Dan Olson / Folding Ideas

Yeah, I don't really like it when AVGN covers more modern games that feel completely out-of-his-element. But also, seeing Gilbert Gottfried in the video was almost worth it.

At the very least with the Hong Kong 97 video, it was a Colbert Bump to an all-but-forgotten oddity of video games (even if the game is also a 4chan shitpost before it’s time).

As he says the AVGN as a show is the wrong format to discuss this. There's plenty of ways James Rolfe as a person could've approached it, but AVGN as a show is ill suited for something like this.

AVGN's format is pointing out the flaws in bad games accompanied by long expletive strings of synonyms for feces. It works fine with games that are bad as the result of incompetence, apathy or corporate greed but less so about a game that's bad on purpose and trying to say something by doing that.

No one's saying Hong Kong 97 is secretly good or genius, but the shows format doesn't really let James look at what the game is actually trying to do and judge its failings or success accordingly.

But also it's just Dan shooting the shit in front of a camera. He goes back between this and life of black tiger due to the later being unwatchable

Edited by Ghilz on Apr 6th 2024 at 3:09:16 PM

Wait, Doug Walker put out another bad video? One that's worse than The Wall?

He put out a Top 11 Poorly Aged Bill Cosby Commercials. Which... was very much a filler episode but the claims that it was Doug's worst video ever are a bit overblown, IMO.

Edited by Motyka5 on Apr 7th 2024 at 2:20:58 AM

It's 20 min of rape jokes.

I cannot fathom what possessed him to make that.

Like Cosby made actual victims. And Doug's there mining it for filler content.

I expect he's hoping it will generate outrage and thus clicks,if so,mission accomplished.

I've not watched it, just because I don't want to, but according to some who have, a bunch of the ads don't even have any Harsher in Hindsight content other than just the presence of Bill Cosby, and portraying him as a wholesome family man.

Well... that is Harsher in Hindsight

Edited by janlor1996 on Apr 12th 2024 at 10:56:48 AM

Generally speaking, yeah, but that makes it all kind of useless for the purposes of the sort of video Doug was trying to make.

Edited by Chortleous on Apr 12th 2024 at 8:44:06 AM

Having watched the video myself, I do agree that a lot of the clips Doug described as "aging badly" are a bit of a reach. Harsher in Hindsight is one thing, but listing Cosby making weird noises or saying innocuous words as examples is kind of a stretch in my opinion.

Can probably move this to the dedicated Doug Walker thread.

Speaking of Doug, finally watched Dan's review of the infamous The Wall NC video.

...Holy crap, this is the angriest Dan I ever heard...and rightfully so.

"Whoa! Its Hat Dan! The Dan with a hat!"

I finally watched through the entire "This Is Financial Advice" video. I always found it a little difficult to engage with, especially towards the beginning.. In fact, I still don't think the video does a GREAT job at explaining "short sales" and a "squeeze."

But that ultimately isn't that important to the overall theme of the increasingly-delusional beliefs of the Apes.

My favourite Dan Olson video (which I’ve found recently) is his review of the Cats movie. It starts with him walking out of the theater with a Thousand-Yard Stare directly to his car, then cuts to a capture of the night sky through his windshield, over which he then commentates - and not once does he cut to a clip of the film. Which, judging by his commentary, is all for the better. ^note  is this a valid expression in English?

Yeah, or it might be "All for the best" either way.

My favorite videos of his are both of his The Book of Henry reviews. He scatters Henry's ashes over the crowd, after all.

Edited by Weirdguy149 on May 2nd 2024 at 11:14:23 AM

My favourite video from Dan probably has to be his brutal take-down of Doug Walker's parody of The Wall. I've never seen someone sit down and just, calmly and politely destroy a thing so thoroughly.

I'd totally forgotten Doug Walker exists until that video.

It's one of his earlier ones, but I like his videos on Evangelion. The animated LOTR doc is very well done.

Mine is probably the Flat Earth one. Love how it was secretly a Q Anon video all along.

The Book of Henry video was really good, but I honestly felt like the ashes part at the end felt... forced. Like, he felt the need to explain his hot take from the vlog where he talks at length about scattering Henry's ashes when he probably didn't.

Edited by Larkmarn on May 2nd 2024 at 5:07:31 AM

I feel like the explanation was necessary to illustrate just how dumb and macabre it is, but that's just my opinion.

Honestly, I found the ashes part to be the weakest part of that video.

It's the shortest part of the video.

And? A section can be short and still present a bad argument.

It kinda reminds me of Lindsay Ellis' "damn baby" section of her "Mean Girls, but stupid" video on omegaverse. Where she addressed the accusation that she insulted/endangered the "plaintiff"'s child by having it blurred out in a photo saying "Damn Baby" or... something. I genuinely don't remember because it was so nothing. My point is that when Ellis addressed it, that was... weird and weak? Like, I don't think she had to say anything about it and doing so was just odd. So felt I about Dan closing his video doubling down on the ashes thing.

I'm gonna go a little old schooler and say my favorite was "The Snyder Cut Does (Not) Exist." Partly because it was basically 100% accurate.

"Manufactured Discontent and Fortnite" is also one I'm fond of.

Edited by diddyknux on May 2nd 2024 at 11:50:20 AM