VidCon 2016: Part Five - Day 3

Here it is, the last day of VidCon 2016.  I arrived about 40 minutes before the first panel and ran into the only other person I knew that was attending the con (a former co-worker of mine, check out his channel here).   We went to the first two panels of the day together.  First up was the "Where is the fair use" panel.

Boogie 2988, Sarah Urist Green, Anita K. Sharma and Matthias.

One of the biggest problem on YouTube these days the debate over what is concidred "fair use".  Roughly, under copyright law creators should be able to use clips or images from copyrighted material as long as it is changed enough to not be the same as the original and as long as it doesn't deter the original by stealing viewership.  Posting Jaws on YouTube would not be considered "fair use".  Posting someone reacting to Jaws with commentary in theory should be protected under "fair use".  However, YouTube has the terrible copyright claim algorithm that causes quite a bit of trouble for creators.  It is something they are working on in order to hopefully make both sides happy.  This was a good panel, but a lot of info to take in.  Up next, not as much to take in information wise.

Ameer Atari, Harley Morenstein and other guy from Epic Meal Time who's name I can't seem to find anywhere. 

This wasn't just an "Epic Meal Time" panel, it was focused on creating a production company.  Originally just a Chanel about making ridiculous meals, usually with bacon, "Epic Meal Time" has turned into a production company, creating multiple shows for various YouTube channels under their brand, as well as TV shows for traditional media.  Harley Morenstein's goal has gone beyond just YouTube as he wants to make movies as well.  This was an entertaining panel, however what I didn't know was that a last minute audible I called would lead to me seeing arguably the best panel of the 3 days. 

Greg Miller

I had originally planned to go see an interview with Laci Green, who is known for talking about sexy times.  However at the last minute I decided I'd go see the creator panel "How to ask your audience for money".  The only person scheduled to be on the panel was Greg Miller, which apparently he didn't know until the day before.  This actually worked out quite well because my God, he is hilarious.  He basically spent the first 20 minutes recounting his entire professional career, going from local newspaper, to IGN, to Kinda Funny.  Eventually he just had his 2 of his 3 partners join him on stage. 

Nick Scarpino, Greg Miller and Tim Gettys. 

This panel basically boiled down to, "seriously, why are you not on Patreon yet?"  I mean, I am on Patreon, but only as a patron.  Patreon will actually come up again later.  Up next, the 2 most important people of the con. 

John and Hank Green. 

It was time for the "Gathering of the Nerdfighters".  Hmmm, where to begin with this one.  John Green is a multiple time New York Times best selling author.  If you have any teens or fans of Young Adult novels in your house, you already know this.  You've probably heard of some of his books, "Waiting for Alaska", "The Fault in our Stars" and "Paper Towns" (the last two having been made into motion pictures).  He and his younger brother Hank who are separated by almost 4 years of age weren't really close when they reached their 20's, as John went to boarding school when Hank was 11.  They decided in 2006 that they would conduct and experiment to get get closer with each other as John lives in Indiana and Hank lives in Montanna.  So on January 1st, 2007 they started the Brotherhood 2.0 project.  They ceased all text communication for 1 year and would make a weekly vlog for each other, John's being posted on Tuesday, and Hank's on Friday.  This continues to this day (although they do text now as well) as the VlogBrothers, and they have never been closer.  Mainly because they have become partners in a business together.  They call their community "Nerdfighteria" and all the members are "Nerdfighters" who live by a simple credence, DFTBA, or Don't Forget To Be Awesome.  They have parlayed the success of their channel into many areas.  THey have a series of educational videos called "Crash Course" which teaches all about History, Art, Science, Economics, Politics, even video games and is completely funded by Patreon.  They have a yearly charity drive known as "The Project For Awesome" which has raised millions for charities across the world.  They started a successful podcast a couple years ago called "Dear Hank and John" which is a comedy podcast where they talk about death, give out dubious advice to listeners who write in, and give the latest news about Mars and AFC Wimboldon, a recently promoted third tier English futbol team that John is obsessed with (as he should be, they're an interesting team, which you will see when he produces the movie made about their story).  But the most important contribution they have to this blog post is 7 years ago they thought someone should create a convention for YouTube creators to get together and network with each other and fans.  This convention was call VidCon.  

They had a few announcements to make when they came out.  John announced that Crash Course has created a free history text book which can be used by teachers and students and that further courses are on the way because they feel all text books should be free.  Hank announced that the other con they have created NerdCon will be in Boston in February.  NerdCon is a little different because it has different themes each time.  The inagural one was NerdCon: Stories, which was all about storytelling.  The next one called "NerdCon: Nerdfighteria" so it is a celebration of their community.  They then answered question for the rest of the time, however I had to leave 10 minutes before they were done to get to the "Creator Keynote".

Creator Keynote Stage

This was basically the final panel for the Creator track.  They brought out various YouTubers to give their last "you can do it" speeches.  First up was Olan Rogers. 

Olan Rogers

He basically admitted that he had no idea why they chose him to speak, but he basically advised to everyone to make sure you're surrounded by people you can trust and rely on.  I guess I should also mention each person only had like 7 minutes. 

I guess I don't need to keep putting the names of the people in the captions.

Next up was Devin Graham, AKA Devin Supertramp.  He is known for shooting extream sports videos, however to me he is most known for the fact that he shoots all of Lindsey Stirling's music videos.  He basically gave the, "I used to be out there just like you, but look at me now" speech. 

Next up was a performance by Tessa Violet.  She sang an original song about feeling like you're destined for grater things.  It was fitting.  A lot of the performers at VidCon where very folk singery. 

Gregory Brown and Mitchell Moffit. 

Next up were the guys from ASAPScience.  I actually don't remember what their message was. 

Next I finally got to complete the Holy Trinity as Hannah Hart came out.  She basically said to imagine YouTube as a huge house party, and your goal is to find where you feel most comfortable in that house party (for her it is the kitchen, which if you know anything about her channel makes perfect sense). 

Next up was a British singer named Sarah Close.  She sang "Umbrella" by Rhianna and it was her first time at VidCon.  That's really about it. 

