Everything Is Going To Be Fine
November 3, 2020 1:37 AM   Subscribe

Come relax with Jon in the cabin. We're making Scotch Collops and Hot Chocolate. [SLYT, Townsends]
posted by CCBC (33 comments total) 25 users marked this as a favorite
 
well this entire channel is delightful
posted by taquito sunrise at 2:47 AM on November 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


That was lovely. Like an eighteenth century Mr. Rogers.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 3:06 AM on November 3, 2020 [2 favorites]


This is wonderful, thanks for the link. No wonder he made a collab with Mrs Crocombe!
posted by sukeban at 3:31 AM on November 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


Thanks for this, just the thing for today.
posted by ceiriog at 3:44 AM on November 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


I could feel my face and shoulders relaxing by degrees as I watched that. Timely, thanks!
posted by mollweide at 4:57 AM on November 3, 2020


I do enjoy Jon's videos. I've always been a bit worried that he might be a closet cryptofascist, as so many people who are into history enough to dress up in the style of the times were, so I've done what I can to avoid finding out. Indeed, I avoided watching this video precisely because of that concern.

The last few years have really messed up my brain. Not the drugs 20 years ago, just the reality of so much of the US polity after they stopped keeping the quiet parts quiet after Obama was elected. I much preferred being baffled as to what people saw in reality TV to being baffled as to how people could not see the fundamental inconsistency of the things they were cheering on with what they claimed to be their system of belief.
posted by wierdo at 5:17 AM on November 3, 2020 [13 favorites]


The wooden chimney is interesting. I remember watching a show (I think it was The Woodwright) where they excavated a small settlement of these cabins and found spikes in proximity to them, indicating that if the chimneys caught fire, they were rigged to be easily toppled away from the cabin wall.

I've found the same thing as weirdo - that history and antique tool buffs overlap hugely with gun collectors/prepper/white supremacists. Even Chris Schwarz, a sort of hand tool guru, who seems like a reasonable and affable guy, makes a point of publicly stating that he's an anarchist and doesn't vote. I find it hard to believe it isn't just because he doesn't want to alienate a huge segment of his older white male fan base.

Sorry...fireside, deep breathing,....
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:27 AM on November 3, 2020 [3 favorites]


So relaxing... I'm definitely here for Bob Ross cooking up one of those happy little creatures
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 5:36 AM on November 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


While you're doing your deep breathing, go watch a four-video series that Townsends did a little while back, with guest Michael Twitty, about "historic foods of the enslaved African community of North America":

The origins of okra

Food of the enslaved: barbecue

Akara: a fried snack

Kush: a hash with cornbread
posted by theatro at 5:38 AM on November 3, 2020 [19 favorites]


Also, coincidentally just yesterday I watched a Townsends livestream from last week, very interesting: "Lanterns and lighting in the 18th century". He shows some art from the times to point out and explain various kinds of lighting they depict, and shows versions he has on hand. Atmospheric and educational.
posted by theatro at 5:41 AM on November 3, 2020 [2 favorites]


I've been replaying Red Dead Redemption 2 lately and this is very good for the part of me that wants to be out in some vast open wilderness with a horse and some blankets and my trusty campfire kit.
posted by fight or flight at 5:43 AM on November 3, 2020 [3 favorites]


I've found the same thing as weirdo - that history and antique tool buffs overlap hugely with gun collectors/prepper/white supremacists.

Add to that detectorists and prehistoric tool searchers. I've been kinda skeptical of this guy too but now that I know he did a series with Twitty I feel much freer to dive in.
posted by Think_Long at 6:10 AM on November 3, 2020 [2 favorites]


I wouldn't worry too much about Jon's politics—he was visibly upset a few years ago, when politics reared its head in the comments.

He fits the space for me that Bob Ross seems to do for others.
posted by bouvin at 6:37 AM on November 3, 2020 [8 favorites]


Why would stating you're an anarchist who doesn't vote be something you do to not alienate an older, male fan base?
posted by The Absolute Victory Unlosing Ranger at 6:49 AM on November 3, 2020


To expand on my question, in my experience older white males are certainly not sympathetic towards anarchism.
posted by The Absolute Victory Unlosing Ranger at 6:56 AM on November 3, 2020


history and antique tool buffs overlap hugely with gun collectors/prepper/white supremacists.

Sadly true in general, but I offer two exceptions, for those who might be looking for better voices. One is Peter Follansbee, a specialist in 17th century English furniture and, I think fair to say, an old hippie in the best sense. In the wake of the Charlottesville white supremacist rally he addressed the issue pretty head on:
in the hopefully unlikely event that some of my readers are sympathetic with the KKK, Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, etc that were on display down in Charlottesville this past weekend, – if that’s you – please un-subscribe to my blog. Please stop following me on Instagram, FB…please don’t come to my classes. Please don’t buy my book, videos, spoons, etc.

I want nothing to do with racists.
I had the chance to tell him in person that I really appreciated that.

The other is Roy Underhill himself, who has a photo of FDR and WPA posters on display in his woodworking school and has spoken unhappily about the Confederate traitor memorial just up the road from the school. He has a pretty strong environmentalist bent, trying to navigate the contradiction of espousing human-powered woodwork while running a school that people travel long distances to attend. And he's spoken about wanting to build diversity in the woodworking community.
posted by jedicus at 6:56 AM on November 3, 2020 [12 favorites]


To get things back on track, I heartily recommend the episodes about building (and using) the clay ovens. It seems like a simple thing on the surface, but there are quite a few bits of the design and construction that aren't obvious at first and are interesting to consider.

