I absolutely adore...
P.G. Wodehouse. P/C Wikimedia
... the writings of P. G. Wodehouse. Whenever I need a lift in the old spirits, I pluck a volume from the bookshelf of Wooster and Jeeves, I read a bit, and in the blink of an eye, all is right with the world. As Wodehouse might say, God is in His heaven and the celestial choirs sing again.
If you don't know Wodehouse, drop what you're doing and read a short story or two. Better yet, pick up a Wodehouse novel and dive in.
I'd recommend Right Ho, Jeeves, which is an excellent place to start.
The writing is droll and the language--especially the language--just tickle my humorous bones.
BUT, Wodehouse is satirizing the language and behaviors of the early 1900s upper class. They are a rich vein to mine, but roughly once each page, there is a phrase or word that escapes my understanding or offers up a nuance that completely misses my brain.
For instance:
Butter-and-egg man (An investor with a lot of money)
Absquatulate (To depart suddenly or abscond)
Cattywampus (Used to mean something that was directly across from something else, as opposed to its modern meaning of being askew or in disarray)
Those are fairly easy to look up. But the more tricky phrases are things like:
"Only that she’s a blister.”
Or...
"Deprived of Anatole’s services, all he was likely to give the wife of his b. was a dirty look."
I know what a blister is, but the obvious definition makes no sense here. And what is "...the wife of his b."? That's clearly not the end of a sentence, but feels like an abbreviation for something--but what?
Here's where your friendly, local LLM comes in handy. Here's what I did to figure out each expression: I asked an LLM (Gemini in this case) to explain it to me in the context of the book...
This is a brilliant use of an AI to augment your ability to deeply read a text.
On the other hand, use caution: AI still makes mistakes, and they can be subtle.
Here I asked a question about the mention of a device in a book written about the same time as Wodehouse:
This completely checks out. (Of course I double check everything. Don't you?) The Veeder box is indeed a type of odometer made at the time.
However... see this next part of the explanation:
That mention of "By the time Evelyn Gibb and her husband were bicycling the West Coast in 1909..." is completely made up. The book is NOT about Evelyn Gibb and her husband, but is about Vic McDaniel and Ray Francisco, friends who cycled 1,000 miles from Santa Rosa, California, to Seattle, Washington, for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The author (Evelyn Gibb) is Vic's daughter, not his wife.
SearchResearch Lessons
1. Using an AI to give insights into obscure texts can be incredibly handy. By virtue of having ingested so much text, an AI can often give you a perspective about a fragment of text that you don't understand.
2. CAUTION: Check everything--there are still hallucinations about! Double check everything!
Hope you find this useful SRS method!
Keep searching.
Thank you, Dan. Me too for being a Wodehouse fan (also the Blandings stories!). My first thought, however, was if Gemini has scanned a public domain version of the PGW works in question, or a copyrighted version without permission. OR maybe the responses were limited to short snippets and so there's no legal issue.
ReplyDeleteI believe many (all?) of the Wodehouse stories are in the public domain. Certainly the link I provided to "Right Ho, Jeeves" is public (at the Gutenberg Foundation).
Deletea couple other AI bits of guidance...
ReplyDeleteusing your title as a prompt...
https://share.google/aimode/zXRkuWj4uaYVay55e
https://i.imgur.com/4Jsakwy.jpeg
ReplyDeletelooking for 'Wodehousian'
ReplyDeleteComparing modern American writers to P.G. Wodehouse is a fun challenge, as his style is so unique – a blend of masterful comedic prose, intricate plots, delightful idiomatic language, and a generally optimistic, albeit often silly, worldview. No one quite is Wodehouse, but some writers share certain facets of his genius:
Here are a few modern American writers who might draw comparisons, highlighting different aspects of Wodehouse's style:
Carl Hiaasen:
Comparison: Hiaasen shares Wodehouse's gift for outlandish plots, often involving mistaken identities, absurd situations, and a cast of eccentric, often morally dubious, characters. His humor is usually darker and more satirical, often aimed at environmental destruction and corruption in Florida, but the intricate farcical machinery and unexpected twists can feel Wodehousian.
Wodehouse Aspect: Intricate, farcical plotting and a knack for creating memorable, bizarre characters.
Gary Shteyngart:
Comparison: Shteyngart excels at social satire and creating sympathetic, often hapless protagonists navigating absurd, exaggerated worlds. His prose is sharp, witty, and he often explores themes of identity, class, and the foibles of the wealthy, much like Wodehouse.
