TEJI TALKS

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Join Teji as he shares personal tales from his travels, adventures, and the unforgettable characters he's met along the way. From web3 and entrepreneurship to art and design, TEJI TALKS offers a unique blend of stories that weave together the modern tapestry of our world.

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Teji takes us on a wild hitchhiking journey across America, accompanied by his trusty filmer, Max Dona. As they recount their adventures, expect a rollercoaster of laughter-filled tales and deep dives into overcoming personal fears through the power of rejection. Timestamps: 0:00 Hitchhiking Across America Official Trailer 0:48 Intro 1:33 First time meeting TEJI 4:32 Differences between Australia and America 5:22 Planning our trip before we left 6:22 Meeting LA Rapper Vin Force 7:21 Arriving to Los Angeles 9:38 Going to our first frat party 10:30 Meeting Kanye West at Dennys 15:53 Leaving LA 19:30 Getting our first ride 22:32 The Curse of Hesperia 24:55 A Strange Encounter with a Mysterious Lady 26:22 Making it to Vegas 27:50 The moments we didn’t film 28:23 Some of the people who gave us a ride 31:23 Getting our first truck ride 32:08 Exploring the American Desert 33:22 Nearly getting arrested 40:10 Sand Hollow State Park + Going Viral on TikTok 43:01 Losing Money in Vegas 43:22 Nervousness waiting for a ride 44:48 Homelessness in Denver 48:30 Amazing American Hospitality 51:57 Getting approached from TikTok 52:34 TEJI’s personality explained 53:20 Hitchhiking in America vs Australia 54:48 Australia's “Cringe” mindset towards creators 54:39 Getting a ride from TikTok 55:52 Accessibility of Content Creation 56:40 Exploring the most dangerous hood in America 1:01:07 Gun Violence in America 1:02:36 All American towns look the same 1:05:55 Being nice to people and maintaining positivity 1:08:03 Coming from a place of privilege 1:09:21 The importance of perception 1:11:19 Trip highlights 1:14:00 Being playful with approaching people 1:16:26 Everything is a numbers game 1:17:53 Overcoming fear through rejection 1:22:01 Future plans? 1:23:54 TEJI’s highlight in New York 1:29:03 America is understaffed 1:30:31 Everyone loves Australians 1:30:51 Update on the series 1:32:42 We are looking for sponsors 1:33:42 Projects max is working on 1:34:43 Sydney needs more creators 1:35:39 RackaRacka from YouTubers to Filmmakers 1:36:03 The Australian creative scene is evolving 1:37:11 Assembling a creative team 1:39:36 People are searching for authenticity 1:42:16 Seeing Australians in the film industry 1:43:45 Outro

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Hitchhiking Across America, Meeting Kanye West, Nearly Getting Arrested & More | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 1

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Join us as we dive deep with David Horvath, the creative genius behind Ugly Dolls and Bossy Bear, exploring the intricacies of character branding, industry trade secrets, and the challenges and triumphs of navigating the world of intellectual property. Timestamps: 1:22 Intro 1:57 Working with Robert Rodriguez 3:50 Working with Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. 6:12 Failed Projects + worst performing animated film of all time 8:55 How to compete with Pokemon and other big IP 10:50 Lifestyle Vs Event Based Toys 13:22 What to do in the informative years of building IP + brand 15:51 The Power of Discovery 16:56 How to say no to large sums of money 18:09 Customers need to be in love with your brand 19:20 The right time to enter retail stores 21:44 Brands portraying personal identity 22:43 Discover your brand online 24:52 Discovering Giant Robot 20 Years Later 25:52 Secret Formula to Growing a Character Brand 27:00 Licensing and IP trade secrets 29:22 Growing pains in Web3 33:52 Cyclical Nature of IP 35:55 Dealing with Holders Expectations 40:02 Onboarding the masses 41:23 Differences between eastern and western IP 43:57 Building a brand is a decade long journey 46:35 Can brands rebuild their reputation 48:42 Understanding your core audience + decline of paul frank 50:30 Early days of Snoopy 52:58 Ninja Turtles Vs Super Mario Bros. 55:03 Dealing with Disapproval 58:02 How to stay unattached to the outcomes of projects 59:36 How to pitch a show to a studio 1:01:02 Day in the life of a TV producer 1:03:51 David's biggest skill 1:05:13 Upcoming toy design trends 1:08:00 Don’t be the next hello kitty, be the first YOU 1:11:08 Closing thoughts