Next up Hank Green came out and made an announcement that got a quasi standing ovation (it was only about 35% of the audience.  He had done another thing and helped to found "The Internet Creators Guild" who has been set up to hep connect, represent and support people who make stuff online.  It is a bridge between creators and the press, platforms and service providers and will strive to make it easier for more people to make things professionally.  You can join the guild for just $60 a year.

Next up was Mat Pat, who is the creator of "Film Theory" and "Game Theory".  His videos are all about coming up with crazy theories for games and movies, like Dory is actually a con-artist in Finding Nemo that doesn't actually have memory problems and is just using Marlin (which reminds me, I need to look that video up...Here it is).   He basically told the story of how one time he was in a Dave & Busters and these 2 kids came up to him after he'd been playing arcade games with them and said they always thought he'd be a douch because of the character he plays.  His moral was to always be true to yourself, or something along those lines.

Jack Conte

Next was Jack Conte.  He just so happens to be the co-founder of Patreon.  He had a very fascination and fast paced slideshow presentation that basically told the whole history of Petreon's creation.  It was super interesting and highly entertaining.  He basically wanted to make Kickstarter, but with continuous revenue.  It worked big time. 

The last presenter was Shimrit Ben-Yair, who is the Director of Product Managment at YouTube.  She talked about new programs they are implementing to better support creators (which you can see at YouTube.com/Creators if you're interested).  Basically there are now tiered levels that you unlock by reaching subscriber milestones.  Very exciting information for the people in the room.   An interesting side note, she ended her speech by pointing out that Destin Sandlin, who makes the YouTube channel "Smarter Every Day" was once sitting in our seats, but recently he interviewed the President in his second YouTube outreach program.  The ironic thing of this statement?  Destin was actually sitting 2 seats to my left when she said this.

Once the Keynote ended I went and walked around the floor one last time, then decided to go to the final panel on the main stage, "How to Never Run Out of Ideas". 

SWooZie, Emma Blackery, Jenn McAllister, Alexis G. Zall and Drew Baldwin. 

The topic of this panel was finding out how creators ensure they have an idea to are a video out of.  Emma Blackery had been on Grace Helbig's podcast "Not Too Deep" so I'd heard her before.  SWooZie was on a TV show with one of my friends called "WCG Ultimate Gamer" so he is the one on this panel I was most familiar with.  He also shows up on "YouTubers React" all the time.  This was a good final panel to watch.  Once it was done, I went to my car and did something in the parking lot that has taken way to long to do.  But we will discuss that another time. 

I'm going to write one more blog about VidCon to wrap it all up.  There is actually one more event tomorrow, but I don't know if I'm going to actually do it.  We'll see.  Depends on how I feel when I wake up in the morning. 

VidCon 2016: Part Four - Day 2

So I just created a new email address and YouTube page purely to upload videos to for putting on blogs.  I then uploaded the 2 videos from the last blog on it, then deleted the one with my car from my regular channel.  I would have deleted the one with Markiplier, but it already has 304 views, more then every other video I've ever posted combined, so I kind of can't delete that.  Anyway, I digress.  Today was day 2 of VidCon.  I arrived much earlier then I did yesterday and got to my first panel (which again, started at 9:30AM) about 40 minutes early.  This was the Rocket Jump Shorts team Q&A (ooooooo, look who learned how to post hyperlinks on here).

Cherish Chen, Clinton Jones, Ellary Porterfield, Jimmy Wong and Trisha Arnold in a really terrible picture.  I should look at these after I take them.  Have I mentioned I'm a bad photographer?

I mentioned Rocket Jump yesterday, but didn't go into detail about them.  Rocket Jump is a channel that makes short video projects and TV series that are most known for their action/comedy and special effects.  It was started by Freddie Wong, Matthew Arnold and Desmond Dolly.  They used to make 5-10 minute shorts all the time, but a few years ago they made a series called "Video Game High School".  Because of the amount of work that went into this, they stopped making the shorts.  Last year it was decided that they would make a Shorts team who would make a new short video every 2 weeks with a behind the scenes video the week between.  They got 5 people they had worked with to make up this team.  Clinton Jones has his own channel and is a special effects wizard (he was also the guard in the Legend of Zelda video I mentioned to yesterday, which by the way, now has a hyperlink). Next is Ellary Porterfield, who was an actress in Video Game High School.  Next is Jimmy Wong, who is Freddie's brother.  Then there are the 2 who weren't on the panel because they got called away to work on something, Ashley and Anthony Burch.  Anthony is a writer and actually wrote the Boarderlands 2 DLC that had Tiny Tina doing the D&D campaign.  Tiny Tina was actually voiced by Ashely.  It was decided after they had done about 5 videos that they needed an overseer, so Cherish Chen was added to the team as the Producer.  Trisha Arnold is the merchendising director for Rocket Jump and she moderated the panel.  It was very entertaining for so early in the morning and you can really tell how much these people work on their stuff.  Next up was a gaming panel about "Indie Vs. AAA".

Ashley Esqueda, Greg Miller, Chai Cameron, Boogie2988, Tim Gettys and Lawrence Sonntag. 

One of the new things this year at VidCon is a bigger emphasis on video games.  In fact they set up a large stage dedicated to it (as you can see, sponsors by Snickers).  This panel was all about small indie video games Vs. big budget AAA games.  I only knew 2 of the people on the panel.  Greg Millier used to be a writer for IGN (one of the largest video game websites).  He (along with Tim Getty who I didn't really know) left to create the channel "Kinda Funny Games".  They have become super popular, with Greg even winning the Spike Video Game award for "Trending Gamer".  He won the hearts of game developers everywhere when he dedicated the award to everyone who spends countless hours of crunch time making the games people love, but don't ever give them the respect of how much work they put it.  It was a really amazing speech, you should look it up (or just click here).  The other person I knew was Boogie2988.  He portrays a character known as "Francis" a lot of the time.  I first saw a video of his in 2010 where Francis was complaining about changes made to World of Warcraft.  It really wasn't until about 2 years later I found out it was a character.  He puts on this really annoying voice when he plays Francis, but he actually has a really good, almost radio quality voice.  I met him last year at VidCon and just wanted to tell him how entertaining his videos are.  This panel was good, but really out of place as they really didn't talk about YouTube so much as actual game development.  I'd have expected to see something like this at E3 last week instead.  Although I guess since they're all YouTubers and not developers, that would have been weird.  After this it was off to the Creator "Building your team" panel.

