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#FormerNetworkExec #CallMeChato
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[@johnday134]

When a guy wears a shirt like that, you know he is truly fearless

[@wallacewilliams535]

hippie trap! (going back to stare for another round) @.@

[@Any_Friday]

I like his shirts really liked his flower one too. Me and my wife started naming the different flowers that were on his shirt, while listening.

[@davidchurch5932]

Nice Firefly reference. Bravo.

[@nelsonschneider5443]

It is a glorious shirt. I'm planning on using that same tile in my bathroom redecoration.

[@DarthDaddy-cg6ro]

I think the shirt is great!

[@marloc2019]

This might be the most interesting and compelling reflection on society I came across lately. Stories are made of men and women, and judging by the ones told lately, we are short of good people.

[@CallMeChato]

You are very kind.

[@ekij133]

Stories used to be written by people with _life experience_ , now they're written by people with _college education_ , taught by people who failed to make a career writing stories and a whole bag of agenda to push.

[@frankowalker4662]

I could'nt have said it any better. 👍

[@ganykaliya7811]

Correction, they're written by nepobabies who had their whole lives arranged and were lied that everything they had was due to their hard work and by diversity hires who don't know what was their hard work and was handed to them on a silver platter.

[@madelinetracy3847]

Exactly! ❤❤❤

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

Written by people that think there are 37 genders.

[@EasyZee69]

Everybody has life experience. If you are alive, you have life experience. There is no shortage of comedy inspiration. There just isn't an outlet for it like there used to be. tv is dead, so no way to make a hit comedy there, streaming is too vast and niche, no way to make a hit comedy there. And audiences don't live in a shared universe anymore. This is just how things are now.

[@wallacewilliams535]

Comrade Chato! Our stories are THE PARTY'S STORIES. They will come from the party, and they will be about how the party feels. And the sooner that happens, the sooner EVERYONE will feel as they ought.

[@c1ph3rpunk]

I’d really like to be able to ignore this, but it’s way too true.

[@redshirt5126]

"You will own nothing and you will be happy."

[@reb3102]

Being over 60, I don't recognize the world any longer. My family came from the Midwest and were farmers. Now all those family farms are run by corporations and the little towns that supported them are gone. I don't think we're evolved enough to handle social media and it has destroyed in-person interactions. All those dystopian stories seem to be coming true.

[@UNATCOHanka]

While moaning about dystopia, people have themselves brought on that very dystopian future upon themselves.

[@demontekdigital1704]

I agree. I compare social media to swapping a 4 yr old's legos for an erector set without telling them. Social media is an advanced form of communication we're neither ready for, nor advanced enough to use properly. It used to be fairly fun until people began using it as their agenda platform. I stopped using Facebook years ago because I got tired of seeing other peoples' political rhetoric. I'm not bitter, or mad about it, just a little bummed.

[@vernonhampton5863]

I have to agree. Look how many comics have characters eating food and talking instead of performing heroic deeds. Also, there was more genuine human emotion in Godzilla Minus 1 than five American titles.

[@CallMeChato]

That’s for sure.

[@couldnotbereachedforfurthe2647]

Gen Xers find romance "yucky?" Was that a misnomer? Don't you mean Gen Z? Xers miss that stuff.

[@wallacewilliams535]

i cringed a wee when he said that as well, but the more i think about it the more i agree. consider that the Karen is typically someone between "empty nest" and menopause. this puts the lion's share of hitting the wall of bitter denial squarely where "X" marks the spot.

[@djanitatiana]

Started with Gen X, because that was the beginning of seriously questioning the value of our gender roles, what we are supposed to be in a relationship. Think of _High Fidelity_ where Rob can't work out how to grow from a boy into a man. That excellent story had a resolution but the zeitgeist was onto the whole 'what makes a relationship' thing .....

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Am X, romance? Gag me with a spoon. Can’t stand romance. Like, yuck, totally.

[@visaman]

Ick

[@schoolofrockcary6625]

Exactly! Breakfast Club, anyone?

[@Jackdelroy1]

The 90s were the last sane decade. It's all toilet water from here on out. Now, have a great day!

[@chrissymarie68]

Spot on. There is no creativity and originality in entertainment or books anymore. Heck even modern cars look the same and are ugly. Where did the spark go? 🦄

[@markmunroe-hz8rf]

The same for architecture. I prefer pulp fiction, classic novels and indie productions.

[@What-he5pr]

It was revoked.

[@jakeviolet2195]

Corporate homogenization happened. It's soulless, risk-averse and outright hostile to the human spirit.

[@c1ph3rpunk]

They cancelled it.

[@JoFa876]

There are still good original, and creative, books being made.

[@DarthPlato]

You're right about the connection between creativity and hard work. Creativity is essential to problem solving.

[@AL-ws5yi]

Most of my entertainment is from overseas now.

[@YELG_7]

the absolute treasure trove that is the inherited american entertainment legacy is yours to discover, man. pulps in particular are great -- going through the man from uncle on the internet archive right now, it's pretty chill. (good foreign media is great tho, don't get me wrong. enjoy either way~)

[@ChristopherNealBUSHIDO49ERS]

I wholeheartedly concur with this commentary! 100%!

[@Leathal]

Real life experience was replaced by Managerialism which has now been replaced by Credentialism I don’t think it’s some ultimate one-size-fits-all explanation for how we got here, but it’s absolutely a major factor behind our absolute collapse in competence and human capital over the last 25ish years.

[@MJanovicable]

So very true, thank you for the comment!

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Gen X is all for straight romances. I think you meant Gen Z 😊

[@CallMeChato]

Oops. Yes

[@thefallenfaith1986]

Bound, Wild Things, Jerry Springer, Ross's ex on Friends - the push for non-straight romantic content got its start in the nineties.

[@reezlaw]

​@@thefallenfaith1986it was ok to see some of that, the overcompensation we're seeing now started much later

[@thefallenfaith1986]

@@reezlaw You're missing the point. What was shown to us in movies and television shows during the nineties was put there to soften us up, to make us more accepting of the pride that movies and tv are filled with now. And what, exactly, was ok to see among the number of prideful content which I listed?

[@wondergirl60s]

Fire Sign Theater. Money Python. Raising Arizona. Wanderlust. Where’s comedy? Where’s Justin Theroux? I feel like that guy gets me!🙌😜🙏❤️

[@Drakewood]

As someone who used to pull cables at the networks for a living I feel personally attacked. Saga of the "Systems Integration Engineer" would do *BIG* numbers.

[@3dartstudio007]

(gen x guy here) I very recently was talking to a millennial at work about dangerous work conditions and situations, and recounted to him the time I could have been burned alive in a room full of paint solvent that caught fire and spread really really quickly. I had to run and barely escaped in time before the whole room was engulfed in flames. The guy ducked and ran away from me as if I was throwing dirty baby diapers at him. Hmph. Well. I'm not sharing danger stories with HIM again. Besides, my situation is WEAK compared to the experiences that the boomers recounted over camp fires in the 70's. (think of the movie Forest Gump) A close call was NOTHING to them. Ha ha!

[@reezlaw]

The equivalent for a gen z is being criticised at work. Really they can't take it, they're just not equipped. I have gen x friends who manage people and they're worried. These kids will complain to HR, go home in the middle of the day or even resign over one piece of criticism

[@TalkingWeirdStuff24]

Have you considered that he had some past trauma related to fires and wasn't expecting to hear your story and it brought up some kind of flashback? I knew a 40-something woman who still got very on edge at the scent of smoke because she had been in a house fire as a child. She was a hardworking, strong willed woman, she was a nurse who had worked with very ill children for years. She did not have a weak stomach, but still the smell of smoke was disturbing to her.

[@3dartstudio007]

@@TalkingWeirdStuff24 Well according to him, the most dangerous thing to happen ever was he slipped one time and hit his arm like WAY hard and it super hurt. And yes a slip can cause much pain even death, but he is the new safety coordinator and I wanted to relay there were hazards present more than just slips and trips.

[@TalkingWeirdStuff24]

@@3dartstudio007 So he is the safety coordinator and you were trying to relay pertinent work-related safety concerns to him and he wigged out? Geeze. Thanks for the added context, I can understand your point much better now.

[@williamcasino8120]

Wow, what an interesting conundrum. Our lives are so boring that we can’t use our lives as material to tell good stories with. On the one hand, having boring lives is a sign of success in a way. On the other hand, we have lost out on a facet of entertainment, our lives now have less challenge and are therefore less interesting.

[@Zayphar]

It is 'Peter Parker the Amazing Spider-Man'. Peter Parker is the character...Spidey is the side job. We are interested in Peter's life, not so much Spider-Man's.

[@Rosefire]

Reminds me of "The Adventures of Lois and Clark" where Clark says, "Superman is what I can do. Clark Kent is who I am".

