Category: Pop Culture

Would You Like Some AI With That?

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As a Coke drinker (please, no hating from the Pepsi drinkers!), I noticed new flavors in the store. Apparently, they’re being inventive with a new “Creations” platform. In 2023 alone, they’ve created at least seven new varieties of Coke. Instead of your usual Cherry or Lime, they’ve released limited editions of the following. I’ve pulled most of these interesting descriptions straight from their website.

*Starlight: inspired by space. Consumers say it has a raspberry flavor (after a study came out stating that space tastes like raspberries)   https://next.voxcreative.com/ad/20726659/space-taste-like-raspberry-titos-cocktail

*Dreamworld: “tastes like dreams”

*Byte: has a “pixel flavor”

*Ultimate: no description here, but consumers say it tastes like Coke + fruit punch

*Move: co-created with Grammy-award winner Rosalita, it “brings to life the transformational power of music”

*A no-name version co-created with the entertainer Marshmello: it tastes not like marshmallow, which would make sense, but like strawberry and watermelon

*And lastly, the new Y3000: “co-created with AI.” After trying it, I can say it tastes like Coke and Dr. Pepper had a baby.

This last creation, Y3000, made me suspicious because it was co-created with AI. Anything created with AI is like no-calorie sweetener—unhealthy and synthetic.

Artificial intelligence is ubiquitous. It crept into the artistic world creating images “scraped” from the internet and cobbled together—with no recognition given to the original artists. Then the literary world was invaded. A surplus of books written entirely by AI showed up on Amazon. Jane Friedman, a columnist, professor, and writer with twenty-five years in the literary industry, had several books show up on Amazon with her name on them—again, written by AI trained on blog articles she’d written. Amazon eventually pulled them down and is now requiring authors to declare which of their books were written with AI, and if so, by how much. (How many people will be honest about that?) And just yesterday, I read Kindle will be beta testing audiobooks with AI narrators.

Last month, I played around with ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence bot. I asked for poorly written paragraphs for an editing exercise I was planning. On a whim, I asked for a Christian fiction example. What I got didn’t look anything at all like Christian fiction. There was no mention of faith, grace, or mercy, no life-changing events. It mentioned the sun rising and feeling positive as a new day began. I would categorize the paragraph inspirational, although I didn’t find any of the vague drivel truly inspiring.

There has been some worry circulating in the literary world about what this infiltration of AI means for authors. Will we be replaced? How do we “compete” with AI? AI is soulless. It can’t have an existential crises or think about eternity or explain what love feels or looks like. It has no emotion, thought, or sentient properties and only puts out what was put in. It can’t explain the miraculous, the divine, a priceless gift given that isn’t deserved.

This is why we need real authors creating real stories, not some bot spewing words. Original, creative stories don’t have to include perfect characters in a beautiful utopia. But each story can shed a light in a dark place and offer hope to those who might not even know they need it. Original, imaginative stories (speculative, romance, and other genres) include not just beautiful words strung together, but believable characters and strong emotions to hook the reader. No random AI program can do that.

If you’re a writer, go forth and write the best story you can—include imaginative plots, flawed characters, and vivid worlds with hope shining through at the end. And if you’re a reader, buy those books written by real authors that speak to you, the ones you can’t put down until the wee hours of the morning. Share them with others and tell your next-door neighbor about the newest gem you’re reading. Write reviews to share your thoughts and to direct others to books that deserve to be read. Let’s do our best to bury AI by focusing on the real and the enduring, instead of the unhealthy and fake.

What Anheuser-Busch Got Wrong

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I find news stories about Harry and Meghan’s exit from royal life, unusual weather, and the Anheuser-Busch controversy interesting.

If you’re not familiar with this latter story, let me give you a short recap. In April, Bud Light’s (now ex-) marketing VP wanted to update Bud Light’s “fratty” and “out of date humor” image. Anheuser-Busch contacted transgender activist/social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney. In short order, a TikTok video surfaced of Dylan popping open a can of Bud-Light to celebrate 365 days of Girlhood. The result was not what AB expected. Kid Rock used cases of Bud Light for target practice, other celebrities spoke out against the campaign, and current customers expressed dissatisfaction. Bar owners pulled the beer from their shelves and refused to sell it. While a few celebrities offered support for Bud Light’s new campaign, the boycott against Bud Light was gaining steam.

