AI On The March

From humans @ magica.com

AI will replace your job as soon as it learns to spell and other news from the front

In the AI universe, no one can figure out what The Plan™ is, let alone what it's going to be.

 

 

 

Source: AI Snacks newsletter from magica.com. 

Surprise, surprise! Hate speech is bustin' out all over Substack

 

What I thought was a relatively innocent comment, "Show us the proof," to the assertion that "Paul Krugman has an extremely poor track record with predictions" turned into a demand that I disclose that I am "a jew." Not satisfied to leave it there, another commenter joined in to call me a "faggot boi" based on my Substack posts.

This is the relevant section of the content guidelines: 

Hate 

Substack cannot be used to publish content or fund initiatives that incite violence based on protected classes. Offending behavior includes credible threats of physical harm to people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or medical condition.

Clearly, Substack has a serious harassment/hate speech problem. Report an issue and they promise not to let you know how it was decided. Seriously. They will not share what if any action was taken when you report a content violation. 

So, what's a content creator to do? I can tell you that this one will move all of his posts off Substack and delete his account before it turns into Twittter with subscriptions. 

ETA: I flagged the comments, Tyler from Substack replied, and I responded to his e-mail.

On Thursday, May 28, 2026 at 12:43:05 PM EDT, Substack Support <support@substack.zendesk.com> wrote:#- Please type your reply above this line -##

Hi there,
 
Tyler from Substack Standards and Enforcement here. Thanks for reaching out about this. 
 
We take all reports of violations to our Content Guidelines seriously and thoroughly evaluate them. Though we're unable to disclose specific details about actions taken with publishers on the platform, we'll be taking any steps necessary to ensure publishers adhere to Substack's Terms of Use. Thank you. 
 
Best wishes,

Tyler @ Substack

Hello there, Tyler. Thanks for getting back to me with a vague promise of action that may or not have been taken since you can't tell me what happened.

So publishers have to adhere to the Content Guidelines but comments can contain hate speech and slurs. Got it.

Frankly, I don't see why I should have to tolerate someone calling me a "faggot boi" and Substack not doing anything about it.

 

"Departures": Caught up in a bad romance

 

 

Departures is Pillion without the humor.

The theme song is “Bad Romance,” over and over. I would have walked out if I hadn’t paid for the ticket.

It’s as if your friend with self-esteem issues (Benji, Lloyd Eyre-Morgan) tells you in excruciating detail about the dead-end relationship that just ended. As he tells the story, you can spot every red flag that he ignored but he was so besotted that he just plowed right ahead. As relationships go, it wasn’t much of one, made up of eight marijuana-laced and boozed-up weekends in Amsterdam with an enigmatic 40-something hunk (Jake, David Tag), one a month. From the start, when your friend couldn’t tell if the guy was even gay and he brought a hooker to the apartment soon after they unpacked, it was clear that there was no way it could go on.To no one’s surprise it didn’t, and to your great relief it looked he found a way to get over it. In Greek drama that’s known as a deus ex machina, and here he’s named Kieran.

The usual disclaimer about the characters in the movie not resembling anyone living or dead ends the movie. Since Lloyd Eyre-Morgan is the screenwriter, co-director, and lead I have my doubts.

Finally, I have a bone to pick with New York Times film critic Chris Azzopardi. U.K. distributor Peccadillo Pictures touted Departures as a New York Times Critic’s Pick in a recent email and that made me think I needed to see the movie before it left the IFC Center. Azzopardi wrote, “A voice to watch, Eyre-Morgan wrote Departures and directed it with Neil Ely. The film balances a mordantly funny deconstruction of romance with the harsher realities of gay life: internalized homophobia, body dysmorphia, alcoholism, sexual abuse, parental expectations to be a “happy gay.” It’s a lot, maybe too much for some. Even the camerawork feels confrontational, with tight close-ups and high angles that subjugate Benji. Departures is still tender and winsome, with graphic-novel-style animation lightening the load, but is ultimately punishing in tone. It lives by a truth that might ring familiar for gay men particularly: Humor that cuts deep is a form of survival.”

