Music
Oasis
Introduction There is no doubt that Oasis are successful and popular and have done a few songs that I like, but theuy are hardly original or groundbreaking. I am in a small minority who could not be bothered with an Oasis gig if someone gave me free tickets.
By Mike Singleton đź’ś Mikeydred 3 months ago in Critique
Not Going My Way. Runner-Up in The Most Overrated Challenge. Top Story - July 2026.
“Schmaltz isn’t selling this season.” So declares Father O’Dowd to Father O’Malley in Going My Way , the movie that won the Best Motion Picture Oscar in 1945. But apparently schmaltz was selling that season because this piece of excessively sentimental mash was nominated for ten Oscars - and won seven.
By Marie Wilson3 months ago in Critique
Elvis...The Lie. Fame stolen from Black Women and Men.
Just saying, Elvis, is enough...he was called, king. But underneath it all.... Elvis Presley did not invent either  rock or roll . He mainly popularized a sound that Black women and men had already built in Southern clubs, churches, and small unknown studios. Who were these people, how and why did they change  music and money in America...and not in their favor.
By Novel Allen3 months ago in Critique
Inside Michael: When Artistic Vision Becomes Leadership
Recently, I went to see the film Michael with my girlfriend as a surprise — she has always been a devoted admirer of Michael Jackson. What I expected to be a simple cinema outing turned into something more reflective. To me, the film is not just a portrait of a global icon, it is an attempt to understand how artistic vision, when pushed to its limits, becomes a form of leadership. From the beginning, it reframes Jackson not only as a performer, but as a creative force driven by discipline, imagination and absolute control over detail. Fame is present but secondary. What matters is the architecture behind it. Imagination as foundation One of the most revealing aspects of the film is how it traces Jackson’s artistic identity through his influences. We see his fascination with Peter Pan, a symbol of eternal childhood and creative freedom. We also see his admiration for Charlie Chaplin, whose silent performances proved that emotion can exist without language. To me, these references are not decorative. They function like a blueprint for his artistic universe. The film suggests that Jackson’s creativity was never confined to music alone, it was built across disciplines: cinema, dance, theatre and visual storytelling. Leadership without hierarchy The film offers a different definition of leadership — one that has little to do with management or authority. Jackson leads through intensity, giving him a strong presence and an uncompromising demand for precision. During rehearsals, nothing is casual — everything is refined, repeated and reshaped until it reaches a very specific emotional and physical standard. This method produces excellence that reveals a world where “good enough” does not exist. The film also dismantles a common illusion — that genius is effortless. What we see instead is repetition, discipline, exhaustion, and constant self-correction. The discipline behind perfection Behind the spectacle, the film exposes what the audience never sees. Every movement, every transition and every sound is the result of countless adjustments. What appears spontaneous on stage is, in reality, the product of extreme preparation. This is where Jackson’s leadership becomes cultural rather than organizational. He does not simply guide a team — he raises the standard of an entire creative ecosystem around him. But the film does not ignore the cost. There is pressure in always being the reference point. There is weight in never being allowed to fall below your own legend. A fragile force What lingers most is the contrast between control and sensitivity. Jackson is portrayed as deeply emotional, sometimes vulnerable. Yet this fragility is not presented as weakness — it feels like the source of his artistic intensity. The film suggests that his creativity emerges precisely from this sensitivity: the ability to feel too much and to translate that excess into structured expression. This leaves us as the audience with an understanding at the center of his identity. — His discipline is shaped by emotion and shows his control born from vulnerability. In the end, Michael does more than revisit the legacy of Michael Jackson. It reframes him as a study in artistic leadership — one defined not by authority but by vision, obsession and the relentless pursuit of perfection. And it raises a quiet question: how far can creative leadership go before it becomes a burden as much as a gift?
By Baptiste Monnet4 months ago in Critique
Authorship vs Refinement
Much of the confusion surrounding artificial intelligence and writing comes from a failure to distinguish between two fundamentally different acts: originating ideas and refining their expression. These acts are often treated as interchangeable, as though whoever touches the final form must also be the source of the thought itself. That assumption does not reflect how writing has ever worked, nor does it reflect how human thinking actually unfolds.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast6 months ago in Critique
Expression vs Distortion
One of the most persistent frustrations in communication is the gap between what a person intends to say and what others actually receive. This gap exists regardless of intelligence, sincerity, conviction, or depth of understanding. Someone can hold an idea with clarity internally, yet watch it arrive distorted, flattened, reduced, or misinterpreted once it is expressed. The failure is often blamed on the idea itself, when the deeper issue is frequently translation.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast6 months ago in Critique
Productivity as Preservation
Productivity is often framed as the visible accumulation of outcomes. Words written, posts published, episodes released, metrics improved, engagement gained, and projects completed become the evidence that work has happened. Under this framing, anything that does not immediately result in external output is treated as inefficiency, distraction, avoidance, or delay. The productive person is assumed to be the person who can show visible results.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast6 months ago in Critique
Output vs Oversaturation
The Fear of Adding to the Noise The modern anxiety around oversaturation is not unfounded. People are surrounded by more words, videos, opinions, explanations, reactions, and interpretations than they can meaningfully absorb. In that environment, producing more content can feel irresponsible or self-defeating, as though adding anything further only contributes to the noise. This concern often causes thoughtful people to hesitate. They hold back ideas, not because the ideas lack value, but because they fear that volume itself will devalue what they have to say.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast6 months ago in Critique
Created Risk, Inherited Risk, and the Moral Line We Keep Erasing (A Society That Tells the Truth: Chapter 3)
The Distinction Modern Rules Refuse to Make One of the quiet failures of modern rule making is the refusal to clearly distinguish between risk created by choice and risk inherited by existence. When this distinction collapses, responsibility becomes confused, guilt spreads outward indiscriminately, and ordinary behavior is treated as morally suspect. This is not a minor philosophical oversight. It is the foundation beneath many of the injustices people now experience in public life, from transportation and health policy to everyday regulation and enforcement. When systems fail to differentiate between what someone causes and what simply exists, moral clarity erodes at every level.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast6 months ago in Critique
Outside The Dream Syndicate
Introduction This is an album that I play a lot. While I was aware of it in the seventies (it was released in 1973), I only properly discovered it at the beginning of last year when I bought the CD, although in the seventies it would have been vinyl or cassette or 8-track.
By Mike Singleton đź’ś Mikeydred 6 months ago in Critique
