Just exited Pentacle Theatre's "The Lost Virginity Tour" in #SalemOR.
This was the worst show I've seen at Pentacle, and just barely avoids being the worst show I've seen in Salem. (That honor belongs to APE by Dano Madden, a convoluted Guy-In-Your-MFA ego trip of a play in which the obvious playwright-insert character, who is a playwright, receives a heartfelt apology from his wife after she has a miscarriage.)
Hypolite Petovan likes this.
If you liked this piece, you should subscribe to my premium newsletter. It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words, including vast, detailed analyses of NVIDIA, Anthrop…Ed Zitron (Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At)
Hypolite Petovan likes this.
The Business Idiots have successfully changed our experience of buying and using software from one of “paying for a service” to “accessing powerful technology”…
Someone could write a killer fantasy allegory about how a cabal of mages convinced the populace that magic could only be used in prescribed ways—the mages' ways.
rather taken aback by the business acumen of the twelve-year-old who just rang my doorbell offering a car wash
he:
like this
Shannon Prickett reshared this.
like this
Exciting developments in the #SelfHosting front: I've set up a Pangolin instance on a cheap VPS and am starting to configure it to point to my services! My vision for this server is starting to actually come to fruition.
Of course, with steps forward come new challenges: for some of the services that I access via apps on my phone (Navidrome, Wallabag, etc.), I need to figure out how to properly configure things so that the apps don't bounce off the Pangolin authentication layer. 🤔
reshared this
Ah, phooey, my attempt at #fermenting pine needle soda doesn't seem to have panned out. After 5 days of primary fermentation, there's no pine flavor, just slightly sweet, slightly fizzy water with a yeasty funk.
Anyone have good reliable resources for making your own fountain pen ink? Ideally, I'd love to make my own black ink that is acid-free, from widely available plant or organic materials.
reshared this
Curious, for those who have successfully started a #hackerspace, #repaircafe, #techcoop, or some other collaborative community space dedicated to technology:
What sorts of local partnerships did you look for when organizing?
I'm interested in building this kind of space, and I'm trying to brainstorm what local groups I might be able to join forces with. A local ham radio club, a mutual aid network, and a punk space are on my list. If you have other inventive ideas, I'm all ears!
reshared this
Hi, I am one of the founder organisers of the Rugby and Coventry Repair Cafes and I now run them both.
Happy to chat or I can just send you the notes I've made.
Where are you based?
Martin
Spencer likes this.
Hi there, Martin! I'd love your notes; I'm currently very early in the ideating stages—this is barely more than a pipe dream—so I don't quite feel committed enough to trouble you for a chat.
I'm located in the US, in the state of Oregon.
Does anyone have a #selfhosted service they find useful for, like, coordinating neighborhood groups?
My wife and I host a neighborly potluck every few weeks, and I'd love to have a way to keep in touch with our neighbors, coordinate events, and chat in a space that's not a bunch of different group texts. I'm watching @Bonfire's work on federated groups closely, and suspect their "Community" flavor may be precisely what I'm looking for when it's ready, but I'm also curious if there are other offerings in this space.
reshared this
I'm looking for the same kind of services. Thanks for pointing to @Bonfire as I was not aware of that.
In my case, I'm actually less interested in self-hosting (although I certainly could). I'm really looking for a hosted service that could provide the kind of services you mention.
And I'd be fine to even pay some basic amount. (I would pay for a server to self-host anyway.) My issue is that services where I could do this before have started charging a LOT or drowning things in ads.
reshared this
surely, we will be able to make up 5 runs in (checks notes) a single inning
lunch today: sloppy chorizo-potato tacos. cheddar griddled onto corn tortillas, a spread of chipotle mayo, the soyrizo-potato blend, red onions, more cheddar, cilantro.
yummmmm.
I came home right as Muñoz began pitching and the score was 6-2 Mariners. It looked like they were an easy 3 outs from victory.
THIS DAMN TEAM. 😫
Hypolite Petovan likes this.
I'll be sharing this to the Little Pixel Library once I get it up on my website, but I finished this today and am excited to share.
There was a website that held a library of common elements of modern UI/web app design, assessed for their attentional harm or addictive qualities. I don't remember if it had these exact items, but you would find things like "infinite scroll" and "notification badges" on there, along with research and recommended best practices.
