Philosophy vs. Improv

Jerome is an LA composer/director/screenwriter who is involved in a lot of musical improv, so Mary and Mark interview him about that and about the function of art, plus songs for pets, a support group for people who sing all the time, and more.

Jerome sticks around for the post-game, which is normally restricted to supporters, but which you get to hear as a sample this time. We demonstrate why collaborative singing over the Internet does not work. How fast should one sing “Happy Birthday”? Listen to the dirge version of “12 Days of Xmas.” We talk about the relation between composition and improv.

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Image Note: Today’s MidJourney prompt was “an opera singer running very fast while singing, with a zigzagging cartoon dust trail behind to indicate speed, as drawn by a child in crayon.” As usual, the request to draw like a child was ignored, but at least we have some good crayon texture.

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Elijah is a philosophy prof (and PhD theologian) in Vancouver who was a die-hard, evangelical Christian but gradually became liberal and then atheist. In light of his latest book that collects all your favorite arguments for and against the existence of God, called UnBelieving God: A Skeptic’s Guide, Mark and Mary chat with him about his journey and about the degree to which we should care about others’ beliefs in this area so as to engage them in debate. In the course of this, as you’d expect, God makes a personal appearance (with Mary), and there’s an aborted sketch about a brainwashing service.

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Image Note: Today’s MidJourney prompt was “god smiting a cowering, bearded philosopher, as drawn crudely in crayon by an 8-year-old.” For some reason all of the results showed only one figure, making God INTO the bearded philosopher, but I liked one of them, so here we are. I’m particularly intrigued by what the shapes on the edges of the drawing might be: is that a donkey’s nose on the left?

To kick off the Year of Our Lord 2026, Mark and Mary talk about memory: memory care for the elderly, the relation between things and memories, what professional activities are worth preserving (improv performances?), being the tchotchke, womb nostalgia, puppets and percussion, plus a visit from the future.

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Image note: A lot of frustration with MidJourney today. I initially asked for “a rainstick and percussion triangle having a conversation on a shelf, as drawn in crayon by a child,” and this was one of the results. I reran it and asked for two variations, and it all just got worse. In all cases, MidJourney seemed unable to grasp what the musical instrument triangle looked like, even when I looked up its technical name (an idiophone) and tried that. It just produced geometric triangles: pyramids and cones. Per usual, the options all to various degrees had crayon-like texture but looked nothing like what a child would draw.