The cooking videos are often educational and sometimes good for a laugh, but I started watching because of the video about writing, paper, etc and the stuff about "camping" gear, tools and such. The American Frontier playlist has some of that, but there is even more buried in the years of uploads.
posted by wierdo at 7:03 AM on November 3, 2020


Even Chris Schwarz, a sort of hand tool guru, who seems like a reasonable and affable guy, makes a point of publicly stating that he's an anarchist and doesn't vote. I find it hard to believe it isn't just because he doesn't want to alienate a huge segment of his older white male fan base.

Schwarz has previously voiced a reasoned and principled (albeit wrong-headed, in my opinion) attitude to not voting and participating in systems he doesn’t philosophically agree with, and has never seemed shy about alienating people. That said, his main posts articulating his flavor of anarchism and not voting seem to have silently disappeared off lostartpress.com, but I’m hesitant to draw any conclusions from that.
posted by zamboni at 7:07 AM on November 3, 2020


I've been watching this channel for a few years now, my son refers to it as the "old man doing stuff show you watch", generally it is fairly apolitical. I like it generally, occasionally I take issue with something historical but often it is based on me being Canadian and him being American and our differing interpretations of something. But these are very minor quibbles.
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:22 AM on November 3, 2020


I could definitely use a weekend at a cabin, with chilly air and a campfire and good cider and skillet-cooked food. Unfortunately our dogs hate car travel, two of them hate campfires, and the third is completely careless of fire and would also probably pee all over both the car and the cabin floor.

At least I have the cider though.
posted by Foosnark at 7:35 AM on November 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


He sells a fifty-five-dollar Toddy Rod (a.k.a. Flip Dog), which is a pole of iron to be heated in the fire and then thrust into a cup to heat its contents.

But yeah, this beats watching CNN hosts move their jaws while the second hand fails to advance fast enough!
posted by wenestvedt at 8:21 AM on November 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


Hell yeah, we call that 'pint and a poke' around here and it's great with a malty lager.
posted by Think_Long at 8:56 AM on November 3, 2020 [3 favorites]


Oh wow! Autumn barbecued apples! Or grilled whole apples, ummm or stuffed, grilled whole apples, maybe a little foil wrap later to hold in some extra syrup and spices! Hell yeah!
posted by Oyéah at 9:01 AM on November 3, 2020


seem to have silently disappeared off lostartpress.com, but I’m hesitant to draw any conclusions from that.

My hesitancy was appropriate, because I was dead wrong about that - nothing had disappeared. I was looking at the Google AMP pages, which appear to have been removed, but the originals hadn't gone anywhere.
posted by zamboni at 10:07 AM on November 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


> I take issue with something historical but often it is based on me being Canadian and him being American and our differing interpretations of something.

I'd avoid his videos on the Metis then. He did his best afterward, but that didn't go well.
posted by bonehead at 10:15 AM on November 3, 2020


Maybe drunk Alton will bring over a 32 oz of Gatorade and go chill out in the cabin for the day.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:22 AM on November 3, 2020 [3 favorites]


Maybe drunk Alton will bring over a 32 oz of Gatorade and go chill out in the cabin for the day.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:22 AM on November 3 [+] [!]

WTF was that?
posted by mumimor at 11:30 AM on November 3, 2020


Alton Brown is either doing something like performance art, or actually losing his shit this week.

The huge differentiator between social media and stuff like these YouTube videos is that immediacy is traded for high quality. Tweeting is fast, but the research & multiple takes that go into a ten-minute video on cooking...I dunno, bannock prove that patience is worth it.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:52 AM on November 3, 2020


Not to derail, but Alton's last few Quarantine Kitchen eps (his live Youtube stream) have gotten progressively darker, and he often tries in vain to avoid angry politics. But looking at his replies he might just be trying out the Elon Musk wackadoo online persona. Hopefully a bottle of Yaeger and 23 Slim Jims will provide a healthy hard reset to his psyche.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 1:56 PM on November 3, 2020


Oh, yeah, this is what I need this morning. Quieted my mind down enough to hear the squirrels going bonkers on my roof, little feet running above is making me smile.
posted by waving at 5:52 AM on November 4, 2020


I love this guy. I've made his fried chicken. And I definitely fell asleep to this last night when I woke up anxious.
posted by es_de_bah at 11:43 AM on November 4, 2020


Add me to the list of those who have hesitated clicking on these videos due to worrying about reactionary politics, so I'm glad to hear they're safe. I work sometimes in historical reenactment, and our work is appropriated by reactionary forces an uncomfortable amount of time, especially considering that those forces clearly have a reather limited understanding of what we do and the lessons of history.

Chris Schwarz is an interesting guy whose politics inherently imbues all of his work. That his public is largely too ignorant to map his politics on a contemporary political landscape isn't his fault. If the DNC wants to work on messaging to attract the working class they could do worse than studying "The Anarchist's Toolchest", TBH. But it's true, the hand woodworking community can have a level of Civil-War-reenactment-fealty to a pretty narrow definition of authenticity.

As a hand tool user myself, I was boxed into a particularly disturbing demographic by the algorithms of Sweden's local version of Ebay about 10 years ago. I used the service exclusively for searching for and buying hand tools, but was constantly being fed generated ads from the service featuring nazi memorabilia and NSFW vintage porno mags in addition to hand tools. Clearly they saw so much overlap in interest for these categories that they basically considered them as one and the same. My repeated complaints got no response, but eventually the service was bought by Ebay and a tiny tiny Ebay logo showed up in the corner of the ads. The first time I sent one of these ads up to Ebay customer service that ad policy changed entirely.
posted by St. Oops at 7:19 PM on November 4, 2020


Strong PBS vibes, I am extremely soothed.
posted by yasaman at 8:55 PM on November 4, 2020


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