#dan olson

[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

#james somerton #dan olson #hbomberguy #jesus christ tumblr #it won't let me format things the way i want #because this website is sometimes a piece of shit

[evertomorrowart]

Best of YouTube 2023

Yes, I did spend the first week and change of January on this. I wish I could have had it done for New Years, but too many people came out with incredible work in December, so waiting turned out for the best.

What these creators do are a huge influence on my life, I would honestly have difficulty doing what I do without them. That isn't to say that my favorites of the year are *only* on this image--It was almost impossible to narrow down my favorites. Many creators I wanted to include couldn't fit on a single page, and too many of them made more than one video I wished I could draw too!

But, to all of you, thank you for what you do. You're an inspiration.

For those who don't know, further is an explanation.

At the bottom center is an artistic masterpiece by Defunctland: "Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History." Over the last several years, Defunctland has risen from delightfully-entertaining commentary on decommissioned theme park attractions to occasionally dropping profound statements on the creation of art itself. "Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History" is worth treating like the cinematic experience it is: No second screen, you sit your ass down in front of a TV, set down the phone, and then you *watch it.* Any Disney, theme park, or independent film fan needs to pay attention to this one.

Bottom left is Caelan Conrad with their piece "Drop the T - The Deadly Consequences of Gay Respectability Politics." While I do think they've done more visually or artistically-daring pieces before, "Drop the T" is one of the most important videos released on YouTube in today's current climate of hate. We as queer folk (and our allies) need to understand how integral every identity of the queer experience has been since the start of the Civil Rights movement (and before!). While we are not identical, we *are* inseparable, and we deserve having our real history easily accessible.

TERFs and other conservative mouthpieces need not reply. Your opinions are trash. 😘

I cannot stop watching and rewatching this video by @patricia-taxxon, "On the Ethics of Boinking Animal People." It's not just a defense of furry fandom and its eccentricities, it's a thoughtful and passionate analysis of what the artform achieves that purely human representation can't. Patricia goes outside of her usual essay format to directly speak to the viewer about the elements that define furry media (the most succinct definition I've ever heard) and just how *human* an act loving animal cartoons really is.

As an artist who can draw furry characters, but never really got into erotic furry art, this video is a treasure. Why did I choose to have her drawn as a Ghibli character, hanging out with one of the tanukis from "Pom Poko?" Guess you'll have to watch, bruh.

Philosophy Tube continuously puts out videos that I would put on this list--I'm not even sure that "A Man Plagiarised my Work: Women, Money, and the Nation" is the best work she released in 2023. However, this video got many conversations going between myself and my partner, and the twist on the tail end of the video shocked us both to such a degree that I had no choice.

At the very tail end of the year, Big Joel released "Fear of Death." On his Little Joel channel, he described it as the singularly best video he's ever done, and I'm inclined to agree. However, for this illustration, I ended up repeatedly going back to a mini-series he did earlier in the year: "Three Stories at the End of the World." All three videos are deeply moving and haunting, and I was brought to tears by "We Must Destroy What the Bomb Cannot." While it may be relatively-common knowledge that the original Gojira (Godzilla) film is horror grappling with the devastation America's rush to atomic dominance inflicted on Japan, Big Joel still manages to bring new words to the discussion. Please watch all three of the videos, but if, for some reason, you must have only one, let it be "We Must Destroy What the Bomb Cannot."

Y'all. Let me confess something. I hate football. I hate watching it, I associate seeing it from the stadiums with some of my worst childhood experiences, I despise collegiate and professional football (as institutions that destroy bodies and offer up children at the feet of its alter as a pillar of American culture)--

I. L o a t h e. Football.

But.

F.D. Signifier could get me to watch an entire hour-plus essay on why I should at least give a passing care. AND HE DID IT. I might think "F*ck the Police," the two-parter on Black conservatism, or his essay on Black men's connection to anime might be "better" videos, but this writer did the impossible and held my limited attention span towards football long enough to make a sincere case for NFL players--and reminds us that millionaires can *in fact* be workers. That alone is testament to his skill.

Sit down and watch "The REAL Reason NFL Running Backs Aren't Getting Paid." Any good anti-capitalist owes it to themselves.

CJ the X continuously puts out stunning, emotional videos, and can do it with the most seemingly-inconsequential starting points. A 30 second song? An incestuous commercial? Five minutes of Tangled? Sure, why not. Go destroy yourself emotionally by watching them. I'm serious. Do it.

Their video Stranger Things and the Meaning of Life manages to to remind us all why the way we react to media does, in fact, matter. Yes, even nostalgia-driven, mass-media schlock. Yes, how we interact with media matters, what it says about us matters, and we all deserve to seek out the whys.

Folding Ideas has spent the last few years articulating exactly why so much of our modern world feels broken, and because of that his voice continuously lives rent-free in my brain. While the tricks that scam artists and grifters use to try to swindle us are never new, the advancement of technology changes the aesthetics of their performances. Portions of Folding Ideas' explanations might seem dry when going into detail of how stocks work in This is Financial Advice, but every bit of it is necessary to peel back the layers of techno-babble and jargon and make sense of the results of "Meme Stocks."

Jessie Gender puts out nothing but bangers, her absolute unit of a video about Star Wars might be my new favorite thing ever, but none of her work hit so profoundly in 2023 than the two-parter "The Myth of 'Male Socialization'" and "The Trauma of Masculinity." There's so much about modern life that isolates and traumatizes us, and so much of it is just shrugged off as "normal." We owe it to ourselves to see the world in more vivid a color palette than we're initially given.

Panels drawn after Kate Beaton and "Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands."

"This is Not a Video Essay" is one of the most intense and beautiful pieces of art I've ever put into my eyeballs. Why do we create? What drives us to connect?

I don't even know what else to say about the Leftist Cooks' work, it repeatedly transcends the medium and platform. Watch every single one of their videos, but especially this one.

The likelihood you are terminally online and yet haven't heard of Hbomberguy's yearly forrays into destroying the careers of awful people is pretty slim. Just because it has millions of views doesn't mean that Hbomberguy's "Plagiarism and You(Tube)" isn't worth the hype. Too long? Shut up, it has chapters and YouTube holds your place, anyway. You think a deep dive into a handful of creators is only meaningless drama? Well, you're wrong, you wrong-opinion-haver. Plagiarism is an *everyone* problem because of the actual harm it creates--the history it erases, the labor it devalues, the art it marginalizes--which you would know if you watched "Plagiarism and You(Tube)".

Watch. The damn. Video.

In fact, watch all of them!

Thanks for reading this if you did.

#fanart #digital art #caricature #kate beaton #ducks #stranger things #apes #youtube #2023 #best of 2023 #video essay #hbomberguy #leftist cooks #cj the x #big joel #jessie gender #folding ideas #dan olson #jessie earl #neil and sarah #fd signifier #f.d. signifier #little joel #gojira #godzilla #philosophy tube #abigail thorn #caelan conrad #patricia taxxon #defunctland

[tuesdayisms]

Dan Olson has joined in. With receipts.

Edit: it's on Thread Reader now

#hbomberguy #todd in the shadows #dan olson #folding ideas #james somerton #I'm too invested in this drama for my own good

[tuurverheydepoetryandprose]

I hope James Somerton is alive and looked after. Being a plagiarist does not make you deserve death by suicide. There can be redemption for James. There can be a life for James. Just not on YouTube. I hope he realises that.

I also hope Hbomb has people to support him. All he did was make a thorough video about plagiarism and its consequences. He wasn’t mean. He wasn’t unfair. He wasn’t harassing. He explicitly condemned harassing James. Harry did his job, and did it with as much due diligence and empathy as he could. I hope people jumping to blame him realise that. The worst things said about James were not said by Harry, not by a long shot. Hbomb is not responsible for people who do exactly the opposite of what he supported.

Also, I hope that the people blaming Harry understand that this might be what James wants. If you don’t have any hope left, you might just settle for revenge. Plenty of people make their last (public) act a spiteful one. This is why blame is not helpful. Whether James genuinely does something or not, blame further exacerbates the situation.

I just hope James hasn’t done anything irrevocable. Even if you can’t find it within yourself to have sympathy for him, imagine what his suicide could do to Hbomb, Jessie Gender, Dan Olson, Todd in the Shadows or ex-Patreons who voiced their disdain.

It’s a horrific possibility and we should all pray it does not happen.

#james somerton #hbomberguy #Hbomb #dan olson #folding ideas #jessie gender #todd in the shadows #Telos #James of Telos #tw sui attempt

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

I've watched this video about 50 times, and the extended skit explaining the 'Do Balrogs have wings?' controversy is still possibly the funniest joke about a niche fantasy topic I've ever heard.

