#but i have not yet found video essay channels . . . . . . . . .

[miodiodavinci]

I see you're a video essay enjoyer 👀

Any video essays you particularly like or video essayists that captivate you ? I am also a video essay enjoyer and I'm looking for recs !

unfortunately i am a very recent addition to the category of video essay enjoyer (as in i've only started seeking them out on my own instead of watching my partner's finely curated library in the past year or two, and even then it's sporadic depending on my work schedule) so i don't have much to recommend yet OTL (i mean besides hbomberguy who i love and cherish so so much but we all know him)

i do have a few documentary and deep dive channels that i regularly check back on like defunctland and izzzyzzz, but my partner's more the one to actually regularly keep up with folks w

if anyone wants to drop their favorites in the replies, feel free to ! ! ! !

[vivwritesfics]

Keep On Rolling - MV1

Chapter Six

Summary: Lando's best friend having feelings for anyone on the grid? Impossible, right? She worked with them, sharing her friendship with the grid with the world via the FormulaY/N youtube channel.

After film a video including... spicy water (alcohol), everything changes between her and a certain world champion. Good thing she hasn't had a crush on him since his F1 debut, right?

Right?

1.9K words

Series Masterlist

A/N: I've actually had the best day (and it's only midday)! Did a couple of hours of studying, completing one of my essays, went to the outlet shop and found my perfect pair of cargos (my friends all look for xs so I feel bad when we go retail therapying, but I went alone and I'm so happy)

Silverstone. Lando's home race. Y/N couldn't wait. Ever since she was a little girl, Silverstone had been one of her favourites. When they were kids, Y/N's father had taken her and Lando to Silverstone. It was the first race Y/N had ever attended, and the race that let Y/N fall in love with Formula One.

It had been a full month since Y/N had last spoken to the current world champion. Y/N didn't know why Max wasn't speaking to her. Or answering her text messages. He'd been missing out of Y/N's life completely for the last month.

For once, Y/N had nothing special planned for Silverstone. Just a simple Q and A video.

Y/N missed the Friday free practice. Where she'd usually be there to watch Lando and the rest of her friends (namely Charles), but, this time, she was at home with her family.

British families had some weird traditions and Y/N's family was no exception. Every Sunday in the winter months they ate a huge roast dinner and every Sunday in the summer was reserved for having a barbeque.

With a job like Y/N's, she didn't much get to see her family. She was always away at the grand prix or the city hosting them. Her family missed her, sure, but they knew she was living her dream. So, whenever she was home, Y/N made sure to visit them.

Y/N sat at the dining table, checking her phone. Nothing from Lando, nothing from Charles, nothing from Danny. Nothing from... Max.

That was the most upsetting thing. Y/N hadn't spoken to Max in so long. She didn't realise she'd miss him until he disappeared. There had been a couple of times where she'd text him, but he'd only read it, not respond. Y/N was getting desperate. Desperate to hear from him, but they weren't in a place where she could beg. Right?

"Dinner!" Y/N's mother shouted as she and her brother ran in the dishes. Chicken, potatoes, sprouts, carrots, parsnips and more. Y/N's mother always went above and beyond with roast dinner. It was a whole performance for her.

Y/N allowed her mother to plate up her food. It was something she loved doing whenever Y/N was home, her way to welcome her back. "Mum, do you think we can watch the free practice?" She asked as her mother placed a Yorkshire pudding onto her plate.

"What? No way!" Her brother suddenly shouted across the table. "If Y/N gets to watch formula one I get to watch football!"

"Neither of you are watching anything. Y/N is going to make the most of being here with us before she makes her way up to Silverstone, okay?"

Y/N's mother was not a scary woman, not by any means. But, when she commanded something, it happened. Y/N and her brother nodded as they tucked into their food.

Y/N checked her last messages to Lando and Max beneath the table. Lando hadn't yet seen her message, but Max hadn't responded. A small part of her wanted to throw her phone at the nearest wall, but she didn't. Instead, Y/N slipped her phone back into her pocket and tightened her hand in a fist, nails digging into her palm.

Her family could tell something was wrong. Normally it was non-stop chatter about the world of the paddock. But, aside from her request to watch the free practice, Y/N didn't talk about formula one at all. Even when her brother tried to ask, Y/N answered with single words.

That night, in her childhood bedroom, Y/N looked at the pictures of her and Lando. Them in school, them at Lydden Hill for Lando's Karting career. Silverstone when Lando was in F2, Lando when he first joined McLaren and that was it. The rest of the pictures were in Y/N's own apartment, a place she hardly saw the point in paying for when she rarely lived there.

Her phone began to ring. Picking it up, Y/N placed it to her ear. "Hey, Lan," she said to her best friend as soon as she answered.

"How's your mum? How's your brother? How's the cat?" He asked quickly.

The cat in question was currently sleeping on Y/N's bed. The moment she moved out, the cat began living in her room, sleeping on her bed or in the empty closet.

"Mum is good, brother is good, cat is good," she said, sitting beside the cat and stroking her fur. "How was free practice? I tried to watch on the television but Mum wouldn't let me."

Lando told her all about free practice and how his day at Silverstone had been. He told her about the media things she and Oscar had to do, the fun he and Carlos had been having and more.

When he fell silent, Y/N found herself asking a difficult question. "Lan, is Max okay?" She asked him. "Does he hate me or something?"

"No," Lando answered quickly. "Why would he hate you?"

"Can you tell him to answer my texts then please."

Lando didn't answer that. How could he, when he was the reason for Max's silence? But, he couldn't tell Y/N, either. He could tell her that he was the reason Max was refusing to speak to her. So, Lando took it in a different direction.

"What's going on with you and Max?" He asked. His tone was genuinely curious, leading Y/N away from his crime.

Y/N shook her head. "Lan, nothing. Nothing is going on with Max and I. He was just the only person who let me interview him in Monaco. He just happened to be the person who helped me out after the drunken quiz video. Why does that mean something has to be going on with us?"

Again, Lando didn't answer. Guilt ripped through him. He was selfish, a selfish little boy. He drove Max away from Y/N just because he didn't want to lose his best friend

Lando was quick to end the call. He said his goodbyes and left Y/N to it. Max liked Y/N, he knew that much. But did she like him? God, he felt like a child back in secondary school as he thought about it.

***

"Hey guys, welcome to the Silverstone weekend," Y/N said to the camera as she sat on her bed with her cat in her lap. "As you can see, we are not in a hotel room for once. We are actually in my childhood bedroom and we have a visitor." Y/N held the cat up to the camera and waved her paw.

"Today we're going to be going in with a Q and A video," she said, pulling up her phone. "I know a lot of you have a lot of questions around how and why I do what I do, and I'm going to answer them all."

She went into her twitter and pulled up her first question. "Right, question one. How did you meet Lando?" She read and put the phone down. "Oh, what a story this is," she said and let out a little laugh. "When Lando and I first met each other, we hated each other. We were eleven years old, both starting at secondary school. In maths we got sat beside each other, and it all kicked off from there.

"Lando was so loud! Seriously, he did not stop talking. And he spread his stuff to my side of the desk, which really pissed me me off. So, I told him to shut up and he told me to bleep off, and then we became best friends."

The cat in her lap was purring as Y/N stroked her. She grabbed her phone and checked for the next question. There had been a lot on there asked about the nature of her relationship with Charles and her relationship with Max. They were things she wouldn't get into, only because it would make the situation so much worse.

"Ah, what do you do when you're not travelling around?" She read and put the phone back down. "Well, I travel to the grand prix and then I explore the city the grand prix is held in with my friends. These bits I don't usually film, but I'm considering doing city vlogs. If you guys would like to see this, drop a comment."

Y/N went on and on, reading through the questions. There were many about hers and Lando's friendship, many that allowed her to grab pictures of little Lando from the wall.

"What is your favourite quote from anyone on the grid at the minute?" She read.

It made her grin. "Well, I've got one that I use all the time which is when Charles says 'Lando we can be world champions', but I'm a big fan of those noises Danny makes? You know, 'ki ki ki ra!'" She shouted.

There was a noise from downstairs, her mother shouting a complaint.

After getting through at least twenty of the questions, Y/N checked the time on her phone. "Oh my," she gasped when she saw how late it was. Or, rather, how early in the morning it was. "I guess that's the end of the video," she said to the camera. "Thank you guys for watching. Like, subscribe and I'll see you at Silverstone," she said and got up to switch off the camera.

Taglist (Open): @sticksdoesart @eviethetheatrefreak @eugene-emt-roe @glai1023-blog @mqcherie @itsjustkhaos @chonkybonky @arian-directioner @lazybot @lpab @princessria127 @fangirl125reader @honethatty12 @larastark3107 @urfavouritef1girly @cassiopeiia24 @callsign-scully @lexiecamposv @dl-yum @savagecelery @laneyspaulding19 @formulas-bitch @teenwolf01 @gayfrog29 @fictionalcomforts

[podfeels]

Podfeels Season 1 Retrospective

4/13/2024 marked the two year anniversary of Podfeels’ first airing, and in August, we will celebrate the three year anniversary of its inception as a project. It feels so strange, looking back on it all. To me, it feels simultaneously like its always been in my life, and also like it just started yesterday.

I’ve spent nearly three years now spearheading this project, and we’ve expanded from a team of ten to a team of thirty in that time, and have put out roughly four hours of highly produced, full cast, full sound effect audio drama.

