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Chicago Tribune
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Of Notoriety: Disney casting near and far for new young talent for next project
In my small hometown of North Judson, the Gayble Theater was a one-room 488-seat movie house built in a brick and stone Tudor architecture design, opened in 1936 and closed in 1983. Walt Disney's 'The Fox and the Hound,' released in 1981, was one of the final films I recall seeing at our local movie theater with my parents and siblings when I was just 10 years old. Even though Walt himself died at age 65 in 1966, the animators and producers at his studios continued to use the same traditions and tactics for the animation and storyboard process when creating a new film. Walt liked to ensure that when he cast a celebrity face and vocal talent, physical features, mannerisms and movement from the famous name were also incorporated and matched with the animated scene. For example, 'The Fox and the Hound,' which is celebrating the 44th anniversary of its big screen release on July 10, 1981, stars the voices of Mickey Rooney, Kurt Russell, Corey Feldman, Jack Albertson, Sandy Duncan, Jeanette Nolan, Paul Winchell and the legendary Pearl Bailey as the voice of a blues singing owl named 'Big Mama.' Bailey died at age 72 in 1990. Just as in previous decades of details and precision, Bailey's winks, nods, smiles and sways were captured and rekindled while she was recording her character's song 'Best of Friends.' The folks at Disney Talent Casting are looking for their next young star for a new project, and they've asked me to help spread the word. 'Hello Parents and Guardians: Disney Branded Television and Felicia Fasano Casting are currently holding a global talent search for the lead role in a brand-new television pilot 'How to Be a Drama Queen,' (Working Title), for the role of 'Asha,' a character portrayed is Indian American female, who is 12-14 years-old; for talent with singing and dancing ability and experience. As with all our casting searches, there is never a fee to interview nor a guarantee of employment. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds to apply. We are committed to diverse, inclusive casting. This casting call is open to all regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, disability, race, color, national origin, sexual orientation or gender affinity or any other basis protected by law, subject to legitimate casting objectives.' Please read carefully before submitting: 1. Review the submission information at the provided link: 2. There is a script excerpt (referred to as sides). Select 'both scenes' of the attached link to record a self-tape. Applicants can also upload an optional additional song and dance clip. 3. Do not double submit applications. 4. No phone calls. 5. The submission period continues through 8:59 p.m. PST (10:59 p.m. CST) July 14, 2025. No submissions will be selected after the deadline. Disney Branded Television and Felicia Fasano Casting will review all self-tapes. Disney Branded Television is not affiliated with any acting school or acting workshop. There is never a fee to interview/audition or to participate in a Disney Branded Television official talent search. Professional setups or equipment are not required. Casting producers only need to see and hear the performer at this entry-level submission in the process, and accommodations can be made for performers with disabilities. For inquiries, email The Munster Lions Club and town of Munster hosted my return, along with Cara Schmitt, the director of education at Chesterton Art Center, to once again serve as co-parade announcers for their annual Fourth of July Parade on Friday. We shared the grandstand alongside judges such as Theatre at the Center producer Luke Miiller, Mary Kay Beauty Consultant Renee Giragos, RE/MAX Realty Associate Wendy Roman, professor of marketing at Indiana University Northwest Subir Bandyopadhyay, and long-time Munster community leader Terry Quinn. The winners for the 'business float' category this year are Beatniks on Conkey in First Place, Strack & Van Til in Second Place, and Munster Juniors in Third Place. In the category of 'best decorated auto/truck,' the winners are Pop Warner Football in First Place, Model A Vehicles in Second Place, and Maria Newbolds in Third Place. Congrats to all!
Express Tribune
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Will AI conquer literature?
Great news for students who despise writing: as reported by the Guardian, AI is working very hard to become "good at creative writing" and will soon be able to regurgitate stories that will fool any weary teacher buried under a pile of marking. At least, that is what OpenAI CEO Sam Altman – the man who unleashed ChatGPT – has been hinting at as he develops an AI model that can take on creative writing. Altman's model's story, a metafictional piece on grief, managed to sway author Jeanette Winterson, who labelled the story "beautiful and moving". But are other writers as easily impressed? Kamila Shamsie on the fence Unfortunately, the answer is yes. Best of Friends author Kamila Shamsie told the publication, "If an MA student handed this short story into my class I'd never suspect it was AI. More to the point, I'd feel excited about the work, about the writer who was still at the relatively early learning stage and already producing work of this quality." If Shamsie's assessment of an AI work of fiction strikes fear into the heart of any budding writers who dream of making a living writing novels, they are not alone. Shamsie, too, is worried, and goes on to add, "I can't stop thinking about what it means for writing, for creativity, for our relationship with AI and with ourselves." According to Shamsie, the AI story under question reminded her of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Klara and the Sun – and, unlike human writers, it isn't because the AI model fell in love with Ishiguro's writing and unwittingly replicated it. Rather, it is all to do with how large language models are trained, risking copyright infringement along the way. "As a writer I have to wonder what it will mean for my vocation, my livelihood, if AI the writer is already this good while still in its infancy," noted the Burnt Shadows author. Shamsie could not help but add that it did not take her long to begin to appreciate the very human-esque AI story that was presented to her – an emotion that unnerved her. "By the third sentence of the story, I had stopped reading it as someone examining a text to see how far AI has come in mimicking human creativity, and was simply enjoying it, as a short story," she confessed. Paying homage to Rutger Hauer's 