Watching the abomination that is Davis Aurini’s version of The Sarkeesian Effect “Immersed in Subversion,” I kept reminding myself that this was a “film” that cost tens of thousands of dollars to make. Virtually none of this money, obviously, found its way onto the screen.
Yesterday, partway through watching the “film,” I tweeted that I’d “seen flat earth videos with better production values.”
As proof, here are 5 low or no budget YouTube videos with better production values than Aurini’s terrible “film.” Including, yes, a flat earth one.
1) Bowling Ball Nut Drop!
Crisp image. Good coverage. There’s inconsistent color between some of the cameras, but I’ll forgive Nasty the Horse and his crew for that, as he just got hit in the nuts with a bowling ball. Twice.
2) DESPICABLE ME 2 – FART BLASTER!!! Unboxing & Review
This video has more than 8 million views. I have no idea why people watch these, but, hey, it’s very well done, and the kid is arguably a better narrator than Davis Aurini.
3) What the cats really get up to when no one is home
A couple attached Go-Pro cameras to each of their cats to see what they did when no one was around. Despite being literally filmed by cats, this video looks better than Aurini’s. The images are generally pretty crisp, and the shots are in many cases better composed than Aurini’s.
While the camerawork is shaky when the cats are in motion, this in many ways works in the cats’ favor, capturing the excitement of such cat activities as running around for no reason, and running around for no reason with a twist-tie in your mouth.
4) A Goldmine of Blackhead & Whitehead Extractions
This video makes clear why Dr. Sandra Lee is the queen of the pimple-poppers. Good lighting, steady camerawork, simple, understated graphics, unobtrusive editing, and lots of solid pops.
5) Top Proof We NEVER Went To The Moon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inq72hrDac0
No, I didn’t forget about the flat earthers. Jeranism, a flat-earther and moon “truther,” may be completely wrong about pretty much everything, but his videos are a good deal slicker than the work of either Owen or Aurini. He puts out roughly 8 videos a month while taking in less than $400 a month on Patreon.
Wait, are you telling me I could make 400 bucks a month by making videos about how we never went to the moon?
Holy shit, what am I doing with my life???
Your review of the filmed-by-cats video is a masterpiece. 10/10 would endanger keyboard again.
Honestly, even with the Law Of Right-Wing Projection in play, I still wasn’t expecting this… Thing… To cost exactly nothing.
– PowerPoint: Comes standard with most computers.
– Windows Movie Maker: Comes standard with most computers.
– Photoshop: Ostensibly $700, but let’s be honest, he pirated it.
– Stock images: Nicked from Google without permission.
– Footage of Anita: Nicked from Anita’s videos without permission.
– Interviews: All filmed for TSE, not this, so I’m counting them as reused stock footage.
Christ. He’d be arrested for this if his marks weren’t all so grateful to have senpai notice them.
I love Dr. Pimple Popper. She’s figured out exactly what her viewership wants and does the absolute best at it. Interestingly, did you know that all she did all those videos for free? Basically, if you let her film it and put it up on YouTube, you don’t have to pay for the procedure. Which has got to be pretty sweet for people who have massive cysts or the most recent guy with the enormous skin tag.
Even if I wasn’t obsessed with popping, I would still take Dr. Lee over any anti-Sarkeesian video any day. <3
What exactly was I supposed to see in that video by Jeranism? Because all I saw was a guy who’d worked an argument from incredulity into a meager living.
Okay, I can see an attraction in Dr. Pimple Popper — a vicarious sort of relief, and a fascination with the weird things our skin does.
But I don’t think I can watch her for very long.
@Falconer: When it comes to those sorts of videos they tend to grow on you. You’ll watch a whole bunch of them in bursts. Afterwards, you’re left feeling a bit drained.
@opium4themasses.
I feel like this is apropos, given your post. (Sorry if a double post, other one got eated somewhere.)
@Falconer, popaholics like me are a special breed; there aren’t a whole lot of us but we are sooooooooo into it. And of course, for most of us, there’s this understanding that of course most people aren’t into it, so of course I wouldn’t force someone to watch popping videos! I watch popping videos exclusively with my mom and one of my friends. When I put popping videos on my tumblr I tag heavily and put the video itself under a readmore.
For me, it’s not necessarily about relief–although I do feel that–so much as I feel that an unpopped zit is a sin against nature. It isn’t supposed to be there and I feel just so much distress when someone doesn’t pop their zits. How can you not do that? How can you know that there’s something growing in your skin, all wrong, and not do anything about it??? So when the cyst is removed it feels like, in a small way, the world has become a better, more orderly place.
Also it’s super interesting. I probably couldn’t explain the difference between different kinds of pus without grossing you out, so I won’t, but there is a difference and it’s very interesting to me!
@Dizzy
You speak to my soul. Though I am also really squicky about things that come out of other peoples’ bodies, so I never really want to watch popping videos. But on the rare occasion I work up the nerve to do so, it really does feel like order is being restored to the universe on some fundamental level.
Another good video made without a budget. She’s also just a cool person in general.
I really admire that Dr. Lee treats her patients so well. She actually set up a GoFundMe for a patient who had lost his wife, and her fans helped fund it.
I’d love to have swag of hers, but the idea of paying $20 for a branded comedone extractor like she uses seems mildly steep to me.
Wow all the thing turned out to be a link. I’m nor sure whether to be proud or apologetic.
Nabokov was a huge fan of popping videos. Or whatever they had for that before youtube. Popping memoirs, I guess.
[blockquote]– Stock images: Nicked from Google without permission.
– Footage of Anita: Nicked from Anita’s videos without permission.[/blockquote]
Isn’t using other people stuff without permission one of the things people accuse and attack Anita for doing?
What even are whiteheads and blackheads. I don’t think I’ve ever had one. I’m not watching that video though.
“This video is basically the same clip played over and over again…”
That fake moon landing video really sells itself.
@Opium, I see you, too.
@Dizzy, I had a cyst in my lower back a couple of years ago. It made sitting back against a surface painful, particularly sitting in a car. I went to see the doctor, and they got it out, but not without trouble. I heard the nurses talking while they were injecting the numbing agent — apparently it was coming back out the prior injection points!
@Imaginary Petals: They’re pores blocked with skin oils and keratin particles. Not the same thing as acne.
Clearly, the cat video is David’s favorite video out of the videos he linked. Although I’m just surprised at how the cats could wear the cameras on their collars without a fuss.
Now, I need a bird video about birds with cameras attached them doing bird things.
Actually, while the cat video is pretty sweet, I like Sandra Lee’s popping video best.
Yes, I am a poppiste. I have literally watched every single one of her videos, some of them multiple times.
Apparently the cats got the cameras off after about half an hour, according to the owners. But yeah, if I put cameras like that on my cats I’m pretty sure they would have devoted every second to getting them off.
Content warning: gross mentions of pus
I am the same way with popping videos. I can’t stand it when pimples/cysts/boils/whatever gross pus-or-fluid-filled-what-have-you goes unpopped. It just gets to me. I think it’s a part of my OCD. I just can’t stand it. It makes me feel literally uncomfortable. I find those videos so satisfying for that reason. Like, how can people stand to leave their pimples unpopped? Just sitting under the skin, all pus-filled and shit. Being all gross under there. Whenever I get a pimple the first thing I do is pop it, then put some kind of cream or whatever on it. I haven’t ever had scarring or anything, so I’m not gonna stop. Even though I’ve heard you aren’t really supposed to pop them because they might scar more easily. But I just couldn’t stand not to.
Another poppist/Sandra Lee fan here!
Completely off topic, but Aurini just put a video up on his youtube channel claiming youtube is controlled by “Hollywood” and “leftists”. I didn’t watch the video for obvious reasons, but this guy is comedy gold. I’m somewhat curious to watch it to see if he mentions the Jews and the Marxists, but I don’t want to waste my time.