Does anyone know what it is I'm thinking of?
reshared this
I learned last night that you can make I Can't Believe It's Not Umeboshi from apricots, and this is going on my projects list for this year next to starting a nukadoko bed.
#pickling #fermentation #fermenting #japanesefood
No Japanese ume? No problem. Here's how to recreate that classic umeboshi flavor with apricots you can find anywhere.Hav...…Japanmcconnell
#3GoodThings from today:
1. Walking around Queen Anne and listening to the birds singing. I stopped a couple times just to watch a nearby songbird, including one tiny friend who had made a nest out of moss in a tree. I would have walked right past.
2. Listening, on the radio, to the #Mariners taking Houston to town as we drove back down the I-5 corridor.
3. Friends who graciously took our request for help and made us dinner so that when we arrived back home, we didn't have to strain to fit cooking in the evening's schedule.
like this
reshared this
Bonuses:
4. Spotting two barred owls in our friends' backyard trees
5. Meeting all sorts of interesting tropical birds at the Woodland Park Zoo
Very birb.
like this
#selfhosting reshared this.
like this
I just learned of Disroot (@disroot@nixnet.social).
What a cool project. I hope I can one day set up a local cloud co-op doing something similar.
like this
Does anyone have a system or method for managing digital calendars, some shared, in a way that doesn't, like, make you want to scream?
My wife and I each have our own Google Calendars. I'm trying to use my Nextcloud calendar more as the default. We also have a shared joint calendar for family activities... where I also sometimes schedule my own stuff just for visibility. We have a calendar for my daughter's school, and I have one for my work, which affects my busy/not busy status.
It all feels so crazy-making and disorganized. I want simplicity and organization. And, like, I know there's sense to be made out there, but I've been living with this hodgepodge system forever and I could use some light from the outside to help me reorient and find a better method.
like this
I kinda want to try switching from Nginx Proxy Manager to Caddy, but the last time I tried to use Caddy as my reverse proxy, I could not get Nextcloud-AIO to properly set up.
Of course I can't just let "good enough" lie...
reshared this
Went out and pruned the blueberries in the sun while the Goblin napped. I'm about a month late here; March (and especially the last week) have been so sunny, the bushes have not only budded, but even started putting on leaves and a couple flowers. These bushes both need a more aggressive pruning than I gave them today—their tallest branches are as tall as me—but since they already have leaves, I didn't want to cut them back so far that they struggled.
It's been two years since we got a good harvest; last year, we both transplanted them and pruned them, so they were too shocked to put on any fruit in their new home. Next year, I'll have to catch them earlier so I can prune them back further.
Having blueberries in our yard is such a blessing.
like this
It's so weird how when I try to navigate to the page in my ISP's customer portal where I can review the contracts we've agreed to, that page consistently gives me a "We're having trouble connecting to My Account" error.
How coincidentally weird, Xfinity! How strange!
And calling the ISP just directs me into a "conversation" with an LLM with artificially generated speech
I hate every moment of this
#3GoodThings from today:
1. Today's service at my UU congregation, both the sermon itself (a meditation on the poetry of Mary Oliver) and the richness of being in a community with so many people.
2. The Goblin's coy smile when she was blinking the nap from her eyes and spotted me watching her.
3. Actually remembering to mount my drive after dismounting and fscking it. I always forget this step, then I reboot and things are unsurprisingly broken.
like this
reshared this
It was just this weekend that I read Cal Newport's advice in Digital Minimalism to schedule yourself "office hours" when you're open to drop-in conversations with friends. A day later, I saw not one but two folks who had their own office (or "un-office") hours listed on their personal webpages.
Well, I guess the universe was tryna send me a message, so I put a couple office hour blocks on my calendar this week and just got off the phone with a good friend. Turns out, talking to someone for an hour is a much nicer diversion than YouTube shit when washing the dishes and putting the house to bed.
Hypolite Petovan likes this.
I really hope @Bonfire succeeds in their vision for federated groups. This is so important for the fediverse and I can envision many use cases in my own life.
Sadly, I'm not in a financial position to support them right now, but I hope I will be sometime soon.
