Dan & Phil Part 48: Exposing themselves via fidget spinner

[iihappydaysii]

I'm going to say something weird that might only make sense to me: this felt like Daniel Howell version of a vlogbrothers vid. Maybe that's just because they're the only other channel besides Dan and Phil that I watch religiously. They tend to do the random thought or experience that leads into conclusion about the human experience. And I know Dan looks up to John.

It seems that he's trying to mature his brand but also keep that sort of edgy "dank" (lol I hate that word) sense to it. I liked the concept a lot and I hope he keeps with the idea but works on creating a more cohesive argument. Just keep practicing, Dan. I seriously hope he lets himself do that. Experiment and try different things and try to find that overlap between what he likes to make and his audience likes to watch. Or trust that he can find a new audience if he loses some of his old one.

I just don't want him to stop trying new things.

[quercussp]

I'm going to say something weird that might only make sense to me: this felt like Daniel Howell version of a vlogbrothers vid. Maybe that's just because they're the only other channel besides Dan and Phil that I watch religiously. They tend to do the random thought or experience that leads into conclusion about the human experience. And I know Dan looks up to John.

It seems that he's trying to mature his brand but also keep that sort of edgy "dank" (lol I hate that word) sense to it. I liked the concept a lot and I hope he keeps with the idea but works on creating a more cohesive argument. Just keep practicing, Dan. I seriously hope he lets himself do that. Experiment and try different things and try to find that overlap between what he likes to make and his audience likes to watch. Or trust that he can find a new audience if he loses some of his old one.

I just don't want him to stop trying new things.

Such a good point, that's exactly what I thought! The video reminded me of early John. I think Dan needs some practice in this genre, but it's definitely something I'm into.

[secretagentphan]

I agree with the people that weren't 100% sold on Dan's new video. He was going halfway but not in a positive way. I wish it had more sketches like his old videos, but seemed less robotic like his old videos. Also I think the topic he wanted to talk about were memes and their purpose but it took him 4 minutes into the video to get to what he was actually talking about. The rest was just over complicated background information that was mostly unneeded fluff. As a writer I wish he would structure the video better. I could see that he was being a little more natural on camera than usual but it still came across as practiced and robotic.

I also hope dan isn't too sensitive to criticism because the video made me very excited for the rebrand because it has a lot of potential. I just hope he doesn't completely abandon comedy because I really did appreciate how well made comedicly some of his older videos were.

[alittledizzy]

I do actually want to emphasize that I really want Dan to keep doing things like that video, and I do hope that he gets enough positive response that it feels to him worth continuing. I don't know Dan enough to know if he's the "didn't get it perfect so never do it again" type or the "didn't do it perfect, better try harder next time" type of person since we so rarely see him take risks alone.

[malday]

He really needs to work on his delivery.
It just felt like a bunch of ideas thrown together with no actual point at the end, whilst at the same time trying to be funny, more like a stream of consciousness than anything else.

i agree, iihappydaysii, it really reminded me of Hank's video:



but i hope any criticism he receives doesn't discourage him from taking his content the direction he wants to take it.

[flarequake]

I'm going to say something weird that might only make sense to me: this felt like Daniel Howell version of a vlogbrothers vid. Maybe that's just because they're the only other channel besides Dan and Phil that I watch religiously. They tend to do the random thought or experience that leads into conclusion about the human experience. And I know Dan looks up to John.

It seems that he's trying to mature his brand but also keep that sort of edgy "dank" (lol I hate that word) sense to it. I liked the concept a lot and I hope he keeps with the idea but works on creating a more cohesive argument. Just keep practicing, Dan. I seriously hope he lets himself do that. Experiment and try different things and try to find that overlap between what he likes to make and his audience likes to watch. Or trust that he can find a new audience if he loses some of his old one.

I just don't want him to stop trying new things.

Now that's an interesting viewpoint on it. I watch them, though not every video, and didn't pick up on the similarity, but you might be right. Those two are great, that would be an interesting direction for him to take. Definitely good if he's branching into different ideas of any kind.

