Hollywood and Vine
July 29, 2015 10:35 AM Subscribe
Bank accounts if they're lucky.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:02 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:02 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
"I'm at the point where no matter what, brands are still going to come to me," Logan adds, gliding past me on the scooter. "So I can start being a little more edgy. Like I could do a Vine for Fleshlight or something." [...]
Logan will get his shot at performing his edgy song, "Stank Dick," later this week, but next on the schedule he's got to get ready for acting class.
So this definitely isn't an Onion article? Just checking.
posted by billiebee at 11:03 AM on July 29, 2015 [13 favorites]
Logan will get his shot at performing his edgy song, "Stank Dick," later this week, but next on the schedule he's got to get ready for acting class.
So this definitely isn't an Onion article? Just checking.
posted by billiebee at 11:03 AM on July 29, 2015 [13 favorites]
He told me: "I had to ask my manager, I go, 'Are you my manager or my agent and why?' He goes, 'Do me a favor, watch "Entourage."' I watched the whole season."
Bless.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:13 AM on July 29, 2015 [9 favorites]
Bless.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:13 AM on July 29, 2015 [9 favorites]
Well... I can definitely see people paying to look at him. Also he's 20 - this spotlight on his movements are awkward but it's nowhere near time to write him off.
posted by deathmaven at 11:14 AM on July 29, 2015
posted by deathmaven at 11:14 AM on July 29, 2015
Logan Paul has conquered the corner of the internet where all you need are good looks, a decent sense of humor, and patience/support for video editing, and is now confused why the rest of the world isn't like his happy little corner of the internet.
Poor Logan Paul, your 30s are going to suck.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:15 AM on July 29, 2015 [8 favorites]
Poor Logan Paul, your 30s are going to suck.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:15 AM on July 29, 2015 [8 favorites]
I guess I don't use the Internet because I have no idea who this guy is.
posted by Sangermaine at 11:19 AM on July 29, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Sangermaine at 11:19 AM on July 29, 2015 [5 favorites]
He's apparently a sort of fusion between the confidence and good looks of Chuck's Captain Awesome and the puppy-dog enthusiasm of Parks and Rec's Andy Dwyer.
posted by Think_Long at 11:24 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Think_Long at 11:24 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Good god, must have been 5000 words and not a lot about how this bro is going to get eaten alive.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:28 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:28 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Logan Paul has conquered the Internet,
Oh really? I hear the end guy is hard.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 11:29 AM on July 29, 2015 [29 favorites]
Oh really? I hear the end guy is hard.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 11:29 AM on July 29, 2015 [29 favorites]
I'm going to praise the mindset of recognizing that Vine or YouTube success is probably transitory and taking advantage of it while it exists to help move into a more sustainable career.
As for weather I personally find him to be entertaining, that's a totally separate and irrelevant issue.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 11:31 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
As for weather I personally find him to be entertaining, that's a totally separate and irrelevant issue.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 11:31 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
That was interesting. I feel like YouTube and now Vine are these interesting locked niches where you can become very, very famous to a certain demographic while remaining completely unknown outside it. I have no idea who teenagers consider famous. There was always a bit of that, ever since there have been teenagers (at least as a marketing niche) --- like, no one's mom was reading Tiger Beat in the 70s. But the thing was, to get into Tiger Beat you had to be on TV, or on the radio, or in movies --- non-teenagers might not have obsessed over every change in David Cassidy's hair style, but they would have heard of The Patridge Family. There were basically three TV networks, fer chrissakes. But this? I'm too old for Vines man. It ain't my thing. But it is a multi-million dollar, mobs of teenage girls following you around in hysterics, thing. That's fascinating, to me. Maybe he can't crossover. Does he need to crossover? Maybe. There will be a thing after Vines, and probably soon. But it's weird to think of how niche the where are they nows are going to be, soon. Likely the only people who are going to care about him in ten years are 13-14 right now. Not 11, not 16.
posted by Diablevert at 11:32 AM on July 29, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by Diablevert at 11:32 AM on July 29, 2015 [8 favorites]
Soon, all these favstars will be gone, like tweets ...in the rain
posted by The Whelk at 11:32 AM on July 29, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:32 AM on July 29, 2015 [12 favorites]
The article used "deduct" instead of "deduce." This caused me some consternation.
posted by OmieWise at 11:33 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by OmieWise at 11:33 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
I feel like YouTube and now Vine are these interesting locked niches where you can become very, very famous to a certain demographic while remaining completely unknown outside it.
