This is the best kind of video essay: one you start watching without knowing what to expect at all, hits you with something you can't quite put into words, and leaves you with a new little corner of brainspace to explore. Anyway this was brilliant that's all I've got for now :)
I've said this, about your work, to a lot of people in my day to day life when talking about the power of syntax in different languages, whether that be in address of traditional spoken and written language or the constructive languages of different art-forms, but I want to say it here because this video stands as such an incredible testament to the fact: you are, I think, the only essayist on TH-cam doing interesting and formally compelling communication via syntactic experimentation with both your scripting and montage in ways that cannot individually separate them from each other. Whereas so many writers on this platform, including many brilliant critics and filmmakers, merely patch holes in spots present within their script or edit with the contrary medium, you are intertwining them in a way that is wholly new and compelling heretofore unseen across the platform. Your videos contain film making as exciting as that seen in Cameraperson, Sans Soleil, or F for Fake, and furthermore, feel new in a way those did then but no longer do now. I cannot heap enough praise on your skills and talents.
You are talented. Concept and execution followed through, the details are there. I thought it was going to be about something else, but surprise! Captivating.
it took me halfway through this video before realizing it wasn’t about the current run of X-Men comics but just kept watching bc the quality and editing was so engaging!
Just want to say that I remember being there in the early(ish) days of this channel and being blew away by your work, and it's so nice to still feel the same thing today. This is exactly this kind of essays and approach that I find very compelling. It's uncanny how you always find original and interesting subjects, and angles to explore them !
It's criminal that this brilliant essay only has 5k views. Thanks again for blowing my mind, Grace. I didn't know where this one was going, and it was a fun ride to follow. After another essayist was called out for plagiarism, I've been looking at how my favourite essayists deal with citations, and I love how you highlight and read aloud the articles you're citing. It's very accessible, and I can tell you're inspired by their thoughts and part of a discussion with the text. An inspiration as always.
Yet another incredible video from your channel, it makes TH-cam still worth visiting. I always had this itch in my head about this rarely yet commonly used, relatively hard to pronounce (yet catchy at the same time) letter with quite its primordial shape. But I don't know if this video satiates my curiosity or has opened new rabbit holes. Anyway, it's made me subscribe to your Patreon (my first one at that!)
@@WhatsSoGreatAboutThat yeah kind of antithetical to that lil section. The letter to human body connection feels a lil tenuous. Like it’s a cute idea but the logic doesn’t really extend that well to other letters. T is a man on a cross, Y is someone waving for help- but in reality I think the shapes have more to do with the history of the alphabet and the simplification of pictorial/easily recreatable symbols.
There’s this classical philosophical theory, that you’re probably also familiar with but I don’t remember the name of, that posits that symbols begin by referencing reality but evolve toward self-reference and referencing other symbols. I know this often gets brought up to describe the alienation that many folks feel in gen x and late, but you make a pretty compelling case that X itself might be a very early example of this idea. Beautiful video, thanks for sharing
Thank you :) Yes, I originally thought the video was going to focus more on symbols, but ended up going another way. I definitely think there's a case to be made for X as somewhat of a Xerox of a Xerox (to use an X word against itself hehe)
Legitimately, your work is meaningfully different and leagues better in both content and style than almost all video essays performing cultural commentary on TH-cam. I find the genre so dreadfully moribund and shallow and think it's notable (and deserved) that you receive considerable kudos without speaking directly to the camera and encouraging a parasocial connection. Seriously, well done.
9:45 - oh dammit, I never saw that and I love analyzing Ghibli movies, my heart is crushed also how is this video only 12 minutes long, it's so dense that it feels like I've watched both an hour and five minutes at once (this is a compliment, which I only feel like clarifying because it's 4am and I am not articulate enough to actually express how much I enjoyed this video coherently)
As my math teacher once said : F(x) = x^2 + 2x + 1 Truly a variable for both positive and negative values PX: this was a great video with fun and well done editing
Thank you :) I don't really know what I'd say about my research and writing, only that its compiled over many months as I basically wait for sources to find me haha
This was so Xcellent! What a delight to wake up to a new video from you, I always leave feeling invigorated to think more, and more deeply, about the world after watching your work. (Hope you’re able to restore the Ghibli video eventually too!)
Such a brilliant video essay! Your editing is amazing - the rhythm, the music, your use of diegetic sound and SFX. You transition from one meaning of X to another so seamlessly. I loved how many examples of X came up (like Malcolm X). The supercut style of this is so satisfying - so many great examples and clips. Also, I love the effect you used of underlining words in an article as well as mentioning the authors! Happy I’m subbed
Now you got me speeding down the rabbit hole of alphabet. Currently thinking about S, O, B and Q. Thanks for always being an inspiration for my intellectual conspiracy theories.
I could show someone the beginning of this video and tell them it’s a Kingdom Hearts video essay and there would be no reason for them to doubt me (brilliant work once again, by the way!) Edit: honestly I could show someone this whole video and have the same result
So due to X's historic use as an ambiguous signifier it has been coopted, fluidly and easily, to mean whatever the users of the sign wishes it to be. Is it purely circumstantial that X became this rather than any other letter: perhaps the ease in which it is drawn and recognized? Also, it is interesting to note, the credibility of Z has certainly gone down hill with the Russian military's use of it.
I hadn't thought about the potential smearing of Z's name. I think the ease of X to draw, and it's relative lack of use in common vocabulary, are likely both contributing factors
@@WhatsSoGreatAboutThat I think it being symmetrical both vertically and horizontally is also a factor. An X is an X no matter where or how it is placed, which is a property it has in common with basic shapes. I think of the playstation controller; square, triangle, circle, X.
in the netherlands, there's an ongoing legal debate about using X as an identity marker in the passports of non-binary people (as opposed to an M or V (F))!
Celluloid as formaldehyde reminds me of the first photos of the US civil war; it was a long exposure so anything that moved didn't make it into the photo, creating fields of only the dead, who obvs didn't move
Not me thinking this was gonna be a video about the X-files lmao 😭 Either way can't wait see what you cooked up this time☺️ Edit: ok a video about the letter X itself is such a genius bait and switch
The part about Elon reminds me of my father, because our family name starts with an "X" and it's been this personal signifier for him. Interestingly enough? He's also a bit of an Elon fanboy and I think this definitely played a part in it, he literally bought a Tesla Model X and loves talking about the car to anyone & everyone if he gets the chance to. I'm very glad to have avoided the sexual associations growing up with it, but I do appreciate the punk rebellious aspect even if it's a bit tired of a trope from advertising :)
Come back! You’re videos are brilliant I know the competitive landscape of TH-cam nowadays is disheartening, but you can evolve! Your originality is special I don’t know how you will emerge but I promise you if you attack the problem in different ways you’ll eventually manage to :)
X is like the somewhat extra cousin of the chill and average K by way of showing up late and forcing themself into the spotlight of every event, or the lazy and sloppy classmate of Y which always somehow manages to outperform while putting in half the accuracy. Whenever you rush to write a K or Y you end up either overshooting and italicizing the latter or inadvertently bending the former, just to find that X has once again shoehorned its way into somewhere it wasn't wanted. X is besties with A, which shows up V with more stable legs and an extra bar for support, but X always manages to take their duo off the rails with that exhaustingly bombastic energy it has. Also, screw whoever decided that BS about your Ghibli essay; this is the double-edged sword of good artisans submitting to megacorps for distribution.
You showed the Straight Edge X from the 80s D.C. hard core punk scene. I wore that but I hardly knew what it meant so it kinda just meant different things to different people which was Punk. For me, I think Kill your television and anti-war and just be a rebel and don't be an idiot. Now you can look everything up and it's just boring and a letdown become someone gets to define it and everyone has already done it.