This sort of thing might even get him some more of that mythical edgy male audience (he's already got male viewers with what he does if he wanted them, though, he doesn't need to change for anything). The shitpost tone reminded me of a friend whose Facebook posts are all memes and shitposting, which is so unlike him in real life, as I've spoken to him anyway, when he can get deep on history and geek pop culture, and doesn't come across so sarcastic at all. I don't know whether he'd watch Dan, though.

[thephandommenace]

Big pointless negative rant under a spoiler so feel free to skip

This video was terrible for me. I wasn't even in a bad mood before watching it so I can't pin the reason for my feelings on that. Watching it, however, DID put me in a bad mood. It actually succeeded in pissing me off.

I agree with a lot of people (namely dianapml and Catellena) who've already said a lot of what I was thinking. This isn't a fancy scripted YouTube video that I've had time to write and edit , just my inarticulate impassioned thoughts of the moment, but here goes:

- SO incoherent. What I got from it was "I wish I could live in a fantasy world or a more advanced time, but I don't, but it's okay, just keep memeing"... what?! The content and conclusion (whatever the hell he said) felt completely mismatched.

- Boring and generic. A lot of words, a lot of concepts, not a lot being said. I either zoned out when he was chatting a load of inconsequential nothing or rolled my eyes at his """"""intellectual"""""" and """"""deep""""""" bullshit.

- Enough with the fucking memes. I've fucking had it, officially, with Daniel Memelord Howell.

- That outro reminding me of fetus Emma's outro. Before anyone comes for me I KNOW you can't copyright generic feedback alien-y TV signal sound effects and he most likely didn't get it from her but that's what it reminded me of in the moment and while I was still trying to process what the fuck I'd just watched I suddenly saw this new aesthetic intro and that's where my mind went and it pissed me off some more.

- This whole video was essentially supposed to be one giant shitpost? Congratulations, at least this video succeeded on one level then.

Was it maybe this way because Phil wasn't around to critique it like he usually does?

I want to at least make sense of what it was I watched but I don't want to rewatch it. Good for you if you liked it. I did not. I would rather have ISG over this. Yeah I said it.

[fancybum]

I do actually want to emphasize that I really want Dan to keep doing things like that video, and I do hope that he gets enough positive response that it feels to him worth continuing. I don't know Dan enough to know if he's the "didn't get it perfect so never do it again" type or the "didn't do it perfect, better try harder next time" type of person since we so rarely see him take risks alone.

I'm leaning toward him being a "this is the direction I've decided to go and it's where I'm going, bumpy road or not" kind of person. Maybe he'll take some criticism to heart, maybe not, but this is some new shit right here. And it's after steps of discarding parts of his previous content so I think he's prepared to lose some people and is okay with that? Like he essentially told the llama people to fuck off already, he's moved on- and this is the direction he's moving in. Fuck, full speed ahead, please. I don't have time to Go Deep with anything as Saturdays are a nightmare for me, but this video made my day because it's a taste of things to come. It's not going to be perfect right out of the gate, and he's not doing a philosophy lecture or history of the internet and human progress and where they converge- he was combining two ideas to waffle on for a bit about something he's interested in. Could it have been tighter/clearer/better? Of course, everything can. But I loved it and I hope it's just the tip of the iceberg of whatever he's got planned for the future of his channel. He's got to feel it out a bit first though and I'm here for it.

[iero]

i found the video....boring. when i got to the end i didn't even realise what the point of it was. i zoned out more than once

[sparkle]

- That outro reminding me of fetus Emma's outro.

OH MY GOD THAT IS WHAT IT REMIDNS ME OF!!!!

have we come full YouTube circle, Emma copies Dan, Dan copies Emma... and it always has rock crushes scissors

[obliviongrace]

I do actually want to emphasize that I really want Dan to keep doing things like that video, and I do hope that he gets enough positive response that it feels to him worth continuing. I don't know Dan enough to know if he's the "didn't get it perfect so never do it again" type or the "didn't do it perfect, better try harder next time" type of person since we so rarely see him take risks alone.

