I Don't Know James Rolfe

[00:08] I feel a certain amount of 

[00:12] we're basically the same age 

[00:16] we both ultimately found ourselves 

[00:22] Better known as The Angry Video Game Nerd James  

[00:25] has this behind the scenes video 

[00:30] AVGN Behind the Scenes and Nerd Room Tour 2021

[00:35] There's just so much going on with it

[00:40] there's a light stand suspended 

[00:44] a cable hole made in a desk by attacking 

[00:49] the whole thing begins with an awkward 

[00:54] from a different microphone just off screen 

[01:00] I I recorded this entire video and realized this  

[01:03] mic is not plugged in the 

[01:08] then there's the tripod

[01:10] James expresses a desire to keep things out of his  

[01:14] way tripods light stands and such to 

[01:20] A worthy goal I can empathize with as I sit 

[01:27] but then he shows his solution  

[01:30] a tripod head secured to a strip of 

[01:37] it is a wrong thing a cludged-together precarious 

[01:46] to those who have little familiarity 

[01:52] this thing ruined my life in the way that only 

[02:01] why was this made

[02:02] why was this made this way

[02:05] what was happening that created the circumstances  

[02:08] that led to this being made 

[02:12] many of the solutions being shown off 

[02:17] solutions to inefficiency more 

[02:22] this Glimpse behind the scenes paints a blurry yet  

[02:26] still identifiable picture of a 

[02:31] a forever war James Rolfe is engaged in against 

[02:40] he includes a captivating outake from the 

[02:46] Freak Down where he's tied to a chair and trying 

[02:52] he loses his grip on the vegetable and 

[02:57] onion cursing the ropes cursing Co 

[03:03] boy I wish I had a crew wish we didn't 

[03:09] it is a sincere frustration honestly more 

[03:17] betrays a lack of foresight a lack of planning 

[03:26] this rhetorical confusion marbles throughout  

[03:29] the Studio Tour repeated shoutouts given 

[03:34] a seemingly out of left field 

[03:38] and a laundry list of one-off 

[03:43] James says he'll be addressing 

[03:47] the assholish variety which suggests 

[03:53] but why say these things

[03:57] why make these admissions

[04:00] I thought I knew the Angry Video Game Nerd 

[04:06] school peers around a computer in 2006 

[04:12] and mentally noting that the inevitable 

[04:18] was on the cusp of viability and the web 

[04:25] internet videos weren't just the happen 

[04:30] context Clips forwarded via email or 

[04:35] they were things being made for the 

[04:43] I may not have been the most Ardent fan but 

[04:49] Video Game Nerd and by extension James 

[04:56] as The Story Goes James Rolfe was 

[05:01] arguably spawned the entire genre of 

[05:07] tempo for thousands of creators he set 

[05:13] a trained filmmaker having a leg up on the 

[05:20] even as YouTuber became a real 

[05:25] embrace the identity always seemed apart from it

[05:30] as his peers would often detail he 

[05:37] but how could I square that reputation 

[05:43] the light stands arduously suspended with 

[05:52] James says his camera work has grown stagnant 

[06:00] detailing an insistence on disassembling 

[06:05] to the tripod rather than using a quick 

[06:10] camera body only to then minutes later 

[06:18] this made me keenly aware of one thing above all

[06:21] I do not know James Rolfe

[07:22] having glimpsed something of his 

[07:25] the man gripped me with a hunger for 

[07:31] fortunately he had already offered me more

[07:34] in 2022 James self-published his Memoirs 

[07:41] circumstances being what they are I 

[07:46] between 2004 and 2006 fresh Film School grad 

[07:52] where he played a stereotypical nerd 

[07:58] the character lampooned something 

[08:02] his friends getting intensely 

[08:06] his university buddy Mike Matei thought 

[08:11] the videos to the fledgling YouTube where they 

[08:18] make more of them and creating what we 

[08:23] the brand and format coalesced quickly and 

[08:29] for the seventh video MC kids 

[08:32] an absolute earworm of theme song that 

[08:37] 80% of the reason that we're having 

[08:45] [singing] 'He's gonna take you back to the past'

[08:51] Mike, an avid retro gamer with an extensive 

[08:56] manage logistics like web hosting, maintaining 

[09:01] outlets like Screw Attack, and James 

[09:05] The show’s comedy hinged, and really still hinges,  

[09:08] on a combination of acidic vulgarity, casual 

[09:18] this game is worse than a Mischief Night prank 

[09:22] someone's yard this game is the equivalent of 

[09:26] it's as refreshing as a horse's anus [ __ ] The 

[09:31] clown face Joker Kiss makeup wearing King Diamond 

[09:38] but it wasn't James's first creation James 

[09:46] making nerd is an opportunity 

[09:58] Now is as good a time as any to mention 

[10:04] He has attracted a not-insubstantial audience of 

[10:10] who have made a hobby of disseminating what 

[10:15] that he is a man of hubris, ungrateful for his 

[10:21] fans who gave him a career in the first place, 

[10:28] or a cuckolded visionary who could have had it 

[10:34] I am far from the first person to ask 

[10:40] James is, by reputation, 

[10:45] he values his privacy and sees social media as 

[10:52] personal life personal. That is an admirable 

[10:58] Obviously I’m holding his 

[11:03] Whatever secrecy James enjoys by 

[11:07] every day he makes up for with infrequent, but 

[11:14] He may not go often, but when he goes he goes big.

