Episode 613 - 1930
Dec 12, 2022
The 1930s were quite a uniquely influential time for a number of reasons. The 1930s were the very last days of the old world before the new one was born in the apocalypse of the 1940s. Old empires, kings, colonialism- forces that had shaped the planet for decades were about to be shattered for the good, thankfully. New technologies were on a rapid rise as things were spiraling closer and closer to global war, Air travel was becoming a reality even as the old ocean liners were still the main means of transportation connecting the continents, people were building cites around the realities of car travel. Cinema had changed drastically with the advent of the talkies. and so much more!
Topics and Show Notes
I grew up during the 1980's when the aesthetics of 1930s were being revived in fashion, film, and architecture: pastels, art deco, modernism, shoulder-pads… some of the most influential movies had a very strong a 1930s influence: The Star Wars trilogy with its scenes inspired by Triumph of the Will, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon film reals and old cowboy films, the remake of 1932's Scarface, the Indiana Jones movies, Batman, Superman, Dick Tracy, the Conan films that made a star out of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The influence was all over the British New Romantic pop music movement, the style of Michael Jackson and Madonna, and on TV with noir detective shows. All these things continue to have a legacy today.
People might not realise that the modern idea of the “gangsta” comes from the 1930s. Jamaican youth gangs idolised the style typified by the gangster movies of the 1930s and emulated it, giving rise to the “rudeboys”. They were a big part of the music culture and that eventually came to the USA. Local gangs and local music culture adopted the gangster name from the Jamaicans without really knowing the history or why they used it.
This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to She used to be fractal - A quiet, chillout, relaxing track to spaceout to and go zen… A slow cruise into nothingness, white on white. It’s as clean as new glass and as smooth as a polished stone. Gunwallace says of it “Channelling my inner shoegaze spirit”.
Topics and shownotes
Forum post about the role of the 1930s - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/179231/
Featured comic:
Nocturne 21 Volume One - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2022/dec/06/featured-comic-nocturne-21-volume-one/
Featured music:
She used to be fractal - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/She_Used_To_Be_Fractal/ - by CartoonAdventurer, rated E.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
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Episode 603 - Players, Cads, and "fun" boys
Oct 3, 2022
We are talking about the trope of the Cad, AKA the Player. F***boys are their little scrappydoo kid-brothers, we call them “fun” boys for obvious reasons… It's a fun trope which is often exaggerated for comedic effect but actually comes from a very real thing! There are a lot of famous pop-culture versions though like Barney Stinson, Pepe Le Pew, James Bond, and The Continental.
Episode 601 - /rant
Sep 19, 2022
If something affects or disturbs you so much that you want to respond to it through a story that you write, that can be a pretty powerful form of inspiration! But it depends on how you handle it. For example, Stephan King's acclaimed novel Misery was inspired by nasty interactions he had with fans after he published a fantasy novel. This story was very well received and even turned into a popular movie. And then there are other ways to handle it…
Episode 600 - AI is bad at art
Sep 12, 2022
here's a lot of buzz about so called AI generated art at the moment using programs like Dall-E, Neural blender, Dream studio lite and so on. People use text prompts, i.e. “flying clockwork fish balloon” and the AI generates “art” based upon that. It usually does this by using actual art and photography created by real people, and visually mixing them to create a new image. Some results are much better than others.
Episode 598 - 2D or not 2D!
Aug 29, 2022
What makes a character two dimensional? What makes them three dimensional? Does it matter that they only have two dimensions to them? This was an idea that GeekyGami posed and so we thought we'd explore it in the cast. My own theory is that a character that is purely archetypal, tropeish, or cliche, with everything about them flowing from that archetype, and they never go beyond their archetypal traits- that makes them 2D.
Episode 597 - Revelations!
Aug 21, 2022
Today we're talking about a technique in storytelling that we're calling the “revelation”. Inspired by Banes doing an article on the weird trope in movies of having a character discover newspaper stories about the villain that suddenly reveal the true stakes of the story and kick things into high gear. There are other types of revelation in stories though and they're used in different ways.
Episode 594 - Grow up! Or don't...
Jul 31, 2022
The Manchild can be a fun character or they can be pathetic. They're a staple of comedies because they're an adult that gets to act immature and childish, without the restraint and responsibilities imposed by adulthood. This can make a great contrast; “The adult man acting like an immature child”, John C Riley and Will Farrel have always done that extremely well, as did Chris Farley back in the 90s. It can be be portrayed as pathetic and sad when the person can't seem to be able grow up or take on any responsibilities. They're often characterised by people with “childish” interests, like the cast of the Big Bang Theory, or with a childlike love of something like sports like Kevin in Kevin can F Himself.
Episode 593 - Risky Business
Jul 25, 2022
The risks of online creative success We live in a wonderful time where you're able to turn your creative passion into a job that can support you just by using freely available online services like YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, Patreon, Ebay, Paypal, Etsy, Webtoons etc. You can start with nothing more than your computer or phone and end up with a thriving business based on your passion project. It's not easy, achieving enough success where you can quit your day job still tends to take a lot of work, but once you get there it can be amazing. However, that's not the end of the story unfortunately.
