Dan & Phil Part 95: ASS (Aquarium Staff Seminar)

[blahblahblah8]

I really enjoyed the video! But I’m probably biased bec 90% of my free time the past few weeks has been playing animal crossing and watching videos about it. I also love Phil’s moomin shirt!

[Tornbetweenfandoms]

A throwback from Louise - Dan liked it but hasn't responded.

Anyone else thik it's kind of odd that this is the third time in a month Louise has posted a throwback with d/p and each time put a question direct to them at the end and none of them have posted back at all?
It makes me realise they interact basically never with other YouTubers. In a video the other week about old school YouTube, Carrie Hope Fletcher mentioned dnp in a big list of British UK YouTubers who used to all Collab and now won't do for fear another scandal will come out and people be dragged down together. I wonder if that's the whole vibe now?

[flarequake]

Oh, Louise’s tweet. I loved that video, their vibe together, her getting his thighs out because he’d been so late with his video ‘I’ve seen on tumblr, I’ve seen’ and ‘all you’ve given them is shin’, him in his pants with the cushion over them and motherf***** at the pain.

Loved Phil’s video and uhf, tempted by Animal Crossing if I had a spare £330, and another £100 for Mario Kart and Smash Bros cos that’s about all I’d play, but I’ve barely touched a game for months. I was surprised when he didn’t catch the right fish, I had to check the video title and I wondered if he’d try again the next day. I love “Danandos”, such pun, very good, Dan, immediate thoughts of his video with Connor about British slang with “cheeky Nando’s”. Or it could be, ‘it is I, the great Danando’, idk.

I love Phil’s Moomin shirt too, wondered if he got it when they had their Christmas pop up shop in Camden right above the Moomin shop, or if it’s nothing to do with it. I quite liked the contacts, couldn’t tell if they were just brown or a shade of grey. His hair looks so good, grey-streaked quiffy goodness.

[noodlebum]

Danandos could be taking the mickey out of the Isle of Fernando's from Take Me Out too
I'm obsessed with animal crossing so it's all good with me, gosh you can tell he stopped playing for ages though. Also I like his long quiff.

[poweroftriangles]

I wouldn't say AC is my favourite kind of video, but honestly I appreciate anything in these times. The fish montage was hilarious. The Egbert horror bit reminded me of very old school Phil.

[madzilla84]

As a fellow Animal Crossing obsessive, I loved the vid, but if he doesn't want to put any more of it on main maybe it could go on LessAmazingPhil or even on YouTube or insta stories? (If only he had a channel where he could put gaming stuff...) I would really like to see more updates as his island grows, like when he gets his godzilla statue and finally finds a betta and expands his house etc, and - in a dream world - even has visitors. Some YouTubers stream their AC stuff, but I feel like Phil would want more control over the end result than doing it live, so he could cut out the "boring" bits. I do wonder if he's visited PJ's island, which is absolutely insane (he made a video featuring a tour of it).

He really hadn't played for ages, lol. He must have really been distracted by FF7; I did expect him to be a bit further along than that by now, but no shade, I know how deep his FF fandom runs. Someone had to explain the Danando's thing to me as well as I've never watched Take Me Out, though I know they'd made references to it in the past. OK Dan, I guess that is actually pretty funny. I'm so curious as to how far along he is, too! Bless Lyman, out there giving the people what they want.

His chaotic playstyle stresses me out so much - there's just stuff everywhere, Phil, pick it up!! (And what are those wrapped gifts under the palm tree? Hmm.) He just plonked down the shop without thinking about it! Phil!!! I hope he does manage to get a betta; unfortunately you can't trade or gift fish so he really is going to have to do it himself lol.

I thought the editing in the video was hilarious, and can I just say his hair looks great. He probably hates it, but the bit of extra length on the sides and the long quiff ... lovely.

[Catallena]

Extra video promotion tweet from Phil. He did an Instagram Story as well (and put the same thing on YouTube Storie).

The views do seem to be bit lower than usual.

[Amiaw]

YouTube went down for a few hours yesterday after he posted so that probably didn’t help his video but I think it’s probably because people are bored and I’m not talking about in regards to Phil but In general. I’m behind on several channels I subscribe to but I’m too bored to watch

[Becky.rigby]

I’m so bored so was wondering, if you could describe Dan and Phil in 3 words, what would it be?

I would say: professional, caring and creative

[lefthandedism]

I’m so bored so was wondering, if you could describe Dan and Phil in 3 words, what would it be?

I would say: professional, caring and creative

I think that's an excellent summary!

My addition: funny, nerdy, kind

[liola]

I’m so bored so was wondering, if you could describe Dan and Phil in 3 words, what would it be?