Federated groups in Bonfire will be spaces where communities gather to organise, care, and coordinate across the fediverse.bonfirenetworks.org
reshared this
As a hard leftist and gadget lover, the idea that my political ideology is synonymous with hating technology is confusing. Every leftist I know has a hard-on for high speed rail or mRNA vaccines. But the “left is missing out” blog positions generative AI as the only technology that matters.
Techno-cynics are all just wounded techno-optimists.Gita Jackson (Aftermath)
53MB of source code leaked from a government endpoint. 269 verification checks. biometric face databases. SAR filings to FinCEN. and the same company that verifies your ChatGPT account.vmfunc.re
like this
reshared this
Hey, #cooking friends.
My wife has a habit that has never made sense to me: when she starts cooking on the stove, she often adds the first-step ingredients (like garlic, onion, etc.) to the cold pan with the oil, then heats them up together. This is in contrast to my approach, which is to heat the pan and oil and then add ingredients.
This goes against all my "this is how Cooking is done" senses, but I've realized I don't have a solid, fact-based argument as to why one should heat the oil first. I could probably sputter something about absorbing oil and cooking at a consistent temperature, but it's not exactly a very honed argument.
Is there such a reason?
I remember learning to heat the pan, then put the oil in, then put the stuff in from the show Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.
I don't remember the rationale though.
I think you should each cook the same dish with your different methods and have a third person arrange a blind taste test for you two and see which you prefer. 😁
Hypolite Petovan likes this.
Preheating the pan stops food from sticking but garlic and onion never sticks for me so I don't think in this case it makes any difference.
Taking this further my mother would always follow recipe steps correctly while her sister just turned on the heat, chucked everything into the pot at once, and put the lid on. My mother hated that it was usually just as good.
Spencer likes this.
I want to find #gamedesign resources for designing the artificial, algorithmic systems that govern a computer opponent's decision-making.
For as long as I've kniwn these have been known collectively as "AI", as in "pathfinding AI" or "enemy AI", and, well, you can see what my problem is in 2026.
Hypolite Petovan likes this.
Spencer
in reply to Spencer • •Spencer
in reply to Spencer • •Spencer
in reply to Spencer • •Spencer
in reply to Spencer • •I don't hate this premise. It's a relatively contemporary script—I think it was first performed in 2018 or 2019—and the setting is contemporary as well. Following a group of four women in the latter halves of their lives as they reflect upon their earliest sexual experiences could actually be an interesting vehicle to explore how we change not only as individuals, but how a culture can change over the decades as well. And of course, sex is a subject that's always rife with meaning, from matters of love, intimacy, and vulnerability, to bodily autonomy and the right to pleasure, to the political power of women in a sexist society, and far more beyond.
Like the Star Wars prequel trilogy, I can see glimpses of a powerful, compelling piece of art with thought-provoking themes... but what was actually produced bears scant resemblance to that fantasy.
Spencer
in reply to Spencer • •Instead, as written, "The Lost Virginity Tour" is as clumsy as a first time, and not nearly as endearing. I mentioned the jokes were accompanied by all but the characters pausing and asking, "GET IT?"; but the script was equally uncomfortable with entrusting its audience to suss out themes on their own.
In the fifth scene (the play starts with a baking club meeting at the retirement community, then jumps into a series of four road trip stops, one for each woman), the playwright twice repeats what I guess is the "moral" of the story, that all the women wish they'd waited until marriage like Rita did. Twice! And with all the subtlety of a Saturday-morning PSA about recycling inserted between cartoons.
The script strives for heavy drama at times but does none of the work to earn it. It wants us to care about this friend group, but the characters are so busy quipping at each other that there's no room for true personalities to emerge. We're shown the women's histories through their virginity tours, where they each recollect their first time, but the script is hardly writte
... Show more...Instead, as written, "The Lost Virginity Tour" is as clumsy as a first time, and not nearly as endearing. I mentioned the jokes were accompanied by all but the characters pausing and asking, "GET IT?"; but the script was equally uncomfortable with entrusting its audience to suss out themes on their own.
In the fifth scene (the play starts with a baking club meeting at the retirement community, then jumps into a series of four road trip stops, one for each woman), the playwright twice repeats what I guess is the "moral" of the story, that all the women wish they'd waited until marriage like Rita did. Twice! And with all the subtlety of a Saturday-morning PSA about recycling inserted between cartoons.
The script strives for heavy drama at times but does none of the work to earn it. It wants us to care about this friend group, but the characters are so busy quipping at each other that there's no room for true personalities to emerge. We're shown the women's histories through their virginity tours, where they each recollect their first time, but the script is hardly written in a way that allows us to see them in a new light, illuminated by the past. The characterization is so thin, and the monologues so unrooted, that they have all the emotional relevance of a Wikipedia plot summary. And once they have the heartfelt moment to cap off the experience, the women exit for the next stop on the tour, and by the time that scene begins, they've completely forgotten about whatever realization they just had, at least as far as their behavior and motivations are concerned.
Spencer
in reply to Spencer • •In the first act, after learning that Kitty's high-class, white parents blackmailed her into breaking up with her first love because he was Mexican, the four women rescue Kitty from her guilt by surrounding her and forcing her to chant, "I forgive Kitty!" with them.
In the second act, Viola's lifelong trauma over having been raped is also made better with a group hug.
The script at least has the good sense to not make these feel-good "come to Jesus" moments perfect in their outcomes—Viola continues to express heartbreak and self-blame—but they are the emotional climaxes of their respective scenes. They are presented dramatically as the resolutions to the women's anguish, guilt, and torment.
The script wants us to believe that the power of friendship can truly heal any wound, but it happens so quickly, relies on relationships that are told to us rather than embodied, and the characters revert so quickly to exactly who they were at the top of the script (usually as soon as the next scene begins) that nothing feels real. It all feels like h
... Show more...In the first act, after learning that Kitty's high-class, white parents blackmailed her into breaking up with her first love because he was Mexican, the four women rescue Kitty from her guilt by surrounding her and forcing her to chant, "I forgive Kitty!" with them.
In the second act, Viola's lifelong trauma over having been raped is also made better with a group hug.
The script at least has the good sense to not make these feel-good "come to Jesus" moments perfect in their outcomes—Viola continues to express heartbreak and self-blame—but they are the emotional climaxes of their respective scenes. They are presented dramatically as the resolutions to the women's anguish, guilt, and torment.
The script wants us to believe that the power of friendship can truly heal any wound, but it happens so quickly, relies on relationships that are told to us rather than embodied, and the characters revert so quickly to exactly who they were at the top of the script (usually as soon as the next scene begins) that nothing feels real. It all feels like hollow, artificial drama.
Spencer
in reply to Spencer • •And not only do the characters not change, except to say, "I love you girls" and decide they're absolute BFFs, the script won't even properly name their conflicts after their big dramatic moments.
In Act 2, Kitty's monologue, she confesses that she broke up with her first love, a Mexican boy named Mario, under coercive pressure from her wealthy white parents. In Act 5, while the script has her trying to deliver some sort of moral, Nina describes this as "class warfare".
And in Act 4, Viola dramatically admits she was raped (downstage center, with a spotlight on her), but Nina's summary in Act 5 won't use that word, instead saying she was "sexually assaulted". Yes, that's accurate, but taken with the rest of the script, it doesn't merely feel like a different word choice, it feels like another example of this script's unwillingness to hold our gaze. Viola used the word "rape" for the bombshell dramatic moment in Act 4, but by Act 5, they've already hugged about it and moved on to Elaine's story—using the word again would highlight how nothing had actually been res
... Show more...And not only do the characters not change, except to say, "I love you girls" and decide they're absolute BFFs, the script won't even properly name their conflicts after their big dramatic moments.
In Act 2, Kitty's monologue, she confesses that she broke up with her first love, a Mexican boy named Mario, under coercive pressure from her wealthy white parents. In Act 5, while the script has her trying to deliver some sort of moral, Nina describes this as "class warfare".
And in Act 4, Viola dramatically admits she was raped (downstage center, with a spotlight on her), but Nina's summary in Act 5 won't use that word, instead saying she was "sexually assaulted". Yes, that's accurate, but taken with the rest of the script, it doesn't merely feel like a different word choice, it feels like another example of this script's unwillingness to hold our gaze. Viola used the word "rape" for the bombshell dramatic moment in Act 4, but by Act 5, they've already hugged about it and moved on to Elaine's story—using the word again would highlight how nothing had actually been resolved!