At this point, Anheuser-Busch released a statement: “We are in the business of bringing people together over beer.” (Since I’m not a beer drinker, I can’t comment on the validity of this statement. I live near a Big Ten college, and usually when people are “brought together over beer,” it’s an opportunity for dumb decisions to be made.) So, what’s the thing Anheuser-Busch didn’t do? Issue a statement supporting their new campaign. Instead, they claimed the specialty cans decorated with Dylan’s face weren’t available for sale. (Um…so what?)

There was so much serious backlash and hate, Dylan left the country because it “didn’t feel safe” at home. Bud Light’s stock plummeted. They received the dreaded star at Costco (indicating it would be discontinued), and now they’re facing massive lay-offs.

Despite Anheuser-Busch’s expansive reach, they were unaware of their consumer demographic. According to The Wise Sage, otherwise known as Google, most beer drinkers are male and between the ages of 21-34 who enjoy sports, socializing, and humor. (Obviously, there also are plenty of conservatives drinking beer, proven by the boycott.)

So what happened here? A few interesting things.  1. Anheuser-Busch didn’t (to quote Shania Twain) “dance with one who brought you.” When the campaign turned into a five-alarm dumpster fire, they withdrew. Can you imagine those emergency marketing meetings?  2. Anheuser-Busch showed they don’t know their customers (or they aren’t aware of the current woke/anti-woke divide). Rather than pick a popular comedian or a young actor, they picked a social media influencer/activist.  3. In an effort to broaden their reach and make more money, they messed up by trying to fix something that wasn’t broken.

My heart goes out to Dylan. Sexual diversity/identity is a hot button issue. But nobody, regardless of how they identify themselves, should feel the need to leave their home because they feel unsafe.

I don’t know where Anheuser-Busch will go from here. They ignored the LGBTQAI+ community’s request for support. They also didn’t apologize to their current “fratty” customers, and instead fired two marketing employees in charge of the campaign. They’re spinning their wheels, afraid to make a stand and state where their support lies.

How would you have handled the situation, either the marketer’s request for Bud Light’s new image or the resulting dumpster fire? Leave your ideas in the comments below. (And if you want more articles like this, as well as book reviews and other news, sign up for my monthly newsletter! I’d love to stay in touch.)

My Most Anticipated Films of 2018

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Happy New Year! After covering the most anticipated books of 2018 in my quarterly newsletter, True North Tales, I wanted to share an overview of the films I’m most excited about this year. There’s so many movies, more than what I have room for here, but this is a list of films and trailers that caught my eye.

A Wrinkle In Time: releases March 9     There’s been a lot of hype about this, and I’ve already seen the trailer which is full of beautiful special effects and thrilling action. My biggest fear? That it won’t be as good as the book. I LOVE A Wrinkle In Time, and I hope the production company does this film well. (XX fingers crossed…)

Solo: A Star Wars Story: releases May 25     This movie intrigues me, and I’ll probably go to see it, if early reviews are good. Despite my love of Star Wars, I refused to see Rogue One because of the ending. Let’s hope Ron Howard gives Solo a better finish.

The Incredibles II: releases June 15        Can I just say I’m thrilled about this film? The Incredibles is/was my favorite animated Pixar movie, so the news of a sequel is just fantastic. It focuses on Elastagirl (aka Helen Parr) and the emerging power of their little boy, Jack-Jack. Check out the adorable teaser trailer here.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: releases June 22     For those of you who didn’t get enough dinos from the last film, I present this one. The characters head back to the island to save the remaining dinosaurs, but find far more. I like the idea, but I’ll be honest–although I enjoyed it, the original Jurassic World scared me. I don’t know if I’ll spend money at the theater for this one.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: releases Nov. 16     I loved the first FB film. Did you know there are five films planned? The producer, David Heyman, plans to release one film every two years. I can’t wait to see Johnny Depp’s performance as Grindelwald.

Ralph Breaks the Internet: releases November 21     This sequel to Wreck-it Ralph finds Ralph and Vanellope searching for a spare part to fix an arcade game. Their hunt leads them to new worlds and new characters, such as the Disney princesses.

As I said, there are so many more movies to be excited about, but these are the ones I’ll be watching. If you have any others on your “To Watch” list, please share them in the comments. I’d love to know about them!