I would say: professional, caring and creative

Bad At Communication

I had to, you know me

I watched the video the other day but I was high on pain meds and too distracted to even comment. I didn't really care for it, Phil looked beautiful so I spent the video watching him but that wasn't enough cause he was too small on the screen! The video being focused on the game is a double edged sword - lots of people are interested in the game right now but only people who actually enjoy qnd play the game will be entertained because really.. it's not a game you wanna watch someone else play. But that's a problem other big gamers are hhaving, I've seen streamers have either extremely high or extremely low numbers if they stream AC that are not consistent on their usual.

I find the game boring, I don't even remember if I watched his second AC video, but I don't have any pull to do so because it's just not engaging but I don't think that's Phil's fault it also didn't seem like he LOVES the game, what with having not played for a bit, I wished he'd made a video on FF7 instead, now that would've been peak entertainment, especially if he did the crossdressing bit. One can dream

[kavat]

Maybe OT, but I was listening to youtuber/comedian Elliott Morgan and philosopher Peter Rollins' podcast The Fundamentalists, the latest episode (Mirror mirror) is about celebrities and it was really interesting. They talked about how there's difference between (for example) Taylor Swift The Popstar and Taylor Swift The Person, and when people are Taylor Swift fans they are in fact fans of the facade she has put up, because they don't know the actual Taylor Swift.

Then they talked about how wrong it feels when these two versions of a celebrity get's muddled, using the Gal Gadot Imagine song as an example. It was cringey because people don't care about these people as people, but as the personas they act as. Another example was Kanye, how it was one thing when he called himself a god in his music or on stage, but when he started acting on social media like he actually thought he was a god, people found it weird and wrong.

Elliott also talked a little bit how he found it difficult sometimes to "turn off" his youtuber persona in private, and how difficult it is to be a creator on a platform that premiers the personal and authentic because it again, muddles the two versions of you.

And that of course made me think of Dan and Phil. One thing that has made them so successful is that they early on cultivated these personas, so that they could keep their private selves private. These personas were always close enough to the real them that there never was a big clash, but i think it helped them a lot in staying sane and never having a public breakdown on a platform full of public breakdowns.

And I wonder if a part of why they did it so successfully was because they were also closeted. For years before youtube, both of them already had these masks that they put up before the world, of being straight. Maybe they could be more authentic in certain environments, but before they were ever famous they already had practice in selecting which parts of themselves to show and which to keep for them selves.

I don't really have a conclusion to this, it was just interesting that it echoed some of the things that we have talked about here before. I'm gonna stop rambling now

[Judearaya]

hi everyone ok. so. the mystery of the book has been killing me, so I finally just called the PR person at my publisher (well she does a lot more than that but that's one of her titles) to get input at what might be happening, if the book is real etc.

Things I knew prior to talking to her.

a) the fake book was definitely reported to the GR librarians and that's why it was taken down. I don't know about YWGTTN being taken down but it was one of two things: it was also reported and removed OR the librarians removed both bc of the whole situation.

b) when one of my books was taken off of GR (it was a thing that had to do with multiple copies of it existing on GR bc the publisher AND a reader had put copies up and the librarians had to merge them or something) the publisher had to "petition" to get it back up. This is really just random info, I have no idea if this is what happened. Partly bc at that point in time my publisher was new and didn't have a distributor.

Which takes me to what my publisher told me.

a) It would be the distributor who gets books listed on GR, Amazon, b&n, any retailer. This can and does happen often when a distributor is pushing metadata through before the book is announced or PR starts doing those things. So metadata coming through before a book comes out is often about the distributor NOT the publisher.

b) Generally if this is how it ends up on GR it would show up elsewhere. It not showing up elsewhere doesn't at all mean it's not real. It just means it's a mystery. So. It's a mystery but there's no difinitive yes or no.

Of note, related to book mystery but not the above:

As for the debate about whether or not Dan could have or should have been communicating more than just "I'm working on something", she told me that most commonly the more famous you are, the tighter an NDA will be. Even if he had lawyers involved, this is just how publishing works. If he does have something coming out and an NDA is involved, he's probably REALLY constrained in what he can or cannot do.

So. like, I haven't solved any mysteries here, but in case ppl wanted some inside insight, at least now we know that metadata would be coming from a distributor (or a leak? a planned leak? this is the fun conspiracy stuff we can theorize about) and not the publisher. Also, if he's working on a project with an NDA (which is standard in publishing. I've never worked on something without an NDA other than a free short Christmas story I wrote for Frolic which is a cool online magazine and I love that story so if you want a free snarky Christmas love story HMU and I'll like you lol) he's probably way more constrained than other ppl would be.

Sorry for typos if there are any. TW food: //// I've realized I haven't eaten all day (accidentally I was distracted by this mystery and stuff) and it's afternoon and I am 14 seconds from perishing.

[Birdie]

Thank you so much for your research! I was wondering where the metadata had come from. Anyone can add books to the GR database but the metadata being so detailed puzzled me. A made up book wouldn't have that, I guess, unless someone was determined to make it look real. Now I'm even more curious where that metadata was taken from since there are no other sources for it on the internet and why it showed up on GR of all places.

As for the debate about whether or not Dan could have or should have been communicating more than just "I'm working on something", she told me that most commonly the more famous you are, the tighter an NDA will be. Even if he had lawyers involved, this is just how publishing works. If he does have something coming out and an NDA is involved, he's probably REALLY constrained in what he can or cannot do.

This is also interesting because such a strict NDA would be pretty unusual for a Youtuber book or just in general. Writers usually get to share some of the writing process like Louise did. Most of the writers I've worked with were also allowed to announce they had been signed, even if sometimes they weren't allowed to disclose which publisher they were working with. I also don't think I've ever met a writer who wasn't allowed to talk about their book a bit prior to publication. It's still possible of course, depends on the publisher and what their plan is.

[Judearaya]

This is also interesting because such a strict NDA would be pretty unusual for a Youtuber book or just in general. Writers usually get to share some of the writing process like Louise did. Most of the writers I've worked with were also allowed to announce they had been signed, even if sometimes they weren't allowed to disclose which publisher they were working with. I also don't think I've ever met a writer who wasn't allowed to talk about their book a bit prior to publication. It's still possible of course, depends on the publisher and what their plan is.

Yeah, I think the thing about a strict NDA isn't necessarily that it's equivalent with not being able to say anything always: I guess it depends on the plan for the book is, etc. I don't think the terms of NDA changed from book to book for me, but what the publisher was okay with me saying and when did? The first book we weren't allowed to say a thing for a long time because the publisher hadn't announced it's own creation -- they announced their creation and the first five books or something at once. But there were a lot of circumstances. I've been able to talk about books, share lines, etc, with ones once contracts were signed but not allowed to share titles or cover art etc. Then again, I am a SMALL potatoes kind of writer. Authors I know who are with larger publishing houses have also been allowed to say things or not, but generally at the discretion of someone above them? I mean ultimately...who knows? Mostly I just thought it was interesting to hear that they have even tighter NDA's.

[Phanshy]

My only experience with authors is from the fan side, but I'm in a few different groups with some of my favourite authors and they share a lot of the ups and downs of the writing process, they very much talk about books they haven't even started writing yet, they share exerts along away, the talk about getting a lot of difficult editing feedback. One of my absolute favourite authors shared her whole journey of her first publisher shutting down, writers block getting new publisher for one of her series releasing 2 new books and rerealising the previous books with extreme editing (for the worse) then all the excitement about a third book, cover reveal, exerts and hinting at the next story in the series only for that publisher (Dreamspinner) to stop paying a lot of the royalties to authors, her having to pull the release and fight them for the rights to her own books back over the last 8 months just resolved this week. Another author was really honest when she pulled a book that was due for release because she wasn't happy with it and had lost her enjoyment in writing books in that series and was more inspired working on her other series. It's obviously different for smaller authors who rely on the dedicated fans who will pre-order the books be eagerly waiting to read at midnight and will be reviewing it everywhere to spread the word than for famous people like Dan.

I personally never expect Dan to share any work related stuff before it's ready for release, because obviously things get delayed or fall through which would disappoint us, while I'm sad we'll never get a Dan and Phil travel show or a murder house makeover it would be so much worse if we were anticipating it and it never happened. I personally think he's not talking to us at all because he doesn't want to, not because of a NDA about a book or anything else, I think he's just decided he wants to change how he uses social media and how much of a public person he wants to be.

[Judearaya]

My only experience with authors is from the fan side, but I'm in a few different groups with some of my favourite authors and they share a lot of the ups and downs of the writing process, they very much talk about books they haven't even started writing yet, they share exerts along away, the talk about getting a lot of difficult editing feedback. One of my absolute favourite authors shared her whole journey of her first publisher shutting down, writers block getting new publisher for one of her series releasing 2 new books and rerealising the previous books with extreme editing (for the worse) then all the excitement about a third book, cover reveal, exerts and hinting at the next story in the series only for that publisher (Dreamspinner) to stop paying a lot of the royalties to authors, her having to pull the release and fight them for the rights to her own books back over the last 8 months just resolved this week. Another author was really honest when she pulled a book that was due for release because she wasn't happy with it and had lost her enjoyment in writing books in that series and was more inspired working on her other series. It's obviously different for smaller authors who rely on the dedicated fans who will pre-order the books be eagerly waiting to read at midnight and will be reviewing it everywhere to spread the word than for famous people like Dan.