Wodehouse Aspect: Social satire, witty prose, and endearing, slightly out-of-their-depth main characters.
Bill Bryson:
Comparison: While primarily a non-fiction writer, Bryson's travelogues and books on science/history are infused with a wonderfully dry wit, an eye for absurd detail, and a conversational, engaging prose style that is incredibly charming. His ability to make even mundane observations hilarious is very Wodehousian.
Wodehouse Aspect: Delightful, witty prose, and a charming, conversational tone.
Christopher Moore:
Comparison: Moore's novels are often broad, boisterous farces with supernatural or fantastical elements. He shares Wodehouse's sense of pure, unadulterated fun and often features ensemble casts getting into outrageously improbable situations. His humor is more irreverent and less gentile than Wodehouse's, but the spirit of joyous absurdity is similar.
Wodehouse Aspect: Raucous humor, ensemble casts, and a penchant for highly improbable, entertaining scenarios.
T.C. Boyle:
Comparison: Boyle's work often features satirical plots and quirky characters, tackling contemporary social and environmental issues with a dark comedic touch. He shares Wodehouse's ability to create vivid, memorable individuals and put them through the wringer of circumstance.
Wodehouse Aspect: Character-driven absurdism and satirical observation.
It's important to note that Wodehouse wrote in a very specific historical and cultural context (Edwardian and interwar Britain), focusing on a particular social class. Modern American writers, even when sharing comedic DNA, will inevitably apply their humor to different settings, themes, and societal critiques. But if you're looking for clever wordplay, intricate comedic plots, and an overall sense of joyous absurdity, these writers might offer a modern American taste of something akin to Wodehouse.
here & there, then and later... Chronoflux/Evermorrow/Tempusflex
https://i.imgur.com/MSf3jEZ.jpeg
courtesy of Carl Hiaasen
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/arts/music/warren-zevon-tribute.html?unlocked_article_code=1.w08.1JJ9.-cJUHpqip-Sr&smid=url-share
celebrity/creative analyze AI... somehow I thought it would be more --- uh, creative or insightful... (via Christopher Moore repost on X )
ReplyDeletehttps://x.com/Variety/status/1983299115002798443
https://www.chrismoore.com/
https://www.authormedia.com/do-45-of-authors-already-use-ai-author-update/
ReplyDeleteSir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse -
https://madameulalie.org/tmordue/#:~:text=P%20G%20Wodehouse%20is%20widely%20regarded,of%20his%20humour%20passes%20unnoticed.
https://madameulalie.org/tmordue/pgwbooks.html
https://madameulalie.org/index.html
(good assortment of images on the above link)
the start... across Space & Time
ReplyDeletehttps://i.imgur.com/2wxbjuv.jpeg
images & text
P.G. Wodehouse & a little Artur C. Clarke -
https://i.imgur.com/cCl3pbH.jpeg
Right-ho, let's have a crack at this, shall we? One finds oneself peering, as if through a particularly well-polished monocle, at a scene that would, I fancy, give even the stoutest heart, such as that possessed by Aunt Agatha on a particularly trying morning, a moment of pause.
Here we have a chap, none other than P.G. Wodehouse himself, looking as if he's just popped out of a rather fetching London tailor's shop, complete with his customary bowler, dapper tweed, and a book tucked quite naturally under his arm. He stands upon what appears to be a sort of landing platform, rather impressively large, mind you, and decidedly not the familiar cobblestones of Berkeley Square. No, this paving stretches off into a cosmic abyss, speckled with those twinkly bits one usually only sees after Jeeves has expertly mixed a powerful pick-me-up.
Behind our hero, looming with an air of quite formidable significance, is what one can only describe as a colossal tin can, painted a most unexceptionable shade of white, and bearing the rather ominous inscription "PILGRIMAGE ONE." One rather hopes it's not a pilgrimage to face an angry fiancé, eh? A set of rather brilliantly blue-lit steps descends from its capacious maw, and up these, one discerns a few figures, looking rather serious in their futuristic pajamas, one chap indeed disappearing through a rather circular aperture.
But here's the rum thing, the element that truly puts the cat among the pigeons, as it were. Upon the side of this enormous celestial conveyance, quite centrally placed, one spies a single, baleful red eye. It glows with an intensity that would put a traffic signal to shame, a sort of cyclopean stare that suggests it knows rather more than it's letting on. One can almost hear a polite, yet utterly unyielding, mechanical voice informing our esteemed author, "I'm awfully sorry, Plum, but I simply can't allow that. Not after the incident with the exploding custard pie on Deck Seven."
