I Don't Know James Rolfe

[@KawaiiKoalaBear]

As compared to the kind of controversies that have befallen a lot of the big creators from that time, a guy whose fans are upset he loves his wife and kids more than he loves his fans is honestly so charming

[@Bipolar.Baddie]

While it's very different, the entitlement and dehumanization of James by his "fans" reminds me of Danny Brown's song "Ain't it Funny." It's about how fans are so entitled that they expect artists to turn their own suffering, addictions, and cries for help into entertainment and that they'll ignore the suffering of artists if it means that they still get to be entertained. While comparing missing out on making consistent videos to raise a family isn't comparable to having people ignore your suffering and addiction aren't comparable, the entitlement and of the audience and commodofication of human beings into automatons that exist to entertain them is.

[@dm121984]

@@Bipolar.Baddie Yeah, like James Rolf does have his issues, but by god, he doesn't deserve the waves of hate his 'fans' give him and his wife.

[@KaelWrit]

😅i😊😊lls 1:06:42 ppppppppppppppppppp

[@ikagura]

His "biggest" controversy was not wanting to review the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot.

[@user-qz5yi8qx9r]

very insightfull... @Bipolar.Baddie

[@hbomberguy]

I hate Wavelength. All it does is make you want to confess to your wife's murder

[@rawanalahmed8086]

Hey, is Dr. Harrison splimpy

[@serene1172]

Oh hey. Funny seeing you here. Hope things are going smoothly for you.

[@patriciogarciadamiano7469]

And where is your wife, banana man?

[@Sorrelhas]

CEO of F*cking Aquaman Real Estate LLC

[@PotionSmeller]

No way it's the small indie game youtuber who played Tactical Breach Wizard!

[@nicholaswoollhead6830]

I'm on my way to a funeral. My friend who died, Kim Damgaard, was a video editor for the evening news here in Denmark throughout the 90s and early 00s. He drank and smoked himself to death when he became jobless. The reason for his joblessness was largely that he had refused to follow his field into the digital age, and while he had rudimentary editing skills in digital, he could not compete with the new editors coming out of the film schools. In some ways the version of AVGN you present here reminds me of the shortcomings of Kim. He refused to grow with the field that he himself had been such an integral part of. Kim meant a lot to me. He rented me my first room when I moved away from home, and let me find my legs as an adult in the big city in my own time and without punishing me when I still acted like a child. Last night as I was writing my goodbye letter for him I put his name into youtube on the off chance something might appear. And lo and behold someone has uploaded two of his concerts from some dingy bar to KZbin 10 years ago. Now he comes to me as wavelengths and photons on a screen. He isn't a humonculous though. He's my friend singing songs about life and death and playing the harmonica. I miss my friend. Thanks, dan, for giving me something to distract myself with.

[@eatatjoe]

Aw, sorry, man. I’ve felt that way too about my art and it hasn’t even found its legs yet.

[@elif6908]

May your friend be at peace now and my condolences to you, your friend’s family and all those who care about him.

[@AnnieRegret]

❤❤❤

[@LovecraftianToenail]

Thank you for sharing this story with us.

[@artdiaries2260]

May his memory be a blessing. My condolences

[@TheProblem2025]

As small a chance as it is, there is A chance that someone clicks on this video and is smacked in the face with a flashback to that time they didn’t get to touch the camera once during a film class in college….

[@clementinedanger]

Somewhere in the world, some very offline person is still telling the story of that one annoying kid in film school who always showed up with Party City costumes and dino toys when they were just trying to learn where the on button on the camera was, secure in the knowledge that kid probably became a manager at a Wendy's. This is incredibly funny to me.

[@Bipolar.Baddie]

@@clementinedangerit'd be even funnier if it was someone like an indie filmmaker who is about to get their big break with an A24 movie right as they're about to give up on their dreams.

[@Bokatisha1234]

I used to live in the same town as James, and worked at a popular café. He'd come by occasionally in the middle of biking by and get a breakfast burrito and a drip coffee and I never got up the courage to tell him I liked his work before I moved. It always felt so weird seeing this guy my siblings and I were obsessed with, years later, sweaty in the middle of exercise, just trying to get a burrito. I never wanted to bother him. In that moment he was just a guy and I think he deserved that moment to just be some guy buying a burrito.

[@GraphiteShores]

You are both a hero for letting him be and also I am kind of glad that he was working out. Good for him.

[@catwithorb]

Thanks for sharing this story, it made me smile.

[@randomjunkohyeah1]

This illustrates why his very uncommon decision to stay “offline” was such a good one. He can just… exist. His existence has not been tied up in a constant need to perform and entertain others.

[@SleepingLionsProductions]

I love this story. I read it last night and came back to reread it.

[@TheReliquarian]

I think that's something that a lot of people don't consider about fame and mundanity - at some time or another we're all just some guy buying a burrito. With our modern world of social media, parasocial relationships and hero worship, we forget that this other person we look up to or idolize, or maybe even hate-watch, isn't some paragon child of the Muses or a bilious, hateful villain who makes things you dislike just to slight you personally; sometimes you take on a project that you really feel stands out and Says Something - sometimes you do a job because the light bill's due. I hope for both James and Dan that they create and produce more projects that they can be proud of than not, and that they can buy a burrito now and again.

[@ZimMan2]

There's a profound beauty to the way James Rolfe appears to inspire existential crises in people while knowing that he himself, most likely, is just a guy living his life.

[@MasterOphSky]

I saw someone describe James Rolfe as complex, which was funny when you consider he's a pretty straightforward guy whose motives and priorities aren't disguised in the slightest, which is why conspiracy theories are simultaneously so easy to fabricate yet also make the fabricator look insane to an outsider.

[@thebadshave503]

I feel like that's kinda why he was chosen for the subject here, like Rolfe is so chill and lowkey despite his historical importance to the craft on KZbin that attempting to stare down his material for deep meaning is just going to dredge up more of yourself than him, hence the ending.

[@danmiltenberger5616]

@@thebadshave503 So Rolfe is like wavelength? It reveals more about us than the material itself

[@lancesmith8298]

@@danmiltenberger5616James Rolfe is also, coincidentally with the last big old god of KZbin on the channel, also The Wall

[@lancesmith8298]

He is the inverse of Tommy Tallarico, and that somehow makes investigating him even more of a koan

[@absolutfreak5012]

"That gets frustrating really fast, and when you get frustrated you get impulsive, and those impulses lead to half measure solutions, and those half measure solutions accumulate into a whole network of bespoke inefficiencies that you just live with because the process of unravelling them feels just so... big." This hit pretty hard.

[@Texelion]

Somehow this applies to the whole world, our whole civilization is built like this. A mess built over a mess over another mess, and now it's too hard to fix things so we just roll for it until it crashes and burns.

[@mathaeis]

Yeah, this was the moment that I truly related to and man have I been trying to hard to overcome these things for so long.

[@TheRedCap30]

Programming in a nutshell lol

[@SuperGGnoRE]

@@TheRedCap30Speak for yourself...

[@hausdorffspace]

@@TheRedCap30 When I got to the bit where Dan was talking about that, I definitely did think of tech debt.

[@ShagrotsCave]

If someone deconstructed me to this degree I don't know how I could ever live a normal day of human life again

[@sarahbischoff2375]

If this video is any indication, I think the only person who could do that to you is yourself

[@waywardmind]

@@sarahbischoff2375 Bingo

[@BOBINDUN]

It'd def fuck with me too lol. Things we don't comprehend that James has to deal with.

[@scar4driver]

he didnt deconstruct him tho, he tried to unravel a problem that was not there, like in wavelength, since there was no problem there but the problems he bringed with him, it began to unravel those and deconstruct himself in the process, "i feel a certain amount of kinship with james rolfe", it was there from the very beginning

[@jenndoesstuff]

I really love that conclusion, honestly. To spend hours upon hours painfully dissecting why it is that you feel so critical of someone only to finally come to the conclusion that you just hate that they remind you of your own insecurities is honestly one of the more real human experiences out there.

[@L3benslage]

Ah. Thank you for that. I feel I don’t get most metaphors in films. And I had trouble understanding what it is Dan‘s trying to say whilst looking like a deranged Santa Claus. That’s sort of a weird insecure Filmmaker version of himself?

[@thatkidwiththehoodie]

“I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BOY, BECAUSE YOU’RE ME”

[@Politoed89]

i think if you need a perfect example of that, just look at the people who spend so much time documenting chris-chan. so many nerds (i say that as an objective descriptor rather than an insult) who are afraid that they're socially inept, or creepy towards women, or entitled towards their parents, or - in the past few years - trans people who are afraid they're "not really trans", or any other flaw they document and interpret. chris-chan was the one who openly represented the insecurities of so many people online, and so many of the things that had been socially conditioned out of us (sometimes rightfully so) were expressed right through our screen with no inhibition maybe there's a bit of chris-chan in all of us internet losers.

[@medsellr]

getting chased by a doll just like James's recent films is such a perfect touch

[@AoiLucine]

​@Politoed89, theres a video Rebecca Watson put out called the science of cringe. According to research, cringe comes from almost a projection of ourselves onto what the other person is doing, and thinking how it would affect our social standing. Its basically disgust based projection onto anothet persons actions. This sort of helped me start to reframe my understanding of cringe. To both be kinder to others and myself.

[@Renacier]

"Remember that guy who used to make videos about editing and storytelling?" "Yeah, I think so. He made a bunch of videos about financial scams, right? What's he up to now?" "....He just keeps drilling holes in wood and bolting camera heads to them...."

[@diestormlie]

"Also, he stands around the local home depot yelling 'ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER!'"

[@evilshrimpy]

@@diestormlie no, that's just the usual Home Depot ambiance

[@DeRedBaronCT]

@@evilshrimpy I once had a job there, you are not wrong

[@Busto]

I had this very realization 10 minutes into the video. Dan went from teacher to artist over the course of this channel

[@bad1080]

yeah but he's doing it like a normal person would, so no worries

[@bostonmarketfeministbookclub]

I love how Dan shows us directly how hard it is to act mad. I don't mean that as an insult, I totally agree and think it's clever

[@GuyNamedSean]

Yeah, you could really feel the moment where he hit that wall and wasn't comfortable with going further into the emotion.

[@AngelMercury]

This was an amazing section of the essay

[@simonvetter2420]

I don't know, I found it a bit unconvicing because what he was talking about wasn't really something I would ever imagine someone being *actually* angry about, while you can asolutely get angry about video games.

[@AstridFrost_UwU]

@@simonvetter2420 nah, I can understand someone becoming frustrated with their role in a relationship between audience and creator

[@billhicks8]

@@simonvetter2420 Maybe that's part of why it's good though. Getting mad about something on demand takes preparation. Dan doesn't quite get there with the topic, again showing why he isn't saying that what Rolfe does is easy, despite his criticism.

[@BPMusic06]

I composed some music for some of James’ early AVGN videos 2007 era. We only corresponded through e-mail but he was very nice to me and made sure to credit me at the end of the videos with a link to my then website. I was a big fan back then so it was a very huge deal for me and a personal accomplishment to potentially have millions of people hear my music (not that’d they notice it was me, but still cool nonetheless). Thank you for making this video.

