I read this story & your previous one, and this one flows better. The images are more consistent. And the prose is a bit less... mechanical.
One of the things I enjoy when I read your AI-assisted stories is trying to imagine you creating prompts... and what the story says about the ideas & movements & moments you most value. ... I hope the following is received in the spirit that I'm writing this: The '60s youth culture / hippie / Woodstock / Haight Ashbury / eastern guru mindset has many of the makings of a... religion. It has key historic moments... iconic leaders... a set of values... a way of living & thinking & talking. When it all went down 60 years ago, it wasn't history, it was Be Here Now. It attempted to be a clean break from the past. But then the years drift by, and those moments and people are enshrined in the hippie Canon, and the vision is celebrated as something that once was AND something that might be once again. ... (Sidebar: I'm reminded of Pete Townshend's great line from My Generaton -- "hope I die before I get old"; it sounded good in 1965, but hasn't aged well.)
I wonder what happens when you interrogate the '60s counterculture the way you interrogate the old-time religions... and language itself? Does the vision still cohere? Is there still a foundation upon which we can build something life-affirming and sustainable?
One other question: What happens if the heroine of "Mendocino" is a short, overweight woman with black hair and a bad complexion? Put another way: How much does your argument for '60s values depend on a protagonist who is a beautiful willowy blonde woman who doesn't seem to age? :-) ..... (When The Word become incarnate, a whole bunch of new problems jump to the fore.)
Thanks for writing & sharing these stories. I've really enjoyed reading them.
Thanks for your engagement Alan, much appreciated.
The first thing I learned from your input is that this is where the human generated content will live on HippyToons. In the comment section! I literally hadn't thought of that yet.
One of the things I'm learning from this is how much more there is for me to learn, both about fiction, and how to talk to ChatGPT. I feel like I've only scratched the surface so far. I'm gradually building a creative process that works for me.
Hippyism as a religion? Sure, I can see that, there are certainly some similarities. And there were branches of hippy culture which became explicitly religious, particularly in the 1970s guru era. That said, hippy culture is much like the Jewish culture you've been teaching me about, in that there wasn't a single point of view on almost anything. You know, some hippies sought peace and love out on the farm, while others wanted to butt heads with the police in urban political conflicts.
The best known parts of hippy culture were in the 60s, but hippy culture never fully went away. It sort of melted in to the dominant culture, both of which have influenced the other.
It's probably helpful to reflect that the original hippy culture was dominated by twenty-somethings high on some kind of dope. So there was a LOT of idealism, creativity and energy, but far less of a coherent well thought out plan for achieving the movement's goals. That said, the lasting cultural changes which emerged from that era are fairly remarkable.
An attempt to turn hippy culture in to a kind of fixed dogma ideology would probably be misguided, and ineffective. That culture is perhaps best compared to the realm of art, where fixed anything can be an obstacle to creativity.
It's true, not all hippies were attractive and glamorous! The site has sort of a fairy tale flavor so far, but that can change. Indeed, variety is advised! In fact you've just given me a good idea for a coming story.
Once upon a time a short fat balding Jewish man named Alan looked in the mirror with great concern at his bad complexion, and asked the mirror how he would ever find the favor of the beautiful willowy blonde women he hopes to meet on the HippyToons dating site. But then his confidence returned, and being the smart open capable man everyone knew him to be, he came up with a plan that was bound to succeed!
You're getting better at this! :-)
I read this story & your previous one, and this one flows better. The images are more consistent. And the prose is a bit less... mechanical.
One of the things I enjoy when I read your AI-assisted stories is trying to imagine you creating prompts... and what the story says about the ideas & movements & moments you most value. ... I hope the following is received in the spirit that I'm writing this: The '60s youth culture / hippie / Woodstock / Haight Ashbury / eastern guru mindset has many of the makings of a... religion. It has key historic moments... iconic leaders... a set of values... a way of living & thinking & talking. When it all went down 60 years ago, it wasn't history, it was Be Here Now. It attempted to be a clean break from the past. But then the years drift by, and those moments and people are enshrined in the hippie Canon, and the vision is celebrated as something that once was AND something that might be once again. ... (Sidebar: I'm reminded of Pete Townshend's great line from My Generaton -- "hope I die before I get old"; it sounded good in 1965, but hasn't aged well.)
I wonder what happens when you interrogate the '60s counterculture the way you interrogate the old-time religions... and language itself? Does the vision still cohere? Is there still a foundation upon which we can build something life-affirming and sustainable?
One other question: What happens if the heroine of "Mendocino" is a short, overweight woman with black hair and a bad complexion? Put another way: How much does your argument for '60s values depend on a protagonist who is a beautiful willowy blonde woman who doesn't seem to age? :-) ..... (When The Word become incarnate, a whole bunch of new problems jump to the fore.)
Thanks for writing & sharing these stories. I've really enjoyed reading them.
Speaking of hippies and religion...
You've got me wondering now of the degree to which hippy ideals are just another expression of the pervasive influence of Judaism.
Thanks for your engagement Alan, much appreciated.
The first thing I learned from your input is that this is where the human generated content will live on HippyToons. In the comment section! I literally hadn't thought of that yet.
One of the things I'm learning from this is how much more there is for me to learn, both about fiction, and how to talk to ChatGPT. I feel like I've only scratched the surface so far. I'm gradually building a creative process that works for me.
Hippyism as a religion? Sure, I can see that, there are certainly some similarities. And there were branches of hippy culture which became explicitly religious, particularly in the 1970s guru era. That said, hippy culture is much like the Jewish culture you've been teaching me about, in that there wasn't a single point of view on almost anything. You know, some hippies sought peace and love out on the farm, while others wanted to butt heads with the police in urban political conflicts.
The best known parts of hippy culture were in the 60s, but hippy culture never fully went away. It sort of melted in to the dominant culture, both of which have influenced the other.
It's probably helpful to reflect that the original hippy culture was dominated by twenty-somethings high on some kind of dope. So there was a LOT of idealism, creativity and energy, but far less of a coherent well thought out plan for achieving the movement's goals. That said, the lasting cultural changes which emerged from that era are fairly remarkable.
An attempt to turn hippy culture in to a kind of fixed dogma ideology would probably be misguided, and ineffective. That culture is perhaps best compared to the realm of art, where fixed anything can be an obstacle to creativity.
It's true, not all hippies were attractive and glamorous! The site has sort of a fairy tale flavor so far, but that can change. Indeed, variety is advised! In fact you've just given me a good idea for a coming story.
Once upon a time a short fat balding Jewish man named Alan looked in the mirror with great concern at his bad complexion, and asked the mirror how he would ever find the favor of the beautiful willowy blonde women he hopes to meet on the HippyToons dating site. But then his confidence returned, and being the smart open capable man everyone knew him to be, he came up with a plan that was bound to succeed!
To be continued! :-)