[11:18] And maybe that is why it has 

[11:22] Not all of the fascination with the historical 

[11:29] profoundly compelling about James:  

[11:32] people who become aware of his 

[11:37] anyway that's all I have to say for now there's 10  

[11:40] more videos to make on this subject 

[11:45] People talk about James in a very specific way, my 

[11:52] and I have developed a very strange, 

[11:58] The cultural impact of AVGN 

[12:01] he is without question the direct inspiration 

[12:09] set the tone that all YouTube reviews 

[12:15] to. Two decades on the cultural impact 

[12:22] But it is also likewise easy to overstate 

[12:28] as though James captured something that 

[12:34] The concept of media critique as 

[12:41] “The bottom line is this: Swamp Buggy Racing 

[12:46] of software ever mass produced for the 

[12:51] rent it. Do not even pick up the box. I’m 

[12:56] to get screen shots for this review, and 

[13:01] the four-year-old who lives downstairs so 

[13:05] 6%

[13:06] PC Gamer, May 2000

[13:10] Classic.

[13:11] Basically as long as the review has 

[13:16] have sought to make them entertaining for their 

[13:23] the DNA of the Angry Video Game Nerd follows in 

[13:29] Mystery Science Theatre 3000, 

[13:34] Culturally AVGN was right in line with Penny 

[13:41] their eighth year of success with a webcomic 

[13:47] casual violence, and an excess of 

[13:52] had proven so successful they were able 

[13:59] There were many people putting out the same 

[14:06] background gave him a critical advantage in the 

[14:13] camera and having a basic grasp of audio separated 

[14:20] James Rolfe was perfectly positioned,  

[14:22] and by coincidence, struck an 

[14:28] Like all YouTubers, he got 

[14:34] While the early YouTube subscriber numbers look 

[14:40] was briefly the eighth largest channel on 

[14:48] and the channel’s three, almost four million 

[14:54] somewhat mundane, the subscriber numbers don’t 

[15:03] By the time the AVGN movie was announced in 2011 

[15:12] He didn’t just have viewers, he had fans,  

[15:17] passionate fans who made fan art, 

[15:23] It is no overstatement to say that the 

[15:31] The book is structured around 

[15:35] taking it as a given that James is, in fact, 

[15:44] as a Cinemassacre production, just one 

[15:50] James has been making movies 

[15:53] and in the telling of the story James 

[15:58] through film school to the first performance 

[16:05] The shocking thing, really, is how absent the 

[16:11] to articulate how little weight is given to the 

[16:18] the film Wavelength than you do about his thoughts 

[16:39] Wavelength is a 1967 experimental 

[16:44] multi-disciplinary artist Michael Snow.

[16:46] Wavelength as a film is relatively easy 

[16:51] it functions as something of an ink blot test 

[16:56] explaining it will inevitably betray something 

[17:01] Some critics praised the film as the Birth of 

[17:07] while other critics heckled the film 

[17:11] for his part, found this hilarious.

[17:14] Wavelength, like many avante-garde films,  

[17:16] is what you bring to it. Is it 

[17:21] or is it a film about film and its relationship 

[17:28] This versatility has allowed the film to be used 

[17:33] theory. But despite its importance, Wavelength 

[17:39] the archetype of heady, pretentious 

[17:44] Students prime themselves to reject the film, but 

[17:51] The only constant in watching Wavelength, 

[17:57] physically experience the film to understand it. 

[18:02] it would be reflection. The film uses 

[18:08] viewer to engage. A wandering mind is 

[18:14] The viewer is compelled to reflect on their 

[18:21] The movie, in essence, holds 

[18:25] In cursing the time lost, and in describing their 

[18:32] students unknowingly engage with the film’s 

[18:39] Even in rejecting it, the viewer 

[19:01] James’ profile as a filmmaker is 

[19:05] feature film, crowdfunded in 2011, 

[19:11] Summer 2024 will be the tenth 

[19:15] Game Nerd: The Movie, a truly bizarre 

[19:22] All movies are miracles, but this one is 

[19:27] rights it should not exist. The production was 

[19:32] and then on top of that in a number 

[19:38] It is, on sum, not very good, but that much 

[19:43] rudderless and confusing, an unresolved 

[19:48] external pressures, and 

[19:52] It’s tempting to get caught in 

[19:56] but for the most part it can all be traced back 

[20:02] the myriad ways in which the budget was poorly 

[20:08] in watching an actor who isn’t enamoured 

[20:13] the name “Death Mwauthzyx” to little success, 

[20:19] are the thing that makes the movie what it 

[20:26] [Mandi] hey now don't get your panties in a wad

[20:30] [McButter] I'm not wearing any panties

[20:35] [Cooper] Hot!