[@kixaru4747]

The fact that you ended the video the same way Rolfe ends all his movies (running from a cursed doll) was peak poetry, another fantastic video

[@bitnev]

Also like This is America video (in the beggining you can spot the name on the mixtape).

[@tentativegazer]

@@bitnev I also thought of that music video, wish I caught that detail in the beginning though lol

[@voltcorp]

@@bitnev what I loved the most about the conclusion is how it ties up nicely with all the evidence throughout that Dan is indeed a great filmmaker

[@monkmichel9477]

I thought the last scene was a karma police reference, but maybe I'm overthinking it lul

[@Iinneus]

It's great because the introduction of the doll is so insanely subtle. I wasn't thinking about it at all, but once the conclusion was there, I felt like a fool for not realizing that all the pieces had been in place for a while. It's like being got by a chess master's play.

[@caret_shell]

23:54 "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get mad on camera?" Dan _still_ sounds too polite while doing this bit, proving that no matter how hard it is to get mad on camera, it's even harder for a Canadian.

[@valeriacaissa4552]

That was my thought as well "he isn't angry enough!".

[@sagecolvard9644]

I think the point of that is to exemplify exactly how good James is at it: Dan can't be nearly as convincing as the Nerd, even with the Nerd projected onto his face.

[@simongredal7577]

A little embarrassed to say it took me until that moment to realize this wasn't the usual video essay but so much more. With their faces melding together and Dan doing the same thing he describes James doing.

[@lyndonwesthaven6623]

The dad vibes are simply too strong in him. He's never angry, just disappointed

[@randomjunkohyeah1]

Dan doesn’t get “mad” on camera, but he is quite regularly _angry._ That boiling, seething kind of anger that is honestly way more intimidating then yelling and shouting. Usually for good reasons, though.

[@rgs8970]

"Do you think a depressed person could make this?" *pans to reveal 1/12 scale diorama of James Rolfe's nerd room

[@AnimatedTerror]

STAND IN THE PLACE THAT YOU L-

[@Lollero200q]

BIMMY 🅿️OWER

[@Leftistattheparty]

[@LeeJDo]

Ha! I saw this comment before the video got to that part…I still can’t believe that he actually made that diorama

[@snackerfork]

@@LeeJDo Same, I thought it was a joke and when the video panned to the literal, actual diorama I laughed so hard

[@haroldsandahl6408]

I love how you went from a parasocial relationship based on assumed shared experience to ask more and more questions to end up learning more about yourself. And then blessed us with the process so we can think about it ourselves.

[@skylerclyne6542]

“This thing ruined my life in the way that only the inexplicable decisions of strangers can” not even five minutes in and we’re already bearing witness to some all time bangers. Thanks, Dan.

[@NaimHrustanovic]

It's crazy because I had a conversation with two friends about this exact phenomenon tonight, where a strangers behavior bewildered me to the point of momentary obsession (not of the stranger but of the act itself). And then I get a new quote from Dan with which to perfectly summarize it.

[@IrisGlowingBlue]

It's like walking through the door into a philosophy lecture only to run into the entirely glass door two metres past it

[@tinywhale3954]

1:52 for anyone wondering

[@Minihood31770]

I mean, that's all internet popularity isn't it? It's not all ruining your life, obviously. But the inexplicable decisions of strangers to watch your stuff on the internet does also cause issues that ruin your life in only that way that it does.

[@ajbakercmsu]

"If it hadn't been for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college."

[@joshuachesney7552]

I resonate a lot with the idea of self conceptualizing as the failed version of what you aspired to be instead of the successful version of what you are.

[@megyskermike]

Why not have both?

[@shitehead]

you mean a loser?

[@allisona.6605]

​@@megyskermike Makes sense. But even when someone is able to acknowledge their "successful" self, their overall self-perception might still skew towards the more negative self-image (ie the "failed" version). Being able to accept and make peace with both versions of one's self would probably be ideal. It's just that focusing more on the positive means focusing less on the negative.

[@targaghjj]

@@megyskermike That's a compelling idea. That would be the healthiest thing to do.

[@rakseiify]

To conceptualize yourself as the failed version of what you aspired to be gives you awareness, constant awareness; while the successful version numbs you, it's like being on hero*** all the time.

[@IamSpacedad]

I learned James Rolfe really loves his children/family more than anything in the world, and he shouldn't have to apologize for it.

[@jackkingsby116]

I went down a rabbit hole on cinemassacre truth trying to figure out where the hate is coming from and they banned me for "trolling" after I argued that they were acting like entitled babies for wanting him to divorce his wife.

[@ThePotatoMan04]

The trolls clearly dont have family they truly love so they dont understand it.

[@How_Is_This_A_Name]

​@@jackkingsby116 the reault of years of irony poisoning

[@themachine5647]

To those wondering out there what "toxic masculinity" means, one aspect of it is this sarcastic, disaffected, "never show emotions other than sardonic humor and anger" attitude largely held by young men on the internet. I can guarantee the people attacking James for loving his family do not have families of their own, they do not have wives or girlfriends or people in their life that they love or even respect. And I just always feel like if we could see the hateful people for what they are, pitiful and sad and young and scared, we would all feel a lot less hurt when they spit their nihilistic, entitled venom on the internet and undeserving people.

[@joearnold6881]

But… but… one of the people working for the kinda shitty company he teamed up with… was _fat!_ so there!

[@nicedraeger2794]

>become internet famous >get married and have kids >don't fall off or touch kids like other internet famous people >use your fame and wealth to relive your best childhood memories over and over and over I think Role won guys

[@katlynklassen809]

Yes I agree. He has done all this stuff and kept his soul. The character did not consume him. The "fans" expect the material that they love so much to have at minimum the same impact on him and are deeply hurt that it does not.

[@MF-fd2ug]

you wouldnt think that the third is the hardest point for people but somehow it is

[@ChristopherAndersonPirate]

Role?

[@SarahC-by4cs]

Agree with the first 3, but I kind of hope he's finding more purpose in the present/future and less in the past.

[@bradydavis5791]

​@@ChristopherAndersonPirateHe meant Rolfe. Don't be purposely obtuse.

[@hughmilner7013]

"Is this the fruit of obsession? Is this where compulsion takes us? Are the damned and damnable all doomed to wander to Home Depot?" Truly, the madness that befalls us all.

[@Tonbizzle]

If I can find the right fixture I can make all my dreams come true... or at least let this nightmare end. Is it aisle 7?

[@PaulRudd1941]

​@Tonbizzle, sir, we please ask that mental breakdowns occur in the parking lot after the purchase. Buyers remorse?

[@snubnosedolphin]

as a contractor who works for home depot i definitely consider myself both damned and damnable

[@dudere]

@@snubnosedolphinYour do the lords work. Oof I am painting my house right now. I brought in a paint chip got get a match. The paint lady said the paint was not shiny at all. I had to wanted around the doors section for a while.

[@Neuvost]

the danned and dannedable

[@startingfromlevelone9510]

The insight about how a camera man acts as an instigator is something people really should reflect on more.

[@RevolutionaryLoser]

Worldstar!

[@theelectricant98]

A Rather Complicated Girl (1969)

[@theelectricant98]

Also Model Shop

[@Posiman]

It's a main concept behind Nathan Fielder's entire career.

[@EmeraldLavigne]

It's literally fucking physics.

[@austinfletchermusic]

Let he who is without cringe throw the first stone indeed, Dan. This might be your most brutally honest video, about both James and yourself.

[@sylviapage61]

I agree, it gave me actual chills

[@culwin]

Everyone should embrace their cringe. Just not too much.

[@kingmanic]

They're both KZbin essayist with an audience.

[@sdgdhpmbp]

​@@culwinWhat's too much? Cause I'm basically one with my cringe.

[@thatkidwiththehoodie]

@@sdgdhpmbpI am one with the cringe and the cringe is with me. I am one with the cringe and the cringe is with me. I am o

[@theslimbin]

The idea of filmmaking as extension of play is such a groundbreaking concept for me. I’ve never considered it and I’m bringing it up with other people on Film sets and talking about the certain directors we know work and so many of them think it’s such an eye-opening idea

[@PRODEMOCRACYNEWS]

Watching this as 37 years old should carry a warning label

[@CoffeeCynic]

Try at 43. Existential dread.

[@Moonbeam143]

I'm 38. This does feel like a punch in the gut, doesn't it? You have so many dreams of who you might be when you're younger, and what your life might be when you're older, but it turns out that you're already in a dream, because you're asleep to who you are as a person right now, and sometimes a wake up is good for you.

[@XanthinZarda]

In the choir of millions, only a few voices rise above the noise. As long as we do the best for ourselves and to those we care for, we shall at the very least, be remembered by someone.

[@lydiai.3658]

I just turned 36 so it was close but it missed me

[@JetstreamGW]

I'm 40. Aging is better than the alternative, cowards! :P Accept it! Accept your life, warts and all!

[@josephgouthro3932]

Dan lining himself up with a projection of James while describing James, is my favorite part.

[@DirkMcThermot]

That part is a great demonstration of utilizing a unique aspect of the medium to enhance the point the essay is making. I listened to most of this video but I’m glad that I caught it.

[@SmartSmears]

I need to rewatch the video because once you get it the whole thing gets recontextualised. I just know there was a point where I went "come to think of it, I don't really know Dan Olsen either."

[@TheRogueWolf]

I paused during that section to go get something to drink, and when I came back I just stared at the frame for half a minute because my brain just couldn't quite parse it.

[@MxChloeB42]

@@SmartSmears Yeah, even the first time watching it I couldn't help but notice the moments when the glasses of Dan and the glasses of James in the projection kept blending together. Even before I knew the thesis of the video I could tell that that scene was conveying the similarities between the two, I just didn't know how much so.

[@mercilpb]

Dan was on some absolutely sicko shit in this one

[@mothersbasement]

“It’s like, what was he thinking?” *one hour and several wooden boards later* “Oh, It’s like… what was **I** thinking?”

[@Gaia_BentosZX5]

"How did I get stuck with this username?", an existential horror story of reviewers that owe a lot to the AVGN and Nostalgia Critic.

[@zeframmann1641]

@@Gaia_BentosZX5 Not gonna lie I sometimes miss the paper bag.

[@SlickJohnnysHouse]

Do you also make stands compulsively Geoff

[@draexian530]

I see what it's like, then.

[@ozoraidani]

When your fave anime youtuber watches your fave essay youtuber, you know he’s good! Where you gonna pop up next Geoff? Wendigoon? 👀

[@NoticeAssemble]

I keep thinking about this, but... James Rolfe is Wavelength. The film is what you bring to it. It shows you what you think, who you are. I think Dan Olson agrees, because when he's talking about Wavelength, it slowly zooms out to first reveal that you're not just watching him talking to the camera, you're watching an ipad taped to the wall, playing a video of him talking to the camera. But it keeps zooming out, and reveals that you're actually watching an ipad taped to the wall, playing a video of Dan Olson talking to the camera, reflected in a mirror. "If the movie could have a core theme, it would be reflection." Wavelength is shown as a film that holds a mirror up to yourself. But... James Rolfe does the same thing to Dan Olson. His behind the scenes tour is what you bring to it. And at the end of this, it's shown how Dan Olson's idea of James Rolfe isn't bad inherently... that idea is bad for reasons he created. He looks in the mirror, sees himself as james rolfe. He sees all of James's influences and inconveniences in his own life. James Rolfe is Wavelength.

