And The Balls Roll On… | A Documentary About The Forgotten History of Skee-Ball

/ thaddeuscooper / Leave a comment

How did a game, invented in Vineland, New Jersey in 1908, survive two world wars, recessions and depressions, industrial transformations, and technology revolutions to become the most beloved game in arcade history? The answer to that question can be found in the new historical documentary And the Balls Roll On…: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball. This unique film features long lost photographs of early and prototype Skee-Ball alleys, photos of its inventor, Joseph Fourestier Simpson, and never-before-seen film clips from World War 1, featuring the Skee-Ball popularizer and combat pilot J.D. Este. More evidence alludes to a possible mob murder of the attorney who owned the game rights in the 1930s.

Kevin B Kreitman and Thaddeus Cooper, co-directors of the film, And The Balls Roll On..: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball.

This brainchild of Thaddeus Cooper and Kevin Kreitman, who wrote and produced the film, started as a joke in 2011: “Let’s make a ten minute YouTube video about the history of Skee-Ball. There has to be a book about Skee-Ball history. How hard could this be?” That turned into a thirteen and a half year journey of serious research and amazing discoveries to unravel the history of the game.

As Cooper searched article after article, he found a few claiming that Skee-Ball had been invented in Vineland, New Jersey by Joseph Fourestier Simpson, a little known inventor. Simpson’s papers had been donated after his death to the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society. When Cooper arrived there, he found two beer boxes full of those papers under a table in the workroom.

The scanning setup during one of Thaddeus Cooper’s trips to The Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society.

Cooper eventually scanned the entire collection, and spent years transcribing handwritten letters, time-lining the saga, filling in with patent records, business filings, advertisements and more. The story of Simpson and his heart-rending struggles to bring the game to market in the new amusement park industry were compelling. So was the subsequent history, as a colorful array of characters bought the rights to Skee-Ball and propelled it through opportunities and obstacles to survive to the present day. A second archive of material filled in the story after 1928: the first National Skee-Ball Tournament in 1932 in Atlantic City, the Wurlitzer period that brought the art deco version of the game to bars and taverns, and the post war years that brought the game to restaurants, arcades and family entertainment centers.  

It took five and a half years to draw the fascinating story out of that mass of historical records. Cooper and Kreitman’s first book Seeking Redemption served as the basis for Kreitman’s screenplay And the Balls Roll On. COVID-19 shut down plans for filming for almost three years. And then it was a matter of bringing everything up to date with interviews and live footage of current tournament players, and rollers of all ages at the Jersey Shore. 

When asked, Cooper and Kreitman said that the most fascinating aspect of the project were the people they interviewed. The enthusiastic historians who told colorful and sometimes scandalous stories about the saga of the game and the history around it. The arcade game collector who owns a 60-plus year old Skee-Ball alley that’s still being played daily at the Jersey Shore. The Wildwood arcade owner who bought his first Skee-Ball alleys in 1976, and still runs the most exciting Skee-Ball tournament of the summer.

The film was co-produced and co-directed by Thaddeus Cooper and Kevin Kreitman, narrated by Adrienne Grechman, voiced by Connor Hudak, Keith Norton and Harrison Wilkes. The music was co-composed and orchestrated by Brian Satterwhite. The film has garnered film festival awards including the jury award for Best Documentary Film at the Golden Gate International Film Festival and Best Feature Film at the Chicago Feedback Film Festival. It was released in January of 2025 and is now available at selected theaters at the Jersey Shore, and streaming on Apple TV, Google Play, and Amazon Prime Video.

Connor Hudak
Harrison Wilkes
Keith Norton
Brian Satterwhite
Adrienne Grechman

And the balls roll on….

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-director of the documentary And The Balls Roll On…: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game and And The Balls Roll On…: The Short History of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author Kevin Kreitman, and their books, at their website NoMoreBoxes.com. When he’s not writing about Skee-Ball, Thaddeus writes about his kitchen escapades, documentary filmmaking (which has to do with Skee-Ball, don’t ya know?), technology, and other topics of general interest to him-and hopefully you.