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Mastering Brand & IP with Ugly Dolls' David Horvath | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 2

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Join Tubby1, renowned graffiti artist and world traveler, as he shares his captivating stories from underground art scenes to unparalleled global adventures. Dive into a journey of self-discovery, the allure of minimalism, and the raw, unfiltered experiences that have shaped his unique perspective. Timestamps: 1:06 Intro 1:51 How Tubby got into graffiti 2:44 Exploring drains, tunnels, and abandoned buildings 3:01 Tubby’s first tag 3:48 Origins of the tubby character 4:13 How does Tubby get up so much? 5:23 Considering himself an explorer, not an artist 6:14 Going off the beaten path 7:03 Doing graffiti for yourself, not others 7:43 Tubby’s first memorable travel story in India 13:31 India is a once-in-a-lifetime experience 14:14 Western countries are obsessed with money 15:31 Enjoying the simple things in life 16:52 Living in a shack and still being happy 17:48 Minimalism + living with less 18:44 Getting arrested changed his life 20:03 Paying it forward 21:30 Van life + ancient hobo graffiti 23:04 Favourite artists + explorers 26:57 Getting searched at military checkpoints 29:06 Waiting in a 22-hour line at the Colombian border 31:41 The privilege of having a strong passport 32:46 You don’t need money to travel 33:46 Solo backpacking the world 34:25 Online marketing + living cheap 35:08 Drinking in hostels + making friends 36:53 Travelling to Iceland + Russia 38:10 Becoming jaded after long-term travel 39:24 Wanting stability + settling down 40:18 Travelling to random Australian towns 40:43 Bogans in middle Australia 43:46 Living in darkness 45:09 Writing a children’s book 46:06 Teji’s dream urbex movie 46:57 What urbex is really about 48:46 Meeting people travelling with no money 49:44 Always speaking to homeless people 50:24 Ethiopian poverty 52:09 Love for dystopian films 54:47 Choosing the cheaper option when travelling 57:06 Make sure you travel when you're young 58:05 Guilty pleasures + cheat days 59:14 Getting robbed + near-death experiences 59:55 Getting more scared the older you get 1:00:37 One thing Tubby wants to be known for 1:01:11 Virtual Reality + travelling in the metaverse 1:02:01 How to take more risks 1:04:09 Icebreakers + picking up girls 1:06:09 Changing your persona every day 1:07:50 Closing thoughts

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Tubby1 on Graffiti, Global Adventures, & Search for Simplicity | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 3

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In today's episode I chat with my good Rozwell from the web3 and NFT space. We cover his journey as an artist, designer and musician. Along with his inspirations, struggles, and advice to creatives living through the age of AI. You can learn more about Rozwell on his site below: https://rozwell.xyz If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey! Personal Website: https://teji.io Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/ X: https://x.com/tejitopia Store: https://tejitopia.com Discord: https://discord.gg/kR6EVRjkM9 Weekly Newsletter: https://tejituesdays.beehiiv.com/ Timestamps: 1:08 Intro 2:26 Meeting in the web3 space 3:14 Rozwell’s entry to crypto 7:08 Joining the Making It art collective 7:59 Pros of collaboration 8:33 Web3 & networking 9:15 Influences - Steve Jobs, Nigo 11:58 Andre Leon Talley breaking boundaries 15:23 Growing up as an outsider 20:03 Influences from parents 21:44 Learning about sales from his mother 22:59 History of Marlboro & hyper-masculinity 24:55 Merging design and art 25:41 Design as process 26:30 Reducing redundancy in art 28:52 Creating interactive art using tech 30:08 Making friends on the internet 31:38 Rozwell’s music career 36:08 Continual improvement as a creative 37:12 Computers can change your life 39:08 Would Steve Jobs would’ve liked the Apple Vision Pro? 41:21 Meta Smart Glasses 42:58 VR Schooling 44:51 Incorporating AI into design workflow 47:59 The next Apple will be an AI company 48:23 Standing out as a creative in the age of AI 52:11 Combining contemporary art and music 54:08 Web3 democratizing contemporary art 56:08 Evergreen principles of creativity 56:38 Finding joy in creating music again 59:38 Music is community 1:01:08 3 principles of creativity 1:06:10 Finding creative confidence 1:07:38 Duchamp did more harm than good 1:09:08 Telling the truth as an artist 1:12:08 Closing thoughts + outro

