How do you like it so far?

Welcome to another quarant-week How Do You Like it So Far? team! We are still super lucky to be able to stay safe with our friends and loved ones right now and hope you are all hanging in there. We know it is a tough time and we appreciate you making this podcast a part of your quarantin-ing. Basically, thank you for not socially-distancing yourselves from this podcast. We are continuing our sequence on science fiction during the COVID-19 crisis. This week, Colin and Henry welcome Bruce Sterling, author, futurist, and one of the founders of Cyberpunk movement along with his partner Jasmina Tešanović, Serbian activist, author, feminist, and filmmaker. Sterling and Tešanović offer their perspective on what is going on in Belgrade, Serbia (where they are currently under a rigid lockdown) that perhaps can shed light on the pandemic. Sterling brings (slightly terrifying) insight on speculative world-building in response to our current reality. Sterling, well known for developing the concept of “design fiction,” discusses how companies and political organizations engage with world-building to anticipate problems and social change. Sterling dives deep into the potential policy changes that may happen, such as the rise of surveillance and technology companies becoming the new power brokers. He describes how the current world order emerged post-9/11 as policy decisions reacted to perceived and anticipated threats and suggests that the pandemic is apt to bring new shifts in power. Sterling provocatively suggests that when the pandemic ends, we may be living with its consequences but we will forget, as other generations have, the health threat itself. Sterling discusses the role of Chinese soft power, specifically in the Balkan region, and suggests that China is gaining global influence even as the American Belle Epoque is ending. Most surprisingly, Sterling dismantles the Cyberpunk ethos he helped create (mind blown right?) as science fiction writers are playing a different role in response to the changed environment in which they are working. A silver lining Sterling does provide is an enthusiasm over Twitter (who would have thought?)! Listen in as Sterling discusses a progression of pulp writers to contemporary ones like Cory Doctorow! The list of those writers will be in the notes section, if you’re looking to expand your pandemic reading list. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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Thanks for joining us this week, How Do You Like it So Far? Crew! This week, Colin and Henry welcome William O. Gardner, a Professor of Japanese at Swarthmore College whose work has looked at the response of Japanese popular culture to real world disasters such as the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Garder, who is releasing a new book called The Metabolist Imagination: Visions of the City in Postwar Japanese Architecture and Science Fiction, puts together architecture and science fiction. He dives deep into the origins of architects in post-WWII Japan called The Metabolists. Many of the environments they made are somewhat relatable to how we are living right now. He also discusses how the visions of our “new normal” of deserted streets and people wearing masks is the embodiment of the tropes of apocalyptic speculative fiction. Listen in as Gardner dives deep into how some Japanese Anime, Manga and book authors created scarily prescient visions of the future. He also gives us some recommendations on what he’s reading right now! Check out the notes section for those. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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Welcome to our third virtual episode How Do You Like it So Far? fans! We are shocked we even remembered that since who even knows what day it is. Satur-Thurs-Wednesday? That sounds about right. Firstly, we hope you are all staying inside and safe during such uncertain times. Secondly, we’ve got a new episode for you all! This week, Henry and Colin welcome Alex Rivera, Director of Sleep Dealer and The Infiltrators, a hybrid-documentary that blends together traditional documentary elements with scripted reenactments. Through The Infiltrators, he explores what happens when people put political pressure from the bottom up and as these individuals choose to disrupt history rather than line up with it. Listen in as Rivera discusses his own origin story and how his work in border and immigration issues ranged from experimental and traditional documentaries, to traditional shorts and features to music videos and mockumentaries. He also discusses his other works, specifically Sleep Dealer, and some thoughtful insights and suggestions for future filmmakers. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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This week we celebrate the launch of Henry’s new book, Comics and Stuff, with another installment of our series on comics. We have Mimi Pond, author and artist of 2014 New York Times bestseller Over Easy and The Customer is Always Wrong and Carol Tyler, author and artist of You’ll Never Know (which was compiled into Soldier's Heart) and Fab Four Mania. Both of these authors are discussed in Comics and Stuff. And the heart of the interview comes as they discuss here their relationship with the stuff they render in rich detail across their books. These two inspirational artists discuss their origin stories as comics creators and their involvement with some of the men who created the underground comics movement in the 1960s. They discuss what it meant to them to tell women’s stories of work and family life through their comics and how they took inspiration from the scrapbooking tradition. They open up about contemporary comics artists they think we should be reading, offering lots of great recs for comics readers. Make sure to stay tuned in for the wrap-up since Henry gives readers a preview of Comics and Stuff and what he says there about today’s guests. Looking for comic recommendations? Check out our notes section! ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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We hope you are hanging in there, How Do You Like it So Far? crew. We want to thank you for turning to our podcast during such a difficult time in our lives. This period of self-isolation and social distancing is unprecedented and we know how tough this is for a lot of people. We appreciate your listenership and hope we are able to bring you a little something-something during this unique period. With that being said, this is our first episode which was recorded completely remotely. Our team is currently spread between LA and NYC (don’t worry we are all safe), so please bear with us as we figure out the kinks of recording a podcast across 2000 miles.