[@deerkaiser9983]

This is unironically the best comment I read under this video. At first I just thought it was an interesting choice of a shot, but it makes perfect sense with the subject matter of the video

[@blazinglazers69]

Well said.

[@jorgematavillalobos8475]

and by extension, the title "I dont know James Rolfe" implies "I don't know myself"

[@m.streicher8286]

Glad to see my favorite bit from the wall video return "you can't critique this media without leaving some of yourself in that critique"

[@TheCrumbum]

Just a weird footnote. The university James attended The University of the Arts, closed last week after just a weeks notice. Students, staff, and faculty all left out to dry. James did a nice tribute video in front of the steps of the main building. It’s not that relevant. But as an alumni of uarts as well I felt the need to share.

[@jamiepianist]

Did you enjoy the classes there, or did you find them dull like Rolfe did?

[@TheStanishStudios]

Oh shit, I’m in Philly and it’s definitely the talk of the town right now-such a uniquely weird shitshow!

[@Pundit07]

@@jamiepianist I mean, given that he was willing to do a tribute video for the university building, he clearly must have matured and found *some* sort of appreciation for what he learned there.

[@dangerousdays2052]

I have no sympathy for America's for-profit university system or anyone who gets hit with the rug pull.

[@TheCrumbum]

​@@jamiepianist I did a different program, I enjoyed it immensely, it was a unique wonderful place. Had its flaws for sure, lots of rough edges, Its philly its gritty, but the education I got there was great. James types are pretty common in an art school. It's art, egos are common. The most important thing you learn at a school like that is the fundamentals of visual art etc. It builds a foundation that will plug into everything you work on later, wither its film, design or painting. But if you find those tasks a waste of time, well, it will color your whole perspective of it, makes things seem dull and dumb. The rest of that type of education it is you getting back what you put into it. The Wavelength comparison probably works there.

[@mac4974]

Dan's straddling the look between "answer me my questions three" and "publish my manifesto or else"

[@ultrawhitebread]

The unholy fusion of Jack Black and Karl Marx.

[@Zr0Bites]

​@@ultrawhitebread*Dostoyevski

[@magnusengeseth5060]

@@Zr0Bites *Kaczynski

[@magicrainbowkitties1023]

​@@Zr0Bites Dostoyblinski?

[@randomjunkohyeah1]

He looks like David Letterman lol

[@QualityCandor]

I'll just say it for the record, I find it hilarious that he posts this in June, and then two months later, James posts his review of the NES version of Déjà Vu where we goes full John Alton on the cinematography, and rough patches aside, produced one of the best looking videos of his career. His love of film (and film noir in that video's case) shines thru and it's clear that, when he puts his back into it, James can do something legit cinematic. Just something I wanted to throw out there.

[@Kalmera6238]

AVGN may make him a living, but I feel it holds back his art. Board James for example is way better shot than AVGN

[@Stathol]

Dan boggling at why Kyle would build a mere 8-foot wide replica of the AVGN set while hovering over his 8-inch wide replica of the replica of the AVGN set is just *chef's kiss*

[@krlosz1996]

A replica of a replica, reaching concerning levels of simulacra

[@SchneiderHB]

well but he didn't build it as a _room_, so he can actually do all the filiming inside

[@alist0]

Projecting James' face as you rant about being an actor of convenience is... *Chefs kiss*

[@weepingbelle4528]

as a visual metaphor it was perhaps a tad blunt, but wow the actual effect of it was unsettling in all the right ways

[@AB0BA_69]

That shot felt insulting. Like people who follow James don't realize that he's doing this for over 20 years because he needs a paycheck?? 😂

[@1RandomToaster]

@@weepingbelle4528Blunt? Almost as if James himself wrote it perhaps? *strokes Dan’s beard*

[@urbobne2254]

I took that to be a visual metaphor for this entire video: a film-student turned youtuber being unnecessarily harsh towards a film-student turned youtuber who's more successful. I like both James and Folding Ideas but this isn't the latter's best work imo

[@ulture]

@@urbobne2254 did you watch the whole thing

[@eruu]

You thought we wouldn't notice, but the intro is being recorded on the shotgun mic just barely out of frame, despite Dan holding a mic the entire time. Just like James' studio tour.

[@billygoatguy3960]

Why do people even use those boom mics anymore? Doesn't that all have to be rerecorded in post on most professional film productions anyways?

[@thesidneychan]

​@@billygoatguy3960rerecording is expensive and takes time. It also takes away from live performance. Next would be that it's a backup audio source, a reference audio (to sync audio that was recorded separately, or as reference when it needs to be rerecorded). Or a dedicated sound mix guy could use the raw texture and detail from the boom to enhance the richness or bass. Something like that. I've never done proper audio mixing, but I'm sure having as much audio sources as possible is better than having only one.

[@hp67c]

@@thesidneychan I think he may have invented... two track recording? What's next, 24 tracks? www.preservationsound.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/LarryScully_BertWhyte_Interview_AUDIO_1169.pdf

[@adamsteelproducer]

@@billygoatguy3960quite simply, no. Those mics are good and wherever possible they want to keep that audio because re-recording is expensive and time consuming, and might never have the same vocal inflections / emotions as the original

[@lagg1e]

I had to restart the video to confirm that.

[@hotcoldman]

I work in the film/tv industry, I went to film school, I work with cables, batteries, gaff tape and pelican cases all day. Your rant about stepping over shit to change out other shit was so relatable. Getting in the headspace of James doing that all day, BY HIMSELF in such a small space honestly makes me understand him more. I've been watching him for years, I read his book, but you breaking it down like that cracked the James Rolfe code for me

[@robinbirb]

"It ruined my life in the way that only the inexplicable decisions of strangers can." I felt that.

[@sca8217]

Is it weird that I chanced upon this comment at the exact same time as that exact line was being spoken by Dan while playing the video?

[@robinbirb]

@@sca8217 Amazing.

[@el_fucko]

@@sca8217 The longer the video, the weirder it is. This one's 76 minutes, not too shabby imo.

[@potatolord6853]

I appreciate the contributions of the grainy voice effects to the tone and subject matter of the video, but I’m chuckling at the mental image of someone picking up an audio diary in Bioshock and having the speaker eloquently confess their confusion over James Rolfe for an hour and change.

[@B-019]

I need this Bioshock mod ASAP.

[@LimeyLassen]

Better yet, in Control

[@wasprider7239]

I went from earnest self reflection to cackling laughter from the last comment to yours. Shit that's a funny mental picture 🤣

[@michaeldunkerton3805]

I used to have this earworm where I imagined AVGN delivering the "I want to take the ears off" monologue. Give it a try in your head...it fits perfectly.

[@EnvyOmicron]

@@michaeldunkerton3805 I hate that you're right, I can totally imagine it

[@clb734]

Surely this video is exclusively a video essay on AVGN and not at all a masterfully done commentary on the nature of internet content and Dan's relationship with his own craft. That would be crazy.

[@jst56strong]

You win my favorite comment 🎉 +2 internet points

[@ChrisKChandler]

Nah, Dan hates metaphors.

[@mattcelder]

I don't know Dan Olson

[@BassLiberators]

Hahaha unless.......

[@Tw0DrunkGuys]

Don't be silly, metaphors aren't real, subtext isn't real, all the beautifully framed shots and theming were just coincidence.

[@demetergrasseater]

I'm not quite sure what it is, but Dan's particular way of deconstructing art always makes me feel really motivated to get up and go make some art, even if it's just for myself and close friends. It's like, not necessarily "inspiring" but more... driving, if that makes sense. It's like a stranger just came up to me and slapped me in the chest with a sticker that says "The things you create are worth thinking about."

[@writinggoose6059]

"im a filmmaker! a filmmaker!!", i continue to insist as i slowly shrink and transform into a popular youtuber

[@i.b.640]

We had a secretary who did a bit of editorial Work once a week. She insisted she was an Editor and not a secretary. I thought it was so sad, because all of us were Editors , and she was just mid at it, but was an exceptional secretary and made the whole flee circus of an office actually functional. But as long as society will attatch social Status to the Job title and not just to how good at it you are, this will continue. Why not say I am BOTH a filmmaker and a youtuber, BOTH a secretary and an Editor.

[@i.b.640]

@@pocket83squared I take it as a compliment, that you would think I am an editor in English, even though this is not my native tongue and not the one I am working in :) Also: in my native tongue editing and correcting are two different things. Editing needs a sense of language and correcting a perfect grasp on grammar and orthography.

[@lancesmith8298]

Doug Walker, off in his own world, thinking he’s the next big thing on the platform and not Neil Breen

[@undeadMonk]

@@pocket83squared Speaking only for myself, I liked i.b.640's comments because they came across as humble and charismatic - sharing an anecdote from their personal life that didn't read as self-aggrandisement, and had true relevance to both the original comment and the video.Your first reply I would have liked after I scanned back up and noticed I hadn't - it was genuinely amusing - but after I read your second, in which you accuse another person of bot farming likes on their youtube comments (of all things to spend money buying bots for! Hilarious if true), it left a _slightly_ bad taste in my mouth. This is not to say your comments are heinous or in the wrong - they just don't read as genuinely as the other person's. From my limited perspective, it's only natural that they got as many likes as they did.

[@ProtomanButCallMeBlues]

@@i.b.640 the reminds me of my older brother, whom everyone calls "the lawyer" because he graduated from Law School, but he has never gone to court and admits he's terrified because he would always lose his mock trials (think Lionel Hutz from the Simpsons). He does legal stuff for some tech company, but he's never been straightforward other than when family bring it up he's like "I'm not THAT kind of Lawyer". But I think my parents just throw it around for themselves to brag on other parents like when their kids join the Marines.

[@animosity9197]

One of the worst things about getting older, growing up, or just changing as a person through the passage of time and events, is that inevitably some things you used to really like and find very important turn out to be kind of bad. This is a classically common experience with children's media, but honestly, it happens with everything. You're just no longer the target audience for that thing, sometimes because you have more experience with what it was ripping off, sometimes because there are better versions of it, and sometimes because you learn enough about the world that you don't relate to that thing in the same way. I'm glad James Rolfe really enjoys being a father. Good for him and good for his kids.

[@astcastle]

Y’know what’s crazy? That is the literal impetus for Rolfe’s best-known contemporary, The Nostalgia Critic; an adult confronting the fact that the things they loved as a child don’t mean the same things to them anymore, and just being furious about it. Time is a circle without a beginning.