That may not sound like much, but for a team composed almost exclusively of first timers at its inception, and with two big hiatuses out of everyone’s control, I’m pretty damn proud.

With Season 1 ending back in January, us currently in the exact two month midpoint between anniversaries, and Season 2 being worked on behind the scenes, I thought now would be a good time to release a bit of a retrospective on our first season. Talk about the process, what went wrong, what went right, and also release our assets for the public.

I’m splitting this into three sections so you can skip around based on what you give a shit about. 

Looking 8ack

Reminiscence about how I got into godfeels through a series of insane coincidences that make my heart feel warm.

2. Adapt8ion

Discussing the process of adapting the work into our medium.

3. Portr8s, 8ackgrounds, and Sound8ites

A release of Season 1’s art and sound assets for your perusal outside of the videos, use as desktop wallpapers, or what have you. 

Looking 8ack

In March 2020, I got covid for the first time. My workplace had no protections for it yet, so I lost my job. And while bedridden with covid, subsisting off a diet of lukewarm broth, saltines, and nyquil, I set my youtube Watch Later (ok, thats a lie, it was my Likes, which i used ((still use)) as a watch later instead of using the actual watch later function, BUT-) playlist to shuffle. And in this fugue state, I stumbled on the video that would completely change the trajectory of my life.

“What I Learned Writing 50,000 Words of Homestuck Fanfiction”, by Sarah Zedig. I vaguely remembered her from some video about the McElroys and from Hbomberguy’s stream, and I had put off watching this because at the time of its release, I hadn’t yet finished Homestuck. So I shuffled it away for later, and it found its way back into my lap at the perfect time. Having now finished the comic, read the Epilogues, actively reading Homestuck ^2: Beyond Canon, and five months in to my first ever real creative outlet in my semi-abandoned video essay channel, I was interested to hear what this goat had to say.

In the video Sarah went into detail about a ton of wider context about the Homestuck Renaissance that I was fully unaware of, and made a very strong case for her own postcanon work, godfeels. Her passion bled through and I figured, sure, why not, I’ve got nothing better going on, I’ll read the story of Spiderjeggings’ No Good Very Bad Transition. Why not!

55,660 words later, crying alone in bed, I was now a girl. Reading the scene of June making her list of wants the morning after Terezi’s return, I said out loud to myself, hoarse as can be, “I can’t put it off any longer.” 

After reading to current I ended up joining the godfeels fanserver, and from getting settled in these circles I’ve met so many people I wouldn’t have otherwise, and come into myself in ways I can’t begin to fully quantify. I went from one relationship to fourteen to now a stable four, the other person in my head shook back loose after a decade of suppression by me (sorry again, Aegis), I’ve become more cultured, I’ve gained more friends, I’ve gained more hobbies, and most relevant of all… I’ve gained Podfeels.

Podfeels proper actually started in a really funny and impromptu way. In Sarah’s video she mentions wanting to start a podfic adaptation of it, but with that being two years past with no more word, a conversation about it cropped up in the server, and it was revealed that it had been canceled for various reasons. Everyone immediately understood why that had to happen. It was an insane amount of work, especially now that Godfeels was entering the territory of a space opera. But the demand was there among all of us, and after almost a dozen loops of us all going “drat, would be cool. I wish someone would take the helm on that!”, I just went ALRIGHT I GET IT and opened up casting. Podfeels was actually originally a joke name made by someone in the server before I even entered the conversation, but we used it for so long during development that by the time we came to release day it just felt wrong to call the project anything else. The name just stuck.

After a few hours of people daydreaming about it happening, and me encouraging other people to take the helm, I finally gave in and opened up casting. Now, it’s important to understand, I had never directed ANYTHING like this before in my life. I made a really terrible sketch in high school theater class and that’s about it. I’ve always been a bit of a natural leader but never anything with the kind of scale this would require, and it showed. I crowdfunded almost all ideas for what to do and how to handle it, and my best idea for how to do auditions was “just send in a few lines of you doing whatever character you want”. And my language was… insufferably fawning. I was hedging my bets at every opportunity. Every development in the project was “tentative”, I was the “director” until someone else took charge, etc. Looking back its actually kind of adorable? 

Look at that sweetheart. She’s so scared. She has no idea the beautiful changes she is in for.

The casting process was an unmitigated DISASTER. Nobody there knew how to audition, and I didn’t know how to wrangle. We were an unstructured gaggle of doofasses stumbling into each other. And due to the limited pool, I was stretched kind of thin on where to put people. Obviously I stand by all our decisions and love our cast, but because I was pulling entirely from the fanserver, options were very limited. I wanted to get everyone who wanted one into a role, but having to do the math of “this person is 40% good at Character A and 60% good at Character B, but this OTHER person is 80% good at Character B and the closest runner up for Character A is only 35% good” was agonizing.

We ended up deciding to make a few demos first, to test our chops as actors and mine as editor. We had four planned. But after we fully produced our first two demos and had recorded the third… I decided we should immediately start chronological production.

Why did I make this decision, you ask? Well. We had a few months until 4/13/2022. If we immediately all went overdrive, me especially, we had the chance to get our first episode out on the 13th 4/13 anniversary of Homestuck, and like HELL was I about to let us pass that up. 

This was the right call, I think, but it did bring us into a BUNCH of complications. First off, it meant we never really tested our violence and drama chops on the houseraid. Second, if I had waited, we would have been able to dodge our first big hiatus, where I put us on pause for a couple months while we waited to see if our Terezi wanted to leave after she floated the idea, which she ended up doing. If we had stayed in prepro, we would have skipped a huge hiatus and not replaced a key character between episode one and two. It also meant that we didn’t fully solidify an editing pipeline, and I was handling practically all editing until around episode 3. Additional prepro time would have helped us iron that out, as well, rather than me breaking myself on the first couple episodes before bringing in help out of desperation. This rush ALSO led to us having to release episode 1’s video around a week after the audio’s release, and with a fucked up background because I was crunching so hard I didn’t notice I’d accidentally completely butchered John’s bedroom somehow! I think I somehow content aware filled the wall? Fucked if I know why!

This is an abridged version because I want to get us to the meat of the matter today and I feel a lot of the longer story is best saved for a video I plan on making down the line, when we’ve reached 50 hours of runtime. For now, let’s move on.

Adapt8ion

A few folks have asked for indepth adaptation notes for what we change in an episode and why. As a general rule, we make changes with three primary motivations. First, adjusting text-based ideas to sound-based. Godfeels plays with its medium in countless compelling ways that, when shifted to a different medium, are either clunky or incomprehensible. So our first job is to translate those into sound. Second, turning narration into sound effects. We don’t need to discuss sounds in the scene, or a character’s tone, when we can just hear it all ourselves now. This then expands into further issues, however, as some things DO need to stay as narration. There’s a lot of pathos in the narration, and often there’s details that can’t be conveyed through audio alone. But by removing just the audio cues, we are left with very clunky phrasing that does our source material no justice. So we have to rephrase entire sections to give them the same resonance, meaning, and clarity while also getting rid of all the things that are now extraneous in our medium. The third main type of edit is bringing it more in line with what comes later. Godfeels has been running a long time and has become a very different beast from where it began. I love this about it, but some ideas have ended up with insufficient preparation, and some thematic resonances are easy to see looking back but may be partially unintentional. We can take advantage of hindsight and bring certain things more in line with the work’s modern philosophies, such as putting an additional focus on the citizens of Earth C, introducing X as its own entity, playing with Dirk more as a villain, and introducing the question of “what happens to the leftover Junes in a retcon?”, all during Episode 6. 

I’ll be releasing a few other posts soon with detailed adaptation notes for every episode in the coming days, but I’ll leave it here for now and bring us to our final section-

Portr8s, 8ackgrounds, and Sound8ites

While the idea for video versions was a relatively late addition to our process, I’m very proud of the work everyone has put into making them what they are. Our art team and video editor do wonders. First up, we’ve got the talkpogs.

The talkpogs were my own invention, but I can hardly claim they’re an original idea. I’m sure something almost identical has been done before. What directly inspired me, though, was the old Polygon podcasts, where they’d have the hosts faces made out of polygons, with one loose and separated, synced to that host’s audio track. It was the first time I’d seen something like that and I knew I wanted something similar to indicate who was talking. From there it all fell into place pretty easily. The outer ring and the waveform is the character’s text color, and the background is their name color. If those two are the same (as they usually are), I apply a slight darkening to the background just for differentiation. The sprites, though, were all the art team. Unfortunately we didn’t have a base early on, so different artists drew to different scales. 

For the art style I told the artists to try to strike a middleground between Homestuck classic and girlpillz’s style which had just been shown in GF3.1.8.E, where godfeels got its first spritework. Otherwise, designs were largely up to the artists but we had conversations about them as a project. Overall I’m very satisfied with the work everyone turned in.

Backgrounds were a more complicated beast, but paradoxically also have less to talk about. We started out with one background per episode, which was pretty doable, but with the season 1 finale, and our expanded art team, we opted to expand out into a background per setting. The first two are just Pesterquest backgrounds I edited by hand, but after that we started having custom art. That was largely due to restraints lifting as the team grew, but it also turned out pretty good thematically, as the first episode with custom art was Episode 3, where June’s egg cracks. We left official art behind as June left the officially plotted course. I think it’s resonant.

