extremists

The Circle of Life (Megan Warkentin interview)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

When I was a young warthog, I found that my thoughts were morbid and my labour was making me miserable. So I took a quick peek at John Ruskin and developed a problem free-philosophy – explorers always win. I needed to move away from my domestic environment, and even the primary school system to properly combine those processes of thought and labour, realizing that only exploration would get me on the true pathway.

Like Ruskin’s contemporary, Charles Darwin, I was forcing an evolution in myself for the sake of the bigger picture. The seemingly eternal struggle of the Brits, to expand but retain identity. Colonialism of the mind.

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After all, exploration is one of those traits that earns you kudos when you succeed and admonishment when you fail. No risk, no reward as the saying goes. But what is really an truly at stake here friends?

Well, if you were to ask our featured artist interviewee of the month, I bet we’d learn a lot of things about stakes. Like, what happens when you read lots of books versus travelling the world, why extremists and risk-takers aren’t some of the brightest lightbulbs in the drawer, the importance of finding mentors to guide you on your journey, if ever so slightly, and how the British sport of cheeserolling can help make great paintings.

She’s a laid-back treasure hunter who loves to paint, has spent the better part of a decade honing her creative craft, and has more composed intensity then an undertaker, Megan Warkentin is our favourite pioneer of the arts at the moment. Pay careful attention to what she says in this interview because if you gloss it over, you’ll miss the point, and I cannot guarantee you’ll find your way back.

I really think you’ll get a kick out of this one folks, exploration is one of this life skills we all need when we pursue the arts, and Megan perfectly embodies this ideology. So sit down (or stand if you like) and get ready for episode twelve of timotheories interviews.

And as always, if you want to check out more timotheories interviews or the Cross Talk series please visit our YouTube channel.  And please, please, please share this post and of course subscribe to both the blog and channel!

Now let’s talk about connecting – Megan is so busy globetrotting that she’s difficult to get ahold of. So please send an email to timotheories@outlook.com and I’ll get in contact with her for you.

Lastly my sincerest thanks to Megan for being magical, magnetic, and major league. See you tomorrow with an album review by a crappy punk rock band, but the album is kinda revolutionary.

Tim!

Why Captain America Turned Nazi And Other Fan Theories (Cross Talk Ep.6)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Fandom is broken.

Well, that’s what Devin Faraci of Birth. Movies. Death. would have us believe anyway.

Now, normally I don’t like to indulge the reaction post/video side of humanity on the Internet because I find doing so to be far too specific and not in the least satisfying – The problem being that creating content around a “trending topic” runs the risk of quickly becoming dated and it’s often not broad enough to build an entire timotheories sized post on.

Sure, I could do something everyone likes, like speculating on the next Angry Birds movie, but I’d prefer to write like a Shrek movie, one with many layers, sort of like an onion, because I don’t care what everyone likes.

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But fortunately for you, dear readers, you’re going to get your cake and eat it too, because that Faraci article is something of a whopper and conveniently related to the topic I was going to bring up this evening anyway.

It just so happens that in doing research for Episode 6 of Cross Talk, how fandom influences studio direction, Chris came across the above article and decided to share with me. And we had a good chat about it.

But let’s get into it!

Without giving too much away, Chris and I have found a way to demonstrate the value of a measured approach to the challenge that is social media, because if you follow his logic through to it’s logical conclusion, then Faraci’s fandom has always been broken.

Faraci tells us that because of the Internet, extremists like Annie Wilkes now have a way to terrorize anyone and everyone, but what about the other side of the coin? Those who never had a voice now have potentially have one, and petitioning for artistic changes just go a lot easier.  So where did we land? And how upset are we about the Steve Rogers: Captain America #1 reveal? You’re about to find out, and I’ll give you a hint, as an artist, I happen to have a few theories on this topic.

I’ve included a direct link to the full video for you here, but as always, the real action is just below for your convenience. Otherwise, please sit back and enjoy Episode 6 of Cross Talk!

I’m out of theories for now, but please check back tomorrow for an album review that is all about Simon. It should be a good one! Please comment, subscribe and share this with you friends. We want to hear your feedback!

Tim!