Spencer
in reply to Spencer • •It is certainly A Choice to, in the Year of Our Lord 2018, write a monologue delivered by a white woman in a cast of four white women about how her parents' racism hurt her, and not only give her a touching group healing beat but also refuse to ever feature or further explore Mario's story.
The road trip framing device is apt. These women are tourists to their own lives. They drop into an unfamiliar (to three of them) location, hear a story, and drink wine. Whatever the history, it only matters insomuch as it matters to them, and it will stop mattering by the time they get back to the interstate. Will Kitty try to make amends with Mario? Will Viola seek out her daughter Lori, who she gave up for adoption? Will Elaine look for her true love, Carl—especially when she learns he's still waiting for her?
The answer to all of these questions is "no", because "Lost Virginity Tour" is devoid of life outside of the four cast members. This is particularly apparent in Pentacle's production, where the only other humanoid figures are the AI-generated imag
... Show more...It is certainly A Choice to, in the Year of Our Lord 2018, write a monologue delivered by a white woman in a cast of four white women about how her parents' racism hurt her, and not only give her a touching group healing beat but also refuse to ever feature or further explore Mario's story.
The road trip framing device is apt. These women are tourists to their own lives. They drop into an unfamiliar (to three of them) location, hear a story, and drink wine. Whatever the history, it only matters insomuch as it matters to them, and it will stop mattering by the time they get back to the interstate. Will Kitty try to make amends with Mario? Will Viola seek out her daughter Lori, who she gave up for adoption? Will Elaine look for her true love, Carl—especially when she learns he's still waiting for her?
The answer to all of these questions is "no", because "Lost Virginity Tour" is devoid of life outside of the four cast members. This is particularly apparent in Pentacle's production, where the only other humanoid figures are the AI-generated image of a friendly mechanic that flashes onto the backdrop for 15 seconds during a scene change, and the students in the AI-generated college campus backdrop, two of which were inexplicably Facebook Bitmojis. "Lost Virginity Tour" is written with a lonely solipsism masquerading as white female empowerment: no one exists except the Bake Club women, who, without fail, meet every opportunity to reach out to other humans with excuses and withdrawal.
Spencer
in reply to Spencer • •Again, I'm struck with the thought that this could make for excellent storytelling! All it would take would be an author who is willing to be slightly critical of the suburban wine mom fantasy. Because there is something to be said about how the women's sorority gives them a feeling of empowerment and belonging even while they are actively making choices to retreat from the uncomfortable business of living in community.
But that's not what "Lost Virginity Tour" does. It has nary a whiff of critical awareness. There are no consequences. And as a result, it reads as an earnest celebration of these characters' selfishness. As far as the script is concerned, every choice they make is the right one.
Spencer
in reply to Spencer • •Moving beyond that, the script cannot contain its contradictions.
In essence, it is four monologues. Naturally, each monologue wants to feel a little different, so the show has a tonal range and doesn't feel repetitive. But it is being presented as a whole play, and that brings some expectations, like a plot, or character development. This would require more connective tissue, though, and the script doesn't give us that. We never see the women at a diner between stops, or crammed in the car together bickering over what to put on the radio. Hell, the script doesn't even allude to things happening between scenes! The most we get is the opening scene at the retirement community, but since nothing more is given as the play progresses, instead of characters, we get walking backstories.
Without the connective tissue of plot or character, the disparate monologues pull in their own directions and fragment the script. We go from Rita's raunchy, raucous recounting of a first time featuring a fire alarm to intermission, and when we come back, it's Viola's admission
... Show more...Moving beyond that, the script cannot contain its contradictions.
In essence, it is four monologues. Naturally, each monologue wants to feel a little different, so the show has a tonal range and doesn't feel repetitive. But it is being presented as a whole play, and that brings some expectations, like a plot, or character development. This would require more connective tissue, though, and the script doesn't give us that. We never see the women at a diner between stops, or crammed in the car together bickering over what to put on the radio. Hell, the script doesn't even allude to things happening between scenes! The most we get is the opening scene at the retirement community, but since nothing more is given as the play progresses, instead of characters, we get walking backstories.
Without the connective tissue of plot or character, the disparate monologues pull in their own directions and fragment the script. We go from Rita's raunchy, raucous recounting of a first time featuring a fire alarm to intermission, and when we come back, it's Viola's admission to being raped. It's a tonal mess.