[@palaceofwisdom9448]

I've just seen multiple clips about the Ursula character from the Toby Maguire Spiderman movies. Guys are raving about her being much better than Mary Jane because she brought Peter chocolate cake and was actually nice to him, showing more warmth in that two minute scene than MJ did in 3 movies.

[@boobah5643]

It's worth pointing out that that difference, that they were regular people with special powers rather than special people who sometimes disguised themselves as mundanes, that distinguished _Fantastic Four_ and _Spider-Man_ from other superhero stories of the day.

[@Ibbisin2]

An interesting idea.

[@NightmanEX]

My mom has hated TV with a passion all my life. Last year I got a subscription to Viki to watch a few Korean dramas. Now she's watching them hand over fist. She's even watching the Chinese dramas, which I never went for but are actually pretty good. No politics, no gender theory, handsome guys, beautiful girls, down to earth writing, funny jokes. It's almost like there is are rules to creating good entertainment.

[@timcowell2626]

One of the subplots in Teachers Pet is all about how newspapers couldn't survive without advertising. Another example of where: "Everything changes, but nothing changes", though now everything is to the N'th degree.

[@qZbGmYjS4QusYqv5]

-He- it's dead, Jim. Hollywood is creatively bankrupt. South Korea and Japan are shipping us those good stories in their movies and TV shows

[@wallacewilliams535]

and the woke are "translating", "editing", and scrambling to get the rights to any franchises that have a hint of quality they can't control.

[@user-ch1by3th8s]

Very thoughtful (watch out for ticks).

[@Gerdoch]

As an independent author, let me just say that there's *plenty* of interesting books and people reading them, but the vast majority of them are now independently published by their authors directly on things like the Kindle or Kobo marketplaces, and in some cases additionally supported by readers via sites like Patreon. This, of course, does not lend itself to numbers of successful or 'best-selling' books by major publishers, so all they do is proclaim doom and gloom - when in actuality it is only the doom and gloom of traditional publishing. In truth, there's more than enough people reading for many, many indie authors to make a comfortable living.

[@CallMeChato]

You've made a really good point. Of course people are writing good books but if you can't get them out there it's hard. Bands are in this rut, also. The A&R people are gone.

[@AGS363]

A living...sure. A "comfortable" one...not sure about that.

[@robinhood9128]

I think you are on to something, but I’m not sure it is jobs overseas that is the problem. The proliferation of electronic entertainment across a broad range of devices has fragmented the market as opposed to the handful of radio then TV stations of the past. Therefore no Carson, no Walter Cronkite. Since there is no general consensus of what we as a culture believes, we are fragmented and bitter.

[@Gerdoch]

@@CallMeChato Yeah, that is true. I basically have to do all my promotional stuff myself, which involves social media, sites like Reddit, Goodreads, etc. I can't speak for other authors, but I write in a few very specific niches, and so can easily find where to promote my stuff to the communities of people who are into those niches. I fully expect that this would not work for other media types quite as well. I will say that one negative of doing this for a living is that if Amazon or Patreon were to say ban my account for some reason, I'd be well and truly screwed.

[@Gerdoch]

@@AGS363 Honestly comes down to the success of your work. I write in a few very specific niches that tend to have fairly rabid readership, and so it works for me. General fiction would likely have a more difficult time.

[@puma51921]

Well said.

[@pedroares6562]

I like the video. I think the problem is also that in the old times people told stories they wanted to tell, now the shows we got are stories that the executives think we want to consume, it's manufacturated, cold and safe stories that they think people will buy.

[@flonoiisana4647]

I LOVE the shirt! :D Edit : And very interesting analysis. Chato can be silly and funny, but there are obviously years of wisdom, kowledge and experience there. Thank you for sharing! :)

[@blshouse]

You wire sixteen clouds, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Boss Zuck don't you call me, cause I can't go Google's got me trapped in an non-compete clause!

[@user-qq1fd4gh2y]

Sofia Coppola does movies about poor rich people and their dramas...and they are really bad

[@CallMeChato]

Agreed. Poor little rich girl.

[@jr2904]

Must be so hard to be a Coppola

[@djanitatiana]

I actually think she does her films really well - it's just that Hollywood is really gross to anyone outside that bubble, and the obliviousness to anyone without that privilege while they talk endlessly about college marxist bs privilege is going to set your teeth on edge.

[@JustaUser17247]

Those stories aren't necessarilly bad, just look at 1930's movies. So many masterpieces that deal with this, but back then there was something called craft, ingenuity, and real artists.

