On The Road With Al and Ivy: Blog

Podcast Episode 3 now live on Spotify and Apple.  https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alhanda/episodes/On-The-Road-With-Al--Ivy-Episode-3-e2k5k0q Topics: The Godfather by Mario Puzo, Three Musketeers by Dumas, and the Robin Hood myth. Some thoughts on Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck, On The Road by Kerouac Scroll Version, and The Road by Jack London. Music: My Dog Dreams And Becomes A Mermaid Techno Mix, Sunday's Moon and Nigel Raga by Handa-McGraw International. Taylor's Blues by Mark McGraw

On The Road With Al & Ivy Podcast: Episode 2 Live on Spotify.  Will be live on Apple and YouTube Music with a day or two. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/deltasnake/episodes/On-The-Road-With-Al--Ivy-Episode-2-e2jsa5l  Topics:   - The homeless literature of Jack London and George Orwell with commentary.   - The Kind Elderly Lady (aka Somebody's Grandmother) Excerpt from On The Road With Al & Ivy: The Anthology Vol. 2 - 2016-2018 Music:   Sunday's Moon by Handa-McGraw International   Mississippi John On The Mainline and Taj'n 'Round by Mark McGraw Intro and outro music: My Dog Dreams and Becomes A Mermaid (techno version) by Handa-McGraw International   #podcast #literature #homeless #blog #jacklondon #georgeorwell

Update on Podcast: Changing back to the original blog format There's one more change to the podcast format, which is in many of the descriptions of the show, the old title of the blog is going to be used again. It will read "On The Road With Al & Ivy: A Literary Homeless Chronicle." The reason is that it will allow me to incorporate material from my ebook and past blog entries that relate to homelessness. In other words, the podcast is simply going back to the old blog format that started in 2016 which covered literary and cultural issues occasionally from a homeless point of view. I may sound naive or clueless when I say that the main reason I had moved to a more literary format was that I actually thought the homeless issue was going to either go away or be reduced by the influx of help and money that was occurring even back in 2016.  There have been huge sums of money spent and the creation of many local and government services, yet the problem has been getting wor...

The first full episode of the On The Road With Al & Ivy  is now live on  Spotify  (and in my subscriber section on X). Podcast Episode 2: 1. Hermann Hesse, Marcel Proust and A.I. 2. Riffing on Rites of Passage For Men and Women (Humor) Music by Handa-McGraw International  https://open.spotify.com/episode/67K2sHKymlrGM6de9oRqBH?si=EXoa6is-Rm6RoXR0_br2kw #podcast #literature #essay #commentary #hesse #proust #humor #satire

FEBRUARY 2024 COMPILATION ISSUE Note: All material by Al Handa unless otherwise noted. Contents copyright 2024 by Al Handa. All rights reserved. IN THIS ISSUE: The Quitturz Preview: Parts 1-3 A.I. And Art: Part 4 - Some Thoughts About Scraping Boogie Underground Preparedness Primer: Part 1 How To Find The Perfect Headphones: Parts 2-3 The Quitturz Preview: Parts 1-3 The eBook version of "The Quitturz" will be published in December and it won't be a straight compilation of the current Vella episodes. The most obvious change is the title. The Vella serial is called "The Quitters," which is a good title, but music groups and other organizations already use it. I figured it was best to change the spelling, and the new title better reflects the 70s Punk sensibility. There are two significant changes: the chapters have been resequenced, and a parallel story has been inserted. The Quitters is my best-selling Vella book and works well as serial fiction. Most of that ge...

SEPT. 2023 ISSUE: How Will A.I. Change Art? Part 1-3 Preview: Second Edition of "Knee Deep In Glory" Preview: On The Road With Al & Ivy: The Journal Entries (2016-2018) Note: This series is published as The Space Age Oracle on X Part 1: How Will A.I. Change Art? The legal battles raging between Hollywood and upper-level writers and artists are a different battle than what you and I are probably concerned with. Whether or not they get compensation isn't going to benefit most of the artistic community selling stuff on Etsy or eBay, indie music, etc. For example, do you want a new front room? Don't hire a designer; have the A.I. program give you hundreds of ideas within the budget and where to get the items (or even order for you). Are you a young filmmaker who needs a soundtrack? Just feed the program your script (written by A.I.) and have it create the perfect music. Now the Talking Heads of Tech will thump their chests and proclaim that the software will have pro...

The Space Age Oracle: Cancel Culture And Witch Trials Part 2  (Note: Essay could contain triggers for some) There's been a controversy on TikTok and other media about a woman who made a video about being assaulted with a brick by a man because she refused to give her phone number, adding that a group of men stood by and watched without intervening. That's a story where details are still coming out, with many different views, so I won't try to summarize those. Those interested should research it, see the wide range of opinions, and decide for yourself.  However, I refer to it later in this essay because it's a good example of the difference between the legal system and social justice, which always contains the seeds of cancel culture. The Internet didn't create cancel culture; it's always been around. All it's done is expand peer, village, or community control to a broader audience of like-minded people. The social sphere is rarely controlled by law because ...