This week, Colin and Henry speak to LA-based, legendary Korean food truck chef Roy Choi of Kogi and KCET’s Chief Content Officer Juan Devis about their one-of-a-kind food show Broken Bread, co-produced by Tastemade. They discuss creating a food show that went beyond delivering recipes to people, but thought to introduce them to innovative, city-wide efforts in LA on food access, food deserts and more. They talk about how the title Broken Bread is a play on the idiom to “break bread” to share a meal and solve problems. Through Broken Bread, they are trying to tell stories that go behind popular attention-grabbing headlines and ones that resonate with them. Listen in as Choi and Devis talk about their show’s evolution and give Colin and Henry a sneak peek at Season 2! ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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First off, we hope each and every one of you are staying safe, washing your hands, and keeping somewhat sane during the Coronavirus outbreak of 2020. We are holding steady and continuing to record the podcast (remotely … so basically we don’t see each other except on computer screens, but thankfully technology has come in handy). We recorded this one on March 10th before things really went down and USC became a remote campus (we miss the Media Center, but it is necessary for our team to stay away). This week we bring you a special episode about The Peabody Awards! Henry has been a juror since 2013 and invited several of his fellow “Peabuddies” to USC for a discussion about the importance of the awards and how they are different from the Emmy, Grammy or Academy Awards. Henry’s “Peabuddies” are Jeffrey P. Jones, the Director of the Peabody Awards, Marcy Carsey, longtime television producer of shows like Roseanne and That 70’s Show, and Lorraine Ali, TV, Culture, and Media Critic at the LA Times. Henry and Colin dive deep into the gravitas of the awards which recognize “stories that matter” through a mix of artistic achievement and social impact. Listen in as Henry, Colin and the rest of the “Peabuddies” consider how race, industry backgrounds, and diversity of the judges can have an impact on The Peabody Awards. They talk about how TV can pivot faster towards cultural movements which has created an exciting “firehose” of content. Looking for podcasts, TV shows, and other things to binge during your period of self-isolation? Check out the episode notes below for some suggestions!

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Oh, do we have a special episode for you How Do You Like it So Far? fans! This week, Colin and Henry discuss communities and their presence in digital and physical spaces and use old How Do You Like it So Far? episodes as talking points! We’ve made our very own podcast clip show! Henry and Colin were intrigued about the conversation opened up by Howard Rheingold an Patricia G. Lange on virtual communities. Through this springboard, they relate their own personal accounts of fandom and digital spaces that translate to physical spaces. Listen in as Colin and Henry discuss online and offline communities through the vast collection of How Do You Like it So Far? episodes and the need to keep exploring these areas of gathering in the future. Check out our notes section for links to the episodes mentioned in this podcast! ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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It’s time for another new one How Do You Like it So Far? folks! Henry and Colin are joined this week by A.J. Christian, an Associate Professor of Communication at Northwestern University and Founder of OTV in Chicago. He discusses the concept of Open TV and the origin story of the group. He opens up about the ecosystem of TV and web production in Chicago and how that inspired him to start Open TV back in 2014. He dives deep into the problematic structure of “pilot season” and how its archaic system used to be impossible to penetrate without being based in LA and represented by a manager or an agent. Listen in as Christian breaks down the studio systems and how OTV is a revolutionary model for developing diverse and complex TV shows for a future we all want to live in. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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We’ve got another one in store for you How Do You Like it So Far? team! This week we have another episode in our series about comics with Henry at the helm (Colin is unfortunately away in Spain this week). We have Clifford Johnson, a Professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department at USC and author of The Dialogues, a non-fiction science book for non-experts with a twist -- it’s written like a graphic novel! We also have Dan Goldman, a writer, an artist, producer and founder and narrative lead of Kinjin Story Lab, whose work spans from graphic novels, TV and videogames. Johnson and Goldman discuss this “origin” stories of how they became comic book fans and how it influenced their current work. Both Johnson and Goldman have visions of the use of comics for social change. Johnson created his work in order to model conversations that were happening around him about the scientific method to normalize science in the general culture. Goldman, on the other hand, created works of political fiction or transmedia storytelling while using digital platforms to promote messaging. Johnson and Goldman discuss how storytelling is fundamentally at the heart of comics and engages people. They posit that comics provides an alternate medium for people to disseminate information and take them to new levels with various ideas. Listen in as Johnson and Goldman discuss their work and the differences between digital and traditional publishing. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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And we have a new one for you How Do You Like it So Far? crew! This week Henry and Colin are joined by Howard Rheingold, author of Tools for Thought, Smart Mobs, Net Smart: How to Thrive Online, and who is credited with creating the term the “virtual community” in his 1993 book, and Patricia Lange, an author of Thanks for Watching: An Anthropological Study of Video Sharing on YouTube and Kids on YouTube: Technical Identities and Digital Literacies and an anthropologist and associate professor of critical studies and visual and critical studies at California College of the Arts. They discuss their experiences in the online world from the 1980s to today. Through their research, they dive deep into the early world of the Internet and how the idea of community was forged through bulletin board systems from the dial-up era. They also discuss how early YouTubers were marginalized for their work which spurred their involvement in community-creation on the Web. Listen in as Rheingold and Lange discuss their hopes for the future of Internet public spaces.

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