Reposted with permission from Facebook
By Josh Kinsey
My potentially weekly review of the Steampunk’d TV show that premiered a few nights ago, addressing the hows and whys of a bit of what “transpired”:
In the first hour of the competition, introductions were made amongst our new team: I had never met nor was I familiar with the abilities of my new teammates. I quizzed the group to ascertain abilities and interests, and the general consensus was because of my design and fabrication background that I be Captain. The only thing the show then revealed was the final sentence of that long conversation: which intentionally made me look domineering and wanting control, which was not the case. I only wanted to succeed as a team.
Next to address is Morgan declaring we “should make a plan”. I reply “No, not yet”: edited in such a way as to present me as arrogant and domineering. There was a significant reason I said No: how can anyone formulate a plan when we had no idea of what tools and construction materials we had available! We hadn’t even been out to the Punkyard yet! (Which is the very next thing I had the team go out and walk through.) As any Maker with a modicum of abilities knows: one first needs to know what materials, tooling, and part supplies are at your disposal before you can begin any planning and design work!
During the process of delegation and assigning tasks, I spoke at length with Tobias to see if he could handle designing and building the Rube Goldberg device, as he was also in charge of the story, at his behest. He assured me adamantly that he could build it himself and needed no assistance. Apparently he could not…. but I am the arrogant ogre that ‘threw Tobias under the bus”!
My disregarding of the RB device with Willeford: this was a joke taken massively out of context. It was also a bit strategic: I wanted to know how the judging would transpire. Two out of three, or all or nothing? Kind of important information to have in the scheme of things! Again, the producers played it out as though I was being arrogantly disrespectful: perhaps I was. But the RB device was conceptualized with parts ready to go within the first beginning hours of the build. It was not “flippantly disregarded as unimportant” in the least.
And finally, I was the first one of the group asked who should be sent home during the Elimination. I stated to the judges that as Captain of the losing team, that I was ultimately responsible, and therefore that I should be sent home. Next to be questioned, Tobais was extremely noble and assumed responsibility for his actions and told the rest of the team to declare him the “weakest” member and send him home: again courteously noble and admirably brave. He volunteered, as did I. Again, none of that was shown.
J.W.’s Living Room
As to my design being “country” and with a weird color palette: the walls incorporated a complex wainscot design, with a custom made cornice (I had to fabricate my own crown molding with a table saw and router, as none was available). The window also included a custom made fretwork assembly that included many upcycled turned components and corbel brackets. All extremely Victorian elements if you know your architectural history. The wainscot fabric panels were also typical of Victorian interior design. The colors were intentionally bold, as the theme was Retro-Futurism: I projected a concept with solid design roots in Victorian interior design forward into Art Deco, essentially skipping the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements: approximately 40 years into the “future”. Thus the bold stripes and bold color palette. There was a logical plan to my madness, and it was absolutely not “country”….
Overall, my team performed admirably considering we had very little time, very limited materials, and the complete lack of knowledge of who each other was and their associated abilities.
Tune in next week for some more “reality TV”!
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