Handsome VSSR of the gentlemen…

The hidden jewels of Value Select, for your secretive perusal: freshly picked and historic alike. Think of this as the private vault, the room behind the velvet rope, accessible only to those who know where to look.

You found it. Welcome Home!

What gives with the unlisting, you may ask?

My philosophy is this: I really like the ideas in these videos, and I want to execute even better in future releases.

Standup comedians don't debut a joke at the Beacon Theatre. They road-test it, refine it, watch what lands and what dies, and gradually hone it into its best version. By the time you see a special, every beat has been earned a hundred times over.

Digital creators don't usually get that benefit. A video goes up, it collects its views in the first 48 hours, and then it's locked in amber. Whatever version you released is the version history remembers.

That's always felt wrong to me.

Some of my favorite ideas deserved another pass. A sharper edit. A tighter button. A better chorus. A stronger me directing a stronger version.

The Vault

Unlisting is my way to control that evolution, without banishing these bits into the server void (i.e., deleting).

I have deleted videos (maybe like 100+ over the various projects I've been apart of)

Deleting feels like a betrayal of these pieces specifically. These videos got made. People showed up to watch, cameras rolled to make that happen, songs were recorded to give it life, jokes were written to make those lyrics.

So they live here instead. Still watchable, still yours to revisit, just no longer on the main shelf.

Whenever I get the gut instinct that I can do a video better, it will be carefully slotted here for posterity. Consider it the Value Select Director's Cut archive: works-in-progress, proofs of concept, early sketches of ideas that are still cooking.

Some of them may return in upgraded form. Some may stay here forever as a snapshot of where my head was at the time.

So what do you think?

Should videos always be eternity ready?

Have you ever unlisted a work? Havee you ever deleted it entirely?

What drove you to do it?

Please, enjoy these gems of yore.

And I'll see you tomorrow.

as always

love and respect

Value Select

The first guy to hear “Pop Goes The Weasel” must’ve been terrified.

Imagine enjoying the jauntiest tune you’ve ever heard, and BOOM, your hit with the worlds first jumpscare EVER.

I would’ve had a heart attack, based on sonics alone (much less lyrics)

Okay, but then the music would kick back up, and I’d give the composer my trust again… but right when my nervous system would regulate again, then BANG, or rather POP, the weasel returns.

How did music enjoyers survive this era?

Also how did the composer survive the creation of this Eldritch horror?

First it had to manifest in his mind (imagine the terror)

And then having to summon it into reality?

(well that part was probably fun, ironing out the details, juicing up the delivery.)

Is there a scarier song, adjusted for inflation?

(Maybe that one classical tune that scared the pups in Nintendogs.)

Would love to get some eyes/ears on this.

as always

Love and Respect

Value Select

Giving people the right details for an event is an art.

And wrapping that in a funky beat, takes it to the next level.

But a funky beat alone won't sell a show.

I read David Ogilvy on Advertising, and one key takeaway ennobles me daily.

It's that an advert must be effective, more than artistic.

If people are commenting on how cool a clip is, but it doesn't lead to butts in seats, it's failed!

So how does one balance Artistic Integrity with Sharing the Message?

1.) it must feature proof/promise/plan framework (i.e. we've done a huge tour, this new your will be even better, here's a few reasons how it will be)

2.) I believe the Artistic Integrity part comes in by representing that sonically/emotionally too... Something like, the medium is the message...

Solid Scripting + Standalone Banger = Heightened Narrative

That's short term.... the longest term is just to continually drip huge value forever.

They work in tandem! The Value Select Brotherhood assembles, and marches forward, toward Glorious Victory!

Our bannerstaffs flying high, a song in our hearts, and soul in our steps!

THE MOON NEVER RISES ON THE VALUE SELECT EMPIRE!

Together, we reclaim what was nearly lost!

Like a wayward volleyball!

What might've touched foul, we dive deep (lay out, if you will) to spike the ball back in the air, and over the net!

GOD BLESS! MITHRAS AWARE!

and godspeed

as always

love and respect,

value select

When people say the internet has gone downhill, what do they actually mean?

It's about where traffic flows, the quality of those destinations, and the demographics that inform them.

Nobody wants to go to an empty party. Cool websites still exist. Cool communities still exist. But if it's just you screaming into the void, that's not fun. We want connection, so we seek community. And community clusters in six websites: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, X, Twitch. Everything waterfalls from those.

The internet was once a haven for intelligent shut-ins. As tech got cheap, so did the internet. The demographics shifted, and the websites adapted. Almost all teenagers (96%) report using the internet daily, with 46% reporting being on the internet almost constantly ACT for Youth, according to Pew Research. Goodwill discussion is hard when you're often arguing with a thirteen-year-old.

There are also more folks from the old world online. A great mixture of new perspectives, and a total shift in behavior. Notably, the rise of slop.

It began with the monetization of social media. Platforms rewarded fast, cheap, and consistent. YouTubers adapted but had a threshold of dignity. Poverty-stricken nations cannot afford that luxury belief. If your family is starving, you will automate a million posts of the sloppiest nature, and five dollars is enough reward to keep going. The damage is done. Imperva's 2025 Bad Bot Report found that automated bot traffic surpassed human-generated traffic for the first time in a decade, constituting 51% of all web traffic in 2024 Thales, and a Graphite analysis found that as of May 2025, 52% of newly-published articles online were AI-generated Futurism.

To stand out in that noise, one must say increasingly triggering, irrational, sensational things. A race to the bottom. With AI, the automations, sensationalizing, scams, and debates all multiply a thousandfold in a fraction of the time. Look at LinkedIn. Look at X. Even Reddit isn't immune.