[20:35] The script was written haphazardly by James and 

[20:40] of almost six years, originating shortly 

[20:47] to be a supersized episode of the web show, 

[20:52] and a self-aware b-movie version of a blockbuster, 

[21:00] This is the foundational problem: an 

[21:06] actually was. Without a creative vision, 

[21:11] what the finished product is supposed to be, 

[21:17] lacks the backstop of feedback that would tell the 

[21:24] the film’s ultimate kaiju villain is an in-joke 

[21:32] The entire movie bizarrely revolves around the 

[21:38] for the Atari 2600, the fragmentary shards of the 

[21:45] the actual E.T. intellectual property was never 

[21:51] spoof instead, which undercuts the verisimilitude 

[21:59] The core plot never makes much sense, the 

[22:04] and the core conflict seems to 

[22:08] to review the game because it 

[22:12] which itself appears to be an episode lifted 

[22:17] scene is one of the recurring nightmares James 

[22:21] The production itself was plagued with indecision:  

[22:24] James was wearing a lot of different hats that 

[22:29] requiring a level of delegation 

[22:34] The process stretched out years 

[22:38] left James thoroughly burnt out and 

[22:43] Some AVGN viewers wonder why the film 

[22:50] in lieu of using Kyle, Bootsy, Mike, or any of the 

[22:56] But, like, the answer is obvious: imagine 

[23:05] No.

[23:06] Just… no.

[23:08] James himself struggles through the entire 

[23:15] Like, well, he is an actor in the literal 

[23:21] professionally, but he is, and always 

[23:29] The only reason he is the nerd is because he 

[23:37] That’s not to say James isn’t good at being 

[23:43] James has skills as a performer, his ability 

[23:50] scream, fart, and vomit for an 

[23:54] Do you have… any idea how hard it is to get mad on 

[24:02] of self-preservation, that you need to 

[24:08] howl at full volume for an audience that 

[24:13] the real you, sitting on the floor of your 

[24:19] just phantasms off in the future that are 

[24:25] out at them by their phones as a crass 

[24:33] It’s easy to postulate on what the 

[24:38] a low budget horror movie or creature feature, 

[24:43] the same vein as the Channel Awesome anniversary 

[24:49] actually was, but I have mulled on and dismissed 

[24:58] While there are undeniable 

[25:01] the whole thing was clearly an extension of 

[25:06] the thing the crowd would respond to, 

[25:10] I think what we got is ultimately truthful 

[25:16] Jame’s earliest filmography has been 

[25:22] but conveniently the book preserves 

[25:27] and technological milestones in 

[25:31] The book, by volume, is mostly concerned with,  

[25:35] second, the shooting of AVGN The Movie, and 

[25:41] of over two dozen home movies James produced 

[25:48] James, from his own telling, draws a lot of energy 

[25:55] hierarchy of the playground is less a creative 

[26:03] These home movies, which James 

[26:07] are, from their descriptions, basically 

[26:12] with a camcorder. They’re improvisational, loose,  

[26:16] unfocused, and shot in linear order. 

[26:24] “Getting friends to act wasn’t easy. Everyone 

[26:29] was “Snix” (1993). I quickly thought of a 

[26:35] Snix, who died centuries ago but 

[26:39] and feathers). In the present day, the mask 

[26:43] the warlock’s spirit when he puts it 

[26:47] We made up the plot as we went along, but 

[26:51] home to dinner. After that, I had to complete his 

[26:57] and performing Snix’s voice myself. 

[27:02] but it survived. It’s my oldest 

[27:06] actors besides myself and has become, sort 

[27:11] His actors were whatever neighbours 

[27:16] the filming of “Dinomen from D4” (1994) 

[27:22] had to be abandoned, because his friends 

[27:27] “A Night of Total Terror” (1996) was the 

[27:32] wanted to be there. It was, in his own words, 

[27:38] Maltese Falcon, the MacGuffins of those 

[27:43] His films eventually settle into a routine 

[27:47] making stuff they find fun. James learned 

[27:52] as his friends refused to learn 

[27:56] and occasionally would just overwrite 

[28:01] This informed his style as a director. 

[28:06] crews, treating actors as “close personal 

[28:12] This informal style, where productions 

[28:17] and the enjoyment of the actors is given priority, 

[28:23] series. Mike could goof around to make James 

[28:29] But the AVGN Movie exposed the flaws in 

[28:35] in Los Angeles don’t want to be the director’s 

[28:41] Returns does not prepare you for 28-days of 

[28:47] The AVGN Movie is, spiritually, 

[28:56] So, I may have misrepresented the book, 

[29:01] It’s bad.

[29:02] But.