OH the agony of the dreamspinner and riptide situations. Torquere as well, oof, most of those authors never saw the money taken from them. So much shit has gone down in queer pub it's been so hard on so many friends.

A lot of this stuff too is why my experiences really don't compare with what someone like Dan would go through. I know people (one person in particular it's an ugly situation) who has been in breach of NDA or contract but the publisher wasn't going to persue legal action bc they don't have enough money etc (the publisher) or it's just not worth it. And it's all dependent, not all publishers necessarily care or are going to restrict everything? The only thing I had to keep to myself about my last book was the title. I mean, ultimately, who knows other than the ppl in Dan's circle for now.

[liola]

The reality is that even with a strict NDA, he could say he's writing a book or even just.. writing. There's no need of details for that. He doesn't say it because he doesn't want to talk to us, that's just it, at this point we don't need it spelled it out.

Which sucks because I wish he just could talk to us, people ask him about projects only because they hope it's the one thing that will make him tweet a reply back. I know I have high standards for communication even in writing because my holy pedestal is Rick riordan who is peak forthcoming, but still

Anyway, another Sunday without Phil and boy I miss him. I have hope he might bring back liveshows but I also don't want to have in case it's done with, you know? But I miss his silly ramblings. Hell I even miss seeing their fucking fish

[Birdie]

Thinking about Dreamspinner still makes me anxious, so many writers (ok, like 3) I know are affected by that and still fighting for their money that they'll probably never see.

If the book is real, what do you guys think it might be about? The title makes me think memoir or something mental health related. And what kind of book would you like to see from Dan?

[Phanshy]

If the book is real, what do you guys think it might be about? The title makes me think memoir or something mental health related. And what kind of book would you like to see from Dan?

I just can't see it being a memoir because I don't think he'd really want to talk more about things with his family and I can't see him talking about his relationship with Phil in great detail either, so I think more likely is about mental health. I was thinking it could be a work of fiction based on his journey but with a fictional protagonist, so he doesn't have to write about anything to personal. I honestly am not on-board the this is Dan's book train yet, I hope I'm wrong.

[flarequake]

I was thinking it could be a more self-help thing, but not purely that, I dunno that he’d be dispensing all the serious wisdom, though maybe. It could have more anecdotes and humour than that, at least. Or it could be fiction maybe about a teen boy or young man (only to base it more obviously on Dan’s experience) perhaps dealing with similar stuff. Or a kick-ass action adventure, or anything, idk. You can be pressed to get through the night while dealing with all sorts of things in fiction.

[Apple In My Pie]

I don't watch Phil's gaming videos - I love AC but I just don't find videos on AC entertaining... I also echo a previous post I don't understand why he doesn't play games he enjoys like FF7. D&P haven't ever played a game they've genuinely enjoyed on DAPG. Ok thats a wee exaggeration but it is true in some respects - the games they enjoy playing, they play personally. I never really understood that as I thought genuine enjoyment of a game from the two of them would be more enjoyable for a viewer to see... unlike stuff like My Horse Prince. Shudder.

WRT Dan's book, I was thinking it was along the lines of a self help sort of thing. Dan fancies himself as a bit of an Aristotle on times so I think little pearls of wisdom here and there, perhaps some sort of 'letter to my younger self' peppered throughout. IF it is Dan's, although I don't think it is.

[alittledizzy]

I don't watch Phil's gaming videos - I love AC but I just don't find videos on AC entertaining... I also echo a previous post I don't understand why he doesn't play games he enjoys like FF7. D&P haven't ever played a game they've genuinely enjoyed on DAPG. Ok thats a wee exaggeration but it is true in some respects - the games they enjoy playing, they play personally. I never really understood that as I thought genuine enjoyment of a game from the two of them would be more enjoyable for a viewer to see... unlike stuff like My Horse Prince. Shudder.

Phil actually did genuinely loved Animal Crossing. It's something he's referenced casually, not for videos, many times over the years. I think this new game just had the misfortune of coming out at the same time another game he happened to love even more did. He tweeted consistently about it through June and July of 2013. (He went back to it in November of that year to make his first AC video.)

I'm mostly inserting that classic Phil trivia in here because it does frustrate me - I wish he'd either swapped over and done something on FF or waited til he had the mindset to really engage with Animal Crossing. I enjoyed the last video he made because it's Phil and I missed him and the editing was actually pretty hilarious, but it just would have been better if it'd been a look in after he'd been playing intensely for a while.

[laurenbacall]

i know t*mblr is uncool these days but i had to share what happened on my dashboard this morning

"since you've been gone" ok tumblr

[flarequake]

Oh, I saw that on Twitter, an ad for The Super-Amazing Project I guess, bit at the top says it was posted in October 2011. I didn’t see that bit before, did wonder what would use such old photos if a fan was making something now (I didn’t really realise or believe that it was posted by Dan).