I'm fairly popular among my sister's two cats but largely unknown to the cat population in general. Where's my Hollywood deal?
posted by Sangermaine at 11:40 AM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm fairly popular among my sister's two cats but largely unknown to the cat population in general. Where's my Hollywood deal?
posted by Sangermaine at 11:40 AM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
*shuffles in on walker*
*pokes at featurephone*
*looks up at green text flickering on the black screen*
posted by infini at 11:42 AM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
*pokes at featurephone*
*looks up at green text flickering on the black screen*
posted by infini at 11:42 AM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
I experienced the Great Oldening when I heard that one of the young theater kids at my high school had become a famous fashion blogger. After feeling inadequate, I accepted that time was against me, and that I had probably been in the library when my fleeting golden moment came and went, while she was out there, pushing and getting and shining and being. But that was perhaps ten years ago, and now she too must feel time turning against her.
As to this young man, I feel only the bemusement of an elderly person who can no longer comprehend whether there is some actual infringement taking place on her lawn.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:52 AM on July 29, 2015 [10 favorites]
As to this young man, I feel only the bemusement of an elderly person who can no longer comprehend whether there is some actual infringement taking place on her lawn.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:52 AM on July 29, 2015 [10 favorites]
I can't recall where--old age again, I suppose--but recently I saw somebody captioned, "Vine star" and wondered what that could possibly mean. "YouTube star" is dubious but at least comprehensible to my old-timey, flickery nickelodeon brain, but famous for six second videos? I can't even.
That said ... good for this guy if he can figure out how to make and hold onto some cash.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:57 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
That said ... good for this guy if he can figure out how to make and hold onto some cash.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:57 AM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
I feel only the bemusement of an elderly person who can no longer comprehend whether there is some actual infringement taking place on her lawn.
"I'm not on your lawn! I made an exact digital replica of your lawn in photoshop, so my millions of fans will think I'm on your lawn, but I'm not on it!"
posted by DGStieber at 12:00 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
"I'm not on your lawn! I made an exact digital replica of your lawn in photoshop, so my millions of fans will think I'm on your lawn, but I'm not on it!"
posted by DGStieber at 12:00 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
From TFA:
Like any aspiring star, Logan is on the clock: He will only be this young and this pretty for so long
I just want to celebrate this sentence having a "He" adjective in it. It really popped out to me when I read it, cause I don't know if I've ever seen this written about anyone other than female celebrities. Little victories, I guess.
posted by DGStieber at 12:03 PM on July 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Like any aspiring star, Logan is on the clock: He will only be this young and this pretty for so long
I just want to celebrate this sentence having a "He" adjective in it. It really popped out to me when I read it, cause I don't know if I've ever seen this written about anyone other than female celebrities. Little victories, I guess.
posted by DGStieber at 12:03 PM on July 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
No apartments on Hollywood and Vine. I guess they probably meant those ones above the Trader Joes but "Selma and Vine" doesn't have the same ring to it.
posted by sideshow at 12:04 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by sideshow at 12:04 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
Logan Paul has conquered the Internet,
I thought Minions conquered the internet. Has Logan Paul taken it from them by the brute force of his mighty thews?
posted by octobersurprise at 12:04 PM on July 29, 2015
I thought Minions conquered the internet. Has Logan Paul taken it from them by the brute force of his mighty thews?
posted by octobersurprise at 12:04 PM on July 29, 2015
...
...
...
Dude, you're a massive success in a medium that is overtaking the industry you're now trying to get into instead.
This is like if Marlon Brando, after Streetcar, had decided the next step in his career was to break into Vaudeville.
posted by shmegegge at 12:06 PM on July 29, 2015 [11 favorites]
...