[29:03] In the constellation of awful YouTuber 

[29:06] shamelessly improvisational to active attempts 

[29:12] really rank. It’s not that kind of bad. But 

[29:18] As I went through its pages I found myself 

[29:22] James sees the world, how he sees himself, 

[29:27] tell the difference between statements that 

[29:31] a mind that still held juvenile 

[29:34] as sincerely as the day they were 

[29:38] Large swaths of the book are 

[29:42] pages of paragraphs of six to 

[29:46] Page 146:

[29:47] was acting. The instructor was very serious 

[29:52] Page 228:

[29:53] active role in the movie. They’re the ones 

[29:58] think that’s a great thing. The fans 

[30:02] But my character, the Nerd, doesn’t want 

[30:07] Page 96

[30:09] fun. Some of them were rudimentary, like painting 

[30:14] messy, and basic. Some of the textbook classes 

[30:19] time is like a grain of sand.” In other words, 

[30:25] Over 430 words are dedicated to a failed 

[30:30] the filming of AVGN the Movie that 

[30:34] could be a trivial event that details a 

[30:39] but is delivered with the narrative 

[30:43] I don’t doubt that the book is a reasonably 

[30:48] or less in the order that they occurred, and 

[30:55] his life, his way of thinking, 

[31:01] but at the same time I don’t think it 

[31:06] It is not a bad thing that it 

[31:10] keenly present thing. It is self-serving, as all 

[31:18] The portrait painted by the book is one 

[31:23] self-reflect, a poor understanding of how 

[31:29] and a general lack of curiosity.

[31:32] A Movie Making Nerd compels us 

[31:36] revolutionary YouTuber, but as a failed filmmaker.

[31:42] James Rolfe, the main character of the book, 

[31:47] the fact and seemingly has no new insights into 

[31:52] are no lessons that were obnoxious in the 

[31:58] no appreciation for the exposure 

[32:02] nothing to suggest that being made 

[32:06] the cold precision of a draftsman gave him an 

[32:13] no reflection that being made to write about 

[32:21] has called on in his nearly twenty year career as 

[32:31] He tells a story about a technical exercise in his 

[32:38] familiarize students with the basic operation of 

[32:44] student tools of the day, that he hijacked 

[32:52] His own framing of the story makes him 

[32:57] is to simply use the camera successfully,  

[33:01] to create an image of literally anything. James 

[33:08] lighting. The instructor kindly explains 

[33:14] James says he found the assignment annoying at the 

[33:22] Because it taught him to stand up for himself.

[33:25] Because he ignored the instructions, showed 

[33:30] costumes, and hijacked the entire class and the 

[33:40] It’s not entirely clear from the book, but the 

[33:46] as the director, no one else got a turn with 

[33:54] he let me have my way coaching me through 

[33:59] letting me shoot my little narrative as intended 

[34:04] positive Rush the energy and excitement was 

[34:09] some of my younger experiences here they were all 

[34:18] It’s a heartwarming story about how 

[34:22] and disregard your peers you, too, can 

[34:27] He would then re-make A Night of Total 

[34:32] crack at the story by my count, the cursed 

[34:38] Seemingly every movie James makes revolves around 

[34:46] or cursed and alive. A conspicuous chunk end with  

[34:50] the protagonist being pursued by 

[34:56] He just.. He keeps remaking movies 

[35:03] If not remakes then sequels! There are 

[35:09] at something not AVGN related was The Head 

[35:16] movie he made in high school! And it ends 

[35:23] Boring anecdotes are interspersed with 

[35:28] in an understanding of the world that calcified 

[35:34] that in 1997 he got into “the kind of music you 

[35:43] Metallica.

[35:47] Metallica in 1997 was one of the biggest 

[35:54] age had a Metallica phase in the mid 90s, I had 

[36:02] the absurdity James name drops King Nothing, a 

[36:09] that was number one in eighteen countries in 

[36:15] If you wanted to communicate the 

[36:19] someone with a self-mythology of outsider 

[36:26] with extremely mainstream tastes you would 

[36:33] An editor would have caught this immediately.

[36:36] The actual substance of the book is largely 

[36:41] of James’ home movies, many of which are 

[36:47] prior movies. In a roundabout way this, 

[36:52] impetus behind writing the book, or at least 

[36:59] There’s evidence scattered throughout that  

[37:01] large chunks of the book are lightly 

[37:07] Though by evidence I really mean James 

[37:12] “Now the trauma has long faded, just as the VHS 

[37:18] preserved them, since the tapes have no purpose 

[37:23] is the final preservation, which I first 

[37:27] fresh in my mind. It was the catalyst that made 

[37:33] it took decades to finish and publish, but 

[37:40] This is… weird, right?