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Rozwell on Design, Music and AI in The Digital Renaissance | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 4

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In todays episode of TEJI TALK’s I chat with Sydney filmmakers about the future of filmmaking and videography in the age of AI. Check out everyone from the discussion below: Louis: https://www.instagram.com/louiswyeth/ Max: https://www.instagram.com/macsdona/ Satya: https://www.instagram.com/satya.g178/ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 4:12 Open AI Sora + Adobe Premiere Pro Integration 7:50 Implementing AI into your workflow 12:47 Building on top of pre-existing tools 13:55 The everyday person can now make cinema quality films 14:39 What does an AI future look like? The creative renaissance 17:15 Can AI tell good stories? 18:55 Generating originality 19:38 The age of curation 21:00 Fears of AI - misinformation 24:00 A24 + anti-digital 25:00 Tom Sachs and making “flawed work” 26:30 Human made premium 27:35 Demand for loft video - MrBeast using consumer cameras 28:12 Will AI ever take over? Her 29:22 Preparing yourself as an artist in the AI revolution 30:29 Will jobs be created or destroyed? 32:06 The Singularity and AGI 33:40 Deepfakes and licensing 35:44 Do we need guardrails for AI generation 37:51 Blockchain and AI 41:37 If you could generate anything what would you create? 43:20 NBA AI 46:55 Excited or worried about AI 47:26 Will AI change how stories are told? 50:00 You need to start learning today 51:36 What will 2034 look like? 54:00 Outro

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Asking Filmmakers What They Think About AI Video | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 5

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Here I talk with one of my good friends from the internet, ALEQTH. He is a multi-disciplinary artist exploring web3 and beyond. He paints, draws, makes music and trains his own AI models. He is one of my biggest artistic inspirations and most ahead of his time creators online. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:39 Who is ALEQTH? 2:46 Lower East Side Paintings Solo Show 7:50 Older vs Younger audiences 10:47 Instagram Art + origin story 15:41 Finding freedom in sadness 16:50 Fighting self censorship 20:27 Dealing with becoming a business as an artist 25:00 Sam Hyde introducing Alex to NFTs 29:19 Everything wrong with NFTs in 2024 32:50 Finding new ways to meet everyones needs in web3 34:05 Internet Friends 37:43 How ALEQTH met TEJI 38:18 Generative art, symbols and Andy Warhol 49:00 Digital objects in augmented reality 1:00:00 Finding new ways to exhibit digital collectables 1:04:00 AI turning dreams into a reality 1:13:00 Open sourcing art 1:18:13 Outro

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Making Art & Friends on The Internet with ALEQTH | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 6

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Chatting with Ambrotom about his come up in the global creative scene. Stories about his early days reselling Yeezys, getting featured in Vogue all the way to social hacking his way into Ian Connors circle. Check out Ambrotom below: https://instagram.com/ambrotom Keep up to date with TEJI https://teji.io Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:24 Marketing first approach to creativity 3:50 Reselling Yeezys 7:08 The designer rabbit hole 7:34 Influence of Gosha Rubchinskiy and Lil Peep 10:00 Falling in love with marketing 13:00 Helmut Laing t-shirt design competition 16:19 Vogue + social validation 16:30 Social hacking and sending DMs to strangers 18:18 Losing followers in the beginning 18:49 Sydney creative scene and Saiko 21:00 Making it up as you go 22:00 Hacking social connections using mutual followers 27:33 Lancey Foux 30:00 Impact of underground producers 36:00 Working with Columbia records 40:59 Korean Jesus 41:50 Why Russia instead of Los Angelos? 45:00 Being comfortable with life being out of your control 46:04 Developing fearlessness through hardship 47:25 Letting go 48:28 Surviving in Russia 50:00 Russian mentality 55:00 Making friends on the internet 58:29 Outro

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Ambrotom on Reselling Yeezys, Surviving in Russia & Vogue | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 7

