"The Madison": A Review

 

 

As you know, this blog has a regular feature called "Like It or Lump It" in which I review various streaming shows and advise if the show is worth watching. 

I've decided to review another show from the Taylor Sheridan TV factory, "The Madison." However, I'm going to leave it to you if you want to watch it or not.

One reason for this is that "The Madison" is a well-made TV show.  It has that Montana (or Utah, standing in for Montana) background which is just awesome.  The rest of the show has some problems.

First, you have to know that THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. You can't review this show without revealing a major event that drives the narrative of the show.

Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell play a happily married, rich couple who have two adult nitwit daughters and live in New York City.  Russell became rich from one of those jobs in which money rolls in, just because he (in the words of my wife) is "still fine".  

Evidently, Russell is originally from out west because he spends a couple of weeks at a little compound he and his brother own somewhere in Montana so they can fish together and drink booze. 

Michelle never goes on these outings because she is, and this is a direct quote, "a city mouse."  I have never heard anyone use this phrase in my life, and I'm old.

Russell and his brother fly fish, which Vice President Cheney used to do.  I don't get the appeal of fly fishing but my theory is it is a new hobby of Taylor Sheridan just like that hobby of the sliding horses in "Yellowstone." 

Well, Russell and his brother decided to fish at this river, which is just stocked full of fish. They fly over to this river in his brother's airplane, which is just a little prop plane. A storm comes up, and instead of just waiting out the storm, Russell and his brother head back in the little plane.  From there, they are bounced around in the plane, and the plane hits an inconveniently placed mountain.

Michelle is eating at a fancy-smancy New York restaurant, the kind where you see more plate than food, when she receives a phone call from Montana stating Kurt and the brother have been killed in a plane crash.  Montana never calls just to chat. 

Michelle proceeds straight into I'M GOING TO WIN AN EMMY FOR THIS IF THIS IS THE LAST THING I DO mode and begins to caterwaul. She leaves the restaurant to gather the girls to go to Montana.

The youngest nitwit daughter is married to a beta guy who works at Vandelay Industries and is an importer-exporter.  She got mugged early in the episode mainly to show how dangerous it is to be a city mouse.

The oldest nitwit daughter is a divorcee with two daughters who go to The Woke Private School and learn how to scold people for using the wrong words because that promotes equity.

Well, Michelle, the daughters, granddaughters, and son-in-law all travel to Montana to pick up Kirk Russell's body. When they land in Montana, "The Madison" flips to television's favorite trope: the fish out of water.

Despite the incredible cinematography and the big-time star power, "The Madison" is a melodramatic version of "Green Acres", except with more f-bombs. ("Oh, Ollie-vah, I made your breakfast."  "Mr. Douglas, that is one big mother <bad word> pancake.")

Michelle and gang would make a sailor blush with all of the swearing. It is almost non-stop, and I guess you could argue that the tragedy makes everybody lash out, but it makes Michelle the most non-sympathetic widow in the history of mankind. She is always cussing out somebody about something, usually for no reason except Kurt is gone and I feel bad, boo-hoo.

It is sort of like if there was a sequel to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's book "On Death And Dying", called "The Stages of Grief".

Stage One: Catawaulling

Stage Two: Swearing.

One thing about a Taylor Sheridan project is that he tries to own the libs in his shows.  A lot of people (not me) object to this.  I don't object because I lived in the era of the Norman Lear comedies in which somebody, usually Archie Bunker, would say something bigoted or mean, and Rob Reiner would roll his eyes and give a speech proving Arch was full of beans.

Sheridan does spend a lot of time showing what a good salt of the earth people the Montana folk are and Michelle and company are not because they are a bunch of snots. 

But I think the real problem is that while the show is wallowing in grief, nobody ever really addresses this question:  If this man was her soul-mate for lo these many years, how come she never visited the compound before his death?  It looks like she would have been there at least once, if not to prepare everybody for the outhouse.

I know there's a lot of waves of emotion when a loved one dies, but Michelle's performance of walking into a river with her fancy clothes and sleeping by the gravesite seems just a little bit....too much. 

Violence:  None, except for a plane crashing into a mountain.   The one good thing the nitwit youngest daughter did was bust some Gen Z young lady in the chops after that lady celebrated the death of another rich white man. That was pretty sweet. 

