So how about that Katersoneseven Christmas vlog, and how it didn't happen?
Yeah, I don't get it either. A person who vlogs 365 days a year, vlogs last Christmas, vlogs birthdays, vlogs family and friends (and their birthdays), vlogs good times and bad, yet suddenly decides Christmas this year is off limits. To make matters worse, the audience was built up to what was thought to be an awesome Christmas vlog, by showing the shopping, showing all the presents and the tree all the time, and actually saying how it was in fact going to be awesome, more than once. But apparently that didn't mean it was going to be awesome for the viewers, because at the last minute, on Christmas Eve, she broke the news that we didn't get to see any of it. Well, unless you count opening of the fan gifts, but that lasted for two minutes out of a six minute vlog. And to be blunt, nobody wanted to see any of the fan gifts a fraction as much as they wanted to see what Cory and Kate gifted one another.
The thing is, not only did we not get to see the opening of the presents, we didn't even get to see the presents themselves later on. What's the big secret? What's so special about this year compared to last? I mean sure, maybe she wanted a morning to relax with no makeup or anything. Fine, I can totally accept/respect that. But like I said, we didn't even get to know what the presents were, aside from what we might have seen strewn across the floor afterwards. How can presents exchanged between two friends be so special that nobody is allowed to see? Even if there were a few special gifts in there, that doesn't mean everything else couldn't have been opened on camera. They're not really helping the whole Kate/Cory relationship rumor by doing stuff like that.
Just to put alternate possibilities out there, maybe they bought each other expensive stuff (since I saw a Wii box on the floor) and thought trolls would remark in the comments about them being spoiled and having lots of money. I know that they make remarks about them spending money eating out and at Starbucks a lot. But again, the expensive gifts could have been edited out or skipped. So I just don't get it, especially for someone who makes money by making entertaining vlogs. By being a Christmas-tease, she really only managed to ruffle the feathers of her viewers.
On a side note, I heard that the Shaytards did like an hour long Christmas vlog, but to be fair, we all know by now that Shay is so eager for views/money that he would vlog pretty much anything at this point as long as it didn't take much effort. I have no desire to watch it, though, so I'll have to take peoples' word on how long it was. I do know that Vlerabrite opened gifts on camera, as well as some other lesser-known Youtubers I watch. Likely even other big vloggers like CTFxC did too. So as for Kate, again all I can say is "I don't get it." There's got to be more to the story.
But whatever, despite my multiple paragraphs of disappointment/conjecture on the subject, at the end of the day it really just doesn't matter. Just toss it into the "odd Katers activity" pile and wait to see if anything in the future sheds light on any of it. I just really wanted to see a Christmas vlog, is all.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Branding
I just had a commenter angrily dispute (read: swearing like a five year old) over my use of the word "brand" when referring to a particular Youtube channel's more prominent attributes, and it made me wonder just how many people seriously don't think they're in this for the money.
It's their day job. Of course they are.
That doesn't mean it's a bad thing. And it doesn't automatically make someone a sell-out. They started out doing something which people liked, and as the user base grew, so did ad revenue, enough so to sustain them. But to say that various Youtubers don't have a "brand" is like saying they're all the same as Joe Vlogger. They all have things which distinguish them, and most of them actively use those things to promote themselves in all things internet-related, whether that's selling shirts or growing their fan base. Olga Kay for example has her juggling (which she doesn't really do anymore though), a whole series of recurring characters she plays on her main channel videos, and her "moosh army." Toby Turner has his "darkness then redness then whiteness" thing. Cory Williams has his "mean kitties." Shay is the "family man." Arturo Trejo has his exaggerations, his family, and the whole Spanish thing. Wheezy Waiter has a number of recurring in-jokes (new couch!), Explosion Wednesday (not that that's a thing), his band, etc. CTFxC has its very name, and the dogs. I could go on and on. And let's not forget that most of these people have theme songs now, as well. When people think of these Youtubers, they identify them with these things. It's part of the "brand" they've created to set themselves apart from the masses. And it's why they're all popular. It's in no way an implication that they've sold out.
When you become a sell-out is when the search for money and/or fame goes too far and impacts what you've established. When advertising is prevalent, when products are promoted too often, when out of the ordinary things are done on the channel purely for views, outright spamming, etc. Not cool. Most of these people already make a living off of their fans, so expecting more than that, particularly at the expense of normal content, is kind of selfish. Not that I blame them, of course, because everybody likes money. But fans notice, and in the end, they're only damaging their own image.
There are in fact certain Youtubers who I feel are nothing but sell-outs at this point. Some I've mentioned in detail, others I've never mentioned here at all. And not everyone who I've had a beef with here is on that list, either, before you go making assumptions. But there's no point in me naming names, because there's obviously thousands of people who would disagree with me in each case regardless of any evidence I might present. You know, much like the angry commenter who felt it necessary to swear angrily at the very implication that their favorite Youtuber promoted any kind of brand to begin with!
It's their day job. Of course they are.
That doesn't mean it's a bad thing. And it doesn't automatically make someone a sell-out. They started out doing something which people liked, and as the user base grew, so did ad revenue, enough so to sustain them. But to say that various Youtubers don't have a "brand" is like saying they're all the same as Joe Vlogger. They all have things which distinguish them, and most of them actively use those things to promote themselves in all things internet-related, whether that's selling shirts or growing their fan base. Olga Kay for example has her juggling (which she doesn't really do anymore though), a whole series of recurring characters she plays on her main channel videos, and her "moosh army." Toby Turner has his "darkness then redness then whiteness" thing. Cory Williams has his "mean kitties." Shay is the "family man." Arturo Trejo has his exaggerations, his family, and the whole Spanish thing. Wheezy Waiter has a number of recurring in-jokes (new couch!), Explosion Wednesday (not that that's a thing), his band, etc. CTFxC has its very name, and the dogs. I could go on and on. And let's not forget that most of these people have theme songs now, as well. When people think of these Youtubers, they identify them with these things. It's part of the "brand" they've created to set themselves apart from the masses. And it's why they're all popular. It's in no way an implication that they've sold out.
When you become a sell-out is when the search for money and/or fame goes too far and impacts what you've established. When advertising is prevalent, when products are promoted too often, when out of the ordinary things are done on the channel purely for views, outright spamming, etc. Not cool. Most of these people already make a living off of their fans, so expecting more than that, particularly at the expense of normal content, is kind of selfish. Not that I blame them, of course, because everybody likes money. But fans notice, and in the end, they're only damaging their own image.
There are in fact certain Youtubers who I feel are nothing but sell-outs at this point. Some I've mentioned in detail, others I've never mentioned here at all. And not everyone who I've had a beef with here is on that list, either, before you go making assumptions. But there's no point in me naming names, because there's obviously thousands of people who would disagree with me in each case regardless of any evidence I might present. You know, much like the angry commenter who felt it necessary to swear angrily at the very implication that their favorite Youtuber promoted any kind of brand to begin with!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
And Then There Were Fewer
So since my last update, I've unsubscribed from all CTFxC-related channels. Just got tired of it in general, along with things rubbing me the wrong way occasionally. No point in making myself watch something that I don't really enjoy most days. I think the last straw was Charles and Alli wearing out Siri on their new iPhones, since I completely predicted it beforehand. Siri isn't amusing or even anything new, but seems like every kid out there is amazed by the thing. Anyway, I might go back and watch the wedding whenever that happens, but even if I missed that, I honestly just wouldn't care at this point. I'm over the vloggity.
I've also all but stopped watching Olga Kay's videos. I haven't watched one now in weeks. Why am I even still subscribed to that, actually?
I saw that the Shaytard brood is branching out, into yet more video series and now podcasts. Even his sister has a professional-looking channel now. The junk got put into my recommendations. And again I just roll my eyes at the money obsession fueling those ventures. It's just ridiculous how Shaytards went from an every day family guy to this professional scripted internet television series. Why would anyone who didn't already know Shay from the beginning even want to start watching it? What's the appeal?
Actually, nevermind. This is the same country that loves Jersey Shore, the Kardashians, and Rebecca Black.
My favorite daily vlogger remains Katers17, along with Cory and recently Amy as well. I really enjoyed the videos with Amy around. She seems to be very comfortable in front of the camera, and has a good sense of humor. Some of the funniest moments in a while happened during those three weeks of her visit. I hope she continues her own vlogging channel once she's back in England.
