New Website

 I created a website for my music and art:

http://sites.google.com/view/manikfox 

I am thinking of purchasing my own custom domain name. Thinking on it for a week.

Artificial Intelligence

As you probably know by now if you've read any bit of this blog, I am a synthographer. That is what we call an AI Artist. Someone who creates art using artificial intelligence. It all started about a year ago, I think, when I discovered an app called "Dream" by Wombo. It was rudimentary and each prompt I'd type would give me an almost oil-painting brush stroke looking image. I thought it was neat, though, that AI could do that. Then I started using others until I found Wonder and Midjourney. 

I am able to create the wildest dreams in my imagination by typing a description of what I want to see, and then the AI works it's magic and there we go, a rendering of what you wanted (mostly). It still is amazing to me and I've been using it for a while now. 

As with any new technology that seems to explode onto the scene (this particular scene being "the planet"), there are lovers, and there are haters. When photography was in it's infancy, it was scoffed at and not taken seriously, or people feared it would take away from traditional artists who paint on canvas or create sculptures. 

"Those who were excited about photography saw it as a way to capture reality in a way that had never been possible before. They believed that photography could be used to document history, to record important events, and to create art.

Those who were skeptical of photography were concerned about the potential for it to be used for negative purposes. They worried that photography could be used to invade people's privacy, to spread propaganda, or to create false images.

Those who were hostile to photography saw it as a threat to the traditional arts of painting and drawing. They believed that photography was a mechanical art that lacked the creativity and artistry of traditional painting.

Over time, the social opinion of photography has become more positive. Today, photography is widely accepted as a legitimate art form and a valuable tool for documentation and communication."

This is the same for AI art, and AI in general really.

The argument for using AI to create artwork is that it can be used to generate new types of artistic expression that would not be possible through traditional mediums. It can also be used to create unique pieces that are not limited by the skills or physical limitations of the artist. Also, AI can be used to create art that is highly personalized and responsive to the creator, and can be used to explore new forms of interactivity and engagement with the audience. AI-generated art can be used to push the boundaries of what is considered art and challenge our preconceived notions about creativity and authorship. 

AI art can be created using various techniques, such as machine learning algorithms that are trained on large datasets of existing artworks. In this case, the AI may generate new artwork that is similar to or influenced by the art it was trained on. This raises questions about authorship and originality, as the AI may be seen as "copying" the work of other artists.

However, it's important to note that AI is not creating copies of existing artworks, but rather, it's creating new artworks that are influenced by the data it was trained on. The AI is not simply replicating existing works, but rather it's creating new works that are unique and original.

AI-generated art can be seen as a form of remixing or reinterpretation, similar to the way that traditional artists have always been influenced by the work of their predecessors. It can also be seen as a new way of exploring the possibilities of art and pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

Also, I see people getting confused or arguing about who really creates the art. Is it the AI? Is it the person using the AI? Haters tend to think it's solely the work of the AI that creates, and thus should take ownership of the art. However, without prompting the AI with words, it cannot create a picture, and therefore is more of a symbiotic relationship. 

Right now we are in a grey area of legality for AI; each country has it's own rules for artificial intelligence, or none at all, and it can be tricky navigating the wordiness of any regulations that may be bandied about.

I am aware that AI is here to stay, and you can either choose to embrace it and use it as a powerful tool, or you can put your foot down and stubbornly push against it. The latter was me with cellphones, actually. I didn't have one until 2004, and it was free. I was against cellphones, thinking it was just a fad or were a trendy thing that "everyone had to have" which made me rebel. I got a job at AT&T Wireless (the actual AT&T Wireless, the one that Cingular bought in 2006) in 2004, and they set me up on an employee plan with a phone, and then I realized how convenient and necessary they were.

So my advice to those who have arguements against AI art: Go try it for yourself. Check out Leonardo.AI (http://leonardo.ai) where you can sign up and they give you 150 credits a day as a free user to experiment with. Try it out. Taste it. See what it can do for you. Check out all the potential it has. Don't rub against the grain; you'll only be kicking yourself in the end.

                                            Created by me, using Midjourney

*Artificial Intelligence helped me write this blog entry. 

Algona - Sneak Preview

 I've created a sneak-peek preview of a new track, 'Algona' by me, ManiK Fox, and have uploaded it to the Tube for you to check out.

https://youtu.be/vzaY2KuqHyA

Drop a comment there to let me know what you think.

Moody Me

I've been battling with my creativity lately, been exceptionally moody. It might be a dysphoric mania, or a mixed episode or maybe even something else. But I will go off and on with good days and bad days of creativeness as a result.

But here's an example of one of my better days:

I have a hard time waking up in the morning. I am negative and complainy. I am tired and my back has been hurting ferociously (we think maybe I have a transverse fracture). 

