InnuendoStudios
patreon
April Update: As Good As It Gets
🕑 Added 2020-04-30 13:42:04 +0000 UTCHey team. Hope you're holding up ok.
Tortoises Telling Me To Catch Up
Pandemic life is hard.
The month is just about over and... there isn't a video yet. Progress is getting made on the regular - I have a script that's coming together, and I've been editing the Abed video - but it's not moving very quickly or efficiently. My live-in partner is a therapist and is working from home now, so I need to leave the room while they Skype with clients. This means there are long stretches of the day where I don't have access to my desktop. I can write in the living room during these times, but writing in a common area is proving difficult. The script was abut 3/4 done when I figured out why it wasn't working, and it's a lot better now but it meant functionally starting over. Editing the Abed video is going better - for the first time in my career, editing is easier than writing - but it's still slow.
Even when I have plenty of time to work, it's just difficult right now. My work flow is weird and different, there's this huge, stressful situation going on, I have no idea when things are ending, and I'm simultaneously starved for human interaction and would sever a limb in exchange for some actual privacy.
None of this is offered up as excuses: there's a pandemic, everyone is struggling, I don't think I need to apologize for inefficiency. More just letting people know what's happening.
My hope was to get the Abed video done before the end of the month. Looking like "early May" is the new target. We'll see how we manage.
Quarantine Change-Up Possibilities
I'm feeling like I've tweaked my work habits as much as I can within the current system and there's not a lot more to try. Which means: either we just accept things going slowly for a while, or we make something else. I've been pondering doing something easier to make. Since editing is easier right now than writing, I was thinking of making shorter, less structured videos, like Quarantine Diaries or something, where I talk in a loosely-structured, digressive way about a topic of interest for 10ish minutes, edit it simply, and put it online with as quick a turnaround as I can manage. These would not be essays in any traditional sense, but they'd be a repository of thoughts and arguments that haven't found a home in traditional essays. Could be anything from expanding further on the ethics of lesser-evil voting to celebrities I have no choice but to stan.
The goal would be stuff I can turn around quickly, would be at least somewhat interesting, and would, I dunno, help us keep each other company.
The real question would be whether this goes on the main channel or if it's finally time to throw something on the secondary channel. Maybe when I've made one you can tell me what you think.
No guarantee this will work any better than traditional videos. But it would at least be less total work hours, so, even if slow, stuff would come out faster. Probably not worth it to pause Alt-Right Playbook for vloggier stuff that only comes out marginally faster, but... yeah, we'll just have to see. This is an adventure!
Priority right now is getting the Abed video up. But then... we'll try some stuff.
Bits & Bobs
There's not a lot doing right now, but I finally wrote up my thoughts on Heaven's Vault, Later Alligator, and Life is Strange 2. And, after playing juvenalia like Serious Sam, Painkiller, and Project Warlock, I am finally, finally, playing Outer Wilds. Which is incredible. All the stuff you've heard the evangelists saying about it is true: this is already one of the best games I think I've ever played.
Feels like I haven't seen many good movies this month, but maybe that's just me losing time. Suture and Disappearance at Clifton Hill were at least interesting. Took everyone's advice and watched Mindhunter, which was good.
I'm finally reading Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning, though, like all my attempts to read, it's fitful. But the book is excellent, and has already informed the script I'm pecking away at.
I think that's all I've got. Hope you're all doing okay! Hopefully we'll talk soon.
-I
Comments
Hi Ian, new fan here. I did the full ARP binge watch, uncovered the rock I've been studiously avoiding, discovered some deeply unsettling things about myself, and rejoined the Labour Party - so it's been quite the little lockdown journey here in sunny Cornwall. I've certainly found the series to be hugely influential on my thinking, but can only imagine that researching it must be infuriating. As keen as I am, I have to refer you to the Honourable Member above: take care, man.
Ian Danskin
I think there's a rant about Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest and The Glass Key and how they inspired Yojimbo and then how many movies in different genres are unofficial remakes of Yojimbo, so that would definitely touch on a bunch of noir topics! So far I've written some stuff about Dr. Horrible being about the manosphere, being a shameless Brie Larson stan, and why people like Sargon are freaked out by polyamory. Should be editing stuff soon!
Will Bower
Hey Ian! I hope you're still doing ok. I just wanted to drop in and say that I really like the half-baked short essays idea! Maybe you could talk about some art stuff, so you could have a break from your more politics-based work? Personally, I'd really enjoy hearing your thoughts on narrative theory (like maybe some more content similar to The Artist is Absent but of course much shorter) or maybe genre? I'd love to watch a critical introduction to noir video by you because I personally don't know a lot about that genre and want to change that, but I don't know if there's an audience for that. Regardless, I'm sure you'll come up with some good ideas. Hope you're staying sane over there!
Do what you need to to take care of yourself! We're all just trying to figure it out right now!
Yeah Quarantine work is just hard. I do really like the idea of you doing more short half baked video essays on thoughts you be having. One thing to keep in mind as a creator during quarantine is most people will not be upset if you experiment right now even if it doesn't land perfectly. We are all making do and we are all trying to adapt. I love changing the content that you are making to more reflect what work you can get done at a particular point in time. Good luck with everything, you rock!
We love and support you, Ian. Thank you for your transparency and constant hard work.
Bobby Castleberry
I would love to see another story beats as I thought that was an excellent concept. When I've felt anxious recently and wanted to just watch something fun to ease my mind I've been going back to your older gaming videos and re-watching them.
Jacque Marshall
Also: yes, things are going slower now. I, personally, have gotten past the Total And Absolute Blockage of Effective Activity. But, dude: everybody's lives are turned upside down. Everybody's less productive now.
Jacque Marshall
"Quarantine Diaries" sounds thoroughly delicious please do this. Esp if there's a non-toxic comment thread to converse with people in. Me personally, I'm fine with this going in your main channel. Makes it easier to find!
Matt Kimmich
I'm absolutely with you on Outer Wilds, but I think it's important to note that it's one of those games that requires you to accommodate entirely to its rhythm, its ebb and flow. People who look for games that can be moulded into whatever they want the games to be are likely to come away nonplussed or downright disappointed.
Lomky
I'm interested in thoughts on the ethics of lesser evil voting. I've had a hard time finding good conversations around it, given how fraught the topic is and lack of in person convos.
J. Francis
"I'm simultaneously starved for human interaction and would sever a limb in exchange for some actual privacy." This is the truest thing I have read.
mkb
I need someone to help me novelize a RPG I ran last year.
Stamped is outstanding; glad you're getting a chance to read it(as fitful as it may be).