...
Dude, you're a massive success in a medium that is overtaking the industry you're now trying to get into instead.
This is like if Marlon Brando, after Streetcar, had decided the next step in his career was to break into Vaudeville.
posted by shmegegge at 12:06 PM on July 29, 2015 [11 favorites]
On our way back to Vine Street, we ran into a bunch of teenage girls. Or, I should say, they ran, very fast, into Logan, who took selfies with each girl who wanted one. He took more than one with the girls who said they didn't like the way they looked in the first or second photos. He asked them whether he could follow them on Twitter and whether he could be in one of their Vines. The answer, of course, was a chorus of shrieks.Assuming he doesn't do something utterly stupid with his health, finances or reputation, the dude's gonna be a superstar one way or another. Anyone who gleefully reciprocates fan attention like that knows what they're doing in a way that's worth a whole lot to the right people.
posted by griphus at 12:07 PM on July 29, 2015 [10 favorites]
This is like if Marlon Brando, after Streetcar, had decided the next step in his career was to break into Vaudeville.
He's the Brando of pretending to rescuing kittens by pretending to jump over cars.
posted by maxsparber at 12:11 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
He's the Brando of pretending to rescuing kittens by pretending to jump over cars.
posted by maxsparber at 12:11 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
I can't recall where--old age again, I suppose--but recently I saw somebody captioned, "Vine star" and wondered what that could possibly mean. "YouTube star" is dubious but at least comprehensible to my old-timey, flickery nickelodeon brain, but famous for six second videos?
Vine is fun though. There really are some very funny people out there and some of the setups and editing are great. It's a definite rabbit hole following links from one "performer" to the next and I'd get how people would be recognisable if you spent enough time on it. I hadn't come across Logan Paul's stuff before and it's alright - I watched the "future of NASCAR" one they mentioned in the article and meh - but his appeal is clearly as much about being a tall hunk-type-person (if you're into that kind of thing). I think the most telling line in the article is where they talk about him not wanting to learn how to act but wanting to be an actor, which are different things. I guess I'm not laying any bets on his dreams of mainstream stardom coming true.
posted by billiebee at 12:12 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Vine is fun though. There really are some very funny people out there and some of the setups and editing are great. It's a definite rabbit hole following links from one "performer" to the next and I'd get how people would be recognisable if you spent enough time on it. I hadn't come across Logan Paul's stuff before and it's alright - I watched the "future of NASCAR" one they mentioned in the article and meh - but his appeal is clearly as much about being a tall hunk-type-person (if you're into that kind of thing). I think the most telling line in the article is where they talk about him not wanting to learn how to act but wanting to be an actor, which are different things. I guess I'm not laying any bets on his dreams of mainstream stardom coming true.
posted by billiebee at 12:12 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Poor Logan Paul, your 30s are going to suck.
Sanctuary! Sanctuary!
posted by octobersurprise at 12:13 PM on July 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
Sanctuary! Sanctuary!
posted by octobersurprise at 12:13 PM on July 29, 2015 [4 favorites]
He's the Brando of pretending to rescuing kittens by pretending to jump over cars.
He's the Brando Hollywood deserves, but not the one it needs right now.
posted by griphus at 12:14 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
He's the Brando Hollywood deserves, but not the one it needs right now.
posted by griphus at 12:14 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
It's very weird and sort of insulting when people dismiss the communities that places like Tumblr/Vine/Twitter have helped create. Yeah, sure I've never heard of this guy until now, but it doesn't mean he isn't popular. He just isn't popular on our corners of the Internet, is all.
posted by Kitteh at 12:18 PM on July 29, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 12:18 PM on July 29, 2015 [12 favorites]
a medium that is overtaking the industry you're now trying to get into instead.