[@MicahMicahel]

at least she depicts her own experience of life. Her movies are boring but they reflect a reality. She has one movie of a rich celebrity with a daughter It was so boring but was it bad? it made celebrity life seem so shallow and meaningless.

[@darksidemachining]

Superb Video. Some of the best stories from real life experience come from law enforcement. They observe and interact with people who are at their best and worst and that can also include the officers with their friends and family as well. There is a successful series of fiction novels written by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide detective. His novels follow the exploits of detective Dickie Floyd whose beat is in the streets of Los Angeles county as he investigates murders and pursues the bad guys. His references to actual geographical locations, streets, neighborhoods and even restaurants are spot on and is a treat for those readers who live in or have visited Southern California. It won’t be long before a producer takes note of that series and adapts it to a screen play.

[@ItalNico]

We'll have to start telling more of our own stories and hope some cream rises to the top.

[@CallMeChato]

I hope so too!

[@daikansanchez7674]

The biggest problem is not the lack of stories, but the lack of awareness of the real woes (and not their propaganda b*llsh*t) of today's society. And here lies the paradox: the woes of today's society are not flashy or spectacular enough to be told in a movie or sitcom (or so current Hollywood execs would think). Yet there are real struggles that need to be told.

[@Rosefire]

No wonder Angel Studios is gradually gaining steam. They tell stories about the human spirit, struggle, and search for purpose and virtue.

[@MrEmpireBuilder0000]

we have become a nation of salespeople.

[@magnuslord]

A respectable factual accounting of the New Guinea part of WW2 would be mind gripping and excellent 👌

[@KevinSheppard]

I learned a new word today: "Front-holers"

[@Zen-anarchy]

Funny Spider-Man for example was originally written as a teenage nerd that was picked on gets super powers learned a harsh lesson of selfishness and was motivated to become a crime fighter, during which time he cares for his sick and aging aunt , is always broke and struggles to pay his bills, learns more about his reckless behavior fighting crime when people close to him are killed, he’s depressed, self loathing, and looks for baddies on his not so free time to blow off steam and get his mind off his problems. And this is from a comic book made in the 1960s that appealed to kids and soldiers at Vietnam. These days his power that made him so unique, is given to everyone including the girlfriend that was killed only to be brought back in the exhausting troupe know as the multiverse. What made these properties “amazing” to begin with was the relatability combined with the special ability of the characters. We could see ourselves in them and imagine if we were also gifted with something special. I know many woke minded people, and the worst of them are exactly how you see them on TikTok and now , at least for a short period they control the narrative and have ruined entertainment

[@Art-is-craft]

Those that write it today are not the creators. They lack the experiences of that generation. Such as serving in the Army in post WW2 Germany.

[@gilgamecha]

OMG Paul I LOVE that shirt!!!

[@midwestfinest9563]

I’m 29 years old and enjoy listening to the evolution of our culture, really put things into perspective. Maybe the turbulence of modern day might cause a renaissance of great stories as it did before but probably wishful thinking.

[@rightwired]

Chato the Sage. I could write a 13-episode comedy about my experiences working a movie theater. From being trapped in the popcorn room for 8 hours, popping all day, second degree burns, to meeting to Siskel and Ebert, to the weirdo Asst. Mgr. who wore his sweaty dirty "Prancer" heavy fleece winter coat every day of the year, (after being a PA on the film), the bomb threats from the projectionist union, the riots, the gangbangers stealing food, catching gangbangers trying to sneak in foot, chucking old projector bulbs off the 3-story roof and watch them explode, paper cuts from assembling movie standees, covering a friends car with popcorn and watching the seagulls attack, someone even changed the marquee from "City Slickers to "Sh*t Lickers... ...but you now how the WGA works...can only get if you are already in. Too worried about someone stealing my stuff.

[@DarthDaddy-cg6ro]

Thanks.

[@TheAnadrome]

Thanks Paul. You've reminded me of something I've been thinking about for a while. Whatever did happen to the stories based in reality? Even the Oscar bait films tend to be absurdist postmodern ironies rather than measured stories from the recent or distant past. Either that or we are still pointing fingers at the 'marginalized' and saying isn't that a shame. Thankfully we had World War 2 to give us a fairly deep well of serious historical subjects that we can safely draw on for a bit of serious entertainment every now and then. But now that we have the current Israel / Palestine issues, will even Holocaust related films be tinged as controversial? There are still many fascinating historical subjects, recent and distant, that have never been truly plumbed. Yet somehow we know longer no how to look at the past. Lesbian historical dramas anyone? Black Vikings? Even in the realm of documentaries, so many are just propaganda disguised as verity. I have for many years been assembling the elements for a documentary survey on puppetry in Europe, which is completely new ground and absolutely fascinating. (Did you know that over 100 Czech puppeteers were killed in WW2?) Yet when I have approached anyone to get financing I am told that all we can do now is tell individual stories, preferably emotional tales of those pesky 'marginalized' folk again. And my argument has always been, how can I tell a single story about something no one knows anything about? It's like there's a documentary about this General named Patton. He fights and he's in this big war. And no one knows anything about that war. Meanwhile I've have been interviewing people for years. And there's no money to finish it. Such is life. It may end up as a really nice KZbin video, but I will finish it. I'll just have to take the copyright claims.