And The Balls Roll On… Wins GGIFF Jury Award For Best Documentary 2024

/ thaddeuscooper / Leave a comment

And The Balls Roll On…: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball won the GOLDEN GATE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL JURY AWARD for BEST DOCUMENTARY 2024 at the awards ceremony November 3, 2024!

Kevin and I want to thank everyone who worked on this project to make it a reality, including Cathie Berrey, Mike Williams, J. Winfield Heckert, who shot the interviews, the Ocean Beach III footage and all of the New Jersey shore footage. Our subject matter experts, John Hepp, Thomas H. Keels, and Patricia A. Martinelli for bringing their expertise about Philadelphia and the Centennial Exposition, Chestnut Hill and Henry B. Auchy, and Vineland, New Jersey History to the film.

Our rollers and interviewees, Gerry Christensen, Elan Footerman, Rafi Footerman, Ed Pohlman, Aaron Re, Tyler Weiss, and Joey Wolf.

A big shout out to the Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society and Tom Rebbie at Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters Inc. for graciously giving us access to their respective archives.

We’d also like to thank Rikk Degres of Pinehurst Pictures and Sound for taking the film and making it look and sound great!

And finally, we’d like to thank our narrator Adrienne Grechman, and our voice actors Connor Hudak, Keith Norton, and Harrison Wilkes who brought the people back to life in the film and made it really special!

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at their website NoMoreBoxes.com. When he’s not writing about Skee-Ball, he writes about his kitchen escapades, documentary filmmaking (which has to do with Skee-Ball, don’t ya know?), current technology trends, and other topics of general interest to him–and hopefully you.

Kitchen Ramblings | Homemade Onion Powder

/ thaddeuscooper / Leave a comment

I’ve been making a variety of spice mixes and salts for a while now. Many of those recipes are based on onion powder and garlic powder. After creating some of the mixes it occurred to me that maybe I should be making my own onion powder. And making it couldn’t be simpler. You’ll need at least one good sized onion, more if you like, and here’s what you need with respect to tools:

  • Knife
  • Food Prep Machine with shredding disk
  • Sieve
  • Bowl
  • Spoon
  • Sheetpan with a Silpat or Parchment Paper
  • Coffee Grinder or Mortar and Pestle

Here’s the process:

  • Preheat your oven to 150˚ F.
  • Remove the onion skins and reserve them.
  • Remove the root at the base of the onion.
  • Cut the onion into eighths, so it will fit down the tube of the Food Prep machine.
  • Shred the onion in the Food Prep machine.
  • Place the onions into the sieve and place over your bowl so that the onions can drain.
  • Let the onions drain for at least 15 minutes–30 minutes would be better.
  • Dump the onions onto the Silpat lined sheet pan and spread them out into a thin layer.
  • Place the sheet pan in the oven and let the onions dehydrate for about eight hours.
  • Stir the onions every hour until they are completely dried out.
  • When the onions are dried out grind them in the coffee grinder or mortar and pestle.
  • Use immediately or store in an airtight jar.

OK, so this is where I’m supposed to wax lyrical or find some deep insight in this part of the post. So, here goes. The scent that the onions impart during the course of their dehydration is absolutely wonderful. The entire house has the scent of onions which is intoxicating. 

In doing the research for this article I found a few things that are interesting. First, did you know that there is a national organization for onions? Nope, me neither, but I should have guessed. The organization I found was the National Onion Association. They have a guide for dietitians with all sorts of useful information in it. Please note I have no interests in the organization–just thought it was worth mentioning.

Also in the course of my research, I found that some people actually save the outer onion skins and use them to flavor soups, or grind them and use a small amount in bread dough. Interesting, but I haven’t tried it myself, so I can’t really comment on it–yet.

This article was originally posted on my Kitchen Ramblings blog June 8, 2022, and is being reposted here so more people can enjoy it.

About The Author

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at their website NoMoreBoxes.com. When he’s not writing about Skee-Ball, he writes about his kitchen escapades, documentary filmmaking (which has to do with Skee-Ball, don’t ya know?), current technology trends, and other topics of general interest to him–and hopefully you.

Kitchen Ramblings | Parmageddon

/ thaddeuscooper / Leave a comment

I knew opening the small refrigerator that it was going to be Parmageddon. I had kind of abandoned the cheese a few weeks before. And I was right. It was Parmageddon. If I had dropped the cheese on my foot I would have broken it. My foot, not the cheese! Geez.

How did all this come about? About a year ago I decided I would try to make parmesan cheese–again. I had tried once before and failed. I figured I had about a fifty-fifty chance of this attempt working but it was better than no chance. I’ve made some Manchego, and Cheddar with good success, and I make butter, sour cream, and cream cheese on a regular basis. Parmesan would be a step up, and I was up for it.

Fundamentally making cheese is not difficult. It’s about manipulating temperature over time, pressure over time, and then waiting (more time). To make parmesan you need the following ingredients and tools:

and here are the steps1:

  • Heat milk to 90° F
  • Add starter and let sit for 90 minutes
  • Add rennet and stir for 2 minutes
  • Cover and let sit for 30 minutes
  • Cut the curd into cubes
  • Heat curd to 124° F
  • Pour off the whey
  • Line a 2 pound cheese mold with cheesecloth
  • Press curds at 5 pounds for 15 minutes
  • Press curds at 10 pounds for 30 minutes
  • Press curds at 15 pounds for 2 hours
  • Press curds at 20 pounds for 12 hours
  • Remove curds from press and remove cheese cloth
  • Brine for 24 hours at room temperature
  • Remove cheese from brine and age at 55° F and 85% humidity for at least 10 months

Now you wait one year with regular checkins and you have yummy cheese–or in my case something that could be used as a paver. The problem that I had was that you need to keep the cheese cave at a relatively low temperature, 55° F, with a humidity of 85%. This is difficult at best to achieve, especially when you have a small space to work in. I tried putting a lexan full of water in the little refrigerator but that wasn’t enough. Some research suggested that a mixture of salt and water might do the trick. Nope. I tried putting a fan on top of the lexan to get the air moving. Nope again. In the end the best I could do was about 50% humidity. And that was just too low. As a result the cheese dried out over the course of the year.

The takeaway for me is that parmesan is likely out of reach for me in the near term. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make other cheeses that are less fussy about humidity.

DISCLAIMER: There are no affiliate links in this post. If you see a link to a product it’s because I like it and think it’s useful–that’s it.

Notes

  1. Obviously this is an abbreviated list of steps. For more detailed instructions see Ricki Carroll’s book, Home Cheese Making which is the book that I used to learn how to make cheese.

This article was originally posted on my Kitchen Ramblings blog May 23, 2022, and is being reposted here so more people can enjoy it.

About The Author

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at their website NoMoreBoxes.com. When he’s not writing about Skee-Ball, he writes about his kitchen escapades, documentary filmmaking (which has to do with Skee-Ball, don’t ya know?), current technology trends, and other topics of general interest to him–and hopefully you.

AI | ChatGPT and Marmalade

/ thaddeuscooper / Leave a comment

Recently my wife and I have been making marmalade. Lots and lots of marmalade. Our neighbor next door has an orange tree that is definitely over producing, and the neighbor has been encouraging us to harvest oranges whenever we want. In exchange we leave jars of marmalade at her front door.

In making the marmalade we decided to create flavors other than orange marmalade to push the boundaries. To date, we’ve made: orange marmalade; lime marmalade; and grapefruit and vermouth marmalade to name a few. We’ve also created a fairly lengthy list of marmalades that we’d like to make–as we get time. Many of those marmalades are based on cocktails. For instance, Manhattan Marmalade is made with oranges, bourbon, and sweet vermouth. After hearing some of the flavors we were working on, one of my friends had this to say:

I never thought marmalade could be anything other than orange. You’re blowing my mind.

