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This post is part one of three. Find part two here. Find part three here. My very first thought when Steven Furtick walked on stage at the main Elevation Church campus was this: white people hairlines don’t do that. And Steven Furtick is most definitely white. The hairline can’t be an accident. Every single thing you see at an Elevation campus is intentional. Each detail has been carefully designed. The entire experience is a triumph of planning, message discipline, and thorough production.

Back before "method acting" meant Jared Leto sending boxes of used condoms to his co-stars in Suicide Squad, and just being an insufferable pain in the ass to everyone on a movie set, it meant getting so deeply, intensely into a role that the audience wouldn't be able to tell where the actor ended and the character began. It took a lot of grueling preparation, putting oneself through the wringer emotionally and sometimes physically, to bring the character to life.

"You're living in the middle of nowhere” my mother used to tell me when chastising me for being unrealistic. She would criticize those who never came down from the clouds of dreams, because she was an ultra-realist. It's also not unjust. Her generation had taught her to be realistic in the harshest sense. Political events, economic hardships, family losses, boarding school years, and a difficult working life. All of this does not make for a particularly dreamy individual.

Now coming to you from even further into the future! Ahhhh, shenanigans. There were a few New Year’s shenanigans. I know it’s an unhealthy cliche that writers drink to the point of tragicomedy. I’ve made jokes about writers drinking, and no doubt will again, though the writing culture I’m most involved with has made an effort in recent years to smash the idea that alcohol is mandatory for socialization. To add to the irony, I’m approaching two full years of deliberately reduced (for medical reasons) drinking.

Welcome to my personal newsletter. I’m publishing weekly essays on digital technology and culture, in the run-up to my January 2024 book FILTERWORLD: How Algorithms Flattened Culture. Subscribe or read the archive here. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling adrift on the internet right now. There’s no place to call home, no central gathering point where the people I want to talk to congregate. The platforms that do exist feel worse and worse.

My dad loved watching wrestling. He enjoyed the spectacle, the rivalry, and the sheer physicality of the sport. (I call it a “sport” with a chuckle, but still.) I love how he got into the pageantry and patriotism of something that was so American, and yet so far from all he grew up with. We would spend so much time together on weekends watching WWE. He was convinced it was 100% real, whereas I was 100% sure, even at a young age, that it was not.

Hi, I am Charlie Borland and welcome to my All About Photography newsletter. I have been a pro photographer for over 40 years and have a lot to share with you. Please join the photo adventure by subscribing to this reader-supported newsletter. Diagonal lines in photo compositions offer an ability to create visual impact and convey energy and a sense of movement, no matter the subject niche. Unlike horizontal or vertical lines that can feel static, diagonals imply motion and give a sense of flow that can make an image more visually engaging as they aid the viewer in visually moving through the image.

Curating fee-free (AND paying) calls and competitions—plus other resources—for writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. By Erika Dreifus/The Practicing Writer Newsletter · Over 11,000 subscribersGo directly to newsletter“The Practicing Writer 2.0 is a valuable newsletter for writers. From writing resources to contest notices to submission alerts to residency information, this is one of the most useful tools in my writing toolbox. ” “A writer's go-to source for contests, grants, competitions, and paying writing opportunities.

At the height of his 1970s success, Mel Brooks saw the future of movies and knew it didn’t have much use for the past. Brooks had become a filmmaker via a sideways route. That included a stop on the writing staff of Your Show of Shows, after which he became an unexpected celebrity opposite his pal Carl Reiner as half of the team behind the hit “2000 Year Old Man” comedy routine.