Sorry Technology, But We Are Effin Artists! ~ Apple Ad, Garcetti, DesiQuest Artist - (A·B·C·D) Sn2 Ep5 - American Born Chatty Desis (A·B·C·D)

Episode Transcript
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Omar Najam (00:00):
How's it going everyone welcome

(00:01):
to the show ABCD we areso happy to have you.
This is a show where we are theAmerican Born Chatty Desi's.
This is a podcast, within alive stream, within our lives
as two American Born Desi's.
Think of this as apodducken, if you will.
This is for everyone out therewho, like us, is navigating your
cultural identities, plural, andyou just want to chat it out.

Sandeep Parik (00:26):
That's beautiful.
Hey, Omar, do youwant to introduce?

Omar Najam (00:29):
No, I think I think we've done it enough.
But, before we get into thepodcast, I would like to
introduce to you all the cohost of this week's episode.
He's a man.
Who needs no introduction andneeds no medical help because
he just grabs leaves fromthe forest, chews them, and
slaps them right on his face.
It's Sandeep Parikh! Oh

Sandeep Parikh (00:51):
baby, thank you so much.
Woo, yeah, clap, clap, clap.
hands together.
Oh, and I'm gonna introduce,this week's host, clearly
Rusty at being host this week.
yeah, I think I had what,three in a row?
those were the good old days.
Remember those days,you guys, because now
we're in Omar's reign.
ladies and gentlemen, the onlyAI hallucination that I want to

(01:12):
live with forever, Omar Najam.
Woo!Longer clapping, more clapping.
Here we go.
Okay, on tap for today,you guys, we got a, oh,
we got a jam packed show.
We've got, of course,our news segment,
"What's Got Us Confused?"then we do our interview
segment with "Not a Doctor".

Speaker 3 (01:31):
oh, okay.

so definitely not a doctor.
Voodoo Val very excited aboutthat Then we follow it up with

"Auntie vs Auntie Watch (01:38):
2024".
Man, do we have some updateson auntie versus auntie watch?
Then, we play the ABCD game andthis time it's Care or Crush.
It's gonna involve us findingobjects around our house and
voting on whether you actuallycare about the object or whether
you would just destroy itand don't actually
care about it.

(01:58):
We gotta, yeah,we gotta find out.
Alright, and then we end itup with "Desi of the Week".
But first, before we getinto all that, we gotta
shout out our sponsor.
You know that, yeah, andour sponsor is DesiQuest

Speaker (02:10):
Oh,

right, it's the Dungeons and Dragons 5e
campaign that stars moi, andOmar, and, Rekha Shankar,
Anjali Bhimani, and just acollection of incredible guests.
It's all set in a South Asian,mythological inspired world.
From the brilliantmind of our showrunner
extraordinaire and DM, Jasmine"thatbronzegirl" Bhullar.

(02:31):
All the episodesare out right now.
Go over to thepatreon.com/desiquest.
And you can watch the wholething ad free, as well as
every episode of our AfterShow podcast, which is super
insightful and fun and hostedby two incredibly handsome.
gentlemen.
And then also beyond.
And, haha, what, how about anawesome shoutout for our guest

(02:52):
here, we have streams with ourcharacter artist, Voodoo Val,

Speaker (02:55):
my

where she does live art streams as she builds
out the Wanderer's Guide andthe books that we're making and
stuff like that for the show.
It's really cool.
So again, that's atpatreon.com/DesiQuest,
D E S I Q U E S T.

Omar Najam (03:10):
and I'd like to mention another sponsor
that we have for thisshow It's: You, folks.
That's right, the folkswho help us out on Patreon.

what?

Omar Najam (03:20):
You all make this show happen.
For $5 a month.
That is half acoffee at Starbucks.
You get exclusive content, extrarounds of our games that we
play, and also full interviews.
That's right.
The full interviews with somany of our great friends
and incredible people.
We've also got multipletiers for contribution.
with a handful of subscriberbenefits, including your name

(03:41):
listed in the credits of thisshow, which we will shout out
in a specific style at the end.
Support a couple of Desi'sin the creative arts and help
us keep the ABCD lights on.
Again, it'spatreon.com/effinfunny.

Alright, let's get into our first
segment of the pod.
What do you think?

Omar Najam (03:59):
I think let's do it.
Let's talk aboutwhat's got us confused.
Okay.

Brow, browbrowbrowbrowbrow

Omar Najam (04:05):
Yes.

right, we do all of our own stunts,
and by stunts sound effects.
Here we go.
story number one, you guys.
Apple.
Let's talk about thisApple commercial.
Okay.
tech Giant Apple issuedan apology following a
widespread backlash over a newcommercial released for its
latest iPad Pro titled Crush.
I don't know if you guys haveseen this, but it's pretty wild.

(04:27):
It features a myriad of objectsgetting smashed in a large
hydraulic press set to Sonnyand Cher's all I need is you.
The casualties includemusical instruments, cameras,
paints, and books, and thepress then lifts back up to
reveal Apple's latest product.
So yes you guys that ad toucheda nerve amongst a lot people

(04:47):
in the creative community.
Including Hugh Grant, andJustin Bateman, and more.
Maybe because the analogy hit,a little too close to home?
When, like, where artificialintelligence is concerned?
Yeah, and then Apple MarketingVice President Tor Myron
said in a statement, Our goalis to always celebrate the
myriad of ways users expressthemselves and bring their

(05:08):
ideas to life through iPad.
We missed the mark withthis video, and we're sorry.
They're no longertelevising the ad anymore.
Any plans they had for atelevised run has been scrapped.
I don't know, whatare you, how are you
feeling about this thing?
where do

Omar Najam (05:21):
Let me tell you, first of all, that's
not how iPads are made.
I think that's a littlemisleading to begin with.

Wait, that's not how they make IPad?

Omar Najam (05:30):
do you know how many arcade machines it would cost to
produce a daily amount of iPads?
They don't just smash baby

grand pianos

Omar Najam (05:39):
To crush them down a little bit.
Okay, I used to workfor Apple, alright?
So and in retail,don't get too excited.
It wasn't me and Johnny Ives.
But like, There's a lot ofstuff I really like about
Apple, not necessarily theproduction means of things,
But I really liked the factthat Apple has this is a
very like revolutionarything for a tech company.

(06:02):
They have a store thatyou can go to physically
and ask questions.
like it's, in one way, I supposeit's honest, but it's such
a, like huge step back fromlike the stuff that I, like
the only things I really likeabout Apple where I'm just
like, it's the human element.
And then they were justlike smash it all together.
It's all just a smoothie

Speaker (06:23):
that we can just like cram into this thing.

Sandeep Par (06:26):
Delicious smoothie.
I you know, it's I'mgonna be honest with you.
I get why it has a reallyvisceral Like reaction.
I don't think I would havethought I think if I'm being
totally honest with myselfI don't even think I would
have thought twice about it.
And I don't know whatthat says about me.
Probably not good things Iprobably I've heard me like,
huh that's intense, but I don'tknow that I would have really,

(06:51):
in hearing the, I get it.
I, Yeah.
And hearing the ire,I'm like, oh yeah.
But maybe I'm already tone deaf.
yeah, Or maybe I'malready not tone deaf.
What's the word?
I'm like, already justah, given up or something.
It's yeah, it just feelslike we're so boned,
these tools, they're thereand they're not going away and

Omar Najam (07:13):
you know what?
Let me actually, I'veheard that a lot recently.
Do you mind if Ipush back on that?
Cause

all means.
I'd love you for

Omar Najam (07:20):
cause the thing I've been thinking about
this in preparation forthis episode and I have a
thought, which, which is like.
Technology is the thingthat's temporary, right?
Like art and cultureare permanent.
the Mona Lisa was madeonce and then exists for
generations upon generations.
I was told by Apple thatmy iPad two would be

(07:40):
able to produce music.
it can't anymore.
And that's not thatold of a product.
So

iPads only last a year and a half before
you have to get the new one.
Before it's deprecatedand you have to get the,
new one.
they have to smushmore things into it.

Omar Najam (07:53):
it's just the kind of thing where it's
yeah, but that guitar willbe good for a hundred years.
Like that piano will be good for

wouldn't the argument be You win the
argument, the thing you producewith the music that you produce
with it, the digital art thatyou create with it, the thing
that whatever it is that you,the frustrations you have with
GarageBand not working, likethose things will last forever.

Omar Najam (08:14):
Oh, sure.
I do think that the frustration,okay, in all fairness, if

what I'm saying?

Omar Najam (08:18):
from struggle, then yes, I think that
this company really doeshave a leg up on, inspiring
artists around the world.
but yeah, it's just a thingwhere I am just like, I do
think that in general technologymarketing companies, because
I'm from Silicon Valley, likeI've got my dad works in AI.
I, I don't know if I mentionedthis, but I'm from the Bay Area.

(08:39):
I am, my youngest siblingalso worked in like
autonomous vehicles whenthose were like kicking off.
And so I'm not hereto be like a Luddite.
I think there's a lot ofamazing benefits that we
constantly are, reaching, withinnovation and technology.
But I think that when it comesto art, it's this weird argument
where it's like we can replacepaint and you're like, yeah, but
I'm still going to use paint.

(09:01):
I will say, I feelinformed about this
if we're rating story.

other than what I was saying, I guess earlier.
Yeah.
I think I'm alsoinformed about it.

Omar Najam (09:11):
Let's hop over to our second story.
This is a complete change of

pace.
This is a fun one.

Omar Najam (09:16):
This is so rad.
This was actually broughtto us, by a YouTube
commenter, Lycandros.
If I'm mispronouncing that,I apologize sincerely,
you can send us a properway to pronounce it,
and I'll update that.

That's right.
By the way, you guys out there,if you comment, if you throw
us stuff in discord, we'd loveto feature it, so please do
send us new stories like this.

Omar Najam (09:34):
Researchers observed an orangutan in Sumatra,
with a wound on his face.
they believe it wasan injury that was
probably, done by anotherorangutan during a fight.
Days later, The orangutanwas seen eating a plant, that
local people use to treatconditions including diabetes,
dysentery, and malaria.
And then it took thepulp of the plant, and

(09:55):
patched it on the wound.
So then the orangutan actuallychewed up a leaf after it
noticed that flies were landingon the plant matter and used
that to seal up the, thesort of impromptu medicine
that it was putting together.
Get this Sandeep.
Eight days later, researchersobserved that the wound

(10:15):
was completely healed.
So anyhow, yeah, thisorangutan is essentially making
medicine in the wild, man.

I don't think we could interview the orangutan
for, the Not a Doctor segment.

Omar Najam (10:28):
Yeah, that's very true.

Sandeep Pari (10:29):
we couldn't do it.
I think this orangutan hasits MD, PhD, that's crazy

Omar Najam (10:35):
is really unfortunate because I would
love to interview thisorangutan, but we just can't.
The segment's called"Not a Doctor".
We couldn't do it.

do it.
And, so there are animalsthat sort of do, use
plants as medicine, right?

Omar Najam (10:48):
Oh, yeah, Canadian snow geese swallow leaves to
expel tapeworms, for example.
dusky footed wood rats, whichalso, by the way, was my
nickname back in high school,lined their nests with aromatic
plants to fumigate parasites.
and, also some chimpanzeesrub insects near their wounds,
possibly as a treatment.

I like the idea of wood rats being
like, you know what's gross?
These other things.
We don't want them in our area.
I guess this is, sothis is like the first
time they've seen this,

Speaker 4 (11:19):
Yes, yeah,

surprise me if this has happened, a lot.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
Yeah,

to be like a big deal.
And technically, it's inWestern Indonesia, which,
That's Southeast Asia, right?
that's, Indonesia.
INDIANESIA It's

Omar Najam (11:32):
still us.
You're right.
yeah.
Great, we are officially unclesnow, that we are trying to
claim every possible achievement

That's right.
No,

Omar Najam (11:39):
and put under our umbrella.

if the Indian Ocean even touches it,

Omar Najam (11:43):
ha

yeah, first wild animal seen
using a medicinal plant.
Okay, that's crazy.
I think I'm gonna ratethe story as informed.
I feel also, I getit, this is cool.
I think this means Planetof the Apes is gonna happen.
and that we should, start beingreally nice to our ape friends.
Because, they'reclearly gonna take over.
it's gonna be either AI or apes.

Omar Najam (12:03):
I mean, I will say this if and when the apes take
over the fact that there isAvailable medicine
is a big change

Yeah, maybe we'll finally
get free healthcare,

Omar Najam (12:13):
Yeah, it's a

huge

Omar Najam (12:14):
improvement.

Here in the U.
S.
Alright, this one'spretty, pretty wild.
So Eric Garcetti, former L.
A.
mayor, is now theambassador to India.
and he did this, yeah,that's not even the story.

Omar Najam (12:30):
that's, I just, it's just great news.
It's great to keep up with Eric.

great news.
Yeah.
and he did this video thatkind of blew my mind and my
dad actually is like sendingthis video around, so we got
this via WhatsApp, basically.
And my dad.
And I was floored by it.
So I want to play it foryou guys, and then we'll
chat about it real quick.

(13:20):
Nailed it.

Speaker 7 (13:26):
Let's go, Eric.
Fix that frame, Eric.

Mhmm.
I

Speaker (13:43):
There he is!

mean, he's basically dollar shave
clubbing it right now.

Omar Najam (13:58):
There it is.

Wait, they have QR codes?

Omar Najam (14:07):
Amazing! Wow.
He got that response.

Mhmm.
I

Omar Najam (14:32):
That's rad! That is genuinely so rad.
ha!

Wow.

Omar Najam (15:07):
Oh my god, he dropped the ucha!
That was like a Pierce Brosnanyou get hit in Goldeneye sound.

It was.
That's amazing.

Speaker (15:37):
That's crazy.

Omar Najam (15:45):
We're gonna be talking about
that for a long time.
That's

That's rad.

Omar Najam (15:55):
That's huge.

India might win a medal.

Omar Najam (16:06):
That's a good line.

Nice.

Speaker (16:17):
Oh, he's right.

fact checking.
Holy shit.
He's right.
Eric said he's right.
There's nothing.

Omar Najam (16:27):
Amazing.
I shook that man'shand one time.

Wow.
How did it feel?

Omar Najam (16:32):
It felt very much like a hand.
Which is always good.
You never know with

politicians.
You never know.
You never

Omar Najam (16:37):
know.
Could be a littlebit of a robot claw.
You never know.

Could have been mostly Botox.

Omar Najam (16:42):
Could have been Could have been a
Cylon appendage.
You never know.

Yeah, this is a wild video, like I said,
totally dollar shave clubbed it.
It highlights these,significant accomplishments.
I'm gonna be honest.
It made me feel excited.
The NASA-ISRO thing thecricket in the olympics,
reduced visa waiting times.
Like that's huge.
By the those big percentages.
reduced tariffs and 200 billiondollars of trade between the

(17:11):
US and india like that's good.
That's good stuff.
I

Omar Najam (17:14):
think.
The

Sandeep Parik (17:14):
happy about that.
simple

Omar Najam (17:16):
concept of we are working together is
we don't hear that enough.
even if it's happening,which oftentimes in the big
news stories it's not, buteven if it is happening, we
don't hear about it really.
Or it's like a horrible thingwhere you're just like, Oh
no, don't, you guys shouldnot be working together.

(17:37):
this is pretty rad.
this is like a nice like coretenant of leadership to be like,
here are things we're doing.
They are good.
People are feeling good about

Yeah, I

Omar Najam (17:46):
agree.
Of course, I'm sure they'renot saying all the things
that didn't go well.

but, look, if we can put every crying
baby in space, I thinkthat we've made progress.
I'm gonna go informed again.
I think three outof three informed.
I do wonder if some people thinkit's like propagandizing and
glossing over some of the warts.
But in general, I feltpretty good about it.
How about you?

Omar Najam (18:08):
when you're talking about the benefits to the
people, It's, and it's notlike at the expense of other
people's rights or freedoms.
That's pretty rad.
So I'm gonna say informed.

Alrighty, I think it's time to
bring out our guest here.
Um, we're gonna move tothe, our special interview
segment called, Hey, Let'sTalk to "Not A Doctor".
do.
Val,

Omar Najam (18:36):
Hello?

out here.
Ah, yes.
So this is our interview segmentwhere we search far and wide
and find a South Asian out therewho has a cool job or career
that might want to, you guysmight want to sit down for this.
not a doctor.
And Voodoo Val, youare certainly that.
Welcome to the pod.
Val, can you tell us Youhave an interesting ethnic
makeup in your family.

(18:57):
Can you tell us, where doesthe South Asian come in?

Voodoo Val (19:00):
so I, actually went and did, my ancestry
because I'm incredibly mixed.
I have, I have an Irish mother.
she's Irish and, Scandinavianand French and English.
And then my father'sfamily is from New Orleans.
And Creole folk arefrom all over the place.
I am, like, Filipino, I amNative American, I am, I believe

(19:24):
it said, Nigerian and Egyptian.
and then there was, like,a whole bunch of very
interesting tidbits thatI did not know about.
I have, I found out that Ihave an Asian grandmother.
that I did not know about.
So it's like a littlebits and pieces of all
over the place, truly.

Amazing.
when, okay, let's talk,so you are an artist.
You're a graphic designeramongst other things we
learned in the pre show.
You are also a flautist

Voodoo Val (19:53):
indeed.

and, an alto saxophonist.
But, when did you know that youwanted to, have your career go
into the arts and how did youbreak the news to your parents?

Voodoo Val (20:04):
actually my mom was very, supportive
of me going into doing art.
when I was, little,I was writing stories
and drawing pictures.
It was something thatI was always doing.
I think everything thatI was doing was always
secondary to doing art.
It just took me a while torealize that it could be my job.
and I remember there weretwo moments in my life

(20:24):
that really were like, Oh,this is okay for me to do.
Like I can pursue thisand make this a thing.
and the first thing was, mymom got called into school
when I was in the third grade.
The principal called her andwas like, you need to come in.
We need to have aconference immediately.
Because I got in troublein elementary school for
drawing hot bodied women.

Omar Najam (20:44):
Okay.

Voodoo Val (20:45):
I did.
I was drawing like thesewarrior women with like busts
and swords and dragons and

Omar Najam (20:52):
So this is like heavy metal.

Voodoo Val (20:54):
Exactly.
Oh my gosh, Omar.
You just give me likea little pitter patter.
Oh, no

Speaker (21:00):
I'm, you're speaking my language.

Voodoo Val (21:02):
she was like, okay she showed up and I remember
I was terrified and they werelike This is what she's been
drawing and I had drawn likethis chick that was in like
the classic Wow armor stylelike, the heavy metal covers
basically and my mom was like,so what's the problem here?
And they're like, she can'tdraw breasts at school.
This is the third grade.

(21:23):
And my mom said she can drawbreasts whenever she wants,
as long as they're not mine.
And so I was like,Oh, I'm allowed.
and the second thing,the second moment you
mentioned heavy metal,

out.

Voodoo Val (21:37):
She had a stack of heavy metal magazines.
because my mom was abig gamer growing up.
I remember when I was, when shewas pregnant with my brother,
she pulled the lazy boy upto the computer so that we
could play Diablo together.
and all that.
And there was like astack of heavy metal
comics in the office.
And I remember looking throughthem and looking at all the art.

(21:58):
And I don't know that Iwas really supposed to
be looking through them.
Cause I did sneak inthere and look at them.
But they definitelywere not for kids.
but I remember lookingand I got caught.
And she was like, thisis somebody's job.
that's somebody's jobthat they did that.
They got paid to do that.
That's their job.
and I was like.
Oh, and then I remember whenI was 10, she forced all of my

(22:21):
cousins and uncles and siblingsto star in a play that I wrote
called Revenge of the Ninja.
And I was like, thisis what I'm gonna do.
This is what I'm gonna do.
I wish I still hadthat footage, but I

Omar Najam (22:35):
Revenge of the ninja.

Voodoo Val (22:37):
it was about, a brother and sister.
No, it was the first and only.
But it was about a brotherand sister who, their father
is assassinated by a ninjaand then they become the
ultimate ninjas together andstart their own ninja school
to combat the evil ninjas.
So they were like goodninjas and that was
like the whole thing.

(22:58):
And I think my uncleplayed our father and
the man who killed him.

Got it.
And then, did you like,did you have an M.
Night appearance in your,

Omar Najam (23:07):
Yeah,

Voodoo Val (23:08):
yeah, me and my brother were
the brother and sister.
we were, we were in it.
It was a, featuring, starring,and directed by, and written by.
It was very prestigious

old were you when this

Voodoo Val (23:19):
or ten, I think.

Okay, so you were always shepherded
towards like an arts career.
this was always like infull support, full throated
support from your mom.
That's really cool.
that's rare.

Speaker 11 (23:35):
Ghosted.
ha.

So let me ask this.
So you are, or, youhave been a, an Adobe
ambassador as well, right?
Like you're super well versed inlike graphic design, obviously,
and the whole Adobe suite.
And obviously all thisstuff with AI is like
coming in hot and man,Adobe has been absolutely
no slouch in immediately.

(23:57):
Updating literally every singleone of their applications
with some version of AI.

Voodoo Val (24:03):
I, I've been a part of the release
dates for a lot of these.

Omar Najam (24:06):
Look at that.

Voodoo Val (24:07):
done the demos and stuff.
And so I have, someinformation to share.
Not like inside information,but like just my experience.
You know doing all of thoseas a as an illustrator.

where do you you know, with the sort of the
debate that's happening now,and the strong feelings, and
then the sort of segment thatwe played earlier about the
Apple, iPad smushing, video.
you are a graphic designer, andyou are, someone that's been
involved in these rollouts.
Like, where do you stand?
how are you feeling about it?
What's your sort of, yeah,what's your purview on this?

Voodoo Val (24:40):
I think what I'll do is share, just my
personal experience and whatit's been like for me throughout
this sort of transformationthat just really, it feels like
it's happened all of a sudden, Iwill preface with, I don't want
to make any blanket statementsabout how everybody should feel
about it, but for me personally,like I'm like predominantly
first and foremost, I'm anillustrator and painter.

(25:05):
and perhaps this can be truefor a lot of people in the
creative spaces, it was alreadyeasy to feel small here before
there was the magic art button.
You know what I mean?
It was already easy to feel Thatimposter syndrome or to wonder
if what you were putting out inthe world was worth putting out
there and then there's a lot ofother ways that visual elements

(25:27):
can be put into the world now.
And so I think that, Thegeneral unease surrounding
certain points in this, are veryrelatable, very understandable.
and my particular approach tofinding my way through all of
this is to continue to create,with authenticity, and to
continue to present my creativework in a way that I feel is

(25:51):
genuine and authentic to me.
Going from you know beinglike I'm an illustrator.
I'm a painter predominantly whatI do for Adobe is I'm contracted
with them and I Teach Photoshop.
I teach fresco.
I teach graphic design inVarious applications I showcase
things in Adobe Express and Ihave done many tutorials using

(26:14):
Adobe Firefly and photoshop'sgenerative AI features.
So things like, text to image,using firefly and using all
of the features included thereto, to generate work and stuff.
And I have had to, cause mypersonal stance on it is I don't
think that generating an image.

(26:38):
With, an AI, no matterwhat, whether you're using
Firefly or Midjourney orany of these things, I
don't think that's the end.
I typically look at generativeAI and AI work as, a step.
it's available.
I don't think thatit's going to go away.
I think one of you wassaying, I think it's here.
it's not going to falloff the side of the
earth all of a sudden.

(26:59):
I think it's goingto keep coming at us.
And so I look at itlike this is a tool.
This is a piece of technology.
and I don't think that leavingit as is after you hit that
button, is, Finished art.
I think that there are manyways that AI, can create
elements for us to move forward.
For example, the way that Ihave demonstrated, AI art,

(27:22):
because when Adobe asked me inthe past to do, tutorials for
the record too, by the way, Iwas not asked to, show off AI.
They didn't say, Hey, you're anartist, make something with AI.
They said, How would you use it?
And I said, that'sa great question.
and they said, would you bewilling to showcase an artistic

(27:43):
process in which you use itin a way that you feel would
be valuable to you as anillustrator and, and creative?
And I said, yeah, I'll do that.
and the way that I have usedit, number one is I have used,
Firefly type in the descriptionof a scene from a story that

(28:03):
I've written so that I havesomething to generate something
visually that I can add to afolder to keep track of visuals
as I'm working through a story,to create scenes and things.
I have used generativefeatures within Photoshop to
generate textures for myselfthat I can use like paper
textures and things likethat to supplement my work,

(28:24):
but I never leave it as is.
and I think that's To me,is the way that a tool

of

Voodoo Val (28:31):
that should be used.

so you're using it like a palette of paints,

Voodoo Val (28:35):
Yes.
Yeah.

cause it's such a nuanced line here, right?
in terms of what can beconsidered like raw material to
then construct something elsewith versus something that feels
actually really close, closerto finished and derived from,
an amalgam of other works thatare uncredited, like that's, the

(28:58):
sort of the challenge that we'retrying to navigate here, right?
so you just.

Omar Najam (29:03):
like on a practical level too, Val, if you're on
an assignment and you're makingart for a character and then
someone says, can you makethis change and this change and
you have generated the entireimage, whole cloth as one thing
it's, and it's an asset andnot like a series of layers.

Voodoo Val (29:21):
it's an element.
it's a piece.
It's a cog in the machine.
It's not,

Omar Najam (29:24):
yeah.

but I guess my I guess

Omar Najam (29:27):
area, like that kind of throws off your
entire workflow, right?

Voodoo Val (29:30):
yeah, I would

until you can just copy and paste
that note into a thing andInto you know into gpt or
whatever or mid journey orwhatever and then have it
generate, regenerate the art

Voodoo Val (29:42):
and it's a little tricky in that, I will also say
the only AI app, because I wantto be, also clear, about one
thing is that there are, thingslike Midjourney and Firefly
where you're generating stuff.
But then there's also, Whatat least we call generative
features like they're featureswithin other apps and things
that we've actually been usingfor a lot longer than the

(30:04):
whole mid journey and all thatstuff things like content to
wear fill and certain thingsthat you know, like Selecting
a subject in Photoshop andhaving it pick up the hairs
and whatever like it's allcoming from the same source
It's just things like fireflyand mid journey and all that
stuff do that in a differentway And I am by no means.

(30:24):
I also want to specify I'm nota Just because I use Photoshop
and I teach Photoshop doesnot mean I actually I'm not
a doctor guys I'm not like

not be

Voodoo Val (30:35):
I'm not

out you're a doctor in the
middle of this interview

Voodoo Val (30:37):
Yeah, I'm not like the official
spokesperson forgenerative features and
for Adobe's AI products.
I just am giving myexperience from having
used the tools myself.
but Firefly is the onlyone that I've used.
I have not used Midjourney, andall of the other ones that you
can use because, I found that, Ifelt Really uncomfortable using

(31:01):
an app or testing an app, evenjust for fun, that had a data
set that was scraped from otherpeople's creative property.
I didn't, that didn'tsit well with me at all.
And Firefly's dataset is, Adobe Stock.
and all people who are used,who are, Participating and
putting stuff into adobe stock.
they have the option to notbe included in it And they've
also you'll have to do yourown research on this because

(31:23):
I don't have the specifics forit And I don't want to pretend
that I do but adobe has alsoAnnounced actually paying People
who participate in Adobe stock,

Yeah, so finding ways to attribute

Voodoo Val (31:37):
to contribute and to not just Hey, we're taking
this, and so that spoke to meas a creative, and I was like,
I want to, I will, I would usethat, and it's part of my job.
and I felt a lotmore comfortable.
showing, ways that it could beuseful in a creative process
because of those things,rather than, others where,

(31:58):
you have people who are like,okay, somebody literally
typed my name into this oneand now they're generating
paintings in my style.
And now there are artists outthere who Google themselves
and their actual work isnot coming up at the top
of the list before the AI.

or something?
Oh wow,

Voodoo Val (32:18):
Like the AI generations are coming up before
the paintings they actually did.
I don't know what I woulddo if that happened to me.
I think I would be devastated.
So, I think that accountabilityand, transparency, and,
That sort of thing isreally important to me.
And so this is how I'vebeen going about it.
I've been doing my best asan illustrator and painter

(32:40):
to adapt and learn to coexistand, move through all of this.
but I think that there aresome people who are generally
just nope, not for me.
No, thank you.
and I can't fault them for that.
You know what I mean?
I can't.

Omar Najam (32:54):
As an artist, can I ask, cause I feel like, I
think there's a really importantdistinction that you're making
that I really dig, which islike using something to either
facilitate your process, orlike drop in aspects of it.
And there's a whole otherthing, cause art is a discipline
ultimately, like any craftyou're doing is discipline.
And like you were saying,like the art button,

(33:16):
you just like smash.
It's not you're not buildingup your skill set as an artist.
You're just getting You'restaying as good as clicking
your mouse and doing a thing.
What is there an elementof your process that you're
like, no matter how easy itever becomes, or no matter
what tools are present, Iwant to do this old school.
do you have an, like a partof your visual art process

(33:39):
that you're just like, Ohno, like I'm doing this.
you'll have to pull it out ofmy cold dead hands before I let
something, something else do it.

this is me, I'll clip the rose bushes manually,

Omar Najam (33:51):
Yeah, yeah, exactly,

Voodoo Val (33:53):
I think definitely, I am always
starting from my blank canvas.
I'm always building up mysketches and thumbnailing
out all of my portraitsand pieces and stuff.
If I'm using generativefeatures, and incorporating
generative AI into my process,first of all, my audience
knows it when it's happening.
I don't, it's not generallysomething, I think the

(34:13):
only part of my process.
that maybe I'm not postingI wouldn't say that I post
it and I'm like, here's thisand I, made this with AI.
I don't add any part of likestuff that I've generated
in Firefly into my work.
I may be, I've generatedstuff and sampled colors,
generate me a crystal thatglows and then sample the

(34:35):
colors from it and stuff.
But.
Typically, I'm, when I'mincorporating a lot of that
stuff, it's, I'm doing ademo and I'm very clear
about what I'm adding into mywork, but, I would say that
I, my, working through myillustrations, and getting to,
for anyone who's not, familiarwith some of the stuff that
I've done, for example, thecharacters, illustrations
for DesiQuest, blank canvas.

(34:56):
Just if I was working on, on,on paper, and I would say that
the only stuff that I maybeused during that process was
just like color correcting,I did some color correction
to make sure everythinghas the same warm tone,
that, that sort of stuff.
which I don't even know ifyou would really consider
generative, and so I would

it's tough to, that's interesting
because I, that kind ofa filter pass kind of a thing,

Omar Najam (35:22):
normalizing your audio or something,

Yeah, aren't you doing that with
these filter tools anyway?
Like when you decide tolike use, Gaussian blur
or whatever, you're not

Omar Najam (35:31):
not building it from scratch, yeah,

you're not going in pixel by pixel and
blurring and applying theactual formula that it takes to
blend, two, two things together.
You're using a tool that, thatallows you to do it much more
quickly and efficiently and

Voodoo Val (35:44):
I think

might you might do in real life.

Voodoo Val (35:46):
you just pointed it out too is
like you're using a tool.
and I think if I'm notcorrect about this, correct
me, but I believe all ofthose features and stuff like
the smart thinking featuresfor Adobe app specifically
is all like under the Adobesensei umbrella of like their
smart, features, their smarttools and, and generative
tools and all that stuff.

(36:07):
and there's a lot of them,like I said earlier that
we've been using for areally long time, that are
under that same umbrella.
Okay.
And it, and I think it feelsdifferent now because we
have what is essentiallylike a generate art button.
as far as some people areconcerned, but there's a lot
of stuff that, fits underthere and you called it a tool

(36:27):
and that's, I would agree,I think that's what it is.
Is it's a tool, butit's not the end.
It's not the finalproduct to me.

Omar Najam (36:34):
Yeah.
I think like a thing like I'vegotten to hang out with you
on a couple of your streamswhere you've been putting
art together for DesiQuestand I think like the thing
that jumps out to me in ourconversations is the "why"
like when we're going throughand you're picking a color.
You are explaining like whereveryou're putting that color from

(36:54):
you're like we need this to berust We need this to be wood.
We need this to pop.
We have a lot of red.
We have a lot of earth I needthis to be like a nice crystal
blue to pop out and bring alot of attention to the eyes
And it's I think the thing islike you're saying like with
tools It all there is like analchemist behind it like all
the stuff around you There islike you get to I think the

(37:15):
joy for me of like your artand the discussion is the fact
that like we get to look at apiece of art that you've made
and be like Oh, man, a lot ofcare and attention and thought
and meditation went into thisand then we get to like Talk
about it or your unconscious andsubconscious is doing a bunch
of stuff and it feeds ours.

(37:35):
And it just, it's not likea character generator in
a video game where it'sjust randomize your avatar.
Like it is really nice to seelike why you're using certain
proportions, like why you'redealing with certain shapes,
why some things are maybea little more sketched and
cartoonish and some things area little more photorealistic.

I'm curious if would you ever want to use
generative art for ideation?

Voodoo Val (37:58):
I think, yeah, cause to me, what, my, my
honest thoughts when I startedhearing about it before I
started seeing some of theuglier sides of what, people
were doing with it then.
was that like, this wouldgive me the opportunity
to, To visualizeimmediately certain things.
For example, what I said aboutwriting a story, I wrote a story
where, a woman is living inlike a reinforced cabin, hiding

(38:22):
out from zombies in the woods,and every time I'm writing
about her working around inthis space, I'm imagining this,

is Revenge of the, this
is Revenge of the Ninja

Voodoo Val (38:32):
Zombies?
Yes.
Yeah.
but being able to generate.
You know a bunch of differentelements that are on that
property and then photo bashthem together and use that
as a reference So that Iopen my folder and i'm like,
oh, yeah The outdoor showersover here the the secret back
hatch, you know out of thecabin is over Here's all this

(38:54):
stuff like creating a storyand stuff is I think it's
a powerful tool for that.
That's what I can thinkof Maybe other people can
come up with other things,but I wouldn't release that

that's the thing, is that before, there
was any of these conversationsaround the implications, or
even before I knew that therewas scraping going on, I didn't
even really know how I wasdoing it, pure magic to me,
this is super early on, right?
I was like, wow, as someonewho's, I have some decent,
I can kind of tool onPictionary pretty well.
Okay.
I'm no slouch there, but Idon't have, voodoo Val talent.

(39:26):
And then I, think, about thepeople that are also like,
who, And I feel like thisconversation comes up a lot,
folks that look in terms ofaccessibility and that kind of
thing and like people who likehave never been able to use
their hands or something likethat who can now like, wow,
like the things that I have inmy imagination can now be like,
actually realized by something.

(39:48):
that, that can be like apowerful, impactful thing for,
folks who've wanted to tellstories and haven't, or, or, not
to mention the cost of havingto hire an artist and all that
stuff, which is obviously atthe crux of this argument, but
like for folks that are, thathave maybe wonderful stories to
tell, but, can't afford them.

Voodoo Val (40:07):
I suppose that I could understand if I
think of it in the contextof like suddenly having
the ability to createsomething that I can't do.
but I think that there's,how do I put this?
I think that there's atransparency, that needs to
be, Projected, and I thinkthat, there's people out there
who are up to no good, withit, and they know that they

(40:28):
are up to no good, and it'sbeing, it's, we're being gaslit
as a creative community intothinking that it should be okay
for them to do what they'redoing, and I think that's wrong.
for example, I think thatif you, you're not an
illustrator, and, you are.
you haven't put that timein like I've, I'm 32 and I

(40:48):
have spent 15 years of mylife working on figuring
out how to draw to get tothe point where I am now.
And then somebodygenerates an image.
says that it's their art,because they, I don't
know, developed the promptfor or whatever, and
then they're selling thatwork, and it's generated
in somebody else's style.
Someone else's 15 years, 20years, 30 years, 40 years,

(41:10):
that they put into honingtheir craft, to create the
image that you are selling.
Now, that seems a littlefunny, and I think that if it
were in a different contextthat somebody else might, Get
it, maybe, for themselves.
I, so it's those thingsthat are really rubbing me
the wrong way, and I thinkthat the world is the world,

(41:30):
and, humans gonna human.
for lack of a better term,and it's not like we weren't
going to see any bad things,but those are the parts
of this that I reject.
that I don't, it's not the vibe.
It's not the move.
and those are the things thatreally rub me the wrong way.
Like you, if you have anaccessibility, thing going on,
if you are abled differentlythan other people, I think that.

(41:54):
Your use case is it'sgoing to show in that
like people go, Oh, okay.
But I think that whenyou're up to no good with
it, people can also tellthat you're doing that.
because you shouldn't beselling Voodoo Val art.
If you're not me, you shouldn't,so don't try to fool me
into thinking it's gold whenit's not that sort of thing.

Omar Najam (42:14):
It's also interesting to, I know that
like accessibility, stuffit's within tech is like a
very like it's more case bycase, I think, than just like
making any general statements.
But we also live in aworld where like Beethoven,
the composer and musicianwas going deaf and wrote
beautiful pieces of music.

(42:34):
that were expressive, likefrom that experience and from
what I mean to say is thatBeethoven trained in music and

Speaker 14 (42:42):
Yes.

Omar Najam (42:43):
And was able to share with us a piece of
music that is still played insymphonies around the world and
will be and will continue tobe played until the sun expands
or the apes take over and sayno beethoven but It's, that
kind of, it's an interestingexample I think of also like
in answer to that where it'sbut what if I have this stuff?
It's you will, what ifthere's something that is

(43:04):
preventing me from this?
It's there is also a huge,community and history of
artists who worked through that.

and yet like technology is also helped
folks, be able to express artwhere they otherwise couldn't
like, just, you see those, feelgood videos of people being able
to create music, I hate to sayit, on an iPad or something like
that, because they, because theycan, set the notes in a certain
way that they can't replicateon, an instrument, say, and
you're still like, oh, cool,that's you expressing, your

(43:33):
musical talents, which is great.
so it's but this is a differentbeast, because this is, It just
feels like it's short cutting.
It's interesting, because it'salmost like you're talking,
because you're expressing somuch value, Omar, and both of
you are expressing so much valuein, the work put in, right?
And I think that, that's,and, the time it takes to
build the craft, and tobuild these capabilities,

(43:56):
and then the fear that comesaround, that stuff getting
undercut very quickly, right?
By a new technology, and thennot being attributed to for us,
not only are you not hired tobe an illustrator, but then the
additional fear of, Oh, and thenyou're also learning off of my
shit to then make me, Someonethat is obsolete as well.

(44:17):
that's it's like a, thissort of double whammy that
I think, other technologies,that's less the case.
because people argue, oh,once upon a time, you had
to, cut film in order toactually, physically cut
film in order to edit it.
and then these, nonlineareditors came along and
put a lot of, a lot of,folks out of jobs, right?
the people who, Had to dealwith physical film and it

(44:39):
used to take like an armyof people to do that and now
Those people are shit out ofluck basically or puppeteers
or once VFX came along puta lot of people out of work
and put them in a scary spot.
People who have honed theircraft for years and years
who then suddenly now yourcraft is not really valued
anymore in the same way thatit used to be because there's
a technology that can produceit more cheaply and more.

(45:00):
I don't know that Ihave a question in this.
I'm just like trying to frame.
I'm just, honestly, I'm justtrying to frame it all in my
head and, trying to understand,what's my relationship
going to be with this?
Quote unquote toolWhich is a little bit.
It's got a littlebit more, power.
It's a little bit more oneringy then you know the

(45:22):
advent of Final Cut Pro

Voodoo Val (45:24):
Yeah.

So

Voodoo Val (45:26):
I think my approach to it, as I said earlier, is
just like trying to, stay asauthentic as possible, in the
work that I'm creating, and notgiving up on the work that I
want to create, no matter howeasy it is for other people
to achieve a similar goal now,and not losing hope in the
value of me for being in, in As

it sounds like you're also still learning
the tools to like you're likeI think you know the There's
like the famous story behindthe guy who was the Big time
puppeteer, VFX came alongand he decided to immediately
shift gears and go okay,I'm going to be the VFX guy.
And then he, I'm forgetting hisname, but then he ended up being

(46:10):
the VFX dude for Jurassic Park,

Speaker 12 (46:12):
Yeah.
yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

right.
that's his sort of storywas that like, he's I'm, I
he saw the writing on thewall that like a lot of
puppeteers can be out of work.
So he's I don'tlearn these tools.
Then, I'm not going to beable to provide my family.

Omar Najam (46:25):
I think that too, it's like a, it's a thing
too, where like VFX reallyspecifically Jurassic Park,
cause they did a stop motionT Rex initially, and I know
that he pushed against Steven,Spielberg, close friend of
mine, like Stevie to do those,computer generated mock ups, but
it is also that, That historywith puppeteering, that allowed

(46:46):
Jurassic, there's also a lot of,VFX has continued to be great.
and, technology has continuedto, quote unquote, improve
and innovate, but nothingcomes close to those moments
in Jurassic Park, like thesubsequent Jurassic Park movies
aren't better because, VFX hasgotten cheaper or can do more.
And a lot of that comesfrom the fact that there

(47:06):
were so much time spentwith the puppeteering.
You could just adapt it over toa different, technology canvas.

This leads me to my final question for you, Val.
I'm sorry we'vebeen way over time.
Are you good on time?

Voodoo Val (47:16):
I'm having a great time.

do you think, I have this crazy theory,
do you think like what weconsider to be art is going
to change as a result of

Speaker 3 (47:27):
AI

technology?
Do you think it's goingto, It's gonna shift

Speaker 3 (47:32):
how we

As human beings, what we value as

Voodoo Val (47:37):
art?
I think there's a possibility.
I think that's a great question.
It's something that I'vecontemplated a lot of
times and I have a fewdifferent theories, for that.
number one, I think, it'sentirely possible that we
get so, overwhelmed andoversaturated with mediocrity
that we start to not evenacknowledge or understand what
is good and what isn't anymore.
Because I'm starting to seethat too of like, some of

(47:59):
these like generated AI thingsthat come through, sometimes
there's people that can belike, that's not quite right.
but then there's somepeople that it fools.
And if so much of it is beingpumped into the internet, pumped
into the world, eventually itmight become the norm until
all of those high qualitymasterpieces that we look
for that we try to createmight not even be recognized.

(48:20):
Anymore I think also there's theidea that there was a time
where people thought thatdigital art tools was not
going to be real art and then

Sandeep Par (48:28):
around that, right?

Voodoo Val (48:29):
I would say that I'm absolutely
100 percent an artist.
I, and I think that isthat point, aside from like
the fear of Oh, what's theworst that could happen?
that's the thing that I tryto focus on is I think that, I
am an artist and I think thatthe uproar on certain points
of AI work is definitely,It's definitely loud.

(48:50):
I don't think it's goinganywhere, just like AI
might not be going anywhere,and I think the pushback
may also be there always.
I think that there are plentyof opportunities for larger
companies to take the cheaproad and go with generative,
stuff for their projects andthings, but I think that the
world will definitely let themknow what they think about

(49:11):
that, and that's somethingthat could convince a business
maybe not to do that and tostick with human made art.

Omar Najam (49:18):
A, the Apple commercial

Voodoo Val (49:19):
yeah, yeah, and I,

point, instead of made in the
USA, it's made by humans,

Omar Najam (49:23):
Whoa, that's wild.
Yeah.

Voodoo Val (49:25):
a little, I saw somewhere, like somebody
were saying like, here, youcan use this if you want
to tell people that yourstuff is made by a human.
And it was like a littleheart, but it was like a
thumbprint kind of and I waslike, this is really great.
I

is the, this is so this is like where
my theory brain was goingwith some of this stuff
was a couple weird things.
One was that the, that.
like live experiences andseeing people actually do the
authentic artistic creation willstart to become more valuable.
Like act, like almost, Iwonder if it brings back
performance art in a way thatlike the advent of film and

(50:01):
television crushed it for alittle while, not to say that,
Obviously, we still do enjoylive theater and stuff like
that, but I do wonder, ifthat, it becomes elevated even
more, just, oh, see, what, thelive streaming thing, watching
Val make it and having theexplanation is the art, really.
even almost more so thanthe piece of art that

(50:22):
comes out of it at theend and oh and I Watched
that authentic experience.
I watched the authenticityhappen So I know it's
authentic until that shitcan be generated and then I
don't know we're fucked butBut you know what i'm saying?
Like i'm like, oh, I wonderif so so a that's my that's
one weird hope that I have isthat it might bring back the
live art form in a way andthen the second crazy thing Is

(50:46):
because we keep talking aboutattribution and I'm like, how
the fuck are we gonna really?
Like what technology dowe need to employ to make
sure that that brushstroke?
that we pulled You knowin from this adobe stock
photo is actually the samelike that whole situation

Voodoo Val (51:05):
It's can

all that stuff And can you even and
then i'm like, I think theonly thing that can even and
I hate to say it out loudBut i'm gonna say it out loud

Voodoo Val (51:14):
is a computer maybe

is a computer, but not just a computer.
It's basicallycrypto technology.

Voodoo Val (51:21):
yeah the

It's basically,

Speaker (51:22):
is

it's basic technology.
It's basically blockchain.
I'm like, what elseis going to take,

Speaker 14 (51:27):
that metadata

amounts of data, categorize it and keep
track of it enough and furtherreplications of it to be
able to go Hey, this artistdeserves actually one quarter
of a penny because that theytrained their thing on this.
But I'm

Omar Najam (51:41):
So you're saying our

block, does blockchain save us from AI?
That's all I'm saying

Omar Najam (51:47):
Blade Runner's gonna be, instead of it being
like, I'm chasing down, cyborgsand stuff, it's gonna be like,
hey, that's not a Van Gogh.
And then there's like anaction scene where it's like
chasing down the guy in thestreet where it's just no.
You took that brushstroke fromlike a Degas based algorithm.

Yes.

Omar Najam (52:03):
Amazing.

Voodoo Val (52:05):
I think if I can leave it on a positive note,
because I know you're tryingto wrap this portion up.
I think that as long as you staywith the, at least I do try,
is that like, when I say that Itry to adapt and I try to move
forward no matter what, I thinkI'm clinging to the passion of,
The experience in everything,as I think that one thing that

(52:29):
humans have never lost, it isan authentically human thing,
that, the AI doesn't do, ever,and probably will never do,
is, the yearning for adventure.
the, it's never, all throughouthistory that's always been
something that's been like thehuman thing, telling stories and
stories of heroes and villainsand all that kind of stuff.

(52:49):
and so I think that as longas you're telling an authentic
human story, and you'removing forward to tell those
stories and to take otherhuman people on an adventure
that you're probably movingin the right direction.
and I think that there's alot of possible use cases for
AI and generative things, onin there, but I think like

(53:12):
staying authentic and true tothat for me is the way that
I continue to push forward.
as long as I'm tellinga story from the heart,

you're moving people, moving their

Omar Najam (53:21):
emotions.
You know what?
could I have the audacity toask you one last follow up

Voodoo Val (53:25):
I've got a can of audacity over
here that you can have.
Yes,

can of Audacity on you.

Voodoo Val (53:30):
please,

Omar Najam (53:33):
I'm here to chew gum and have
audacity and I got both.
the question I have for youis, do you have an artist
that you would like to shoutout that you feel hasn't
gotten enough of a spotlight?

Voodoo Val (53:45):
that's a great question.
Holy crap.

So sorry, we're out of time.
Thank you so much for being.

Voodoo Val (53:50):
No, I am going to give you guys, I am going to
give you guys a, an artist.
And I think that I would haveloved to prepare some folks,
and maybe share several withyou, but I've got a buddy,
his name is Corey Allen Hall.
He is a fabulous young man.
He is a queer graphicdesigner who you can
find him on Instagram.

(54:11):
And in the spirit of adventure,Corey Hall creates graphic
design pieces that take hisviewers on an adventure.
A day in the life with him orjust a moment, an experience.
Some of his work tome feels like a scent.
Some of it feelssitting in the sunlight.
and I think that they'reincredibly authentic to him

(54:31):
because I've met him in personnow and I was sitting in front
of him like, Oh, he's for real.
This is, he's not likefake on the internet.
this is really him.
And I think that he isauthentically showing who he is
and some really cool moments.
from his life in a way thatfeels like you're getting
to know another human being.
it's not digital art, in the waythat I'm doing illustrations.

(54:52):
he is a graphic designer.
Like I said, he'sa photographer.
He does, photos and things.
a little different thanwhat I'm selling, but he's
definitely somebody whosework I take a look at, often.
I think he's an authenticand fabulous person.
and I hope thatyou enjoy his work.

so Val, that's fantastic.
We're, besides making yourbeautiful DesiQuest stuff,
you're making the Wanderer'sGuide and the Adventurer's Pack
and a whole bunch of other stuffand helping EffinFunny with
the redesign and doing so manybecause we like, you're a human
and we like you as a human andwe like your art so much that
we're like any which way thatwe can work with you, we're
trying to, but Is thereanother place that people

(55:26):
can find your stuff, buy yourmerch, get into your world?
for our listeners,is it just voodooval.
com?
Is that, where

Voodoo Val (55:35):
yeah, VoodooVal.
com, or Voodoo.Val on Instagram,Voodoo_Val on, Twitter, X,
whatever it's called now.
I don't know.
There's still tweetsand retweets, right?
I don't know how

thanks for coming on the show.
Oh my gosh, what a lovelyconversation with a lovely
person on a hard topic.
Alright, now it'stime for "Auntie
Auntie Watch 2024.

Omar Najam (55:59):
That's right.
This is our segment wherewe track the 2024 US
presidential election tosee just how close we are
to achieving a presidentialrace between Democratic
auntie Kamala Harris andRepublican auntie Nikki Haley.
Reminder.

our dream.
It's our dream race.
Okay?
This is our perspective.

Omar Najam (56:17):
This is what we want.

We want Aunties going head to head..

Omar Najam (56:20):
Reminder, they are both at least part Indian,
hence they are aunties.
also Donald is facinga billion indictments.
And Joe Biden, is, Joe Biden.

Okay.
Yes.

Omar Najam (56:33):
So let's get some updates.
How's Nikki Haley looking rightnow?

Yeah, okay.
So first of all, I'm justgoing to say, we were
at 15 percent chance.
That's where we're at

Omar Najam (56:41):
Yes.
That's where we were at

we're now going to deliver some news,
and then we're going totalk about where we landed.
Okay.
Okay.
Nikki had good and bad, hadgood and bad going on, alright?
The bad is that on, doyou remember this guy?
Vivek Ramaswamy?

Omar Najam (56:55):
Yes.
I, yes,

This uncle you don't want to be
trapped in an elevator with?
yeah, alright.
So this guy, he had a podcastand he had, this is I, I.
Must have been the mostdelightful hangout ever.
He had Ann Coulter on.
and so the two ofthem going toe to toe.
You walked in, feeling maybeas smart as you are and
you left feeling like youcan get a 1600 on the SATs

(57:19):
You left feeling brilliant.
Okay.
Anyway, point is, She said tohim, okay, and she represents,
a lot of Republicans.
She said to Vivek Ramaswamy,I agree with many things
that you said, probably morethan most other candidates,

Omar Najam (57:33):
Okay, wow.
Okay,

when you were running for president.

Omar Najam (57:36):
Amazing.
But

I still would not have voted for you,
because you're an Indian.
That's it.
That's the reason.
Dude, I gotta tell you,this is amazing to me.
it's just saying thequiet part out loud.
they, I gotta hand itto the Republicans.
I do really haveto hand it to them.
they just, they'rejust like, listen.

(57:59):
too brown, there's too muchbrown sauce going on here.
I'm not I don't want any chutneyup in my, dipped in my fries.
Okay.
I want, I'm not, I'mjust not going to do it.
And I think that's legit, man.
That's legit.
That's legit in the sensethat a lot of people also
will probably feel that way.
sorry, just doesn'tlook like me.
Doesn't talk like me.

(58:19):
I'm not interested.
So that's going to dingfor, for Nikki Haley now
the good for her, for atleast in terms of her.
Becoming, the nominee isthat Nikki Haley is actually
now being considered asTrump's running mate.
Put it, which would puther in the same spot as
Kamala, Auntie Kamala.
so despite them fuckinghating each other, Trump's

(58:43):
campaign is activelyconsidering Nikki Haley to be
his running mate as his VP.
Republicans close to bothcampaigns believe it's in
Haley and Trump's mutualinterest to reconcile, right?
this is obviously purelypolitical maneuvering here.
if you think about the 2028race, for Nikki Haley, and
the potential for that tobe auntie versus auntie.

(59:04):
Probably a politicallysavvy, maneuver for her.
Trump is actually scramblingright now to make up a
fundraising disadvantageagainst President Biden and pay
off all these obscene, crazyand totally legit legal fees.
and Haley, meanwhile,has deep ties to donors
who are wary of Trump.

Omar Najam (59:22):
interesting, update for Nikki Haley.
okay, I've got some updatesabout Kamala Harris.

Oh, please hit me up.

Omar Najam (59:29):
Kamala Harris recently met with royalty.
Did you hear about this?
She actually got an exclusiveinvite by the Queen.

Okay.
Wait, which queen?
I thought the queen passed away.

Omar Najam (59:43):
no, queen, be Beyonce.
Beyonce made sure Vice PresidentKamala Harris would be at
one of her concerts duringher Renaissance World Tour.
According to annual financialdisclosure reports released for
Harris and President Biden, Beygifted the Vice President with
tickets valued at $1,665.92.
And then, and, Harris postedon, social media, a picture,

(01:00:06):
from the tour saying, Thanksfor a fun date night, Beyonce.
Naming her by name.

Sandeep Parikh (01:00:12):
Wow, so she's getting the Bey vote.
That's huge.
Okay, alright, let's do it.
Let's update these metrics.
we're at 15 percentchance to an auntie off.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Mm hmm.

I'm gonna say that the Hayley thing is a wash,
but, they're being good and bad.
But maybe there's a couplepoints to be had for,
for, bae watch there.
For the,

Omar Najam (01:00:33):
I think definitely pushes us up quite a few points

really?
Where are you going?

I, okay, so I want to say
we were at 15 beforeI, I want to say Beywatch
brings us up to 20, but

Twenty!

calculating, yes, but then
calculating, calculatingthe Ann Coulter interview

Yeah, that's

balanced out, I want to say maybe we're at 18.
17 or 18?
18.

wouldn't vote for Vivek Ramaswamy
because he's Indian.
Now, Nikki's only, Ithink, half Indian?
Or partial?
Maybe she'll only vote,not vote for half of her.

And maybe Ann Coulter doesn't know because
she sees the name NikkiHaley and just breezes

Ann is

I don't know, Girl Scout?
I don't know.
Yeah, hard to tell.
Okay, 18%!There it is, your Auntie vs.
Auntie watch, a 2024 update.

a segment that I think only we care about.
Alright, here we go.

let's get to a segment that
everyone cares about.
Are you ready for our game?

Yeah, I'm ready.
Let's

It's called The ABCD game care or crush.

dun.

All right, folks.
Inspired by the Apple commercialthat we talked about earlier
and the controversy thatbrought, we are playing
the game care or crush.
Sandeep and I will take turnspresenting various items from
our homes and the other, we'llhave to decide, do you care
about this or would you crush itwith Apple's dystopian machine?

Okay.
Alright, I like it.
let's do it.
You ready?
Okay.
Oh wait, what happens?
The loser, okay, so eachtime Omar and I guess
correctly, we earn a point.
In the event of a tie, we'regonna, okay, we actually,
Delvan's not here, so we'rejust gonna keep going.
I have a bunch of randomobjects I can keep going
until we get a winner.
the, and then the loser isgonna have to improvise.

(01:02:27):
based on chat suggestion.
what are we improvising?
I don't even know.
The winner, sorry,I'm lost here.
We're gonna do, the loser,okay, it says blank.
so we have to improvisewhat the loser has to do.

Yeah.
this, I think it's, I thinkmaybe it's a, maybe it's an

have to juggle those items.

for destroying the thing.

you have to be Tim Apple

You have to be Tim Apple

you have to do an apology announcement.
Okay,

for destroying that one item.
Okay.

for one of your items, Yeah.
great.
Destroying one of the otherperson's items that they

Yes.
Yeah.

I love it.
Great.
We did it.
Okay.
Here we go.

Okay.
You wanna go first?

start.
Yeah, please.

Okay.
I'll start.

Yeah.

wanna start?
Okay, I'll start.
I'll start.
so I pulled a couple things, outof my, 2009 Kia Spectra, okay?
So I've got threeitems here, Sandeep.
You're gonna tellme care or crush.
Are you ready forthe first item?
Okay.

Yeah, you're just gonna do one.
And then I'm gonna do

Yeah, I'm doing one, and then I'm going
to trade it back to you.
But I just want to let you know,these are all things I pulled
out of my 2009 Kia Spectra.
Starting with

your actual 2009 Kia Okay.
Alright.
Here we go.

something else.
this

Okay.
A broom Alright.
Do you, the question is,this is a broom, this is
looks like just a sort ofold fashioned kind of bristle
broom here for our listeners.
It doesn't lookparticularly special, to me.
But I'm wondering,

Speaker 3 (01:03:58):
LAUGHING

would you have this broom in your car?
what, in what utilitarianway would you be, like,
have, would you be like, man.
I need to sweep these matsoff, are you just always
eating Cheetos and Mukwasand other crumbly things
that fall on your car, andyou just gotta do, which is,

this Asian broom to sweep up my car
with all those crumbs.

I could see that, because that is a strong,
those are strong bristles,and if you are as snacky as my
dad is in the car, that thismakes a lot of sense, that guy,
I think he mostly misses hismouth when he's eating food,

There are two types of Desi's.
The Desi that never eats inthe car, and the Desi that
exclusively eats in the car.
Those are the two

my, that is, my dad is definitely the latter.
okay.
Here's the thing I'mgonna throw out there.
I think you might bea Quidditch player.
Hey friends, because ourinterview with Val was so
engaging and timely, we didn'twant to cut out any of it.
So instead, we cut out therest of this silly game.

(01:05:06):
but don't worry, the fullgame is up on EffinFunny's
Patreon, and we made itfree for everyone, not
just the subscribers.
So head on over there afterthe episode and check it out.
But for now, back to the show.
That moves us right into ourfinal segment of the show.
"Desi of the Week"

Our Desi of the week is a director of
the White House Office ofScience and Technology Policy.
It's Arati Prabhakar.

That's right, otherwise known
as the President's ChiefScience and Technology
Advisor, and the woman whointroduced Biden to chat GPT.
That is legit.

Now, this is rad.
We were talking about,technology, logistics and stuff
earlier today in policy, Bornin India and raised in Texas.
Prabhakar has a PhD in appliedphysics from Caltech and
previously ran two US agencies,the National Institute of
Standards and Technology and theDepartment of Defense's Advanced
Research Projects Agency.

(01:06:03):
She also spent 15 yearsin Silicon Valley as
a venture capitalist.
This is wild.

Yes, she assumed her current job in October
2022, just in time to have AIdominate the agenda, and she's
been educating top officialsabout AI, eventually helping
Biden push out an executiveorder which mandates safety
standards, boosts innovations,promotes AI in government
and education, and eventries to mitigate job losses.
That is

so rad! Prabhakar is also the first
person of color and thefirst woman to be appointed
director of the office.
This is absolutely unbelievable.
Congratulations for beingour Desi of the Week

That's right.
And just a quick shout out toour 11th runner up for Desi
of the Week, Sahith Theegalawho is ranked 12th in the
world in the PGA tour 26 yearold from Orange, California.
He's only been profor four years.
He was named collegeplayer of the year.
We have our own tigeris all I'm saying.
And he, there's actuallytigers in India.

(01:07:02):
So his name is, heshould be named tiger.
Yeah.
Pretty excited about,about a golfing Indian guy.
That's cool.

That's his grad.
We're following all thesports this season of ABCD.
And folks, that isour show as always.
Our big ask is that you findone person in your life that you
care about or that you despisethat you think would love this
show and share it with them.
Just tell them about it.

And we want to feature you in the show.
Send us a question that youwant some culturally specific
advice, and we'll answer it.
We'll answer it poorly, butwe're gonna answer it on the
show, so shoot us a questionat abcdpodcastshow@gmail.com.

Hell yes.
And now it is time to shoutout our Patreons and listeners.
Are you ready for this?

Let's do it.
what's the genrewe're doing it in?
We're doing an a cappella?

It's hard to beat a cappella I love all of
those suggestions but we gotto do a cappella Boom Ba Ba

we're right here, Kiji.
No, you're down here.
I'm up here.

Speaker 8 (01:07:57):
Ba Boom

find it.

Speaker 8 (01:07:59):
Bum

Sandeep P (01:08:00):
Joshua O'Ryan, Tal B.
M., Benjamin Lowe,Miranda Holliger,
Michael L., Raelynn Fox.

Speaker 8 (01:08:09):
B.
nervous wreck.
Sarah h Varun,

Jeremy Swartz.
8 bit Dee, Chris,Sims, Dan Wale, Jeremy
O'Brien, Brendan Bradley,

Speaker 8 (01:08:33):
Burt, Raylan, time for the gods.
pa tum

the Gods in falsetto,

Speaker 8 (01:08:37):
pa

Mark Tucker, Hannah Lehman, James Gaffney,

Speaker 8 (01:08:40):
pa pum pa

Scribbles and Bob Jerks and Verdon!

pum, Vader.
you, know how theyalways go low at the end?

Absolutely.
If you, if.
if you're Rockapellafrom Carmen,

Speaker (01:08:52):
yes.

All right.
This show is producedand edited by Anand
Shah and Kaylin Mahoney.
The show's technicaldirector and sound
designer is Delvan Neville.
Not for this episode.
the show's executiveproducers are Sandeep
Parikh and Anand Shah.
And this has been anEffinFunny production.

On behalf of next week's host, Sandeep
Parikh, I have been thisweek's host, Omar Najam,
may your chakras be aligned,and smothered in chutney.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Sorry Technology, But We Are Effin Artists! ~ Apple Ad, Garcetti, DesiQuest Artist - (A·B·C·D) Sn2 Ep5