Coming Like a Freight Train
Ars Technica published an article this morning with AI voice demos from Sesame. It's here: Eerily realistic AI voice demo sparks amazement and discomfort online.
If you can tell the voices in the two samples aren't human, I'd be surprised. I can't. The second example is two persons conversing, one of which is AI. I couldn't tell them apart.
I discussed this with DQ Film Advisor and Greatest Guy in the World Ben Ormand, and he agrees that the samples are incredible. He sees all of this coming to Hollywood, along with AI video creation, but when he tries to explain, no one is listening.
It's coming very, very quickly.
The example he used was a group of outsiders making a film with a 500k budget that looks like it cost 150M to make. When that happens, people will finally understand, he said.
If what he mentioned sounds impossible, maybe it is, at least today. But fully creating a feature-length film with AI In 2-3 years? Maybe. In 5 years? Almost certainly.
One of my challenges this year is to stay briefed on what's happening in this field and to become proficient with the tools. It all sounds arcane, at first, but it's going to a primary driver of creativity going forward, whether we want it to or not, and I don't want to get behind.
Book Update
I'm now about 2/3 of the way through the second section of the book. The writing isn't final, but it's within one or two drafts, so it's well along. I'm more efficient this time.
The last third of this section, plus the last section, are going to require a bit of rewriting to fill in holes in the narrative. It's all problem-solving at this point, though, and I understand what needs to be done.
I'm becoming more confident that this will be ready by the end of 2026. I'm looking forward to seeing what you think.
Best Picture Nominees 2025
We've seen four of them so far, and here are some thoughts.
The Nickel Boys is so brilliant and transcendent that of course it didn't win. A staggering adaptation of an equally brilliant book. It manages to be both lyrical and incredibly uncomfortable at the same time. When has anyone ever managed to do that? Also, if you haven't read the book, please do. Colson Whitehead is a ridiculous, fantastic writer.
Anora was a worthy Best Picture winner (if the Nickel Boys couldn't win), and Mikey Madison was an even more deserving Best Actress winner. She was riveting. This movie is so darkly funny that it can be a bit of an adjustment, at first, but it was a brilliant script.
Emilia Perez is a level below the previous two, but still very, very good. It's a musical, but the film itself tells a story that might have been better served without the musical numbers (even though they're very clever).
The Substance is a campy B-movie with no original ideas whatsoever and it's a crime it was nominated instead of far more deserving movies (like A Real Pain). This movie is two hours and twenty minutes of cymbals clashing together. It's a quilt of ideas taken from far better films with body horror thrown in. The entire script reads like it was written by AI after feeding in every cynical popularity algorithm currently existing in cinema.
Not that I have a strong opinion about it or anything.