Tom C.

I started wondering if ChatGPT might be of assistance in creating ideas and recipes for new marmalade flavor combinations that we had not thought of ourselves. Below are some of the interactions that I had with ChatGPT with respect to marmalade recipes.

ME: Please create 10 orange marmalade flavor pairings.

ChatGPT: Certainly, here are 10 orange marmalade flavor pairings:

  1. Toasted Almonds: Spread orange marmalade on toast and top it with toasted almond slices for a crunchy and nutty flavor combination.
  2. Dark Chocolate: Dip a spoonful of orange marmalade into melted dark chocolate and let it cool for a delicious sweet and bitter pairing.
  3. Goat Cheese: Spread orange marmalade over a cracker and top it with a slice of creamy goat cheese for a tangy and sweet contrast.
  4. Ginger: Combine orange marmalade and fresh ginger for a spicy and citrusy combination that works great as a glaze for grilled chicken or salmon.
  5. Vanilla: Mix orange marmalade with a hint of vanilla extract and spread it on top of your favorite cake or muffin for a simple and tasty dessert.
  6. Whiskey: Stir orange marmalade and whiskey together to create a unique and flavorful marinade for steak or pork chops.
  7. Cinnamon: Mix orange marmalade and cinnamon for a warm and comforting combination that goes great on toast, oatmeal or pancakes.
  8. Rosemary: Spread orange marmalade on top of a crostini and sprinkle with fresh rosemary for a sweet and savory appetizer.
  9. Yogurt: Stir orange marmalade into plain Greek yogurt for a tangy and sweet breakfast or snack.
  10. Brie: Top a slice of warm brie cheese with orange marmalade for a gooey, sweet and savory treat that is perfect for a party or holiday gathering.

Not exactly what I meant. I wanted recipes to make marmalade, not recipes that used marmalade. A couple of more tries with rephrasing the question finally got me to what I was looking for. Here is what ChatGPT and I talked about:

ME: Create 10 recipes for making orange marmalade from scratch.

ChatGPT: Sure, here are 10 recipes for making orange marmalade from scratch:

  1. Simple Orange Marmalade: Slice 4 oranges and 1 lemon thinly, remove seeds and place in a pot with 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 45 minutes. Add 6 cups of sugar and let simmer for another 45 minutes. Transfer to jars and store in the fridge.
  2. Classic Seville Orange Marmalade: Cut 2 lbs of Seville oranges in half and remove seeds. Chop the oranges and place them in a pot with 4 cups of water. Let simmer for 2 hours, then add 6 cups of sugar and let simmer for another 30 minutes. Transfer to jars and store in a cool, dark place.
  3. Blood Orange Marmalade: Cut 3 lbs of blood oranges in half and remove seeds. Slice the oranges thinly and place in a pot with 4 cups of water. Let simmer for 2 hours, then add 6 cups of sugar and let simmer for another 30 minutes. Transfer to jars and store in a cool, dark place.
  4. Ginger Orange Marmalade: Add 1/4 cup of fresh grated ginger to the water and oranges in a Simple Orange Marmalade recipe. Follow the rest of the recipe.
  5. Orange Marmalade with Cinnamon and Cloves: Add 1 cinnamon stick and 4 cloves to the water and oranges in a Simple Orange Marmalade recipe. Follow the rest of the recipe.
  6. Honey Orange Marmalade: Substitute honey for sugar in a Simple Orange Marmalade recipe, using 3 cups of honey instead of 6 cups of sugar. Follow the rest of the recipe.
  7. Spicy Orange Marmalade: Add 1 tsp of red pepper flakes to the water and oranges in a Simple Orange Marmalade recipe. Follow the rest of the recipe.
  8. Orange and Vanilla Bean Marmalade: Add the seeds of 1 vanilla bean to the water and oranges in a Simple Orange Marmalade recipe. Follow the rest of the recipe.
  9. Rosemary Orange Marmalade: Add 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary to the water and oranges in a Simple Orange Marmalade recipe. Follow the rest of the recipe.
  10. Orange Marmalade with Whiskey: Add 1/2 cup of whiskey to the mixture after the sugar has been added in a Classic Seville Orange Marmalade recipe. Simmer for another 10 minutes and then transfer to jars. Store in a cool, dark place.

