Saturday 28 November 2020

Uncanny Valley

https://amzn.to/2J8FzSk

I spent all day Thursday, i.e. Thanksgiving, finishing John Boyne's book "The Heart's Invisible Furies": https://amzn.to/2V9VhyS It's not new, as a matter of fact it came out in 2017, but it was rated one of the best books of that year and I'm all about research and I discovered it and reserved it at the library. I've seen the light, Libby is a great resource. Not for new books, not usually anyway, I'll get to that, but for the old. Sure, you can't get every book immediately, then again how necessary is instant gratification when the book's in the rearview mirror anyway? And a few months after I reserved "The Heart's Invisible Furies" it became available, and I started reading it and loving it, told Felice she had to dive in, and then I got to the dinner party scene and I was wondering... But then the book picked right up again and I was caught up in its world, I could see why it had a four and a half star rating on Amazon, with 3,271 reviews. If you're on the fence, if you're not sure, the number of reviews crossed with the star value is a good indicator of whether something is worth reading. For the record, most books are not worth reading, even the vaunted ones. And I won't say everything popular is worth your while, but if you're interested, data is helpful. Once again, I don't want to waste any time with substandard fare, ergo my research re books and streaming series. I'd like to say the same thing about music, but that doesn't square, maybe because the barrier to entry is so low, you can hear songs in a matter of minutes and everybody has an opinion and few can articulate it eloquently.

So, if you're looking for something to take you away, remove you from this rough and tumble world, with insight and fun and even gravitas at times, check out "The Heart's Invisible Furies." But it is not a must-read, whereas "Uncanny Valley" is. After completing the Boyne book I picked up "Uncanny Valley" and read it in a day, could not put it down, not that I believe everyone else will feel the same way, because if you're not part of the educated elite, or the tech-driven dropout cohort, if you don't follow the Silicon Valley comings and goings on a regular basis you will not know what Anna Wiener is talking about. But ain't that today's America, a dividing line between those who know and those who do not. But in this case, those who do not are employing all the tech Silicon Valley and its ilk are purveying, so...

"Uncanny Valley" came out nearly a year ago, January 14, 2020. And it was reviewed everywhere, but I wasn't sure I needed to read it, because the premise was not new, woman in tech world tells her story. But for some reason, newspapers are now releasing their Top Ten book lists, even though there's a month left in the year, then again what books are yet to be released, and the "New York Times" put "Uncanny Valley" in their Top Ten.

Not that I wanted to buy it. So I went to Libby and I could download it IMMEDIATELY! That confounded me, wasn't this a hot book? Or was it that readers hadn't caught on to the "Times" endorsement yet or..?

And on really hot books, you get a week, but I could have "Uncanny Valley" for twenty one days. But, needless to say, I didn't require that entire window.

So, Anna Wiener is in book publishing. A more backward, self-righteous entertainment enterprise you cannot find. And what immediately endeared me to this book was that Wiener admitted it! She and her fellow liberal arts majors had moved to Brooklyn where they were employed as assistants in publishing, an industry which felt it held the moral high ground, which felt felt superior to the moneygrubbers, where paying your dues was seen as part of the process. However, Wiener was broke, and there was no upward mobility on the horizon, she'd been an assistant for three years already, so, she decided to dive into tech. "Uncanny Valley" is her story.

At times I was prepared to wince, because it seemed Wiener was about to embrace the highfalutin', elitist attitude of those who work in publishing in New York City, wherein their suffering is admirable and their viewpoint is superior to everyone else's and tech is the devil. But she never quite fell off the precipice. This was very much a personal journey, Wiener was giving her own personal perspective...was she fulfilled, was she missing out on life working so hard, BUT SHE DID LIKE THE MONEY!

Bottom line, do you sacrifice your powers of soft analysis, about people and feelings, to get on the tech gravy train, to have disposable income, to feel part of something?

And Wiener acknowledges that the tech peak is past. But she also delineates all those from other walks of life, like lawyers, who took entry level jobs just to get in the door. Then again, who wants to be a lawyer?

But Wiener has no technical skills, she doesn't know how to code, so she constantly feels like an impostor, and is seen as a second-class citizen by the tech bros.

Not all of them are bros, Wiener makes this clear, but most of them...

