This is “Woof of the Week”, the newsletter about the things that make me say “Woof” the longest each week!
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Welcome to Woof of the Week!
Just like the title says, I’ve been trying to reduce my screen time, A LOT . In what is (hopefully) just a perfect storm of dry & agitated eyes, teeth grinding, and lack of sleep, last week I started some minor vision issues and headaches. It doesn’t help that my job involves staring at a screen almost all day at various levels of stress… and that I’ve been going home and continuing to stare at a screen because I’ve been trying to reach Infinite Rank in Marvel Snap since October.
Anyways, call it fate call it karma, but I’ll be heading back east for a little bit for my sister’s graduation. It’ll be a much needed break from work and screens as I hang out with family… but we all know I’ll still be playing Marvel Snap.
In the meantime - this newsletter will be more links than takes - some from this week, and some from weeks prior. Here’s hoping to working on some longer pieces while I’ve got the break from work!
Around the World in 80* Woofs
*more like, a handful of bullet points
The writer’s strike is in its second week here in Los Angeles. With picket lines at every studio, the Marvel machine halted, and Jay Leno handing out donuts, support for the strike remains strong. I drove by Universal today at 9AM and saw lines at every gate - and I’ve heard anecdotally that some lines start as early as 5AM! With non writers getting in line to picket as well - the picket line at Netflix saw some unexpected support today from the band Imagine Dragons. Yes, the band behind such hits as “Radioactive” and “Demons” performed an acoustic set for the picket line while standing on a bench.1 Now, there’s an argument here that perhaps the band was hired to get people to LEAVE the picket line - but hey, any support the WGA can get is good support!
In other news about pop music acts that are just fine, it appears that Ed Sheeran will continue to make music. Earlier this week the singer vowed that he would quit music if he was found guilty of copyright infringement for his song “Thinking Out Loud” which was being alleged to have “striking similarities” to “Let’s Get it On” by Marvin Gaye. During the trial, when asked what he would do if he lost, Sheeran said “If that happens, I’m done, I’m stopping,… I find it really insulting to devote my whole life to being a performer and a songwriter and have someone diminish it.” Honestly, I was going to just make a few jokes about Ed Sheeran did quit music (even though I unfortunately love “Shivers”) but while reading about this case it really does seem like a Woof for the plaintiffs, the family of producer of “Let’s Get it On” Ed Townsend. Might warrant more of a longer piece - but for now, just know that we’ll probably keep hearing from Ed Sheeran for some time :)
Utah has a new flag and people think it’s too woke! The new design was chosen out of 5,703 submissions and was borne out of a collaboration between 72 people. Per Business Insider, it brings the beehive, “the marker of the work ethic of the pioneers” into focus, and “features a much simpler, more modern design with a five peaks representing Utah's mountains, and red mountains, in reference to the state's red rock canyons.” The criticism of the new flag seems to largely come from Republicans, taking offense to the removal of the bald eagle, and the words “industry” and “Utah”. A group opposing the flag is now taking its second run at repealing it by attempting to get the issue on the 2024 ballot.
Utah’s original flag and new flag are below, please please please let me know if the new one is too woke for you.People never cease to fascinate me!
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More Woofs!
One of the few positives about social media is the ability to follow someone who you might never meet in real life, or someone whose personality and interests are so unlike yours. For me, the perfect combination of that person is Winter - aka the man who is trying to drink coffee from every company-owned Starbucks in the world. His Instagram bio reads “Itinerant computer programmer interested in coffee, Scrabble, fitness, philosophy, and a better world” - he also loves Vampire Weekend, and apparently, Taylor Swift! He attended Taylor’s Nashville show at Nissan Stadium which was delayed for almost four hours due to storms. Per his Instagram caption he paid $1600 for a ticket and drove four days to attend the show. This man’s dedication to a task knows no bounds. But also $1600… are the Swifties really ok?
One day I’ll write the AI issue of Woof of the Week (it’s there in my drafts I promise) but for now you’ll have to settle for this: a man in Singapore used ChatGPT to help him win the lottery. Obviously that sentence is not inherently true - ChatGPT, to my knowledge, does not have the ability to predict numbers that are generated by pure chance. Unless all of the training it’s undergoing is actually making an expert in chaos theory - we’ll jut have to chalk this one up to pure luck. Although lottery believers will likely be signing up for ChatGPT in droves now… Anyways the man who won, only won around $38 USD, so, nothing to write home about!
(He did say he “will likely spend his winnings for a meal with family members”)Some quick hit personal Woof to round this out - after telling me my eyes were extremely dry, the optometrist told me that she “prescribes blinks now” and that I need to blink “a lot.” This has resulted in me reminding myself to blink by audibly saying blink, and blinking while doing so. God, is it any wonder that I’ve been listening to a song called “Sad to Breathe” on repeat?
Quote of the Week
This week’s quote is from 2023:
I wish I smelled a good a orange chicken.
These are the perks of working in an office.
That’s all folks!
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of Woof of the Week! Leave a comment because I’d love to hear your thoughts! Some questions I have for you -
What’s the most you’ve paid to see a concert?
ChatGPT? More like Chat Poo or Pee! (that was on a writer’s strike sign)
Utah should’ve just gotten rid of the beehive altogether right?
See you on the next one!
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I was going to write “Radioactive” twice because I legitimately couldn’t think of a second song they wrote by name.