[37:44] The admission that this “was the 

[37:48] a book in the first place” and that that 

[37:53] in 2019? That you’re just adding stuff to 

[38:00] Is this autobiography legitimately a project 

[38:08] public success, and uncritically picked up 

[38:17] more on to as though the Snix sextology, 

[38:24] and launching one of the most influential YouTube 

[38:33] The trauma he’s referring to is an episode 

[38:38] Over fifty pages, about a sixth of the volume, 

[38:44] university at the end of his first year due to a 

[38:50] who were trashing their dorm room and he began 

[38:57] performing for the camera, escalating their 

[39:03] took all the tapes he had of them lighting trash 

[39:10] things out the windows, and cut it all into a 

[39:18] few other people involved, and one of these copies 

[39:25] The entire episode isn’t completely devoid 

[39:31] some remorse for, well, mostly his inactions, 

[39:39] with the vast majority of the event is 

[39:45] guilt by association, a thing that was done to 

[39:53] deliberately malicious in their timing, 

[39:57] until too late in the summer 

[40:01] He insists throughout that he was just a 

[40:06] the fact that if you point a camera at someone, 

[40:13] out” before jump-kicking a light fixture 

[40:20] But is all this an expression of a True James, 

[40:30] because James doesn’t experience it, or is 

[40:37] it the lack of an editor to point out that 

[40:43] tell him his emotions, however deeply 

[40:49] The way he talks about unfinished home movies 

[40:55] because he treats them as completed 

[41:00] as everything else. AVGN the movie 

[41:07] the sequel to Mighty Joe Rampage (1996), 

[41:13] are not strictly treated as equal, but it’s 

[41:20] I keep coming back to Jame’s camera setup.

[41:24] The longer I stared at the beast the more  

[41:27] it consumed me. What was going 

[41:37] Maybe if I built it myself, if I held 

[41:46] Is this the fruit of obsession? 

[41:50] us? Are the damned and the damnable 

[41:56] Building something kinda the same isn’t enough. 

[42:04] if you build it out of malice you inject 

[42:09] it ends up bad for reasons you’ve 

[42:16] James’ board is planed and square, 

[42:22] and sanded, taken seriously, a good 

[42:29] This thing is very strange to build, physically 

[42:35] and some three-inch carpentry screws hold the 

[42:41] the base, a thing only possible because of the odd 

[42:49] I’ll admit that by the time my replica 

[42:54] I’d assumed from photos, but simultaneously 

[43:00] spontaneous self-destruction, but still there’s 

[43:07] My screws had already started to bend during 

[43:13] The thing I struggled with 

[43:16] the thing my brain chafed against like 

[43:22] a camera head mounted to a board, isn’t some 

[43:30] it’s a thing the thing is already 

[43:36] Thousands of commenters saw this build and knew, 

[43:43] but plowing through the comments and 

[43:48] seemingly none of them knew why: that the head 

[43:54] You can take the lumber and 

[43:58] In the industry it’s called a low 

[44:02] made out of anodized aluminum for almost $600,  

[44:05] but these aren’t very popular. Everybody knows 

[44:13] It’s so simple, so straightforward,  

[44:17] that I can’t stop making them. I keep drilling 

[44:24] The thing that’s confounding about it is 

[44:31] that’s James’ thing, right? Scrappy, 

[44:37] all the movie magic that can be worked with 

[44:46] So why are his low-budget rigs so… bad?!

[44:57] I have been watching Angry Video 

[45:02] in a tsunami of diarrhea and nostalgia 

[45:09] I find myself at times uncertain about what it 

[45:16] beauty of internet videos is that it demolished a 

[45:22] what a show looks and sounds like; we now have 

[45:29] a framework of network television where someone 

[45:35] old man in a suit who hasn’t watched TV since 

[45:43] AVGN is one of those things. It is, across time,  

[45:48] formulaic, but ultimately very loose 

[45:53] and the longer I think on it the less 

[46:00] I’m probably not the first person to notice 

[46:04] but it occurs to me now, as I psychologically 

[46:10] that AVGN is at its heart a skit show that uses 

[46:17] than a framing device, and as such there’s 

[46:23] But even that’s not entirely true because  

[46:26] that would suggest a level of 

[46:31] Really it would seem that the show is both 

[46:38] his co-writers are compelled by at the time 

[46:45] they are aware of that about themselves. The 

[46:51] and the videos are rarely a comprehensive 

[46:57] kinda work the material until 

[47:02] It is what it needs to be in order to 

[47:09] expression of James’ obsessions, 

[47:14] the critiques are as authentic 

[47:20] Superficially the membrane of performance 

[47:27] but the hitch is that James just isn’t 

[47:32] fully from the end product, to write wholly and 

[47:40] The way that James talks about Wavelength, both 

[47:48] is largely indistinguishable from the way 

[47:54] Wavelength is long, it’s grating, it’s abrasive, 

[48:01] there’s no story! They tease you with a 

[48:05] just a picture of some waves on the wall! Is 

[48:10] of time it takes to get to some waves? Why 

[48:33] I feel a certain amount of kinship with James 

[48:38] went to film school, and we both ultimately found 

[48:44] We both have an enduring interest 

[48:48] be it VHS camcorders or vintage video games.

[48:52] And we both feel the pressure of creation,  

[48:55] the sense that there’s just never enough 

[49:01] better known as The Angry Video Game Nerd 

[49:05] I can't stop thinking about AVGN behind the 

[49:12] much going on with it there's a light stand 

[49:17] it's not all weird though James has all 

[49:23] he can turn the whole setup on and off at 

[49:28] clever trick that inspired me to rewire 

[49:33] so so I've got this idea

[49:35] the video ends

[49:35] the video ends with James cataloging a Litany of  

[49:38] reasons why he doesn't have as 

[49:42] In addition to this behind the scenes 

[49:46] A Movie Making Nerd, which 

[49:49] These glimpses James allows into his private life 

[49:55] of hate watchers, the Cinemassacre truthers, 

[50:00] bizarre levels of hostility and entitlement 

[50:07] It’s the usual soup of in jokes 

[50:12] Almost as compelling as Rolfe himself is 

[50:17] seemingly offended by his continuing 

[50:22] take offence to that characterization and insist 

[50:27] they’re just too edgy for woke soyboys, and 

[50:32] to free speech that compels them to allow the 

[50:38] You know the song and dance.

