How to Create a Character

Okay, here’s how you can create a digital persona. Jim Morrison was a close friend, and we had many conversations about the work ideas. of course I have a few photos but I never was much for selfies. 99% of the time, I was behind the lens, not in front of it.

I wanted to test the new graphics features in chat GPT, so I put some old photos of Jim and some recent photos of me together through my chat GPT, and placed them in a variety of background environments, to create a story about the character Jim Morrison. Continue reading →

Backstory: “Bourbon Street” E.J. Gold

Nobody quite remembers when E.J. Gold first showed up on Bourbon Street—and that’s exactly how he prefers it. If you asked him, he’d say it doesn’t matter. Continue reading →

Why We Learn Better from the Version We Love

Music, Preference, and the Absorption of Meaning

There’s a fascinating phenomenon that shows up whenever the same message is delivered in multiple forms, like John Lilly’s “Cogitate” tape. I’m sure you’re aware that we don’t receive each version equally. Give someone forty variations of the same song—with identical lyrics—and something almost inevitable happens. A few versions rise to the top. One might feel “just right.” Another might linger in memory. A handful might become favorites. Continue reading →

It’s Just a Penny

Every so often, it’s worth taking a second look at the ordinary.

A penny, for example.

Most people wouldn’t bend down to pick one up. It’s small, overlooked, and carries almost no purchasing power in everyday life. But every once in a while, that assumption breaks apart. Some pennies—quietly, unassumingly—carry real value. Not symbolic value, not sentimental value, but measurable, transferable wealth. Continue reading →

My mother was a master silversmith, a student of Art Smith, one of the most famous modernist silversmiths on the planet — his work — and her work — appears in several books on modernist jewelry of the twentieth century. Continue reading →

How to Create a Digital Singer-Songwriter

Building a digital artist isn’t as complicated as it sounds. At its heart, it’s just a blend of imagination, music, and a few modern tools. Continue reading →

The Art of Video Hunting on YouTube

There’s a difference between watching videos and hunting them.

Most people open YouTube the way one opens a faucet—turn it on and let whatever comes out, come out. The algorithm feeds, the viewer consumes, and somewhere along the way the sense of discovery quietly disappears. Continue reading →

[Intro]
Alright folks…settle in…this is it…
Live from Madison Square Garden…capacity crowd…nobody quite sure what they’re about to see…
Leo…and Trump…center ring…
No bell…no referee…
…and already…something’s happening Continue reading →

Leo vs. Trump

Lyrics:

Verse 1
Lights go up at the Garden tonight
Crowd’s already feeling the fight
Smoke in the air, tension in play
Two worlds meeting center stage Continue reading →

Leo vs. Donald: The Madison Square Garden Prizefight

There are moments in history that never happened… and yet somehow feel completely real. This was one of them.

Last night—at least in the shared dreamspace where culture, media, and imagination all blur together—the lights came up at Madison Square Garden for the most unlikely main event of the century. Continue reading →