I'm leaning toward him being a "this is the direction I've decided to go and it's where I'm going, bumpy road or not" kind of person. Maybe he'll take some criticism to heart, maybe not, but this is some new shit right here. And it's after steps of discarding parts of his previous content so I think he's prepared to lose some people and is okay with that? Like he essentially told the llama people to fuck off already, he's moved on- and this is the direction he's moving in. Fuck, full speed ahead, please. I don't have time to Go Deep with anything as Saturdays are a nightmare for me, but this video made my day because it's a taste of things to come. It's not going to be perfect right out of the gate, and he's not doing a philosophy lecture or history of the internet and human progress and where they converge- he was combining two ideas to waffle on for a bit about something he's interested in. Could it have been tighter/clearer/better? Of course, everything can. But I loved it and I hope it's just the tip of the iceberg of whatever he's got planned for the future of his channel. He's got to feel it out a bit first though and I'm here for it.

I agree so much with what you've said, fancybum! I definitely found the video a bit confusing and I think in the end the subject matter really isn't the thing for me, but I was also alarmed and a bit saddened by the large amount of pessimism/anger/negativity I've come forward from it. It seems to me like a lot of people who said that Dan just needed to start putting out vids even if they weren't great/perfect and move forward from there are now angry? And I'm not sure if it's because they don't like the direction of the content, the topic matter, or what, but it's confused me. I think growing pains in Dan's content should be so expected. To me, this felt like the most Dan style video he's put out this year, like for the first time it wasn't just a "oh shoot I need to put out a video" filler and him actually testing the waters of what he can do post-dinof. I think my fear after the reaction to this video is that, as alittledizzy said, Dan is a "didn't get it perfect so never do it again" type. I'm not saying people shouldn't express their opinions about being confused by the video or not liking it! But I feel like there's a difference between having those thoughts/constructive criticisms and just being sort of dismissive and angry. Does this make sense?

[droopy]

I'm with folks who were confused, but excited to see where this type of content leads him. Most of everything I thought was already said, but I do have one thing I'd like to add:

The title of the video was "The Memeing of Life," but it took him half the video to get to the memes part. When I noticed that, I was left wondering, "Okay, how deeply can he even delve on this topic?" Since I'm a total English major nerd, I imagined it like him writing a paper, but his introduction paragraph was 2 pages long and his page limit was 3, and then he didn't even give his thesis statement until the beginning of the next paragraph (where the argument should start), and then the rest of his paper didn't even really follow the thesis statement.

Like others have said, it generally just felt like he scraped the surface of a few different ideas, but didn't go in-depth on any of them, and then didn't quite manage to tie it all together at the end. I really like the concept I think he was getting at, so I think the main thing he could work on in future videos is not being afraid to really explore the ideas he's presenting.

also this was several pages ago but thank you LeftHandedism for answering my question, I've now been using all my downtime to read the old threads page by page lmao

[VengefulBlue]

haven't properly watched, might watch later. i listened to it during my shower tho, and thought it seemed interesting but also hard to follow. might be bc i wasn't reading captions (auditory processing issues), but other posts make me think it might also be dan moving too fast/covering too much. i don't know if i agree with the bits i did hear, but i like hearing dan's perspective on stuff. idk, i feel like if the overall message was "it's okay to be a memester, if you aren't having some huge impact on the world rn that's ok", then i agree with that. it's just some specific things he said that i don't agree with(maslow's hierarchy is bs). also, later perspective might show that memes were crucial culturally, or that current times aren't really that revolutionary at all. who tf knows.

[pastelspectre]

the only thing i have to say about dan's new video is....what. it was good. i liked it, don't get me wrong. i like how he's going intellectual and deep on his own channel and not just in liveshows. but...the video for me was mostly confusing, if anything. it just confused me immensely and made me question my life tbh? :wtf:

also i know the discussion for collabs is long gone now but i'd just like to say the ones i enjoy and don't enjoy:
enjoy
dan and phil's collabs with pewdiepie (very enjoyable and funny)
dan's collab with tyler (esp, i find myself rewatching those more than once)
dan and phil's collabs with cat (like the speech jammer, i find myself going back to that one a lot)
dan and phil's collabs with louise (esp the awkward dinner, the prank call and obama llama, those made me cry from laughter)
dan's collab with tomska (very funny and nice to watch)
fantastic foursome collabs (enjoyable and nice to watch, don't think i've ever rewatched them though)