That's not necessarily what's actually going on. Sure, 6-second videos distributed under the brand Vine might have lasting popularity and continuous funding from advertisers at the rate that makes millionaires out of its stars, but probably not. I'm pretty sure the entire Web is a ponzi scheme that'll topple any day now.
posted by deathmaven at 12:20 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
That's not necessarily what's actually going on. Sure, 6-second videos distributed under the brand Vine might have lasting popularity and continuous funding from advertisers at the rate that makes millionaires out of its stars, but probably not. I'm pretty sure the entire Web is a ponzi scheme that'll topple any day now.
posted by deathmaven at 12:20 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
He's the Brando Hollywood deserves, but not the one it needs right now.
Is that from one of those old Batman movies?
posted by clockzero at 12:22 PM on July 29, 2015
Is that from one of those old Batman movies?
posted by clockzero at 12:22 PM on July 29, 2015
Last December the New Yorker did a really interesting feature on that group of Vine stars that live on Vine and the difficulty YouTube/Vine personalities have breaking into mainstream success.
posted by joechip at 12:22 PM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by joechip at 12:22 PM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
Usually, out of convenience of proximity, the guys and a handful of girls star in one another's six-second clips: Then, using the re-Vine tool, they share it with their millions of followers.
A source close to the stars went so far as to say it's a combination of living on Vine Street and the re-Vine tool — not necessarily talent — that keeps these stars on top.
"You literally have the top 30 Viners creating what is nearly all of the content that is being viewed on Vine," he said. "And all they do is just help each other get bigger and bigger. It's not a democracy," he adds. "Probably for a lot of people who want to do cool things on Vine, it's discouraging."
Thought that bit was interesting... kinda of cornering the market / closed shop
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:23 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
A source close to the stars went so far as to say it's a combination of living on Vine Street and the re-Vine tool — not necessarily talent — that keeps these stars on top.
"You literally have the top 30 Viners creating what is nearly all of the content that is being viewed on Vine," he said. "And all they do is just help each other get bigger and bigger. It's not a democracy," he adds. "Probably for a lot of people who want to do cool things on Vine, it's discouraging."
Thought that bit was interesting... kinda of cornering the market / closed shop
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:23 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
I think the most telling line in the article is where they talk about him not wanting to learn how to act but wanting to be an actor, which are different things. I guess I'm not laying any bets on his dreams of mainstream stardom coming true.
Yeah, if you can't lay aside your ego for five minutes and take direction, I don't see why anybody would want to hire you. No matter how much of a genius you think you are, there is somebody with more experience who can probably help you be better at what you do if you let them.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:24 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, if you can't lay aside your ego for five minutes and take direction, I don't see why anybody would want to hire you. No matter how much of a genius you think you are, there is somebody with more experience who can probably help you be better at what you do if you let them.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:24 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh apparently the character he played on Law and Order was the guy who abducted the Zoe Quinn/Anita Sarkeesian analog in the GamerGate episode of SVU.
posted by griphus at 12:25 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by griphus at 12:25 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
So absolutely nothing on his resume would have made sense 5 years ago. For some reason, I love this.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:31 PM on July 29, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:31 PM on July 29, 2015 [7 favorites]
It's very weird and sort of insulting when people dismiss the communities that places like Tumblr/Vine/Twitter have helped create.
I think part of the negative reaction is the claim of "conquering the Internet". I understand that he didn't write the headline himself, but just having that title then a photo of him shirtless, in a nice apartment with a huge TV and staring intently at the phone gave me a bad impression of him.
posted by FJT at 12:32 PM on July 29, 2015
I think part of the negative reaction is the claim of "conquering the Internet". I understand that he didn't write the headline himself, but just having that title then a photo of him shirtless, in a nice apartment with a huge TV and staring intently at the phone gave me a bad impression of him.
posted by FJT at 12:32 PM on July 29, 2015
Well of course he played that guy. That's hilariously the LAST role he should want to play. Play to your strengths, dude; your strengths are prettiness and puppy dog enthusiasm, not being threateningly rapey.