And have a wonderful New Year!

Photos by NordWood Themes, Connor Limbocker, and Georgia Vagim on Unsplash

A Silent Resolution

Our Christmas tree is still up, the tiny lights filling the living room with a soft glow. Unwrapped packages lay scattered under the tree, and a garbage bag of crumpled wrapping paper slouches in a corner, waiting for trash day.

Amid this scene of a successful Christmas holiday, I’m sad. Post-Christmas blues usually find me, as well as 25 percent of other Americans. I only need to wait it out and focus on some of the plans our family has made before everyone gets back to “the daily grind.” The feeling will blow over sometime in January.

Maybe the sadness materialized because I’ve broken with tradition and made a resolution for 2017. That’s rare. I avoid resolutions because I don’t like feeling like a failure. Typically, a fantastic idea hits in late December, and I decide to lose weight or eat less chocolate (how ridiculous is that?!) Then sometime in the spring, I realize the resolution I came up with several months ago is unattainable, and I revert to my old habits.

But this year, I’ve found a weakness, a behavior I want to fix. I interrupt others, speaking over them as I cringe inside with embarrassment. I could blame it on self-centeredness, or social awkwardness, or narcissism (which, here we go again, makes me feel like a failure, because I don’t like to think I have those problems). But I’ve always talked fast and thought fast, and my amazing family loves me anyway. With people who don’t know me well, I struggle to keep my mouth shut when a thought pops into my head. I’m afraid I’ll forget it. But with 40+ years of living this way, I’m determined to end the rudeness. I’ve had a couple victories in the last week, and I’m looking for many more in 2017.

This thinking about resolutions made me wonder. Do you make them? What were they? If any of them were successful, how did you attain that success? Leave a comment—I’d love to hear about it!

The Naked Truth About Naked Selfies

empowerment
Last week, Kim Kardashian took naked selfies and posted them on Twitter. I don’t follow the Kardashians, but some of the talk shows picked up the news. I saw the edited version of the selfie and heard there was backlash from it, some of it from celebrities, like Bette Midler and Chloe Moretz. But there was also some defending her choice, mentioning “empowerment” and “using her body the way she wants,” which I’ll get to in a minute.

After some of the celebrities’ comments, Kim responded by mentioning her $40 million dollar paycheck and her popularity, as if that excused her behavior. I was trying to wrap my mind around the idea of a naked selfie tweeted to millions of followers. The idea of empowerment stuck with me long after I turned off the talk show.

Kim’s audience is made up of 18-24 year-olds, young men who find her attractive and women interested in fashion and the Kardashian brand. She has over 41,000,000 followers on Twitter. This is her life. This is what she does. (If looking good was my job, I might spend time checking myself out in my bathroom mirror, too. I just wouldn’t put it out there for everyone to see.)

These selfies are porn. Really. I’m surprised no one’s calling it what it is. Aside from the porn issue, millions of female followers who received an eyeful of Kim’s assets are self-comparing in their bathrooms. They’re learning, “This is what I have to look like. This is how I get attention. It’s okay.” And we wonder why teens are sexting. Dosomething.org says “24% of high-school age teens (ages 14 to 17) and 33% of college-age students (ages 18 to 24) have been involved in a form of nude sexting.” While boys are more likely to send sexually explicit messages, girls are more likely to send nude or semi-nude images.

These pictures aren’t about empowerment. Empowerment means to give power or authority. There’s nothing authoritative about standing in front of your bathroom mirror and showing everyone what God gave you. Anyone with a camera can do it. Instead use empowerment to share the memo “I’m more than just my sexuality. I’m a person of value and it doesn’t matter what I look like.” It’s hard to get the message across when you’re naked.

A talk show host praised Kim for “using her body the way she wants.” Good for her. But just because you want to do something doesn’t necessarily mean you should do it. Kim claimed she wanted to be known as someone other than a person famous for her sex tape. She should start acting like it.

I don’t have a problem with Kim Kardashian. I have a problem with any person, celebrity or not, who uses pornographic nudity to “share,” empower, or otherwise seek attention. Girls are being sexualized at younger and younger ages. Kim could do girls a great service by using her platform differently: show girls how to be powerful with their clothes on.