Sex:  There's a lot of talk about between Beta Son-in-law and the nitwit youngest daughter about possible doing the South Carolina Lovey-Dovey, but then she gets mad at him for something stupid.

Nudity:  The youngest daughter is stung on her heiney by wasps that had a nest in the outhouse and you see the nekkid wasp stung bottom. (I saw Nekkid Wasp Stung Bottom open for Toad The Wet Sprocket.)

Language: Pretty bad.

"The Madison" has been renewed for a second season, which means Michelle will be able to express her grief in loud wails and cuss words just like a city mouse.

 

 

40

 

 

My wife and I just celebrated our 40th anniversary.

It is really strange because in the past, couples who celebrated their 40th anniversary were always old people.  My wife and I are still spring chickens, which is not unusual for our peer group.  Most of the people we know insist that they are young whippersnappers who just happen to go to bed at nine o'clock.

Anyway, when we married, Ronald Reagan was President.  Donald Trump was still married to his first wife, I think.  

Televisions were big and heavy. Our first "big" purchase as a couple was a VCR.  Somehow, we managed to hook it up without coming to blows.

We lived in an apartment complex. The complex is still there.

I've been thinking about marriage lately and how some make it to forty years and some don't. 

One guy I enjoy reading is James Lileks, formerly of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Lileks is exactly one year older than me and was the Lewis Grizzard/Dave Barry of Minneapolis.  Great writer. Posts a five-day week blog called "The Bleat".

Well, Lileks, to be blunt, isn't quite as woke (and I know that makes me sound like the guy at the loading dock who only watches FOX News) as people who want to control public discourse in Minneapolis expect.  He wrote a joke (a joke!) in a humor column (the nerve!) and had his column yanked away.  He was placed on the fast-paced Twin Cities Architecture beat.  He eventually took a buyout. 

He is getting a divorce from his wife. They were married a year or two after us.  They share a grown daughter.  He writes about the breakup in "The Bleat". Some of it is heartbreaking.

There's a lot of speculation, in the comments section of the blog, but really, there's no way to know. Just two people who are going their own way. 

Roger Miller had an old country song that said it best regarding husbands and wives. "Some can and some can't."

My secret?  I talk to my wife, and if she doesn't want to do something, we don't do it.  It is as simple as that.  If she wants to do something and I don't, well, we do it anyway. I have no strong opinion about a lot of things, like movies, where to eat, and whether we need to go to the grocery store. 

Just decide which hill you want to die on. For example, if my wife wanted to rob a bank, I would argue with her. 

Secondly, I would advise all couples to decide who is going to handle the finances. Make a budget. Try to keep it.  My mother told me that marriages either fail in the bedroom or the bank book.  That's pretty much true.

One thing I would caution young people on: everybody wants the Instagram pictures and all that. That's great, but marriage is not just the wedding. A marriage is something you have to work at. That means talking and listening. It means giving and taking. 

It also helps if you marry a wonderful person, as I did. 

 

 

Insulting Compliments

 

 

We have learned this week that the greatest insult you can give a person is to compliment them. 

Howie Mandel was on "Live With Kelly and Mark or Ryan or Michael but Not Regis Because Regis is In the Great Big Studio In The Sky" and Kelly, of all people, got sideways with Howie.

First of all, I've always liked Howie Mandel, going back to the time he was on TV putting surgical gloves on his head and blowing it up. (The gloves, not his head.)

He was on this medical drama called "St. Elsewhere," where he played a wacky doctor. (Footnote: "St. Elsewhere" was the show that started Denzel Washington who is 71 and looks great for his age on his path to stardom.  The show's finale revealed that it was the entire show a dream of an autistic child.)

He's a very funny man and does a bit about the digital prostate check exam that will leave you needing Depends.

Also, my wife and I were in the audience of "Live With Kelly And Ryan" a few years ago.  Fun fact: Ryan Seacrist was a disc jockey at WSTR ("Star 94"), here in Atlanta in the nineties. I would like to say I listened to his show and knew that young man was going to go far, but I have no memory of listening to him.

The key to being in the audience for "Live" is two-fold:  1) Can you get up early in the morning, and 2) Can you wait in line at WABC?

The big star for our show was Tom Selleck.  We had really good seats, and I was able to observe Mr. Selleck, and I came to two conclusions.

One, Mr. Selleck is physically a large man.  No wonder the gals like him.

Two,  it was early in the morning for Mr. Selleck, too, and it seemed he would rather be somewhere else. I don't blame him.

The "Mark" on "Live With Kelly and Mark" is Mark Consuelos, who is married to Kelly. It is a good gig if you can get it.  He seems like a guy who was so doggone good-looking that you had to give him a job.

He married Kelly when they both worked on a soap opera together, and they don't appear to be a husband and wife Phil Donahue tag-team out to get the celebrities.

Here's what happened. Howie is introduced. Hubs told Howie, "You just celebrated 70 years. You’re 70 years old." Wifey said that “it doesn’t make any sense” to her because Mandel “looks great.”

Howie said, “I look great? That doesn’t mean anything to me. No, no, no, no. I don’t like that, because that’s a caveat." He goes on to say,  “It’s like saying you’re smart for a stupid person.”

No, it doesn't. 

Howie is trying to say this compliment is like, "hey, you don't sweat much for a fat girl." It is simply not a backhanded compliment like one I got, saying, "You don't act like a short person."  People have their minds on how short people have acted around them.  I guess I never got the book telling me how to act.

Sara Moniuszko writes in USA Today, Chloe Bean, "a licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in trauma, says this comment can activate shame because it reinforces the message that aging is something to apologize for or avoid."

"Even when it's intended to be flattering, 'you look good for your age' can land as an insult because it suggests a pressure to keep looking different than the age you are,' Bean said, which can reinforce the idea that your value is being measured by your appearance."

 First of all, intentions do matter.  You can't get all snippy with someone because they activated your shame gland.  Secondly, Howie Mandel has never been valued for his appearance. He was valued for being one of the funniest men on the planet. 

Mandel is four years older than I am.  I'm not a person who gets a lot of compliments, but I am complimented for not looking sixty-six years old. The only reason for that is that I have all my hair, and the hair I have is not gray.  Well, I do have some gray hair, but my wife says it is, and I quote, "kind of sexy".  

After being near-sighted, big-eared, short, and little tubby, the Lord said, "Ah, let him keep his hair and hair color."

Ms. Moniuszko's article gives us some tips on talking to people who look good for their age, so you don't hurt their pumpkin feeling by telling them they look good for their age. 

Chloe Bean, who I remind you is a  licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in trauma, gives some alternatives such as: "It's always so great to see you," "You have such great energy," and "I always look forward to our conversations about how you don't look your age while I look like Gollum."

By the way, I did watch the clip of Howie, Kelly, and Mark. I didn't think it was all that bad, but I understand Kelly is banning Howie from the show for not acting his age. 

(Note: As I was posting his, Howie posted an apology to Kelly and said he does look good for his age. Thanks a lot, Howie.)

 

 

This Is CNN

 

 

"Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather. But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home". 

The above was the first paragraph in the CNN.com report on the two young men who threw homemade bombs outside the home of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Many have criticized the post as being little too nice to two individuals who wanted to blow up people. Kids will be kids. 

 I took it upon myself to look up other CNN reports in their archives regarding past events.

*"James Wilkes Booth was a well-regarded actor dropped by Ford's Theater just to check up on some old friends. But, wouldn't you know it, his friends were performing in the hit play, "Our American Cousin",  and President Lincoln was in his balcony seat. Booth had bought a new pistol and thought the President would be interested in seeing it. Ooopsie-doodle, the gun went off and Booth had to jump from the balcony to the stage. Upon landing on the stage, Booth broke his leg and yelled to the crowd, "Sic Simper Tyrannis". This reporter took Latin in school and this means "My tyrannis is sick with the simpers."

 

*"Gavrilo Princip was a Serbian nationalist student who always wanted to start a World War that no one would understand.  Gavrilo did not make good grades in school, mainly because he didn't know how to spell his name.  But wouldn't you know it, Archduke Franz Ferndinad and his lovely wife, Sophie, came driving by and Gavrilo thought this would be a good time to start a World War because Franz Ferdinand was not only the heir to the Austria-Hungry throne but also a band that played songs like "Darts of Pleasure”, “Walk Away”, and “Ulysses”.  So Gavrilo shot both of them. This has started the World War Gavrilo wanted although we're still not sure we understand why. 