dislike
phil with shawna (mostly bc i literally cannot watch it bc of shawna's views)
dan/phil with connor (felt very awkward and forced imo)
dan's with the twins (looking back now it's very cringe imo lol)

and thats the only ones i can think of

as of gaming videos, i especially /enjoy/ their undertale series (mainly bc the game is a masterpiece and i love watching them play it), and i love a lot of their gamingmas and halloween ones, the new ones and old ones. good videos. i also love the club penguin one, mainly bc it brought back a lot of memories. the only ones i dislike are the spon ones. they felt weird and.. awkward? idk

sorry for this long unnecessary post? idk sorry

[lefthandedism]

[offtopic]

also this was several pages ago but thank you LeftHandedism for answering my question, I've now been using all my downtime to read the old threads page by page lmao

ahaha, you're welcome for letting me shove you down the rabbit hole! I made myself read all the old main threads before I let myself join here. Took me months. :wtf:[/offtopic]

[flarequake]

- That outro reminding me of fetus Emma's outro.

OH MY GOD THAT IS WHAT IT REMIDNS ME OF!!!!

have we come full YouTube circle, Emma copies Dan, Dan copies Emma... and it always has rock crushes scissors

Now that's funny. I wonder if he's actually seen those videos or if it's a coincidence. The glitch does go well with his personality and style of content.

[hopinglester]

I re-watched the video and I just wanted to jolt down some thoughts I had after more fully understanding what he was trying to convey in the video:

- Ok, the main argument of this video is that we live in a period of stagnation compared to the past and a future, because there isn't much 'action' or wtv, and so, though we'd wish to live in a more action packed universe or period, there is nothing we can do about it and so we can just... enjoy the memes??? Sorry, but I still don't fully get that connection, nor I think it was well drawn out.

As I said in my previous post, this idea that we are somehow living in this period that has no inovation or possibility for having a more engaging and exciting life seems ridiculous to me. I think that we should also bear in mind that the view Dan expressed of this is so extremely white male-centric - it makes no notice of how there has never actually been a time before that enables minorities to more fully follow their dreams. Also, I didn't get Dan's view of dreams in this video? This idea that there was a period when everyone was an astronaut or wtv? I'm still very much confused.

- As everyone said, the problem really was that he had too many points and focused on none. I think a single video exploration of why it's difficult for us to separate our idyllic fantasies from concrete dreams would have been fascinating. Or other shorter more condensed videos about other points mentioned as well.

I don't really have anything else to say, and honestly everything I said now is a bit redundant, but I wanted to see if my opinion changed after another watch.
Also, really wanted to point out that I completely agree with dizzy's point of view about hoping Dan will take the criticism to heart and make impreobemnt rather than draw back into a shell and give up exploring this type of videos.

[DatCog]

Just watched it again (this time with sound...it definitely helps ) and I quite enjoyed it! It made me laugh in a few places and not all of it went flying over my head this time. The editing was so tight though, it all felt a bit relentless...8 minute long with a few pauses for breath would have been better I reckon. I'll probably watch it again tomorrow when it's not midnight and I'm not under the influence

Oh, and we saw a glimpse of a new room/different angle with a dining table and the plant from their old hallway (I think)

[swofro]

Hello, negative review incoming.

I don't understand what is the video about the first time I watch it, so I watch it the second time two hours later after I've read everyone's comment on here. Still confuse tbh.

From what my dumb brain can comprehend, he try to execute a video where he talks about the meaning of life as it is now, and he find it to be meaningless because it is in between a period where a colonialism era finishes and the next colonialism (space) starts , and as if nothing we can do now will mark the history. Daniel, Rome wasn't built in a day. As someone had said earlier, the world is continuously changing and not stagnant, and if you are discouraged to do something to help because you feel like your minuscule contribution does not actually contribute to anything, you are wrong. Just like every vote counts, every contribution does count, whether you are doing local charity work or working with doctor without borders. We are the one who shapes the world we live in and sometimes we do feel helpless to stir the world to the better direction but always remember that every little thing counts.