Burnie Burns, Meghan Camarena, Rafi Fine, Harley Morenstein and Hank Green. 

This panel was all about hiring people to help out with your channel.  I knew who all 5 of these panelist were, although I didn't realize I knew who Burnie Burns was until they said who he is.   Let's start with him.  Burnie Burns is the founder of Rooster Teeth.  What started as a group of 5 guys making machinima videos using Halo 2 has turned into a company with over 200 employees.  I did a demo on their stream last week at E3.  I know someone who has their logo tattooed on her arm, and Burnie along with 2 other Rooster Teethers were on @Midnight just the other day.  They're kind of a big deal.  Next is Meghan Camarena (AKA Strabury17).  I really only know of her due to collaborations she's done with YouTubers I watch, and because she always has a big presence at VidCon, appearing on a lot of panels and even having her own booth.  She was also on "The Amazing Race".  Next if Rafi Fine, who is one half of the Fine Brothers.  If you've ever seen a "Kids React" or "Teens React" or "Adults React" or "Parents React" or "Elders React" or "YouTubers React" video, that's them. They recently got in a lot of heat because they tried to copyright the word "React" when it came to making videos because they made a business plan that would allow people to make their own react videos in their style.  Needless to say, the Internet got upset (shocking).  So the Fine brothers not only scrapped the idea of copyrighting "React", they also canceled all the copyrights they had on all the reacts I mentioned above as a show of good faith.  Next is Harley Morenstein who created "Epic Meal Time".  Basically they're a bunch of crazy Canadians that make large, ridiculous food items.  It's a great time.  Lastly we have Hank Green who I'm going to actually discuss tomorrow in great detail because when it comes to VidCon, he's the most important person I've seen so far.  After this panel I just waited in the same room for the next panel, which was the "From Videos to the Writen Word" panel.

Will Darbyshire, George Watsky, Savannah Brown, Mamrie Hart and Judith Curr. 

This panel was all about YouTubers writing books.  This is actually something that is a major thing now.  I can name 10 YouTubers who have written books without even really thinking about it.  Mamrie was the only person on the panel I knew as she is part of the Holy Trinity (who we will get into in a bit).  This panel was entertaining, but really only because Mamrie was on it.  Once it ended I rushed over to make a gamble, which didn't pay off. 

Food Vincent, Justin Dennis, Didda, Cassidy Quinn, Steph Payano, Jess Abad and Ashley Mardell. 

This panel was the "Less Then Famous" over 600 YouTubers auditioned to be on this panel.  Their subscriber bases ranged from 400-44,000.  It was interesting to hear from these people who have such a different view compared to all the other panels that have creators with hundreds of thousands or even millions of subscribers.  But really I was just taking a gamble.  You see, the panel after this in this room was "The Holy Trinity Q&A".  Since I had so much luck with Markiplier yesterday, I figured I'd try again today.  Unfortunately they announced that if you were there for the Trinity panel and hoped to just stay in the room, you might as well leave now and get in line because they were going to empty the room first.  As they waited until they brought the panelist out to announce this, I felt a little guilty getting up an leaving, so alas, I missed the Trinity panel.  In all honesty they shouldn't have their panel in this tiny ballroom.  There is a main stage that between seating and standing room could easily fit 2,000 people.  They were on that last year, however this year I guess the idea is that VidCon wanted to make it more intimate, so only like 500 people could get in.  This was a mistake that I'm sure will be hevily criticized when they send out the survey (I think they send out a survey). 

So after this I really didn't have to much else scheduled.  There was a Creator track party on the second floor at 6:00PM, but it was only 4:30PM.  So I went and ate, then went over to the Snicker's Competative Gaming Stage, not to be confused with the Snicker's Gaming Stage.  They've had people playing Mario Kart and Mario Party on this stage with fans.  While I was there, Meghan Camarena was doing Minecraft trivia with Lizzie "LDShadowLady", Chai Cameron and Joel "SmallishBeans".   

Meghan Camarena (Strawbury17), Lizzie "LDShadowLady", Joel "SmallishBeans" and Chai Cameron. 

Once 6:00PM rolled around I went up to the Creator party.  I took a picture of the crowd gathering below for the evenings outdoor concert from the balcony, then spent about another 45 minutes until my introvertedness kicked in and I had to leave. 

Tomorrow is the last day.  There are a few panels I want to get in on which shouldn't be a problem.  I still haven't decided if I'm going to participate in the Sunday activity, but for the sake of the blog I just might.  We will see. 

VidCon 2016: Part Three - Day 1

Buckle up folks, this is going to be a long one.  Today was the first official day of VidCon.  I was a little worried because I ended up leaving a little later then I would have wanted to in order to get there.  The line of cars to get in was pretty long and I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the main stage by 9:30AM.  But alas, I did with about 20 minutes to spare.  I then witnessed the #GirlLove On YouTube panel. 

Lilly Singh, Lindsey Stirling, Sarah Weichel, Rosanna Pansino and Cassey Ho.

What is #GirlLove you may ask?  It is a movement started by Lilly "Superwoman" Singh that promotes females working together and supporting one another rather then tearing each other down in order to get ahead.  I've known of Lilly for a couple of years.  She is a pretty big presence on YouTube with 9,000,000+ subscribers.  She was one of the creators chosen for the billboard campaign by YouTube, and recently released a documentary about a 27 city tour which is one of the flagship pieces of content for YouTubeRed.  To talk about her #GirlLove campaign, she brought on 3 of her bestest girlfriends (and her manager to moderate it).  First up is Cassey Ho, who has a Pillates channel.  I saw her last year on the "Diversity on YouTube" panel, and really that's all I know about her.  Next up is Rosanna Pansino.  She has a cooking channel and has been on Grace Helbig's Podcast, "Not Too Deep" (which we'll get to later).  And lastly we had the main reason I was at the panel to begin with.

Lilly Singh and Lindsey Stirling. 

3 years ago, Rocket Jump (I'll be discussing them more on Day Two) made a video called "Legend of Zelda: Pot Smasher".  It was featured on Kotaku (the gaming blog owned by Gawker) and it was basically a live action video of the first room encountered in the castle town in "Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time".  In this room is a bunch of pots that Link can smash and a lone guard.  They got this adorable little pixie of a girl to play Link.  When they posted the behind the scenes video I learned that her name was Lindsey Stirling, and she had a channel where she plays the violin.  Part of the reason they had her do it is because she already had the Link costume from a Zelda medley video she had made.  That night I watched all of her videos on both of her channels, LindseyStomp were she posts her music videos, and LindseyTime where she posts her vlogs.  Not only was she this amazingly talented pixie that could play the violin and dance around so effortlessly, but she also is an endearing dorky girl, as seen in her vlogs.  I have seen her live twice now and am going to again this year at the OC Fair.  That will be a special time to, but we'll discuss that in August when that time comes.  Anyway, back to the #GirlLove panel.  This was the only thing Lindsey was going to be on at VidCon this year, so I had to see it.  And it was great.  These 4 women (and iJustine, who couldn't be there since she's out of the country right now) are the definition of squad goals.  Once this panel ended I had to rush to the next one.  I had 30 minutes to get to a very long line to see a live taping of "Not Too Deep". 

Louise Pentland (SprinkleOfGlitter) and Grace Helbig. 

Let's go back in time again.  The year is 2011, and G4, the cable network for gamers still exists.  "Attack of the Show" was their daily news show on all things pop culture.  It was around the time that "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" came out that they sent a new reporter I'd never seen before to the press junket.  She was this really awkward blonde girl that had a very dry sense of humor.  About a week later she was back again, this time touring Lego headquarters.  I Googled her after that and found out that she had a YouTube channel, DailyGrace.  Not only did she have a channel, but she released a vidieo every weekday.  I subscribed and started watching her new videos every morning, and would watch the videos in her back catalog whenever I found time.  There were a lot.  Those videos were for MyDamnChannel.  Cut to today and Grace Helbig has left MyDamnChannel after her contract experied and is one of the most popular YouTubers there is, being one third of the Holy Trinity (more on that on Day Three).  2 years ago she started a podcast, and today was the second live recording of it.  I have listened to every episode.  It is one of my top 5 favorite podcasts.  Her guest to day was Louise Pentland, who is an English blogger that goes by the name of SprinkleOfGlitter.  She's basically YouTube's Rebel Wilson.  I saw an interview with her last year, and this was her second time on "Not Too Deep".  It was a very entertaining recording, even though I had to stand the whole time since all the seats were taken.  Once this ended it was time to use my Creator badge for the first time.  And when I saw that a certain person was on one of the Creator panels I had to go, because she is beyond infamous in my world.  This panel was the "Fighting for a Cause" panel. 

Sarah Ullman, Anita Sarkeesian, Kat Lazo and Kat Blaque. 

My life pretty much revolves around the gaming industry.  It's how I pay my bills, it's what I read the most news about, and it's what I spend most of my free time doing.  Anita Sarkeesian is a feminist activist who has a channel called "FemanistFrequency" which looks at the negative depictions of women in pop culture, mostly video games.  She is highly controversial and is so often presented with death threats that she rarely makes public appearances anymore.  I'll be honest, I've never watched one of her videos.  But I doubt there is anything she could say in them that would make me hate her to the point of threatening her with death.  But then again I've become a lot more rational in my older age.  I've realized that the things people get so upset about really aren't that important.  I've also never thought that feminism is an evil thing that is trying to destroy everything I love (yes, there are people who believe that).  The other 2 activists on the panel, Kat Lazo (who is apparently the only outspoken Latina feminist on YouTube) and Kat Blaque (an African American transgender woman) I had never heard of.  I applaud these women because the crap they have to deal with on a daily basis from the mouth breathers of the Internet is scary stuff.  I'm actually a little afraid to even say anything positive about Sarkeesian as I know the rage she brings out.  All in all, the panel was interesting, and was a perspective I can't really experience being a straight, white male.  And if you're not willing to listen to others who are different, there's really not much hope for this world.  Once this was over it was time to go for "Fighting for a Cause" to "Gaming for Good". 

Filup Molina, Markiplier, Danny O'Dwyer and Vernon Shaw. 

We're going to skip the major participant of this panel because the last thing of the day is all about him.  This panel was Gaming online video creators who use their popularity to raise money for charities.  I had only heard of two of the panelist, one of which being Danny O'Dwyer from GameSpot.  I know of him because I actually did a live demo standing off stage at E3 last year while he interviewd the Associate Producer of the game I was there to show off.  We were a little bummed we didn't get him again this year because it would have been the third year in a row.  We still had fun though.  This panel was entertaining, even though the questions started to get a little off topic.  It is amazing how much good people can do if they just run a live stream, keep it entertaining enough, and choose a reputable charity to donate to.  After this it was time to go see a panel about "Pop Culture Popularity" and to hopefully snag a seat for the panel following that in the same room. 

Hilly & Hannah Hindi, Leigh Lahav, Andre Meadows, Jon Cozart, Anna Brisbane and Maude Garrett.

This was the last scheduled panel for BrizzyVoices (remember her from the previous 2 days?), so I had to go.  Not only that, Andre "Black Nerd" Meadows was on it.  I had actually just talked to Andre last week at E3 because he was checking out the game we were showing off.  I was telling him how much I like the "Crash Course: Games" series he is currently hosting for Hank and John Green (oh there will be plenty on them eventually).  Jon Cozart I only know of because he has released 2 A Capella music videos about the Disney princesses that Brizzy has covered.  The Hillywood sisters I knew about only from seeing them at Long Beach Comic Con this year.  They make epic parody videos from all things nerdy like Doctor Who and Supernatural.  They are tiny and adorable.  Leigh Lahav I hadn't heard of, but she makes animated parody videos as OnlyLeigh which I need to check out.  And the moderator, Maude Garrett, I hadn't heard of but she is basically and Australian Jane Lynch.  This was easily the nerdiest panel of the day.  Probably the whole 3 days.  It was a lot of fun and I want to be friends with all these people!!!!  Getting into this panel was a bit of a pain though.  You see, it was at 3:30PM.  However a majority of the people lining up were actually lining up for the panel that was going to be in this same room at 5:00PM.  I had a very hard time finding where the 3:30s ended and the 5:00s began.  Luckily I got in, and was able to stay in after the panel ended, because that is when the insanity happened.

What you are about to see is the only video I have taken so far.  It was taken with my iPad because my phone had died by this point, so it's not the best quality.  My friends, please let me introduce you to the world...of Markiplier. 

(Ironically I had to upload that video to YouTube in order to post it here).  Mark Fischbach started posting let's plays (videos where people play video games and make comments about them as they play) 4 years ago.  In that time he has become one of the top 10 most popular and lucrative YouTubers in the world.  How popular?  The hunk of metal he is carrying with him in the video above is a Diamond Play Button.  YouTube gives these out to channels that have 10,000,000 subscribers.  He actually has over 14,000,000 at this point (it takes them a while to ship those out apparently).  What he has accomplished in just 4 years is nothing short of amazing.  It probably doesn't hurt that he is very consistent and gives his fans a ton of content.  He actually posts 2 videos every week day.  That is an insane amount of work.  This was a Q&A for him, and the first guy that went up kind of hijacked the mic and the show, it was a little awkward.  However he said something that really is the essence of what Markiplier is, "emotional honesty".  He is one of the most genuine content creators there is.  If you see his videos for when he hit major milestones like 5,000,000 or 8,000,000 or 10,000,000, he get's very choked up about it.  And he donates a LOT to charity.  He was the 4 member of the "Gaming for Good" panel I discussed earlier.  But the thing that really impressed me most about him happened at last years VidCon.  When I was in the meet and greet line for Brizzy, Markiplier was in the next booth.  The way they have things set up is there is a group of people lined up in rows that are meeting the person currently there.  Then behind that group is a section that is free for people to start lining up for the next person.  I saw him go through about 300 fans, and they were all super excited to meet him and he was just as full of energy for the first one as he was the last.  He then took about a 60 second breather, then walked to the next group that was waiting and said, "alright, come on up".  They were there for him.  When I got to the front of the line I was in I started talking to the security lady that was there and she said that he had been at it for 2 days, just meeting thousands of his fans without stopping.  It was that day that I went home and subscribed to him, because the dude is an inspiration.  He is 10 years younger then me, but I could only hope to be as good of a person as he is.  And my God, as you can hear in the video, the squeeeeeeeeeeeeeing he elicits is deafining.

One last thing.  Here is a little video I shot when I got back to my car I like to call effect and cause. 

Apparently there was smoke in that part of the parking garage, so someone decided it'd be a good idea to unload a full fire extinguisher on all the cars in the area.  2 hours of finding and waiting for a car wash and $7 later, my car is clean again.  Now if you'll excuse me, this took much longer then I wanted and I have to get to sleep for Day Two.  

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VidCon 2016: Part Two - Day 0.5

So this year I decided I'd mix it up by getting a Creator badge.  What does that mean?  Well there's really only 2 differences from the Community badge.  First off, there are a bunch of Creator only panels.  These tend to lean more towards making videos and trying to turn YouTube into a career.  The second difference is you don't get to participate in the signing lottery.  While one of my favorite things in this world is meeting entertainers and letting them know how much joy they bring me, I felt that maybe the Creator track could hold enough interesting things to make up for that.  We'll have to see.  But that will be for Parts Three-Six.  This is about Day 0.5. 

You see, VidCon doesn't officially start until tomorrow.  However, registration started today.  So I decided it'd be best if I get it done tonight so I don't have to wait 2 hours in the morning.  This turned out to be a brilliant move as I was done in about 4 minutes.  The other thing they had going on tonight was the first of the AwesomenessTV Festival Concert Series.  As this was being hosted by Brizzy, I had to go.  Co-Hosting was Ruba Wilson who I'd never heard of.  To be honest, I'd never heard of any of the acts either. 

Brizzy and Ruba Wilson kicking things off. 

But this is where we get into one of the things I really like about VidCon.  Unless you're a tween girl, there's no way you've heard of everyone who is a featured creator at the show.  They have over 400 of them this year.  So that means there will be times when panels or interviews are going on and you haven't heard of any of the people.  This is when it is best to discover.  I remember last year I watched an interview with Connor Franta.  I knew nothing about him, but it was interesting to hear his story.  So while I was at the show to show my support as a BrizzKid (that's what she calls her fans, don't even get me started on the BrizzyBatFamily) I figured I'd learn of some new musicians as well.  They did not disappoint. 

First up was Andrew Huang.  He started by using a balloon to make various noises, and looped them together until they made a backing beat (a lot like Reggie Watts if you've ever seen him).  He was very good and I quite enjoyed his show. 

Andrew Huang.  Sadly I don't think I could have gotten a picture of him looking any more Asian.  Did I mention I'm the worlds worst photographer? 

Next was Rusty Clanton.  He was your typical dude with a guitar singing about love.  The basic just him and the guitar and heartache.  He was good, however he kept forgetting the lyrics to his own songs.  It was a kind of silly the first time.  A little less the second time.  The third time?  Ok, there wasn't a third time. 

Rusty Clanton, dudeing it up with a guitar. 

Next was Dodie Clark, my favorite of all the acts I watched.  She is this sweet little ukulele playing pixie that, I'm guessing from her accent, is from England.  She would end every song by saying "Thank you" in the sweetest way possible.  It kind of reminded me of that old Mr. Show sketch with the carnival barkers and the one played by David Cross would always end his barks with "Thank you" which made him more liked.  Now that's a deep pull. 

Sweet (possibly English) ukulele playing pixie Dodie Clark. 

Next up was Leroy Sanchez.  He had a back up guitarist and started by singing "Hello" by Adele.  It was around this time that I started to notice people posting pictures on Twitter with Brizzy that she was re-tweeting. 

Lerooooooooooooooooooy Sancheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez. 

I decided to walk around to the side and back of the stage and low and behold there was Brizzy, meeting with fans.  She was talking to these two you girls and so I waited.  Once they were done she looked at me and said "hello Shawn".  I'm a very simple person.  If you have a million subscribers on YouTube and you remember my name, you have a fan for life.  I talked to her for a little bit, then after having her sign my badge again this year, left her to meet with the young girls that she inspires every day. 

This was a great way to start VidCon 2016.  The halls open at 8AM tomorrow and the first panel I want to see is at 9:30AM.  It is the #GirlLove Community panel on the main stage and Lindsey Stirling is going to be on it.  That will be followed at 11:00AM with a live recording of Grace Helbig's podcast "Not Too Deep".  3 of my top 5 favorite YouTube personalities, Brizzy, Grace and Lindsey, and I will have seen them in the first 3 things I did.  VidCon 2016 is looking pretty good so far. 

VidCon 2016: Part One - VidCon 2015

Tomorrow begins the 7th annual VidCon.  Conceived in 2010 by the VlogBrother, Hank and John Green, VidCon is a convention where YouTube creators, fans and industry can get together and interact, have a good time, and just overall celebrate one of the craziest things of the new world we live in, online content that is created by everyday people just like you and me.  This is the second year I have gone. 

Last year I decided since I like going to various conventions in the LA area (E3, Wondercon, Comicaze, Long Beach Comic Con) that I would try out another one, VidCon.  I honestly don't remember where I first heard about it.  It may have been mentioned by Grace Helbig on something, or possibly by Hank or John Green themselves, I don't know.  While I didn't watch as much online content then as I do now, I was watching a lot (that's a story for another day).  So I bought a Community pass to the show (they have 3 tiers, Community, Creator and Industry) and showed up the first day having no idea what to expect. 

Well that's not fully true.  You see one of the biggest appeals of the show is the signing lottery.  You are given a list of hundreds of online creators and you list the top 25 that you would like to meet in the signing hall.  Then through whatever random selection they use you get to have a meet and greet with 3 of those people.  I actually had a hard time filling up my list of 25, but I succeeded.  The main things I remember is that I'm pretty sure I had Grace Helbig as number 1, and I had Rebecca Black somewhere near 25.  

Lindsey Stirling being interviewed.  She wasn't available for the meet and greet lottery, but I got to see her interviewed anyway. 

Why would I have put Rebecca Black?  Well it's simple, I actually greatly respect her.  Here is a girl that at 16 years old became the most shat upon person in the world.  The music video for Friday was the most dislike video in history until it was taken down.   A less stronger person probably would have killed themselves, and no one would have been surprised.  But what did she do?  First off she started her own channel, and the first thing she did was have the original posting of Friday taken down, thus losing all those dislike, and re-uploading it on her own channel, where it currently sits as I believe the 3rd or 4th most disliked video.  Why is that smart move?  Well, people still have to watch it to dislike it, and now she gets all that revenue.  So they can shit on it all they want, she's getting paid.  But it isn't just that.  She also started releasing vlogs and other videos, including one where I think it was 3 years after Friday came out, she watches it for the first time since its release and laughs along with everyone.  But I digress, because honestly when I started writing this, I didn't mean to go on a Rebecca Black detour.

Before getting back to the signing lottery, let's actually go back a few months before VidCon 2015 to E3 2015.  Two of the people on my list were iJustine, who I had seen a lot of because of Call of Duty, and BrizzyVoices, who at the time (and maybe still) was best known for releasing a video where she did an impression of all 151 orignal Pokèmon.  Well at E3 2015 I ended up meeting both of them.  Cut to about a week later and I got my signing lottery results.  First up was iJustine.  Huh, that's funny.  Next was BrizzyVoices.  That's ironic.  Third was someone I had always wanted to meet at E3 but never ran into her, and that was Falicia Day.  So on the first day of VidCon I at least knew I had a meet and greet with iJustine. 

I had to track down Brizzy the day after our Meet and Greet because I'm terrible at taking selfies and the one I took at the signing was terrible. 

What I didn't know was that registration was going to take me 2 hours, and they'd give me the wrong wrist band for her (it was actually for some guy the next day that I hadn't heard of, all though by now I probably have).  So I totally missed out on that.  Ah well, I met her at E3 so no worries.  But now I had no clue what to do the rest of the day.  The way the show was laid out is as so, there are 3 huge convention rooms at the Anaheim Convention Center.  The first 2 rooms have some booths for various things, honestly I can't remember what, and 2 interview stages for one on one interviews.  The 3rd room has the main stage which is giant and there is seating for about probably 3,000 people, probably more.  So I pretty much just went between interviews and panels between those 3 stages for the 3 days.  I had my meet and greet with BrizzyVoices (who I have seen at pretty much every convention since, except for this years E3) and I finally got to meet Felicia Day.  

Finally meeting Felicia Day.  Hank and John Green are on the far right. 

Honestly I felt a little out of place because the vast majority of the attendants to VidCon are girls from the age of like 9 to 15.  It's a really surreal experience.  The weirdest part would be when you'd walk around the lobby and there would be this huge line of girls, and at the front of the line were 2 young teen girls talking to each other.  Then one of them would walk away and the next one would walk up.  That's when you realize, "oh, this other girl must be some famous content creator".  There is so much sqeeeeeeing and screaming.  But the thing that there is the most of, is positive energy.  These are people getting to meet the entertainers they love and being able to let them know how much they mean to them.  This would be like at the height of Beatlemania if the Beatles held a convention to meet and greet all of their fans.  So in November when I got notice that tickets for VidCon 2016 were going on sale, I decided I'd go again, but this time I was going to do it a little differently... 