 

 * "On December 7, 1941, Mitsuo Fuchida was flying around with a couple of friends when he decided they should fly to the Hawaiian Islands just for giggles. The planes Mitsuo and his friends were flying felt weighted down by all of the bombs they were carrying.  When they saw Pearl Harbor, Mitsuo sent a coded message "To, To, To" which meant "Everybody have fun tonight,"  and the young pilots dropped their bombs on the US Naval Battleships, which just happened to be in the harbor.  Then Mitsuo sent another coded message:  "Tora, Tora, Tora," which meant "Everybody Wang Chung tonight."  This led to more bombing and caused Ben Affleck and Josh Harnett to get involved by chasing them in the only two airplanes that were not damaged from the "raid". Upon hearing the news, President Jon Voight to stood up."

 

* "On Friday morning, Lee Harvey Oswald caught a ride to work with his friend, Buell Frasier,  with a paper package of curtain rods.  Oswald went up into his work area on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, taking his curtain rods with him.  He set up a little area of boxes of books stacked on top of each other, so he could study the curtain rods. These were fancy curtain rods and everybody was always telling him how to hang the curtain rods like they were some kind of expert. When he opened the package, he was in for a surprise.  Oswald didn't pick up his curtain rods. He picked up his Carcano rifle that he totally, by accident, shot in the vicinity of General Edwin Walker. Oswald decided to shoot the rifle, three times out the window.  Talk about all of the dumb luck. The President of The United States just happen to riding by in an open convertible."

 

* "In the early morning of August 9, 1969, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krewinkel, and Linda Kasabian drove around Hollywood looking at the homes of movie stars. They came across 10050 Cielo Drive which was the home of Sharon Tate. "What a great place to start Helter Skelter!", Tex Watson exclaimed.  Susan Atkins said, "I wonder what other Beatle songs Sharon Tate likes."  It is not known if Tate even liked The Beatles.

 

* As a youth. Virgilio Gonzalez enjoyed playing in the sand at one of the glorious beaches in Cuba.  Yesterday, he has broke into the Democratic Party's National Headquarters at The Watergate Hotel because they were going to nominate the glowing hunk of charisma, South Dakota Senator George McGovern.

 

 

Ol' Bill

 

 

You may have noticed that I don't post as often on politics as I used to in the past.

One reason is that politics has gotten into a rut where nobody laughs at themselves, and they think their political opponents are the spawn of Satan. That is, if they believe in Satan. Otherwise, it is Hitler twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. 

A lot of the political humor has morphed into this Colin Jost Weekend Update bit, "Senator Mitch McConnell, seen here smiling at a box of puppies being sit on fire".  It is funny the first million times you hear it. 

 I was going to comment about President Trump, addressing the nation about bombing Iran, while wearing a USA baseball cap.  I thought it would have been neat to watch newsreels of President Truman wearing a leather football helmet while announcing the surrender of Japan. 

But some people will complain about the "dignity" of the White House, while others would call me a RINO.  It's just not worth my time, but it was still funny, ha-ha, and not ha-ha, if you know what I mean. 

 People say they want a "political dialogue."  They don't. They want a monologue and guess who is talking.  Hint: it is not you. 

After they finish their brilliance, they want you to cry "Uncle" and pledge to agree with them on any topic.  

One thing people argue about is "The Epstein Files".

Jeffrey Epstein was a rich jet setter who was a pervert and sexually exploited underage girls. 

He ran around with some hoity-toity people, including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Prince Andrew.  The other people he ran with were your basic run-of-the-mill EuroTrash men that held these la-te-da jobs and enjoyed the company of girls who never heard of John Lennon. 

It is pretty well documented that Prince Andrew "knew" many of the girls in the biblical sense. As for Trump and Clinton, it really depends on what you think about Trump and Clinton. 

I have an unpopular opinion.  Both Trump and Clinton have been cads in their lives.  That is undeniable. 

However, I don't think Trump and Clinton ever did the Prince Andrew with any of Epstein's victims. I just don't see any evidence.