[50:40] Thing is, though, that Cinemassacre broadly 

[50:45] Mike Matei who handled moderation of the 

[50:50] an edgy [ __ ] himself who would pick fights go 

[50:57] he once posted a photo of a penis not necessarily  

[51:00] his penis but certainly framed to 

[51:04] Twitter account to win a literal dick 

[51:09] in the shame-soaked aftermath he 

[51:12] history and as the moderator of the 

[51:16] spree there which led to the formation of 

[51:21] As production of AVGN: the movie dragged 

[51:27] with multi-channel-network Screenwave to 

[51:32] Now, okay, in the book James mentions that 

[51:37] that during the time where AVGN was at its peak 

[51:43] success was pretty spotty. Their relationship 

[51:49] and while they were able to be grandfathered 

[51:54] and retain their ability to post videos longer 

[52:00] or even second, or even third wave of 

[52:05] Merchandising, the publication 

[52:08] and various one-off contracts provided an income 

[52:16] and I’m inclined to believe, that this did 

[52:21] in by the likes of Smosh, Shane Dawson, 

[52:26] James is justifiably proud of AVGN: the movie, 

[52:32] that should have fallen apart, that 

[52:36] ruined his finances for the rest of his life, 

[52:42] A lot of people helped make the 

[52:48] AVGN: the movie, for all its faults,  

[52:50] isn’t the product of a miracle, 

[52:56] And it nearly destroyed him.

[53:12] So I have this theory that in 2014, when the 

[53:17] James realized that he kinda hated making movies 

[53:23] finishing the movie, someone at Screenwave 

[53:29] Because what follows in 2015 through 2022 

[53:35] Podcasts, clip compilations, panel shows, round 

[53:41] form of content possible that could either 

[53:46] or would otherwise maximize efficiency, stuff that 

[53:52] Cinemassacre goes from publishing a 

[53:56] to publishing five videos a week in 2017.

[54:00] In order to facilitate this a new cast of hosts 

[54:06] are already on the clock and don’t have scheduling 

[54:12] work around, to do a podcast and two panel 

[54:19] Cinemassacre, through Screenwave, became 

[54:24] and remember: James doesn’t see the 

[54:29] he sees it as Cinemasscare the production house.

[54:33] So while this transition made sense to 

[54:37] since all of these secondary videos would show 

[54:43] When you see the channel has a panel show 

[54:48] the narrative of a corporate takeover, 

[54:55] But, like, none of this would matter 

[55:00] entertaining no one’s going to 

[55:02] Ryan suddenly show up out of nowhere 

[55:07] But it’s not good, because these dudes 

[55:12] basically no on-screen chemistry. Because 

[55:20] recently I took the old website and I made a 

[55:27] on the old website and what YouTube video or it 

[55:35] we would have to get it from the sources 

[55:39] it to Justin and Kieran and all of them and 

[55:44] or having someone dig through that and start 

[55:49] like all the turtle Tuesdays and all of all of 

[55:56] the WordPress stuff and stuff the goal is to get 

[56:00] Also, like, James just isn’t very 

[56:04] he’s not a strong podcast host, 

[56:09] he’s the person people are tuning in for, 

[56:15] really bad choice. It’s a product showing the 

[56:22] Then there’s James’ dad rock band, Rex Viper. 

[56:27] Over The Road Racing episode of AVGN, 

[56:33] that it would barely merit mentioning if it 

[56:38] alone seems to take it really seriously 

[56:44] The sum total of Rex Viper is two live 

[56:48] parody songs that are just songs from 80s 

[56:53] to throw in video game references or the 

[57:00] Eye of the Tiger Electronics. Mighty Wings 

[57:06] I’m gonna be honest, I hate this entire genre,  

[57:09] I am the last person to give it a fair 

[57:14] All of this is easy pickings for truthers:  

[57:17] whether it be the cringe or the cynicism 

[57:22] Truthers even have a name 

[57:26] Get it?! Because Justin Silverman is fat and 

[57:32] Ultimately, though, no matter what the 

[57:36] it’s all just a vehicle for ableism, 

[57:42] like, they’re chan trolls, it’s not 

[57:48] They have a particular hate boner for James’ wife, 

[57:53] complex. They’ll frame it that James was dragged 

[57:58] she wanted kids. They cast James as a henpecked 

[58:05] This flies in the face of both everything James 

[58:11] James and April were together before the first 

[58:17] Eden for Eve to tarnish. April has been here 

[58:23] The Movie she moved with James to LA for six 

[58:29] manager. If the movie had one champion it 

[58:36] But because he describes her as giving him an 

[58:40] depict it as browbeating, vilifying April as 

[58:46] chain to keep James from realizing his 

[58:51] on its face that James might honestly prefer 

[58:57] One time James and Mike sat 

[59:00] and James had somewhere he needed to be, to 

[59:06] which gave him a hard out of 5:40 if 

[59:11] 5:40 came and went, James started to 

[59:16] and wound up leaving rather ungracefully before 

[59:22] let's break it all right well anyway it we 

[59:28] done at 5:40 right now and so what's going to 

[59:33] James is going to beat this on his own 

[59:38] yeah okay just to make it clear again 

[59:47] truthers have clung to 5:40 as a meme ever since

[59:51] these are what James describes as 

[59:56] And really, the thing with the 2021 behind the 

[1:00:02] isn’t that it’s partially a response to 

[1:00:07] That’s the animating force behind it, that’s 

[1:00:13] the scenes room tour for the sake of easy 

[1:00:18] As a room tour it’s bad, James bounces from odd 

[1:00:25] of time outlining problems, and the whole of 

[1:00:31] of honesty about his bespoke inefficiencies, 

[1:00:38] a defence of his wife, a defence of his children, 

[1:00:59] So why doesn’t James have enough time anymore?  

[1:01:03] What’s he spending his time 

[1:01:07] I don’t know and I honestly don’t particularly 

[1:01:14] way it’s not because James isn’t grinding 

[1:01:20] In watching through all 52 hours of Nerd videos in 

[1:01:26] that there is some calculable decline. Maybe this 

[1:01:33] spotty and kinda ragged at the edges and it has 

[1:01:40] Maybe the format is just dated, 

[1:01:45] maybe the audience is just aging out, maybe 

[1:01:52] Hell, maybe it is his wife and kids 

[1:01:58] here’s my hot take on that: that’s fine. 

[1:02:03] bearing pillar of reality, it’s a YouTube 

[1:02:11] I do not know James Rolfe, 

[1:02:14] James Rolfe loves his wife and 

[1:02:19] The best written parts of his autobiography,  

[1:02:22] by a substantial margin, are the stories about 

[1:02:27] and how he discovered that he 

[1:02:32] His mistake was to share that fact with 

[1:02:37] No, not just too immature.

[1:02:40] An audience patently unwilling to 

[1:02:45] baffling mistake James has made is assume 

[1:02:51] “Do you want me to suffer?”

[1:02:53] Yeah, James, they kinda do.

[1:02:56] But, still, like, mistakes have been made.

[1:03:01] Like, what’s the point of having a 

[1:03:05] James is going to make a video where he 

[1:03:11] haters by showing off his janky 

[1:03:17] if they’re going to leave in the footage 

[1:03:22] Part of what is so transfixing in all of 

[1:03:28] that from the outside there are these very 

[1:03:33] but those decisions aren’t 

[1:03:38] Even without access to their actual back 

[1:03:42] the channel output absolutely improved revenue: 

[1:03:49] there’s just so many of them, it is on 

[1:03:56] what good is that if it damages the brand?

[1:03:59] What’s the point of doing damage control at 

[1:04:14] In a spiritual sense James has 

[1:04:18] his access to the capital resources needed 

[1:04:23] sensibilities as a filmmaker are too myopic to 

[1:04:30] telling him that Rex Viper is cute 

[1:04:35] In a more literal sense James has trapped himself 

[1:04:42] I had heard this before, but I find 

[1:04:46] frame grabs doesn’t do justice to 

[1:04:50] so I did the thing any normal person would do 

[1:04:57] He needs to haphazardly hang things from the 

[1:05:02] when he moved house in 2016 he had Kyle build a 

[1:05:10] so that the new basement could be dedicated 

[1:05:16] whose day job is renovating houses, built the room 

[1:05:23] for the needs of recording, and for reasons I can 

[1:05:31] I dunno, maybe the rest of the garage is a 

[1:05:38] I really truly don’t know. It would 

[1:05:45] as a film set it’s claustrophobic, 

[1:05:52] And, okay, now, every film set is crowded with 

[1:05:58] tripods and apple boxes and lens boxes and 

[1:06:04] down to a point where you just can’t get in and 

[1:06:10] game of parkour just to change a battery, and when 

[1:06:17] really fast, and when you get frustrated you get 

[1:06:24] solutions, and those half measure solutions 

[1:06:30] inefficiencies that you just live with because the 

[1:06:42] It was in the finishing touches of James’ 