[@IrisGlowingBlue]

@@astcastle With apologies if this is a lampshade I'm misinterpreting,, friend I have good and / or bad news for you about Folding Ideas and the Nostalgia Critic

[@InfectedEnnui]

that's one of the reasons good childhood media is so important. chronicles of narnia have aged like fine wine for me

[@jewthulhu]

@@InfectedEnnuiThis is hilarious to me not because I think you're, like, *wrong*, or should feel differently, but Chronicles of Narnia is one of those things I remember from childhood that has aged, for me, particularly poorly

[@Kane0123]

Yep. The content you loved doesn’t change over time as you do… it’s an mp4 already uploaded. Saw Kali Muscle and Twinmuscleworkout recently… I liked their content back in the day, no reason for me to judge it with my current personality. It will remain good content - for the me of 15years ago.

[@josepadilla-dv3ld]

My favorite part so far is definitely dan having to state the "controversial" opinion that a man loving his wife and kids and caring about them more than his KZbin channel is a normal rational human behavior.

[@bretsheeley4034]

It’s like having a toxic boss who doesn’t give a shit about your home life and thinks that your only point in existence is to work for them.

[@Gingrnut]

It’s an interesting dichotomy that’s going to keep happening as more first-gen KZbinrs essentially move on from the platform for good. Look at all the creators who announced they were quitting this year. Generationally, KZbin is beyond them now, and they’ve made the work they wanted to make, and had careers, and now they want to do something else, but to hungry internet audiences the idea of things ending or changing is completely anathema.

[@MPostma72]

I had a boss who disapproved of the fact that for me, my son came before my work. She had kids herself.

[@Mari-rg9ov]

As an outsider who doesn't know about this subject, I've seen comments blaming James for "not prioritizing his work" or "using his wife and kids as an excuse" like... isn't moving on in life because you have a family now and other things to think about the most natural thing in the world?

[@MiroslavMydlo]

No man, he owes you! He owes you the free entertainment we were getting from him for more than a decade. He owes us!!!

[@cannondebris]

I've watched this multiple times and it's still mind blowing that you need to explain how James does in fact love his family more than his channel.

[@sorenkair]

"Let he who is without cringe throw the first stone." Amen.

[@espurr6107]

My English is bad, could you explain it?

[@sorenkair]

@@espurr6107 it means that everyone does cringe things (just not on the internet for all to see), thus to make fun of him for being cringe is hypocritical.

[@pretzel1313]

​@@espurr6107it's a play on a well-known verse from the Bible. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". The word "sin" is replaced with the word "cringe" and the idea is "everyone is cringey, so you can't attack other people for being cringey without being a hypocrite".

[@Dr.MSC.W.Krueger]

Just using THAT word should get anyone a public flogging.

[@GraphiteShores]

@@pretzel1313 It is used in particular to where Jesus is protecting a 'sinful' woman from being stoned to death; 'We are all born with natural sin and commit sinful thoughts and deeds everyday, yet you declare yourself holier than this woman? If one of you is without any sin, go ahead and throw the first stone.'

[@MelonTarge123]

This is amazing. A story of Dan using Wavelength to condemn the man only to realize that AVGN is Wavelength and that what he hates isn't the man but the reminder of his own insecurities. It is a hard and painful thing to realize that your anger comes from within and not without, to grapple with this realization like this is moving. Dan is the best doing it.

[@Lollero200q]

This 👆

[@sybo59]

@@Lollero200qCould this be cutesy, pretentious nonsense?

[@ItWasSaucerShaped]

i don't get a sense from the section of the video where we see the original intent, the 'narrative of AVGN' video that was originally being shot, that Dan ever set out to condemn Rolfe. i think it was the opposite, given that that part of the video at no point offers a harsh critique of Rolfe's work (unlike the rest of the video) - that Dan intended to defend AVGN and Rolfe, particularly against the hate watchers / reddit fascists we can only guess at why that video didn't make the cut to get published (my own guess is it just wasn't that interesting; didn't have much to say beyond, 'the internet has been mean to AVGN and i don't like it'), but it seems clear enough that Dan took that work and, rather than discarding it outright (probably because there IS value in saying out loud, 'it is okay to choose the life you want to lead instead of leading the one strangers think you should'), probed the matter of why he felt compelled to offer a defense why the sense of kinship with a homunculus made of wavelengths and photons?

[@shimemiller5952]

Genuinely thank you for wording it, I kinda struggle interpreting stuff like this sometimes

[@Lollero200q]

@@sybo59 your mom is

[@knowmebetterman.]

Man. I’m sure you’re proud of it, but the angry rant about angry rants with James’s face projected over yours is just incredible work. I don’t have the words to describe it. I’m just sitting here in silence.

[@lingricen8077]

Why did you start your comment by saying ‘Man’? Do you typically subconsciously think of men like that? Come out of the closet.

[@EricGranata]

Bro- I just saw that part and immediately came to the comments.

[@PenStab]

It. Was. Chilling. Such a stunning piece!

[@Noaartetc]

It was pretty as well. Like, aestheticially pleasing.

[@danieltidey5599]

James's face as mask, protecting Dan's ego but also making it clear that he is performing a bit. Amazing camerawork.

[@DrMcFly28]

James Rolfe is like a guy who owns a successful burger stand for decades. He considers himself a chef, but his talents are limited. Yet the burgers he makes are consistent in quality, reasonably priced, there if you need them, perfectly ignorable if you want something more substantial. That should be enough for most normal people.

[@clavius5734]

You’re right, and it would make most people happier to accept that, but our generation was taught we could be 🤩 anything we want 🤩

[@squidgirl0413]

@@clavius5734 i feel like 'have ambitions and be true to yourself' and 'sometimes you wont get everything you want and thats fine' are actually mutually coexisting statements. also not to be a killjoy but i think its ok if our generation is a bit demanding given that the price of housing and food is going up while paychecks are staying stagnant.

[@sneepsnoop9547]

@@clavius5734 The point OP was making was that James is a decent guy who's just making a living and isn't hurting anyone, so there's no good reason to lay into him. Nothing to do with... zoomers being too aspirational? Having dreams? Luckily for you, I can tell you from experience that this sort of overly jaded pick-me attitude goes away with age.

[@Pimploaf_YTP]

And then some of the less personable but equally important staff left and were replaced. The lead is still mostly the same guy, but his heart's with his family and less with the successful venture that continues to pay the bills -- which is where it should be.

[@squidgirl0413]

@@Pimploaf_YTP why should his business be more important than his family

[@Lunar0Strain]

blown away by this to be honest. I can relate to that feeling of being almost obsessively critical of people superficially similar to myself and then immediately thinking "am I really that much better?" and spiralling from there. The whole video tied to together so well, I was wondering why the hell you brought up "wavelength" literally until the last sequence where everything clicked for me.

[@LimeyLassen]

I think about Contrapoints' "Cringe" video a lot, it never stops being relevant.

[@dudere]

I did not relate at all until he talked about the camera bags on sofas. I have a box of crap from work 6 inches behind me I cannot look at.

[@synth-wave_steve]

Even by rejecting the gamer, a little bit of yourself will bleed out.

[@northernstepperz]

​@@synth-wave_stevei read your statement, then shrieked and melted into the sands of time

[@Antonicane]

"Wavelength, like many avant-garde films, is what you bring to it", said Dan, while making an avant-garde film.

[@Strawberry92fs]

From the moment I saw the camera rig, I understood intuitively why he did it. He had screws and wood on hand. to do it properly he'd have to waste a shooting day going to home depot, buying a bolt, making sure he had the right bits to drill the hole, and the counter sink. take it all home, and then do the fix. vs doing the fix in like 15 minutes and then it's "good enough:" forever

[@doctorwholover1012]

Yep. It's the same understanding I have of my dad's desk setup where he drops pens behind his monitor, which then roll down and back to the keyboard due to the way his desk is built into the wall and his massive monitor with no space for a pen pot anywhere within sight 😂 hes 70+ years old and doesn't give a shit anymore, if he needs a pen, he wants to grab it immediately and drop it without thought, so we end up with the monitor-based Pen-alanche 🤷‍♀️ it works for him and he's the only one who uses the desk, and it's not like you can't find a pen if you need one so 😂

[@Tomyb15]

But it still leaves that strange taste in your mouth. It feels like a perpetual afterthought despite it being his main "job" and primary way of actually making content as a film maker (at least, content that will get a decent audience). Why won't he make time in his schedule for a mostly one-time thing that has importance to his life. Even if he prioritizes his family and other activities, it's hard to argue that he can't just dedicate a bit of time to what's basically his only job that pays for his bills and his family's. It feels as if he hates or dreads even thinking about it and avgn related things. It's sad.

[@ricardoalbertoguevarapozos4550]

it would prob take him 1 or 2 hours to do everything, and i'm adding more time just for the trip to home depot. it's one hole u know it's not rocket science

[@HellecticMojo]

@@Tomyb15It's basically what happens when you do a multi team project on your own. None of his associates are actually proficient in ANY element of film making and none of them critically think enough on a project to form a tight control. He's in a perpetual DIY cycle because at no point did anyone enforce a need for strict planning.

[@AllisterCaine]

​@@ricardoalbertoguevarapozos4550yeah, in my head the projects all fall together in ten minutes but reality taught me different. If an improvised solution does the job, i wont leave my house for the gold plated version that takes the whole day. In the end my workshop is a mashup and doesnt even have a proper cozy wood floor so screw it.

[@ohno5559]

A truly Lovecraftian video. Dan sees a wretched artifact so vile, so entrancing in its obvious wrongness, that he is compelled to recreate it. The great work consumes him, he loses sleep, his beard grows long and unkempt, but still he maintains a single-minded devotion to his goal: create a replica of the artifact so perfect that it is capable of conferring the dark knowledge within.

[@ArbitraryConstant]

amazing comment

[@swiftlymurmurs]

Ironically a more interesting take on the story James keeps coming back to inexplicably about haunted objects trying to kill him. Hey James, maybe you weren't the main character but the haunted object all along.

[@BarackLesnar]

Avgn as information hazard

[@alistairbuckle3450]

@@swiftlymurmurs For he is... Bimmy. (The evil, morose, twin who replaced James in AVGN lore).

[@The5lacker]

@@swiftlymurmurs It's like poetry, it rhymes.

I'm here on a rewatch, and while this was a fun video essay, I genuinely think it's one of my favourite indie films. I feel like each time I've watched it I've noticed something new and clever you're doing with the framing. The AVGN's angry face projected over your own while you talk about how hard it is to be performatively be angry, that anyone watching you is watching an echo of yourself ... It's a superb visual metaphor.

[@ABuffWizard]

Folding Ideas has visually come full circle from the Suicide Squad review. The long hair and cough syrup drinking was replaced with a cleaner cut image and a certain outdoorsyness. Now we’re back with an untamed beard and sitting in the floor reminiscing about AVGN. What a ride!

[@maxmfpayne]

The hero returns from his journey, having changed but also finding himself once more

[@Eagledude131]

​@@maxmfpayneand the cycle turns anew

[@glitchedoom]

Dan chugging cough syrup while talking about Suicide Squad was my introduction to this channel. I feel like I've finally come home.

[@bookshelfhoney]

That was Gandalf the Grey, this is Gandalf the white! Oh wait, that's just his majestic beard

[@TheTrueMerrio]

What a lovely day!

[@mario7886]

Little-known American indie band Metalica playing for a crowd of 1.6 million people in Soviet Russia

[@RoboBoddicker]

I once saw a youtube comment on a Billy Joel video that was like 'Man, this guy is so underrated.'

[@MegaZeta]

@@RoboBoddicker the sweet spot you want to hit on KZbin is the triple space-warp overlap of "iconic", "underrated" and "am i the only one who"

[@crushycrawfishy1765]

@@RoboBoddicker Some people just have a "unique" sense of reality. Like, I once heard someone seriously argue that Pokemon, the global franchise, was underrated.

[@justawatchin2]

@@MegaZeta "who's still listening in 2024 with me" on a video with half a billion views

[@justcallmekai1554]

​@@MegaZetaDon't forget "who was here before Tiktok?"

[@hotwheelsdeepstate]

I keep thinking about the “AVGN truthers” and that they have an in joke reference lore to something as mind meltingly mundane as “leaving due to having other plans”

[@nicholasbuffone175]

Another truther in-joke that went unmentioned, "mowdens", is entirely founded upon a video where James didn't enunciate the "t" in "mountain" hard enough for their liking. Admittedly, the video itself can be pretty awkward - James documents himself trying to climb the mountain from the training montage in Rocky 4, is obviously woefully unprepared despite the presumably not-insignificant expense of the trip out to it, and ultimately throws in the towel - but even then, it speaks to their insistence on flying completely past legitimate points of critique and straight into play-by-play nullifications of his entire being.

[@cassnate6259]

I always found it incredibly strange that people found it worthy of their time to hate on a KZbinr for... having a family? Another solution for a channel you don't fare care for anymore is... *gasp*... Not watching.

[@GraphiteShores]

@@cassnate6259 Because they do not consider anything more important than to justify the sense of 'betrayal' James has done to them for not being the Nerd they remember from their past. It gives them an ego-boost to feel like they are involved in uncovering a truth for others, that 'they' know something 'others' don't.

[@sublime3784]

I was recommended the AVGN truther subreddit and I thought it was a joke. Like instead of being about objectively historic events like 9/11 and Covid, it’s a truther movement about most inconsequential thing possible, a decades old KZbin channel. Then a realized they weren’t joking.

[@paprikayes]

@@GraphiteShoresNot to give any credit to those people, but I don’t think it’s anything as serious as that. I think they just had a misguided knee jerk reaction to a perceived change in the content of a creator they used to like, and found a community of likeminded people that just devolve into a cesspool of bigoted hate like any other online hate groups. I think they spend so much time doing it because they get to be part of a community this way, one that is accepting of their hate-fueled views they hold elsewhere in their life. It’s like Dan said, just an excuse for chan-types to say the same shit they do everywhere.

[@wh4teley]

I just read some of the reactions to this essay on the cinemassacretruth subreddit and came away impressed with how hard the average Redditor is willing to divorce themselves from reality to be mad on the Internet. Not once did I read a refutation or critique of the content that didn't amount to "lol, smug homeless communist makes video essay". Keep doing what you're doing.

[@bulb9970]

This guy didn't even mention the plagiarism scandal, which was the most infamous incident in Cinemassacre in years. But no, surely TCT are just "mindless haters" to you

[@DZYshitdart]

​@bulb9970 lmao he really didnt talk about it??

[@wh4teley]

@@bulb9970 Yeah, TCT is pretty mindless. All you do is hold up the plagiarism shit like it's evidence of something when it wasn't even James that plagiarized. It's petty and inconsequential. Y'all just have a stick up your ass about Screenwave allegedly "ruining" AVGN when the signs of it losing steam have been their for years. Dude has a wife an kids and less time to make doo-doo diarrhea monkey cheese jokes to entertain people who haven't grown past 2008.

[@Churono]

@@bulb9970 He didn't even talk about the hardware specs of the consoles whose games the AVGN plays! What the hell??

[@Churono]

@@bulb9970 He didn't so much as utter a syllable about Mrs. Nerd's cheese steak recipe! Is he even TRYING?

[@Zycyzyx]

Seeing that kitbashed camera setup made me feel a new kinship with James in a specific way. You have a problem to solve, you don't know the "right" solution to it; but you have tons of energy to just hack one out of nothing on the spot. Your crappy solution is still your own solution, a fruitful act of creation.

[@turtleofpride4572]

Yes! Yes! Jerry rigging, adapting. Using something in a completely different context or way than it's intended use. It's not pretty and may just be up to snuff but you're damn proud to have thought of it.

[@AB0BA_69]

Yeah, but if I can mock your solutions as "not good enough" then I set you up to look like an idiot for my "review" video essay. 😂

[@GorblinRat]

​@@AB0BA_69 yeah it's a really lame complaint.

[@cyjanek7818]

There is no way he didnt know the right solution, you dont have to be filmmaker to know about screw in base of camera and heads. He knew the right solution and he decided to use the wrong one. Answer to "why" is way bigger than solution itself.

[@tomatopaste799]

I immediately had the thought that he has ADHD because that’s some shit I’d do

[@NewbieStarTrek]

I've watched this video three times now. This might be the most emotional thing Dan has made so far. To analyze James so thoroughly from his external perspective and then realizing that some of what he is finding, at LEAST some, is also a part of him as well. And then clearly, after he has finished the script, he has realized he needed to do this video essay in the most creative way he has ever done before, just to prove, maybe at least to himself, that he can still be a filmmaker. That he's better than what he's found. He's more than just a formulaic, stagnant workflow of content creation. It's an exercise to himself. He doesn't know James Rolfe. No one will. But he's not sure he knows himself, either. And maybe that's why it became an obsession.

[@icedlava7063]

it really is beautiful

[@sarsmask]

Halfway through I was worried Dan was being a little too pretentious and haughty himself only to have a shot like the projection onto his face win me back.

[@wingding27]

Excellently said. Brilliant convergence of the informative and the cinematic/creative from Dan. One of the best video essays (?) on KZbin.

[@helterskelter9670]

I watched this whole video while assembling a cheap plastic closet that I bought to replace an even cheaper plastic closet that collapsed five months ago and I left there all this time, stacking my clothes on top of its remains that kept breaking. It hurt.

[@numbdigger9552]

Maybe just buy a SLIGHTLY more expensive wooden closet?

[@noodlefunny]

I am uniquely biased here, but the unexpected payoff of the seemingly insane act that is creating a miniature avgn set for this kind of video had me smiling out loud

[@SlickJohnnysHouse]

stealable phrase.

[@GeahkBurchill]

Know a lot about 1:12 scale recreations of living spaces, do ya, Noodle?

[@haph2087]

I liked the depth of foreshadowing before the payoff I didn't realize was coming.

[@312bigbeanburrito]

Nathan Fielder vibes

[@alainchristian]

Is “smiling out loud” what you intended to say or was that just a typo? And if it wasn’t a typo can you explain what it means because I never heard that expression before.

[@Packbat]

I think the part that haunts me is the anecdote about the 16mm Bolex camera assignment. Being an adult trying to learn skills without an entire school system to support me, I can deeply appreciate the value of the bare basic "make literally the smallest thing" task as a starting point. Its very simplicity means that there are fewer distractions and fewer things to go wrong, means that you can concentrate on learning just one foundational skill so you can employ it from then on.

[@BarginsGalore]

the whole section about his experience of school is the biggest dunk i’ve ever seen. the parts about being board of drawing colour wheels and bullshitting essays with no reflection later in life is insane. imagine if karate kid ended with daniel being like “i love karate but my dumbass teacher kept making me wax his car”

[@jddelphin]

"And if you gaze for long into James Rolfe, James Rolfe gazes also into you".

[@thesinfultictac5704]

Please god no

[@Azmodeus87]

"And he who critiques the Nerd, must take care to not also become the Nerd."

[@thatkidwiththehoodie]

Game into the abyss, the abyss games back

[@MHDebidour]

Around 20 years ago Mr Rolfe video helped me to cheer up in a lonely difficult time of my life, I still watch his video with pleasure.

[@TalkingVidya]

The title of this video is scarier than when he titlted one section just "Doug"

[@Joshinken]

Doug?

[@acledfloyd]

@@JoshinkenI’m guessing it’s from the video about the Nostalgic Critics video about The Wall

[@manuelmaa8196]

No lo había pensado Danny, pero tienes razón.

[@zainmudassir2964]

Doug?

[@Joshinken]

Doug.

[@Bargadiel]

I've emailed James once just to say hi and that I appreciated his work. He actually responded and his thank you felt very genuine and humble to me.

[@Scudboy17]

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from an art teacher in college. I honestly can not recall his name, but he was a teacher at San Antonio College, Design 1 class. We were discussing critiquing each others works and how a lot of it can just come down to personal preference when he made a suggestion I totally did not agree with at the time. He said that when we encounter someone's work we don't like, don't dosmiss it. Recreate it. Try to live inside the mind that created it that way. Maybe you will still think its garbage, but now you will know WHY it's garbage and what other things they could have tried to do differently or better. Or, you might learn the trason why that idea or approach works. There's always the chance your original impulse was wrong or uninformed. While I at first outright rejected this idea, oh the irony, in later years, I have come to understand the wisdom in it. None of us should never assume our own ideas or better or more informed than someone else's without first trying to understand the other person or their work first. You don't have to like it or agree with it, but like Einstein said, "One of the halmarks of intelligence is the ability to consider an idea even if you do not entertain it."

[@jeraldjoyce2995]

as someone who claims to hate jackson pollock & noise music. ive found something incredibly freeing in trying recreate the work/style. there are different ways for someone to construct a piece, whether its starting with the cacophony & madness or the slow descent to that point. noise isnt something i would traditionally listen to, but its fascinating from the perspective of performance art- how far can the artist push the audience in attendence. seeing four different noise artists back to back placed spotlights on the individuals' methodologies, the tools they used, & how they used them to craft that vision. something about sensory overload & overstimulation *is* interesting to me, i just had to try it.

[@harrygreenfeld4964]

So...empathy then. Or rather, artistic empathy.

[@fable23]

I think that's also part of the reason why stuff like The Room is so compelling to people. It's such a baffling end result that trying to reverse engineer the mind that made it is a Herculean exercise in its own right, the Ultra Hard European Extreme Dante Must Die difficulty level of the artistic process you described.

[@aarondavis8943]

I've been in the habit of doing that ever since I realized that I was just whining about stuff. I always think of a better way to do something if I think that something isn't being done well. This is one of my few talents.

[@DOSdaze]

It took years for me to realize, but this is also exactly how I have to treat the code I work on as a programmer. My knee jerk reaction was always “why would they do it this way? I can do it better…” usually finding out why it was done that way after attempting to recreate it in my “better” way. I now approach things differently, considering that perhaps there’s something I’m not seeing rather than just presuming the previous coder was wrong. There’s so much more to learn this way.

[@williamaitken7533]

5 minutes in and seeing the talk about cobbled together solutions (that have easier and more professional alternatives) is just so HUMAN. I have done that with my hobby projects before. I've had it done in my job. Sometimes you need something RIGHT NOW so you cobble together a solution, and since it works, there's no need to fix it until it breaks. Even if it isn't elegant.

[@TheGrayMysterious]

James nailing two scraps of wood over the stand like a plank sandwich instead of drilling a hole into the base for the bolt-hole the stand was built with is genuinely beautiful in its bass-ackwardness. I genuinely don't think he knew the hole was there, he just needed a way to keep the camera stable and was either short on time or short on patience. The fact he either simultaneously strapped the level to it or added the level after the fact is the cherry on top. Describing James' filmmaking style as a kid as "filmmaking as a form of play" made so much click in my mind about how to describe his work adequately. The dude sees making movies the same way a person would see, like, a D&D session. He's doing something he loves, but the core of why he loves it is just the fun of fucking around with friends, writing a script you think is funny, throwing in whatever insane bullshit comes to mind and then chuckling at the chaos that results. It also explains perfectly why AVGN: The Movie was such a near-breaking experience for him, because "real" filmmaking is rigid, professional, stressful, difficult, and absolutely unforgiving. If I were in his position, it probably would have affected me the same way. It'd be crass to say this means I "know" James on some level when the whole video is a Beginner's Guide-like treatise on why assuming you "know" how other people function is fundamentally wrongheaded, but I feel like it's given me not only a framework to try and understand the work of a guy I respect, but also a way of seeing art I might make in a way that might lessen the pressure of its existence on me.

[@clementinedanger]

I was also thinking of The Beginner's Guide the whole way through and that's as high a compliment as I'll ever give

[@atlassolid5946]

i don't think people inherently have a problem with that in and of itself, i think they have a problem with James using words like "films" and "filmmaking" to describe what he does, since they ascribe a lot more weight and importance to those words than "youtube videos" or "home movies". not that i inherently agree with them, but that might be partly where the disconnect is coming from.

[@Zeathian]

The TTRPG analogy hit me as well. James is a forever GM who has been running games in the world he created when he was a child.

[@Pandor18]

or he didnt have a drill at hand?

[@ItWasSaucerShaped]

@@Pandor18 I mean, that was my thought too. But like... without a drill, how did he get those screws through the planks? Do I even want to know? Probably not. But yeah. As someone who DIY'd together enough abominations for various things because of a lack of resources, plenty of which served as lessons after being critiqued by people that knew how to do the thing I was trying to do WITHOUT making an abomination, I can see why Rolfe kept around that rig. it's as Dan said: the act of creation itself makes the thing take on a character of importance to you. Reminds you of a time you solved a problem with limited available material; even if by most standards you 'did it wrong', you still solved the problem and did it with just your own hands and brain.

[@ginar2339]

I won’t lie, I came into this fully prepared to dislike/pity James Rolfe, but having finished it, there’s something comforting in this story about a guy who did have some big screw ups, didn’t achieve his huge artistic dreams, and has had to make compromises but still seems to be finding meaning and satisfaction in his life in other ways.

[@PoolNoodleGundam]

Legit. Yeah, he never reached the heights, and yet he seems content and fulfilled in spite of that. Reassuring is the word I'd use.

[@flockofdrones]

That's life

[@SpaceGhost1984]

That's certainly one takeaway. However, after having watched other videos on him, James Rolfe doesn't seem like he wants to do this character anymore, but must in order to keep his KZbin channel/livelihood afloat. Like an internet celebrity version of Alan Rickman's character in Galaxy Quest.

[@SanctuaryADO]

I don't know, I came away with the feeling that in a way he did achieve his dreams in a way. He had the opportunity to infinitely remake the pieces of contentt he created from his past that he loved and present it to an audience. Thats a luxury that very few people will ever get. It isn't everything that he probably wanted, but its something.

[@terminallyonline5296]

@@SanctuaryADO Exactly, his dreams changed. Dreams change with the people who dream them.

[@Sootielove]

The mythos around being a "filmmaker" is honestly fascinating. There's so much creative passion but ego that goes into wanting to share your vision and make art, but it often makes the art you do make fall short of expectations when it isn't *your vision*. So many artists want to... disregard what they make if it doesn't serve that higher purpose regardless of what impact it has on others

[@CaptainFram]

I don't have much else to add other than this is really well said.

[@oscaranderson5719]

there’s something to be said about human behavior, that we could be doing all the things a filmmaker does but publish it on youtube so we don’t feel like we are because we aren’t getting the same accolades. it’s silly though, I don’t think about “my favorite director” I think “man, the funny puppet man hasn’t posted in a while I wonder when he’s gonna release another deep dive think-piece”

[@Sootielove]

@@oscaranderson5719 There's definitely a lot less prestige that comes from a self-published, widely accessible platform like youtube, regardless of quality. "KZbinr" still isn't a real job to a lot of the public

[@termitreter6545]

I remember reading a few times that that kinda stuff is the artists curse', that they by nature are driven to make better stuff, but also never are truly happy about where they are. Tho maybe thats also just a tired stereotype and some artists just need to get more zen.

[@Sootielove]

@@termitreter6545 I mean, as an artist myself, I am indeed driven to make better stuff, but I do consider myself fairly content in making things I enjoy

[@GrazCore]

This was an emotional journey I didn't expect to take when I randomly clicked it on my recommendations. This is a great reflection of what it is like to become an adult who continues to pursue a childhood hobby or special interest. Learning the distinction between making things for yourself and loving the creative process versus doing it as a job that can be monetized.

[@lostthepirate6311]

My limited interactions with James Rolfe, meeting him in the autograph line after the Rex Viper concert at PRGE 2023, was a really positive one. Dude was really nice, posed for photos, and seemed honestly happy that I had gotten the whole bands' autographs when I got to the end of the line, not just his. I went into that concert expecting it to be a bit of a train wreck, but I ended up in the 2nd row and they put on a great show! While it was not flawless, you could tell every band member was riding high on the chance to perform for the crowd, and giving it their all, and that came through in the performances. If they're playing at a convention near you, it's a fun time.

[@maddieb.4282]

I’m gonna be super brutally honest. If you met a celebrity in line for an autograph or at a meet and greet you didn’t actually meet them. You met either whatever mask they put on while meeting fans, or you met the annoyed person behind the slipping mask if they’ve had a particularly bad day. None of us are the social mask we wear at a work party, and none of us are our most annoyed selves after being overstimulated by a full day at an amusement park.

[@banonKING]

​@maddieb.4282 correct. Meeting someone and knowing someone are two different things. I don't think the comment or claimed to know James. But also, James was at a booth and performed to be personable. He doesn't have to be, but it's expected.

[@PandaXs1]

​@@maddieb.4282 man, some people's mask is just being a piece of shit. maybe they're not their """real""" selves in public (though acting like celebrities are the only ones who do this is weird), but if he can be a personable guy without coming off as fake as shit that still says something about him.

[@NarwhalBlue]

​@PandaXs1 exactly this. He could have been all types of awful. The fact that he left a positive impact on this person is all that matters. You could extend this to every interaction you have with anyone. We all put faces on every i terraction when we meet someone, it's the fact that you choose to be nice that sets you from those that don't, no matter how bad a film maker you are 😀

[@NarwhalBlue]

​@PandaXs1 exactly this. He could have been all types of awful. The fact that he left a positive impact on this person is all that matters. You could extend this to every interaction you have with anyone. We all put faces on every interaction when we meet someone, it's the fact that you choose to be nice that sets you from those that don't, no matter how bad a film maker you are 😀

[@MangusMangoman]

I have never seen criticism this harsh feel so deeply respectful.

[@Felipemelazzi]

Just finished the video and you spoke the words that were echoing inside my mind

[@Roiworld21]

If there's one thing I got out of this video, it's that James Rolfe has 100% percent turned into a Dad. Anybody who says, "Fuck it" and just haphazardly backyard construct in a way that's easy and works for him has transformed himself into Dad mode. If anything, that just concludes that he might do this to other things around the house too which makes me happy for some reason lol. I'm sure his daughters will remember that fondly about him.

[@jaspervanheycop9722]

Man my dad built some truly mindboggling stuff. We had to deconstruct one of his monstrocities (a bookshelve/tv stand he'd been adding iterative weird upgrades to for two decades) when moving house, it was positively non-Euclidian. An Escher print of a cupboard, magnificent, imaginative, completely w r o n g in a Lovecraftian way...

[@desertels5119]

​@@jaspervanheycop9722 This is wonderfully vivid

[@pravkdey]

​@@jaspervanheycop9722 may God have mercy on us all

[@agraham9099]

i love that for him SO MUCH

[@kyleleehufnagel]

As a dad who has dug giant bulbs of decorative grasses out of landscaping beds with nothing but a breaking bar because my shovel handle broke; sometimes you do a task the “wrong way”because the real challenge is working up the motivation to even start a task. If I stopped because I didn’t have the right tool on hand there is no saying when I’d get around to getting the right tool, let alone circle back around to the project I was trying to accomplish to begin with.

[@dopaminetrigger]

judging by the comments section, you just made wavelength (2024)

[@swedishjazz9546]

This one was really beautifully shot and edited. As for the conclusion of reaching middle age and realizing your childhood passions didn't blossom into an outstanding career but stagnated or morphed into the more convenient, shallower version of itself that doesn't hold the candle to your hopes from years ago, and having to reconcile with the fact: hey. >:(

[@Arkayruz]

HEY, indeed.

[@gwennorthcutt421]

its an interesting perspective for sure. personally im very happy about my oncoming middle age bc honestly i didnt have much plans past 25. so even if my previous dreams didnt happen, that im here at all and happier than i was is enough for me. and even im not immune from that feeling of "oh god i accomplished nothing", just rarer than the average bear, i think.

[@art-eroflore]

feeling personally attacked by this comment

[@QuintaFeira12]

​@@gwennorthcutt421 I similarly never had much going on in the way of wants or dreams. Well, not realistic ones, I'd love super powers. But I do feel rather empty about it rather than optimistic. It's like. Something is missing. Something has always been missing.

[@gwennorthcutt421]

@@QuintaFeira12 im sorry to hear that. i think ambitions can be small and still important. i think if you're a kind person and are happy and content thats more than enough. but when i said i didnt have plans i meant like. i was suicidal so i didnt think id make it to 25. thereforee being able to live past that feels like an accomplishment.

[@johnchristopher0music]

What i love most about this video is that like an onion, it has layers. We arent watching Dan perform his script, we look into a viewfinder attached to the camera that is actually watching Dan. We arent hearing Dan talk, we listen to the cassette recording of his words. We hear about James as he himself is superimposed onto Dan via projector. I'm reminded of someone sitting down to paint a landscape of a valley, but then realises that the painting is incomplete without the inclusion of themselves sitting at the canvas, brush in hand. Nothing exists wholly within its own context, but at minimum coloured by the lens of the perspective of the viewer. What resonates more than Dans wit and curiousity is his ultimate empathy. Is it kind? Not particularly, but better than being kind, he finds an honesty. Otherwise, he'd have produced nothing more than a dramatic hit piece, dunking on an earnest but otherwise tacky youtube filmaker.

[@draexian530]

This one felt more kind. He's tore into people before with malice, but this felt, I don't know, gentler? That line about kinship sells it. So does the title. He admitted he didn't have a strong read with this one.

[@libaf5471]

@@draexian530 I didn't get the sense this is critique. It's more of a self reflection through someone elses life's work with a question superimposed over it. If you really love making movies a specific way, does it matter if they age poorly or you don't really develop as a creator? I'm not qualified enough to say anything about how Dan has developed, but the end results I like to watch I think have. I guess it's about being self aware enough to be able to be afraid, that you're stuck and not developing. Or the fear of having "primed" and now just staring down a barrel of slow decline. I don't know. I just know I loved the vibe of this one.

[@Duiker36]

What is this piece, "Leaf by Niggle"? :P

[@Evilgenius122]

The shiver that ran down my spine when i realized that the, quite frankly impressive recreation of an avgn episode, was going to transition into Dan being chased by a creepy doll. Poetry.

[@nsnow92]

This was easily the best recreation of The Nerd by someone that isn't James. Any other attempt is either too crass or too afraid to be crass in the same way.

[@DrunkenHotei]

The whole thing was a masterpiece. Dan's finest work yet, by far. I didn't think it was possible, but he's leveled up. I wish I could say the same for James.

[@IrisGlowingBlue]

I've never seen AVGN except for that one very specific cut about football fsr, so this went mostly over my head in all honest. But I appreciate the context!

[@Ubertrash]

My brain immediately settled in like I was watching a real episode.

[@abefaerber7994]

hey, spoilers!

[@aesthetichoarder8248]

A lot of people felt that Dan was being mean and judgemental in this video but I viewed it as him telling a story about learning to empathize with James

[@Knifedog212]

The problem is that many people cannot rationalize that. It’s either hating on him or praising

[@johnkennedy3403]

I understand that he was telling a story about seeing himself in James and so on, but I still think he went about it in a pretty mean way. It just seems like a mean spirited video to me.

[@TheStoenk]

@@johnkennedy3403 i came away from this video respecting James Rolfe and his decisions more than I did before

[@dictionarygoat9156]

One of the things you learn getting into any artistic medium is how much sheer understanding and effort of the craft you need to make something intentionally appear bad or lazy. Dan's ability here to make shots or set ups that are "bad/slapped together" (Ipad taped to the wall, showing the camera view instead of the actual footage, etc) while still making the whole video smooth, accessible and visually captivating is phenomenal and the way it thematically links to the content of the video is a chefs kiss. Instantly one of his best.

[@joebob3719]

Also little things like the smartphone playing the video on the table is genius. Like how many countless hours of both Olson’s and Wolf’s videos have been played this way? How has it affected our perception of the medium and media and creators? Hell sometimes I just listen with the phone in my pocket. I was just about to until I saw this video was going to be something special

[@sylviapage61]

I read it as not just intentionally bad, but also an incessant reminder of *what* we are watching, in an echo of what Dan tells us Wavelength does as a film - and of course ties into the photon homunculus idea. What does it mean to watch someone watch someone? Can you even *see* James Rolfe through all these layers of narrative? A screen in a screen... it made me think about the format of video clips within videos differently, i kinda feel like they should always be shown like this honestly

[@BaBaBaBenny]

"If you build it out of malice you inject it with your own prejudices and it ends up bad for reasons you created, it tells you *nothing*" is such a banger quote, and it could just as easily have been pulled from the Doug Walker Wall video as it could this one.

[@randomjunkohyeah1]

I also think this applies just as much to the model of a work of art- film, tv show, video game- that you construct in your own head as you observe and interact with it. When you sit down and write a movie review after watching it, what you are _directly_ reviewing is not the movie itself, but rather that imaginary copy that you hold within your mind. And if you sat down for your viewing already thinking “I will not like this”, that can ABSOLUTELY “end up bad for reasons you created”, as the preexisting bias ends up influencing the “pieces” of the original you end up selecting to “build” your mental construct. …wait. Is that exactly what Dan was trying to say??

[@matthewsuttinger4179]

It's a literal description of these hit pieces he's been making couched as "filmmaking." But at least he has pretentious faux self reflection as a last minute copout.

[@randomjunkohyeah1]

@@matthewsuttinger4179 It’s a literal description of what you literally just did.

[@samlastname1252]

@@randomjunkohyeah1 You don't know that.

[@randomjunkohyeah1]

@@samlastname1252 Don’t know what?

[@klungusxyz]

I feel like if I watch this video again, different things are going to happen the second time.

[@culwin]

If you enter the secret code, Dan makes it past the 2nd level.

[@TheReliquarian]

They will, and it's all in your head.

[@randomjunkohyeah1]

Great premise for a short horror film right there

[@MateusAuri]

If you watch it again, the Flashback SNES cart is revealed to be haunted, then it comes out of the screen and chases you

[@jeremiahchambers6025]

I know it's been six months but I've watched this video about 10 times now, and it's possibly the most impressive work of art I've seen in the form of a KZbin video essay of all time. You're a filmmaker, Dan. This is brilliant work.

[@MarcusFigueras]

Something poetic about how the game chosen for the Nerd parody in the end, Flashback, there isn't a softlock in the part where he got stuck at. It's just a jump where you have to start a running u-turn to build height and speed. It's something that you would only get stuck on if you were only really playing the game quickly for a review and not trying to actually complete it. And yet this metaphor speaks a lot in several perspectives. Maybe James Rolfe could've taken off with filmmaking if he hadn't only learned the shallow lessons. Maybe the haters wouldn't look like complete lunatics if they actually found other things to critique and not a surface level mocking of a man and his wife. And maybe it's a metaphor for the video in general. And I mean that in a nice way. I can hardly be the judge of who is and isn't a gamer, but I don't know enough about Mr. Folding Ideas to figure out whether or not he has really enjoyed a random video game released in the 90s fully. But this segment is almost a lens to view the level of obfuscation in which we understand the film maker. I don't know Dan Olson as a person to know if he actually got stuck in that part as a bit or for real. I only know him from the commentary videos he makes and the parts he reveals. And again we see this in this very video, in which we know that we do not actually know James Rolfe as a person, we only know what he reveals through his character and videos, and not the whole man himself.

[@bigjohnsbreakfastlog5819]

I like to believe that Flashback annoyed the hell out of Dan when he was a kid and is just vicariously living the Nerd to let off some steam while at the same time fundamentally pointing out the flaws of not giving enough time for your source material because there's 4 more videos to make that afternoon.

[@Mstcartman]

I didn't know that about Flashback! You also wrote this beautifully

[@ItWasSaucerShaped]

it's also a callback to a number of Rolfe's videos where he basically claims a game he is playing is impossible at a given point in order to wrap-up the video. it's a constant bit that is plainly a bit, but not every viewer cottoned on to that fact in particular his castlevania marathon, which was so influential that a bunch of his shitty viewer went on to harass castlevania speedrunners, claiming that they couldn't possibly be beating the impossible game that AVGN couldn't beat, and ergo they were cheating another element really resonant with wavelength, IMHO

[@AntonMochalin]

I think the point is more about Rolfe or Olson not knowing themselves in the first place being just like all of us doomed to cover this impossibility of knowledge with all kinds of discourses, symbols and memes.

[@lookatdemijipers]

"Conrad has two different running jumps, a long jump and a high jump. The high jump is done automatically if you're running towards an elevated floor and press nothing. If you try and jump you'll long jump instead. Very weird game." - Dan's response to someone asking about that section of the game on Twitter

[@paullucas9465]

The use of cinematography as meta narrative is simply amazing

[@nprovenghi271]

it left me slackjawed at multiple moments, truly a masterpiece of filmmaking on and of the platform

[@Chapy63]

A lot of people seems to think Dan is all about essays on financial scams, but long time followers of Folding Ideas know that he's all about cinema. My favorite videos of Dan are still his analysis of The Snowman and the Book of Henry. He got much better at this over the years, but when you watch those earlier videos, then the recent ones, you understand why all the poesy, the clever editing and the subtext. Dan doesn't want to simply make an essay, he wants to make cinema. Actually this AVGN homage hits close to home. Obviously he's himself trying to achieve some kind of a ''filmmaker'' status, and he doubled down in his last videos on the metaphors and the subtext, the clever shots and all.

[@thatfrickenweeb]

Clickbait title: The Angry Angry Video Game Nerd Nerd

[@buzhichun]

this is perfect

[@WangleLine]

lmao

[@WetRatGaming]

pinned comment worthy

[@nymphmythic454]

✨Smart style✨

[@intensesqualor2268]

This was actually a joke that was done for the 200th episode

[@Dogedoge337]

I had seen a couple of videos from this channel in the past, when they showed up in my recommendations by mere chance. And even though I tried to be invested in their subjects, I didn't get to watch them closely to the end. That is until I saw this video. James Rolfe is a person from earlier days in my life thanks to his character, the AVGN. So I had to watch this. Even though it addresses some of his flaws, it doesn't do so as any other video about him I've seen before. The amount of thought and detail that went into this video is astounding, I can feel that the author really cares about the multifaceted person that is James Rolfe. It was a very interesting video to watch. Good work.

[@KrinkelsNG]

I appreciate how this is a critique of your relationship with the media. I have difficulty finding these kind of examinations.

[@Mosstrades]

me too it's very nice

[@infantiltinferno]

True introspection is rough, painful and time-consuming. Add to this the anxiety of exposing it to the internet and the balance of not being too neurotic then, yeah... difficult to find.

[@Horrid_IV]

I would never have expected to see you here Krinkels. Keep up the great work man.

[@elijaminwlc6079]

Just like James' unplugged mic in the apology video, Dan Olson too holds a mic that is in reality unplugged, and you can even see the real off screen boom mic even in some of the shots of the first part

[@IsaacSperrow]

As soon as he mention the mic thing, I immediately went "oh yeah his mic is definitely fake too". Great meta detail. Same thing with the bearded self vs normal self. His bearded self is obsessed with James and explained things from a personal standpoint while his normal self isn't and is more objective but is detached from the situation. Both has their merits.

[@AncientRunesMusic]

In 2000 or 2001 I taped that mic onto my snaredrum. I threw it away, when I realized how terrible it sounded.

[@notreallythere477]

It's so odd that some people think James is in some way a reluctant participant in the rest of his life outside of AVGN. I could always tell in his more recent videos, between the barely-concealed tattoos and the muscles that became more and more obvious, but were uncharacteristic for a character known as "the nerd", that this is a man whose life absolutely *does not* revolve around making videos about retro games for the internet. Of course, as has already been observed by many, James Rolfe is hardly the only subject of this piece, and I love the ways Dan signals that without saying it out loud. Changing the camera angle on his usual set to reveal the encroaching mass of his own inefficiencies laying just offscreen, a contrast with the simplicity of the clean, white backdrop we're so familiar with from his other essays. Growing out his beard for the main body of the video, with only brief segments depicting him as we would usually recognize him, mostly shown through other screens (presumably the footage is composited onto the screens rather than played off of them and rerecorded from there, but these days, who knows). This is why Dan's videos are an immediate watch for me the moment I see them. Anyway, I kind of like that, for all the scandals to afflict his contemporaries, for all the other creators who quit, or who threw away what made them appealing to their oldest fans in pursuit of The Algorithm, that the AVGN has remained constant, a concept preserved in amber. An ongoing, living connection between us and our nostalgia for those heady days of the mid-2000s internet, when we were all young and hopeful and the world was our oyster. Because, in 2024, as most of his original fans are hurtling towards middle age themselves, we now, more than ever, need someone to take us back to the past.