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In this episode of TEJI TALKS, I chat with Michael Hafftka about his experience as a 70-year-old artist creating digital art in the Web3 space. With a remarkable 50-year career in traditional art, Michael has successfully transitioned to the digital realm. We delve into his creative process, the journey of finding one's authentic voice, and the unique challenges and opportunities in the evolving world of digital art. Keep up to date with Hafftka below: https://hafftka.com If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey! Personal Website: https://teji.io Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/ X: https://x.com/tejitopia Store: https://tejitopia.com Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk Weekly Newsletter: https://teji.io/library/newsletter Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:35 The accepting nature of web3 3:13 Traditional art world vs digital art world 4:40 Understanding digital art 7:00 Peddling fake jewellery as a kid 8:20 The internet is the new street 8:50 Dealing with rejection as an artist 10:45 Don’t make comparisons 12:15 Finding your authentic voice 17:04 Painting from dreams 21:00 Living to create 21:43 Following your heart as an artist 22:14 Voices NFT + 6529 memes collection 27:45 Power of community 29:40 Making It 31:08 Breaking through genres as an artist 32:07 Not letting the algorithm define your art 37:00 Sharing your process 38:00 Day in the life of a web3 artist 40:11 The magic of New York 42:00 Being exhibited in museums 45:13 New projects + AI models 48:00 Importance of time in art 49:00 Building community 51:00 New work 52:00 The true meaning of GM 54:00 LFG

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Hafftka on Web3, Digital Art, & Finding Your Authentic Voice | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 8

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In this episode of TEJI TALKS, I sit down with Garrett Skrovina from Roc Nation and NFT music artists Jamee Cornelia and producedbydav to chat about NFTs, CC0 music and remix culture. Check out everyone from the discussion below: Garrett Skrovina: https://twitter.com/GSkrovina Jamee Cornelia: https://twitter.com/JameeCornelia producedbydav: https://twitter.com/producedbydav If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey! Personal Website: https://teji.io Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/ X: https://x.com/tejitopia Store: https://tejitopia.com Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk Weekly Newsletter: https://teji.io/library/newsletter Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 4:54 Why put music on the blockchain? 10:23 How does web3 flip the traditional music distribution model? 19:10 The shrinking music industry 20:30 Streaming VS Owning music 26:00 Importance of physical collectables 30:00 Digital vs physical collectables 35:00 Power of Spotify API 37:00 Democratisation of art 40:15 CC0 Music & remix culture 51:42 Mix culture in electronic music 54:00 What gives a song value 59:22 Everything is a remix of a remix

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NFT Music Artists on The Blockchain, CC0, & Music Collectibles | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 9

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In this episode of TEJI TALKS I chat with OG YouTube and graffiti sticker artist SIVE. We cover all things from the early days of YouTube all the way to his creative process and design principles that help define his body of work. Support SIVE below: Youtube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@S1VE⁠ Store: ⁠https://sive.bigcartel.com/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/s1ve⁠ If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey! Personal Website: https://teji.io Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/ X: https://x.com/tejitopia Store: https://tejitopia.com Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk Weekly Newsletter: ⁠https://teji.io/library/newsletter⁠ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:20 Going public as a graffiti artist 2:14 Snowboarding and sticker culture 3:50 The early days of art on YouTube 10:30 Finding the balance between value and fulfilment as a creator 13:18 The joy in sticker spotting 15:00 The ephemeral nature of graffiti 17:48 Getting up on YouTube as a digital artist 20:30 How did Sive develop his laid back mentality 22:00 Finding YouTube for the first time 26:00 Developing Sives geometric art style 28:00 How childhood influences style 29:00 Typography and design principles 34:44 Future projects 37:00 Short form content 38:54 Use cases of NFTs 41:00 Fair valuation of art 42:50 The competitive nature of YouTube today 46:38 Following your heart versus trends 48:45 AI and machines doing the creative work 51:18 VR graffiti in Kingspray 55:00 Living out virtual fantasies 56:00 Outro

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SIVE on Graffiti, Sticker Culture, & Art on YouTube | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 10

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In this episode of TEJI TALKS I chat with my friend Nathan aka Chiqleh about his first art solo show in Miami, his struggles as a creative finding direction and redesigning the world. Follow Chiqleh below: X: https://x.com/chiqleh_ Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/chiqleh⁠ Foundation: https://foundation.app/@chiqleh If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey! Personal Website: https://teji.io Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/ X: https://x.com/tejitopia Store: https://tejitopia.com Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk Weekly Newsletter: ⁠⁠https://teji.io/library/newsletter⁠⁠ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:15 Dealing with art block and loss of direction 4:30 Finding direction in character art 5:00 Consistency 7:22 Finding friends who challenge your art 10:00 Chiqleh’s first solo show 11:00 Second guessing yourself as a creative 12:20 Scheduling time for art 14:14 The Rascals 20:30 Meeting the audience halfway 23:00 Creative umbrellas 23:42 Character art 29:00 Collecting toys 33:00 Corporate design is dead 37:00 The revolutionary artist is dead 38:00 Fear of making bad art 39:00 Discovery and staying original 42:00 Childhood influences 46:00 Curating shows 47:00 Character artists in web3 48:00 Art vs design 53:00 Gumball’s creative direction 55:00 Infinite budgets 58:00 Lack of innovation in the world 1:01:00 Everything is ugly 1:02:13 Redesigning the world 1:02:48 First principles 1:04:00 Design innovation 1:06:19 Giving the wrong people an audience 1:07:00 Nikola Tesla 1:08:00 Electric vehicles 1:09:00 A new system 1:10:10 Promoting yourself as an artist 1:16:00 Overthinking 1:18:00 Podcast ideas 1:20:00 Outro

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Chiqleh on Art Block, Finding Direction, & Character Art in Web3 | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 11

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In this episode of TEJI TALKS I chat with Chianli a mechanical engineer building underground delivery robots at Pipedream Labs. We chat about his journey as an entreprenuer, digital art and the time he nearly died while urban exploring. Follow Chianli below: X: https://x.com/chianlihang IG: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/chianlih/⁠ Website: https://chianli.io/ Pipedream: ⁠https://www.pipedreamlabs.co/⁠ Medici: https://x.com/mediciartclub If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey! Personal Website: https://teji.io Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/ X: https://x.com/tejitopia Store: https://tejitopia.com Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk Weekly Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠https://teji.io/library/newsletter⁠⁠⁠ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:37 Who is Chianli 4:50 Dropping out of college and building a CNC company 7:00 Living frugal 8:24 Learning how to eat shit 11:35 Creating underground delivery robots 14:06 Problem solving 101 17:03 Inspirations 19:27 Engineering toolkit 22:09 Digital art display startup 26:00 Building products at home 29:38 The future of digital art 31:48 Connecting the digital and physical 32:51 The sad truth about NFTs 36:19 Urban Exploration 37:28 The allure of the unexplored path 39:45 Near death experience 41:48 A future of abundance 44:32 Climate change 45:48 Everything in moderation, even moderation 46:05 Democratisation of tools 47:38 YouTube University 49:15 Using entertainment to find what you love 49:56 Favourite YouTubers 52:13 How to make things 55:20 Outro

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Building Robots, YouTube University and Urbex with Chianli | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 12

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In this episode of TEJI TALKS I chat with Alex Constante about his journey as a VFX artist and Retro Game Developer. We cover his favourite childhood games and cartoons and the decline of physical experiences in a digital world. Check out Alex below: https://www.instagram.com/alexconstante If you enjoyed this episode feel free to follow TEJI along for the journey! Personal Website: https://teji.io Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tejitopia/ X: https://x.com/tejitopia Store: https://tejitopia.com Telegram Chat: https://t.me/tejitalk Weekly Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://teji.io/library/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:00 Newgrounds + flash animation 3:30 Favourite flash games growing up 5:37 Influence of Ed Eddy and Eddy & Dexters Lab 7:20 Drawing 7:50 Lack of innovation 9:30 We need more scientist cartoons 10:12 Pretending to be an inventor as a kid 11:54 Arduino projects 13:00 Creating a tamagotchi clone 14:00 Coding with ChatGPT 16:07 Physical products 16:22 VFXnaks 19:40 Saving money by repurposing 20:00 Happy Meal toys 23:14 Remixing & reusing IP 24:20 Samurai Jack for adults 25:54 Kids are using apps instead of toys 26:28 Lego piggybacking off of popular IP 28:19 Pros and cons of the algorithm 31:01 Engagement not reflecting true value 32:00 Negative feedback loops creating bad art 33:50 Instagram as portfolio 35:00 The lyrical lemonade of video games 37:00 Personal websites to express yourself 38:00 Leveraging artists fan base to grow 41:23 Making work for yourself vs the audience 43:00 Raunchy video games 44:38 Standing out as a game developer 45:00 Recent projects 49:00 The importance of physical objects in a digital world 51:27 We need the real world 52:28 Physical experiences and rituals 53:00 The iPhone is the most based camera in 2024 54:33 The power of physical products 55:27 Loss of touch 58:00 Human made is the new premium 59:13 The future and the rise of the generalist 1:00:24 Outro

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Alex Constante on Retro Game Design & Physical Products | TEJI TALKS: Ep. 13