With Joanna Gaskell! This week Ian and David are joined by actor/writer/producer Joanna Gaskell to talk about her popular web series Standard Action and the Kickstarter campaign currently underway to fund Season 3; Joanna also performs with Ian in The Critical Hit Show so they talk about that and tell us about a very special guest they had on the show; they talk about web series and any mention of Kickstarter gets Ian on his Kickstarter hobby horse so he rides that around for a while; David is less thrilled than Ian at the idea of an unfiltered Internet deluge; Joanna falls somewhere in between, but more or less agrees with Ian; they also talk about Joanna’s other series The Starlit Citadel Reviews, which reviews boardgames; this allows for some general discussion of boardgames (so David can bring up Risk…again!); Ian wonders how Joanna became a nerd; the Eagles suck; Dungeons and Dragons and other RPGs are discussed; oh, and Dave plays dumb.
Click here to watch Season 1 of Standard Action and click here to watch Season 2. They are well worth your time. If you like the show, maybe you’ll want to support the Kickstarter campaign by going here. The more support they have, the better Season 3 will be and that’s a win for everyone. You can find Joanna’s other web series, Starlit Citadel Reviews here.
Don’t forget! David and Ian will be doing another live show on May 26th at 3:00 at Vancaf located in Yaletown at the Roundhouse Community Centre. Vancaf is free admission so even if you aren’t all that keen about comic books, but would love to see a live recording of Sneaky Dragon, feel free to pop in and say hi. Our guest will be Colin Upton, longtime local comics artist.
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Some great new additions to the Kickstarter campaign. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gamerati/standard-action-season-3/posts/471564
I disagree with David’s assessment of the Eagles as crap. The difference is between an opinion that their music is garbage and that they’re a crap band. They are, by any reasonable measure, superb musicians who play and sing at a world class level. I think a similar difference could apply to artists doing minicomics or writers doing fan fiction vs. the pros. There’s a qualitative difference in craft for writing and art at both extremes. A bad painting isn’t simply not to one’s taste, it violates aesthetics in fundamental ways. Artists who haven’t learned perspective or anatomy or color theory produce clumsy, unrefined work. Those professionals who break convention deliberately can make simplicity multilayered and meaningful. Consider Paul Klee or Picasso vs. your average 5-year-old.
I guess I come to music from a different aesthetic than you do, Marcus; I find the Eagles music cold and soulless and they’re definitely not to my taste, but also I like to say things with a rhetorical flourish so I probably went too far. My point was less about the Eagles and more about the “everyone likes it so it must be good” argument that Ian was presenting. I could have taken the easy road and said “Justin Bieber” or something, but no, I had to trash the Eagles! I’m sure they’re all super-talented musicians, but then they go and make me listen to songs like “Desperado” and “Hotel California”, the jerks.
“Number one, you can never go too far.”
— A Wise Fictional Character Who Probably Went On to Make Millions As an Executive in His Dad’s Company
Stepping away from the Eagles, though (and don’t think I haven’t noticed the accurate capitalization; bravo, sir), because I’ve spent way too much time discussing them with the musicians at work (not a single one has a good thing to say about them, if you’re keeping score), and too much time justifying them to myself, in part because I own On the Border through The Long Run, and Mom had Hotel California and liked a few hits and had mostly stellar taste, not to mention they are just awful human beings made incomparably bland and boring by relentless pandering and pampered wealth, I wholeheartedly agree that popularity can be simply a reflection of ignorance of the good. Why do people like Justin Bieber? *People* don’t; he’s marketed to a narrow segment of the population who are rabid music and merchandise buyers and his handlers and producers know exactly what they’re cynically, insidiously doing. There’s great music available that is challenging, yet melodic and fun to listen to, but without a little time and experience listening to lots of different songs over years (a little education can’t hurt), one won’t know it’s the carefully-prepared filet mignon to the Big Mac.
In Canadian fashion, I apologize for the ridiculous run-ons above.
Also, I effed up the quotation. It’s, “A: you can never go too far.” Apologies, etc.
What I said and deeply believe is people who love something like Full House aren’t wrong. You can break down why it’s bad all you want but the connection they make is real and it lifts up the work past the critic’s viewpoint.
At least I hope it does.
No, it makes their lives sad and pathetic that something so terrible gives their lives meaning. If you can break it down and explain why Full House is good in a convincing way – even if I don’t buy it – that’s fine. Otherwise it’s just “everyone likes it so it must be good”. Someone can hate the Beatles, everyone can hate the Beatles, that’s fine. I still think I can make a convincing argument for their worth and importance. I don’t think you can say the same about Full House. A person can watch it; a person can like it; it’s still drek.
I want to agree with both of these ideas, but I’m afraid it makes me elitist. I don’t like thinking I know best. I don’t want to discount a connection that someone has with some work of art, so long as it’s made deliberately. I’m against giving deference to opinions that are lazy, where someone doesn’t CARE that there are better works. A person who likes Thomas Kincade but won’t even try Turner shouldn’t have the same level of opinion as one who knows why the former is a Tinkertoy and the latter is the Taj Mahal. Is there anything good in Full House?
I AM an elitist. There I said it. I do think my tastes are superior to other people (not all people) and those tastes defined me as a child and teenager who existed on the edge of school culture. I have no problem making aesthetic judgements about art of any kind. As an artist, I hope what I create is judged good or bad and isn’t lost in some sort of well of indifference.
Seeing Turner for the first time was mind-blowing. I’ve seen quite a few of his paintings in person at the Tate in London. Also, Whistler’s Nocturne’s. Bloody gorgeous. But seriously? Thomas Kincade? And I thought my arguments were extreme!
What I’m saying is: I want people to lead an examined life – ethically, culturally, whateverly. And if you’ve ever read Ian’s posts on his No And… page (and if you haven’t, go “Like” it now), you’ll know that he is perfectly prepared to render all sorts of judgements! (Except agree with me, re: The Eagles)
This is sadly where Dave and I part ways. Most of my judgements on my No And… page are against the elitists who stop people from creating art with their judgement. Full House did what the films at the end of the film Sullivan’s Travels do, they brought joy to people who needed it. Brady Bunch could be considered garbage and was called that by the actor who played the Dad on the show quite often. But it connected with me and was important to me. It was funny and showed a world that was safe and fun at times when mine wasn’t. Our podcast can easily be dismissed but I know from people I’ve talked to that it connects with them and is important to them. Maybe it’s not art with a capital “A” but the lowbrow stuff matters too, sometimes more than the highbrow.
Well drawn Sneaky, your photoshop is improving quite well, did you use a texture layer over xir?
No, Marina, nothing that fancy. I drew and inked Sneaky D in the princess/warrior costume, coloured it in Photoshop, then (still in Photoshop) pasted it onto a picture of the Dungeon Master’s Guide that I found online (hooray, Google images!). Then I copied and pasted the section with the monster’s hand over the drawing of Sneaky D and erased the parts that covered him except the fingers so it looked like he was part of the drawing. Simple as that!