[@reezlaw]

Cool, don't give up. Even a well crafted youtube video could be a great success

[@patrickshannon4854]

As adults, most of us are mature enough to realize change is inevitable. Most of the changes in society I've experienced have been slow, evolving naturally over time. What has happened in the last 20yrs is akin to suddenly finding that the wax seal on your commode is leaking, & in fact has been leaking filth beneath your carpet for a considerable time. This sudden bombshell, instead of being a minor inconvenience quickly attended to, it is an overwhelming disaster. Where do you begin to put things aright?

[@LamentationsofSummer]

Would you consider making a video about your list of the top 50 movies? I'd love to see it!

[@alecjones7299]

Thank you

[@CallMeChato]

You're welcome

[@Malt454]

"Our lives are so dull that we have to make up confrontation." - how true!!! - but if that didn't happen here, there would be no channel to begin with. Chato should sit down and have a talk with Chato before he tries to tell me what's wrong with media.

[@hyperguyver2]

Its like Paul found the the wall paper from some cheap skeezy motel and turned it into a shirt

[@Nicksonian]

All The President’s Men is one of the best films ever made. More recent films The Post and Spotlight may be the last newspaper-themed feature films we’ll ever see. I first saw All the President’s Men not long after it was released in my Journalism 105 course. Yes, I got a degree in journalism and spent nearly my entire career working for newspapers. But my career evaporated a decade ago as newspapers have all but evaporated. Today, at age 67, I work in a garden center. That should tell you a lot about what careers in journalism were really like.

[@visaman]

I wasn't accepted into broadcasting school in the early 80s. Now, everyone has a podcast.

[@owangejewice]

Shirt looks like the Azul board game.

[@adamselene5957]

Pearl S. Buck - The Good Earth

[@basilforth]

The State is mother. The State is Father. The State is story.

[@3orcs]

South Korea and Japan hands down make the best TV and movie content of this day an age., I dont watch anything else anymore.

[@newwavepop]

Something i have found myself doing lately because there is so little good new stuff coming out is i have somehow ended up watching old episodes of Siskel and Ebert that people randomly post on here, i never really particularly cared what either of their opinions or reviews were but i used to love the show because it would give you a better look at films i might be interested in that the short trailers often did and also there would sometimes be very interesting looking smaller films i otherwise did not even know about. but just a couple days ago i watched their best films of 84 episode and good lord, in just that year they had "The Killing Fields" "Amadeus" "The Cotton Club" "Purple Rain" the low budget cult classic "Stranger Than Paradise" "Spinal Tap" "Paris, Texas" among others. there is some amazing music in there, as well as absolute heartbreaking humanity and true emotion. then i look at the most recent pictures and just sigh.

[@DeepWebDiary]

This is so namaste.

[@wespaisley257]

People have to know where it's coming from

[@Morokiane]

The stories will come from the endless remakes and sequels updated for "modern audiences"

[@justdavid2582]

The best place I know to get good new stories is in books and audiobooks. There's a lot of people going independent for publishing nowadays. For classic Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Modern fiction I've really enjoyed The Ember War, Spellmonger, Galaxy's Edge (Not Star Wars, but pretty much a better put together spiritual successor by a pair of military vets), Monster Hunter International, and Saga of the Forgotten Warrior. With some great web-series that've been published as novels and audiobooks. Mother of Learning and Blue Core. The latter getting into a few explicit chapters, but with a story, structure, and world-building that was amazing. Books with heroes, heroines, and building to some family and romance. All the things the modern Critically Conscience person tries to revile and destroy but is miserable without.

[@CallMeChato]

Very true but it stays too underground. Back when there was Anthology it would widely publish great works. Same with bands. Lots of great music but the radio stations won’t play them. Thanks for the support and comments. I’ll check them out.

[@ahart228]

Credible insight. Well done.

[@andyhines9070]

I dare someone to do a remake of 'Silence of the Lambs.'

[@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic8954]

My grandmother would have written a great WW2 screenplay if she had been given a chance to do so. Although it would have been rated R for severe gore and violence.

[@nevillewatkins4997]

I think that is very true. Work is part of our collective culture. When society thrives culturally it's inextricable from our material success. I think basically, if you have a successful manufacturing industry then people are employed and thus happier, with money to spend. Because work does define us to a degree and it's important for our own self worth. Take that away and we become fragmented, without the shared experience and therefor less confident. We are culturally impoverished. Well, that's my theory, and I'm sticking to it. 😄

[@CallMeChato]

Bang on.

[@shauny2285]

Speaking of newspaper movies, don't forget Deadline USA w/ Boogie.

[@blackbuttecruizr]

Ingenious repair

[@SalAveNU]

Maybe I'm lucky. For the past few years I've been performing music exclusively in the New York City subway. All the people I see are on their way someplace. They have things to do and places to get to. I'm trying to write a new song that I think these people will like to hear. And I want to talk about how that's more important than stuff happening someplace else in the world.

[@yournamehere6002]

6:27 Gen ZERS think love stories are yucky. Gen Xers do not.

[@sabatheus]

Hi Chato, I always look forward to your scathing indictments of Hollywood and your glorious, sardonic wit. It needs to be said, and I’m glad you’re saying it. I don’t care if people are reading and writing less. I’m writing anyway! Deal with it! 😅

[@charleseldridge9365]

Brilliant take as always!

[@user-is6pz7nk3u]

Maybe things will be better tomorrow.

[@chipcook5346]

You are correct, Paul.

[@alexandru5369]

Very interesting outsourcing just kills everything apparently

[@CallMeChato]

More than we anticipated.

[@FunkyKikuchiyo]

Since tuning into this niche of entertainment commentary, I keep asking the same question, and Paul is giving one of the best answers: Going "woke" and being low quality are two separate levers, but why do they get pulled simultaneously? Battleship Potemkin was soviet propaganda, but still an incredible piece. Why shouldn't there be "woke" movies that are also extremely well made? Sure, it would have political points many of us disagree with, but it could be considered objectively high quality. It makes sense that they'd be insufferable, it doesn't make sense that they can't figure out how to do a basic hero's journey story or smooth out plot holes. Woke is in decline, but writing is not recovering. I think this question is going to be very important going forward. During the writer's strikes, Emily Jashinsky made a similar point that if writers don't get paid enough, you only get rich kids doing it. She cited journalism as the cautionary tale, where they have internships and low paid jobs at the bottom that no rent payer could ever afford to take. I don't know details well enough to know if it stacks up amidst other arguments, but it is still worth noting. I don't want the rich kid with the antique typewriter on a shelf who didn't get through reading all of Strunk & White. Oh, and put Korea on the list. A country that DOES have a working class and respects it, and has had dramatically fast changes in lifestyle and landscape within a generation or two. Their stories are far more reflective, even when they're only trying to be goofy or push out a silly romance. That's what a golden age looks like.

[@martenrange1940]

This reminds me of IMHO very entertaining "The Onion Looks Back At 'The Sound Of Music'"

[@DevonChampion]

Hope you’re doin well sir 👏

[@grokeffer6226]

👍👍👍

[@feandil666]

Don't worry too much, we reached peak oil and the no-return point for global warming, in 30 years most western economies will be in a massive recession and disasters (heat waves, cold vortex, hurricanes, etc.) are going to be the norm. There will be plenty of opportunity for misery and the great art that will follow.

[@dinkmartini3236]

Entertainment relies on shared truths. No such animal as "truth" exists today.

[@dave3657]

Another problem now is being politically correct, not offending anybody, even if you intend to offend them. DEI politics…… yeah.

[@skyshorrchannel3474]

This is a well considered subject which has fascinated me for some time. At it's peak of power the Brit empire created the English music hall extravaganzas and the pulp fiction craze. Later the US would pioneer a dozen popular entertainments as well as Hollywood becoming the great Jewish/American artform. I've been watching for what China will pioneer in this century... Something will emerge.. Maybe Virtual Reality entertainment? However, the story's will still be king... And yes they do seem to be quite 'thin'.

[@robdielemans9189]

Spot on with the remark that journalism dies when it no longer involved the working class. I also find it weird that it has become a study. Journalism is something that you do, you don't need a $30K debt to become good at this profession it actually makes you worse as a journalist. My prediction for the near future is a simple case of supply and demand. There's still a lot of demand for good non woke/dei/esg entertainment and if Hollywood can't supply that demand then someplace else will.

[@droe2570]

Our stories, the ones that do not suck, are going to come from our past.

[@Lukiel666]

Been watching Mandarin drama with English subtitles for a while now. Also anime of course.

[@miguelservetus9534]

I really like your posts. Thoughtful, deep. You and I are similar in age and temperament. But this one eludes me. Is it possible that our western environment is so good that we don’t have enough struggle to create the foundation of good literature ? Will you be offering alternative plans and solutions ? I don’t ask this in cricism. Rather I marvel at how good we have it and the desire to throw it away. Looking forward to your next upload. 🤔😊

[@darrengaroutte7744]

I found inspiration for the current novel I'm working on from Roman History. Being bored to tears with Disney Star Wars I wanted to try my hand at writing a space adventure like Star Wars, but obviously I don't have the rights to any of that material so one day listening to the History of Rome podcast I thought what if you took the combat of Rome in antiquity and applied it to space combat. After all the conflict of the original trilogy is just a civil war and Rome has two great ones within a generation or two of each other to draw inpsirtion from. Sulla took power as dictator of Rome to try and save the republic but set the precedents that Julius Ceasar would use to take power and eventually lead to the most famous civil war, the one between Octavian and Mark Anthony. I'd say if there's nothing to write about now, then look to the past for inspiration. There are thousands of years of history and surprisingly enough human beings haven't changed all that much over the millennia.

[@Art-is-craft]

If you really want to write a great Roman novel you need to learn Latin. It will put you head and shoulders above everybody.

[@darrengaroutte7744]

I've added in a few Latin terms and modified some of the old Roman ranks. While you're probably right that more Latin could add an authenticity to the story others lack, unfortunately, I was never all that good with foreign languages, so much so that I was exempted from having to taking a foreign language in both high school and college.

[@Art-is-craft]

@@darrengaroutte7744 One of the most amazing things about classical Latin that the Romans spoke and wrote in is the fact it is still an active language. One of the most remarkable things about Latin is the fact you could get good at it in 6 months and be a fluent speaker in a year. The language is so amazing that it almost appears like it was designed for learning. Reading Latin will give you an insight into the culture of Rome that is amazing and will take you far beyond just tacking in a few words to make it appear more authentic. There are some amazing KZbin resources on Latin and there is the book Gwynne’s Latin.

[@Art-is-craft]

@@darrengaroutte7744 One of the most amazing things about classical Latin that the Romans spoke and wrote in is the fact it is still an active language. One of the most remarkable things about Latin is the fact you could get good at it in 6 months and be a fluent speaker in a year. The language is so amazing that it almost appears like it was designed for learning. Reading Latin will give you an insight into the culture of Rome that is amazing and will take you far beyond just tacking in a few words to make it appear more authentic. There are some amazing KZbin resources on Latin and there is the book Gwynne’s Latin.

[@Art-is-craft]

@@darrengaroutte7744 One of the most amazing things about classical Latin that the Romans spoke and wrote in is the fact it is still an active language. One of the most remarkable things about Latin is the fact you could get good at it in 6 months and be a fluent speaker in a year. The language is so amazing that it almost appears like it was designed for learning. Reading Latin will give you an insight into the culture of Rome that is amazing and will take you far beyond just tacking in a few words to make it appear more authentic. There are some amazing KZbin resources on Latin and there is the book Gwynne’s Latin to learn from.

[@DrakeTimbershaft]

You want a modern day horror / epic / comedy? Here’s one: Professor Dawkzilla vs Mechashapiro! A stuffy old Oxford evolutionary biologist who sniffs his own farts versus a rapid fire chatterbox talking head from The Daily Wire that, uh, also sniffs his own farts? Let the old fart and the young fart duke it out among the buildings of Tokyo to see whose farts are deadlier! Released in 4K Smellovision!

[@CallMeChato]

I like it.

[@omryjs]

As a viewer from outside the north America content Incan tell you that the biggest TV shows in my country are made locally. On occasion Netflix makes an odd hit show which least in the local concesnes for 5 days but the rest is totally local(and Disney is throwing buckets of cash trying to make it here and fails). The biggest "new hit" of Western media is the channel which shows old 80's American comedies like "married with children". It's as if Hollywood forgot how to make universal stories.

[@militarymarch3006]

BINGO!