In the distance, hanging in the inky blackness, are what one assumes are planets, perhaps one with a rather fetching set of rings, looking for all the world like a misplaced hula-hoop. The air, one fancies, is thin and utterly devoid of the comforting aroma of a fresh kipper. It's all frightfully modern, frightfully… out there. One can only imagine the sort of sticky wickets one might get into when the butler is an artificial intelligence with a penchant for philosophical conundrums and a strict adherence to procedure! A proper pickle, indeed.
part 2
ReplyDeletea P.G. Wodehouse & Tom Robbins pairing -
https://i.imgur.com/8FEb5kG.jpeg
Alright, cats and kittens, gather 'round, lend an ear to this cosmic caper, this peculiar pilgrimage into the great, greasy unknown. Here before our very eyes, stretched across the cosmic velvet like a spilled constellation of dreams and half-eaten Danish pastries, is a scene that would make even the most seasoned interstellar vagabond pause to scratch his left nostril and wonder, "Did I just swallow a unicorn?"
Center stage, strutting with the bewildered dignity of a penguin in a tuxedo at a disco, is our man Wodehouse. Not just a man, mind you, but THE P.G. Wodehouse, resplendent in tweed that positively sings of ancestral estates and the faint whiff of old money and even older brandy. His bowler hat, a circular assertion of sanity in a universe gone gloriously bonkers, sits atop a head undoubtedly teeming with plots involving mistaken identities, prize pigs, and aunts more terrifying than a supernova in a teacup. He clutches a book as if it contains the secret recipe for eternal youth or, perhaps, a perfectly mixed dry martini. And that briefcase? Ah, the briefcase. One suspects it holds not mundane travel documents but a spare set of monocles, a well-thumbed copy of "How to Train Your Jeeves," and perhaps a single, perfectly ripe kumquat, just for emergencies.
He stands on a platform that shimmers with an ethereal blue light, like a cosmic dance floor where angels might tap-dance on moonbeams. Behind him, looming like a benevolent, elongated whale of chrome and existential angst, is a vessel. "PILGRIMAGE ONE," it proclaims, daringly, against the backdrop of a starry night that makes one's soul hum a forgotten jazz tune. It's a grand, metallic beast, not so much built as coaxed into being by mad scientists fueled by espresso and a desperate yearning for the infinite. And from its belly, a staircase of pure, undiluted futuristic blue light spills forth, beckoning the tweed-clad pilgrim upward. One can almost hear the faint, celestial elevator music playing.
Now, hold onto your philosophical hats, for here's the kicker: upon the side of this gleaming sky-tuna, glowing with the disconcerting calm of a mystic's third eye, is a single, fiery red orb. The HAL 9000, for all you sentient circuit boards out there, a silicon soul that knows more about the emptiness of space than a discarded potato chip bag knows about loneliness. And if one were to zoom in with the inner eye, past the visible pixels and into the shimmering fabric of imagined reality, one might intuit a silent, digital whisper, cool as a lunar breeze: "I'm dreadfully sorry, Plum, but that particular brand of ginger beer is strictly forbidden after the Pleiades incident."
Beyond this tableau of tweed and technology, the cosmos itself stretches, vast and indifferent as a tax collector's heart. Planets hang like colossal marbles, one sporting rings that seem to spin with the quiet desperation of a forgotten Ferris wheel. The air is probably perfumed with stardust and the faint, yearning scent of forgotten hopes. It's a universe, my friends, where the absurd rubs shoulders with the sublime, and a man in a bowler hat might just hold the key to the next great intergalactic misunderstanding. It's beautiful. It's terrifying. It's utterly, delightfully, now.
