We Are All a Work in Progress

 Art as Devotion to God   There are so many essays on the difference between art and craft, and in truth the two are so intertwined as to be nearly interchangeable. To master a craft such as woodworking takes extensive discipline and devotion, and to master an art form such as sculpting takes the same thing. In truth the crossover between the two is the personal expression inherent in each. In either case if a woodworker or a sculptor’s entire body of work was constantly repeating the same design such as would be made by a machine no one would think of them as much of an artist. However, no one could watch a master chef craft every element of a recipe just so, and not say to themselves that they were seeing a great artist at work. And yet that art does not come without a cost, and as artists we can sometimes be stymied in pursuit of perfection or of what we see as worthwhile. Shows like “The Bear” where we see Jeremy Allen White’s character struggle over every creati...

If you are reading this, then there are probably things you want and have been unable to get for some very good reasons. One of those reasons might be that getting things requires effort, sometimes a lot of effort. Sometimes the strain of trying to get said things is  so  taxing, people go crazy and eat microwave pizza instead of preparing a real meal for dinner. Trying to get things that you didn’t have before is sometimes called “dream-chasing”. Other times, as in the case of Hitler, it is called being a ruthless and maniacal dictator who will stop at nothing less than world domination regardless of his inability to grow a full mustache. It certainly hasn’t stopped former president George Bush from  painting dogs  over and over again, which means it shouldn’t stop you either! However, it probably will. Let’s face it, what are the odds of you actually achieving your dreams of wealth, prosperity, and happiness? Probably very low. Does thi...

originally published in the Elizabethian February 20th, 2015 I recently filed for bankruptcy and I had a great time! I laughed, I cried, I answered some questions. I paid $1800. I may or may not have lied under oath. But, in the end, I learned a few things… #1.  There are several different kinds of bankruptcies . The most common one, called Chapter 7, is for people like me who are actually broke. The others are mostly for rich people who are hiding their assets and just want to “reorganize” their corporate structure (which is a fancy synonym for “stealing”). There’s actually one for farmers too, which is strange because I thought they were all getting huge government subsidies to operate on all that  GMO corn  I keep hearing about. Wow. That’s kind of depressing. #2.  It costs a lot of money to go broke. This one sounds like a joke, and that’s kind of what I was going for, but it’s also true! If you begin read...

originally published in the Elizabethian February 2nd, 2015 Now that the #SuperBowl is over, we can get back to thinking about the most important thing in our lives – our children. Think about it. All throughout the night, the Superbowl sponsors were bombarding viewers with reminders of the power of Human Connection ( Mcdonalds ,  Coke ), the harm of simple words ( Always ), how proud we want to be of our children ( Toyota ,  Microsoft ), and, most importantly, how we want to protect them from an uncertain future ( Nationwide ,  Nissan ). And this was all before halftime! Clearly America has gotten the message that the children are our future. We can teach them well and let them lead the way. But what’s the best way to lead them? Terms like “ helicopter parenting ” and “ free range parenting ” are thrown around to describe popular parenting techniques picked up from decades of watching Oprah and reading Cosmo. These are parents who only want the be...

Quarantine Oh Quarantine How Do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Originally published June 8, 2015 on The Elizabethian The following is a transcript of a Facebook conversation between David Pogge, writer for erbmagazine.com, and I: Joshua Dudley : Have you looked at google photos yet? it is what everyone has always wanted David Pogge I honestly don’t even know what that is. Joshua Dudley 1)unlimited photo and video storage (ie i just put tango and cash on there) 2) super easy to use interface David Pogge I think I’ve entered a wormhole. Joshua Dudley 3) automatically adds any photos or videos you shoot with your iphone or android 4) sorts by metadata so you can you search by places or faces 5) free 6) only shrinks things very slightly and online reviews say its near impossible to tell unless you blow it up and look closely 7) create photo albums of course 8) it also creates something like a scrapbook. pictures and videos that appear in different spots on the app to catch your eye and you can add captions 9) ...

obama

I wrote about the new game No Mans Sky for the NY Observer. It's exciting and full of possibilities, but it's not for everyone.

He is definitely the president of these United States of America.

I'm going to go ahead and put the announcement on here. It's something that I've been feeling for a long time but I was sort of scared to say in person. Of course I'm not really saying it in person, I'm typing it, and I'm a person. What was I saying? I can't remember, because I'm engaging in an activity that stimulates my frontal cortex, namely typing without stopping to catch a breath or think of the sentence, just typing, or writing if you will. The reason I'm writing this blog is to announce that I'm leaving New York. I don't want there to be a lot of fanfare, Lord knows no one reads this thing anyway, or at least they don't admit to. Truth be told this blog hasn't been relevant in 10 years. Honest admission, it never was. However, i've been going back and reading old articles of mine and I was pretty damn good. There's not some complicated answer why I'm leaving. I just don't get energized by the city anymore, ...

i'm currently 2 hours removed from leaving the visitation for my grandfather and im feeling a lot of emotions and feel the need to share them somehow and im hoping in some wierd way writing a blog will help.  I didnt think i would be sad when he died but i am. he didnt ever express his love for me in many ways. He certainly never said i love you and if he had he would have put quotation marks around it im sure. all day long my aunt was putting together information about him that she thought people should know like about what volleyball team he was on in the 70's, stuff like that. Some family members came and they started talking about football and the new iphone as if this was any normal family event. I guess i wanted people to sit around and tell stories about him. He was 94. There must have some story about him! Right? There had to be something. I dont really have a story about him and i guess that's why i'm sad. Im missing the time that we didnt have together because...

 In a surprise announcement Chicago Bulls Star Derrick Rose announced today his retirement from the game of basketball. The official announcement came during a break from a team scrimmage which his team was handily winning and during which he punctuated with a series of emphatic one handed dunks yelling to his downed foes - "I'm back!" He explained that he was simply not mentally or emotionally ready to continue playing the game of basketball and never would be, and to continue to cheat the fans and the team by pretending otherwise was simply a distraction to his teammates many of whom are injured; like Luol Deng who told the coach he might be able to play a few minutes tonight against the defending champion Miami Heat in the playoffs if it would help the team. "I'm simply trying to do what's best for everyone" Derrick continued. "My team is in the midst of a very important series against the Miami Heat and as long as they hold out the hope that...

I am applying for a job as an editorial assistant for Slate magazine and for the application I was asked to critique one of their culturebox articles . The result is below, and the article is linked right before this sentence, please let me know what you think. “In Defense of Rap Rock” has a confusing opening that equates the term “the dream of the 90’s” with “nostalgia” and then later a “celebration of cultural touchstones”. It would have been more straightforward and simpler to mention that the 90’s brought a wealth of terrific pop culture, but as a whole rap rock was one element that we would all like to forget. The author quickly redeems himself by bringing us up to date on the current state of rap-rock fusion with his more than considerable knowledge of the scene lifting up the Wugazi mixtapes as a shining example of the good that can come from blending these two distinct sounds. Run DMC and Aerosmith’s hugely popular collaborative effort “Walk this Way” spawned a whole ...

Its been a pretty wild month for me. I've been back and forth from New York now 4 times for work and auditions and I finally struck gold. Starting August 22nd I'll be managing a street marketing campaign for Fiat for their first entrance into the American market since 1983. Basically I'll be driving the car around to various locations everyday and supervising a street team who will be promoting it. This is amazing news financially since obviously I haven't made a lot of money this year in my recovery from 2 stomach surgeries. All of my overnights have been spent at my former 65 year old roommate Eric Sigward's apartment on his floor. As many of you reading this may recall back when I was living with him i shot a series of terrific videos which capture all the eccentric personalities of my dear friend On my last visit just a few short days ago I decided to revisit these monologue style videos and encouraged him to talk about a recent movie he had just watche...

I hope your tastebuds were whetted appropriately by my last summer reading series way back like 2 weeks ago. A lot has happened since then. I'm a lot beardier and I just had my first audition in Hampton Roads in 6 years. It was a little different from auditions in New York where I would go into the audition room with like 8 other dudes. In the waiting room in Hampton, VA everyone for all the roles waited. It was a bunch of little girls and their moms, some 20 something brunettes, and me, the only person auditioning for the role of this crazy cult leader who kidnaps girls and young women. I'm not sure what kind of a lead in that is for my summer reading series, but hey this is a blog and I should write something besides how hungry I am since I am on day #3 of the Makers Diet to cure my digestive tract which has been a wreck for many many years because of Chrohns disease. I think specifically my digestion has been putrid since "overcooked hot dog Sunday" At Elim Bible ...

I'm proud to announce the second in my summer reading series of short stories. This one is called "Do You think when you're out you could get me some more hot dogs?" It is written in the style of a McSweeney's story and is about a particularly large and non-moving roommate I had in my first apartment in Brooklyn. It is also hilarious. I invite all questions and comments. Seriously bring your questions and comments please. Also if you are interested in publishing this awesome and previously unpublished story, please don't hesitate to contact me at my email address listed at the top of the page. It is also joshuadudley@gmail.com but the blogspot platform is super old and i can't figure out how to link an email address

My stomach isn't quite up to full functionality yet, so lately I have been thinking more and more about my writing as a creative outlet, but I am not quite to the point where I feel like I can sit down and write a great short story, even ones I have already started on. However, I used to go to a writing group in New York City, and everyone always loved my writing. The following video is the first of my summer reading series. The first time I read this in New York, no one in the group "got" the story. There were no questions. "Really?" I said no questions? Okay thats great whatever guys, that story is published already. And then everyone was like "oh im so sorry i didn't know if I was supposed to laugh or not" So I hope you enjoy a story with humor so dry and sophisticated that a New York Audience could't figure it out. Enjoy