes? I used to, but now, I don't even know how to watch them. And I don't think I've even gone to the movies all year (other than to see that one documentary).

The political joke that always kills recently bombed — hmm. Wonder who that was about?

Do we have too many jokes about pedophiles? Are we suppose to experience that question as funny?

ADDED: I have one other post with the tag "Nikki Glaser," and it may shed some light on what sort of joke she might make about sex criminals. From March 28, 2022:

Golden Globe nominations are out.

 See the list at People.com.

I don't care other than that "A Complete Unknown" is thought to be good. It's nominated as best drama motion picture and Timothée Chalamet is nominated as best male actor in a drama (in the role of Bob Dylan) and Edward Norton is nominated as best male actor in a supporting role in a drama (playing Pete Seeger). 

Tim will need to compete with the actor who plays Donald Trump in "The Apprentice," and Ed will need to compete with Jeremy Strong, who plays Roy Cohn in "The Apprentice." 

And I love seeing that Pamela Anderson is in the running for best "female actor" in a drama. She's got to compete with Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Tilda Swinton, Kate Winslet — all famously great at acting in big dramas. You've got to root for the underdog there, but then there's one more nominee, Fernanda Torres for something called "I’m Still Here." I don't know anything about that, so... whatever... Pam or Fernanda. But I will watch Angelina Jolie in "Maria," because it's already on Netflix, starting Wednesday. That probably suggests it's not that good, but it costs nothing in time/money to take a look.

"The film... earned him an Academy Award nomination for best documentary and helped spur a sweeping backlash against the fast-food industry..."

"... though only temporarily; today, McDonald’s has 42,000 locations worldwide, its stock is near an all-time high, and 36 percent of Americans eat fast food on any given day.... By making himself a part of the story, Mr. Spurlock could be considered a forerunner of TikTok influencers and citizen-journalist YouTubers. And even after the backlash against fast food subsided, 'Super Size Me' remained a staple in high school health classes.... Some people pointed out that Mr. Spurlock refused to release the daily logs tracking his food intake.... And in 2017, he admitted that he had not been sober for more than a week at a time in 30 years — meaning that, in addition to his 'McDonald’s only' diet, he was drinking, a fact that he concealed from his doctors and the audience, and that most likely skewed his results. The admission came in a statement in which he also revealed multiple incidents of sexual misconduct, including an encounter... that he described as rape.... His decision to discuss his sexual past, which came at the height of the #Metoo movement, was met with a mix of praise and criticism.... 'Career death,' The Washington Post declared it in 2022, noting that the once-ubiquitous Mr. Spurlock had largely disappeared."

From "Morgan Spurlock, Documentarian Known for ‘Super Size Me,’ Dies at 53/His 2004 film followed Mr. Spurlock as he ate nothing but McDonald’s for a month. It was nominated for an Oscar, but it later came in for criticism" (NYT).

Career death, and now real death. He had cancer.  From drink? From McDonald's? We don't know. McDonald's goes on, undying. 

"I cried when they shot Medgar Evers/Tears ran down my spine..."

This morning, I'm reading the lyrics to the 1966 Phil Ochs song "Love Me, I'm a Liberal," because I see, here in The Washington Post, that President Biden is giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Medgar Evers.

Evers was killed in 1963. Why did no President think of doing this before? And what does Biden hope to achieve by slotting the old fallen hero in with such characters as Mike Bloomberg, Katie Ledecky, and Phil Donahue?

In any case, study the argument in Phil Ochs's song. It has resonance today. It's the argument that convinces the student protesters to turn to violence and put their personal future on the line.

To be a mere liberal is despicable. You do all the well-behaved things and disapprove of all that is right wing, "But don't talk about revolution/That's going a little bit too far." You "vote for the Democratic Party" and "I'll send all the money" that's asked for, "but don't ask me to come on along," and for that you demand love, but you don't deserve it... in the logic of the song:

"An award given in the name of Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been abruptly canceled after the family of the late Supreme Court justice and others objected..."

"... that this year’s slate of recipients do not reflect her values. The Dwight D. Opperman Foundation last week announced that it would award the prize to Elon Musk, Martha Stewart, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Milken and Sylvester Stallone. Critics couldn’t help but observe that these 'five iconic individuals' — as the awards news release described them — included among them convicted felons and conservative billionaires who own right-wing media enterprises...."

WaPo reports.

What a mess! How does something like that happen?

Galas built around impressively named awards are a stalwart of the Washington elite social scene — and a way to entice celebrity honorees to rub elbows with politicians and business leaders over $1,000-a-head plates of prime rib....

Ugh. Let them stew in their own au juices.  

"[T]he one class I hated was hula. It was mostly because the instructor was a flamboyant gay man and it scared me. That was my own internalized homophobia."

Said Patrick Makuakān, describing the "cultural exploration camp" he attended when he was 10.

He's quoted in "'Hula is my church': how Patrick Makuakāne is reinvigorating Hawaii’s traditional dance/Winner of the MacArthur ‘genius’ grant in 2023 has forged his own style in San Francisco while often subverting stereotypes of hula itself" (The Guardian).

They snubbed Oprah and invented a new category to lure in Taylor Swift.

I'm reading "Golden Globes 2024 Nominations: ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ in Front/'Barbie' led the nominations with nine, followed by 'Oppenheimer' with eight. In the television categories, 'Succession' had the most with nine" (NYT).

In one obvious snub, “The Color Purple,” based on the Broadway version of the story and backed by Oprah Winfrey, was left out of the best film, musical or comedy category. In a surprise, voters found a way to invite Taylor Swift to the ceremony, nominating her “Eras Tour” concert film in a new category for blockbusters....

"There’s still a lot of male parts. I don’t know if that would be fair" — fair to get rid of the gendered categories for movie awards.

Said Patricia Arquette, quoted in "Awards Without Gender Categories? Celebrities Debate/Nominees at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday were split on combining award show categories for best actor and best actress" (NYT).

Female nominees in particular expressed concern that the idea of a single prize would put men at a distinct advantage because of the richer and more numerous roles available to them....