#359: ChatfieldGPT, The New York Public Library, & Judging Cake on TV!

+ NO-vember, Pet Store Sketchbook & Young Morris poses for a painting

I’m writing this week’s edition from the bowels of the New York Public Library. I come here to write sometimes. These days I skip the Rose Main Reading Room and head straight for 108: The DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room. I’m staring straight ahead at a painting of the Flatiron building.

I’m just finishing up the 10 “Insights” From 10 Years Of Meditation post that will be dropping into Paid Subscribers’ inboxes this Friday. I hope you like it!

I like this room for high ceilings, the old blokes grunting into the newspapers with the big wooden things attached, and of course the gigantic murals of the original Harpers and Hearst Buildings on opposing walls; a reminder of a time when the home of these now ailing print periodicals were in their golden era. The perfect place to write a weekly online newsletter!

“City views”

1. Watch Me Judge Cake on TV!

Don’t forget, as of today, you can catch me on HBO Max as the host and judge of the holiday show “Buddy VS. Christmas”. Episode 1 is a real doozie— take a peek here!

2. Picture This!

This month I’ll be both hosting and drawing for our comedy + cartooning show at Union Hall. The line-up is great, the timing is not. If there were ever a time to show up, this would be it: A lot of people are out of town for the holidays, so we may have fewer bums on seats than usual. You can snag an earlybird ticket here.

3. I built my own custom GPT Model based on my work. It is very dumb.

As of last week, users of ChatGPT can now train and build their very own bespoke GPT’s, and use them for everything and anything. Terrifying.

I fed all of my publicly-available writing into the bot’s mouth and it spat out so much nonsense that I’m convinced it is working perfectly. We’re all doomed.

I debuted the bot last night live on stage at Funny on Paper: a show of New Yorker cartoonists doing stand-up. It did not go well…

ALL NEW:
Frenchie Christmas Cards!

This week’s Sketchbook:

A throwback to 2011 when I was booked to draw peoples’ pets in a petstore in Melbourne…

and again in 2017 at Heart of Chelsea in Manhattan!

I have a new book about dogs coming out next Fall— be the first to find out more here!

While I do love the convenience of a Wacom tablet/Xenselabs tablet/iPad pro or whatever you like using… I can’t ever replicate the joy of using analog tools. I’m starting a new Substack in 2024 called “Process Junkie” to explore all of the joys of the Process of making art. If you’re interested in that kind of thing, you can sign up here.

Update:
Someone you might like has its own page! You can see them all here.

This week’s “Someone” is the very talented cartoonist,

Oslo Davis

!
If you aren’t already, subscribe to his Newsletter. He just Celebrated his 800th “Overheard” — An iconic feature in Melbourne.

Aaaaaand remember, If you want to learn how to say NO to all kinds of shit, I’m running the 30-day No-vember challenge over at no-vember.net

Until next time,
Your pal,

Jason

“ Paint me like one of your French…. ies.”