As for Kate, no real complaints about the vlogs in recent weeks I guess. She's been pushing that APB game a bit, and I suspect she's getting paid in some respect for at least doing the commercial part of it, but who knows. But it's nothing too intrusive so it doesn't bother me. People get some kind of Katers character tattoo out of joining through her link, so more power to'em I guess.
Currently she's kind of pushing some mobile game called City Story. I tried it since it's "free," but I don't see me playing it. I mean, I understand that games like that make money by selling items, but they're whoring this garbage on you constantly in popups and stuff. It's very annoying. Sorry, I'm not giving you money to regularly play a slow generic version of Sim City. Not when I can buy the REAL Sim City app. It all makes me wonder if Kate is being sponsored by these people. The reason I find it hard to believe that she's actually paying to play this thing is that it's obvious that she's very thrifty and money-conscious. I know she plays lots of Tiny Chef, but I've never played that one so I have no idea how necessary it is to spend real money to play it. Either way, whatever, I just thought the whole thing seemed a bit odd. Even if they're paying her, I don't care as long as it doesn't start to sound like it's being hocked rather than just suggested. I'd rather know that someone is trying to advertise to me rather than trying to trick me.
Meanwhile, Cory is on this "don't worry, be happy" phase. He's done similar things a few times in the past, and it apparently never lasts very long. Usually when somebody tries so hard to convince other people they're happy, they're only fooling themselves. I mean, more power to him if it does make him feel good temporarily, but I'm just afraid that he'll suddenly come crashing back to reality and feel miserable again. I think you're better off with a bumpy emotional state by dealing with problems, rather than pretending stuff doesn't bother you during high highs, only to end up climbing the mountain again after you hit the low lows.
Also speaking of Cory, I found it kind of ironic that he was complaining about having no money, yet he was so easily swindled into buying that car cleaner from the guy hocking it at the gas station. I can tell you right now that there was nothing in that bottle he was selling that you couldn't find cheaper in a store. I bet he paid like thirty bucks for it, too. Besides, Cory usually goes through the car wash anyway, which says to me that he obviously doesn't have the time or the desire to hand wash or wax the thing to begin with. Oh well.
I guess that's about all I meant to mention, regarding Youtubers at least. I'm sure I could find other things to go on about, but I'll save that for another time!
EDIT: Oh yeah, I know what I meant to mention now. People saying Kate complains too much. It got to the point that Kate herself now often prefaces that she's not complaining before expressing discontent. Who the fuck cares? Seriously, the girl is very chipper and grateful of most things, is she not allowed to complain as well? What reality do people live in where life doesn't give you lemons? Yeah, she lives in California where the weather is beautiful most of the time, but if she wants to complain about occasional cold or rain, why does it matter? People complain about inconveniences. It's perfectly normal. The whole "she has it all, she doesn't have any right to be complaining" thing is kind of ridiculous to impose on anybody. And don't get me wrong, there are still some things that are unjustifiable to complain about on camera, and Shaycarl was a perfect example of that. But general complaints about life are excluded. Haters will hate, I guess.
I've also all but stopped watching Olga Kay's videos. I haven't watched one now in weeks. Why am I even still subscribed to that, actually?
I saw that the Shaytard brood is branching out, into yet more video series and now podcasts. Even his sister has a professional-looking channel now. The junk got put into my recommendations. And again I just roll my eyes at the money obsession fueling those ventures. It's just ridiculous how Shaytards went from an every day family guy to this professional scripted internet television series. Why would anyone who didn't already know Shay from the beginning even want to start watching it? What's the appeal?
Actually, nevermind. This is the same country that loves Jersey Shore, the Kardashians, and Rebecca Black.
My favorite daily vlogger remains Katers17, along with Cory and recently Amy as well. I really enjoyed the videos with Amy around. She seems to be very comfortable in front of the camera, and has a good sense of humor. Some of the funniest moments in a while happened during those three weeks of her visit. I hope she continues her own vlogging channel once she's back in England.
As for Kate, no real complaints about the vlogs in recent weeks I guess. She's been pushing that APB game a bit, and I suspect she's getting paid in some respect for at least doing the commercial part of it, but who knows. But it's nothing too intrusive so it doesn't bother me. People get some kind of Katers character tattoo out of joining through her link, so more power to'em I guess.
Currently she's kind of pushing some mobile game called City Story. I tried it since it's "free," but I don't see me playing it. I mean, I understand that games like that make money by selling items, but they're whoring this garbage on you constantly in popups and stuff. It's very annoying. Sorry, I'm not giving you money to regularly play a slow generic version of Sim City. Not when I can buy the REAL Sim City app. It all makes me wonder if Kate is being sponsored by these people. The reason I find it hard to believe that she's actually paying to play this thing is that it's obvious that she's very thrifty and money-conscious. I know she plays lots of Tiny Chef, but I've never played that one so I have no idea how necessary it is to spend real money to play it. Either way, whatever, I just thought the whole thing seemed a bit odd. Even if they're paying her, I don't care as long as it doesn't start to sound like it's being hocked rather than just suggested. I'd rather know that someone is trying to advertise to me rather than trying to trick me.
Meanwhile, Cory is on this "don't worry, be happy" phase. He's done similar things a few times in the past, and it apparently never lasts very long. Usually when somebody tries so hard to convince other people they're happy, they're only fooling themselves. I mean, more power to him if it does make him feel good temporarily, but I'm just afraid that he'll suddenly come crashing back to reality and feel miserable again. I think you're better off with a bumpy emotional state by dealing with problems, rather than pretending stuff doesn't bother you during high highs, only to end up climbing the mountain again after you hit the low lows.
Also speaking of Cory, I found it kind of ironic that he was complaining about having no money, yet he was so easily swindled into buying that car cleaner from the guy hocking it at the gas station. I can tell you right now that there was nothing in that bottle he was selling that you couldn't find cheaper in a store. I bet he paid like thirty bucks for it, too. Besides, Cory usually goes through the car wash anyway, which says to me that he obviously doesn't have the time or the desire to hand wash or wax the thing to begin with. Oh well.
I guess that's about all I meant to mention, regarding Youtubers at least. I'm sure I could find other things to go on about, but I'll save that for another time!
EDIT: Oh yeah, I know what I meant to mention now. People saying Kate complains too much. It got to the point that Kate herself now often prefaces that she's not complaining before expressing discontent. Who the fuck cares? Seriously, the girl is very chipper and grateful of most things, is she not allowed to complain as well? What reality do people live in where life doesn't give you lemons? Yeah, she lives in California where the weather is beautiful most of the time, but if she wants to complain about occasional cold or rain, why does it matter? People complain about inconveniences. It's perfectly normal. The whole "she has it all, she doesn't have any right to be complaining" thing is kind of ridiculous to impose on anybody. And don't get me wrong, there are still some things that are unjustifiable to complain about on camera, and Shaycarl was a perfect example of that. But general complaints about life are excluded. Haters will hate, I guess.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Septemblog
Hey this thing is still here and I haven't updated it. Let's try that!
I mentioned before that I still had Shaycarl on Twitter and Facebook. Well, I dumped them ages ago. Still don't miss'em at all. In fact, seeing Shay on like CTFxC/Katers/Olgakay/etc during their recent trips to Vidcon made me roll my eyes. He's so far from what he started out as that I just can't even stand to watch him.
Since I mentioned CTFxC, let's talk about that. I'm kind of bored of it, I gotta admit. There's still some things that can be entertaining, but a lot of it is just more of the same. To be honest, I think the best clips are when they're with Alli's mom, cause she seems fun. Now they're doing this whole cinema club thing, which just bored me immediately. I guess it's not as bad as that drunk gaming junk though. And another thing that irks me lately is the product placement. I've basically just skipped along through several of the vlogs lately trying to find interesting parts rather than watching the whole thing.
In other words, CTFxC is turning into Olgakay2 or Vlerabrite for me, cause I do the same thing for their vlogs. But I've pretty much done that from the beginning on theirs, since there's only so many vlogs I can watch in a day. Though I do always stop to listen to Terabrite rehearsing their music, since what's why I subbed to start with.
I guess since I rambled so much before about Cory (smpfilms / dudelikehella) and Steph that I should mention that recent "development." The one where Cory admitted what everyone already knew, that they were separated. You know, the same thing which fanboys denied adamantly for months in the comments. My feelings on the subject is that Cory wasn't always a vlogger - he just happened to live with one (Kate aka katersoneseven) - so he didn't have to necessarily share his personal life with the camera. But now that he vlogs, I think talking about these kinds of things has a bit more relevance with the fans. So I'm glad he finally decided to talk about it. Yet now he's decided to take a break from vlogging while in England, even though he's pretty much had Kate's camera in his hand for half the length of her recent England vlogs.
And speaking of Kate's vlogs, as I mentioned, she's finally back in England. I was looking forward to this trip for a while, actually. I enjoyed seeing her hanging out with people like Beth, who you could always tell were genuinely closed friends of hers. For some reason fans really liked "The Loud One" too, who I was just never particularly a fan of. Though I actually disliked various people she befriended in America more than anyone in England (which I believe I've covered in a previous post), so at least he's not on the same list as those people. I'd just prefer to see her hanging out with Beth, or that other girl whose name escapes me at the moment. Or better yet, her mother, who also seems kind of fun.
Anyway, yeah, Kate is still my favorite vlogger at the moment. Don't know who would be second. I don't really look forward to any others, unless you count DudeLikeHella, which is almost the same thing (and therefore I look forward to also). Well, I enjoy seeing certain automotive ones when they pop up, and other less-frequently updated users like say Laurbubble and Eemma. But I guess there's just no other daily vlogs I'm a huge fan of, when I think about it. Which is funny, considering I subscribe to several!
I mentioned before that I still had Shaycarl on Twitter and Facebook. Well, I dumped them ages ago. Still don't miss'em at all. In fact, seeing Shay on like CTFxC/Katers/Olgakay/etc during their recent trips to Vidcon made me roll my eyes. He's so far from what he started out as that I just can't even stand to watch him.
Since I mentioned CTFxC, let's talk about that. I'm kind of bored of it, I gotta admit. There's still some things that can be entertaining, but a lot of it is just more of the same. To be honest, I think the best clips are when they're with Alli's mom, cause she seems fun. Now they're doing this whole cinema club thing, which just bored me immediately. I guess it's not as bad as that drunk gaming junk though. And another thing that irks me lately is the product placement. I've basically just skipped along through several of the vlogs lately trying to find interesting parts rather than watching the whole thing.
In other words, CTFxC is turning into Olgakay2 or Vlerabrite for me, cause I do the same thing for their vlogs. But I've pretty much done that from the beginning on theirs, since there's only so many vlogs I can watch in a day. Though I do always stop to listen to Terabrite rehearsing their music, since what's why I subbed to start with.
I guess since I rambled so much before about Cory (smpfilms / dudelikehella) and Steph that I should mention that recent "development." The one where Cory admitted what everyone already knew, that they were separated. You know, the same thing which fanboys denied adamantly for months in the comments. My feelings on the subject is that Cory wasn't always a vlogger - he just happened to live with one (Kate aka katersoneseven) - so he didn't have to necessarily share his personal life with the camera. But now that he vlogs, I think talking about these kinds of things has a bit more relevance with the fans. So I'm glad he finally decided to talk about it. Yet now he's decided to take a break from vlogging while in England, even though he's pretty much had Kate's camera in his hand for half the length of her recent England vlogs.
And speaking of Kate's vlogs, as I mentioned, she's finally back in England. I was looking forward to this trip for a while, actually. I enjoyed seeing her hanging out with people like Beth, who you could always tell were genuinely closed friends of hers. For some reason fans really liked "The Loud One" too, who I was just never particularly a fan of. Though I actually disliked various people she befriended in America more than anyone in England (which I believe I've covered in a previous post), so at least he's not on the same list as those people. I'd just prefer to see her hanging out with Beth, or that other girl whose name escapes me at the moment. Or better yet, her mother, who also seems kind of fun.
Anyway, yeah, Kate is still my favorite vlogger at the moment. Don't know who would be second. I don't really look forward to any others, unless you count DudeLikeHella, which is almost the same thing (and therefore I look forward to also). Well, I enjoy seeing certain automotive ones when they pop up, and other less-frequently updated users like say Laurbubble and Eemma. But I guess there's just no other daily vlogs I'm a huge fan of, when I think about it. Which is funny, considering I subscribe to several!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Hey It's June
I haven't posted anything recently, after getting on kind of a posting track there for a bit. I guess I'll mention that I'm pretty "ehhh" about Kate's contest thing now. At first I thumbs-downed some videos involving Living Spaces out of principle, but then I decided I just didn't care anymore. And I've been watching Cory's new DudeLikeHella channel, which is practically like having a double Katers vlog every day, so whatever. I don't tend to hold grudges. The vlogs still entertain me well enough.
I have to say though, I just honestly haven't missed watching the Shaytards. I still have him on my Twitter feed and Facebook, and I see him posting these videos with these crazy titles or promising this or that, but I always know that it's going to be nothing like that. I haven't watched a whole Shaytards in weeks now. I'm over it. Kate/Cory's still my favorite right now, followed by CTFxC.
For now it's back to throwing things in Duke Nukem Forever.
I have to say though, I just honestly haven't missed watching the Shaytards. I still have him on my Twitter feed and Facebook, and I see him posting these videos with these crazy titles or promising this or that, but I always know that it's going to be nothing like that. I haven't watched a whole Shaytards in weeks now. I'm over it. Kate/Cory's still my favorite right now, followed by CTFxC.
For now it's back to throwing things in Duke Nukem Forever.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Bigger Beggar
Gotta say, I was really on the verge of unsubbing to Katers17/Katersoneseven yesterday. That furniture contest was just out of control. I'd decided to try to ignore it all and not contribute, since I didn't feel it was fair that she was using her subscriber base to boost her view count. All the other entries from average folks had no such backing so they stood no chance. I blame the contest creators as well to some degree for not thinking this thing through, but Kate realized what she was doing just the same.
But it was just nonstop reminders in her videos and especially on Twitter to view this video. It was getting to the point of desperation. So when she started actually tricking people into viewing her contest entry again under the presumption that it was something else, I was really aggravated. She took advantage of her fans on that one. Even though I didn't want to participate, she got a few more unintended views from me.
Well, then I found out she deleted a bunch of the negative or unhappy comments from the video, and was blocking people. Some of the comments I know for a fact disappeared, because I remembered seeing them earlier on. That's some bullshit right there. You're aggravating your viewers with your actions, and then you silence them when they try to voice their opinions? Fuck that attitude.
In the end, she got third place, so it was slightly satisfying that she didn't take the top at least. But there was still a big prize for that. Cory got first place, and he was doing some pretty similar douche moves himself. He made some sappy video about how he needed to win this contest for his self-esteem. Then he was faking out links on Twitter. He even made a video trying to make people click through to his contest entry video to see the second half of the one you were watching (he'd put the continuation link in the description of the contest one). I closed it and never watched the other half, because like with Kate entering, I didn't think it was fair for Cory either since he had even more subscribers than she did.
Well, here's the kicker: the rules said one entry per household. Kate and Cory live in the same house. Doesn't matter if they're moving soon, they entered and completed the contest under the same roof. They broke the rules. So technically one of them doesn't deserve the prize. I think it's only fair for Cory to keep his, since he had the most views, and Kate to be disqualified, letting one of the "little people" take her spot. I really want one of those average contestants with no big subscriber base to have a big prize, to be honest.
It's also worth mentioning that there were some fanboys in the comments cheating for Kate (and probably Cory too) by running view count bots to help boost her score. Obviously didn't help in the end, but it was cheating nonetheless.
Anyway, the whole thing just pissed me off with how Kate acted about it. That's not the person I subscribed to. Begging and sucking up to fans to win you furniture, and hushing up all the ones who disagree with it, is just bullshit. She's done it before with other smaller contests with less importance, but never to this extreme. Some of her fans may be pretty big tools, but fans are not tools to be used for winning prizes.
It's all a shame, because up to this point, she'd become my favorite vlog. But if it happens again, I'm done. No doubt about it.
But it was just nonstop reminders in her videos and especially on Twitter to view this video. It was getting to the point of desperation. So when she started actually tricking people into viewing her contest entry again under the presumption that it was something else, I was really aggravated. She took advantage of her fans on that one. Even though I didn't want to participate, she got a few more unintended views from me.
Well, then I found out she deleted a bunch of the negative or unhappy comments from the video, and was blocking people. Some of the comments I know for a fact disappeared, because I remembered seeing them earlier on. That's some bullshit right there. You're aggravating your viewers with your actions, and then you silence them when they try to voice their opinions? Fuck that attitude.
In the end, she got third place, so it was slightly satisfying that she didn't take the top at least. But there was still a big prize for that. Cory got first place, and he was doing some pretty similar douche moves himself. He made some sappy video about how he needed to win this contest for his self-esteem. Then he was faking out links on Twitter. He even made a video trying to make people click through to his contest entry video to see the second half of the one you were watching (he'd put the continuation link in the description of the contest one). I closed it and never watched the other half, because like with Kate entering, I didn't think it was fair for Cory either since he had even more subscribers than she did.
Well, here's the kicker: the rules said one entry per household. Kate and Cory live in the same house. Doesn't matter if they're moving soon, they entered and completed the contest under the same roof. They broke the rules. So technically one of them doesn't deserve the prize. I think it's only fair for Cory to keep his, since he had the most views, and Kate to be disqualified, letting one of the "little people" take her spot. I really want one of those average contestants with no big subscriber base to have a big prize, to be honest.
It's also worth mentioning that there were some fanboys in the comments cheating for Kate (and probably Cory too) by running view count bots to help boost her score. Obviously didn't help in the end, but it was cheating nonetheless.
Anyway, the whole thing just pissed me off with how Kate acted about it. That's not the person I subscribed to. Begging and sucking up to fans to win you furniture, and hushing up all the ones who disagree with it, is just bullshit. She's done it before with other smaller contests with less importance, but never to this extreme. Some of her fans may be pretty big tools, but fans are not tools to be used for winning prizes.
It's all a shame, because up to this point, she'd become my favorite vlog. But if it happens again, I'm done. No doubt about it.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Work Is Hard
Oh Shaycarl, I'd hoped you would stop giving me reasons to frown at your videos, but you did it again already.
In his attempt to defend the move to L.A. this summer, he revealed another bombshell: he's going to stop editing the videos himself. That's right, he's going to hire some guy to do it for him. He then proceeded to complain about how it takes 4 hours to edit and upload the videos. Wow, that's rough. It's a good thing nobody else has to work for 4 hours in an air-conditioned room in a comfortable chair with no boss, all to make tens of thousands of dollars.
Yes, I'm bitter. I come from a family who has worked their asses off to make ends meet, with obstacle after obstacle preventing them from getting ahead. And going by Shay's stories of old, you'd think he would be the same. But to hear him complain about doing a little work for his "dream job" just really aggravated me. Especially when this is all with the intention of making even more money by working for places like The Station.
I honestly don't think he ever truly experienced being hard up for money, based on him talking about being in tens of thousands of dollars of debt before. It sounded like he's always had a love for spending money, even if he didn't have it. And he comes from what appears to be a well-off family who I'm sure lend plenty of hands. I've known people like that. Money and possessions are their only goals in life. I won't say for sure if Shay is like that, but it's an ugly way to live, and he's sure showing signs of it.
So yeah, fuck it. If somebody else is going to edit the videos, why bother watching? He might be in them, but it won't be his personal touch editing them for humor and whatnot. And just knowing that he's too lazy to do it himself will leave a bad taste in my mouth anyway. If he's ready to ignore Shaytards even farther to focus on his solo career, then he's going to have a rude awakening on the day that he realizes it wasn't simply his own personality that made him successful. It was the entire family dynamic, and his personal interactions with the fans. You know, the very thing he's willing to throw away now just so that he can be ready for the future.
I don't think he actually plans to come home from L.A. Wouldn't be the first time I've caught him fibbing to the viewers.
p.s. And the fanboys are all over this one. Quick, how fast can you defend every one of his decisions! Bonus points for broken English.
In his attempt to defend the move to L.A. this summer, he revealed another bombshell: he's going to stop editing the videos himself. That's right, he's going to hire some guy to do it for him. He then proceeded to complain about how it takes 4 hours to edit and upload the videos. Wow, that's rough. It's a good thing nobody else has to work for 4 hours in an air-conditioned room in a comfortable chair with no boss, all to make tens of thousands of dollars.
Yes, I'm bitter. I come from a family who has worked their asses off to make ends meet, with obstacle after obstacle preventing them from getting ahead. And going by Shay's stories of old, you'd think he would be the same. But to hear him complain about doing a little work for his "dream job" just really aggravated me. Especially when this is all with the intention of making even more money by working for places like The Station.
I honestly don't think he ever truly experienced being hard up for money, based on him talking about being in tens of thousands of dollars of debt before. It sounded like he's always had a love for spending money, even if he didn't have it. And he comes from what appears to be a well-off family who I'm sure lend plenty of hands. I've known people like that. Money and possessions are their only goals in life. I won't say for sure if Shay is like that, but it's an ugly way to live, and he's sure showing signs of it.
So yeah, fuck it. If somebody else is going to edit the videos, why bother watching? He might be in them, but it won't be his personal touch editing them for humor and whatnot. And just knowing that he's too lazy to do it himself will leave a bad taste in my mouth anyway. If he's ready to ignore Shaytards even farther to focus on his solo career, then he's going to have a rude awakening on the day that he realizes it wasn't simply his own personality that made him successful. It was the entire family dynamic, and his personal interactions with the fans. You know, the very thing he's willing to throw away now just so that he can be ready for the future.
I don't think he actually plans to come home from L.A. Wouldn't be the first time I've caught him fibbing to the viewers.
p.s. And the fanboys are all over this one. Quick, how fast can you defend every one of his decisions! Bonus points for broken English.
Friday, May 13, 2011
I Nonhate Too
Just to show that I don't have to always made harsh posts in regards to the Shaytards, I'll take the time to mention that tonight's Shaytards was actually pretty pleasant, even with Shay in the majority of it and Mommytard hardly there. The voiceovers for Rocktard were funny. And despite the oddity of Carly sniffing Cascade, even that whole part was amusing. Nothing rubbed me the wrong way or anything.
Sometimes things happen that irk me, sure, but sometimes they're good episodes too. I just wanted to point that out. But now there's been like three posts in a row about Shaytards, so moving on!
Sometimes things happen that irk me, sure, but sometimes they're good episodes too. I just wanted to point that out. But now there's been like three posts in a row about Shaytards, so moving on!
Hating on Haters
I may not care enough to say anything later, but I just watched the newest Shaytards, and thought I'd comment.
It's such a shame that we can go from such a great vlog yesterday back to one which just irks me. I mean, the part with Babytard and Mommytard gardening was really nice. Like I said before, she seems to be more talkative when the other kids aren't around, so it's fun to see more of her personality.
Well, then Shay happened. They were riding in his new truck, and he had Rocktard in his baby seat in the front. He knew he shouldn't have Rocktard there, he even pointed out the airbag being right in front of him, but then he tried to justify it by saying that plastic thing on the baby seat maybe made it okay. But what irked me is when immediately after that he started mocking "haters" and pretending to quote legal codes about babies in cars, and saying he'd have to put Rocktard in the back before somebody started nagging on him in the comments about laws and safety. And then what made it worse is him digging deeper and saying it's people who don't have any kids trying to tell him how to raise his, or people who have just babysat, etc. When Shay acts like a jerk, it's just a total turn-off. Anything fun that may have happened prior is spoiled by that kind of attitude. The irony is that I bet there are a lot of babysitters who have a lot of knowledge that Shay could take advantage of. Like, you know, not haphazardly throwing developing children around. But in this case, the fact remains, he knew Rocktard shouldn't be in the front, but he decided to be a douche to redirect blame.
Then Shay goes on about how he was saving up for that truck for a year, blah blah. Whatever, we all know he makes enough on his Youtube partnership for the Shaytards channel alone to pay for that truck in less than a month. No exageration. Dave's Farm, which wasn't near as popular as Shaytards, was making $15-20k+ a month in its prime, maybe more. Not to mention, it's not hard to find the tax records for the new house they moved into, so I know how much it's worth (and fully paid for at that, since they're debt-free). So let's not pretend like the audience is stupid here.
But then what irked me more is him taking another dig at haters again later. I can't even remember what it was over now, but by that point I think I just sighed and realized why I've seriously considered stopping watching the vlog. Shay is really not the same person he used to be. Or maybe he is, and now that he has money and fame he doesn't care to show that side of himself more. He could lose a thousand viewers and it wouldn't hurt him much financially.
The final irk-factor was hearing him listening to more of that conservative radio garbage, where they were quoting lyrics from that rap song of the guy who was invited to the White House. All of conservative radio and TV pundits (Fox News) like to play just enough of it to make it sound like the guy was promoting cop killing, instead of actually telling the song lyrics in context. It's all such bullshit, and hearing people listen to sources which promote that kind of trash news really affects what I think of them.
Anyway, so yeah. Like I said, I won't care about any of this later. But it bugged me enough at the moment to say my thing about it. I guess that makes me a hater, eh? If you're not with'em, you're against'em, etc. Better not try to offer him any advice!
It's such a shame that we can go from such a great vlog yesterday back to one which just irks me. I mean, the part with Babytard and Mommytard gardening was really nice. Like I said before, she seems to be more talkative when the other kids aren't around, so it's fun to see more of her personality.
Well, then Shay happened. They were riding in his new truck, and he had Rocktard in his baby seat in the front. He knew he shouldn't have Rocktard there, he even pointed out the airbag being right in front of him, but then he tried to justify it by saying that plastic thing on the baby seat maybe made it okay. But what irked me is when immediately after that he started mocking "haters" and pretending to quote legal codes about babies in cars, and saying he'd have to put Rocktard in the back before somebody started nagging on him in the comments about laws and safety. And then what made it worse is him digging deeper and saying it's people who don't have any kids trying to tell him how to raise his, or people who have just babysat, etc. When Shay acts like a jerk, it's just a total turn-off. Anything fun that may have happened prior is spoiled by that kind of attitude. The irony is that I bet there are a lot of babysitters who have a lot of knowledge that Shay could take advantage of. Like, you know, not haphazardly throwing developing children around. But in this case, the fact remains, he knew Rocktard shouldn't be in the front, but he decided to be a douche to redirect blame.
Then Shay goes on about how he was saving up for that truck for a year, blah blah. Whatever, we all know he makes enough on his Youtube partnership for the Shaytards channel alone to pay for that truck in less than a month. No exageration. Dave's Farm, which wasn't near as popular as Shaytards, was making $15-20k+ a month in its prime, maybe more. Not to mention, it's not hard to find the tax records for the new house they moved into, so I know how much it's worth (and fully paid for at that, since they're debt-free). So let's not pretend like the audience is stupid here.
But then what irked me more is him taking another dig at haters again later. I can't even remember what it was over now, but by that point I think I just sighed and realized why I've seriously considered stopping watching the vlog. Shay is really not the same person he used to be. Or maybe he is, and now that he has money and fame he doesn't care to show that side of himself more. He could lose a thousand viewers and it wouldn't hurt him much financially.
The final irk-factor was hearing him listening to more of that conservative radio garbage, where they were quoting lyrics from that rap song of the guy who was invited to the White House. All of conservative radio and TV pundits (Fox News) like to play just enough of it to make it sound like the guy was promoting cop killing, instead of actually telling the song lyrics in context. It's all such bullshit, and hearing people listen to sources which promote that kind of trash news really affects what I think of them.
Anyway, so yeah. Like I said, I won't care about any of this later. But it bugged me enough at the moment to say my thing about it. I guess that makes me a hater, eh? If you're not with'em, you're against'em, etc. Better not try to offer him any advice!
Thursday, May 12, 2011
A Pleasant Surprise
Blogger is sure acting up tonight. Let's see if I can even post this!
Anyhow, coincidentally enough, despite me recently airing my thoughts about the Shaytards vlogs these days, they go and post one tonight which totally contradicts that. Let me just paste the comment I left on that newest video to sum it up:
I just wanted to say that I think this is the best Shaytards vlog I've seen in a long time. Not a lot of craziness like there's been so much of lately, just some truly entertaining and sweet moments. Babytard was much more talkative, which was nice to see, and I couldn't help but laugh from Rocktard with the towels. Even Sontard's explanation for the salt and pepper shakers was funny just because he was so confident about his answer. This one made my night. Thumbs up, guys.
And I meant every word of it. When Babytard is by herself with Mommytard, she's like a different person sometimes; talkative and interesting to listen to. Shay and Princesstard's excessive hyperness is one of the things that's turned me away from the Shaytards, so I thought it was funny that them barely being in this episode resulted in it being one of the better ones in a while.
Don't get me wrong, I started watching Shaytards because of Shay's personality. And there's still times when he acts like he used to. But without all the craziness in this episode, it really reminded me of why I started watching. It's because I'm old enough to want kids of my own now, and I always enjoyed seeing the family interactions in just an ordinary family. Watching Mommytard interacting with the kids in this newest vlog reminded me of that old feeling again, which, to be honest, is not something I've felt in a long time from watching. While I do wish success for them, unfortunately I think it's success which is leading them away from what made the vlogs good to start with. I hope they can find that again one day. Or if nothing else, just tone down all the crazy stuff.
Anyhow, coincidentally enough, despite me recently airing my thoughts about the Shaytards vlogs these days, they go and post one tonight which totally contradicts that. Let me just paste the comment I left on that newest video to sum it up:
I just wanted to say that I think this is the best Shaytards vlog I've seen in a long time. Not a lot of craziness like there's been so much of lately, just some truly entertaining and sweet moments. Babytard was much more talkative, which was nice to see, and I couldn't help but laugh from Rocktard with the towels. Even Sontard's explanation for the salt and pepper shakers was funny just because he was so confident about his answer. This one made my night. Thumbs up, guys.
And I meant every word of it. When Babytard is by herself with Mommytard, she's like a different person sometimes; talkative and interesting to listen to. Shay and Princesstard's excessive hyperness is one of the things that's turned me away from the Shaytards, so I thought it was funny that them barely being in this episode resulted in it being one of the better ones in a while.
Don't get me wrong, I started watching Shaytards because of Shay's personality. And there's still times when he acts like he used to. But without all the craziness in this episode, it really reminded me of why I started watching. It's because I'm old enough to want kids of my own now, and I always enjoyed seeing the family interactions in just an ordinary family. Watching Mommytard interacting with the kids in this newest vlog reminded me of that old feeling again, which, to be honest, is not something I've felt in a long time from watching. While I do wish success for them, unfortunately I think it's success which is leading them away from what made the vlogs good to start with. I hope they can find that again one day. Or if nothing else, just tone down all the crazy stuff.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
More Tubes
Since I seem to have a theme of talking about Youtubers lately, let's talk about another one who I watch regularly. That's Katers, aka katersoneeven. If I had to choose, Katers would be my favorite daily vlogger right now. She's consistent, labels all her vlogs by day, and usually when they're short or something she has a pretty decent excuse for it. She appears to have a pretty good work ethic. Based on my previous post on that subject, you know how that can be important for someone who claims vlogging is their job now.
The job aspect aside, I like watching Kate just because she's funny. Her laugh can be infectious. She's into geeky things. She seems to be a genuinely nice person from what I can tell. She's British, and I enjoy watching people of another culture. Her living in America now only makes it more interesting, to see her reactions to a different culture. And she has a good rapport with Cory, aka Mr. Safety, from The Mean Kitty and SMP Films, who is her roommate at the moment (though not for much longer).
It's worth noting that I found Kate's vlogs to begin with due to a Mean Kitty video, where he pranked her with all the packing peanuts. Though I only subscribed to his smpfilms channel a while afterward, since Kate started being in some of his videos too.
To be fair, though, I'll point out some of the things which have irked me even about Kate's vlogs:
Even though Cory is part of why the vlogs can be funny sometimes, he's also part of why they're the opposite at other times. He often tries too hard to be funny, or gets into an ADD mood and just acts way too wacky.
Cory's wife, Stephanie (or was his wife, I'll touch on that later), also annoyed me greatly. She was camera shy, smug, had a TERRIBLE laugh, and just wasn't funny or interesting the majority of the time. I really got tired of her being in the vlogs, if I'm to be perfectly honest. I know that might be mean to say, but it's the truth. When she stopped being in them regularly I was relieved.
Someone else who kinda bugged me was her friend back in England who they called "The Loud One." I don't know if he's necessarily a bad guy or anything, but he's just too "on" all the time. He seems to try a bit too hard to find something funny or witty to say, and cusses a lot to do so.
There's two other people from the vlogs who I disliked, but they're not regulars. The first is that guy who once kept slinging water all over Kate, and rubbed crotch sweat on Cory. That was some guy they met up with along with some other fans at some trampoline place. That guy was such a huge douche, I seriously would hit him in real life if he rubbed crotch sweat on my face like that. The second guy is the more heavy-set neighbor guy at the place she currently lives. He's one of those guys who thinks he's a total bad-ass, with all his tattoos and attitude, and makes crude "fag" comments to sound cool and totally not gay himself, all while generally having nothing funny or interesting to say. He's not as bad as the crotch sweat guy, but he's a runner up. I just can't be friends with people like that, always pretending to be something they're not.
There's other little things which bug me about Kate's vlogs I guess. I think a small part of me cringes when she does her retard chest slap thing. I'm certainly not the most politically-correct person by far, but it just seems poor taste to mock/mimic retarded people, and publicly at that. Corey's done similar things, but it never rubbed me the wrong way quite as strongly as when Kate does it. I seem to recall her and her friends doing it back home, which honestly made me question whether it's more okay in British society to do that sort of thing. From my experience with British television, like Top Gear, they certainly have proven to be less caring about political correctness about many things, so who knows.
Well then we have Kate's fans. I mean, you have the normal type who would blindly defend her over anything. Kind of like when I commented recently about them laughing about that skinny kid and the techno music not going together, how it might be embarrassing for them to single him out in the video, especially if he's self-conscious about his weight. The fans jumped on that comment, trying to explain it away and defend it, saying I'm over-sensitive, etc. Sorry, don't need you to explain the original intention. It doesn't change the fact that the kid was very likely embarrassed by it. Thin people can be just as self-conscious as overweight ones.
Anyway, the thing about her fans is that they have the whole "internet female syndrome." It's thousands of guys thinking they have a chance with her. And I think that the fact that she receives thousands of dollars worth of items sent to her P.O. box speaks for itself. Who buys expensive presents (as in, hundreds of dollars sometimes) for someone they've never even met? Don't get me wrong, I bet many of the letters and things are probably genuinely nice fans who want to do something nice. I would consider writing her a friendly letter myself if the mood ever struck me, just as a thanks for making entertaining vlogs and all. But I also bet there's plenty who send her plenty of bullshit stories hoping for a heartfelt response or a mention in her vlog.
I think initially Kate was surprised and gracious by all these gifts, but I'm more inclined to think now that she just expects this kind of stuff to keep coming in. That's not to say that she's selfish or greedy, but wouldn't you feel the same? After a while, it stops being a surprise. And if people are dumb enough to send you fancy stuff just for being an attractive female, why not take advantage of it? It's not like she owes them anything for taking it. But let's just not pretend that she's totally surprised by most of these things anymore. They send her so much stuff that I doubt she even remembers or keeps most of it. Although I have a feeling she might keep a list, so that she knows who's who for future reference.
As for what I mentioned about Stephanie possibly not being Cory's wife anymore, I feel this is something worth mentioning. I've heard of haters stirring up stuff about Kate and Cory maybe being in a relationship, which Kate felt necessary to address in a vlog. But long before that ever stirred up, I noticed something myself: Cory wasn't wearing his wedding ring anymore. Neither was Steph, when she was actually still in it. I jumped back through the videos to see where this started, and in the vlog before Kate left for the week-long visit to her dad, Cory was still wearing his. When she came back, Cory mentioned something in the car ride home about it being a bad week, and he didn't have his wedding ring on. When Steph was in it after that, she wasn't wearing one either. And now Steph is hardly in the vlogs. Not to mention, Cory is moving out of that place, and spoke of not being able to afford it, and needing to downgrade, etc. Not a word about Steph coming with him. Now, this doesn't mean anything happened between Kate and Cory at all. Honestly I've never really entertained that idea very much, partially due to the age difference. So in that respect, haters gonna hate, trolls gonna troll, etc. But, something definitely happened between Cory and Steph. Maybe Cory just didn't know what he was getting himself into when he married her. I sure learned a lot about her personality just from the vlogs, enough to make me generally dislike her. But, who knows what happens. I just know that something did. And they're trying to keep it on the down-low.
Anyway, this post is now huge. And I know I spent a lot of time on the negatives. But that's because the vlogs are generally full of positives, too much to try to individually mention. Kate is going to move soon, so I have no idea how that will affect the vlogs, but at this point in time, I just don't see Kate falling away as my favorite vlogger. It might even improve, since we'll get to see her experience living alone for the first time.
There was a time when I probably thought Shaytards would always be my favorite vlog too, though, so I guess we'll have to see!
The job aspect aside, I like watching Kate just because she's funny. Her laugh can be infectious. She's into geeky things. She seems to be a genuinely nice person from what I can tell. She's British, and I enjoy watching people of another culture. Her living in America now only makes it more interesting, to see her reactions to a different culture. And she has a good rapport with Cory, aka Mr. Safety, from The Mean Kitty and SMP Films, who is her roommate at the moment (though not for much longer).
It's worth noting that I found Kate's vlogs to begin with due to a Mean Kitty video, where he pranked her with all the packing peanuts. Though I only subscribed to his smpfilms channel a while afterward, since Kate started being in some of his videos too.
To be fair, though, I'll point out some of the things which have irked me even about Kate's vlogs:
Even though Cory is part of why the vlogs can be funny sometimes, he's also part of why they're the opposite at other times. He often tries too hard to be funny, or gets into an ADD mood and just acts way too wacky.
Cory's wife, Stephanie (or was his wife, I'll touch on that later), also annoyed me greatly. She was camera shy, smug, had a TERRIBLE laugh, and just wasn't funny or interesting the majority of the time. I really got tired of her being in the vlogs, if I'm to be perfectly honest. I know that might be mean to say, but it's the truth. When she stopped being in them regularly I was relieved.
Someone else who kinda bugged me was her friend back in England who they called "The Loud One." I don't know if he's necessarily a bad guy or anything, but he's just too "on" all the time. He seems to try a bit too hard to find something funny or witty to say, and cusses a lot to do so.
There's two other people from the vlogs who I disliked, but they're not regulars. The first is that guy who once kept slinging water all over Kate, and rubbed crotch sweat on Cory. That was some guy they met up with along with some other fans at some trampoline place. That guy was such a huge douche, I seriously would hit him in real life if he rubbed crotch sweat on my face like that. The second guy is the more heavy-set neighbor guy at the place she currently lives. He's one of those guys who thinks he's a total bad-ass, with all his tattoos and attitude, and makes crude "fag" comments to sound cool and totally not gay himself, all while generally having nothing funny or interesting to say. He's not as bad as the crotch sweat guy, but he's a runner up. I just can't be friends with people like that, always pretending to be something they're not.
There's other little things which bug me about Kate's vlogs I guess. I think a small part of me cringes when she does her retard chest slap thing. I'm certainly not the most politically-correct person by far, but it just seems poor taste to mock/mimic retarded people, and publicly at that. Corey's done similar things, but it never rubbed me the wrong way quite as strongly as when Kate does it. I seem to recall her and her friends doing it back home, which honestly made me question whether it's more okay in British society to do that sort of thing. From my experience with British television, like Top Gear, they certainly have proven to be less caring about political correctness about many things, so who knows.
Well then we have Kate's fans. I mean, you have the normal type who would blindly defend her over anything. Kind of like when I commented recently about them laughing about that skinny kid and the techno music not going together, how it might be embarrassing for them to single him out in the video, especially if he's self-conscious about his weight. The fans jumped on that comment, trying to explain it away and defend it, saying I'm over-sensitive, etc. Sorry, don't need you to explain the original intention. It doesn't change the fact that the kid was very likely embarrassed by it. Thin people can be just as self-conscious as overweight ones.
Anyway, the thing about her fans is that they have the whole "internet female syndrome." It's thousands of guys thinking they have a chance with her. And I think that the fact that she receives thousands of dollars worth of items sent to her P.O. box speaks for itself. Who buys expensive presents (as in, hundreds of dollars sometimes) for someone they've never even met? Don't get me wrong, I bet many of the letters and things are probably genuinely nice fans who want to do something nice. I would consider writing her a friendly letter myself if the mood ever struck me, just as a thanks for making entertaining vlogs and all. But I also bet there's plenty who send her plenty of bullshit stories hoping for a heartfelt response or a mention in her vlog.