#folding ideas #dan olson #balrog #tolkien #it's got everything: #an increasingly frantic narrator #casually calling David Day a 'Tolkien hack' #the BEST depiction of Morgoth #and a perfect closing argument

[eyecantread]

In case James Somerton tries to release a second manipulative apology video, here's some stuff I haven't seen shared on Tumblr. In the initial wake of HBomberguy's video release on December 3, Somerton made the following post to Patreon that was quickly deleted:

Here he dismisses Plagiarism and You(tube) as "not bringing up anything new since the last time he was accused of plagiarism" and tries to pull the same victim card as before when he complained that a "big creator was unfairly targeting him." This is a rehash of previous controversies and criticisms he's received such as when he went after Nebula for "not wanting to platform him because he's queer (lol wut)" in 2022 and lashing out at Dan Olson on Twitter when Dan called him out for the Patreon shit in April 2023 (James begged his viewers to support him on Patreon because he claimed to be in dire financial straights and then bought a $5k+ camera). The man is very versed in DARVO.

The Ace Couple, a pair of Asexual podcasters (who you should totally listen to btw) detailed the Nebula debacle in a recent episode, as well as their own interaction with Somerton as financial backers of his film project who disagreed with the content of one of his videos. The issue? Aside from the shenanigans with Telos, the Indiegogo film studio the Ace Couple backed, Somerton had said in a video that asexual people don't get sent to conversion therapy, which is categorically not true. Naturally, he resorted to his tried and true tactic of accusing the Ace Couple of attacking him.

He then released a second statement later in the evening of the release of Hbomberguy's video:

All of this on top of him subtly throwing his cowriter under the bus for it in his apology video! Statements like, "I'm not trying to throw Nick under the bus" don't work when you also say things like, "things that weren't true I didn't write or believe made it into the videos!" What other conclusion are viewers supposed to make about shit like 'American soldiers lusting after Nazi bodies' and the snarking misogyny that can't be traced back to a source other than Nick wrote it? Somerton is using Nick as a fall guy and trying to gaslight everyone into thinking he's not and it's transparent and pathetic.

The man absolutely does not deserve another chance and any claims he makes that he is seeking money to reimburse the queer creators he erased by plagiarizing their work should not be trusted. The guy has zero credibility, don't give him the benefit of the doubt.

#lgbtqia #Hbomberguy #James Somerton #jenny nicholson #Dan Olson #Folding Ideas #Twitter #Reddit #Patreon #Todd in the Shadows #video essayist #Youtube

[lyinginahammock]

Huh, he deleted all his videos.

Personally, I share the sentiment that this is the start of heel-turn and he'll end up some of alt-right commentary/reaction channel. So, buckle up for that.

Seriously, though, Hbomb (and Todd and Dan et. al.) managed to absolutely kill a YuTube channel, something even peak Content Cop never achieved.

Edit: Found the blog that informed my opinion that Somerton will grift the alt right -

#james somerton #hbomberguy #todd in the shadows #dan olson #plaigarism

[ytcomments-archive]

#hbomberguy #youtube comments #james somerton #plagiarism #dan olson #folding ideas #the pipeline is real #internet historian #lucas reilly #we love your work lucas reilly! #tommy tallarico #joey kuras #it’s always joey #autism brain #academic writing #let’s be mature guys please

[cum-rade]

Awesome. He is so real for this.

#dan olson

[crooked-wasteland]

An Exhaustive History of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings by Dan Olson

Since the Hazbin Twitter has decided to deteriorate into ignorant cries of racism over Ralph Bakshi and his movies based on the valid intersectional social criticism of one HelluvaReceipts, I'm going to promote this video essay from Dan Olson. I have referenced his work in my own essays, and it appears I was just too early in discussing Bakshi and his effect on adult animation and how it pertains to Medrano's own lackluster contribution to the field due to her lack of meaning in her work. So while this situation is trending on Twitter, I'll plug one of my favorite video essayists and inspirations for you all to enjoy.

#ralph bakshi #adult animation #hazbin critical #vivziepop critical #vivziepop criticism #vivziepop critique #media literacy #vivianne miedema #animation history #dan olson #folding ideas

[monster-mash]

If nothing else, I think lefttube/breadtube discourse reveals how twitter literally rots your brain. People who have made entire careers off of making thoughtful, introspective multimedia essays get on the bird app and drop the most ludicrous, brain-dead takes you'll hear from someone with more than 1000 followers. Just head-in-ass levels of poorly thought out, no-nuance, terminally online drivel. Some people will see this as the mask slipping from their perfectly polished personas, but I don't buy into that interpretation. Sure, people are more likely to speak off the cuff on an app like twitter, meaning they put their thoughts through less of a filter, but I think this phenomenon speaks to how twitter encourages reactionary behaviour more than it says about any individual.