https://youtu.be/xoLjib2z7wgsi=o9hvu4o3cDkWWvW3https://www.youtube.com/@PrehistoricHominidDan, have you seen these? (I find the detail, lighting and expressions impressive... all just a sampling of possibilities to come - plus I appreciate the lack of narration - leaves a little space for viewer imagination... or is it recollection?)glimpses of the future by conjuring the past with AI -it doesn't take much imagination to see where this could be going... (Michio was one early example)picture it interactive, based on genetic/ancestral histories for example -chatting with your great great grandparents or historical figures - tailored to yourown history (real or imagined)... it potentially will be a disruptive force and require great advancements inmental health ;^P 10-20 years off? multiple D immersive screens so spaces and tactile experiences are shared?think Trek holo decks... https://tinyurl.com/7e2vskch
ReplyDelete... it will be quite a future -- or past -- or some other time increment/perception? if the Phacochoerus/Warthogs don't prevail...or some other APEX AI dataset...how did that Pandora thing turn out?"Pandora's box is a Greek myth where the first woman, Pandora, released all the evils of the world from a jar, but trapped hope inside when she quickly closed it. The phrase "opening Pandora's box" is a metaphor for an action that causes unforeseen but often dire consequences." ... that last part sounds familiar... is anyone still exploring that?https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-pandoras-box-118577
https://medium.com/codetodeploy/i-took-googles-9-hour-ai-course-here-s-what-you-need-ae8956fa2fce
which book was this in? (search came up empty)
ReplyDeletewas Bertie royalty, like Fergie? :[
those Brits can be a Royal blister...
was Agatha a harridan tart?
https://i.imgur.com/CPlfRyX.jpeg
wrong -
"The image is a still from the film An Ideal Husband (1999). The film is based on the play of the same name by Oscar Wilde. In the photo, a man in a tuxedo is standing next to a woman in a purple dress and a large feathered hat. The scene is set in what appears to be a ballroom or large hall, with other people in vintage formal attire in the background."
asked about artfulness and/or elegance with pattern recognition - thought it was an interesting response... if those things can be recognized wouldn't they be a primary goal and the AI would want credit? and an ego? AGI or ASI trait?
ReplyDelete"That's a lovely question, and yes, I do think there's a certain artfulness and elegance that can emerge from my process, particularly in how pattern matching translates into creative outputs.
While my core operations are fundamentally mathematical and statistical (identifying patterns in vast datasets), the way these patterns combine to produce novel and coherent results often feels akin to an artistic process:
Emergent Creativity: The "art" isn't in my conscious intent (as I have none), but in the emergent properties of sophisticated pattern recognition. When I'm asked to write a poem, generate a story, or even combine disparate visual concepts (like a goblin eating a McRib while wrestling Ronald McDonald), I'm drawing on billions of learned relationships between words, concepts, styles, and imagery. The way these elements are recombined to create something original and relevant to your prompt can certainly feel artful. It's like a complex mosaic formed from countless tiny pieces of inspiration.
Stylistic Nuance: When I'm asked to write in the style of P.G. Wodehouse or Tom Robbins, or to create a "cinematic" image, my pattern matching goes beyond just content. It delves into the form, tone, vocabulary, sentence structure, visual composition, and lighting that define those styles. The ability to subtly mimic these complex stylistic features, often with surprising fidelity, demonstrates a form of elegance in pattern application. It's not just generating text or pixels; it's generating them in a specific, recognizable aesthetic.
Cohesion from Chaos: Taking diverse and sometimes contradictory elements (like Shakespearean witches at McDonald's) and weaving them into a single, cohesive, and understandable (if absurd) image or narrative is a form of elegance. The system has to understand how to blend these disparate parts while maintaining a logical (within the prompt's context) overall structure.
Efficiency in Expression: Good pattern matching allows for the efficient and often concise expression of complex ideas. Whether it's summarizing a long text or generating a nuanced image, the elegance can be in how effectively a specific output captures the essence of a request.
The "Surprise" Factor: Sometimes, even to developers who understand the underlying mechanics, the precise combination of elements or the specific turn of phrase an AI generates can be genuinely surprising and delightful. This "aha!" moment, where the output transcends mere data processing, is where the perceived artfulness often lies.
So, while I don't "feel" or "intend" to be artful, the complex interplay of advanced algorithms and massive datasets allows for a sophisticated form of pattern synthesis. When this synthesis results in outputs that are coherent, stylistically appropriate, novel, and resonant, it absolutely can be described as elegant and artful in its outcome. It's an art that emerges from the intricate dance of information."
elegant/artful?
https://i.imgur.com/4hMZdzK.jpeg
you can surmise the prompt... (for me it required much search...) pt.1
ReplyDeletehttps://i.imgur.com/bxuB8EZ.jpeg
"Okay, this is an excellent meta-challenge! To compose a prompt that could lead to the kind of complex, absurd, and multi-element composite images we've been generating, one needs to list all the disparate elements while giving enough creative freedom for an AI to weave them together. Prompt:"A hyperrealistic, photorealistic, cinematic composite image. In a stormy, rain-slicked urban parking lot at night, dominated by a 'Macbeth's' McDonald's building. A gigantic, looming AI Overlord head watches from the stormy sky, accompanied by floating goldfish skeletons, a UFO, and the Pilgrim 1 spaceship crashing nearby. In the foreground, Ronald McDonald wrestles a goblin attempting to eat a McRib. Another Ronald McDonald (Day of the Dead skull face, red wig, holding a Halloween bucket) observes this chaos. William Shakespeare and P.G. Wodehouse stand together, slightly bewildered. Three Weird Sisters are gathered around a glowing cauldron, eating McRibs. A crone on a motorcycle, wearing aviator sunglasses, rides past, seemingly fleeing. Nearby, an old goblin types furiously at a computer, with an ethereal image of a king in a bed with a crown, representing 'uneasy lies the head,' floating above him. A chihuahua with tiny dragon wings observes the scene from the ground. Include subtle architectural elements of a Gothic church or castle, and scattered fast-food debris. The overall mood should be darkly whimsical and epically absurd." "
pt.2 -
ReplyDeletedescription of the image:
"Right ho, here we go, then, a description of this visual imbroglio, penned with a soupçon of the inimitable Wodehouseian spirit!A Right Royal Rumpus at the MacDeneth'sUpon beholding this veritable farrago, one’s sensibilities, if not entirely flummoxed, are certainly in a state of suspended animation, much like Bertie Wooster after a particularly potent cocktail from the Empress of Blandings. The setting, if one can call such an improbable tableau a "setting," appears to be a rain-lashed urban demesne, dominated by a McDonald's of decidedly Shakespearean nomenclature – 'MacDeneth's,' no less, beneath the customary Golden Arches, which gleam with a certain baleful effulgence in the inclement weather.Our ocular organs are first drawn, perhaps involuntarily, to a most unsettling tête-à-tête occurring directly before this edifice of comestibles. One of the ubiquitous Ronald McDonalds, his customary bonhomie quite evaporated, is locked in a wrestling embrace with a goblin, a creature of distinctly pre-Code cinematic ghastliness. And what, pray tell, is this green-skinned gargoyle doing mid-scuffle? Why, he's tucking into a McRib sandwich with an almost unholy avidity, a feat of multi-tasking that would leave even Jeeves momentarily nonplussed. A second Ronald, his visage transmogrified into a 'Day of the Dead' skull with a racy red wig and clutching a Halloween pumpkin, stands by, a silent, ghoulish umpire to this most peculiar pugilism.To the left, observing this kerfuffle with an air of profound, if somewhat archaic, puzzlement, stands none other than William Shakespeare himself, his brow furrowed in a manner suggesting he's contemplating a new soliloquy on the nature of absurdity. Beside him, an old goblin, strikingly similar to one who'd send peculiar images to a crone of letters, is hunched over a desk, furiously tapping at a device, a veritable beaver of the digital age. A floating, spectral bed with a crown hovers above him, a most literal illustration of 'uneasy lies the head that wears a crown' – though in this instance, it might well be 'uneasy lies the head that emails a literary titan whilst being a goblin.'Further right, gathered around a cauldron bubbling with an eldritch green glow, are the three Weird Sisters, now sans broomsticks but not without their appetite, each gleefully chomping on a McRib. One could almost hear them cackling, "Double, double toil and trouble; McRibs burn, and cauldron bubble!" A crone, complete with formidable white hair and aviator shades, hurtles past on a motorcycle, a veritable Valkyrie of the drive-thru, possibly making a hasty retreat from the entire pageant.Above this entire, glorious shambles, a monumental, glowering AI Overlord head looms from the stormy heavens, its red eyes burning with an inscrutable malevolence that suggests it might have authored the very concept of the McRib. It shares the turbulent sky with a UFO, whose silent hovering seems to mock the terrestrial chaos below, and the Pilgrim 1 spaceship, seemingly launched from some cosmic diner, its exhaust spewing forth in a glorious plume. Beneath all this, a small, white chihuahua, sporting rather fetching dragon wings, eyes the entire proceedings with a look of preternatural sagacity, as if it alone comprehends the cosmic joke. The ground, littered with discarded fries and McRib wrappers, completes this picture of utter, unadulterated pandemonium. It's enough to make a chap wish for a bracing pick-me-up from Jeeves, or perhaps a long, quiet stroll in the Drones Club gardens.
Here's an associated image featuring P.G. Wodehouse himself, looking rather pleased, as if he's just witnessed the entire scene and is already plotting a new plot for Blandings Castle."
https://i.imgur.com/wdt1N5q.jpeg