I think initially Kate was surprised and gracious by all these gifts, but I'm more inclined to think now that she just expects this kind of stuff to keep coming in. That's not to say that she's selfish or greedy, but wouldn't you feel the same? After a while, it stops being a surprise. And if people are dumb enough to send you fancy stuff just for being an attractive female, why not take advantage of it? It's not like she owes them anything for taking it. But let's just not pretend that she's totally surprised by most of these things anymore. They send her so much stuff that I doubt she even remembers or keeps most of it. Although I have a feeling she might keep a list, so that she knows who's who for future reference.
As for what I mentioned about Stephanie possibly not being Cory's wife anymore, I feel this is something worth mentioning. I've heard of haters stirring up stuff about Kate and Cory maybe being in a relationship, which Kate felt necessary to address in a vlog. But long before that ever stirred up, I noticed something myself: Cory wasn't wearing his wedding ring anymore. Neither was Steph, when she was actually still in it. I jumped back through the videos to see where this started, and in the vlog before Kate left for the week-long visit to her dad, Cory was still wearing his. When she came back, Cory mentioned something in the car ride home about it being a bad week, and he didn't have his wedding ring on. When Steph was in it after that, she wasn't wearing one either. And now Steph is hardly in the vlogs. Not to mention, Cory is moving out of that place, and spoke of not being able to afford it, and needing to downgrade, etc. Not a word about Steph coming with him. Now, this doesn't mean anything happened between Kate and Cory at all. Honestly I've never really entertained that idea very much, partially due to the age difference. So in that respect, haters gonna hate, trolls gonna troll, etc. But, something definitely happened between Cory and Steph. Maybe Cory just didn't know what he was getting himself into when he married her. I sure learned a lot about her personality just from the vlogs, enough to make me generally dislike her. But, who knows what happens. I just know that something did. And they're trying to keep it on the down-low.
Anyway, this post is now huge. And I know I spent a lot of time on the negatives. But that's because the vlogs are generally full of positives, too much to try to individually mention. Kate is going to move soon, so I have no idea how that will affect the vlogs, but at this point in time, I just don't see Kate falling away as my favorite vlogger. It might even improve, since we'll get to see her experience living alone for the first time.
There was a time when I probably thought Shaytards would always be my favorite vlog too, though, so I guess we'll have to see!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Californnniiiaaaaa
So I was just watching Shaytards when Shay casually mentioned that they're going back to California this summer. I inwardly sighed as soon as the words came out of his mouth. The previous California vlogs were some of the most boring ones of the whole series, to be blunt. And every time he's gone back to California for the shorter trips, it's either resulted in generally boring vlogs, or no vlogs at all.
The hardcore fans will argue/blindly defend that Shay has to make a living somehow. And yeah, he is already, doing the thing which made him famous to start with: daily vlogging with his family. I gotta say, the majority of the videos he does for The Station are just not funny. I think it's only fans of individual Youtubers which sustains that channel, because I can't imagine many people would tune into the content itself with a bunch of random people they've never seen before. The only video that I can even remember as being laugh-out-loud funny is the one where he gets into a fight with Ron over his marker. I've actually watched that one more than once.
As for "making a living" I think it's safe to assume that Shay's made enough money from doing Shaytards to sustain him for quite a while. Especially now that their bills are paid off. But they bought that big new house, talking about buying a truck, buying TVs, exercise stuff, etc etc. This new lifestyle isn't exactly going to be sustainable when the Shaytards vlogs die out of popularity, and I just don't really see him staying in the whole show business thing. He's a funny guy being himself, not so much playing other roles.
Shaytards has kind of been growing thin on me as it is, I have to admit. There was a time when it was my absolute favorite vlog. He made me laugh a lot with his crazy antics. But now I just see him throwing his kids around a lot more, sometimes this making up an entire video on days when he doesn't intend to actually post a "real" vlog. And then there's the times where he'll just freak out and be way too over the top, way beyond funny anymore. Sometimes this has resulted in the kids getting hurt, like Rocktard getting stabbed in the mouth with a pen, and Shay never even realizing he did it. I bet the kids get hurt from it a lot more than we ever see.
Now that Princesstard is getting older, she's started to annoy me much of the time too, to be honest. She's gotten to be pretty spoiled, loud, and hyper, and even when she's doing these things, she isn't disciplined regularly enough, if at all. That might be mean to say about a little girl, but it doesn't make it less true. I've seen her when she doesn't think the camera is on her, and she sinks into this immediate sulk when she doesn't get her way. At least, until the camera is on her, then she immediately pulls her arms back apart and smiles. I've also seen her doing things to Rocktard and Babytard to be mean. If they don't break her out of this mentality now then they'll never be able to make her mind when she's older. Hopefully it won't rub off onto Babytard. But, even with all this said, there's still times Princesstard can make me laugh or smile. It's just a shame she's not like that more often.
The other thing that's bugged me is the absences on the vlogs. This is Shay's job, so what excuse is there to not vlog every day? Or at least every week day. It seems there's more excuses from him to not vlog now that they're popular than there ever were back in the older days. And what bugs me most about it is that he maintains the myth that he vlogged every day for two years. Totally not true.
Aside from the times where he simply doesn't do one at all, there's also times where he recycles the unaired footage from previous days to make a new vlog. Or when he'll just do a one-take on days other than Sundays, usually long enough to give the excuse of why there won't be one the next day, either. And something I noticed a lot back when he was still actually close to having done them daily was that he would upload them at certain times of the day, spaced out so that, in the end, there was in fact only maybe two out of a three day span, seemingly carefully uploaded to trick the viewers into not noticing a missed day.
It just doesn't make any sense. If this is his job, then there isn't an excuse, other than simply not wanting to do it. Other daily vloggers are busy too, and some of them have kids as well, but they not only manage to still do their daily vlogs, but they label them by date so that people can see when it's for. Carly lives with them. He's not far from his parents. Fans using the tired old line of "he has a family to take care of" just doesn't work as an excuse when they've shown time and time again that they don't care to get babysitters when necessary.
Speaking of fans, his can be pretty annoying too. I mean, hardcore fans on any Youtube channel are annoying, because the world is full of brown-nosers. But you question anything that Shay does and there's going to be rabid fans coming after you. It's incredibly stupid to which the degree that they blindly follow and defend the guy. It's part of why I'm just blogging on my own about these things, because making critical Youtube comments is practically pointless. Why is it such a crime to point something out? Why must the action(s) be defended? Shay is an entertainer. He's not your family, he's not Jesus. He's just a guy with a camera. He can have flaws, believe it or not.
Something else that's rubbed me wrong more often lately is that he's conservative. I mean, I've known that about him for a long time, and being conservative in and of itself isn't really a bad thing. The problem is that he's a Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh style of conservative. He's justified listening to those guys by saying people should be open-minded to other points of view. Sorry, but if you wanted to be open-minded to other points of view, you would be watching somebody like Keith Olbermann, or some other vocal liberal. Watching people who agree with your own views is the opposite of being open to all points of view. And the degree to which they suck up to and name-drop Dave Ramsey gets really tiring. I read his book, and trust me, 99% of it is common-sense advice that your dad can tell you. And that's about the extent of his usefulness, because I don't suggest you actually listen to his more serious investment advice. Numerous places will tell you that the guy is full of shit and doesn't know what he's talking about. He's just trying to sell his books to people dumb enough to waste money on a book about how to not waste money. Ironic much?
Anyway, this post ended up being longer than I anticipated. But these are all things which irk me about Shaytards. I still enjoy it maybe half the time. And the reason it won't be as good in California is because there won't be any Carly, Casey, their parents, etc. His family as extras are funny. Seeing other Youtubers and business people daily when he's in California just gets boring, I'm sorry to say. I may even stop watching some of the vlogs until he moves back home, if it turns into more of the same like last time. That's just how I feel about the whole situation.
The hardcore fans will argue/blindly defend that Shay has to make a living somehow. And yeah, he is already, doing the thing which made him famous to start with: daily vlogging with his family. I gotta say, the majority of the videos he does for The Station are just not funny. I think it's only fans of individual Youtubers which sustains that channel, because I can't imagine many people would tune into the content itself with a bunch of random people they've never seen before. The only video that I can even remember as being laugh-out-loud funny is the one where he gets into a fight with Ron over his marker. I've actually watched that one more than once.
As for "making a living" I think it's safe to assume that Shay's made enough money from doing Shaytards to sustain him for quite a while. Especially now that their bills are paid off. But they bought that big new house, talking about buying a truck, buying TVs, exercise stuff, etc etc. This new lifestyle isn't exactly going to be sustainable when the Shaytards vlogs die out of popularity, and I just don't really see him staying in the whole show business thing. He's a funny guy being himself, not so much playing other roles.
Shaytards has kind of been growing thin on me as it is, I have to admit. There was a time when it was my absolute favorite vlog. He made me laugh a lot with his crazy antics. But now I just see him throwing his kids around a lot more, sometimes this making up an entire video on days when he doesn't intend to actually post a "real" vlog. And then there's the times where he'll just freak out and be way too over the top, way beyond funny anymore. Sometimes this has resulted in the kids getting hurt, like Rocktard getting stabbed in the mouth with a pen, and Shay never even realizing he did it. I bet the kids get hurt from it a lot more than we ever see.
Now that Princesstard is getting older, she's started to annoy me much of the time too, to be honest. She's gotten to be pretty spoiled, loud, and hyper, and even when she's doing these things, she isn't disciplined regularly enough, if at all. That might be mean to say about a little girl, but it doesn't make it less true. I've seen her when she doesn't think the camera is on her, and she sinks into this immediate sulk when she doesn't get her way. At least, until the camera is on her, then she immediately pulls her arms back apart and smiles. I've also seen her doing things to Rocktard and Babytard to be mean. If they don't break her out of this mentality now then they'll never be able to make her mind when she's older. Hopefully it won't rub off onto Babytard. But, even with all this said, there's still times Princesstard can make me laugh or smile. It's just a shame she's not like that more often.
The other thing that's bugged me is the absences on the vlogs. This is Shay's job, so what excuse is there to not vlog every day? Or at least every week day. It seems there's more excuses from him to not vlog now that they're popular than there ever were back in the older days. And what bugs me most about it is that he maintains the myth that he vlogged every day for two years. Totally not true.
Aside from the times where he simply doesn't do one at all, there's also times where he recycles the unaired footage from previous days to make a new vlog. Or when he'll just do a one-take on days other than Sundays, usually long enough to give the excuse of why there won't be one the next day, either. And something I noticed a lot back when he was still actually close to having done them daily was that he would upload them at certain times of the day, spaced out so that, in the end, there was in fact only maybe two out of a three day span, seemingly carefully uploaded to trick the viewers into not noticing a missed day.
It just doesn't make any sense. If this is his job, then there isn't an excuse, other than simply not wanting to do it. Other daily vloggers are busy too, and some of them have kids as well, but they not only manage to still do their daily vlogs, but they label them by date so that people can see when it's for. Carly lives with them. He's not far from his parents. Fans using the tired old line of "he has a family to take care of" just doesn't work as an excuse when they've shown time and time again that they don't care to get babysitters when necessary.
Speaking of fans, his can be pretty annoying too. I mean, hardcore fans on any Youtube channel are annoying, because the world is full of brown-nosers. But you question anything that Shay does and there's going to be rabid fans coming after you. It's incredibly stupid to which the degree that they blindly follow and defend the guy. It's part of why I'm just blogging on my own about these things, because making critical Youtube comments is practically pointless. Why is it such a crime to point something out? Why must the action(s) be defended? Shay is an entertainer. He's not your family, he's not Jesus. He's just a guy with a camera. He can have flaws, believe it or not.
Something else that's rubbed me wrong more often lately is that he's conservative. I mean, I've known that about him for a long time, and being conservative in and of itself isn't really a bad thing. The problem is that he's a Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh style of conservative. He's justified listening to those guys by saying people should be open-minded to other points of view. Sorry, but if you wanted to be open-minded to other points of view, you would be watching somebody like Keith Olbermann, or some other vocal liberal. Watching people who agree with your own views is the opposite of being open to all points of view. And the degree to which they suck up to and name-drop Dave Ramsey gets really tiring. I read his book, and trust me, 99% of it is common-sense advice that your dad can tell you. And that's about the extent of his usefulness, because I don't suggest you actually listen to his more serious investment advice. Numerous places will tell you that the guy is full of shit and doesn't know what he's talking about. He's just trying to sell his books to people dumb enough to waste money on a book about how to not waste money. Ironic much?
Anyway, this post ended up being longer than I anticipated. But these are all things which irk me about Shaytards. I still enjoy it maybe half the time. And the reason it won't be as good in California is because there won't be any Carly, Casey, their parents, etc. His family as extras are funny. Seeing other Youtubers and business people daily when he's in California just gets boring, I'm sorry to say. I may even stop watching some of the vlogs until he moves back home, if it turns into more of the same like last time. That's just how I feel about the whole situation.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Youtube Gossip
So let's just start by writing about the most recent thing I found out about someone in the Youtube world. Olga Kay's roommate, Exotic Jess, is a mother. And to a girl who is at least in her early teens.
I'm not sure how old Jess is, but I always assumed mid-twenties. And hell, maybe she is, since I don't know how old her daughter is either. But either way, her age seems to be the question on everyone's mind, based on what I saw in the comments. Honestly I don't care how old she is all that much, but I did find it surprising that Corrine (if that's how you spell it) was her daughter.
I did kind of wonder why this new girl was suddenly hanging around all the time. She looked young and all, but I figured if she was friends with them then she must be late teens at least. I guess part of my mind also assumed maybe some relation to Jess, a sister or cousin. I just never thought too hard on the matter. And again, it's because Jess looks too young to have a daughter her age, so I just wouldn't have suspected it.
If I had to guess, the dad or somebody has had primary custody all this time. Jess lives with Olga, and I don't see how they would have kept her hidden all this time. There's no details on it of course, or whether Corrine is living with Jess, Olga, and Joe now or not.
It's a good thing that Jess admitted this on her own. Too many Youtubers like to keep big things secret, and then it all blows up in their faces later when somebody figures it out. It's kind of hard to keep secrets when you put your life on display for thousands of people. It doesn't really make sense to hide things either when you make the decision to be a Youtuber, especially a daily vlogger, but some still do it!
At the end of the day though, it simply doesn't matter that Jess has a daughter. It's no scandal, it's just surprising news. It doesn't change her normal part in Olga's vlogs or the videos she makes. We just happen to know something else about her now is all. Other Youtubers should probably take note of that.
I'm not sure how old Jess is, but I always assumed mid-twenties. And hell, maybe she is, since I don't know how old her daughter is either. But either way, her age seems to be the question on everyone's mind, based on what I saw in the comments. Honestly I don't care how old she is all that much, but I did find it surprising that Corrine (if that's how you spell it) was her daughter.
I did kind of wonder why this new girl was suddenly hanging around all the time. She looked young and all, but I figured if she was friends with them then she must be late teens at least. I guess part of my mind also assumed maybe some relation to Jess, a sister or cousin. I just never thought too hard on the matter. And again, it's because Jess looks too young to have a daughter her age, so I just wouldn't have suspected it.
If I had to guess, the dad or somebody has had primary custody all this time. Jess lives with Olga, and I don't see how they would have kept her hidden all this time. There's no details on it of course, or whether Corrine is living with Jess, Olga, and Joe now or not.
It's a good thing that Jess admitted this on her own. Too many Youtubers like to keep big things secret, and then it all blows up in their faces later when somebody figures it out. It's kind of hard to keep secrets when you put your life on display for thousands of people. It doesn't really make sense to hide things either when you make the decision to be a Youtuber, especially a daily vlogger, but some still do it!
At the end of the day though, it simply doesn't matter that Jess has a daughter. It's no scandal, it's just surprising news. It doesn't change her normal part in Olga's vlogs or the videos she makes. We just happen to know something else about her now is all. Other Youtubers should probably take note of that.
Reboot
I haven't blogged anything in a while, but the mood has struck me again as of late. And after looking over my old posts, I decided I didn't care about any of that old stuff and just deleted it all. Time to start fresh!
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