This article does not do much to suggest that this lunkhead will actually achieve mainstream success. It makes him out to be both naive and sort of stupid, which I imagine is exactly the combination of traits that leads to Hollywood wannabe who never actually makes it. I imagine it's fairly easy to get teenage girls to watch you on Vine when you have this sort of Johnny Football good looks and a knack for 6-second spurts of PG humor. That doesn't parlay into much when it comes to the coveted 18-34 maie demo, and probably not much to the equivalent female demographics, to say nothing of the older brackets. Hence an inability to break out.
posted by axiom at 12:32 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
This article does not do much to suggest that this lunkhead will actually achieve mainstream success. It makes him out to be both naive and sort of stupid, which I imagine is exactly the combination of traits that leads to Hollywood wannabe who never actually makes it. I imagine it's fairly easy to get teenage girls to watch you on Vine when you have this sort of Johnny Football good looks and a knack for 6-second spurts of PG humor. That doesn't parlay into much when it comes to the coveted 18-34 maie demo, and probably not much to the equivalent female demographics, to say nothing of the older brackets. Hence an inability to break out.
posted by axiom at 12:32 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
The idea of a bunch of Vine stars actually living together in an apartment on Vine St. is just so precious to me. I cannot wait for the stars of Periscope take up residence on the USS Pampanito.
posted by mhum at 12:42 PM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by mhum at 12:42 PM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
He's the Brando Hollywood deserves, but not the one it needs right now.
Give every man the Brando of his own desert and who shall 'scape The Island of Dr. Moreau?
posted by octobersurprise at 12:49 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Give every man the Brando of his own desert and who shall 'scape The Island of Dr. Moreau?
posted by octobersurprise at 12:49 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
the stars of Periscope
I was at a trade group party last week--musicians, mostly, although it skewed a bit toward the Olds--and there was a mandate from the group to Periscope. Absolutely nobody had any idea what to do with it (a guy next to me saw the screen and said, "I don't wanna be in this guy's selfie"). There were simultaneous events in other locations, and I gather that the LA event had a bit more Periscoping. I still don't really get it. Although I did enjoy watching the tour of the Milwaukee office.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:50 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was at a trade group party last week--musicians, mostly, although it skewed a bit toward the Olds--and there was a mandate from the group to Periscope. Absolutely nobody had any idea what to do with it (a guy next to me saw the screen and said, "I don't wanna be in this guy's selfie"). There were simultaneous events in other locations, and I gather that the LA event had a bit more Periscoping. I still don't really get it. Although I did enjoy watching the tour of the Milwaukee office.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:50 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
In this guy's defense (won't someone please think of the good looking straight white cishet men with more money than sense), there are thousands of good-looking cocky guys in Hollywood looking to break into the mainstream industry who have all the flaws that the article highlights but with none of the advantages his Vine-fame have given him.
He'll be fine in 10 years or he won't, but he won't be different from thousands of other 30 year old dudes whose name we will or won't know by that opint.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:58 PM on July 29, 2015
He'll be fine in 10 years or he won't, but he won't be different from thousands of other 30 year old dudes whose name we will or won't know by that opint.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:58 PM on July 29, 2015
Oh, I get it: Vine street.
posted by alex_skazat at 1:02 PM on July 29, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by alex_skazat at 1:02 PM on July 29, 2015 [5 favorites]
Last December the New Yorker did a really interesting feature on that group of Vine stars that live on Vine and the difficulty YouTube/Vine personalities have breaking into mainstream success.
Of all of the vine stars I find it easiest to like Bach and his friends as described here because they remind me of filming stupid movie parodies with my high school friends - except, you know, getting paid a whole bunch for it. The bigger picture is kind of stomach-turning with all the old studio guys creeping and advertisers dangling brass rings. But hey, you know what my friend who directed all those teenage movies is doing now? Making ads, duh.
posted by atoxyl at 2:05 PM on July 29, 2015
Of all of the vine stars I find it easiest to like Bach and his friends as described here because they remind me of filming stupid movie parodies with my high school friends - except, you know, getting paid a whole bunch for it. The bigger picture is kind of stomach-turning with all the old studio guys creeping and advertisers dangling brass rings. But hey, you know what my friend who directed all those teenage movies is doing now? Making ads, duh.
posted by atoxyl at 2:05 PM on July 29, 2015
Not to suggest that they are actually amateurs - Andrew Bachelor has an undergrad business degree and was in a graduate film program when he dropped out to move to L.A. And he's clearly got Vine down to a science.
posted by atoxyl at 2:55 PM on July 29, 2015
posted by atoxyl at 2:55 PM on July 29, 2015
You know how it's impossible to explain to your older relatives that there is this whole world of discussion, hilarity, activism, etc. taking place on the internet that they have no idea about, and can't even fathom? How it feels like there's an entire universe shut off to them?