I watched a little of President Clinton's testimony before the House committee on CSPAN. Yes, my life in retirement is that exciting.

There was President Bill. Head full of white hair. Looking cagey as ever. He even flirted with a comely Republican Congresswoman. The man can't help himself. 

Committee Member:  "Do you remember what happened on February 12 2002?"

President Bill:  "Whale, ah, you haffa member that there wuz a big ole earf quake in Inder and I was dealin' with that. An tryin to git the house set up for you know who, so I don't member."

Committee Member:  "You were on a private plane with Jeffrey Epstein and forty former Penthouse Pets."

President Bill:  "Ah wuz?  Whale, slap some butter on me and call me a biscuit."

Whatever they were looking for from President Clinton, I'm sure they didn't find it. 

I mean, this guy survived "acting inappropriately" in the White House and the state house in Arkansas. He was the Big Cheese. I've heard a billion people say that when they met Bill Clinton you had his full attention-you were the most important person on earth-even if you wasn't built. 

Clinton is the only person I know of that got into politics to meet chicks. 

Still, watching President Bill, with the shakes as he tries to drink some water, I felt sort of sorry for him. I can assure you that is the first time that has happened.

Chocolate In My Peanut Butter

 

 

Now that I am in the fourth quarter of life, I don't buy candy like I used to.

For one thing, it is too expensive. 

When I was coming along, candy bars were usually a quarter. Back then, everything was a quarter, including used cars and split-level houses. 

(Note to my Gen-Z readers: No, split-level houses did not cost a quarter, even in Marietta, Georgia, in 1971. I'm joking. ) 

According to our lords in Artificial Intelligence, a standard candy bar is $3.45.  That's pretty hefty in my mind, especially when I'm at the age at which I'm supposed to know my A1C. I'm not sure if a less-than-standard candy bar costs less.

We should recognize that although M&M's and Hershey Bars are great, the GOAT of all candy is the glorious Reese's Cups. 

Reese's Cup is chocolate with peanut butter.  They taste good "chilled" -placed in the refrigerator. I especially like to do this to the small cups they sell at Christmas time. 

However, there has been some trouble in the Reese's Cup world. 

According to the AP, "The grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups has lashed out at The Hershey Company, accusing the candy company of hurting the Reese’s brand by shifting to cheaper ingredients in many products. Brad Reese, 70, said in a Feb. 14 letter to Hershey’s corporate brand manager that for multiple Reese's products, the company replaced milk chocolate with compound coatings and peanut butter with peanut crème."

First of all, how cool would it be to know your grandfather invented the Reese's Cup?

Secondly, "compound coatings" sounds like the name of an '80s hair band.  "Please welcome to Alex Cooley's Ballroom...Compound Coatings!"

This is a big deal because when I was growing up, the Sterling-Cooper ad agency produced a series of commercials that featured a young man with a chocolate bar running into a young woman eating peanut butter straight out of a jar.

The young man says,  "Hey you got peanut butter on my chocolate bar." While the young woman says, "Hey, you got chocolate in my peanut butter." From there, they both tasted the heavenly combination, and a million pounds and pimples were conceived. 

James Lileks says this is a perfect example of "encrapification", which is "the process by which everything gets incrementally worse."

Lileks goes on to say, "Every food, every experience, every aspect of daily life and commerce, encrapified by bean counters, hedge funds, cost-cutters, and other MBA types who make something worse so the bottom line looks better, and they get a bonus that sets them up for life."

We geezers say this all the time.  We used to have good music; now we have bad music. We learned this from our parents, who claimed to have music instead of the "racket" we liked. 

The halftime show at the Super Bowl is another example. They used to have Michael Jackson and Prince. This year, they had Bad Bunny, who sells a lot of downloads and performed exclusively in Spanish because of something that has to do with President Orange, and everybody should just shut up because you know you like to go hear operas in German. 

Movies. Really. When was the last time you went to the movies without having to take out a home equity loan?  When was the last time you saw a movie that was really enjoyable?

TV shows? Most of them start good and finish terribly.  

Hershey responded to Mr. Reese: "The company said the classic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup hasn’t changed and is still made with milk chocolate and freshly roasted peanut butter. The statement also acknowledged that as the brand has expanded into new shapes, sizes, and seasonal items, the company has made what it called “product recipe adjustments.”