Now we come to our latest introduction. KEY ART. We started doing this in Episode 6 and it’s so sick. Don’t expect these inclusions to be TOO common, but… we have some cool things in store here, and I think you’ll all be really excited to see ‘em. For now, here’s our first and so far only public piece of key art, Dirk menacing June against the tree. The final piece of art of Season 1, and the final piece of art of Season 1’s retrospective. It only seems fair.

Which now brings us to my own inclusion: sound assets. I’m very proud of the work I’ve put in to giving each character and concept their own unique aural profile. From the magical girl burning radiation of Jade’s magic, to the shattering static of June’s retcon, to threading the needle of Hammer, Sword, Plastic Toy, Dice, And Doomsday Device in June’s vrillyhoo. 

That’s all for today. In the coming week or so I’ll put together a few more posts, going over each episode in more detail, from point by point script edit notes, to specific art discussions. I also plan to bring in a few people who have been around since day one to talk about our experience setting up the project.

But for now, look forward to seeing more from us soon. Both in the upcoming devposts, and in Season 2. We've been on a hiatus to get our preproduction pipeline settled, and because we wanted to get a few episodes prepped so we can try to maintain a monthly schedule. But we're getting to the end of this phase now, and will be announcing Episode 7's release date very soon.

Until next time! :::;)

[restesdelune]

*A Richonne Content Rant*

> Comin' Soon on Restes de Lune ?

Hi TWD fam, Richonners, gals, guys and theys

I've been editing like crazy but the youtube algorithm won't let me post my 20min edit of HRWB #3 - Next World Lovin' (A day in the life of Rick Grimes) without butchering my work. Looks like I won't be able to finish this series with a bang like I hoped.

So here's a load of stills to give you an idea since for now, all my hours on it just went down the drain. I still want to share something though, as I know others are just like me :) Maybe I'll share snippets, bits by bits... :(

Here's the first part

Idk, looks sexy and funny to me! ^^

I still don't understand why so many channels can host whole scenes of the show online, HD scene packs and longer edits and seem unbothered (good for them!) but I can't ?

Whyyy Ô Whyyy ?

My Richonne rabbit hole originally started with an Ultimate Edit From the prison to Alexandria. It was right after watching The Ones Who Live as it was released and I needed to go back and re-experience Richonne all over again. Unfortunately, it was too long of an edit and my hardware could not keep up...

That's when I took on smaller endeavours, exploring the origins of Richonne further from behind the scenes. I love listening to Danai talking about her work. So many actors tend to respond quite superficially to questions about their characters, Danai has such a profound understanding of Michonne, it shows both on and off screen and I'm here for all of it.

Then, I've explored more behind the scenes with Andrew and Danai's chemistry, and how it showed and still shows up on screen years later, and have many of us hooked, locked in a love chokehold everytime we see Rick and Michonne gazing into each others' eyes. That's how HRWB #2 came to become Dandy On Set and Off.

Yes, I'm fluffy like that and have no shame about it :)

Anyway...

I'll still try to edit further HRWB#3 and share it with you what I can, but I need to cut back my Richonne hours and find new ways to engage with the fandom if I can't find a better solution.

My series How Richonne Was Born was supposedly a lighter prelude to the deeper and more interesting work I want to share (see The Ones Who Love Live On teaser). Might take a while though, as I work too slow for the algo, so don't hesitate to sub to check me out here, on youtube and twitter to follow the work.

And yes, I'm gonna get even fluffier with these ones, and a lot more political too. Fingers crossed!

I still plan to share everything I wrote (essays and fanfic), it will only take yet a lot more time and creativity. Maybe I should just forget video and do a podcast? Just brainstorming in the tumblr open...

If you're into any of it let me know, feedbacks and advice are welcome! I may have started this on a whim but I found people along the way, and it's always easier when we're not alone and have support, right?

My posts about

"The Last Grimes"

The Michonne effect

Mother Michonne

**** See You around and Happy Shipping ****

[foxsarah]

for those who are unaware

the infamous "everyone hates me because i defend an actor nobody likes and therefore am a special little victim despite harassing countless mbav-centric blogs"-blog found her way into me & @/morganweir's discord the other night. this post will serve as information for anybody on discord who happens to be unaware of who she is/uncomfortable with interaction. this will also be a retelling of just??? other strange shit theyve said/done in the server??? so yeah 👍

anything with a * will have proof under the cut for the sake of being concise, alt text not yet provided at the time of posting, server members that are not mods have been scribbled out for the sake of their privacy

this is her discord handle, which used to be completely different when she joined. her first username was "sweetgoldensunflower_67494"*, until she changed it to "bennyweirsgirlfriend_86787". to most of us, this was an immediate red flag/signal that this might've been "the benny anon". to me and mer in particular, we wanted to wait to see if we'd possibly misjudged someone's character before making any attempts to kick or ban. some may consider that too slow of a method for taking action with this person, when really, there are a handful of atticus/benny "defenders" to this day who are more normal about hiding that part of themselves than this person, and it would've looked even worse if we kicked someone for seeming like the benny anon.

and for a minute or so, she too seemed normal, until she made her intro. where she faked her age.

you'll notice that a lot of her messages are edited, and some members brought to my attention that her intro said "20" at first instead of "24". why on earth would a 20something year old have their screen/username as "girlfriend of canonical child"? idk! regardless i hadn't noticed the change in her intro due to being busy irl for the majority of her interactions. speaking of interactions,

i'm never going to fault someone for not knowing how to use discord, newer members to our server most likely haven't been using it as long as older members, but this exchange was in reference to our "rules & roles" channel that is set to "read only" mode for members who aren't mods. i assume the "permission" she was talking about was the ability to write messages in that channel.

bringing discourse into our channels isn't exactly uncommon, as most of us are mature enough to have conversations that don't get into personal absolutes like this, in regards to a member's video essay on radio rebel.

at this point, the language used by her messages were just carbon copies of her anons** as all of them followed the same theme of her "fave" being "hated" or attacked. she would go on to assume the worst** of other members the same way. this was expect of her as anyone who's had the displeasure of the benny anon in their inbox knows how she likes to go on her tangents. what we did not expect was her finding a server member's personal instagram page, going through their following list, and choosing to make unnecessary commentary on it.

this was the last straw for me, as i have no patience for cyberstalking no matter how "small" it may seem. i proceeded to ban & block her.

i suggest that yall reading this do not continue to engage with her, especially those who are members of the mbav server, as i'm pretty sure it would do nothing to protect people from potential harassment, nor would it benefit us as people who just want to partake in enjoying mbav.

that's all 👍

*original username

**personalizing critiques of atticus mitchell as "hate"

[themisfitshistorian]

ESSAY NUMBER ONE: SIMON BELLAMY AND THE EXPANSION OF THE MISFITS UNIVERSE; WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW

Misfits, created by Howard Overman, aired its first episode on November 12th, 2009; what followed was a wild and unpredictable ride of a series, unlike anything that TV had ever seen before. With a cast of unique characters who get even more unique superpowers just minutes into the first episode, this show’s thirty-seven episode run would be unforgettable for most audiences. However, there is MUCH more to this series which lies below the surface.

If you’ve watched Misfits in its entirety, you may think you know everything there is to know about the series, but there is much more to be discovered. Below the surface, deep into the Misfits waters, you’ll find online shorts, long-forgotten vlogs interrupted by superheroes from the future, sinister confessions, deleted scenes within forgotten scripts, abandoned Twitter accounts, Flickr photography, and even evidence of lost media. A huge reason why I enjoy this show so much is because of how insanely deep its lore actually goes once you look past the original series. There’s an entire world of Misfits to be discovered, and in my first essay, I hope to introduce you to some of that content, provided by our beloved Simon Bellamy.

The in-character shorts uploaded online during the run of seasons one and two, shot from the perspective of the reclusive Simon, are more on the relatively well-known side of things. On YouTube, a search for “Misfits online films” brings up multiple playlists containing DVD-exclusive shorts recorded by Simon and various security cameras throughout the community centre. These shorts provide a small insight into what the characters’ lives are like outside of the episodes we know and love, and they serve to exist as sweet little extras for curious fans who just can’t get enough of the show. This isn’t all that Simon contributes when it comes to giving us the extras, though; in fact, many of these entries are directly tied to him and videos he’s made. For example, his YouTube channel contains his full tribute video to Nathan, and his Flickr account provides insights into his mind, as well as some images that casual fans may not have seen before. He also had a Twitter, as did the rest of the main cast! I find these accounts to be fascinating, as they provide a beautiful insight into what life is like for the characters outside of what we all saw on screen.

Another video of Simon’s includes a cameo from Superhoodie, who briefly interrupts his tribute to Nathan, along with a separate video, which I have yet to find again, in which Simon confesses to killing Sally in a rather sinister manner. I’ll update this post with more resources later; for now, I just wanted to appreciate Simon’s contribution to extending the Misfits universe.