First of all, there’s nothing funny, let alone “mordantly funny.” And it’s neither tender nor winsome, though it is definitely punishing. I felt undeservedly punished at many points of its 82 minutes that felt more like 102. “Humor that cuts deep is a form of survival”? Puh-leeze, Chris. If you can show me the humor, then we can discuss how it’s a form of survival.

After that review, Chris Azzopardi joins The New Yorker‘s Richard Brody as a critic to ignore. Read the full review here (gift link): ‘Departures’ Review: Finding Levity Amid the Pain.

‘Hamnet,’ starring Jessie Buckley, directed by Chloé Zhao

 ‘Best picture’ Oscar contender saves the best for last

 

Hamnet, though its title may suggest otherwise, is very much Agnes Shakespeare’s (Jessie Buckley) movie, supported by Paul Mescal as Will and the astonishingly precocious Jacobi Jupe as the titular Hamnet. As for what it’s about, think “Scenes from a 17th-century Marriage” meets “Front Row at Hamlet“ and “Front Row at Hamlet“ takes the prize. The “Scenes...” scenes are far less involving, despite the trials and sorrows of the Shakespeares’ marriage.

This may be a minority opinion, but it seemed to me that the pacing of the opening two-thirds was off. Director Chloé Zhao is too methodical in setting up how Will and Agnes meet cute, marry and start a family. Too much of the film’s two-hour-plus running time is devoted to undramatic domestic interaction. Then boom! Out of nowhere Agnes is fighting the plague with herbs and cold compresses. Take away the period setting and it could be about a businessman who spends too much time at the office while his wife is raising the family in the suburbs. Instead, you have William Shakespeare living in London while he establishes himself as a playwright.

After the Elizabethan equivalent of a kitchen-sink play, the action moves from Stratford-on-Avon to London and the dramatic and emotional high point of the film. Agnes learns that Will’s company will premiere a play named after their son, and sets out for the first performance of Hamlet at the Globe, accompanied by her brother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn). There, amidst the groundlings, she sees for apparently the first time what her husband is capable of. And possibly for the first time we see how Shakespeare has taken his grief and put it into the play, a play we thought we knew and understood.

A great part of the emotional impact of the final section comes from Noah Jupe’s understated performance of the excerpts from Hamlet that end the movie. Another standout is Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew. He was always welcome for the gravity and empathy he brought to the scenes he was in. They add ½⭐️ to the Letterboxd star score.

Hamnet is nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories: Motion Picture of the Year, Achievement in Directing, Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Production Design, Costume Design, and Casting. It won Golden Globes for Motion Picture - Drama and Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama for Jessie Buckley.

 

"What could possibly go wrong?"

 Aside from "everything," of course

I rarely disagree with Heather Cox Richardson but I’d say blunders are guaranteed. From what we’ve seen so far from the regime, I’m quite comfortable saying that “Blunders ‘R’ Us” describes their M.O.

Source: Heather Cox Richardson, “Notes from an American,” 1/3/2026

https://open.substack.com/.../heather.../p/january-3-2026...

 

The regime is inspired by Hollywood

 Nothing whatever to do with the Epstein Files     

I knew we’d seen this movie before. By the way, in case you might think so for some odd reason, it has nothing to do with the Epstein Files. You couldn't be more wrong.

 

Today’s dive down a rabbit hole was inspired by Rodger and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, of all things. Oklahoma! is the backdrop for Richard Linklater’s movie about Lorenz Hart, Blue Moon, which takes place at Sardi’s on the night of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical’s premiere. This article in Smithsonian Magazine explores the back story of the musical and Lynn Riggs’ play, Green Grow the Lilacs, that it was based on. It turns out that there are significant links between the musical and gay history, as well as a connection to Hollywood in the 1930s.

Behind "Oklahoma!" lies the remarkable story of gay Cherokee playwright Lynn Riggs