[1:06:48] Screwing on a bubble level did something 

[1:06:53] it was still inexplicable, 

[1:06:57] no longer saw it as just a heap of 

[1:07:02] It’s still a bad solution, it still looks, 

[1:07:09] personal. I could imagine myself as James, 

[1:07:17] a backyard filmmaker, a kid with no resources but 

[1:07:26] felt far more homogenous with that than with 

[1:07:33] In 2010 James posted a autobiographical 

[1:07:37] Dreams. James tells a story of a 

[1:07:41] being born down on by this massive dragon, 

[1:07:47] water feature in a neighbourhood park 

[1:07:51] For the video James, with friend Matt behind the 

[1:07:56] happens that workers are removing the dragon from 

[1:08:02] In voice over he reflects on his 

[1:08:06] on the then-upcoming milestone of turning thirty, 

[1:08:11] the dragon and avows himself to the path of 

[1:08:17] the jackhammer stands just off screen having a 

[1:08:23] It’s all kinda cringe, a truly 

[1:08:27] self-important film-school pap, but whatever, let 

[1:08:33] The conclusion of the video is muddled, just 

[1:08:38] but the intent is clear: it’s a 

[1:08:42] has come, and an aspiration of just how 

[1:08:48] coming to an end just as conclusively as 

[1:08:53] That metaphor crumbles to bitter ash when 

[1:08:57] go anywhere, it was displaced all of 

[1:09:01] water fountain to standing beside 

[1:09:05] In a way The Dragon in My Dreams is itself 

[1:09:10] James is a calcified dragon whose films 

[1:09:16] and middle age, uprooted from VHS and 

[1:09:22] I think about James every day now,  

[1:09:24] every time I have to step over 

[1:09:28] every time I need to get something off a shelf 

[1:09:34] Every stack of books, every lens without a home, 

[1:09:39] end, every clamp, every cable, every stray roll of 

[1:09:45] a bespoke inefficiency that I can stare 

[1:09:51] What if the problem is me? James hasn’t moved, 

[1:09:59] The truthers claiming that the show is bad 

[1:10:05] the show is what it’s always been. It 

[1:10:10] you’re just older. You’re not seeing 

[1:10:15] you’re seeing a man as immovable in 

[1:10:21] But, like, so what? Would 

[1:10:25] We don’t have the James Rolfe, we have 

[1:10:31] out of photons and wavelengths, 

[1:10:35] a codex of symbols we can interpret but never 

[1:10:42] and the perceived, impose meaning, 

[1:10:53] Today we’re going back, we’re going Flashback.

[1:10:56] Released in 1991, this game was available for 

[1:11:02] but all I’ve got is the Super Nintendo 

[1:11:06] This was part of a trend of so-called “cinematic 

[1:11:11] classics because of the way they elevated 

[1:11:15] and confronted audiences with complex, sober 

[1:11:21] games where you hop on Goombas to rescue a 

[1:11:27] So, will Flashback delight and astound, or will 

[1:11:34] It opens with a pretty impressive 3D cutscene 

[1:11:39] Super Nintendo is really struggling. Still, many 

[1:11:44] with a static slide show, so the fact that 

[1:11:49] Okay, so your character crash 

[1:11:52] guidance on who you are or what you’re doing here.

[1:11:54] Well, turns out that’s intended, your 

[1:11:58] out why he crash landed in the jungle. The 

[1:12:03] The first thing you notice is that the 

[1:12:07] because like Prince of Persia the developers 

[1:12:12] and jumping. This does lend the game 

[1:12:16] off a ledge with your pistol drawn and 

[1:12:21] Yeah, take that you mutant [___]!

[1:12:23] The second thing you notice 

[1:12:26] Every time you push a button on the controller 

[1:12:32] or rolls, or draws his gun, and 

[1:12:36] animation to finish before you can 

[1:12:41] but the game still has tons of reflex-based 

[1:12:46] One of the very first challenges 

[1:12:49] but to do it you need to start 

[1:12:52] and then enter the command to jump before 

[1:12:55] or you just run off the ledge into the pit 

[1:13:00] waiting a short eternity for Conrad to go through 

[1:13:06] Just like in cinema Conrad doesn’t have a life 

[1:13:11] that can absorb a certain number of shots. Okay, 

[1:13:16] your health you need to open your inventory and 

[1:13:20] you get to your shield module, where it’ll 

[1:13:24] Oh yeah, that’s cinematic.

[1:13:26] Cinematic as dog farts!

[1:13:28] Yeah, it turns out that in video games 

[1:13:32] Oh, the controls suck ass?

[1:13:34] Just tell players it’s cinematic!

[1:13:35] The story gives you no clues 

[1:13:38] It’s cinema!

[1:13:39] You eventually get to a giant pit that this 

[1:13:43] to get to New Washington. At least 

[1:13:46] jump without an anti-gravity belt, which 

[1:13:51] Okay, so you need to go find some 

[1:13:55] them hidden around different areas of the jungle.

[1:13:57] But here’s the thing, if you go out of your way to 

[1:14:01] you’re wrong. He doesn’t just take 600 credits, 

[1:14:06] Cinematic!

[1:14:07] Anyway after you pay this lying [___] everything  

[1:14:10] you have Conrad jumps into 

[1:14:39] There’s nowhere to go! There’s just 

[1:14:43] an elevator down into a hole! Sure, you can 

[1:14:47] but it’s not going to get you anywhere! 

[1:14:51] but it doesn’t go anywhere, either! 

[1:14:54] but it’s out of reach! You just can’t jump 

[1:14:58] out! This is your life now! You’re trapped 

[1:15:03] Anyway, what you need to do to progress is  

[1:15:05] confront your insecurities and accept 

[1:15:11] What did you say?

[1:15:25] He's the angriest Gamer you've ever heard

[1:15:44] Assssss