Edit #1: Simon's confession can be found here! Big thanks to @merrilark for replying with the link, I don't think I would have been able to find it on my own :)

[la-galaxie-langblr]

Inspired by @ben-learns-smth and his seemingly endless gratitude and zest for life: Good Things That Happened Lately (ie I need to notice good things that happen in life and a deeply sucky few days leading up to the start of exams seems like a good place to start) (edit: I had so many things I put them under a read more, a very good sign :D)

Playing stardew valley with a friend before they went back to uni

I saw my first ice hockey game with friends and we got hot chocolate and donuts afterwards

Becoming more aware of the need to take care of my body

Difficult but important and productive discussions with friends

Saw some gorgeous sunsets while out on walks

Trip planning!! The first 6 months of this year will be so packed but it's an investment in memories :)

Submitting an essay after loads of hard work that I'm pretty proud of!!

Eating mini eggs for the first time this year <333

Discord calls

I decorated my 2024 planner with loads of fun stickers and I love it :D

5 hour video call with my beloved squad

Reunion hugs with a uni friend and a spontaneous cinema trip to see The Boy and the Heron with said friend

^on that outing I also ate my first Gregg's sausage roll, they only had the vegan ones left but it was the nicest sausage roll I've ever had

Finding postcards in the post from friends that have been there since Christmas

Uni friend hangout: Glee, deep chats and wheezing over multilingual hangman at 4am edition

I realised that my uni show choir isn't actually audition only so I'm going to join it in the new semester :D

The hard but necessary habit of watching YouTube in French again, my comprehension on one video wasn't as bad as I thought and I found a few channels I like

Finally feeling inspired to cook fun meals again (I have yet to act on this cus I need groceries but Soon!!)

Seeing some more uni friends at an event

Said event had a guy talking about frogs and I had the time of my life

Ripe kiwis and buying the nice apples (Pink Lady supremacy)

Fizz' album The Secret To Life, wild to think I'm seeing them live in a couple weeks!!

Chocolate biscuits <333

I went on a lovely winter walk in the local park today, the lake was completely frozen and there were so many geese!!

And finally: I made an excellent salad for dinner, who knew that actually seasoning your food properly makes it taste good /j

I'm glad I did that, I'm feeling much more upbeat and positive about things!! If I can remember to do this regularly it'll be good for me :)

[jogabsha]

About me!

Hiiii everyone. Haven’t made a post like this in a long time (if ever cause I don’t remember lol).

My name is Jogabsha! Not my real name obviously but it’s a nickname I’ve used since around the time I was 5. I’m currently 17 but 18 in about a month in October!

I have a little sister ( @puppyie-innit! :D)! Kinda accepted her as my sister when we met a couple years ago and have been inseparable since! She’s also part of the agere community and a lot of you probably found me cause she tags me a lot lolol. Oh also I’m her CG!

My goals in life are pretty simple. I want to own a C3 corvette (hoping to get a 1982 later this year so the goal will be done!), I want to build my own house in a place with mountains and vast pine forests, I want to get my doctorate in paleontology, and I want to discover and name my own species! I also wanna research Acrocanthosaurus because it’s one of my favorite dinosaurs!

I have adhd/ocd and believe I may be on the spectrum but haven’t gotten evaluated yet!

I’m an artist! Specifically I do a lot of paleoart!

I was that one kid who only ever watched documentaries growing up (though I did watch a bunch of other shows in my childhood too)!

Things I like!

I’m absolutely OBSESSED with dinosaurs and paleontology and prehistory!

My favorite color is like this lighter shade of blue that I don’t remember the name of

I love the walking with dinosaurs series and all its offshoot shows and specials. My absolute favorites are chased by dinosaurs and sea monsters, both with Nigel Marvin!

My favorite color combo is blue and orange

My favorite color gradient is blue to yellow to orange!

I love C3 corvettes and it’s my dream car!

I love playing video games on stream! I do this on YouTube usually on weekends under the same name!

I play multiple instruments! Mainly piano but also guitar, and a little bit of flute and ukulele. I’ve even composed some of my own songs on piano which I’ve uploaded to my second channel. It also has Jogabsha in the username so it should be easy to find but I’ll link it in my bio too!

I love learning new stuff. I will spend an entire day watching video essays and documentaries on stuff I’ve never even heard of before!

I love dinosaur revolution. It’s got really good storytelling for a documentary and I love the way they told stories based on actual fossil specimens!

I absolutely ADORE dinosaur king. Grew up on that show and I have over $3.5k worth of cards and collectibles from that franchise.

I love undertale sm. I have every song in the game memorized. I also love deltarune to the same degree!

About this blog

This is entirely meant for just me posting my art and my hyper-fixations. I also might repost my sister or paleontology posts every now and then.

This is a safe space for the agere community because my sister and I are both a part of it. Absolutely NO sexualization or anything of the sort here please!

There will also be no violent speech/hate speech/politics/name calling/bullying on anything related to this blog. This is a space where I want people to come and just nerd out with me on cool topics. I don’t care who those people are or what they believe, and you shouldn’t be hung up on that stuff either.

This blog is safe for ALL ages. Please be mindful of that when you decide to interact with my posts.

Thanks for reading through this! Will probably add more to it as time goes on but this ai good for now. Hope you all enjoy the Dino-nerd posting!

[vidreview]

VIDEO ESSAY ROUNDUP #5

[originally posted march 30th 2024]

it's been a minute since i've done one of these, for a whole host of reasons. the biggest one is that i just haven't been watching very much youtube lately, on account of spending my time making youtube instead. in February i released a scripted essay about the German time travel murder mystery show DARK, while in March i posted an unscripted conversation piece about all the movies i own but haven't watched. i've got a lot more planned for this year, but we're here to talk about other people's essays, not mine. so let's do that!

"Yellow Paint" by Caleb Gamman.

i've talked about Caleb Gamman on this blog before, and no doubt i will continue to do so. he's a fantastic and criminally underrated essayist whose materialist approach to media analysis is a model for the kind of thing anyone making video essays ought to aspire to. nominally about the discourse over yellow paint signposting interactible objects in modern AAA video games, this essay is a disgusted and exhausted act of passive aggression (which turns into regular aggression by the end) against the ways social media and corporate greed have engendered an atmosphere of deliberate ignorance and illiteracy towards games, traditional media, news, politics, everything. it's an entertaining and vindicating watch, full of great points argued with genuine conviction.

"PS1 STORIES - 3D SHOOTING MAKER" by Blue Bidya Game.

this one i found through a friend posting about it. we're looking at a review of a very specific PS1 "RPG Maker" spinoff dedicated to 3D rail shooters a la Star Fox --which is an instant sell for me, a long-suffering Star Fox enjoyer. but it's just as much an in-depth history of the Maker franchise as a whole, which is a lot deeper and more interesting than i ever could've imagined. a lot of research went into this, a task i can only imagine was made incredibly difficult by the language barrier. it's a great little video that packs a lot of charm into its 31 minute runtime, but what i find even more remarkable is Blue Bidya Game's mission statement: "I do sentimental videos on every game in the PS1 library alphanumerically and region-free until I die. Let's get weird and look through low graphical detail windows together. What do you think is out there? What could be just past those blocky hills?" at time of writing, there are 36 videos on Blue Bidya Game's channel, the vast majority of which are below 2000 views. if the quality of this single essay is even remotely indicative of the rest of his catalogue, then this might qualify as one of the most exciting & slept-on works of historical games journalism out there. if you were a fan of Tim Rogers' "Let's Mosey: A Slow Translation Of Final Fantasy VII" series, i think you may have found your new favorite youtube channel. you're welcome

"VR's Greatest Hope, We Thought - Half Life: Alyx Four Years Later" by Brother Burn.

there was a time when i believed wholeheartedly that VR was my beat. i futzed around with the Oculus DK2 at the University of Oklahoma tech lab in, what, 2014? and had my mind blown by the experience of riding a virtual roller coaster. in 2016 my roommate and i went halfsies on an HTC Vive, which arrived on our doorstep the very day that Donald Trump won the presidential election. more on-the-nose symbolism you couldn't possibly ask for-- that is, assuming VR software development & investment kept up its then-rapid pace long enough to support total quadrennial escapism, which it absolutely did not. don't get me wrong, i found a number of titles to love; i made a video about perennial VR classic Beat Saber in 2018, but was plenty charmed by the likes of Arizona Sunshine, The Gallery, Vanishing Realms, Zombie Training Simulator, and especially the fast-paced climbing game To The Top, whose only weakness for me was the limited number of tracks in its (admittedly good) OST with no ability to easily import your own tracks instead. yet for as much as i liked these games, vanishingly little about them was so far beyond what was offered by the tech demos present in Valve's VR pack-in The Lab that you couldn't get an approximately similar experience by just playing that instead. alas, the horizon of possibility for VR games hit something of a ceiling once all the most obvious ludic experiences had been more or less perfected.

anyway, this video by Brother Burn is at least in part about that. i never played Half Life: Alyx, but it certainly seemed positioned to be "VR's Greatest Hope" at the time and so i was naturally drawn in by this essay's title. what it confirmed for me is that i'm glad Alyx exists, but don't feel an especial need to play it. he talks at length about the stealth level "Jeff", which sounds cool as hell and is something i could never under any circumstances subject myself to. i cannot handle horror in VR. there's a section of Arizona Sunshine set in an abandoned mine that i had to psych myself up to finish for three weeks. so it's good, in that respect, to get a breezey overview of Alyx from someone who isn't a Half Life superfan (like me), who gets motion sick in VR easily (also like me), and who clearly came up during a very specific era of youtube (ditto). Brother Burn's style is a time-capsule from 2017 in all the best ways. post-Game Grumps, pre-Breadtube, high effort editing with a lightly self-aggrandizing sense of humor, lives maybe two or three doors down from Errant Signal; i dunno what to say except i find his work charming. that he has less than 2000 subscribers at time of writing is as unfortunate as it is unsurprising.