I imagine that how's younger people feel trying to explain Vine and Snapchat to people like us. We don't use it, we don't want to, we can't even begin to grasp it. We're OLD.
It's not something to be proud of. Just accept your irrelevance with dignity and grace.
posted by naju at 3:05 PM on July 29, 2015 [6 favorites]
I imagine that how's younger people feel trying to explain Vine and Snapchat to people like us. We don't use it, we don't want to, we can't even begin to grasp it. We're OLD.
It's not something to be proud of. Just accept your irrelevance with dignity and grace.
posted by naju at 3:05 PM on July 29, 2015 [6 favorites]
Six seconds?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:06 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:06 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
I imagine that how's younger people feel trying to explain Vine and Snapchat to people like us. We don't use it, we don't want to, we can't even begin to grasp it. We're OLD.
It's interesting to me how people will apparently choose to be old and stop doing and learning new stuff.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 3:39 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
It's interesting to me how people will apparently choose to be old and stop doing and learning new stuff.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 3:39 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
I could totally see some sort of comedy show with all those guys a la Silicon Valley, but more like them trying to break into the mainstream (like Entourage), but they're all kids trying to figure it out.
posted by gucci mane at 4:15 PM on July 29, 2015
posted by gucci mane at 4:15 PM on July 29, 2015
It's interesting to me how people will apparently choose to be old and stop doing and learning new stuff.
I was thinking about this at a music fest this weekend. When I was younger I used to promise myself that I needed to keep seeking out new music, that I never wanted to be one of those old people moaning about how everything was better back in the day. And I do still seek out new music and find new stuff that excites me.
But what I haven't been able to prevent is my pervasive disinterest in and ignorance of what is popular, the culture of the moment. And this I think is a part of being old maybe. I was at pub trivia a couple weeks ago; the music round had several hits from the past decade. I didn't remember them, but I didn't like them, so I didn't care. Whereas you could have played me any number of equally popular and pervasive billboard hits from when I was in high school, and I probably still wouldn't have liked them, but I would have heard and remembered them. I'd have to deliberately seek that stuff out now to be familiar with it, and it's not something I choose to put energy into.
So part of it is just me being old. But I do wonder too how much of this is the era, also. Back in the day, being exposed to what was mainstream and popular was inevitable --- if I wanted to hear one song I liked on the radio, I had to sit though a lot of Korn and Dave Matthews Band. And if I wanted to listen to the new Tricky album, I had to go to Newbury Comics, spend $7 on an imported copy of NME, discover that Tricky existed and that people considered him cool, and then go see if HMV had a copy of his album. Now it's just as easy and just as difficult to listen to weird Japanese synth-pop on YouTube or Spotify as it is to listen to Taylor Swift.
posted by Diablevert at 4:23 PM on July 29, 2015 [3 favorites]
Not a Logan Paul fan, but I really love Vine! There are some very funny, creative, and talented people on there you just have to find them.
posted by SarahElizaP at 7:54 PM on July 29, 2015
posted by SarahElizaP at 7:54 PM on July 29, 2015
It's interesting to me how people will apparently choose to be old and stop doing and learning new stuff.
