Sloth, Maybe?

It is odd that, after years of training as an artist and a painter, I find more satifaction out of creating art by feeding some keywords into an AI art program called MidJourney.  I was rewarded with fantastic images like the one you see above. Sometimes I feel like a cheat and a fraud.  Other times, I feel nothing but love for the compostition I created with nothing more than "punch card" information. Do I think AI will surpass the artists who draw on millennia of history and years of experience?  No, I do not.  Will art such as the one I "composed" above appear in a gallery or a museum?  The scales tip towards "doubtful." I love this work just the same. - JJB  

I dreamt that I was at a mid-sized theater in early August at an amusement park named Rye Playland.   The theater seats were soon filled with a sizable crowd.   Some of the audience members were shaking my hand and patting me on the back.   Then it occurred to me the production was a musical I wrote:   The Courtship of Inanna and Dumuzi. The curtain draws back.  It reveals King Dumuzi of the kingdom of Uruk seated at a canted desk with a wet clay tablet.   Queen Inanna stands next to him and teases him.   Dumuzi notices his clay tablet is drying.   Inanna and Dumuzi fuss with the tablet to keep it wet.   The pour water on the clay and their regal attire gets soaked.   Soon they begin to flirt in increasingly graphic ways.   I shrank in my seat, hoping that my mother is not present. Finally, Inanna and Dumuzi confess their love for one another.   Dumuzi follows the trope of picking up the very tall Inanna and carrying off to a f...

What began as a dream about the Incredible Hulk became a dream about a young goddess named Vána (a Tolkien Valier).   In this dream she is a goddess of plentiful food and confectionery. The dream begins with David Banner in the process of transforming into the Hulk.   At the same time, I am “editing” the story.   I decide Banner is changing too soon in the story.   He should be rescuing a damsel in distress while trying to avoid a gang of thugs.   Banner finds the damsel trapped in a bedroom on the top floor of a suburban house.   He frees her, but as they go down the steps, the thugs jump them.   They restrain Banner while they run off with the damsel, this triggers Banner’s transformation into the Hulk.   He thrashes the thugs restraining him and he chases down the fleeing car holding the damsel.   Banner pulls the damsel free from the car and carries her off. That evening, they are in bed together.   They did not have sex.   Bann...

Yeah, well... - JJB UP NEXT - Change of topic:  More good news about my Mom.  

I came across Fate / Grand Order in the most roundabout way.   A few months back, I was on Amazon looking for T-shirts bearing the Star of Ishtar as a symbol for my wardrobe.   A pesky algorithm directed me to an action figure of Ishtar bearing an oversized bow and arrow array.   My perception immediately recognized Ishtar’s face as the kind you’d find in an anime series.   As an otaku and amateur mythographer, I tracked down the series in which Ishtar is featured in the TV & Movies section. When Christmas drew close, Susan and I gave each other gifts we knew we’d enjoy.   I gave Susan the DVD of Cop Rock , which I will discuss in the next entry.   Presently, I will discuss her gift to me on BluRay:   Fate / Grand Order - Absolute Demon Front Babylonia (Vols. I and II). You’ll notice that the title of this anime series runs longer than Cop Rock .   I believe that’s because the Japanese still have better long term memories than we do.   F...