For about ten years there, especially after the launch of Apple's App Store, everyone felt like they could do it, they could create something that would lead to endless riches. But Wiener talks about how hard it truly is. Most of the tech leaders decided on their path in high school and have been following it ever since, working nearly 24/7 and not always succeeding. The CEO of one of the companies she works for, who is a soft-voiced Vince Lombardi, ultimately walks away from the company he started as a result of burnout. Oh, did I tell you the VCs who invested in his company also invested in a competitor? Talk about loyalty.

So, Wiener starts on the east coast. At a startup, she's one of the earliest hires. But she doesn't get it, at this level the honchos expect you to create your own job and execute it. For those used to education, jumping through hoops, this is a challenge they can't even see. Work is different from school. Those people with all the money without college degrees, never mind graduate degrees, have something special that too often the highly educated do not. You can't teach entrepreneurship. And if you don't know how to pivot, to sacrifice sunk costs, you'll have a hard time running a tech business. Students invest in their education, it's a timeline for a resume. Then again, entrepreneurs need no resume, they're starting from scratch, operating by their wits.

And Wiener moves to San Francisco and is coasting. Making that buck, primarily providing customer support. But you have to be DWTC at the company, or you're gone. DWTC is "Down with the cause." If you're not committed, 110%, if you're not willing to work on the weekends, sacrifice your personal life, there's no room for you. So Wiener keeps working harder and harder until she jumps.

Meanwhile, she lives the life of a twentysomething. She has a boyfriend, in tech too, she does Ecstasy, she attends raves...if you're not willing to test limits, you probably shouldn't live in San Francisco, California at all.

And her friends back in Brooklyn are still broke, cheering each other on in their low-level arts endeavors. Then again, so many are living on the dole, daddy's money, that income is secondary, it's hard to compete with those with endless unpaid internships.

So Wiener keeps questioning herself. Is this life working for her or not? Are the people involved good or bad? One thing's for sure, most of the tech bros are one-dimensional, they can do this and little more. But they believe they're well-rounded and know everything.

So Wiener doesn't excoriate the tech business, she just wonders if it's for her. Does it fit her needs and desires. But, and here's a big but, MOST PEOPLE DON'T GET TO ASK THIS QUESTION!

I'm not putting Wiener down for this whatsoever, I'm just drawing a line between those highly educated, the so-called "elite," and everybody else. Once again, I don't think everybody else can even read this book, they won't get the references. For whatever reason, Wiener doesn't name names. Probably for fear of lawsuits, as a result of NDAs and such. And even if you're paying attention to techworld, you still might not be able to figure out what companies she's actually talking about at times. In other words, "Uncanny Valley" will go over most people's heads. But never forget, these are the people creating modern America. The government is truly clueless when it comes to tech, even candidates, all these years on many Democrats still don't know how to employ the web to get their message out, never mind get ahead of the curve and regulate it.

I don't want to tell you the entire story. Then again, "Uncanny Valley" is less about facts than feelings, in a world where you're supposed to stuff your feelings down and follow the money. Of course there are those who do the opposite of this, reject technology in general, but they're just taking themselves off the game board of life. If you're not familiar with the landscape, you have no impact upon it.

And, of course, as you read the book you start to wonder, to what degree are you caught up in the techies' web.

Let me give you some quotes.

"'Look up sick systems,' said Noah. 'Look up trauma bonding. It's the culty thing: keep people busy until they forget about the parts of their life they left behind.'"

One of the best parts of the book is when Noah stands up for himself, tries to get what he deserves. But his point here is you can drink the kool-aid and feel good about yourself as part of the cult, but in the end is that all you have, your role at the company?

"'...all the money from the internet comes from surveillance."

And there you have it folks. You surf, anywhere and everywhere, and people get rich by hoovering up your movements and slicing and dicing and selling the data. Forget entering your credit card info, all the stuff you think is personal, you've already sacrificed your IDENTITY by going online.

"The endgame was the same for everyone: Growth at any cost. Scale above all. Disrupt, then dominate."

Domination doesn't get enough ink. If you're not dominant in tech, you're about to be disrupted, overthrown. Apple built its colossus by owning the portable music player sphere. Google owns search. Amazon owns commerce. Try and compete with them and they'll either buy you or shut you down. This is not art, this is a zero-sum game.

"People whose default conversational mode was debate."

This is what I miss in life, especially in a world where money trumps all. Wiener attributes this to males, but I attribute it to elite education. Anyone can know the facts, but what do you have to say about them?

"The internet was a collective howl, an outlet for everyone to prove that they mattered."

BINGO! Never articulated better. There used to a higher class, those above you, but the internet flattened society and gave you access and everyone is pissed and taking others down.

"Everything was simultaneously happening in real time and preserved for posterity, in perpetuity."

That's the internet, there's a permanent record. Most people never check it, but if they have a need or desire to, there it is.

"My brain had become a trash vortex, representations upon representations."

We surf endlessly. The apps are created to maintain our attention. We can't resist. We're collecting info 24/7, do we need to know all this, will we fall behind if we don't, are we addicted?

"I was always looking for the emotional narrative, the psychological explanation, the personal history."

That's me! I want to gather the facts, but then I want to create context, how did this happen, what does it mean, where do we go from here? Once again, they teach this in elite institutions, that's all they're about. Most of America is never exposed to these concepts of analysis, and pooh-pooh them when the arrive. But, in a world of zeros and ones, soft skills like this are sidelined, they're seen as having little value.

"The person with the yearning was me."

Can you stifle it? Your feelings, your needs, who you are? Do you have the courage to jump ship?

That's what "Uncanny Valley" is ultimately about. Sure, you get an inside look at tech startups and how they work, in detail, but now that you're in the belly of the beast you must ask yourself, is this where I want to be, are these the people to be lionized and followed?

So, once again, this is not a beginner's book, this is not "Tech Startups for Dummies," this is not a 101 class, but more like a 301. You don't have to be an expert, but to fully appreciate it you must have some miles under your wheels. And if you do, reading "Uncanny Valley" will be a very rewarding experience. If you don't...I advise you get up to speed and read it, because it's these people who are steering not only our country, but our entire world.


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple
: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --

Bruce Hornsby In Relix

"'What I owe an audience is what I'm most passionate about at the time,' he says, 'And if I'm just going through the motions and saying 'Here's that one from this year and here's this one from this year,' I'm doing a disservice to my audience.'"

Are you an artist or an entertainer?

"Relix" used to be the Grateful Dead magazine, but over the years it has expanded, first into all jam band music, then to so much more. Yes, unlike "Rolling Stone," or even "Billboard," "Relix" is about music, throughout. However, pick up an issue and I doubt you'll be familiar with even half of the acts, if that. You see there's a parallel scene to the Spotify Top 50, made up of acts into it for the music first, who are supported on the road by fans. These acts don't complain, they just put their heads down and experiment, the rest of the music business ignores them, and that's just fine with these creators.

Which brings me to the Grammys. A little history for you folks, it wasn't until Mike Greene came along about thirty years ago that the Grammys gained any gravitas whatsoever. Prior to that it was a TV show for oldsters and for youngsters it was a constant laugh, the greats were ignored and the inconsequential lauded. It was a badge of honor NOT to be nominated for a Grammy, never mind win. But a decade ago, Mike Greene was ousted and replaced by Neil Portnow. Portnow was a tool of the labels, that's where he paid his dues. Unlike Greene, Portnow didn't stand up to anyone on the inside, never mind anyone on the outside, like New York, as Greene famously did. Portnow was brought in to calm the waters, unfortunately during his tenure the popular music business changed completely, and he and his organization missed it. Yes, the last ten years have been the heyday of hip-hop. Unlike the wankers voting for the Grammys, rappers got online early, as did their audience, and moved forward while those in the Grammy organization stayed in their self-satisfied backwater. But cracks started to appear in the organization so they brought in a woman, Deborah Dugan, to bring the organization into the modern era, and they didn't like that she exercised her power and then excised her. And the result? This year's Grammy nominations, which satisfy almost no one. Entire categories are female only. The Weeknd was ignored. It's like they read the press, but did not live in the real world. They miscalculated. Whereas they always picked heritage artists and hip-hop complained, now it's like they skipped over what's happening to look hip, which the Grammys never were, nominating acts that most of the public has never heard of, with little commercial success, illustrating the organization is just clueless, can we just ignore it, most people do, the ratings for the awards show keep sinking and the so-called "Grammy Bounce" evaporated years ago.

So...

Do you give the people what they want or do you do what you want to do? Do you play to the masses, are you compromised by people's expectations, or do you continue to explore, do what you feel is right? Isn't that why you became an artist to begin with, to live the anti-life, to get away from the man, do it your way and succeed?

And yes, most acts don't succeed. The "Relix" acts survive, there's a scene to support them, but most acts follow trends and are also-rans at best. And then there are those so outside the system that they're ignored by almost everybody. As long as they don't complain, that's fine, but that's not today's ethos, today EVERYBODY complains, the internet is a giant consumer affairs desk, everybody has an opinion and everybody is bitching except when they're selling, on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok or whatever the platform du jour happens to be. And very little of what the so-called "influencers" purvey is art. It's pure commerce, the goal is to make money, and I've got no problem with that, as long as it's not exalted as the only goal, the only metric.

