You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/Few YouTube creators have had an impact as large as James Rolfe’s, with the Angry Video Game Nerd videos constantly cited by TCU listeners as having inspired their work – including Kevin. James, AVGN, Cinemassacre and the ecosystem they’ve built over the last 15 years paved the way for video game commentary content to flourish, and we’ve finally corralled James into spending some time talking to us about it. But if AVGN never existed and James started fresh today, what would his channel be about?As James continues to refine his book, he knows one thing: it’s not possible to walk into a GameStop. Aside from the occasional public recognition, the AVGN life is fairly tame – unless someone sees him in traffic. It’s not all 8-bit life, though; the origins of the AVGN phenomenon can actually be found deep in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens with a film about the Legend of the Blue Hole.AVGN itself started with a few funny videos and then evolved as its popularity grew. Production values increased along with the complexity of scripts, and a bit of profanity started to flow. But as James’ unique presence exploded and YouTube flourished, so did a legion of copycats. Even the ones who tried to be original tended to get angrier. That’s when it became obvious that AVGN was doing something different with its level of analysis and nuance… and James’ formula hasn’t changed.The shows over the years have, though, for a host of reasons. Some just weren’t popular or worth the effort. Others, like Board James, ran their natural course. But for all the changes and evolutions, the core of the Nerd has remained the same – and James wouldn’t have it any other way. What’s the future hold? Horror, perhaps. The book. Conventions. Nerding and assorted Nerdery. It’s almost as if James is just getting started. We’re sorry that no one could join us live for this one, since Discord went down right when we were recording and our options were to talk to James elsewhere or cancel entirely (and probably not be able to reschedule). Hopefully James can come back to promote his book and be subjected to the Patron Question Gauntlet (PGQ).We’ve got Brady Haran of Numberphile (and 8 other channels!) on Tuesday at 6pm ET in the Discord, so GET INNNNN. We miss you.Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknownJoin our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: http://discord.gg/tcuApple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownAppleSpotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotifyGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGoogleP...CREDITS: Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite  Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com  Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media. CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw  » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown  » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown  » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown  » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/Sign up for a chance to join The Later Network: https://later.gg/Nearly 2 years ago, Laterment tweeted to us that he was going to be a guest on The Create Unknown someday, and that the podcast inspired him to start a channel. At that time Laterment had 0 subscribers. Now he has 13,000, and in one of the strangest (and most harrowing) turn of events we’ve ever had, he saved our community. Matt predicted that it would be episode #137, so he was only slightly off. Here’s the background: an errant click led to ownership of the TCU Discord server being transferred to a Turkish scammer. As the babies started to fall and we accepted the reality of starting over, Laterment jumped in to befriend the hacker and… get the server back, no extortion fees necessary. That’s the Laterment way, and as he says, he believes in creators – even if they’re creating havoc. To him, the TCU community is priceless, because he’s just a dude being a dude.Matt points out that the hacker has a combination of skills and free time that could lead to helping people rather than harming them, since there are better ways to make a buck than holding Discord accounts hostage. But the lure and value of the Discord badges appear to be stronger than he realizes. The newly-converted Laterment will be leading The Later Network, a joint project with The Create Unknown, to bring a new brand of Minecraft to the masses. Alpha/beta testers are encouraged to sign up at the link above, because we’re already live. We’ve been working for months on developing the right tone and finding the right people to make it work, and now it’s time to commit to the block-building life.Later.gg won’t be happening on Twitch, though, since Laterment is severing his complex relationship with the platform in favor of streaming on YouTube. The Laterment sage is one of our favorites because it’s been an opportunity to watch one of our own start, grow, and evolve a unique channel over the course of years. We’re here for it, and we’ll do whatever we can to support Laterment and anyone else with the willingness to put the work in.Thanks to Laterment for an epic 2-hour hangout – and for an epic more than 2 YEAR hangout within the TCU community. He’s a staple around these parts, and we all hope it stays that way. We more than filled up this week, so thanks to everyone who stuck around and had a ball with us. And as always, a special thanks goes to our Patrons, who really do make this show possible each and every week. You are the best.Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: http://discord.gg/tcu Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownAppleSpotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotifyGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGoogleP... CREDITS:  Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite  Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com  Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay  "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media.  CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw  » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown  » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown  » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown  » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/Successful people give a lot of terrible advice. They don’t mean to, but they do. It’s extremely difficult to analyze yourself and your own path, so it’s natural for a successful person to see patterns that aren’t there and to cherrypick important moments… and then try to apply that advice to you.As Kevin details, sometimes it’s even worse than that, and they give flat-out awful advice. The takeaway? Be wary, and Matt has a working thesis that everyone is full of shit all the time.But there’s another big topic we’ve wanted to talk about for years, and that’s how easy it is to set yourself on a depressing path that just isn’t good for you. Kevin was actually a serious musician for years, but the sort of music he was into wasn’t healthy. He details the reasons why so many musicians in grunge and metal didn’t make it out of the 1990’s, and it’s not dissimilar to some of the struggles YouTubers and artists are dealing with right now. At a certain point, the artistic path that defines you can actually be bad for you – and Matt suggests that the best way out can involve other people. Humanity has spent over a quarter million hours listening to this podcast in the last month alone, and that support means everything to us. Thanks to everyone who showed up to hear an uncommonly-open episode, and especially to the Patrons who make this show happen each and every week. You really are the best. Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: https://discord.gg/tcu Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownAppleSpotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotifyGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS:  Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite  Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com  Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay  "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media.  CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw  » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown  » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown  » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown  » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/Our long-awaited Valentine’s Date with Alternate History Hub is FINALLY HERE! Getting a clear picture of history is hard enough, but Alternate History Hub somehow manages to imagine how things *could* have been with a highly-knowledgeable, entertaining realism. His favorite website in the world? Well, we start by positing what life would be like had it never existed at all.It all started with a really, really bad show on SpikeTV. A ridiculous show pilot was so terrible and employed such simplistic, boring history that Alternate History Hub was born. And even the pilot itself was hard to track down because it’s been nearly scrubbed from the internet. They did the “worst possible thing you can do with history,” and it included a fascist version of Facebook. AHH can use fiction to teach how history happened, but SpikeTV couldn’t pull it off.Storytelling is everything in history, whether it’s a YouTube video or a classroom teacher. Kevin is going to play the odds by having 17 children and naming them all William, and Matt has a strategy for injecting a harsh dose of reality into the replies of the most obnoxious social media weenies. And castles? They’re actually really small on the inside.It seems like it would be easy to make history content sustainably, but it’s been near impossible for AHH and almost everyone else in the history game. Since it necessarily touches on politics, social problems, and conflict, all things history raise red flags everywhere. Advertisers don’t like it, so YouTube doesn’t like it – despite their stated commitment to educational content. We really don’t know what the future holds for history, and it’s a shame that it’s such a difficult, ever-present question for YouTubers like History Hub.But when we consider what history is really like – not imagining yourself as you are now in a historical place, but trying to understand the people of a particular moment in time – there’s really only one truly important question: If you grew up in Chris-Chan’s position, would your life have turned out exactly the same way? Then the Patrons jump in to cleanse the question palate with a host of queries from serious to frivolous – and it couldn’t have ended better.Thanks to Alternate History Hub for taking so much time to be probed on the development of historical genius on a platform that tends to reward twerking and gluttony. There aren’t a lot of history channels out there that are entertaining *and* highly accurate – subscribe. SUBSCRIBE. Thanks to everyone who showed up to a raucous live show, and especially to the Patrons who make this show happen each and every week. You really are the best.Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownAppleSpotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotifyGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS:  Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite  Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com  Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay  "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media.  CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw  » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown  » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown  » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown   » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/It’s time to do things, and we’re talking to the world’s expert on… doing things. Grab your hammer guns and grill a kangaroo steak, because I Did a Thing is here and he has absolutely no limits. Literally, we start off by talking about what he won’t do, and that list is not long. Australia is a running theme in this podcast, including the laws and regulations that turned Alex into an (almost) criminal. It’s why he had to dismantle one of his most unique inventions and spread it in dumpsters throughout town, because that’s normal. He’s lucky it didn’t fire straight through his head, which we learn was an actual possibility.No one combines curiosity and crazy at such a high level as Alex, except maybe Michael Reeves and a few other evil geniuses. People appreciate how unique that is, making offers as high as $15,000 for the weird, amazing stuff he makes. At least destroying all his family’s possessions in a bid to satisfy childhood ADHD is starting to pay off. Then it’s electrocution time, because we’ve collectively experienced a lot of it – and Alex is such a frequent victim that when the breaker trips in his house, his family knows Alex probably got zapped. That brings up the age-old question of whether content like Alex’s is dangerous at all, and the answer is probably yes. And that’s a good thing.Comedy is a major part of why so many millions of people love Alex’s videos. They aren’t just interesting science and engineering, they’re incredible entertainment. Very, very few people can pull that off, but whether he’s getting a haircut in North Korea or building a bird bath teeming with unintended consequences, Alex makes it work. Kevin thinks smooth-brained koalas are the lowest form of life, and Alex has a story about punting one in the air before Patrons jump in to ask about his best and worst videos, the mindset behind changing titles and thumbnails, and his forays into politically-charged comedy – it’s a range of topics that’s perfectly representative of Alex and both of his channels. Thanks to Alex for hanging out for a couple hours and being open to talking about any topic at all, and thanks to everyone who came out for the live show – it was a GREAT one. And the Patrons who support this show really do make it happen each and every week.Up next: Alternate History Hub, Tuesday at 6pm ET live in the Discord. GET INNN.Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownAppleSpotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotifyGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS:  Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite  Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com  Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay  "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media.  CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw  » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown  » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown  » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown  » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com #TheCreateUnknown #ididathing #Science Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/Gabriel Brown might be the most broadly-talented guest we’ve ever had. He not only sings, he’s ever singer. He’s got a deep, highly-knowledgeable interest in all things science. He knows ballistics. He’s a voice actor, a paraglider… it’s incredible, and 90 minutes with him wasn’t nearly enough.Songs, and especially song bits, are a little different than overall impersonation – and the limitations Gabriel explains make a lot of sense. That incredible 54 songs video? That wasn’t the cash cow, but it drove traffic elsewhere, including Spotify.The 7th Fleet was keen on, uh, paying tribute to Michael Jackson, and Gabriel answered the call. But that’s nothing compared to the sheer determination he’s exhibited to get to the Moon. His SpaceX saga is incredible, and although it hasn’t worked out just yet, the door hasn’t closed entirely. Plan B? Become a billionaire.As YouTubers like 12tone are realizing, the platform really is an island. Not only is it insular with the public, but it’s even insular within the media. And then Gabriel’s explanation of Barrett rifle ballistics turns The Create Unknown into a firearms podcast.After an incredible discussion about curiosity and developing an appreciation for knowing things, we get into the real intellectual stuff: the My Little Pony community. It’s a wild ride.The Patrons grill Gabriel on all sorts of things, from specifics about music production to Hazbin Hotel and why he can only play a handful of video games. And, of course, the fursona question is not only back, but Gabriel handled it better than any guest ever.Everyone who showed up for the live show on Discord got one of the best views into the creative mind that we’ve ever offered up – and we could talk to Gabriel for 20 more hours without scratching the surface. Thanks to all of you who joined in, and especially to the Patrons who make this show happen every single week. Next up… I Did a Thing, Tuesday night at 6pm ET in the Discord. GET IN. Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownAppleSpotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotifyGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS:  Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite  Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com  Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay  "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media.  CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw  » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown  » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown  » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown  » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You love anime. You love tea. Get 10% off your order with code CREATE at The Dragon's Treasure: https://www.thedragonstreasure.com/Thanks to Brilliant for supporting The Create Unknown and the creative community. You can get started on Brilliant for FREE, and the first 200 people to click this link will receive 20% off an annual premium membership: https://brilliant.org/createunknownBuy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/We’ve all waited years for this. The Create Unknown community has been following along with Smiling Friends for over 3 years, from the idea stage to its new reality. And we’ve got Zach Hadel/PsychicPebbles and Michael Cusack here to give us HOURS of Smiling Friends talk.We start off with what we didn’t get to see in the show, and how the standards and practices oversight influences the final outcome of a series like Smiling Friends. They tend to shut down, “Anything funny or anything that’s slightly a good idea,” so it’s a lot like YouTube. And one of the biggest problems was… Satan vaping?The boys give us some behind-the-scenes secret about Mustard sucking “impossibly fast” and DJ Spit’s pubes, all of which we never saw. But who did grandma’s lollipop noises? And the GAGGING?We get some leaks about the saddest place to put Pim, and Zach and Michael tell us what makes the Charlie-Pim duo work so well. Here’s a hint from Kevin: they’re NOT ‘Dumb and Dumber.’ It turns out that Mr. Frog is actually the oldest character of all. But… what did he say on Jimmy Fallon?!The world was very, very close to seeing Chris-Chan as the grease puddle, and Zach details the process that killed our dream. Imagine the memes we missed out on… but the ones we’ve got are amazing.Zach’s obsessed with Dan Aykroyd, and we’re obsessed with Nothing But Trouble – and in particular, a very specific nose. But not everyone loves Smiling Friends. We go line by line through a scathing review that’s disappointed that the show isn’t like Big Mouth and Rick and Morty. Was that article actually bait?!Kevin’s favorite scene was Satan’s DoorDash experience, which is so perfectly awkward and mundane as to be elevated into something unique. Michael says he’s less and less social as he ages, so maybe the thing about hundreds of hours spent gooning is more real than we know.Smiling Friends is full of tiny details, and the oversight from Michael and Zach throughout the series had to be fatiguing. But it resulted in a show that carried out their vision and entertained millions.Patrons jump in to ask literally dozens of questions, and Michael and Zack stuck around for them all. What about the Rust gameplay? What’s the integration of 3D and live action do to the process? How do you stop being your worst critic? And WHERE IS SEASON 2???Thanks to the HUNDREDS of people who joined us live, and especially to the Patrons who made this episode possible. To those of you have been around for a while and stuck with us: it means everything to us. And to the many new Patrons: tell us about your art, your creative project, your interests… that’s what makes our community great.Check out TripleQuestionMark’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSIXE1d5ObOwIwSX1kSgNfwPatreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw CREDITS:  Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite  Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com   "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media.  CONNECT WITH US: » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown  » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown  » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown  » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Buy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/Brendan Caulfield is the composer for Smiling Friends, YOLO Crystal Fantasy, Koala Man, Bushworld Adventures… and that’s just the beginning. He’s developed a long-term collaborative partnership with Michael Cusack, and the release of Smiling Friends gives us a perfect opportunity to talk to Brendan about the process of setting deranged art to music. That includes setting the Mr. Boss breastfeeding scene to song. The nature of animation like Smiling Friends means that Brendan has to run an incredible range of tones and moods. You’d think that would require a tremendous amount of detailed guidance, or at least a really good draft of the animation – but no. It turns out he gets a brief storyboard and then gets the job done. WHAT?!We need to talk about the sounds of a grandma hyper-fellating a lollipop, because that’s a thing.Michael and Brendan go way back, and their story of working together more and more over time is probably the most classic example of everything we’ve talked about for 125 episodes. He does what he says he’s going to do and doesn’t have a problem spending 5 years working in grandma’s basement to get it done. Part of his success is due to admitting what he sucks at, which helps everyone.When it comes to Smiling Friends, Brendan says he’s like Ringo Starr: he’s just happy to be working on it. Everything about Brendan suggests that he’s going to be working on impressive projects for a long, long time. Thanks to Brendan for spending so much time with us and setting the perfect stage for next week’s episode with Pebbles and Michael Cusack. Everyone who joined in with us live really got to witness a good one – and a special thanks to the Patrons who make this show happen each and every week. Keep Smiling, Friends!Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownAppleSpotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotifyGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS:  Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite  Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com  Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay  "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media.  CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw  » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown  » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown  » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown   » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thanks to Brilliant for supporting The Create Unknown and the creative community. You can get started on Brilliant for FREE, and the first 200 people to click this link will receive 20% off an annual premium membership: https://brilliant.org/createunknownBuy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/For the first time in about 100 episodes, we had a series of technical problems (both with us and the guest) that necessitated rescheduling Alternate History Hub to Tuesday, February 15th. He’s now our Valentine’s Day date and he doesn’t even know it.Sorry for having to do that on short notice – but it DID open up a chance for us to go into some detail about something we’ve wanted to talk about for a few months now. Kevin has spent a full decade making videos on YouTube that have been in the hard math/science niche, and for about 6 months he’s been applying all that knowledge to real life stories of crime and injustice. That’s a weird switch… OR IS IT?Kevin and Matt go over why it happened, why it’s not actually that big of a change, and how this is a very good example of the way creative projects evolve over time. If you think you can do one thing over and over, you probably can’t, or at least not forever. At some point you’re going to have to adjust. Maybe it’s a uniquely lateral move, maybe it’s something totally different. But if you want to sustain an audience and your own sanity, it’s gotta happen.It really is awesome to have everyone along with us for the ride, whether it’s Vsauce2 videos or The Create Unknown podcast. It makes a tremendous difference being able to talk about this stuff and get feedback along the way. Whether it’s a comment during an episode recording or a reply left on a video, we read them, take them seriously, and work them into the process. We really do appreciate it.Thanks to everyone who popped in on Friday for our impromptu recording, and a special thanks to the Patrons who keep us going every week. We’ve got a remarkable slate of interviews coming up, including a Smiling Friends takeover. If you miss those, we will not smile and we will no longer be your friend.Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownAppleSpotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotifyGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS:  Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite  Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com  Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay  "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media.  CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw  » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown  » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown  » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown   » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thanks to Brilliant for supporting The Create Unknown and the creative community. You can get started on Brilliant for FREE, and the first 200 people to click this link will receive 20% off an annual premium membership: https://brilliant.org/createunknownBuy our T-shirts: https://www.thecreateunknown.com/store/2021 was the Year of SumitoMedia – and just 12 months after we first talked to Sumit, his meme-culture YouTube channel popped from averaging about 50,000 views a month to nearly 600,000. What’s the one constant? Misato from Evangelion, who’s something of a mommy figure.Mem culture touches on everything, but Kevin notices a difference between people who stream and watch movies vs. people who actually watch TV. What does it even mean to watch TV at this point? Sumit doesn’t have time for TV, since he’s busy platinum’ing every video game. But why?Chinese social credit as a meme got better and better through 2021, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see it continue for another year… or more. Sumit explains the social credit system and why it’s so bizarre. And the CDC says he needs to ponder more orbs.Kevin’s frustrated that some people don’t get jokes – at al – and so is Sumit. Matt goes back to Sumit’s 5th tweet ever to find the origins of the ThiccBit, which gets its very first like after more than 3 years.Sumit really doesn’t like Seth Rogen.At this point we’ve talked to a whole lot of creators, from YouTube to streaming to music and comedy writing. A lot of people succeed, but not many do it right and do it sustainably. Sumit does, so pay attention to that as we churn through a year that needs memes very, very badly.Thanks to everyone who showed up for our first live show of 2022, and a special thanks to the Patrons who make this show happen each and every week. We’ve got some good stuff on the way for you, so stick around. Oh, and if you like Smiling Friends, you’ll get a fair bit of content in the next month or two.Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown Join our Discord to talk with artists, creators, and fans of the finer things in online life: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw Apple: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownAppleSpotify: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownSpotifyGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/TheCreateUnknownGooglePodcasts CREDITS:  Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU "Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite  Theme by Mega Drive → http://megadrivemusic.com  Opening Animation: Kidmograph City Animation: Eric Langlay  "The Create Unknown" is produced by Unknown Media.  CONNECT WITH US: » Chat with us on DISCORD: https://discord.gg/qAQV3Jw  » Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/createunknown  » Follow us on INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/thecreateunknown  » Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/thecreateunknown   » View our website: https://thecreateunknown.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices