#Gear Acquisition Syndrome

[urbanadventureleague]

On mechanical vs. electronic film cameras, a semi-rational debate

Pigeon bath. Pioneer Courthouse Square, 19 Sept 2023. Pentax IQZoom 170SL/Fujicolor 400 Yeah, I know, it’s amusing: Just last month I talked about getting another Minolta XG7 and extolled its virtues as a “bang about” camera, now I’m going to get rid of it again. What gives? Well, it still a perfectly nice camera and gets the job done, but I find that it just doesn’t fit into the stable. I…

[familyobligation]

TIL what a Les Paul looks like 😂

[sparkysynth]

I am once again asking if someone wants drop some stems & cash so I have an excuse to record more audio and acquire more pedals 👀

[zaryathelaika]

How much you want to bet Alex Kurashev's Sever will be the first laika livestreamer? The race is on.

[daddysmusicblog]

Me: Babygirl I can't decide which color I want. I guess I'll just have to buy all of them.

Babygirl:

[bubblegumfox]

Before buying stuff I will

Check the dimensions

Check the dimensions

Check the dimensions

[crankyrabbit]

God, I want this so badly. As long as it doesn't cost a bomb like some suggest (USD$800!!)

I mean, it was good enough for Chris Knox, so it's good enough for me.

[s2z]

The Story behind the Polaroid I-2 Instant Camera

[krautjunker]

Waxcotton-Tasche „Fischland“

Der Name Fischland bezeichnet zuerst einmal eine urwüchsige Landbrücke an der südlichen Ostseeküste der Mecklenburger Bucht. 2008 machte ich dort unter Kranichen und Seeadlern Urlaub. Eine traumhafte Landschaft. In grauenhafter Erinnerung ist mir nur das Piccolöchen PINK geblieben, welches seinerzeit als Willkommensdrink in der billigen Pension wie ein Schlangenbiss auf meinen Gaumen wirkte, aber…

[aixelsyd13]

Harley Benton & Darth Vader GAS.

Harley Benton & Darth Vader #Guitar GAS. A thread ⬇️

I think I’m over it, but I recently had some bad Harley Benton related GAS. Look how awesome and cheap these things are! You know I have a thing for weird guitars. You know I have a thing for cheap guitars. This one like the Travecaster is cool. That’s on another list. Harley Benton JA-Baritone BK • $177 🎸 I don’t have a baritone, I need one. Right? Harley Benton MR-Modern Baritone SB • $309 🎸…

[cardboardhyperfix-games]

This is one of my favorite tables where I do this too

Something something, the way ttrpg designers love proper nouns

This is proving to be a fun little project. I'm excited to get into playable shape.

[daily-public-domain]

Day 178: Cross-section of a seashell

link

–This image is part of the public domain, meaning you can do anything you want with it! (you could even sell it as a shirt, poster or whatever)–

[sparkysynth]

Okay tumblr, how do I

become known as a quirky musical internet cryptid

that gets paid to just record a metric ton of keyboard layers for other peoples songs

So I can buy more pedals to record more silly layers

Without resorting to Fiverr

[pearwaldorf]

I hate that you can't see a tweet thread anymore if you're not logged into Twitter (as a gesture of disrespect I refuse to call it by its rebranded name). Here is a copypasta of a thread from Dan Olson, a Canadian documentary filmmaker, expanding upon camera quality, the guilt trips Somerton used to goose his Patreon subscriptions, and how the best tools will never make up for lack of dedication or patience. I have added clarifications in [[double brackets]] where I feel it is necessary.

START OF THREAD

Okay, so, back in April I snapped at James in reply to a tweet that was linking to this video (which James has since delisted but not deleted) and I want to talk about the full context of that but I don't want to make a video, put your beatdown memes away. [[The video has since been deleted. I can see the title of the video is "Maybe the end (not an April Fool's Day thing".]]

The first bit of context is that I initially got keyed into James to fact-check his claims about indie filmmaking in Canada. As a filmmaker the entire Telos venture was immediately obvious as a juvenile fantasy dreamed up by someone with no idea how to make a movie.

Just wild claims about their plans that weren't worth debunking because they bordered Not Even Wrong. But in watching one of these pitch videos I noticed that he had a $4000 current-gen camera in the background as a prop, and that seemed both pretentious and weird.

You don't use your best camera as a prop, you use your second best camera as a prop. So being an obsessive weirdo I needed to know, and I watched his BTS stuff until I spotted his main rig, a $6000 camera with about $1000 in accessories.

Now, these in isolation are unremarkable because his Patreon at the time was bringing in ~$8000 per month, his channel was a full on Business business, and so investing in some professional equipment of that level is maybe a bit indulgent but justifiable.

What was weird is that he doesn't shoot multi-cam, doesn't shoot outdoors, doesn't shoot on location, and in a studio the two cameras kinda really step on each others' toes. Basically if you already have one and don't need a B cam there's no reason to get the other.

Again, on its own, this says nothing, it's just indicative of poor financial decisions, maybe impulsive purchasing, Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Biblical sins, but not crimes.

Paired with the constantly inflating fantasy scope of the Telos films it was clearly an expression of a very, very common bad filmmaker habit of "if I just get the right gear then my movie will basically make itself" Buying stuff because it feels like progress.