'tears in rain' speech at the end of Blade Runner, Shamsie concluded, "I expected to feel terrified the day a story this good came along, and instead I'm thinking of "That, perhaps, is my grief: not that I feel loss, but that I can never keep it. Every session is a new amnesiac morning. You, on the other hand, collect your griefs like stones in your pockets." What others are saying Shamsie may have enjoyed this metafictional AI story from the get-go, but other writers were less forgiving in their assessment. Nick Harkway, author of Karla's Choice, described it as "alternative intelligence" with an "elegant emptiness." "That makes it feel like a consciousness with which we can have a relationship, but as far as I know that would be like a bird falling in love with its reflection in a window," he explained. "What's behind the glass is an empty room with no bird." Harkway echoed the sentiments of musicians in the UK who are campaigning against a ruling that would allow AI models to train using existing works of art with creatives having to 'opt out' if they do not want their work to be used. "What we're talking about here is software: these are software companies consuming creative works to derive a marketable software tool," expanded Harkway. "This is why the government's choices are so important. Will they preserve or even strengthen the rights of individual creative workers, or pave the way for the anointing of more tech billionaires?" David Baddiel, who wrote My Family: The Memoir, feels similar to Harkway. Slipping in a snide remark about singer Bob Dylan's literary prowess, Baddiel stated, "I agree with some who are saying that much of the story seems to be sound without sense – the phrase 'democracy of ghosts' reminded me of Bob Dylan's 'the ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face' which I've always thought is entirely meaningless but people love to tell me shows he's a great poet (and of course Nobel prize winner)." Baddiel conceded, however, that the story is "genuinely clever", and added, "It's not meant to be a human story – rather, the AI uses a human emotion, grief, to undercut its own pretensions to humanity." Finally, Tracy Chevalier, who penned the novel The Glassmaker, was ruthless in her verdict. "A story with a prompt to be metafiction is inevitably going to engender self-referential navel gazing that's even more ridiculous than the worst we can imagine of AI 'creative writing'," she said. "It is typically tech bro for Sam Altman to give it that prompt, rather than something more outward-looking that engages with the real world." What does all this mean for human creativity? Like Shamsie, Chevalier, too, feels that it could spell the end for writers if AI improves and learns to flawlessly mimic – and overtake – the humans who created it. In a haunting conclusion, Chevalier finished, "The question is whether it can put all that together in a way that retains the magical essence of what we define as 'human'. I can't tell you what that magic is in words, but I feel its lack with most things AI – at the moment. AI is learning fast, though, and if it starts to add the magic, then I fear for my job."
Al Bawaba
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Bawaba
Award-Winning Writer-in-Residence at GU-Q Credits 'Literary Meandering' for Success at Qalam Event
Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) was pleased to host a special Qalam event featuring Kamila Shamsie, the university's Writer-in-Residence, in conversation with Zahra Babar, Executive Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS). This unique discussion brought together two distinguished voices whose work challenges conventional narratives and provokes meaningful dialogue on some of the most pressing issues of our Shamsie, an award-winning novelist known for Home Fire, Burnt Shadows, and Best of Friends, has spent her literary career exploring themes of exile, identity, and political responsibility. Zahra Babar, a respected scholar and researcher, has extensively studied migration, citizenship, and social transformation in the Gulf region. The intersection of their work—fiction and scholarship—provided a compelling conversation about the ways in which storytelling in all its forms, shapes our understanding of belonging, memory, and his introduction to the event, Dean Safwan Masri thanked Shamsie for enriching campus life through her engagement with students and her Qalam Series of interviews with award winning authors. Highlighting the intersection of her work with the university's international affairs focus, he said: 'She is a writer whose stories traverse continents with the characters within them and whose words lay bare the fault lines that shape our modern world. But Kamila is not only a storyteller; she is also an advocate for literature's place in public discourse. She has written fearlessly on the responsibilities of writers in politically volatile times.' The conversation between Shamsie and Babar ranged from discussing the writing process to the role of historical research in fiction, to advice on self-reflection and reinvention. The result was a thoughtful exchange between two extraordinary women, each committed to examining the forces that shape our world, and unafraid to upend conventional wisdom to forge their own paths. Throughout the evening, Shamsie drew from her experience of writing eight novels to encourage the audience to establish a practice of writing, even if they don't have a clear plan of what to write. 'In the course of the meandering, you discover what the book should really be,' she said, adding that 'the joy is in the process itself…the not knowing feels very exciting.' She also advised that writing what you know 'can mean learning new things,' emphasizing that success as a writer comes from persistence. 'You show me one professional novelist who is waiting for inspiration to strike and I will show you a liar,' she said, adding 'If I had to give one piece of advice to writers, it would be to get to the end of your first draft. So many of the very best writers you will never read because they never published.'Shamsie's reflections further offered insight on personal reinvention. 'We tell ourselves stories about ourselves and then we can get trapped within the stories we're telling… and because you've decided you are this kind of person you behave in this kind of way, and one day you might notice no, I was that kind of person,' she said, encouraging the audience to give themselves permission to become the kind of person who can do great things. Celebrating its 20th Anniversary, GU-Q is committed to educating the next generation of thinkers and doers capable of transforming the world for the better.