I've noticed white chocolate Reese's Cups, heart-shaped Reese's, and Reese's cups shaped like the Easter Bunny. I guess there had to be some recipe adjustments.

But, for the love of all that is good and sacred, please do not change the taste of a Reese's cup. I don't know if I have a jar of peanut butter to walk around with while waiting for an errant chocolate bar.

Something Big. I Guess.

 

 

It should be apparent that I'm NOT the one you go to for new tech information. 

You've heard of "early adapters" of the latest and greatest tech thing?  I'm sort of a "finally get around to it" adapter.

In the early years of the cell phone, I had a little one. It fit in my pocket. It rang, and I answered it. One time I decided to go a little crazy, and I put the "Hawaii 5-0" theme as my ringtone. 

By the way, the "Hawaii 5-0" theme absolutely slaps, as the kids say today. 

That was pretty cool until I forgot to put the ringer on silent, and during a particularly reflective moment of our church's Christmas concert, my late great friend, Bill Wade, decided to give me a call. 

Nothing says Christmas like the "Hawaii 5-0" theme.

After that phone, I got a flip phone, which was the worst cell phone ever created.  However, the flip phone could text and take pictures in a very primitive way. 

Then I got a Blackberry, which I thought was pretty cool.  To show how cool it was, Karl Rove had a Blackberry.  You could text on it, and (this is important), you could have the Facebook and Twitter apps, so you could always be engaged with social media.  That might not have been such a great idea. 

Soon, I learned the Blackberry was like the K-mart tennis shoes that your mom would buy you because it sort of, kind of, looked like the Adidas shoes everyone at Wheeler wore, because we were not going to spend $30.00 for a pair of tennis shoes, Alan. 

Then one day, my wife and I walked into the 21st Century and got an iPhone. It drove Blackberry out of the market. I don't even think Karl Rove has one now. 

The big topic in tech is Artificial Intelligence or "AI".

What is AI? According to my deep research (Wikipedia) "AI" is artificial intelligence, which is intelligence that is artificial. It is computer systems that "perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem solving, perception, and decision making".  

 

AI also helps you to spell better and pick out Netflix shows.

 
AI is supposed to do many of things. However, right now, it looks like the main function of AI is to make cat videos for TikTok and Facebook. 

 One video shows cat restaurant servers bringing food to human customers, which is a hoot because, as anybody who has been around a cat knows, they would never bring you anything unless they killed it themselves. 

Another video shows cats dancing around to Taylor Swift songs.

So I was surprised at a post by Matt Shumer, who owns an AI firm titled "Something Big Is Happening".  Read it here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/something-big-happening-matt-shumer-so5he/

 Matt Shumer said today reminds him of February of 2020, when we heard rumblings about this "virus" in China that would kill everybody. You might remember it, I think it was called Covid.

The virus was very bad, and it killed John Prine, but there is a line of thinking that if somebody, like, oh, President Trump, had just done something (exactly what nobody has ever explained), maybe so many people would not have died. 

Shumer says in 2022, a mere four years ago, AI could not do simple math. (Finally, me and high tech have something in common.)  Now, AI can pass the bar exam.  AI won't make lawyers disappear, (dang) but Shumer advises that you better be aware of the changes that AI will cause. AI might actually do some work.

Shumer's thesis is simple: brace yourself. Things are going to change fast, so be prepared.  Forbes magazine says this: "His (Shumer) prescription is blunt: get ahead of it. Learn to use AI. Become indispensable. Invest wisely. Prepare for volatility."

The only problem this slightly less tech-savvy person sees is that learning to use AI, becoming indispensable, investing wisely, and preparing for volatility is just good advice anyway. 

I remember a lot of the latest and greatest things. The color TV. Microwave ovens. Calculators. All of these presented a challenge and would change everything. I remember during the dot.com boom, I heard that brick-and-mortar stores would go out of business.  Okay, maybe they were right about that.

AI is just a tool.  It can make things easier and make things more complicated. It depends on how we use it. 

So maybe it is not the end of the world as we know it. Maybe it is just another gadget that can make life better.  Or make more cat videos, we'll see.