Quick Updates

I have fallen down a rabbithole of podcast interviews of Ian Danskin, and in one of them - an old one, admittedly, the <a href="https://www.critical-distance.com/2016/10/03/episode-39-this-is-innuendo-studios/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Critical Distance</a> one - you mention not being super clear on why your supporters on Patreon are pretty much okay with whatever you produce. I think part of it is that is specifically that you talk about stuff where you already have knowledge and opinions - often knowledge and opinions you've stewed on for quite some time. As valuable as reviews are as a tool for informing consumer choice, the fact that you talk about things when you have something to <em>say</em> about them makes for a consistent level of ... intellectual engagement, perhaps? And the fact that you talk about stuff you know and do research on top of that to make sure you're sure is extremely valuable. Part of Innuendo Studios' brand is that you're pretty damn solid on what you're presenting. And the clarity thing is really valuable. Being able to tell the difference between "clear to me, the person who is communicating this now" and "clear to a fairly large fraction of all fluent-in-English people" is a <em>rare</em> skill. And, granted, I'm a gamer, I've played Gone Home and Depression Quest and Fez and Mega Man 2 and the Axis and Allies boardgame and Dungeons &amp; Dragons running a character through the Tomb of Horrors and so on, but I could come into your Beginner's Guide video knowing Death of the Author, having heard of semiotics but not knowing what it was, and having <em>never</em> heard of enunciation theory and not only feel I understood what you were saying. but apply that knowledge in completely different contexts. And I like Folding Ideas and Errant Signal and Extra Credits and Tom Scott, so part of it is that you are making the kind of public-intellectual video-essays you like and I'm one of those people who also like them. But yeah - you sounded a little lost, and while I would not be at all surprised if some of that was a performance (it's more entertaining to sound like you don't know why people like you), I figured I'd respond at least a bit to it.

The Packbats