And some days.. I just don't have anything in my head for ai art, video, or music.

So I apologize if I haven't said much in here lately. Moods. Hmf. Who needs 'em!

Dapper In A Three Piece

 My 3rd album is out now on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, everywhere you stream music from, so please check it out!

People Are F%#$@ Weird.

 So in December one afternoon, a man dressed in a hoody and jeans was casing this car in the parking lot. He looked through all the windows, and pulled out a jimmy stick, and forced his way inside. Then we called the cops. It turns out it was his own car, and he was giving his other car a jump. 

A few weeks later, a dude wearing a hoody, of course, was looking at some cars in the parking lot (mind you, we have a gated parking lot with entry for residents and airbnb guests only). He stopped and checked out a white car parked not too far from our vantage point. Then he walked over to this sleek little chevy sports car and looked through the window. He pulled out his phone and typed some things into it for about 5 minutes, then opened the car door. Without a key. Did he punch in a code on his phone? Or did he hack his way into it? We called the cops again. This time the cops didn’t even come out. They filed the report under “sundry”. 

Then, Tuesday we heard a knocking at the door around 10am. We were working at the moment, and we never answer for unexpected people, so we stayed silent. The knocking was frantic, and quick. Then I heard a jingling of keys and the jingly of the little silver bell we hae around the door handle. Someone was trying to come in. We have a security bar to prevent such things, which we were glad of. I texted the apartment manager and someone other than the apartment manager texted back saying we were scheduled for an occupancy inspection. I thought, how odd, their behaviour just knocking all crazy-like, not waiting for me to answer the door before just coming on in with the keys. We never received a 24 hour notice, either, that someone would be coming by. Later that day, I heard a jingle of the bell on the door again. And a pushing sound, like someone was trying to push their way inside. We didn’t answer. Too creepy, not knocking. I knew whoever it was, would come back later after we’d gone to bed. We go to bed really early on weeknights, because we wake up at 3am. So we were in bed by 6pm, and around 6:30, while I was still doing stuff on my phone, I heard the sound of the jingle bell again, and shoving noises. They didn’t even knock.

Who does that? Why are people acting so strange? This city is really an oddball.

Just Tired

 The cold has mostly gone away, except for a lot of snot in my face so I have to blow my nose a lot. Other than that, it should be gone but it left me with extreme fatigue and my eyes are blurry. I had a migraine while I slept last night, too. Feeling very weird lately.

I just feel so tired. Like I hadn't just slept 10 hours last night. Seriously. We have had the laziest weekend, and I feel like we should've been more productive, but damn... I just don't feel like it. 

I know it wasn't COVID because I took a home test and it said it was negative. So it's a cold, right? I didn't have a fever. But damn, this head cold laid me out flat.

That's all for now, nothing else is really going on at all, just that I feel like sleeping 24/7.

I Drink Too Much.. Too Much!!

So, I came down with a head cold last weekend. It started as a moderately painful sore throat, and then by the next day it was gone. Half the day went by, and I felt fine. Then BAM! Like a freight train my nose was running like crazy and I had a headache. This escalated into stuffy nose and cough craziness by the middle of the week, and now.. it's tamping itself down a little bit.

There was a problem, though. Thursday night/Friday morning around midnight I got up to use the bathroom and take more cold medicine. I'd been having a coughing fit in bed and didn't want to wake my mate, so I grabbed some cough medicine and drank - what I thought was a reasonable amount, i.e. a tablespoonful. It turns out I probably drank a cupful of the stuff without realizing it. 

Man I felt WEIRD that whole day and into the next day. It felt like I was tired and sleepy and wanted to sleep but too lazy and mellow to actually go do that, and it was hard to type on a computer keyboard, or hold a conversation, I was out of it. 

It wore off this morning, earlier, after I ran a mile on the treadmill. I think I had way too much of that stuff. I looked at the bottle and sure 'nough.. Dex. The damn bottle was filled with Dextromethorphan syrup.

I had done this once before though, you see.

I went to work once as a young lass, I think I was 20 or 21, during the Christmas rush at a grocery/everything store. I won't name it, but it was kind of like a Target.. anyway I was typically a cashier in the home dept, but they had me going into the attic and getting down more toys to stock in the toy dept. The stairs up there were so very narrow, I nearly fell 3 different times, because I had a head cold and had taken a cupful of cough syrup containing Dextromethorphan. Woops. I couldn't pick up change from the till (they put me back in at cashier later in the day), and everyone speaking sounded like they were speaking from a tin can. It was super weird. I felt really slow and molasses-like.

Anyway, I feel better now, just like a normal person. I think all of that wore off finally, I didn't realize it would take this long!

Anyway... it felt like this: