Reflections on the cartoons

I think that they reflect the frustration that many on the left have with this new coalition, which seems rather set on destroying transparency and accountability. We've sunk to third in the corruption perceptions index, which isn't so surprising given the extreme governments that we've been dealing with since Covid-19. Suddenly, the extreme nature of the cartoons feels appropriate to the depressed economy and the endless job cuts. I mean, everyone knows that the inequality gap is rising as well, so I'd say that my frustrations struck a chord in other people. The attractive style of the Deep Dream Generator images is helping as well, and that's been a very pleasant surprise. AI always seems to advance in some new direction just as I'm getting bored with something: the AI Vision engine parses text well enough to allow these cartoons to exist.

- There's also an element of feeling free to express myself now that I've been discharged and people think I'm managing my bipolar disorder fairly well. So far, nobody has formally complained, but they're certainly open to considering it. I think that National isn't petty enough to stoop to complaining about a satirical comic, while the Act leaders probably support my right to free expression. - As for the Dakumentary: well, I'm very pleased that a whole bunch of old people are watching it. That's the main audience: men over 60. I'd love to get it to a younger audience, but they mostly saw it in 2023 when I was advertising early drafts. Now that Newshub is defunct, it has more of that time capsule vibe that I think was part of what sold the media on doing Season 3 -- this went beyond people playing along with the joke to inventing their own jokes. People seem to compare it to Traffic, but I think it's more like Patu!