Are you familiar with metamodernism? Bwcause when you talk about oscillating between extremes... I do think it makes more sense to think of it as a cycle.
This is the best kind of video essay: one you start watching without knowing what to expect at all, hits you with something you can't quite put into words, and leaves you with a new little corner of brainspace to explore. Anyway this was brilliant that's all I've got for now :)
Thank you so much! :D
I've said this, about your work, to a lot of people in my day to day life when talking about the power of syntax in different languages, whether that be in address of traditional spoken and written language or the constructive languages of different art-forms, but I want to say it here because this video stands as such an incredible testament to the fact: you are, I think, the only essayist on TH-cam doing interesting and formally compelling communication via syntactic experimentation with both your scripting and montage in ways that cannot individually separate them from each other. Whereas so many writers on this platform, including many brilliant critics and filmmakers, merely patch holes in spots present within their script or edit with the contrary medium, you are intertwining them in a way that is wholly new and compelling heretofore unseen across the platform. Your videos contain film making as exciting as that seen in Cameraperson, Sans Soleil, or F for Fake, and furthermore, feel new in a way those did then but no longer do now. I cannot heap enough praise on your skills and talents.
Thank you so much! Some of the loveliest things to have ever been said about my videos :)
Thank you! :D
You are talented. Concept and execution followed through, the details are there. I thought it was going to be about something else, but surprise! Captivating.
Thank you :D
it took me halfway through this video before realizing it wasn’t about the current run of X-Men comics but just kept watching bc the quality and editing was so engaging!
Same!
Haha thank you :D Even I'm surprised I didn't mention X-Men a single time
I saw the notification and thought the same thing 😭 amazing video as always!
It turns out to be 200% relevant to X-Men comics in this moment I will be taking no questions at this time
Just want to say that I remember being there in the early(ish) days of this channel and being blew away by your work, and it's so nice to still feel the same thing today. This is exactly this kind of essays and approach that I find very compelling. It's uncanny how you always find original and interesting subjects, and angles to explore them !
Thank you so much!
It's criminal that this brilliant essay only has 5k views. Thanks again for blowing my mind, Grace. I didn't know where this one was going, and it was a fun ride to follow. After another essayist was called out for plagiarism, I've been looking at how my favourite essayists deal with citations, and I love how you highlight and read aloud the articles you're citing. It's very accessible, and I can tell you're inspired by their thoughts and part of a discussion with the text. An inspiration as always.
Thank you! :D
absolutely amazing as always!!
:D
Wow, this is superbly edited. Holding my attention often equals a miracle but you somehow managed to do so
Thank you! My attention is similar, I guess I edit for the people like me 😅
The editing is excellent, true 👌
Yet another incredible video from your channel, it makes TH-cam still worth visiting. I always had this itch in my head about this rarely yet commonly used, relatively hard to pronounce (yet catchy at the same time) letter with quite its primordial shape. But I don't know if this video satiates my curiosity or has opened new rabbit holes.
Anyway, it's made me subscribe to your Patreon (my first one at that!)
Thank you so much! There's certainly more X shaped rabbit holes to travel down haha
"Monsters, probably." This is now my go to answer for when I don't know what's in the unknown.
It's a safe bet
never been so proud to have an x name :) love your channel so much
The answer to What's So Great About That's essays is always the same: EVERYTHING
🥰
Whenever you upload it’s always such a pleasant surprise
But I will say- talking about x and body position whilst playing clips of people clearly in a ‘Y’ shape was a bit distracting.
:D
It was really hard to find people with their legs out 😭 these aren't the kind of scenes that are memorable in movies lol
@@WhatsSoGreatAboutThat yeah kind of antithetical to that lil section. The letter to human body connection feels a lil tenuous. Like it’s a cute idea but the logic doesn’t really extend that well to other letters. T is a man on a cross, Y is someone waving for help- but in reality I think the shapes have more to do with the history of the alphabet and the simplification of pictorial/easily recreatable symbols.
There’s this classical philosophical theory, that you’re probably also familiar with but I don’t remember the name of, that posits that symbols begin by referencing reality but evolve toward self-reference and referencing other symbols. I know this often gets brought up to describe the alienation that many folks feel in gen x and late, but you make a pretty compelling case that X itself might be a very early example of this idea. Beautiful video, thanks for sharing
Thank you :) Yes, I originally thought the video was going to focus more on symbols, but ended up going another way. I definitely think there's a case to be made for X as somewhat of a Xerox of a Xerox (to use an X word against itself hehe)
Legitimately, your work is meaningfully different and leagues better in both content and style than almost all video essays performing cultural commentary on TH-cam. I find the genre so dreadfully moribund and shallow and think it's notable (and deserved) that you receive considerable kudos without speaking directly to the camera and encouraging a parasocial connection. Seriously, well done.
Thank you so much! 🥰
What an eXquisite meditation on X , and an eXelent eXcuse to binge your vids again
Hehe :D
9:45 - oh dammit, I never saw that and I love analyzing Ghibli movies, my heart is crushed
also how is this video only 12 minutes long, it's so dense that it feels like I've watched both an hour and five minutes at once
(this is a compliment, which I only feel like clarifying because it's 4am and I am not articulate enough to actually express how much I enjoyed this video coherently)
Haha thank you! :D And the Ghibli essay was re-uploaded on vimeo! vimeo.com/467843907
As my math teacher once said :
F(x) = x^2 + 2x + 1
Truly a variable for both positive and negative values
PX: this was a great video with fun and well done editing
Hehe thank you :D
😤Move over Hbomberguy, there’s a new great video essayist in town!
For real, though, glad you came back with yet another great video essay!
Haha thank you! :)
Very insightful and beautifully edited video, I would love to one day see a video on your research and writing process!
Thank you :) I don't really know what I'd say about my research and writing, only that its compiled over many months as I basically wait for sources to find me haha
This was so Xcellent! What a delight to wake up to a new video from you, I always leave feeling invigorated to think more, and more deeply, about the world after watching your work.
(Hope you’re able to restore the Ghibli video eventually too!)
Thank you! :D
Such a brilliant video essay! Your editing is amazing - the rhythm, the music, your use of diegetic sound and SFX. You transition from one meaning of X to another so seamlessly. I loved how many examples of X came up (like Malcolm X). The supercut style of this is so satisfying - so many great examples and clips. Also, I love the effect you used of underlining words in an article as well as mentioning the authors! Happy I’m subbed
Thank you! :D
Wowza, what a great video! Im always happy when you upload
:D
This essay gets an A...That smug bastard.
Get out of here, A! :D
Now you got me speeding down the rabbit hole of alphabet. Currently thinking about S, O, B and Q.
Thanks for always being an inspiration for my intellectual conspiracy theories.
:D
Such a great beginning to a video... ah! thoroughly enjoying!!
I could show someone the beginning of this video and tell them it’s a Kingdom Hearts video essay and there would be no reason for them to doubt me (brilliant work once again, by the way!)
Edit: honestly I could show someone this whole video and have the same result
After this I demand that Sesame Street give you 25 more dedicated ten minutes segments.
This is the programming the children need!
So due to X's historic use as an ambiguous signifier it has been coopted, fluidly and easily, to mean whatever the users of the sign wishes it to be. Is it purely circumstantial that X became this rather than any other letter: perhaps the ease in which it is drawn and recognized?
Also, it is interesting to note, the credibility of Z has certainly gone down hill with the Russian military's use of it.
I hadn't thought about the potential smearing of Z's name. I think the ease of X to draw, and it's relative lack of use in common vocabulary, are likely both contributing factors
@@WhatsSoGreatAboutThat I think it being symmetrical both vertically and horizontally is also a factor. An X is an X no matter where or how it is placed, which is a property it has in common with basic shapes. I think of the playstation controller; square, triangle, circle, X.
Fantastic work here 😁 thanks for sharing with us
:D
Phenomenal work as always!
🥰
this is the only channel where you can release a video talking about the letter x and i go fuuuuck yes
in the netherlands, there's an ongoing legal debate about using X as an identity marker in the passports of non-binary people (as opposed to an M or V (F))!
There are so many Xs I didn't even get to lol, they can't be stopped
Celluloid as formaldehyde reminds me of the first photos of the US civil war; it was a long exposure so anything that moved didn't make it into the photo, creating fields of only the dead, who obvs didn't move
Elongated Muskrat holding the whole X economy on his shoulders
Not me thinking this was gonna be a video about the X-files lmao 😭
Either way can't wait see what you cooked up this time☺️
Edit: ok a video about the letter X itself is such a genius bait and switch
Haha, and I love the X-Files so much as well! It does at least make a brief cameo, I could never leave it out
Goddamn, how did you make a mind-blowing video about a letter? 🤯
I love your videos so much.
I was convinced this video would be about the space videogame series
Great stuff. Thank you
eXceptional as always, Grace.
:D
Woah, I have to press X to leave the comments section. Very meta!
The part about Elon reminds me of my father, because our family name starts with an "X" and it's been this personal signifier for him. Interestingly enough? He's also a bit of an Elon fanboy and I think this definitely played a part in it, he literally bought a Tesla Model X and loves talking about the car to anyone & everyone if he gets the chance to.
I'm very glad to have avoided the sexual associations growing up with it, but I do appreciate the punk rebellious aspect even if it's a bit tired of a trope from advertising :)
Two more that came to mind are the Los Angeles band X, and the members of the Manson family carving Xs on their foreheads.
I was pretty confused at first because I thought this was about the space sim video game series.
Come back! You’re videos are brilliant I know the competitive landscape of TH-cam nowadays is disheartening, but you can evolve! Your originality is special I don’t know how you will emerge but I promise you if you attack the problem in different ways you’ll eventually manage to :)
Haha thanks, it's not that, I got long covid 🥲 but I AM working on a new video, I hope it will be done this year
@@WhatsSoGreatAboutThatmiss you hope you recover fully!
awesome!!
X is like the somewhat extra cousin of the chill and average K by way of showing up late and forcing themself into the spotlight of every event, or the lazy and sloppy classmate of Y which always somehow manages to outperform while putting in half the accuracy. Whenever you rush to write a K or Y you end up either overshooting and italicizing the latter or inadvertently bending the former, just to find that X has once again shoehorned its way into somewhere it wasn't wanted. X is besties with A, which shows up V with more stable legs and an extra bar for support, but X always manages to take their duo off the rails with that exhaustingly bombastic energy it has.
Also, screw whoever decided that BS about your Ghibli essay; this is the double-edged sword of good artisans submitting to megacorps for distribution.
An eXcellent description of Xs energy! (and RIP Ghibli essay)
Love the sesame street clips, honestly
You showed the Straight Edge X from the 80s D.C. hard core punk scene. I wore that but I hardly knew what it meant so it kinda just meant different things to different people which was Punk. For me, I think Kill your television and anti-war and just be a rebel and don't be an idiot. Now you can look everything up and it's just boring and a letdown become someone gets to define it and everyone has already done it.
Julio Torres’ Fantasmas pilot explores the edginess of various letters (idk how to sum it up any better) 😂. It’s very good and very gay
well look at you making a good ass video 🔥
:D
Are you familiar with metamodernism? Bwcause when you talk about oscillating between extremes... I do think it makes more sense to think of it as a cycle.
Just wow bravo 👏👏👏 you're a master at this.
🥰
Roast beef, exept it's Elon. Interesting video.
Today's New York Times connections made me think about this video!
You’re on about Twitter right?😅
Apologies for forgetting I’m subscribed 😅
XD
XD
I’m immediately confused but ok
chat gpt recommended you to me. Do with that information what you will.
brb adding 'chat gpt recommended' to my bio