Some of these sound positively wonderful and we had not thought of. Some were already on our list, or we had already tried. Rest assured that I would ask ChatGPT for recipe help in the future–just so long as I don’t care about the citation for a recipe.

If you enjoyed this article, you might be interested in my other recent article about ChatGPT and the Fake History of Skee-Ball which is an in depth look at ChatGPT and writing [fake] fact-based material.

About The Author

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at their website NoMoreBoxes.com. When he’s not writing about Skee-Ball, he writes about his kitchen escapades, documentary filmmaking (which has to do with Skee-Ball, don’t ya know?), current technology trends, and other topics of general interest to him–and hopefully you.

AI | ChatGPT, Dall•E & I Make Art • Day 5

/ thaddeuscooper / Leave a comment

One of the things that people may not know about me is that I collect Teddy Bears. I have a large enough collection of bears that they don’t all fit on one shelf. In fact they take up a significant amount of space in our house. I like teddy bears so much in fact that I’m working on a 3D animation about a little bear that wakes up in an early 1900s Skee-Ball arcade and meets the love of his life. But more on that another time.

What, you might ask, does this have to do with ChatGPT, Dall•E and me? Well I decided to ask ChatGPT to make a list of descriptions of 5 images of Teddy Bears doing silly things, because I really like Teddy Bears being silly. Here is the result of the interaction:

ME: Make a list of 5 descriptions of images of teddy bears doing silly things.

ChatGPT:

  1. A picture of a teddy bear sitting on a chair wearing a party hat and holding a slice of cake with frosting all over its face.
  2. An image of a group of teddy bears gathered around a miniature barbecue grill, one bear wearing an apron and holding a spatula, while another bear is holding a plate of burnt sausages.
  3. A photo of a teddy bear dressed up in a tutu and ballet shoes, striking a pose with one paw extended as if about to perform a dance routine.
  4. An illustration of a teddy bear sitting in a bathtub, covered in bubbles and wearing a shower cap, with a rubber duck floating beside it.
  5. A picture of a teddy bear wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses and driving a toy car, with a tiny scarf wrapped around its neck and the wind blowing its fur.

I took each of the image descriptions and presented them to Dall•E for rendering. I’ll be presenting the prompt and the results from Dall•E in individual posts one at a time.

Here is todays image prompt:

A picture of a teddy bear wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses and driving a toy car, with a tiny scarf wrapped around its neck and the wind blowing its fur.

Enjoy! Let me know which is your favorite!

About The Author

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at their website NoMoreBoxes.com. When he’s not writing about Skee-Ball, he writes about his kitchen escapades, documentary filmmaking (which has to do with Skee-Ball, don’t ya know?), current technology trends, and other topics of general interest to him–and hopefully you.

AI | ChatGPT, Dall•E & I Make Art • Day 4

/ thaddeuscooper / Leave a comment

One of the things that people may not know about me is that I collect Teddy Bears. I have a large enough collection of bears that they don’t all fit on one shelf. In fact they take up a significant amount of space in our house. I like teddy bears so much in fact that I’m working on a 3D animation about a little bear that wakes up in an early 1900s Skee-Ball arcade and meets the love of his life. But more on that another time.

What, you might ask, does this have to do with ChatGPT, Dall•E and me? Well I decided to ask ChatGPT to make a list of descriptions of 5 images of Teddy Bears doing silly things, because I really like Teddy Bears being silly. Here is the result of the interaction:

ME: Make a list of 5 descriptions of images of teddy bears doing silly things.