Creating a Homacide Perpatrator

    About 20 years ago I visited my brother and father in Texas.  My brother had recently moved there to go to the Art Insititue.  While I was there he showed me a documentary called Paradise Lost about 3 teenage boys who were convicted in West Memphis Arkansas for the murder of 3 little boys.  Once I finished watching that, I knew they didn't do it.  A few years later I saw Paradise Lost 2.  Still convinced they hadn't done it, but now certain the Step-Father of one of the boys had done it.  In 2011 Paradise Lost 3 came out and it was the best conclusion to the trilogy as it ended with the 3 innocent men being released from prison.  However after watching that I was certain it wasn't the Step-Father who did it, but one of the Fathers.  This is the thing with Documentries, you see what they want you to see.  

    Cut to last weekend.  Everyone has been going crazy for the last few weeks about this 10 episode documentary series on Netflix called Making a Murderer.  I decided I'd watch a few episode Sunday afternoon, then do some other things.  Cut to 2:00AM and I'm finishing up the last episode.  If you haven't watched it, I recommend it, it's a very good watch.  Go do it now, I'll wait... 

    ...Did you watch it?  Yes?  Sweet, skip ahead to the next paragraph.  If not, fine, here's what it's about.  In 1985 a man named Steven Avery was convicted of a brutal rape in Manitowoc County in Wisconson.  He was 23 at the time.  On September 11th 2003 he was released from prison due to new DNA evidence that proved he had nothing to do with it.  He ended up suing Manitowoc County for $35,000,000 for 13 years of wrongful imprisonment.  In 2007 a photographer for Auto Trader showed up to his house to take a photo of a car he was selling.  Her remains were found about a week later in a burn pit behind his house about a week later.  He was charged and convicted of her murder and now is spending life in prison. 

    So, now that we're all up to speed, let's discuss the documentary.  It shows the investigation and the trial of the murder.  It has a very obvious narrative of "he didn't do it".  There are plenty of things that are very convincing of this fact.  Since the documentary came out a lot of people have come forward that know him and said, "he is not a good person, we absolutely believe he did it", including his ex-fiancé and a many women that say he had assaulted them.   

     Here's my take away from the whole thing.  Do I think he did it after watching the trial footage?  No. The prosecutors did a very poor job of creating a reasonable doubt that he had actually committed the crime.  This was proven by the fact that the jury said he was guilty of the murder, but not disposing of her body.  Now do I believe he didn't do it?  That is also a no.  The documentary was not convincing enough to make me believe he is totally innocent.  But that doesn't really matter.  What matters is that there just wasn't enough evidence to create resonate doubt.

    As for his nephew, that is an entirely different story.  If you are reading this and haven't watched it, here's the quick back story on that.  Steven Avery's nephew was 16 at the time.  The police interviewed him and got him to confess to helping his uncle with the murder and disposal of this woman's body.  However, he has an IQ of 70 and was completely coerced by the police.  You can see it in the interigation videos they show in the documentary.  I bring up the fact that his IQ is 70 for a very specific reason, Forrest Gump's IQ was 75.  I also mention this because the same thing happened in the case featured in Pardise Lost.  On of the 3 teenagers convicted also had an IQ of 70 and was coerced by police into confessing.  I am 100% convinced this kid (now young man) had nothing to do with it.  He is the one that the most outrage should be focused on. 

     Since the doc came out there have been petitions to try and get Steven Avery released, including on Change.gov trying to get the President to pardon him, which I Guess people don't realize the President can only pardon Federal criminals.  But really, I don't think most people actually realize what the President can and can't do.  There has also been one other thing that I have seen a lot of, and that's the last thing I want to talk about.

    One of the key pieces of evidence (no pun intended) that is found is the key to the woman's car is found in Steven Avery's bedroom.  For 7 days it was missed by every investigator that went in there.  THen 2 cops from Manitowoc County, the County that had a $35,000,000 lawsuit against them, came in and found the key sitting next to a book case and a pair of shoes, just out in plain site.  Yes this is incredibly fishy and I do believe they planted it.  A popular meme has popped up as a result of this: 

    Here is my problem with this.  Just because the girl was murdered doesn't mean she still doesn't have a family.  They are seen in the documentary but declined participating in it.  Can you even begin to imaging how they must be feeling right now?  Going on social media and seeing people joke about the investigation of the brutal murder and dismemberment of their daughter/sister/niece?  This is the biggest problem with these Documentries about wrongfully accused murderers.  Everyone cares so much about the ones that are in prison who shouldn't be, which they should, that they totally forget that there is still a victim and a victims family out there.  People were outraged about the West Memphis 3 when Paradise Lost came out.  However, now that they're released, no one seems to talk about the fact that the actual killer has yet to be found.  So the families still don't have the closure and probably never will.  As far as the family in this case are concerned, they believe they have their closure, because they think both Steven Avery and his nephew did it.  However now they are having to relive everything, and knowing the Internet, are probably being harassed by people for thinking this way.   Some of them were recently interviewed by People Magazine and have said they are disgusted by all this, and with good reason.  Trying to get on with your lives after something so tragic I'm sure is almost impossible.  But after these people had finally done so, they now have to have it all brought back.

    So where does that leave us.  There are 2 men in prison who shouldn't be.  One appears to be 100% innocent, the other, while possibly not being 100% innocent, wasn't proven to be 100% guilty either.  We have a family that has had the worst moment of their life brought back to the surface and turned into national news destroying any closure they may have once felt.  I don't think this will end well for all parties involved.  How do I see it?

Did he do it?  I don't know. 

Did his nephew do it?  No.

Did the police try to frame him?  Yes. 

Did the police do it in order to frame him?  God no, if they were that desperate they'd have just had him killed. 

Is there still a grieving family out there?  Yes. 

Will this case ever actually be solved?  Probably not. 

Are minorities dumbfounded by the fact that a redneck in Wisconson get's wrongfully accused and convicted of a crime he possibly didn't commit and the whole country goes into an outrage about it while that happenes on a daily basis to black and Latinos?  Most likely, and with good reason. 

  This is just a terrible situation all around and it won't have a happy ending.  Except for the 24/7 news outlets.  They of course are loving every second of it. 

Socially Awkward or Awkwardly Social?

    I have a bad habit that has bitten me in the ass 3 times now over the course of my life.  Whenever I see that a concert or show that I would really like to attend is coming up, I will generally buy 2 tickets other the hopes that I will find someone to go with before its time...Then I forget about it.  The first time this happened was in the late '90s.

    I had never gone to a concert before.  Like a real concert.  I had graduated High School and pretty much everyone I from then had gone off to college.  I had just discovered the Internet (I got a computer later in life then pretty much everyone my age) and I found the website of one of my favorite performers, Weird Al Yankovic.  I saw that his tour was coming to Denver so I bought 2 tickets.  By the time the show arrived, I hadn't found anyone to go.  So there I was, my first concert ever, an empty seat next to me.  I wasn't going to let the social awkwardness of being seen alone stop me from experiencing what was an absolutely amazing show.  From that point forward I promised to never be in that situation again.

    Things were just fine for a very long time after this.  I went to plenty of rock concerts with my friend Chris in Colorado, and many a comedy show with him and my brother or various other acquaintances.  Then when I moved to California in 2006 I would go to shows with my friend Denise and her now husband Justin and well as her mom from time to time.  Occasionally I'd go with people I met through work, nary an empty seat next to me, until last year.

    Now technically, there wasn't an empty seat next to me last year.  I had recently become obsessed with the hip-hop/dubstep violinist Lindsey Stirling.  So much like with Weird Al that first time, I saw she was going to be performing in Anaheim, so I bought 2 tickets with the hopes of finding someone to go.  The show was on a Wednesday and I asked a friend that lived kind of far from the venue if she wanted to go the Friday before.  I didn't hear back so I asked again on Monday.  She thought she had responded that she wouldn't be able to go which I understood because I say kind of far, but that's not really doing it justice.  We're talking about 2 hours driving far.  So I asked a work friend and she said yes.  Unfortunately something very, very important came up the night of so she wasn't able to go.  I asked one more person right before I left work to go to the show and he wasn't interested at all.  So once again I found myself at a concert by myself.  This time though, there was no seating as it was standing room only.  So at least I didn't have the empty seat.  

    That leads us to tonight (well, when I started writing this I was actually in the theater waiting for the show to start, but I'm finishing it the morning after).  My favorite comedian ever in life Brian Regan was coming to LA.  I bought 2 tickets, even put it in my calendar, and then instantly forgot when it was.  I got an email from Ticketmaster on Wednesday reminding me, CRAP!  I then went for a long shot and asked someone I knew would most likely be busy, but it would have been beyond amazing had she gone (I will have a future adventure with her someday and you will hear all about it).  I didn't hear back from her until Friday so I asked 4 more people that day, all of which were busy, one was already going.  I asked 1 more person on Saturday and everyone I knew on Facebook, nothing.  So once again, there I was, sitting in a theater to see a show with an empty seat next to me.

    Now, could this have been avoided?  Yes.  I need to start asking people when I buy the ticket, not 2 days before.  Do I regret going to these shows by myself, yes, but not for the reasons you might think.  It's not about the wasted money or the social embarrassment of being seen alone.  I'm kind of used to that as I've gone to movies by myself many times, and have even gone to restaurants by myself (that one’s a little more awkward).  I wasn't going to go see an amazing performance by someone I greatly admire and am entertained by just because I had to do it alone.  But the thing I regret is that I wasn't able to introduce someone new to this person.  The 2 times I've seen Weird Al after that first time was with people who had never seen his show before.  Everyone I asked to see Lindsey Stirling hadn't seen her show.  Everyone I asked to see Brian Regan hadn't seen his stand up live (this was my 4th or 5th time seeing him).

    So what's next?  Well, Weird Al is going on tour this summer.  No dates have been announced for Southern California, however none of the acts for the OC Fair have been announced yet either.  He always plays the OC Fair when he tours.  So I'm praying this is the case.  So if he does end up playing there, I will buy 2 tickets as always, and then immediately start looking for someone to fill that seat.  I will start with people that have never seen him live because I want them to experience a show like they've never seen before.  But if it comes down to show time and I find myself sitting in the crowd with an empty seat next to me, I will not regret it, because I'm seeing a performer that I love seeing.  And besides, sometimes it's nice to have the extra leg room.

Siblings

So we have Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and even Grandparent’s day.  What we don’t have is Brother’s Day or Sister’s Day or even Sibling’s Day (as far as I know).  Your siblings are special because they are genetically the most similar people to you in the entire world.  No one else started the same exact way you did, from the same two people.  It is because of this that we should celebrate our siblings every now and then.  Just stop and realize how special they are.  I know there are people out there that have bad blood with their siblings because really, beyond having the same parents, you don’t always have the same upbringing.  Your parents could have decided to raise the second child in a totally different way after learning mistakes from the first time (and most likely will).  Or your parents could even separate after having the second child, making things drastically different.  But deep down, they’re still the most similar to you anyone on Earth could possibly be.  It is because of this that you should really connect with your siblings when you can.  Give them a call, spend time with them and let them know that you know how special it is to have someone so close.

13 years ago today cancer ensured that I could never do that again in my life.  I can never again give my brother a call or spend time with him.  I can hope that I can let him know how special he is to me, but honestly, no one really knows if those who have passed can hear us.  One of the draw backs for humans being the smartest creatures on planet earth is that we also have the knowledge that at some point, we are going to die.  It is because of this that we desire the thought that when our loved ones move on, that they are still with us in some way.  I can put it out in the world that I miss my brother every day, and that I hope he knows that.  But I don’t really know for sure.  So on this day if you have the ability to let your siblings know that you are thinking about them and you can be 100% positive of the fact that they are hearing you, please do so, because you never know what might happen.  Don’t regret missing the opportunity you have while you still can.

If you’re an only child, and you should want to watch a movie tonight, might I suggest The Natural starring Robert Redford.  And know that at the end, when the shot of Wilfred Brimley comes up where the sparks from the lights are reflected in his glasses, that was one of the reasons this was my brother’s favorite movie of all time.

Maybe start blogging?

Last weekend I had an amazing time paintballing for charity. I mainly did it to take this picture. I should really write a more in depth blog about it soon.