Author:
Simulacrum
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Date:
7/2/2022 9:48:59 PM
Subject:
Asmongold
I keep seeing this guy show up in Youtube thumbnails, so I thought I would give him a watch. What I learned was that he's basically Jeff Lebowski with a Youtube channel. Somehow he's gained a sizeable audience by "reacting" to other people's videos in a manner strangely reminiscent of Jeff Bridges' performance as the bipolar Dude. Well, he leans more toward the Dude's moments of ranty intolerance than his other more unflappable weed-addled hippie persona.
Anyway, Asmongold has managed to get financially comfortable doing little more than raging and face-palming while watching other people's work. Like the Dude, he doesn't put much work into dressing or grooming. Part of his appeal is that he broadcasts from what looks like a wreck of an apartment. Well, I say good for him. Nice work if you can get it.
Recently, however, he has gotten wind of a crisis brewing on the horizon. He has heard that Youtube personnel are discussing the possibility of de-monetizing reaction videos. Maybe they're doing this because so many other people have adopted the Asmongold model. Maybe they're worried that half the creators on the platform will simply start reacting to what the other half have made. Maybe they're concerned that this will have a cascading effect, resulting in nobody doing nothing nohow except mining things to react to.
I don't know why I thought this was interesting. What I really wanted to say was that I figured out why the Coen brothers called the movie The Big Lebowski. I've always known it's a tribute to the detective noirs of the 1940s and early 1950s. The Dude is on a case which gets increasingly jumbled with suspicious characters and motives. Early on he believes that Bunny Lebowski has conspired with the Nihilists to stage her own kidnapping, but he has to prove it. In good noir detective tradition, his objective is thwarted by numerous violent events, seductions, drugged beverages, and red herrings.
But it was the title I never got. It was so obvious that I don't blame myself much for missing it. I always thought it referred to David Huddleston's role as the "Big" Lebowski (meaning his social status and supposed financial power). This is correct, but I overlooked another reason for the title. It calls to mind classic noirs like The Big Sleep and The Big Heat. So . . . The Big Lebowski.
Get it?
Anyway, please keep poor Asmongold in your thoughts. Maybe watch ten of his videos and click the Like button. Subscribe and maybe send him a generous donation. I know you'll want to help him weather the approaching hard times.