And then there are acts that grab the brass ring. What happens to them? Oh, you could be nominated for a Grammy for a song that almost no one has heard, based on your name alone and past injustices, or you can go on the road playing your hits to an ever-aging and ever-decreasing audience or...

You can continue to explore, you can try to recapture the magic of what made your music so appealing in the first place.

But be prepared for blowback.

"'I used to be a little meaner about it than I am now, maybe snarky about it.'"

Your so-called biggest fans are the ones who abhor your changes, who reach out and piss on you again and again. How dare you not give them what they want, you need to stay exactly the same, as their lives change. Then again, in music, fans believe they are in charge, that it's your duty to play the hits. And if you don't, they won't come, that'll show you. But the truth is if you're big enough, if you're good enough, you've got a hard core who still care, who will still support you.

"'My hardcore fans don't give a rat's ass whether I play those old hits or not. Frankly, they'd prefer it if I didn't play them. They would prefer that I play songs that are more adventurous and more subject to development and searching - that's what they want to hear.'"

There is no center anymore, just a giant smorgasbord. So, on one level, the Grammys have it right, we need endless categories to cover the spectrum of music. However, don't get me started with the nominating process, akin to the Facebook algorithms, tweaked by the organization for the benefit of the organization, not its users. In other words, the big are nowhere near as big as they used to be. Even the Weeknd...a lot of the world has never heard his music and doesn't care about it, like the "Relix" crowd. These people may even deride the fact that Abel works with the hitmakers du jour, where it's more about them than him. They want acts to express their unfiltered message from their souls. As for mistakes, those are cool, they evidence exploration, trying, if you're not willing to fail, you can't truly succeed.

There's business in playing the oldies to the oldsters, and if you're into that, on either side of the stage, that's cool with me. Although I must admit, the people who go to see the same act do the same music every tour is head-scratching. I guess there's so much in life I haven't experienced that I don't want to take up time with repeats. These acts are slaves to their audiences. Sure, listeners don't want to hear new music, it's the equivalent of an extended drum solo, time to take a pee, but that does not mean you should stop testing the limits. But that's hard for superstars, even stars. They believed if they made it their lives would work, and when they didn't, when all their problems were not fixed by their success, they couldn't do it anymore, they couldn't recapture the magic that led to their hits in the first place. Maybe it's best to have never become a big star, to always be searching, sure, you're gonna have less money, but your career, your identity, your life is gonna be your own.

And you've only got one. Do you really want to be on your deathbed lamenting that you did it their way, not yours? Once again, if you're into it for the commerce, the branding, the perks, you give 'em what they want. But if you're an artist, you do it your way. Especially in this internet era where failures are forgiven. Used to be a stiff cratered your momentum and put you on the downswing, today it's listened to and then ignored and if you do something worthy of attention in the future, people are ready for it. Today you create more music, which satiates fans, you're on an endless hejira... Hell, Joni Mitchell is a perfect example, she never gave the audience what it expected. She didn't shave off her jazz influences, just like Hornsby is not shaving off his modern classical influences. And Neil Young specializes in confounding audience expectations. And despite the naysayers over the decades, he's revered as a god, despite the commercial failures.

Sure, I could come out with platitudes like be true to yourself, but either you're an artist or you're not. If you are an artist, I'm here to tell you that now, more than ever, it's hard to do it your way. Because the audience has a voice and the press is clueless. You're on your own. And talk to anybody on the receiving end of feedback. It's the haters who are loudest, and oftentimes it's more about their personal frustrations than your "failings." Their lives aren't working, they didn't take any risks, so they want to drag you down into the hole they're in. If you're listening to consumer feedback today, you're doomed. The satiated are either sycophants or rarely reply. But the complainers are out in full force, having you question yourself and your work, it takes a lot of strength to ignore them.

So Bruce Hornsby is a beacon. He chucked his Top Forty career to play with the Grateful Dead, garnering a whole new audience which has kept him alive to this day. It looked like a wrong turn at the time, but in retrospect it was genius, not that it was all premeditated, Hornsby just wanted to play with the Dead, damn his advisers. The artist always knows best, especially in music, where the business people can't create it. And it's what resonates in the heart of the maker that resonates in the heart of the listener. One true fan is more rewarding than five casual listeners. You're looking for people who get it, who get you, who will follow you.