Well, I personally found that the appeal of performing a complete turnover of my entertainment lifestyle and pop culture diet every 3-5 years faded after a few cycles...and what younger people are into becomes, dare I say it, less relevant.......from my point of view, getting into Snapchat would be kind of like trying to make sure that I was up to date with Hannah Montana movies when I was 30, to be blunt. It's not like people would say, wow that old guy is really with it! They'd think I was creepy and they'd laugh at me.
posted by thelonius at 8:47 PM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
Well, I personally found that the appeal of performing a complete turnover of my entertainment lifestyle and pop culture diet every 3-5 years faded after a few cycles...and what younger people are into becomes, dare I say it, less relevant.......from my point of view, getting into Snapchat would be kind of like trying to make sure that I was up to date with Hannah Montana movies when I was 30, to be blunt. It's not like people would say, wow that old guy is really with it! They'd think I was creepy and they'd laugh at me.
posted by thelonius at 8:47 PM on July 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's not like people would say, wow that old guy is really with it! They'd think I was creepy and they'd laugh at me.
The generation gap is digital. I'm proud of my tumblr skillz given i'm old enough to be mom to the vast majority of the tens of thousands of readers but I'm not stupid.
As has been said a few times above, it becomes irrelevant. There's a backlog of interesting things already in your head, in addition to the new stuff the kids go for, so you have to make a trade-off on what to consume. Simultaneously, there's going to be far less time available, what with life and work and family etc than is available to the younger folks, so therefore etc
What I do instead is tap into the worldview of young people and ask them to tell me if the tumblr needs work, what the world is like out there and what do they see ahead. As a young man told me a couple of days ago, worrying about privacy online is for the 'foil hat' gang.
tl;dr All of this natural, even the ossification
*shuffles out with walker, wearing purple*
posted by infini at 1:21 AM on July 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
The generation gap is digital. I'm proud of my tumblr skillz given i'm old enough to be mom to the vast majority of the tens of thousands of readers but I'm not stupid.
As has been said a few times above, it becomes irrelevant. There's a backlog of interesting things already in your head, in addition to the new stuff the kids go for, so you have to make a trade-off on what to consume. Simultaneously, there's going to be far less time available, what with life and work and family etc than is available to the younger folks, so therefore etc
What I do instead is tap into the worldview of young people and ask them to tell me if the tumblr needs work, what the world is like out there and what do they see ahead. As a young man told me a couple of days ago, worrying about privacy online is for the 'foil hat' gang.
tl;dr All of this natural, even the ossification
*shuffles out with walker, wearing purple*
posted by infini at 1:21 AM on July 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
In the future, we'll all have been famous for 6 seconds.
posted by Chitownfats at 2:45 AM on July 30, 2015
posted by Chitownfats at 2:45 AM on July 30, 2015
For another side of vine culture check out this long interview with Limmy, who was pretty famous (well in Scotland) and on the telly but has gone back to doing daft wee things on the interweb
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:22 AM on July 30, 2015
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:22 AM on July 30, 2015
Daft Limmy is the best!
posted by billiebee at 5:01 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by billiebee at 5:01 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Logan is still circling the room on his scooter when his apartment door flies open and a gaggle of men in the LA uniform of tight jeans, high-top sneakers, and oversize T-shirts glides in on their electric scooters.
This is actually stealth promotion for a US remake of Nathan Barley. It has to be. Please?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 5:32 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is actually stealth promotion for a US remake of Nathan Barley. It has to be. Please?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 5:32 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
In the future, we'll all have been famous for 6 seconds.
But those six seconds will loop indefinitely.
posted by Etrigan at 6:06 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
But those six seconds will loop indefinitely.
posted by Etrigan at 6:06 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
All this talk about Youtubers and Viners trying to break into Hollywood and no one's said if Smosh: The Movie is any good?
posted by wyndham at 9:58 AM on July 30, 2015
posted by wyndham at 9:58 AM on July 30, 2015
PS I actually bonded with a teenaged cashier at my local grocery store yesterday when I overheard him talking to his coworker about the Drake/Meek Mills beef going on and so we excitedly discussed all our favourite lines and jokes that have come out of it.
Which is to say I definitely second what infini said above.
posted by wyndham at 10:01 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Which is to say I definitely second what infini said above.
posted by wyndham at 10:01 AM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
I hesitated before diving into the minutiae of teenage Vine drama
Good gad, the man of twists and turns, thank god, at least three decades air gap me from that nonsense.
posted by infini at 12:49 PM on July 30, 2015
Good gad, the man of twists and turns, thank god, at least three decades air gap me from that nonsense.
posted by infini at 12:49 PM on July 30, 2015
Related links I've been pondering posting and never got around to until now:
Smosh is making millions on YouTube.