[@loriloristuff]

I own a vinyl copy of *Button Down Mind*. Thank you!!! ❤🎉 If Jan. 6 were not so sad and a cause of righteous indignation, I'd say it actually rates something along the lines of Viva Max or the Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! But because of a certain political party, if we can ever get all the truth, it will be more in the style of a good WWII flick.

[@ChechiDLR]

Did i miss the part of Mexico and China, how do they have our stories now?

[@lucymiau5700]

In general, the lack on life is the reason of the lack on stories. And it is not only that classic working spaces have been reduced, all of real life has been reduced as peoples desires have gone to being safe and avoiding any risks.

[@tyrannozilla]

I believe that there will always be new stories written by people who've genuinely experienced life and will find other ways to get them published. I believe this because there are nearly 8 billion people on the planet, so there's bound to be more inspirational novels and films. It's not all doom and gloom, Chato.

[@jakeviolet2195]

It's not a personal problem. It's a cultural problem. And cultures are becoming homogenized. If all 8 billion people are hooked up to the internet, their brains will be just as mushy as the next pod-person. If one of them manages to have a unique idea or experience, they will not possess the skills to communicate them to the others. And the others will not have the ability to understand what they are saying.

[@tyrannozilla]

@@jakeviolet2195 People will still find ways around it. All pods aren't the same. LOL.

[@TurtleTrackin]

Excellent point. But then, all the story factories are elitist now. There are plenty of ordinary doers still left in my corner of America. I know machinists, mechanics, mail carriers, ministers, school teachers, and one train engineer. I also know a lot of veterans, cops and ex cops, engineers, scientists, and one dentist. And I know a lot of ordinary retired folk. And I know a lot of their kids through church activities and birthday parties and such. I also know people who work with troubled kids, and encounter many of them through my own volunteer work. I also know a lot of dead beats who do as little as possible to get by and blame the world for their problems. I used to volunteer in the jail ministry with my church and spoke to a lot of guys behind bars. I even helped baptize three of them. That is, I know a lot of ordinary people. Hollywood, I think, only talks to itself, and seems to get its inspiration from the Democratic Party platform.

[@nittygritty7434]

I hope this comes across as a compliment but your rant reminded me of a solid Andy Rooney segment.

[@jvin248]

"Our lives are so dull we have to make up confrontations", no truer insight around. Sadly, we are in for shocks: Hyperinflation and Earth's weakening magnetic field giving less protection against solar dynamics (Carrington Event, Younger Dryas Period) whilst infinite international distractions are presented to the unwary and danger to us all.

[@rodrigogirao8344]

From the title, I assumed it would be about not being allowed to produce anything that could offend China.

[@markmunroe-hz8rf]

There is a sword and sorcery magazine called Savage Realms Monthly or fans of pulp fiction. It is a hit and I hope to submit a story to the publication. That said, there is a rise in indie productions and even audio dramas have more creativity. KZbin has some good original cartoons like Mech West, Murder Drones and Digital Circus. As for sci-fi, there is too much dystopia and fantasy, too much Tolkien copycats. And for crime fiction, too much cooking cozy, serial killers or graphic murders. Which is why I prefer to read the classics.

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

"We've shipped our great stories to China and Mexico" Tax-free...because someone took away the calculator and no one knows how to use the abacus.

[@djanitatiana]

Paul, no one wants to tell the stories of today's struggle's because so few of the antagonistic elements are external, unlike the poverty of the thirties or WW2 or the Cold War and materialistic nostalgia of the 50's or the social and technologic change of 60's. No, today's malaise is the inexplicable anxiety of end stage materialism, technology that upsets our innate social fabric, and a puritanism that represses and makes a taboo of addressing the above. I am reminded of 'Superheroes' the song at the end of _the Rocky Horror Picture Show_ : *And crawling on the planet's face Some insects called the human race Lost in time, and lost in space And meaning* This describes our mainstream culture pretty well I think.

[@CallMeChato]

Yes it does. Thanks.

[@JustaUser17247]

This all has to do with the devaluation and value of money itself. All this has permitted all those things that you mention to happen.

[@geekmastermind]

Christopher Lasch warned us 30 years ago.

[@geekmastermind]

And speaking as a Gen Xer, we don't find romance to be "yucky." That would be the younger Millennials and the Zoomers, who appear to be terrified of genuine relationships and even sex.

[@LionKimbro]

I just think we need a single great hilarious movie, that lampoons woke culture, while respecting good intentions, and then the entirety of society will just leap right over this thing, and we'll never look at it the same way again, because every time somebody says something ridiculous, people will just remember the scene in the movie, and everybody'll be chuckling inside.