ChatGPT:

  1. A picture of a teddy bear sitting on a chair wearing a party hat and holding a slice of cake with frosting all over its face.
  2. An image of a group of teddy bears gathered around a miniature barbecue grill, one bear wearing an apron and holding a spatula, while another bear is holding a plate of burnt sausages.
  3. A photo of a teddy bear dressed up in a tutu and ballet shoes, striking a pose with one paw extended as if about to perform a dance routine.
  4. An illustration of a teddy bear sitting in a bathtub, covered in bubbles and wearing a shower cap, with a rubber duck floating beside it.
  5. A picture of a teddy bear wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses and driving a toy car, with a tiny scarf wrapped around its neck and the wind blowing its fur.

I took each of the image descriptions and presented them to Dall•E for rendering. I’ll be presenting the prompt and the results from Dall•E in individual posts one at a time.

Here is todays image prompt:

An illustration of a teddy bear sitting in a bathtub, covered in bubbles and wearing a shower cap, with a rubber duck floating beside it.

Enjoy! Let me know which is your favorite!

About The Author

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at their website NoMoreBoxes.com. When he’s not writing about Skee-Ball, he writes about his kitchen escapades, documentary filmmaking (which has to do with Skee-Ball, don’t ya know?), current technology trends, and other topics of general interest to him–and hopefully you.

AI | ChatGPT, Dall•E & I Make Art • Day 3

/ thaddeuscooper / Leave a comment

One of the things that people may not know about me is that I collect Teddy Bears. I have a large enough collection of bears that they don’t all fit on one shelf. In fact they take up a significant amount of space in our house. I like teddy bears so much in fact that I’m working on a 3D animation about a little bear that wakes up in an early 1900s Skee-Ball arcade and meets the love of his life. But more on that another time.

What, you might ask, does this have to do with ChatGPT, Dall•E and me? Well I decided to ask ChatGPT to make a list of descriptions of 5 images of Teddy Bears doing silly things, because I really like Teddy Bears being silly. Here is the result of the interaction:

ME: Make a list of 5 descriptions of images of teddy bears doing silly things.

ChatGPT:

  1. A picture of a teddy bear sitting on a chair wearing a party hat and holding a slice of cake with frosting all over its face.
  2. An image of a group of teddy bears gathered around a miniature barbecue grill, one bear wearing an apron and holding a spatula, while another bear is holding a plate of burnt sausages.
  3. A photo of a teddy bear dressed up in a tutu and ballet shoes, striking a pose with one paw extended as if about to perform a dance routine.
  4. An illustration of a teddy bear sitting in a bathtub, covered in bubbles and wearing a shower cap, with a rubber duck floating beside it.
  5. A picture of a teddy bear wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses and driving a toy car, with a tiny scarf wrapped around its neck and the wind blowing its fur.

I took each of the image descriptions and presented them to Dall•E for rendering. I’ll be presenting the prompt and the results from Dall•E in individual posts one at a time.

Here is todays image prompt:

A photo of a teddy bear dressed up in a tutu and ballet shoes, striking a pose with one paw extended as if about to perform a dance routine.

Enjoy! Let me know which is your favorite!

About The Author

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at their website NoMoreBoxes.com. When he’s not writing about Skee-Ball, he writes about his kitchen escapades, documentary filmmaking (which has to do with Skee-Ball, don’t ya know?), current technology trends, and other topics of general interest to him–and hopefully you.

AI | ChatGPT, Dall•E & I Make Art • Day 2

/ thaddeuscooper / Leave a comment

One of the things that people may not know about me is that I collect Teddy Bears. I have a large enough collection of bears that they don’t all fit on one shelf. In fact they take up a significant amount of space in our house. I like teddy bears so much in fact that I’m working on a 3D animation about a little bear that wakes up in an early 1900s Skee-Ball arcade and meets the love of his life. But more on that another time.