"remember fingerboards?" by Jeffiot.

this may quietly turn out to be one of my favorite video essays of the year. a history of skateboarding with a history of finger-skateboarding along with a personal history of both into a genuine loveletter to what is objectively a very silly activity? oh yes, thank you very much, i'll take two. the section where he first tries fingerboarding is so surprising and charming, and everything that follows is like… i dunno, freeing? there's something about this video that feels like a substantially relieved exhale, as it's the first really niche thing Jeffiot's done since the astronomical success of his Skull Trumpet essay. the scariest part of being Suddenly Popular after such a long time being totally invisible is the looming specter of What Next. the temptation must've been there to just keep on doing videos investigating the origins of Weird Internet Ephemera forever, since that clearly resonated with a lot of people. instead, here he is doing something totally unrelated, in a realm that none of his new subscribers are likely to be interested in --a supposition at least momentarily supported by the fact that this video only has 14,000 views after a single day (compared to the 100k+ views his last few hit). that number will surely go up, but for the moment i think it's illustrative of the fact that every channel's subscriber count actually contains at least two, probably more, discrete pools of audience. 155,000 subscribers is impressive and substantial, but how many of those people are there for Jeffiot, and how many are there for More Skull Trumpet? all things being equal (which they very much are not), i see that 14k viewership number as a soft indication of Jeffiot's dependable long-term viewers, the people who'll follow him down whatever blind alley he wanders through.

i plugged Jeffiot in the previous roundup, with a lot of time spent analyzing the phenomenon of running a small channel that suddenly gets huge because of a single viral hit. when i wrote that post in january of this year, he'd just exceeded 50,000 subscribers after having only 5,000 a few weeks prior. now, two months later, he's got over 155,000 subscribers. this makes Jeffiot's channel a really useful case study in how one translates good luck into good fortune. the most notable development in my opinion is that quite a lot of Jeffiot's back catalogue has seen an immense increase in viewership as well, something that simply does not happen unless there's a palpable and immediate and consistent qualitative energy shared between the old stuff and The Thing That Went Viral. when i say that the job of a video essayist toiling in sub-5k-views obscurity is to lay the groundwork for getting lucky, this is exactly what i mean. Jeffiot's stuff is high-effort, surprising, and thoroughly entertaining across the board, unique in subject matter yet somehow broadly approachable (that he's clearly very influenced by the work of Tim Rogers over at Action Button is, i'm sure, just a coincidence). i really hope that Jeffiot doesn't take the relatively low viewership of this fingerboard essay as a Failure and vow to stay away from such seemingly off-brand subject matter in the future. it's not a failure (i mean, god, i'd kill for a video of mine to even break 5k in a single day at this point), but rather an indication of confidence and direction. the best artists and creators will walk their path whether you follow them or not. there's no being true to what compels you which also permits universal success, and any attempt to the contrary is a great way to strangle your soul to death. the successes float you on from the sinkers. views and subscribers don't have a linear relationship with monetary success on youtube (unless you rely exclusively on ad revenue, at which point you're already fucked and should probably check a calendar to see if it's still 2015), yet it's so easy to get spooked by them because youtube wants us to be obsessed with analytics. somehow, i think Jeffiot's smart enough to avoid such pitfalls.

"The Mass Extinction Debates: A Science Communication Odyssey" by Oliver Lugg.

this one was suggested to me through my askbox. what strikes me most about this video is how it spends 45 minutes building up the context leading up to the debates about what actually caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, so that you understand what they really represented beyond a simple who's right/who's wrong. i had no idea this was such a recent thing-- 1996, man. that's so in my lifetime. i've always thought the asteroid theory was just uncontroversially true, it never occurred to me that there would have been a combative dogma against it in the scientific community. this is just a good, fun, enjoyable and educational video essay.

"Everyone But Me Is Wrong About The Cornetto Trilogy" by Innuendo Studios.

this is an essay refuting the semi-popular assertion that the Cornetto Trilogy (Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World's End) are about stunted manchildren being forced by circumstance to finally grow up. instead, Ian Danskin argues, these films are about stunted manchildren who refuse to change until circumstances beyond their control forceably change the entire rest of the world in a way that allows them to never have to grow up. this is one of those essays that's clearly been on the backburner for a long time, delivered with a real sense of frustration and desire to correct the record on something that seems, to Danskin, transparently obvious.

i liked this essay a lot because (to get a bit inside baseball) i'm dedicated to finally producing my extremely-long-in-the-works essay titled Everyone Is Wrong About LOST, about how everyone is wrong about the tv show LOST, by the end of this year. a big question for me in writing that essay has been what tone to strike, how much indignance i should show, where the line between funny and annoying lies. this essay did a lot to clarify that question for me, which is only that much more edifying because Ian Danskin has been at this since 2014. his original essay, This Is Phil Fish, was a big inspiration for me when i first started thinking i might want to try my hand at this gig, and his work ever since has remained some of the most consistently good and clear argumentative writing on the platform. any time he posts a new essay is a moment of quiet celebration for me, especially on the rare occasion he does traditional media analysis like this instead of the equally excellent but generally dry rhetorical analysis he's been doing with the Alt-Right Playbook for the last 6 years. it feels somehow poetic to once again have the path forward in my work clarified by a creator who inspired me an entire gender ago, like somehow despite all that's changed i'm still being true to my WAIT HOLD ON WHAT

well i guess i'd better hurry up and make this fucking LOST video, huh?

<- ROUNDUP #4 | ROUNDUP #6 ->

[putschki1969]

“Sono Saki e” Promotion

Wakana visited the Tower Recrods Shibuya store to promote her newly released album! Tweet 1 | Tweet 2

Digital Album (Purchase/Stream): https://jvcmusic.lnk.to/wakana_sonosakie

Oricon Entry Position

“Sono Saki e” made it to #14 on its first day in the Daily Oricon Charts. That’s honestly lower than I expected, really not the best entry position (especially compared to Keiko who managed to reach #8 on the first day). This doesn’t bode well for the overall performance.

Uta-Net Lyric Essay Part 2

In commemoration of the release of her 3rd original studio album “Sono Saki e”, Wakana has been invited to write three lyric essays for the song column of “Uta-Net”. Part 1 can be found HERE. Part 2 was posted today. You can read the essay on the website. There’s also an audio recording provided, be sure to check it out! This installment is dedicated to “KEMONO feat. Shin'ya Kiyozuka”. Speaking of which, an animated music video for the track was posted on Wakana’s Official YouTube Channel last night. If you haven’t yet, be sure to watch it!

Interview with Real Sound

Source: https://realsound.jp/2023/05/post-1338130.html

We get another longer interview with some interesting insight regarding “Sono Saki e”. Here are some of the highlights┗(•ˇ_ˇ•)―→

With this album, Wakana wants to provide solace for people who are in a dark place right now. Music should always bring light into your world.

Both “Asu wo Yume Mite Utau” as well as “Flag” contain the image of looking towards the future and hoping for a brighter tomorrow. Even though those songs were written long before her and Takebe came up with the final album concept, they fit perfectly into it. 

The album contains a transition between a strong sense of loneliness and slowly gaining hope, realising that you are not alone.

It was actually Takebe who suggested to add some darker elements to “Butterfly Dream”. It turned into a dark fantasy. Hidden withing the cute melody, there’s a muddy desire to possess something that is important to you. The point of view is quite delusional, borderline crazy

Wakana loves the “folk” and rock-ish sound of “Rapa Nui” and she had a blast singing in the language of Easter Island even though she wasn’t really sure how to pronounce most of the words. She tried to listen to more recent recordings of the language but it was still difficult to figure out the best way to sing those lines. The song is about facing your own weaknesses. It’s not always a bad thing to be by yourself. You can find strength in being alone.

“Shirushi” has a strong message of knowing that you always have someone by your side even if they are not physically there with you. Your very existence is proof that someone else has been there and touched your life. Just this thought can be reassurance enough. 

“Kibou” and “Kara” are both about finding light and hope within a dark world. You can be sure that the sun will rise again no matter what. 

Wakana would like us to compare “Tsubasa” and “Kara” since “Kara” is pretty much a sequel. It tell a story of how time has passed between those two songs. She talked with the lyricist about being afraid to trust people. The song is about having been betrayed and hurt in the past which makes you want to hide away and not interact with people anymore. You start to feel like you are completely alone but there comes a time when you realise that no, you are not in fact alone. You always have your friends and family by your side. With their support you have the strength to move forward. 

“KEMONO” is about not being afraid to be different in today’s world and to live your truth with pride. Wakana enjoys the jazzy feel of the piano, she thinks her singing and the piano playing almost sounds like an elaborate game of ping-pong.

“Sono Saki e” actually has the same message as “Ato Hitotsu”, just a little more profound. Finding joy in the small things in our daily lives

Interview with USEN Encore

Source: https://e.usen.com/interview/interview-original/wakana-sonosakihe.html

2023/05/30 Instagram post by Wakana

Finally, my 3rd album "Sono Saki e" will be released!! ️🥳🎉 The day has finally come...✨Can't wait for tomorrow!! ️🤩I’d like to make a little announcement of a program that will be on air the night before the release 🤗 Tonight at around midnight, I will have an appearance on "Artist Voice" on ABC TV📺 I got to shoot in a very nice space🌟 Please take a look ✨You can watch the broadcast on TV or an archived version on Abema ☺️(Source) [Note: Hopefully someone will upload this appearance]

[hotpocketcasserole]

Thoughts on X Files so far...