But first you must lead.

Try your best not to be afraid.


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple
: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --

Friday 27 November 2020

L.A. Locks Down

"The new order, which will be in effect until at least Dec. 20, advises residents to stay at home as much as possible, always wear a covering outside the home, and prohibits all public and private gatherings except for constitutionally-protected church services and protests.

https://cbsloc.al/37bT7o4

What, are they going to pray the virus away?
You've got to listen to this podcast, it's positively riveting:

"The Myth of the Supreme Court": https://bit.ly/3fI52xs

The host can be a bit of a bozo, great at reading scripts, but not so great at an intellectual convo with the eloquent and highly listenable guest, Eric J. Segall, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State. Yes, not every jurist has to be from an Ivy League school. God, I wish I had Segall as a professor, he makes the subject INTERESTING!

And what Segall says is the Supreme Court is political, plain and simple, and always has been. And yesterday, our latest Supreme Court slapped Andrew Cuomo down for disallowing worship, religious gatherings in masses, and it's not all just Evangelical Christians, it's Orthodox Jews too.

INSANE!

Segall also says the Court is self-correcting. If it gets too far ahead or behind the public, it changes. Which is why Roberts refused to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare," and was in the minority in Wednesday night's ruling.

Now I guess the Supreme Court is aligned with the 74 million who voted for Trump, but what about the 80 million who voted for Biden?

And while I'm giving instructions, let me whip out another one for you, watch this:

"New Rule: The Great Disappointment": https://bit.ly/37lc3km

Bottom line, Bill Maher says we need CATHERINE OXENBERG to bring the Trump voters back to reality.

Yes, Oxenberg got her daughter out of NXIVM, a cult, with its own beliefs, go against Keith Raniere and you're going to be buried in legal paper by the deep pockets of his Bronfman adherents. Right has no chance against money in litigation. Trumpers are members of a cult, and Bill says instead of excoriating them, we need to have sympathy for them, we need to deprogram them. And let's not forget, if you're an elected official on the right and you try to be reasonable, go against Trumpism, you're primaried out of office. So, no one stood up to Trump's inane claim that he won the election and his refusal to concede. As for his speech yesterday about agreeing to step down if the Electoral College says so...that's a big if in Trumpland, and if he didn't believe he could overturn the result, he just would have conceded there and then. Unlike a talented authoritarian, Trump didn't fix the election before it took place, even though he and his party apparatchiks tried to, by suppressing the vote, by campaigning against the legality of mail-in ballots, but that does not mean he's played his last card. Once again, don't look to the system. Trump certainly hasn't. Rules are made to be broken, laws too. And if you think Trump is just gonna throw his hands in the air and say he's gonna go...you probably think Michael Flynn needed to be pardoned.

And if you do, you're part of the cult. Not that I expect you to recognize this.

I thought our long national nightmare was over. Biden won. And sure, down the line Democrats did poorly, and I'm fearful about 2022, never mind 2024, but there's a lot you can do with executive orders. As for the Georgia elections... There was a huge gap between Republicans and Democrats in the November 3rd contests, I'm not saying it's impossible for the two Democrats to win, I'm just saying it's improbable. Maybe we need more pessimism on the left, so we will be convinced to take drastic action. As for the foibles of the two Republican candidates...don't you get it, most of the Trump cult will never vote for a Democrat, never ever. Hell, Trump claimed he could shoot someone in broad daylight and get away with it, when are you going to start believing what this guy says?

So, the news hasn't had the same attraction since election week. I don't have to check in with all the news podcasts, I can relax and have a life, and then this Supreme Court decision comes along. Hell, what did you expect, Amy Coney Barrett is a religious fanatic, but the Democrats were afraid to bring up her religion for fear of...exactly what? The ire of people who weren't going to vote Democrat anyway?

This is simple, but can't be executed in today's America. You test and trace, and keep doing so until everybody is vaccinated. But NO!, as John Belushi, subject of a new documentary would say, you've got to let people pray, even though the atheists rule in this country...well, in numbers, if not power.

The news is rife with mass gatherings causing infections. From Trump rallies to Sturgis (although they may be the same thing), from religious gatherings to that wedding in Maine. I mean have you been to Maine? If any place feels safe. Then again, don't the Dakotas qualify for this, there's barely anybody there!

But that's not how science works. But if you're educated and worldly, can parse the truth, you're a pariah to many Americans, to be shunned and ignored.

Which brings me to a third piece of work that I don't recommend as highly as the two above, but it tries to pierce the self-flagellating veil on the left and discern exactly...

"Why Did So Many Americans Vote for Trump? To the dismay of Democrats, the president's strategy of ignoring the pandemic mostly worked for Republicans": https://nyti.ms/3le8tNC

The "New York Times"...it sets the agenda for America. And if you don't know this, you're uninformed. Just watch Fox or MSNBC, they don't stop quoting and reacting to the "Times." The "Times" gathers the news, to a depth no other journalistic operation does. And it's only getting more powerful, recently the "Times" announced it had 6.5 million subscribers, 5.7 million of which are digital. Hell, the "Times" has benefited greatly from the internet, in the old days its weekday subscription numbers barely broke one million. That's right, the big get bigger and if you're bitching about change you're gonna lose your seat at the table. Kind of like Ezra Klein, who followed Ben Smith and Kara Swisher to the "Times" from BuzzFeed and Recode/WSJ respectively. Klein said Vox would be the home of the explanation, the place for those not addicted to the news to catch up. But it turns out not that many people wanted the history, the bite-sized version. And wanting to reach as many people as possible, Klein decamped to the "Times."

There is a need for local news, but the old model does not work. To protect its profit margins the "Los Angeles Times" delivers so little news that if you depend on it for information you're almost as uninformed as those getting their news from Facebook, if not more.

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but unless we admit there's bad news there's no way out of this mess, said not only by the joker to the thief, but from me to you.

STOP arguing with your right wing friends...IGNORE THEM! You're just wasting your time and getting their heels dug in deeper. No, this is a systematic problem that must be fought on many fronts over years. It starts with education, the ability to analyze the news. But even before that comes income inequality. I don't care who's got the money, those at the other end of the spectrum, if they're not playing the lottery, literally or metaphorically, hate them. Sure, you can make it as an entertainer or an athlete, but very few do! Isn't this what internet blowback is all about, everybody now has a megaphone, they're angry and they want to be heard, don't ignore the herd. And we need more fulfilling, better paying jobs. Want to work in an Amazon warehouse, which is akin to Maggie's Farm, but with technology tracing all your steps, with insane production goals that if you meet are just increased?

And California can't even distribute relief funds, did you read that article about hundreds of millions of dollars were sent out in the names of inmates at the Golden State's correctional facilities? The rest of the world is laughing at us. Forty years of selfish economic policy has come back to haunt us, with a dose of internet gone wild thrown in. We didn't put bankers in jail and we haven't put Mark Zuckerberg and his minions in jail. Why don't we start there. He's got plenty of money to clean up Facebook, he just doesn't have an INCENTIVE! But everybody rich and powerful skates in America, the president is caught red-handed, admits to illegality, and isn't even convicted. But if you smoke a joint... And good luck getting an abortion in most states, those are only for the rich.

We need new blood. We have to let the millennials and Gen-Z in. The boomers refuse to give up the reins, and it's hurting our entire nation. AOC is hated by both the left and the right because SHE SPEAKS ENGLISH, which her age group understands. You work like a dog and can't pay the bills, meanwhile your college debt will follow you to the grave.

It was a bizarre holiday. I stayed home alone, but the Mayor of Denver didn't, and there were more people flying than there have been since the pandemic began. So, what chance does a stay at home order have? Not much, because everybody thinks the rules don't apply to them, that they're special, that they won't be caught by the net, in this case Covid-19. And if perhaps they are? They'll be lucky to get a tear from their loved ones who can't even hold a proper funeral as the rest of the self-centered culture ignores them. Yes, if it doesn't happen to you, to people you know, in America it doesn't exist. But I've got to ask you punk, do you feel lucky, do you think the coronavirus won't find you? I don't.


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple
: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --

Thursday 26 November 2020

Danny Zelisko-This Week's Podcast

Danny Zelisko has been a concert promoter for nearly fifty years, and except for an interlude working for Live Nation, they've all been spent as an independent. Danny's got a new book, "All Excess," which details his career in words and pictures. Listen to hear how Danny broke into the Phoenix market and established a toehold in Las Vegas, where over the millennium weekend he lost...a million dollars. Loved by all, Danny is vibrant and engaging and still in the game.

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/danny-zelisko/id1316200737?i=1000500335207

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5eABKSswmOkhM6H07uNbG0?si=TgwXnfQLRP-SpJ61AT333w

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/The-Bob-Lefsetz-Podcast

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple
: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25




-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --