Also TFD (The Financial Diet) goes off the rails again when Chelsea’s obsession with the rich runs into idiots on TikTok.
I am not going to start rating Podcasts. But if I were Going Rogue would get a nine out of ten and Going Solo would get a solid eight.
Now first of all these are the Hollywood centric podcasts by Tansy Gardham covering the creation of Rogue One and subsequently Solo: A Star Wars Story. I point this out because unfortunately for Tansy, there is already a famous and well-established podcast with the name Going Rogue and another sharing the name Going Solo. So if you are listening to “Health Care Warriors Paving The Way By Making Their Own Rules” you have made a wrong turn, much like Luke wandering around in the Death Star.
The Good
The Good: In the olden days, in a galaxy far, far away, we used to watch our movies on strange discs called DVDs and Blu Rays. A little know side benefit of these strange artifacts was the commentary track where some actors or director or random stage hand would comment on the film while it was playing. These varied from PR fluff pieces where the director said the word marvelous every two minutes describing any actor who wandered on screen to a drunk Hugh Grant saying what nice tits someone has.
Some of these commentary tracks turned out to be quite informative regarding the movie-making process. So much so that with enough under your belt, you had the equivalent of a year or two of film school theory.
I miss the commentary tracks from films and the feeling I got learning something new about a craft I admire and enjoy. Going Rogue by Tansy Gardham brought that feeling right back to me. This is film school in podcast form and bluntly it is better than film school in some ways because she opens some doors you don’t get to see until it is too late in real life. (I loved the “could not make it to the press conference due to a case of about to be fired”)
Even though Tansy brings no fresh information to the table, her research skills are impeccable. She gathers so much detail and weaves it into an informative and fascinating narrative that really gives one a seat at the table on how these films came about and, in so many cases, what went so horribly wrong. Listened to both podcasts straight through. Excellent job and well worth the listen.
The Bad
The Bad: Tansey is not perfect. She seems to worry a little too much about the “discourse” and is particularly concerned that any perceived criticisms she may have for LucasArts president Kathleen Kennedy may be weaponized by, let’s call it the dark side.
This concern seems overblown. One can easily criticize someone whose work one admires. Martin Scorsese is one of my favorite filmmakers and Goodfellas is the most perfectly directed film since The Maltese Falcon. Also watching Scorsese’s The Irishman is like watching paint dry if the paint was poorly rendered in CGI.
What Tansy I am sure meant to say is Star Wars fans are to use a movie quote “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious”. This has been true long before Kathleen Kennedy came on the scene. I mean, look at their behavior and reactions during the whole 2003’s Star Wars Galaxies MMO, for example. (I have an hour and half synopsis below for the curious).
One thing I realised while listening to the podcast is somehow I mixed up Kathleen Kennedy in my head cannon with late Debra Hill, which would explain why Kathleen Kennedy didn’t work on the Halloween movies. But Debra Hill never had legions of lunatic fans calling for her head. No, not even after Halloween 3 Season of the Witch (Which I honestly love).
Star Trek fans love womanizing cokehead Gene Roddenberry who would fail Tansey’s Me Too test in the first round. (Seriously, read his biography or even his Wikipedia page… yikes). Yet George Lucas, who is practically Jesus compered to most Hollywood producers, is met with nothing but vitriol from his “fans”.
I understand the caution when one is concerned they are feeding the beast. But the reality is Star Wars fandom is too far gone and always has been. Forget it, Tansey. It’s Coruscant.
These, however a nitpicks. I don’t listen to people just to have them agree with everything I think. I like to be educated and challenged. Though Chelsea from TFD puts that to the test.
The Ugly
The Ugly: I will someday do a proper analysis of the missed opportunity and strange transformation of The Financial Diet on YouTube. Heck, I won’t even go into a long diatribe about how rich people actually dress. (Anyway they want it turns out) or how Chelsea’s hatred of the rich from her time working as a nanny and at a Yacht club is the equivalent of saying one’s view of the poor comes from their time working third shift at a check cashing joint.
Nope, not going to do any of that. I would note that Chelsea’s claim in the video that thier is no social mobility in the United States might be better coming from someone who was at one time impoverished and yet now sits in her million dollar Brooklyn apartment.
I would also note that there is no new trend in fashion. It is simply companies trying to sell you overpriced clothes you do not need. I would think that TFD would lead with that. In fairness, as poorly though out as Chelsea’s portion of the video is, she is still smarter than the TikTokers. So Win?