quantifica june

Hey team! Here's your monthly digest of what's going on in Danskinland.

PROGRESS REPORT

I continue to be on sabbatical, but I'ma write in my updates here.

First, regarding debts: the IRS is making it exceptionally difficult to actually give them them money I owe, what with paperwork still not in their system months after I send it, third party payment services that can't verify my identity, and a now-mandatory authenticator app to log into my account that has never once worked for me. Talked to a CPA the other day and we have an idea for overcoming at least one of these hurdles, so hopefully that will soon be square (or... more square at least... rhomboidal perhaps). The credit debt apparently needs to get moved to a new collections agency since I moved out of Massachusetts, so I am waiting for those new debt-holders to contact me. Meantime, the money just sits in a savings account accruing what interest I can get for it.

Second: things I've been up to/will soon be up to!

• last week I was on Lily Alexandre's channel for a fundraiser livestream, reading unreleased Alt-Right Playbook scripts. I'm early in the stream, so feel free to check it out, though it's all text you already have access to. Lily and the rest of us were raising money for a queer friend in Lebanon who can no longer afford HIV meds since the US cut medical aid their country, so if that's something you wanna get behind you can still donate.

• just today I recorded an episode of Past Due with Ana Marie Cox and Open Mike Eagle, talking about the GoFundMe and the general financial state of the creator economy. my episode will be live in about a month, I'll ping you then, but, meantime, you can check out eps with people like Maggie Mae Fish and Parker Molloy!

• soon I leave for London to be a speaker at Games Transformed. it's a symposium/unconference/party focusing on video games and radical politics. I've never been flown anywhere for a gig before, so this is pretty awesome, and I'm looking forward to getting to meet a bunch of my European YouTube friends. if any of you are in the Greater Britain Colonial Region, grab tickets and come see!

• my trip to Japan has been postponed, as my friend remembered that September is typhoon season. we're aiming to figure out a trip a bit later in the year. as such, that trip/project will not be the deadline by which I decide if I'm still a YouTuber. that will just have to be... September. I will decide in September!

Third: despite my sabbatical, I am dipping my toe in a number of projects, and, since I said I was gonna be transparent this year, I'm going to tell you about them. Be aware: this is a period of experimentation, so any number of these may fail to come together, and that is 100% fine with me so it'll have to be at least 80% fine with you. they also might not go public, might not look like their pitch, or might suuuuuuck.

With that all behind us, here are the elevator pitches:

• participating in the GMTK Game Jam with some friends this year

• making a video with Willow on Tell Me Why

• collab about Fugazi with Jon, TheLitCritGuy (format tbd)

• video about Andor structured as a response to a weird email someone sent me about why I should do a video about Andor (video will insist it is merely a response to an email and not a video about Andor)

• revisiting the topic of "art where the good guys lose and life goes on" in four phone calls to my best friend, recording only my side of the conversation, describing the four artworks I had in mind and what I feel connects them, and then editing the unscripted audio into... something. (the four artworks: Station Eleven, Scavengers Reign, The City in the Middle of the Night, and the band Zeal & Ardor.)

• my friend in Japan and I have pitched a ton of different things, but, for their sake, I will keep in vague. web apps, documentaries, music, and podcasts have all been floated.

Finally: we hit the halfway point on the adventure game tier list, 26 of 52 videos. I also have some WIPs to record and edit for you, still wanna do that cuz I have goodies.

BINGO CARD

Nothing new this month!

MINIMIX

Chewns. As ever, if you are not logged into Spotify, the app will pepper this with extra songs not of my choosing. Don't blame me if it gives you horse giblets.

Good Kisser
"You would dirty me up just to get yourself clean."

In My Mind's Desert
"An ode to the things I forgot, and not at least the skills that I've lost."

Tarifa
"I wish it was seven all night."

Lazarus
"One of these days, when all my work is done, I'm gonna rest in the lap of Abraham."

We Sleep in Pairs
"Blaze on me, bird of paradise."

Let's Call it Love
"I won't let you out til I've had enough."

BONUS: DEEP DIVE #1

I have now listened to the whole of Fugazi's ouvre and watched their documentary! Jon has done most of the same and we are noodling ideas back and forth for what we wanna say about them.

FILM RANDOMIZER

Reviews for Thupparivaalen (which I didn't really like) and The Last Stop in Yuma County (which was fine). Only two this month, falling further behind, eep! I can recommend Predator: Killer of Killers, though.

READING LOG

Heaviest reading month yet. Two novellas - The River Has Roots and The Barrow Will Send What It May - both quite good! Halfway through Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead and really enjoying it, and a little more progress on Apostle. Books treating me well right now!

GAME CABINET

Finished and reviewed Tell Me Why, and finally properly reviewed Hades. Can also definitely recommend The Crimson Diamond (even though my review is a pithy one-liner). I also played Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer, but it was not yet in Grouvee's database as a reviewable game, so here's a tiny, tiny review: maybe the prettiest pixel art I've ever seen in a point 'n' click; narrative holds together better than the last one; fewer highs; supernatural element doesn't flop but still isn't working; Kathy and Eileen are in an unacknowledged situationship, you cannot persuade me otherwise.

OK that's all I got, happy July!

-I