Creators who are usually very professional and reasonable will suddenly jump on some internet drama without doing even the bare minimum of research, because they're supposed to have a "hot take" on a situation that most of the time doesn't even involve them, because twitter drives people to engage, for better or for worse (but mostly for worse)

#content #breadtube #twitter #quinton reviews #sarah z #dan olson #contrapoints

[seralica]

watched Dan Olson/Folding Ideas analysis of the Somerton "response", and boy HOWDY is he smart

he uses his own knowledge of Canadian filmmaking and the industry here to get into some details about why James is full of shit

If you need any reason to sub to the Folding Ideas Patreon, here it is with his new 30 minute video about the situation go sub and watch it

#no I will not provide his points here he deserves to be compensated for his expertise #it is another very good patreon to be subbed to though with early drafts and also sometimes he rambles about things #like his recent Gary Vee ramble #dan olson #folding ideas #james somerton

[optimisticabomination]

New Dan Olsen video and 10/10 reaction image

#dan olson #folding ideas

[nobodyinparticular10]

This whole situation with James Somerton reminds me of that Jojo scene. Everyone's ganging up on one lazy, plagiarizing jackass. It's hilarious.

#james somerton #hbomberguy #todd in the shadows #dan olson #plagiarism

[mecasloth]

The whole Quinton Reviews thing really puts it into stark lighting that most people's "believe victims" ends with men.

#reminder im a feminist i am not against feminism #quinton reviews #dan olson #this is specifically about dan here idk what emily abd sara have done

[rhaenin-time]

The reason the world of ASOIAF is so rich and often seems to build itself is that it's a projection of the eurocentric worldview.

More specifically, George RR Martin's eurocentric worldview. Sometimes it's intentional. In fact, GRRM comes in more aware of his biases than a lot of fantasy authors. But he still leans on them in order to build an organic world on intuition. What differentiates him from so many other (mostly white) fantasy authors is that he proceeds to then question aspects of that worldview within the narrative.

That means you need to understand the flaws in the eurocentric worldview in order to deconstruct or even just understand that world on a larger scale.

Which is why trying to 'solve' ASOIAF by forcing together tiny tiny breadcrumbs into tiny tiny puzzle pieces and putting them together with other breadcrumbs shaped into other puzzle pieces when the mold that makes them fit is simply the product of a larger story... It's not going to get you anywhere. Correction, it's going to get you everywhere, forever digging for breadcrumbs to twist into even more puzzle pieces that will take you further and further away from the story at hand.

This is the case for so many pieces of media, so many works of art that we now dismiss as content, and the general conversation around them. I wholly blame the general dismissal of the arts, humanities, and "the curtains are blue" analysis, and honestly, how most English and reading curriculums don't do a very good job of helping students enjoy trying to understand art.

So let me shout it from the rooftops:

It doesn't matter what happened to Lucy Gray Baird. What matters is that her legacy, and the culture that she embodies, lives on in the Covey, in the people whose lives she touched, and in Katniss. That the flames not just of revolution, but of a people, are stronger than the will and the bullets of the colonizer.

Annihilation is about pain and self-destruction, not about whether the aliens took over the world. Folding Ideas says it far better than I ever could:

And finally, the fantasy genre, in general, is one of the most metaphorical and symbolic genres of writing. When it's written well. And when you apply that understanding to ASOIAF, you get a much clearer picture than reddit posts about how 'the Bloodstone Emperor is secretly Azor Ahai and they're both evil' and 'Westeros is a fairytale land and the Targaryens are colonizers and let's just ignore the Andals and also the definition of colonialism and also how Targaryens and fire symbolize flexibility, the potential for change, and are the outsiders with a mysterious past used to reflect how feudalism and the patriarchy are incompatible with their family because feudalism and patriarchy are incompatible with humanity,' could ever hope to give you.

#hotd #hotd critical #asoiaf #house of the dragon #asoiaf meta #asoiaf fandom #literary analysis #media analysis #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #folding ideas #dan olson #Youtube #post