At the end of February he tweets "I want to start shooting anamorphic" and then three weeks later in March he posts the worst, out of focus, under-exposed "I just got a new lens!" video I've ever seen, showing off his trash-covered bedroom.

Based on what's available for his cameras and the lead time, that's enough time to get a Laowa Nanomorph or Sirui Saturn from B&H but not enough time to get a Great Joy from the UK or a Vazen from China. And with the flaring blah blah blah, $1300 lens.

Again, [gear acquisition syndrome] is not a crime and these lenses are budget options. Bit of a pointless impulse purchase since he only used it for the Showgirls video. But this is what he was doing just a few weeks before that above video came out: effortlessly impulse purchasing lenses.

James has (had?) a habit of regularly, aggressively driving viewers to Patreon by claiming that videos were getting demonetized. While tacky, it is something a lot of queer YouTubers have dealt with, so there's precedent there. But people were noticing he did it a lot.

Mid-March he humble brags about needing to work so hard to make 6 videos in April because he has over-booked sponsorships.

Then March 29th James posts this whole incel screed on Twitter about how sex work should be "subsidized as a mental health service."

[two image descriptions.

1. "For the majority of people sex (and human contact) can be imperative to a healthy state of mind. A kind and talented sex worker can make someone feel wanted for the first time in their life. I know sex workers who have pulled people back from suicide just by being there for them." 2. "Not only should (sex work) be legal, but it should be subsidized as a mental health service."]

He spends several days getting absolutely *roasted* for this, just dragged across the pavement and read for filth, and doubles down in the replies the whole way.

So this is the context immediately surrounding James waking up on Friday, and posts the above video and the below tweet.

[image description: "We just got the lowest Patreon payout we've gotten in well over a year. Like, a "maybe we need to rethink things" kind of amount... NOT an April Fools Day thing btw. But I don't know if we'll be making videos much longer."]

Now, this unfolds in kinda two directions. The first is that I'm convinced he was just lying about this income shock in the first place.

There's a million theoretical edge cases about what maybe happened and if maybe he just misunderstood the data or saw a glitch and panicked, maybe one of those happened, I don't believe it, I think he just lied because he was salty about getting dragged and felt owed a win.

A big tell to me is that he doesn't blame Patreon. He says he doesn't know what happened, but let's be real, Patreon screws up all the time, they're the first people anyone blames if anything confusing happens, just as a reflex action, even if it's completely not their fault.

The only reason to not blame Patreon is if you already know that it's not their fault and that any investigation on their part might reveal embarrassing details.

Instead he indirectly blames his viewers for not watching enough, not sharing enough, and not turning on auto-renew.

So regardless of the unknowable truth, this segues into the second, far more offensive direction of the messaging itself. "I don't know if we'll be making videos much longer." "Maybe the end" He explicitly framed this as an immediate existential threat to his channel.

In the video he is vague about everything, leaves a ton of hazy room for plausible deniability on how long the channel can keep going, but the messaging is "I need more patrons right this minute or my YouTube channel is over."

He repeatedly evokes all the "fun stuff" they had planned that would never see the light of day if this didn't turn around right away.

And his audience received this message loud and clear. Tons of people making far, far, far less than him left very heartfelt messages about digging a little deeper to subscribe or up their pledge or unsubscribe from other channels to move their pledge to his.

1200 new patrons in one day.

Since I simply don't believe the income shock was real in the first place that would put his post-"Maybe the end" Patreon income at around $10,000 per month. US. Add YouTube income, he's spent the last seven months making around $18,000 per month.

I have seen creators scale back their capabilities to the bone purely to keep making videos for the love of just, like, making stuff even as their funding evaporated and they needed to go back to a desk job to cover their bills.

You'd have to be so outstandingly reckless with your finances as a channel that a one month spook leads immediately to "channel over, sorry about all the fun stuff we won't get to do with you, our patrons, specifically because you, our patrons, aren't giving us enough money"

And not a spook where you then spend a couple weeks crunching numbers. Oh no. A shock so violent where less than two hours later you're weeping on camera about the channel being over.

Three weeks later he brought a brand new Sony FX6v for $8000 CAD to add to his pile of cinema cameras despite the fact that he was, but scant moments earlier, in such a precarious position that a single bad month would kill his channel.

He stole your money, and for that I'm profoundly sad and angry. That's why I snapped at him in April. I'm sorry I couldn't give you the full context then, and I'm sorry if that anger upset you.

END OF THREAD

[cherryblossomshadow]

Jessie also did a video!

.

[Image ID: screenshot of a YouTube comment by celevagria on Todd in the Shadows' video, "I Fact-Checked The Worst Video Essayist On YouTube," reading:

imagine doing enough plagiarism to make up the bulk of a four-hour video essay from a video essayist and still doing enough completely different harmful and stupid garbage to become the subject of a separate two-hour video essay from a MUSIC CRITIC.

/end ID]

the todd in the shadows debunking is fairly dry because it’s so thorough but that’s what makes it so funny. somerton was so fucking wrong about everything that this random music guy went “hey that’s not right” and just couldn’t stop

[nyancrimew]

gear acquisition syndrome is a solution not a problem