There really aren't many shows that I get super invested in anymore these days. I think because of work and the lethargy that comes with getting older and unhealthier, my brain has sort of rewired itself to only be able to tolerate youtube videos. Mostly commentary and narration channels.

Like, I rarely sit down and watch movies anymore because I could easily watch a twenty minute Cinema Snob or Ryan Hollinger essay on the movie. On the one hand, those sorts of reviews give a deeper analysis of movies and shows and give me different perspectives that I hadn't considered before. On the other, it's my lazy way of consuming media without putting 90 minutes into it. And when I do, I find myself playing a game on my phone or scrolling tumblr.

I have sort of found myself doing that with the X Files but I'm trying to make more of an effort to pay attention. Some episodes can be a bit slow but I know I ought to be making more of an effort.

That said, it feels so natural to get into this show. Not just because I've already watched the first three seasons about a dozen times but because it really is just a good show. There have been other shows that I really struggled to get into or keep up with and I wondered why that was.

I've tried watching similar shows like Hannibal or Mindhunter. I enjoyed them a bit but found myself getting burnt out after a season or even a few episodes. They were beautifully shot, well written, very well acted. And yet I quickly fell out of love with Hannibal and I lost interest in Mindhunter after about five or so episodes.

I think it might be because these shows took themselves too seriously. To me, they lacked the range of emotion. They were too dour, too despondent. The visuals in Hannibal were extremely artistic and lush but ultimately too depressing. No one seemed to have much humor about anything and everything was focused around murder and cannibalism. It was very similar with Mindhunter. It was a fascinating story to follow along but I came away from each episode in a deep funk.

The X Files can be a dark show, both in content and in visuals. I think I watched a special feature on a DVD where one of the show's creators joked about how the show seemed to mostly take place in the dark. They'd come to the set and all the lights would be off and they'd think it was closed but actually they were just getting ready to start filming!

But I think what separates X Files from these other shows is the fact that there is a balance of light and dark. Mulder and Scully have a good professional rapport with one another. As they grow as characters, they're starting to care more each other, about how they're feeling. Mulder expresses concern for Scully a few times on particular cases he knows affect Scully on a personal level. They go out of their ways sometimes to help one another. They even joke and smile with one another!

I'm still only three seasons in but I'm already hooked because I can see the broad range of humanity in these characters. Not just Mulder and Scully but the supporting characters as well. There are funny moments, tender moments, heartbreaking moments. And having those only makes the intense moments even more suspenseful. Even though I know the show goes on for several more seasons, I still cling to the edge of the sofa when they're in danger.

That's what sets this show apart from most other shows for me. Even with some bad acting, even with it's cheesy TV special effects, it's still an effective and dynamic show. It's story telling and the relationship between Mulder and Scully.

Feel free to disagree or tell me if I'm wrong, these are just some random things I was thinking about lately while watching the show.

Also, Scully is always a mood:

[keepthisholykiss]

i swear to god i am not an alarmist nor do i want to sound like one but time is a circle and history repeats blah blah but i think its important we recognize that the satanic panic IS back and we might be about to face those horrible fucking things all over again (imo satanic panic actually never ended but thats a tumblr essay for another day) researching the satanic panic was a fairly in-depth special interest of mine for a few years and i am seeing a number of very concerning headlines that lead me to believe the current conservative narrative paired with major headline murders will eventually lead to the same issues (or worse) than the 70s and 80s. tw for anything related to true crime/death below the fold im assuming this will get suppressed because of the topic also so feel free to reblog if you are so inclined.

there are two major court cases and one social media movement that lead me to this conclusion currently given their media coverage within a calendar year. i HOPE i am overexaggerating but i AM deeply concerned.

aiden fucci - this teen was recently sentenced after pleading guilty to murdering another teen in 2021. coverage of this case heightened when evidence was shown in the sentencing hearings which included "satanic" drawings. this was the first case i saw to raise my red flags.

the delphi murders which recently (like yesterday) had a major update which is what prompted me to make this post. this is a case of two girls in delphi, indiana who were murdered but managed to capture the potential killer on snapchat. the suspect was recently found and has now released a 100 page affidavit detailing why the girls were killed. this affidavit details sacrificial ceremonies and a cult of odinism. this case has received a large amount of interest over the years as it was long considered an unsolved case, this case will receive much larger attention nationally than cases like aiden fucci and may be the beginning of the panic "properly."

also worth mentioning is bryan kohberger - while this case has not taken the full panic on yet i am not counting it out as trial has not started. this is the idaho four murder suspect out of pellman washington. his case has gained notoriety and he is still awaiting trial as he just waived his speedy trial rights. you may have heard about this case prior to kohberger's arrest when a tiktok psychic claimed a professor committed the murders out of lesbian rage. this was proven to be untrue and kohberger is currently the only suspect on record. but how is this related to satanic panic? this case is currently being devoured by conservative journalists and "lone wolf" media figures who are convinced the entire case is a police cover-up for everything from drug abuse to cp to trafficking itself. major incel groups are flooding to content surrounding the case, littering their videos with dog whistles, to try and change the narrative. this is not currently a major satanic panic foundation to me but this coverage has gone so many different ways and the coverage is so fucked that i have my eye on it. as for social media, recent years have seen a rise in christian influencers. this has been, in-part though not solely because, "cringe" reaction channels or commentary channels have platformed many of these influencers. these influencers have used their newfound holy fame to create videos exposing "satan" in media. we may look at them and laugh but they are spreading true fear that at least some people believe. this is extremely harmful when we consider that real, convicted murder cases are supporting these ideas. we've seen this story before just decades earlier without the internet.

if you're reading this freaking out over the possibility of another widespread campaign to eliminate non-christians, queer people, and poc then i encourage you to read about the satanic panic of the past to better inform yourself. get better at identifying ai-generated articles, images, and conservative fear mongering. here are my personal reading recommendations. if i am afraid for no reason then hey at least you have some reading reccs. again i hope im wrong, i never want to see that shit repeated but fuck if i dont absolutely fear this next election year and what it may bring out. books on the satanic panic and/or its lead-up: unmask alice by rick emerson satan's silence by debbie nathan satanic panic: pop cultural paranoia in the 1980s chaos by tom o'neill books on misinformation or conspiracy: trust the plan by will sommer the midnight kingdom by jared sexton the storm is upon us by mike rothschild

not-books that you can also check out: you're wrong about the satanic panic conviction: american panic shanspeare 'doja cat and the return of the satanic panic'

[seething-fire]

Sanders Sides & Youtube head canons

This is just what I think the sides would watch on YouTube.. :) 

Warnings: swearing, mention of depression and anxiety 

just found this in my drafts, I have no idea how long it’s been there

Also- the names aren’t color coded because it wouldn’t let me do that for some reason 

Enjoy! 

Logan:

- MatPat STAN

- Film Theory, Food Theory, Game Theory, all of it

- After he watches a movie for the first time, he sees if any of his faves have made a video on it yet

- After a debate (or when he feels like debating) he looks up the topic on YouTube to see if he can find any video essays

- He knows what ASMR is, so you know what I’m about to say

- HE IS OBSESSED WITH ASMR, okay???

- Especially personal attention centered ones bc he doesn’t get personal attention irl

- Started watching Buzzfeed Unsolved with Virgil after AA

- When he’s had a bay day or week he searches for those videos that are titled “This video will make you cry”

- Not going to elaborate on that one so here ya go, my fellow Logan stans

Virgil:

- Watches emo band music videos (obviously)

- ADORES those SFX makeup artists

- He may or may not want to be a makeup artist in his free time

- When he’s anxious, he watches ASMR

- No one is aware that he does this

- He knows that Patton and Logan watch it, but he’s given them so much shit about it, he cannot ever tell them he likes it too

- One day when he was having a panic attack, he thought “oh what the hell, it’s worth a shot”

- Has been hooked ever since

- He loves conspiracy theory videos, as we learned

- Religiously watched Buzzfeed Unsolved

- You know those people who make sculptures that look exactly like Tim Burton characters?