What, you might ask, does this have to do with ChatGPT, Dall•E and me? Well I decided to ask ChatGPT to make a list of descriptions of 5 images of Teddy Bears doing silly things, because I really like Teddy Bears being silly. Here is the result of the interaction:

ME: Make a list of 5 descriptions of images of teddy bears doing silly things.

ChatGPT:

  1. A picture of a teddy bear sitting on a chair wearing a party hat and holding a slice of cake with frosting all over its face.
  2. An image of a group of teddy bears gathered around a miniature barbecue grill, one bear wearing an apron and holding a spatula, while another bear is holding a plate of burnt sausages.
  3. A photo of a teddy bear dressed up in a tutu and ballet shoes, striking a pose with one paw extended as if about to perform a dance routine.
  4. An illustration of a teddy bear sitting in a bathtub, covered in bubbles and wearing a shower cap, with a rubber duck floating beside it.
  5. A picture of a teddy bear wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses and driving a toy car, with a tiny scarf wrapped around its neck and the wind blowing its fur.

I took each of the image descriptions and presented them to Dall•E for rendering. I’ll be presenting the prompt and the results from Dall•E in individual posts one at a time.

Here is todays image prompt:

An image of a group of teddy bears gathered around a miniature barbecue grill, one bear wearing an apron and holding a spatula, while another bear is holding a plate of burnt sausages.

Below are the four images that Dall•E created from that prompt. The images are clickable so that you can see them in a larger format.

Enjoy and let me know which is your favorite!

About The Author

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at their website NoMoreBoxes.com. When he’s not writing about Skee-Ball, he writes about his kitchen escapades, documentary filmmaking (which has to do with Skee-Ball, don’t ya know?), current technology trends, and other topics of general interest to him–and hopefully you.

AI | ChatGPT, Dall•E & I Make Art • Day 1

/ thaddeuscooper / Leave a comment

One of the things that people may not know about me is that I collect Teddy Bears. I have a large enough collection of bears that they don’t all fit on one shelf. In fact they take up a significant amount of space in our house. I like teddy bears so much in fact that I’m working on a 3D animation about a little bear that wakes up in an early 1900s Skee-Ball arcade and meets the love of his life. But more on that another time.

What, you might ask, does this have to do with ChatGPT, Dall•E and me? Well I decided to ask ChatGPT to make a list of descriptions of 5 images of Teddy Bears doing silly things, because I really like Teddy Bears being silly. Here is the result of the interaction:

ME: Make a list of 5 descriptions of images of teddy bears doing silly things.

ChatGPT:

  1. A picture of a teddy bear sitting on a chair wearing a party hat and holding a slice of cake with frosting all over its face.
  2. An image of a group of teddy bears gathered around a miniature barbecue grill, one bear wearing an apron and holding a spatula, while another bear is holding a plate of burnt sausages.
  3. A photo of a teddy bear dressed up in a tutu and ballet shoes, striking a pose with one paw extended as if about to perform a dance routine.
  4. An illustration of a teddy bear sitting in a bathtub, covered in bubbles and wearing a shower cap, with a rubber duck floating beside it.
  5. A picture of a teddy bear wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses and driving a toy car, with a tiny scarf wrapped around its neck and the wind blowing its fur.

I took each of the image descriptions and presented them to Dall•E for rendering. I’ll be presenting the prompt and the results from Dall•E in individual posts one at a time.

Here is todays image prompt:

A picture of a teddy bear sitting on a chair wearing a party hat and holding a slice of cake with frosting all over its face.

Below are the four images that Dall•E created from that prompt. The images are clickable so that you can see them in a larger format.

Enjoy! Let me know which is your favorite!

About The Author

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at their website NoMoreBoxes.com. When he’s not writing about Skee-Ball, he writes about his kitchen escapades, documentary filmmaking (which has to do with Skee-Ball, don’t ya know?), current technology trends, and other topics of general interest to him–and hopefully you.