On the road with teen social media stars. Surprisingly poignant when it talks about the emotional labor these teenagers are doing for their fan base. Really.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:05 PM on July 30, 2015
Smosh is making millions on YouTube.
On the road with teen social media stars. Surprisingly poignant when it talks about the emotional labor these teenagers are doing for their fan base. Really.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:05 PM on July 30, 2015
Well, i will say this for the kid, beyond "sounds like kind of a doofus, but oh well, that might work for him, sure does for a lot of dudebros": it must be nice to have that level of insane confidence in yourself. I have no idea what that'd be like.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:14 PM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:14 PM on July 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
The next day we're grabbing dinner at a burger place called Stout when Logan starts talking about how much money he makes, a seemingly taboo subject for social-media stars talking to journalists. Logan assures me he's only a sporadic splurger, such as when he bought a motorcycle and a new laptop and that 90-inch TV in his apartment.
"So yeah, I don't really spend much," he says. "Well, except on food." He reaches for a handful of fries and swipes them through ketchup. "I don't know, honestly, I could be comfortable with like, two, three million a year."
That last line caught me on the first read, but I didn't have anything beyond snark (something like "I'd be happy with a solid $100,000 per year for my family, what the hell does a single kid need with millions each year?") But after reading and seeing interviews with Vince Staples, this notion of financial comfort is even more jarring. They're similar ages (early 20s), live about 30 miles apart (Vine Street area to Long Beach). Both are big in their own circles, Vince releasing his debut album on a major label and getting discussed alongside J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, who each have gold and platinum albums to their names. Yet Staples puts money pretty low on his list of things to figure out:
I hope Logan Paul is looking to folks like pro athletes as inspirations for his financial planning. The money coming in now is pretty sweet, but you're riding a temporary wave in the prime of your youth.
/Feeling like an old man in my mid 30s
posted by filthy light thief at 7:27 AM on July 31, 2015
"So yeah, I don't really spend much," he says. "Well, except on food." He reaches for a handful of fries and swipes them through ketchup. "I don't know, honestly, I could be comfortable with like, two, three million a year."
That last line caught me on the first read, but I didn't have anything beyond snark (something like "I'd be happy with a solid $100,000 per year for my family, what the hell does a single kid need with millions each year?") But after reading and seeing interviews with Vince Staples, this notion of financial comfort is even more jarring. They're similar ages (early 20s), live about 30 miles apart (Vine Street area to Long Beach). Both are big in their own circles, Vince releasing his debut album on a major label and getting discussed alongside J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar, who each have gold and platinum albums to their names. Yet Staples puts money pretty low on his list of things to figure out:
Life, man. Life is the important part. [Figuring out what you like and don't like in music] isn't the important part. The music will never matter without life. So life is the important part. That's the priority, and then music comes second. And then third comes the connection to music, and, you know, money and fame and fortune and notoriety is like 15th on that list or 20th or something, to me. That's the last thing I care about.He's not The Voice of Modern Hip-Hop or anything, and he may well be rather alone in this sentiment, but it somehow feels a lot more grounded than a single 20-something talking about how many millions of dollars per year would provide a comfortable living for him. His videos also portray a different relationship to money (see: Nate and Screen Door, for examples).
I hope Logan Paul is looking to folks like pro athletes as inspirations for his financial planning. The money coming in now is pretty sweet, but you're riding a temporary wave in the prime of your youth.
/Feeling like an old man in my mid 30s
posted by filthy light thief at 7:27 AM on July 31, 2015
This fella is the most important Vine superstar (make sure the sound is on)
posted by naju at 5:13 PM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by naju at 5:13 PM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
« Older "That was definitely an E-ticket!" | What? And Give Up Show Business? Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
One of the biggest industries in Hollywood is taking young men like him and emptying out their banking accounts.
posted by maxsparber at 11:00 AM on July 29, 2015 [14 favorites]