- Yeah, his watch history is FILLED with video after video of people crafting Jack Skellington or Emily, the Corpse Bride

- He may or may not have tried to make one himself

Patton:

- Obviously watches the videos where the pet’s army parents come home

- LOVES baking videos, specifically Preppy Kitchen, because he adores how neat everything looks

- When he’s had a rough day, he makes a quick run to the store so he can whip up one of the recipes from the video

- Really likes art related ASMR

- It soothes him

- He sometimes watches gaming videos

- Games like Minecraft

- Or anything on DanandPhilGames

- When he’s depressed, he watches music videos from Thomas’s favorite bands when he was a teenager

- For that sweet sweet nostalgia

- Clips from The SpongeBob musical cheer him up as well

Roman:

- Watches broadway performances

- His recommended is filled with small artists who sing covers

- Seeing people following their dreams makes him so happy

- But when he’s feeling regret about the wedding, he actively avoids them

- Sometimes falls down an art rabbit hole because it's SO PRETTY

- He doesn’t understand why Virgil likes the SFX makeup videos, when the beauty guru’s videos are drama filled and “have pretty makeup”

- As we know, he likes epic fail videos

- When he’s having a bad day, he will watch those for HOURS

- Really likes the commentary videos about 90 Day Fiance

- Does not watch the show outside of those, but absolutely LOVES to watch those

- Or maybe he does watch it, you decide ;)

Janus:

- You KNOW he is subscribed to every single drama channel out there

- When he gets a notification from one of them, he stops whatever he is doing and goes to watch it

- All for the tea

- Okay this may sound a bit off for him, but he cannot stop watching YouTubers who dress like they’re from a different time

- Rachel Maksy, Karolina Zebrowska, etc

- He loves him some chaotic queens

- And he gets to learn new things

- Not only about history and fashion, but about sewing

- This man made his capelet and that is not up for debate, I’m sorry

Remus:

- Watches pimple popping videos

- And cystic surgeries, apparently

- Virgil got him into SFX makeup, so he enjoys watching those videos when he needs something a bit tamer

- JermBot is his FAVORITE BITCH

- His chaotic energy is *chef’s kiss* in his opinion

- Watches old clips of Evil Knievel to see if he can attempt the tricks

- Starts fights with people in comment sections for funzies

- Also watches Buzzfeed Unsolved

- Because why the fuck not

- Okay this next one is kinda angsty but here we go

- He and Roman used to watch Simply Nailogical together so they could do art on each other’s nails

- The art that Roman did was a mirror image of Cristine’s, and Remus’s was, well.. You know-

- Remus-y

- HOWEVER - that does not mean that his nail art wasn’t good, because you know damn well that it was

- So when he’s having a really bad day, he watches her channel

[thestingerblog]

Youtube & Evolving Curations of Internet Personalities

by Sam H.

Read on our website!

Like many other people my age, I grew up on YouTube throughout the 2010s, and as I’ve grown older, I’ve gravitated towards spending more of my time watching TV shows and movies. I haven’t necessarily “grown out” of YouTube, as that’s a ridiculous claim considering the insane amount of content on YouTube with enough to satisfy anyone’s niche interest; however, I found that the platform itself was growing more tedious to navigate and that I just didn’t enjoy it the same anymore. There are plenty of explanations as to why YouTube’s inner workings have shifted in recent years, including its algorithm, demonetization rules, oversaturation of content through crossposting on other platforms like TikTok, and increased accessibility to creating content. But in this article, I want to focus on how YouTube has been fundamentally shaped by the evolution of internet personalities and their presence in the online sphere. 

When I was younger, I remember having a hard time trying to describe the type of videos I watched. I did enjoy a good gaming video every now and then (yeah, they were mostly Markiplier videos), and I indulged in some sketch comedy channels, but most of the creators I watched just created content generically labeled as “Lifestyle” or “Culture.” Yet, I was relatively dissatisfied with that label because I didn’t think that label did any of the channels I watched justice. These “Lifestyle” creators often created videos in which they talk directly to the camera as if talking directly to the viewer, thus fostering an intimate sense of connection. The viewer then feels a sense of trust and loyalty in the creator and, therefore, why it was far more common for people to follow certain creators rather than watch certain content as people do nowadays. Additionally, the length of the videos around the time of the “Lifestyle” creator boom of the 2010s often ended up being around 10-20 minutes, which allows people to connect to these creators in bite-sized pieces or all-at-once binge-style, all up to the viewer’s choice. Thus, this creator becomes an “internet personality,” a character larger than life and a more curated version of the person behind the screen. 

During this boom, YouTube knew how important internet personalities and creators were to the platform. Popular creators were invited to be a part of the now-discontinued annual tradition of YouTube rewind, and some, such as Joey Graceffa with his “Escape the Night” series, had their projects supported monetarily through YouTube’s now-defunct premium streaming service YouTube Red at the time. At one point, there was even a Creator Store, a permanent installation in London that sold merch by British YouTubers until it closed post-pandemic. 

Nowadays, there’s a larger culture on YouTube around longer video essays and commentary that doesn’t necessarily require creators to share stories about their personal lives, so the need to establish creators as an “internet personality” isn’t inherent to the success of a creator. This can also be seen through the changing cultures around supporting creators; for example, Vidcon was a huge event where attendants could meet YouTube’s biggest creators in the 2010s, but now, most mainstream YouTubers don’t attend the event or engage with it in the same way many YouTubers were doing meet-and-greets at Vidcon in its early years. 

The decline of the prominence of internet personalities isn’t necessarily a bad phenomenon. The toxic side of perpetuating internet personalities resides primarily in the parasocial relationships viewers can form with creators. While most fans respected creators’ privacy, some people took their desire to grow closer to the creators much further and would often try to ship YouTubers or invade their privacy to confirm rumors about their personal lives. Though this sounds similar to how celebrities are treated, internet personalities tend to be more accessible via social media and through engaging with them directly on the videos’ comment sections, giving many people a false sense of control over these creators. It’s clear that these relationships become harmful for the creator, who can have difficulty untangling their personal life from the life they put online, especially when much of their content comes from sharing their life online. These relationships can also be unhealthy for the viewer, as the viewer builds an infallible trust in a human being who will inevitably make mistakes. 

Analyzing how internet personalities on YouTube have evolved over time, therefore, demonstrates how the platform culture is changing quickly, but if anything, this proves that accessible video platforms, compared to traditional cable or paid streaming services, change and adapt with time, content, and viewers. 

[gamersonthego]

Chase Koeneke's Top 10 Games of 2022

I think in general, I found myself wanting in 2022. While new games in some of my favorite franchises saw releases, very few lived up to the expectations I had for them. I also just completely missed games that would almost assuredly make this list (Hardspace Shipbreaker, Immortality, Pentiment, Coromon, Chained Echoes, the list goes on). But what did make the list? Let's find out.

10. Digimon Survive

Look, I promised myself this would be my token tenth slot, and it’s not because it deserves it. Digimon Survive isn’t very good. Its strategy parts are thin and tedious, plagued by low movement ranges and bad maps. And its visual novel parts go on way too long, yet rarely offer much depth. 

But dammit, there’s something here, and with some adjustments, a sequel to Digimon Survive could be really good (though I’m not sure it’ll get that chance.) The art style is excellent, the writing is solid (again, it’s an issue of quantity and redundancy, not necessarily quality) and outside of one or two of them, I ended up really connecting to both the characters and the Digimon. Other games deserve this slot more, but there was no other game I wanted to like more than this, and I think that accounts for something.

9. Platformer Toolkit

I love playing games, but I think I love analyzing them even more, which is probably why Mark Brown’s video-essay-inside-a-video-game appealed to me so much. Mark Brown’s YouTube channel, Game Maker’s Toolkit breaks down game mechanics, theory and psychology, and after he taught himself Unity this year (documenting his progress on the channel), he built a game that gave a tiny window into the the minds of game developers. 

Platformer Toolkit is a simple browser-based 2D platformer, but it controls like garbage. This is by design though! Mark walks and talks you through the physics of character movement, unlocks sliders and panels in a Mario Maker style design that lets you tweak everything from jump height and run speed to squash frames and coyote time. And once you’ve finished the short and free experience, Mark opens up a number of presets that lets you toggle through a group of classic platformer physics setups (Mario, Sonic, Celeste, Meat Boy, etc.) so you can compare and gain a greater appreciation for why those characters control the way they do. It was really compelling and I felt like a learned a ton.

8. Marvel's Midnight Suns

I’ve felt this way for years and I haven’t been shy in saying it: I’m fucking tired of superheroes. Throw them all in the bin right next to zombies and let’s find a new thing to obsess over please. But I do love me a turn-based strategy game, so when the makers of XCOM: Enemy Unknown announced they were making a game based on Marvel heroes, the pros outweighed the cons, and I checked it out. And while I’m not back on the MCU train (in fact, the writing is so, so, so Marveliciously awful, that I’ve started skipping cutscenes whole cloth), I’m finding myself addicted to the game parts of this game. 

Midnight Suns does not play like XCOM. At all. It’s an entirely new, card-based system, played in very small arenas. You’re always outnumbered and you always have a very limited numbered of actions available to you each turn. To overcome this, you have to employ clever strategy to make the most of every move, using attacks to bounce enemies off each other or parts of the environment, disabling the most vicious threats and finding the perfect opportunity to burn an action on achieving an objective. And while I never could thematically wrap my head around why these larger than life super-beings were all fighting in these cramped little spaces, the fact is, it’s just a really fun system to play around in. 

7. Vampire Survivors

More than any other game this year, Vampire Survivors justified my purchase of a Steam Deck. That sounds weird, right? I spent over $500 on a thing just to play a $5 game on it most of the time? But, uh, Vampire Survivors really is that good. This horde mode meets roguelike with a thick coat of Castlevania paint and a sprinkle of idle game sensibilities just kept sucking the hours right out of me. 

While the game on its own is fun enough, the real secret to the game’s success is, well, it’s the secrets. Finding the right combination of active and passive power-ups leads to special ultimate upgrades that turn you into an absolute buzzsaw of destruction against screen-filling masses of enemies. The more you play, the more fun, new toys you unlock, compelling you to try just one more run. A compulsion I would often give into. 

