Chapo Trap House and the rise of the dirtbag left

for less than $3K they could all have Shure SM7Bs, a Focusrite interface with enough mic pre's running into their Macbook and have basically commercial FM radio quality audio instead of whatever bullshit Blue Snowball sounding shit they are using now

even when Christman was remote they could have done a dedicated IDSN line for the money they are making

yeah, I don't even really care about the audio quality so much I just don't want them to lose whole episodes. I don't need it to sound slick, it might lose some of its charm.

i don't really think shitty quality mics is "charming" or any reason that i like the podcast

but yeah losing stuff, recording tech isnt exactly rocket science these days

I bring up the stand-up thing from something Felix or Will mentioned last year when describing folks like them who inhabit that weird crossroads of Weird Left Twitter; they mentioned “frustrated stand-ups” or something like that and that image stuck in my head. They know endless stand-ups, they room with stand-ups, they’re media industry folks living in NYC for chrissakes. They record the show the exact same way a panel of stand-ups sit on stage; 3-5 people sitting side-by-side all holding SM58s that they bring up to their mouths to speak into.

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*MYcQ6eG5-L4LfzApO6naPw.jpeg

And yeah, the live bits seem like the work of open mic’ers

On the professionalism tip, it’s not that they need to be overly produced NPR style, just that they need a basic competency. Fuck, _I_ have a SM7b and that’s just cuz i didn’t want to sound like another shitty Skype cast conducted thru 1st-gen Xbox headsets.

(And I found a good used one on CL)

Let’s change metaphors, then: At what point, if your band is paid to perform live, do you actually need to care if you’re in tune or have any idea what you’re doing or really care at all if you’re entertaining people? What is the level that a group needs to have their shit together to actually function as a group performing in their particular venue?

Also, is it worth connecting this thread convos on any number of other threads about both the limits of conversation on social platforms mixed with the shitloads of people eager (in bad faith or good) to willfully misinterpret anything posted?

Cuz there’s an aspect to the freakout from people neck deep in using Game of Thrones analogies to understand politics reacting to the “bend the knee” comment that is later echoed by the reactions to the announcement that Bernie was going to speak at the women’s convention in Detroit?

But that’s a whole’nother tangleball I can understand people not wanting to touch.

Last thought: even the Replacements (eventually) tuned their guitars

jesus who cares if some jokey socialists aren't using amazing mics

guy on the right needs to buy some new socks tho

didnt realize felix looks like ricky rubio

my gf had this to say about them: "Have a female guest on, talk over her the whole time. I can’t listen to it because it just feels like a college off campus apartment. Only girl, trapped in a room full of dudes, invisible until they wanna fuck you"

which is definitely the vibe on a lot of eps

Androsky resigned from the DSA-LA steering committee.

http://www.dsa-la.org/statements_from_josh_androsky_and_the_dsa_la_steering_committee

The right move.

They got better aboutnkt talking over female guests fwiw but I definitely remember that being a problem at least once or twice. Mostly Felix.

yeah the Klein episode and the international-left one were pretty notably free of that. I wish amber was on more regularly.

quite the commitment to dirtbag style

oh man I left a dump in the toilet the second before I left for the airport last week. it was sitting here 7 days. don't say it was my posts

— Partisan Gridlock (@ByYourLogic) October 13, 2017

"partisan gridlock" as a spooky halloween handle is a pretty good joke

accusations of assault against sam kriss... wonder if any other of these folks in this orbit were on that shitty media men list

yeah i heard about that list, how widely was it circulated? assuming it's not public

I just learned that I'm on a list of "shitty media men" that's being circulated. But I have no idea what I'm accused of. Sweet Jesus.

— Doug Henwood (@DougHenwood) October 16, 2017

xp

yeah, also I wonder if global tetrahedron was on it

wtf?

were on that shitty media men list

oh, is this the one Doug Henwood found out he was on? presumably for attacking H.R.C.

XXP

i've still only heard half of one episode of these guys, but it could be worse, i could be reading 'celebrity' 'feminist' Twitter

Good lord. Between Harvey, Donald and Bernie, women are reliving all KINDS of pain.

I want to hug all of you right now. Every single woman.

— Amber Tamblyn (@ambertamblyn) October 14, 2017

oooooof

also Kriss' apology statement was...not good

The cynicism of tweets like that is exactly why I still slightly mistrust the "shitty media men" list -- 95% of the women putting men on the list probably have legit reasons but if the document was so easy for anyone to add anyone to, and without context, etc. As Henwood points out, he doesn't even know what the charge is, so it's pretty hard for him to explain/defend/apologize/whatever is warranted.

also agree about Kriss's apology. A straight apology is all that was called for, no "explanation."

Amazes me that none of these people have learned from others' mistakes re: public statements. The first, brief paragraph in Kriss' post would've sufficed. Totally unnecessary & counterproductive to go into detail. I really don't get it. You apologize if necessary, then shut up.

Kriss responded to it, but didn’t exactly help himself with all the extra bits, did he

The actual details are... appalling

Dude is a serious piece of shit

The cynicism of tweets like that is exactly why I still slightly mistrust the "shitty media men" list -- 95% of the women putting men on the list probably have legit reasons but if the document was so easy for anyone to add anyone to, and without context, etc.

the spreadsheet existed as a living document for like only 12 hours; it was meant to be useful for women, not a court of public opinion

i guess what i’m trying to say is it doesn’t matter if you “mistrust” it

Only guy that's been accused of sexual assault & kept his statement/denial short that I can think of is James Deen.

i guess what i’m trying to say is it doesn’t matter if you “mistrust” it

that's true, because no one with a brain should be thinking about it

thanks morbs, i think it's actually worth thinking about how women can make themselves and each other aware of abusers, but no, you're right

Won't link until I find it somewhere other than copy/pasted to /pol but tldr is he coerces her into drinking, ignoress protests and kisses/gropes her, and my favorite part brags about his 'big fucking house' that he'll inherit when his parents die

i see, a blacklist that could contain groundless character assassination is now "meant to be useful"

get me outta this fucking century

lmao ok dude

fwiw Sam Kriss struck me as kind of a POS in his podcast appearances and in his writing, which I also just didn't think was very good or smart.

no, you're right, any anonymous "document" must be believed 100%

xp

morbs i am ESPECIALLY not saying that

though i guess i understand where you got the idea

i... give up?

Alex Press wrote about this

https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/10/16/16482800/harvey-weinstein-sexual-harassment-workplace

that's a good piece

I thought Jia Talentino's piece on the New Yorker site was good too.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-whisper-network-after-harvey-weinstein-and-shitty-media-men

Anyway, afaik (1) no actual host of Chapo is on a "shitty media men" list or has been rumored to be (2) there are no standing allegations against a host of Chapo, (3) no Chapo host has said anything shitty, or, afaict, anything at all about the Kriss allegations (and I don't really think they are required to do so or even should). I guess Kriss is sort of a "Chapo universe" guy but he's not part of the podcast, and I think it's kind of shitty to tie his behavior to them.

I mean this is also a "dirtbag left" thread so it's fair play but I did think the "waiting to find out which of them is a serial abuser" comment was a little beyond the pale

some ppl are creeping precariously close to "all men are guilty"

you seem to believe this morbs

it seems more like "the Bernie wing is guilty" to me

there are a couple sentences in that nyer piece that... don't read great to me

In dirtbag-left-adjacent news on a related subject, @CApuffin's accounts of what went down in DSA-LA and their systemic failure to deal with it is much more troublesome to me than the Kriss thing is