Maybe he is right in the essence that one of the 'thing' that will be pointed out in history books in the future is how we entertain ourselves in memes and it becomes a big part of communicating with a lot of people from different part of the world. But I disagree that it is the only thing we can define the meaning of life as it is. There are so much more we can do. This is the era of where people especially from the third world like me, can actually dream a dream that will come true. We. have. come. so. far. If I was born earlier from I am now, I have very little chance of pursuing education because education back then was only for the rich. I will probably be a daughter of a farmer who live as a farmer, marry another farmer and die a farmer. If I was born even earlier, I will probably find myself die either from the hand of a colonialist or from famine because of colonialism. Have I mention already how much I hate colonialism? Anyway, I find that he comes from a position of privileged saying that the great journey of our time as it is is making memes.

Or I have totally misinterprets what he says in the video and I am sorry if I did because the video is hella confusing for me

Bottomline, in my opinion, poor execution, poor pacing but could be a good content. I am a fan of ISG so I will say that I prefer ISG than this. Saying that, I do wanna see him try this kind of video again. I want to watch him succeed. If the video is executed better, I will probably be a fan.

Sorry this evolved into an unnecessary rant. Don't hate me.

[alittledizzy]

I do actually want to emphasize that I really want Dan to keep doing things like that video, and I do hope that he gets enough positive response that it feels to him worth continuing. I don't know Dan enough to know if he's the "didn't get it perfect so never do it again" type or the "didn't do it perfect, better try harder next time" type of person since we so rarely see him take risks alone.

I'm leaning toward him being a "this is the direction I've decided to go and it's where I'm going, bumpy road or not" kind of person. Maybe he'll take some criticism to heart, maybe not, but this is some new shit right here. And it's after steps of discarding parts of his previous content so I think he's prepared to lose some people and is okay with that? Like he essentially told the llama people to fuck off already, he's moved on- and this is the direction he's moving in. Fuck, full speed ahead, please. I don't have time to Go Deep with anything as Saturdays are a nightmare for me, but this video made my day because it's a taste of things to come. It's not going to be perfect right out of the gate, and he's not doing a philosophy lecture or history of the internet and human progress and where they converge- he was combining two ideas to waffle on for a bit about something he's interested in. Could it have been tighter/clearer/better? Of course, everything can. But I loved it and I hope it's just the tip of the iceberg of whatever he's got planned for the future of his channel. He's got to feel it out a bit first though and I'm here for it.

I think the biggest frustration to me is that this, as rizzo said, just felt like a rough draft that really needed a proofreader. I have a gut feeling that because Phil wasn't around he didn't actually have anyone watch this for him and give him feedback on it. I think even one person outside of his own head going, "Yeah, but what do you mean when you say [insert one of any number of vague remarks in the video]?" would have helped give him some perspective.

That's what I hope he improves on. This might be kind of a new direction but he's still a youtuber with five million subscribers who has been doing this since he was eighteen. I feel like a disappointed teacher right now; he has so much potential, he just needs to apply himself a little more. Some peer review would have done him well, I think.

[DeadlyNova]

It's really hard to say this and I feel bad for it, but I didn't like Dan's new video at all. I've never hated or even just 'not enjoyed' a single video either of them have posted before now.

I watched it with a friend I had over who I got into Dan and Phil a while back and we were both very disappointed. I never understood the point and was just hoping for the video to end. I might rewatch it at least one more time alone, but I probably won't be able to bring myself to do it for a while.

Dan can make whatever kind of videos he wants but I hope this kind doesn't become a regular thing, even if it is a shitpost. I can appreciate it more if that's the case, haha.

[sparkle]

What I get from it, and I could be wrong. I'm probably wrong.

Is that before he was all existential and 'there is not point to everything I'm going to cry and eat maltesers'. He's a deep thinker, he is preoccupied by existential questions (he'd make a great sociologist or author), but he doesn't want to be associated with 'life is pointless also LOL i'M sO RaNduuuuMMM llamaAAAAs xDDDDDD'

So he's keeping the existentialism which is part of him, but rather than being 'what is the point'. He's saying 'there is no point, you have to be so exceptional to be in the history books that you might as well fucking laugh about your life'.

Which is a pretty healthy attitude to embrace, there's no point me crying because I'm not going to be a great sociologist and quoted in 200 years' time like Marx, Durkheim, or Weber. So I'm going to laugh at how I'm under qualified to work in Domino's but qualified enough to work handling sensitive data for the government. (seriously. I wish I was kidding)

It's pretty refreshing - and it's the sort of attitude I embraced when I started to grow away from Dan; it feels like we've realigned and even though this video is one of the most bizarre I have ever watched, I can get on board with it.

[secretagentphan]

I think my biggest worry with the rebranding is that it's looking like he's moving more towards preachy pretentious Dan, which is my least favorite Dan. Hopefully he'll find the balance of being able to teach people and still coming across down to earth. Actually I think Chris Crocker does a really good job of balancing silly with making serious and HONEST videos. I think the genuine and honest demeanor is what's missing from his videos. Off topic but Chris Crocker gets shit on all the time and dismissed but I enjoy his content so much tbh.

[autumnhearth]

I feel like I both am and am not the intended audience for this video. I have never been on Reddit, "dank "isn't in my vocabulary and the only memes I see are those on FB or relating to fandoms on Tumblr.

While I can relate to feeling lost and out of place in our society and romanticizing both history and fantasy, the whole "there is nothing left to discover" (as if you would have been an explorer and not peasant) rubbed me the wrong way.

I feel like there are a lot of important things people can be doing with their lives and careers (and yet I'm not) and that this video is rather at odds with his getting involved with politics and young people shaping the world talk we heard in recent liveshows.

I appreciate the message of looking inward rather than outward to find meaning and fulfillment (though we should also be looking st our communities). And I appreciate the reaffirmation of life being what you make of it and having what meaning you give it (as introduced in his Meaning of Life and Existential Crises videos). I think this is important for a generation that is largely no longer guided by religion or conservative values.

I am all for going deep with Dan, I liked the video on aliens and I love waffley Dan in liveshows, but I agree the main problem here was in the pacing. There were next to no memes and the one he zoomed in and scrolled over gave me a headache. I was left feeling tired and depressed, but I'm going to give it another view with the husband later. I also hope that Dan doesn't get discouraged and am curious to see what is next from him.

(I suppose if you replaced memes with "fanart and fanfic" then the message works well for me currently, though you could easily say "art, music and literature" or nature. I also still get fulfillment out of ritual and mythology so )

[Yaz]

I...what? What even was the point of that video? I think that sometimes when Dan starts speaking he just keeps going because he likes the way he sounds. I have no issue with the fast-paced videos in general, some of my favorite videos to watch on youtube are of Wisecrack so when he was talking about a more 'philosophical' video -lol- i thought we might get something like that. But this word salad had no introduction to the subject, no actual subject and no conclusion. It's alright to have no final opinon on something you wanna discuss, but then the point should be that you have no final opinion at least. Like, there was not an ending to his ramblings.

But still, if this is the type of stuff he wants to make, I'm all for it. I'd be so much happier knowing he is doing something that makes him genuinely excited. And I'm sure it'll get better in time and he'll find his ryhtm eventually.

A bit more (frankly, uncalled-for) Dan negativity under spoilers for those who don't wanna see it. Not about the latest video but him in general:

I love Dan so much because how kind and a lovely person he is but man, he reminds me of the people I've been friends with in my first year of uni when I was majoring in philosophy. He is exhausting to watch sometimes. You have an interest in philosophy? That's awesome, but maybe read a few more books before trying to throw random words at your viewers. You are passionate about music? Great, educate yourself a bit more rather than pointing out how uneducated the people who are slightly less educated than you are.


He comes across as someone who wants to present himself as intelligent and intellectual but having an above average mental capacity can't guarentee you that. You have to work for it, use that capacity and engage your intellect. Like, I get the feeling of not being able to do things you want to do. I've been dealing with severe agoraphobia since I was 18 and it took me 8 years to finish my 5 years long uni education. So I get it and am not trying to judge him on how he spends his time don't get me wrong, but it's honestly exhausting to watch someone try to school you when it's so painfully apparent how uninformed they really are on the subject.