6. Citizen Sleeper

I was so hot on Citizen Sleeper when I first loaded it up. I’ve followed Guillaume “blackysan” Singelin’s work for awhile now, and seeing their work translated to a video game was really exciting. And the writing, my god, the writing! I hung on most every word. And its dice-heavy tabletop game mechanics and extremely limited resources brought in a satisfying combo of luck and desperation that gave me a real sense of scrounging and stretching for survival. 

And then I realized that the game rarely allows the player to fail, almost always throwing them a bone at the last minute, never fully committing to the survival tale the story would have you believe. And about two-thirds of the way through the game, the economy just falls apart completely, as any reasonably competent player can amass more than enough resources to live comfortably, even while the story tries to convince you otherwise. 

It was a real heartbreaker to me, one that partially led to me taking the first potential ending the game presented. But the more distance I get from it, the less I think about the busted economy and the more I think about my sleeper, and the choices and friends she made along the way. And thinking about that makes me smile.

5. Live A Live

Man, I wish Live A Live had gotten a western release back on the Super Nintendo. I know young Chase would’ve loved the JRPG-meets-turn-based-strategy combat, the amazing music and the fragmented story that stars multiple protagonists in different time periods. I know this because current Chase loved it, especially with this HD 2D touchup it got on the Nintendo Switch. Is it better than Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy? I mean…maybe? The fact that it’s even a question at all speaks to how good Live A Live is. 

It’s so inventive for its era. Heck, it’s still inventive today, playing with both genre and expectations to create something unique while wearing its influences proudly on its sleeve. More RPGs should’ve taken cues from Live A Live. And they still should. 

4. Triangle Strategy

Oh look, another turn-based strategy game. Oh, and it’s HD 2D too? Yup, I have a type, and Triangle Strategy almost fits it to a t. The game tells a grand story that genuinely gripped me (even though the voice acting often didn’t), and offered real, tangible choice leading to different story paths, character recruitments and endings. 

And while the battle mechanics weren’t perfect, there was enough depth and variety from the different characters that I took great pleasure in building each soldier up, unlocking new skills and equipping with new gear, looking for synergistic combinations. I love tactics games that make me care about my characters, and I fell hard for this cast of knuckleheads.

3. Tinykin

One of my favorite gimmicks in media is shrinking down and exploring a normal-sized space as a tiny character. I love the MacGuyverness of recontextualizing modern household objects as buildings, tools and transportation. And Tinykin has this in spades. In this miniature adventure, you explore kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms and greenhouses as you collect Pikmin-like Tinykin — creatures that help you navigate the world and solve its objective-based puzzles. 

Tinykin has no combat, just chill, puzzling vibes that allow for curiosity and coziness to walk hand in hand. And as your posse of Tinykin grows, you roll deeper and deeper with your crew, until you are masterfully climbing, gliding and sliding about these creative spaces. It’s the perfect game to wind down with, and one I’d happily return to if another room got added as DLC.

2. Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Coming into 2022, this is not the Pokemon game I expected to make this list. Legends: Arceus looked awful in trailers: Empty worlds, lifeless combat, no real multiplayer to speak of. And none of those things changed once I got my hands on the final product. What did change though, was my perspective of the game in the first place. 

Legends: Arceus has you exploring an ancient Sinnoh region, in a world where the concept of Pokeballs and capturing Pokemon is just being discovered. Battling Pokemon isn’t all that fun with the new speed and strong style mechanics, but there’s hardly any battling in the game at all. Instead, Legends: Arceus is about the thrill of catching and collecting. It’s the first game in a while that makes “catching them all” feel like a relevant goal again. And the arrival of Alpha Pokemon (which are essentially bigger and rarer versions of their normal counterparts) added yet another layer of collection on top. In a year where Scarlet and Violet mostly disappointed me, Legends: Arceus is what kept me carrying a torch for my beloved pocket monsters.

Neon White

No other game made me feel as smooth, as cool, as fast and as clever as Neon White. Traversing this deadly parkour demon hunting time trial was my favorite experience of the year. I loved parsing out the fastest route through a level, discovering shortcuts and time saves along the way, before spotting a collectible and slowing down to a puzzling crawl to work my way up to where it was hiding. I loved taking on the challenge rooms that require precise and inventive ways of using your arsenal, not just for killing, but for traversal purposes as well, and then taking that knowledge back to the main game and seeing how i could implement it into my runs. 

Just about the only thing I dislike about the game is some of its writing and voice acting. Spike Spiegel himself, Steve Blum does a great job, but very little else of the cast is pulling their weight. 

But when a game makes you feel this damn cool, it just doesn’t matter what little hiccups you encounter. It’s my favorite game of the year, and one I’d probably love even more if I had a dedicated crew on my platform of choice to compete for the best level times. Neon White is a kinetic experience that turned me into a speed runner with every level.

[realmagicmaddie]

A Busy Weekend - Online "PersonaCon" 2023 w/ pigdude & Good4Gaming Supports The Trevor Project!

Hello, Tumblr! It's been some time since I initially kickstarted this blog. Since then, I've been hammering away at the video game reviews/blogs/essays/etc. that'd be exclusive to this site, as well as developing fair treats for prospective Post+ subscribers.

And then I'd be sitting stuck on a part of it.

Then going absolutely wild over my mere keyboard!

Then my brain goes out, just running on pitiful fumes.

I feel I have a ways to go in that department (call it my self-consciousness kicking in for no good reason...and maybe you're half-right, I admit). But until I feel I can deliver something substantial, I won't let this site miss out on what can be found on my Twitch, Twitter, Discord server (co-hosted with my lovely S/O @thepigdude), AO3, or even YouTube. And with this weekend being one of the largest I've had online in a while, it's only fair it's one of the first times I import the announcements from Twitter to Tumblr, and not just slap the Twitter thread's link and call it a day.

Now if it makes it easier, then here you go...

But at least I should give the Tumblr version its few bits of flair.

So with no further ado:

First up is another major charity effort from my friends at Good4Gaming, starting this Thursday (and as of writing this, TOMORROW!) at 2 PM EST.

(Small TW for the mention of self-injury and suicide; while only briefly, and in the context of helping to prevent such, it doesn't hurt for you to be aware. Just know this event is for The Trevor Project, and skip the single next paragraph if it's helpful.)

With Pride Month just around the corner, it was the perfect time to set up our next quarter of the year's major fundraising as a very appropriate cause: The Trevor Project, a renowned organization that emphasizes the care and physical/mental well-being of LGBTQ+ youth. They provide several resources for those demographics of people that couldn't readily find them elsewhere. In addition, not unlike the Crisis Text Line or numerous countries' own mobile hotlines, TP helps those in crises and/or to prevent self-injury and suicide from happening. And frankly, with how turbulent and disappointing some of the national/global news has been for LGBTQ+ groups, the Trevor Project remains as necessary as ever.

And even when this weekend's come and gone, G4G will continue to emphasize Trevor Project in charity fundraising and gaming streams/segments all through June, July, AND August—and even then, we aim to keep the site for donations open for the entirety of the year, merely switching major focus as soon as September hits.

So from Thursday afternoon to late Sunday night (going into the earliest small stretch of Monday), the team at G4G will be streaming games and activities hosted by a variety of our community members. I will be jumping on that Saturday, June 3rd from 2-6 PM EST (the game I'll be playing is still TBA, so stay tuned), but there will be a lot of other personalities to join before and after, so keep an eye out.

And if you're raring to donate or even spread the campaign to others, please check it out HERE - thanks in advance for your support!

—

And now we reach the announcements that relate to the 2023 run for PersonaCon, a completely-online, Discord-based fandom convention that kicked off amidst the start of the pandemic, yet continues to receive its share of support and festivities as the years go by. pigdude and I have been hosting panels at this virtual venue since 2021, and we are thrilled to be back with a trilogy of new panels for people to watch/listen in on, and even directly participate in.

While we encourage folks to join the actual server HERE, you can also interact through my Twitch channel during livestreams of the events; we'll be sure to consistently connect comments from both the Twitch and Discord room chats, keeping your time with us as seamless as relatively possible. Also, unlike with PersonaCon 2022 (regrettably and from my own clumsiness), the Twitch VODs for these panels will be archived to YouTube, which I'll link to around that time.

But without much more digression, here's our newest lineup of panels for this year's PersonaCon:

Saturday (June 3rd) at 11 AM EST (and ending 1.5 hours ahead of my G4G takeover!), pigdude and I'll go through the downs and ups of the P5 anime while reworking it for Royal and/or Strikers.

Sunday (June 4th) at 11 AM EST, the casts (mainline, remastered, and spin-off) of Persona 3, 4, and 5 duke it out in very (real) high-stakes Hunger Games simulators - but who're those OLD people placing bets?!

And to wrap up our time at our third consecutive online con:

Monday (June 5th) at 12 PM EST, pigdude and I'll be pitching our ideas for adapting the Persona games to the gold and/or silver screens (or the streaming equivalents): the ideal, the disaster, and the "realistically stellar."

—

So there we have it! I hope those who have the time this weekend are interested in checking out (more or less unorthodox) content from pigdude and myself. And if you want to watch any of the con's panels you might've missed, stay tuned after for the VODs to be uploaded on my YouTube channel (which is otherwise currently inactive) after the week has wrapped up.

Take care, everyone, and have a good one!

Best,

Maddie