ORWELLIAN EYES WATCHING YOU

"Orwellian" things unnerve me. It means a situation, idea, or societal condition that author George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society.

I dug into Week Magazine's article, "Orwell Comes to China." China's 1.4 billion people are going to be given social credit scores that rate their trust-worthiness and place in society. The government is working to push citizens toward good behavior. It's already been done in 30 cities.

Similar to FICO (U.S credit-score company), China is taking into account the good things and bad things you do -- do you pay your bills on time, take care of your parents, how you use your phone apps -- are you calling taxis, ordering food, scheduling doc appointments, restaurant reservations, do you give to charity, do you sell things that are tainted, have you ever run a red light?

In China, everything you do, search for, or buy, is on a phone app that everyone uses to pay for goods or services. They spend $5.5 trillion in China compared to our $112 billion. Beijing, (the government) can find out if you criticize the government, along with who you are trying to meet on a dating app. Anything suspicious, odd, or inconsistent, gets flagged. "Good" citizens with high ratings get access to things like travel visas and a good school for their kids. "Bad" low rated people lose access to bank loans, government jobs, and can't even rent a car.

Beijing plans to get this program everywhere by 2020. The technology utilizes the facial recognition that is currently used to unlock doors, and the smile-to-pay app that restaurants use, and will feed information on you into a current government surveillance program called "Sharp Eyes," which utilizes the security cameras that are already everywhere, and encourages neighbors to inform on one another. Your score will include school report cards, college marks, applications for jobs, and who you socialize with. All this private information is now harvested by the E-commerce giant Alibaba,  also known as Alipay, who is evolving the future government system, "Sesame Credit."

Is this Orwellian, or Big Brotherish, or Hitlarian?
I'm thinking of what's happening on social media. On Facebook there are quite often messages reminding  you to celebrate the day you met a "friend" whose name you may not recognize, and ads telling you to boost your post on News Feed for $5 -- a post reaches just 25 friends ever since Facebook cut down everyone's News Feed. On Twitter, with the President tweeting, there are now kinder rules enabling you to use more than 40 words, and say good morning, or have a happy Monday, to your "followers."

Won't nicer, more parental social media inspire/infect Republicans, who are doing Orwellian-Big Brotherish-Hitlarian deeds, to protect our country?

My eyes are open big.

Guys, open your eyes!

(VIDEO) CUTTING THE MUSTARD

Can you do what you used to do, and do it well--do it as brilliantly now as you did a few years ago?

The discussion gets John Cullum and Em revealing some realistic concerns, joking around, as well as singing.

THE AMAZING STEVE MARTIN

Steve Martin at 48 said, "They smell 50 in this town." Now he's 72, doing more than ever even though he's "over the hill."

The "HILL?" Yep! When you have a career, you are on your way up a hill. If you get to the top, it's a level plateau. You can stay there for awhile even though you still need to keep climbing a bit, to stay where you are. At some point, though it feels the same, the going up is going down.

This guy -- comedian, writer, playwright, producer, banjo player, pianist, dancer, composer, juggler, winner of Emmy, Grammy, American Comedy, and "Lifetime Achievement" awards -- singing, dancing, joking -- is always surprising us with new and unexpectedly current things.

Okay, Steve Martin is not hosting the Academy Awards this year but maybe he'll be in another play on Broadway -- well, probably not -- Broadway needs hot names and Steve Martin is not hot. Yes, he has fans, fame, he's a name throughout the world, but he's busy doing something off beat in some odd or unusual place where no star has ever appeared before.

Right now he's touring, playing the banjo, reaching a whole different kind of audience in the music world. Why? Because that's what he's in the mood to do. The video below reminds us of the amazingly many, MANY very different things he's been passionately involved with.

Golly, I love what this guy does. I want there to be more Steven Martin, more plays, films, shows, albums, books, DVD's -- he's more richly inventive now than ever before. I invariably find myself laughing with him and at him because his attitude toward the realities and UN realities of life in America fits me, expresses what I feel.

Yes, I love Steve Martin.

Here's an amazing video that will remind you of many projects that you've seen or heard about, and reveals a great deal about the real man that I didn't know which inspires my exclaiming WHAT A GUY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MESSAGE FOR MY SON

Dear JD, I wrote this for myself before my last birthday because I didn't like being a year older, and I wasn't sure what project to do next.

Since March 1 is your birthday, and the show you were in just closed, you'll be thinking about your career as an actor -- what to do next -- stay in LA, move to NYC, work on a one-man show, or maybe teach. When pressure is on you to do something -- start something new, finish an unfinished project, make a decision, confront an issue -- if you do not start/ finish/ decide/ confront/ -- you are immobilized.

JD, there are two you's -- Grownup-You, and Child-You.

Grownup-Em has coped, handled, negotiated, avoided, confronted, and accomplished many things -- Child-Em has fears, impractical dreams, and expectations -- often feels unsure, not very capable, wants to sleep, or watch a dumb TV show -- but sooner or later Grownup-Em tells Child-Em what to do, or not do, and calms the child self by pointing the child in a direction.

Jd, if you chat with the Child-You patiently, logically, lovingly, the child feels safer, and can even handle scary things. The Grownup-You knows how to organize disorder into an orderly sequence of activities, like....

One, two, button my shoe.
Three, four, close the door,

Five, six, pick up sticks.

Seven, eight, close the gate.

NINE -- you're fine!

Ten is not the "big fat hen,"

It's just the end of a sequence.

Jd, tell the child in you it's okay, and

Help the child push worries away and

Banish, make vanish all the fears --

And strongly advocate "no tears!"

The balm is being calm.

It helps the two you's

Unwind, and re-find

Peace of mind.

Jd, that's my happy birthday message.

Care for, support, love your child parentally.
Parent the Child-You.