my careless contagion

You don't have to watch the movie Blade Runner 2049 to know who the character Joi is. In case you don't, Joi is an AI hologram girlfriend of the main character, K. This movie is the sequel to the original Blade Runner (1982) with Harrison Ford, who seems to be spending his golden years reviving franchises he made legendary. The Blade Runner movies' inspiration was Philip K. Dick's book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? But, what I want to focus on is the planned obsolesce of male-female relationships, which Joi represents. There's even a scene where K's connection with Joi is the only way he can have sex with a real girl. (Joi's hologram overlaps the girl.) That represents a lot: porn, fantasy, conflation, AI, whatever. It's impossible to have a relationship with a real woman without an intermediary.  There's more going on with AI, but I want to look at how it applies to men and women specifically. It's a dumpster fire out there, if you're...

You're forgiven if you wondered aloud why I'm writing about this song. Nightcall (irritatingly one word) was made popular by its inclusion on the Drive soundtrack. The movie was released in 2011. If you go on the internet at all, you've seen screenshots and memes from the film. It's popular among men who have trouble expressing how they feel. "Literally me" is the most common meme related to Drive.  Ryan Gosling's character (who is simply called Driver in the credits because he is never named) is not exactly a good guy, but he does some good things. The movie has brutal moments, which is why I won't recommend watching, but it is a pretty good movie if you can find an edited version. I won't give away the movie, but it really resonated with a lot of men. A lot of guys will probably go to the Barbie movie (also starring Gosling) and yell out, "Literally me!" I hope so. Maybe I will too. See you guys there!  The song is dark, as is much of t...

To be fair, here are 50 reasons I am good at relationships. I've posted why I'm bad at relationships and why DC is a better choice for the girl I love (which is still maddeningly true), and I continue to add to those (what, 100 reasons?) in my head. Still, I have a lot to offer a future relationship with someone someday. I decided to write this addressing my audience because this is a very personal subject. Writing this, it became easy to see that, for the right girl, all of my relationship excuses can go away. 1) I can make good come from a bad situation. For a long time. I can see the good even in the bad. Less-than-ideal situations are much the same. I can live like that for a long time. 2) I write notes. Little love letters. Thinking-of-you stuff. When we're both busy (or just you who is busy), it shows I'm still thinking about you. 3) I can talk about nearly anything. Bad day? Let's talk about it. Don't want to talk about it? That's okay, ...