[@riverrunpastadamandsteve]

damn

[@tomasabrosimovas1784]

I loved AVGN as teenager up until 21 I would say. It's crazy to think that person who has such unbounded respect of the internet can feel like this. I guess it just seems for me that person can feel like this

[@almostambidextrous]

If the Internet has taught me anything, it's that there is literally no higher purpose in this world than making/commentating upon video games. It's why the Catholic Church recently made AsmonGold into a Saint for the miracle of complaining about female gamers, or something. Also, WWII would never have happened if Nazis had been treated more fairly in video games of that era and weren't censored. (subtitles read: HEAVY SARCASM)

[@lordtette]

Which video is it where you noticed the change in appearance. And heck he can be a nerd with tatts and muscles. But I checked his recent videos and he still looks the same

[@Choice_au]

Fuck, that last line is good.

[@Wrynwynn]

I’ve never understood the “Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles” narrative until I saw people attack AVGN for having a wife. Its just “aww man my friend’s wife says he couldn’t come hang out tonight” but to a projected toxic degree.

[@atlassolid5946]

man, do i have a lindsay ellis video for you (unless you've already seen it)

[@BladedEdge]

People that really, truly, hate and disrespect women don't even realize how ridiculous their logic is. Frequently not even when you point it out.

[@simpleanswer8954]

The Yoko thing isn't just "Oh, John's wife won't let him hang out." It was more "John's wife keeps telling him he's better off on his own." Even people who blame John for the breakup admit Yoko was encouraging it. Just because they both involve wives doesn't make them the same situation. Also... I have friends that got married and don't always have time to hang out. It's normal. I also have at least one friend that got married and isn't ALLOWED to hang out. Not just less time, NO time. Your example is a bad wife. "My friend's wife says he couldn't..." Why does he need permission? If she has a good reason for him to be home, he should just say he's staying home because he has a reason. I hear it when I talk to to my married friends. The guy in the good marriage says "I'll check and make sure we don't have anything else going, but yeah let's hang out." He doesn't ask permission, he just verifies she doesn't have something more important planned. He makes the decision to be with his family or his friends based on how much his family needs him. The OTHER guy sounds like a kid talking to his mom. "Can I go hang out? No? Okay." No married adult should ever ask permission for anything from their spouse. You either want to be there because you want to be married, or you're in a bad marriage.

[@ToastyBB]

Imagine your friends wife who literally won't let your friend go anywhere without her following. Even while recording music she would sit there and watch. Then she started trying to help write the songs. Now imagine you're the biggest band in the world for 5 years and this lady is trying to tell you how to write your songs It's not the same thing. Of course people shouldve gotten over it by this point, and leave yoko alone. It was almost 60 years ago. I'm just saying

[@atlassolid5946]

@@ToastyBB it clearly didn't bother the other members, they've said as much repeatedly

[@juliakrystosek8003]

I've watched this three times and "there's a hole in the camera head to put a bolt in it" is still one of the greatest twists of video essay history I will not be accepting arguments at this time

[@Mosstrades]

the pan to the iterative cameras with bolts in them startled such a sincere laugh out of me i love this video

[@Geidi174]

Julia your autism meds are ready

[@coelacanth64]

someone hasn’t watched the 3 hour hobbit speedrun video essay

[@Dong_Harvey]

Holes in wood objects always obfuscate something far more interesting.

[@knowmatter5503]

To quote noted musical historian Todd in the Shadows: “Metallica wasn’t just ‘big for a metal band’ they were BIG - I remember hearing ‘enter sandman’ playing at WALMART”

[@travisjordan3853]

The fact that 'Weird Al' Yankovic incorporated lyrics from their song "Enter Sandman" into his 1992 polka medley "Polka Your Eyes Out" shows that Metallica was definitely not an obscure band.

[@deparinge]

Yeah I also thought back to the St. Anger Trainwreckord. If you weren't there at the time you might be forgiven for thinking Metallica weren't that big back in the day and it's only because of a dedicated fanbase and sheer musical prowess that you'll hear songs like Nothing Else Matters on the radio nowadays but like...Enter Sandman reached number 16 on the Hot 100 and went platinum back when that actually meant something

[@pinkcupcake4717]

The little flash in my mind to Todd's video in the middle of this one was probably an unintended experience, but a great one nonetheless.

[@randomjunkohyeah1]

I thought of the same thing!

[@marocat4749]

I mean unforgiven is great. and personally nothing else matters their masterpiece.

[@MeeraReads]

Did…. Did Dan just create a James Rolfe movie about James Rolfe? Centered around a cursed object?

[@hectormontecino7777]

ohhhhhh... You are so right, even finish with the doll. That's just masterful, is a critic, an episode of AVGN, a Rolfe's movie, an analysis, a introspection, a cautionary tale, and sometimes even a defense of Rolfe.

[@SSJFro]

🤯How to say "I'm a better filmmaker than you" without saying it

[@ekki1993]

@@SSJFro He tends to do the same thing he's talking about, like reviewing The Wall for Doug's video or a self-interview for the geocentrist video. And he generally does it better than the people he's talking about because... well, he's your favourite video essayist's favourite video essayist. I doubt he did it with ill intent here, though. The ending seems to find value in the style, even if the video is very critical of James Rolfe as a filmmaker. Dan probably saw something of himself in there.

[@mattcroft]

...goddamn it

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

The whole descent into madness vibe really didn't sink in until the end. But, it gives it re watch value. The second watch gives you insight into all of the foreshadowing work that was glossed over or taken for granted the first time. He hasn't stopped teaching. This is just the MasterClass.

[@Bhurin]

I sat down to watch this with apprehension - if this documentry did not treat James with at least a modicrum of affection, I was not going to enjoy it. Aware of James' detractors, I am assurredly a fan not only of his work, but of his relative wholesomeness and integrity compared to many many other online "influencers". I was nervous with your frank language - calling James a bad writer, harshly critiquing his book, his methods, his limitations. But slowly I realized what I was watching. This is a serious mind taking its subject seriously. When the imitations began, I realized this serious mind KNOWS its subject well indeed. And when it ended, I realized there could be no deeper affection expressed than to convey not only an empathetic kinship, but also all but confess to what you have learned about yourself and your own craft from this "backyard" filmmaker. This was my first Folding Ideas video. I'm not sure how you've escaped my feed until now, but I have now watched this documentry more than five times, and am making my way through your others. Thank you for making this, and for taking James seriously. It's difficult to even describe how flattering and insightful this felt - I defintely learned a lot.

[@CapslockGoD]

I love the self-awareness you show here. The projection bits and the end, including the spot on Nerd impression voice over, put into perspective all the more cynical/callous things you said. Everybody loathes themselves at one point or the other for not becoming a film star, a famous musician or an elite athlete... or a film maker. You don't go to film school to review Godzilla in a home made mock up bar set for the internet or to talk about the latest financial scam. We all are pathetic, amateurish, delusional. We believe ourselves temporarily embarrassed and patch together make shift solutions that become permanent and before we know THEY become our legacy.

[@dankswank9088]

that's certainly how it FEELS in our darkest moments, anyway

[@Caspellaer]

That was a very, like, unironically affecting film. Speaking as someone with creative ambitions, I see a lot of myself in it, this story of little, mounting anxieties and obsessions. And that’s probably the point - whatever’s playing on the screen, whether it’s a review of the nintendo shitcube or an outsider film about a wall, we’re all ultimately just looking at ourselves, getting older but never changing quite the way we wanted to.

[@riverrunpastadamandsteve]

It’s really probably the best thing i think i’ve ever seen on youtube. Filmmaker or not, Dan is a part of something new and something special, hell, filmmakers have only existed for about a century and half. Whatever we call these modern creatives, Dan is almost unparalleled.

[@Jo.j.13-l9v]

Not To be insane, I am Kind of tired now, but to me the video was about video Essays specfically critical video Essays. We consume them however passivly expecting to end up feeling like we are better than some guy we didn't even know of before, but in the end what do we have to show for?

[@spellbound1875]

Glad someone else commented on it. The repeated centering of Dan in some of the shots really created a building unease that climaxed beautifully in the end. At about the part 0 section the shift from critical to affectionate in the viewing of Rolfe as a person with flaws but also genuinely wonderful qualities was a real contrast to the Doug Walker video. Dan's talk about how media is revealing, both in how we respond to it and what we choose to put either directly or through commentary, both in his examination of Walker and Rolfe, was impossible to ignore as a was sorting through the feelings that were stirred up in me. I'm kind of in awe of folks who feel some comfortable putting themselves out there to be gawked at by others.

[@NaimHrustanovic]

"Getting older but never changing quite the way we wanted to" cuts really deep. I feel like I've grown to become a different person every year of my life, but for all the improvements and positive changes scattered thtoughout the years, I simply do not resemble the person I always wanted to be. It's a strange thing to be happy, content and disappointed all at once.

[@dr6559]

Over the last year, I’ve started to understand the contradictory nature of humanity. I don’t think people even mean it or realize it; it just comes up like a reflex so I do understand those contradictory emotions.

[@barbararobertson9505]

It's okay Dan. In 15 years someone else will be having an existential crisis over Keemstar. This is completely respectable by comparison.

[@aaronborok8398]

AVGN is infinitely better than Keemstar by any filmmaking metric.

[@HellecticMojo]

Keemstar is reprehensible garbage

[@Pundit07]

@@aaronborok8398 Make that any metric in general, not just filmmaking

[@lachlank.8270]

Ugh

[@Kiwi_J]

Nah

[@kitikami]

For what it's worth, this video is one of the best examples on KZbin of "this person's knowledge of filmmaking really gives them a leg up"

[@biscuitygudness]

i'm seeing folks commenting on how this "isn't new information about avgn", but my takeaway from this video was that this is a video about dan's relationship with avgn and how it reflects his own worst fears and insecurities about himself and his decisions right back at him as a ghost of electrons. which is exactly how i feel about doug walker - becoming someone like him is my worst fear. so this video really hit home for me.

[@Badbufon]

James Rolfe is like the wall in Wavelength

[@Jo.j.13-l9v]

To me, im slightly sleep deprived, its about how stupid overcritical video Essays can be, unnessarly mean, pointless not self reflektive, Critism as entertainment in a lot of its worst forms, seeing a camera fictire that annoys you and spending an hour talking about how bad a Film maker some guy you don't know is. Making a Model of his home all that

[@GorblinRat]

​@@Jo.j.13-l9vagreed

[@tentativegazer]

I think you're exactly right! I left a mini essay saying as much lmao

[@gladspooky9455]

But he doesn't have a relationship with the AVGN. He says so in the video. He is just a fan who has come to massively dislike the thing he's a fan of. This happens so often, it's unremarkable.