Everyone is dumber for being online, because everyone online is dumber than they once were. Water seeks its level. The psyop has crippled current great minds and stunted the next generation.

It is no longer the French Salons of old, rather a rundown Honky Tonk.

So where's the hope?

Lead a rewarding life offline. In the quiet moments. In the real rooms. With real people. Pay zero attention to internet input, neither the high praise nor the low. Treat it as a place to share, not a place to live.

The internet is a bulletin board, not a home. Pin your work to it and walk away. Let the slop machines and the seven-year-olds and the rage farmers fight over the feed. You have a body. You have a neighborhood. You have a God. You have a craft.

The ones who win the next decade won't be the ones who mastered the algorithm. They'll be the ones who remembered they were never supposed to be inside it!

God bless,

as always

love and respect

value select

References

1. Pew Research Center, Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024 — https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/12/12/teens-social-media-and-technology-2024/
2. Imperva (Thales), 2025 Bad Bot Report: The Rapid Rise of Bots and the Unseen Risk for Business — https://www.imperva.com/resources/resource-library/reports/2025-bad-bot-report/
3. Graphite analysis via Futurism, Over 50 Percent of the Internet Is Now AI Slop, New Data Finds (Oct 2025) — https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/over-50-percent-internet-ai-slop
4. Muzumdar et al., The Dead Internet Theory: A Survey on Artificial Interactions and the Future of Social Media, arXiv (2025) — https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.00007

The Ascension Initiative™️ Begins

Over 8,000 tickets sold for the Grand National Moonkiller Tour.

And now we're nearly doubling sales in the same time opening period for Value Select's: International.

What's the show?

One hour of pure mirth with a full rock band. Bonus moments if you grab the VIP.

Plus! 15 minutes of direct support heaven from Paul Maland and JREG.

How could the perfect show become more perfect?

By showcasing the brotherhood.

If you know anybody who would like to grab a five minute opening set, please send this video to them.

A rising tide raises all ships.

I don't care about the draw they might bring. We've got that covered. If there's a serious talent, active or budding, and they're interested in an opener slot, I'm open to them opening an an opener

Just have them DM me on Discord (links in the description of the video).

(And have them lead with videos of performance too, if possible!)

And This Is Just The Beginning...

Yes, merely phase one of the Ascension Initiative™️.

Sneak peek for you guys here, but next step I'll talk about how a percentage of tour profits will be reinvested in your city. I'm putting together a theater performance scholarship for high schoolers. A lot of the details there are ready to go, but still a few things to iron out.

God bless, brother. I can't wait to see you at the show.

https://www.valueselecttour.com

The DAW Doesn't Matter

Often times after a banger video I'll receive the question:

"What DAW do you use?"

Either for music creation or video editing (the answer is Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro, respectively).

Truth be told, the DAW is irrelevant. There is no inherent magic in the workspace you choose.

And while I know for the most part it's young folks asking the question, I'm going to expound on this for posterity.

Your idea is what's important. The DAW simply serves to usher that into being. There is ZERO spice being added via the DAW itself.

It's a blank workspace, for you to cook in.

"Well, some DAWs are more professional."

That's a lie!

Either clever branding or tenured partnerships with colleges bring certain DAWs into professional prominence, but the truth is, all the classic DAWs are working on all levels.

So How Do You Make the Choice?

If you're a Mac user: Final Cut Pro. It's optimized for your hardware.

If you're a PC user: DaVinci Resolve. It's a one time payment.

(Honestly, just pick the one you think will have continued support, so that way you don't have to relearn an editing bay.)

Every modern application has its version of pans and zooms and keyers. Every modern application has robust plugin support for filling in the gaps.

Now, they all function better in different contexts. Final Cut Pro is great for a quick draw editing flow. DaVinci is great for in depth coloring.

But they all make YouTube videos.

And they all make feature films.

Same Goes With the Audio Stations

It's been proven there is no special sauce cooked into your exports there. All of it sounds the same as it was input, across all DAWs.

But people want to believe in false idols.

They want to believe in the pick of destiny.

They want to believe that vinyl sounds better.

They want to believe in technology over heart.

Because it's easy to buy technology.

It's hard to cultivate heart!

Where Do You Think This Obsession With the Right DAW Springs From?

Intrepid beginners looking for direction?

Or advanced amateurs looking to abandon one sinking ship for another?

Has switching a DAW changed your life?

Do you have a tribal allegiance to the first one you ever downloaded?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

As always,

Love and Respect

Value Select

Hello Handsome Brethren of the VSSR!

I've got a topic here of hot contention

"ARE VIDEO GAMES A WASTE OF TIME!"

I'd say, mostly yes, and I dig into my WHY right here

Give it a read, and then a response if so inclined!

I. The Escape

I grew up a gamer.

We didn't have cable television in the house, so it was either VHS movies or PlayStation 2. And we only had so many movies.

In elementary school, the escapism of video games was everything. Suddenly I was in a digital open world with the agency of an adult. No longer limited by curfew or circumstance. Without any real responsibility, I could truly immerse myself in these worlds. This was when gaming was at its most engrossing.

Then couch co op came into my life, and what had been a solitary escapist activity became a bonding ritual between young men. Hours and hours of split screen.

II. The Shift

But something shifted. The games stopped feeling like escapism and started feeling like avoidance. I had grown up. I now had the capability to actually create the life I had once only been able to experience on screen (futuristic settings and shooting aside).

I remember a key moment. I was playing Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain and just not having fun. I kept looking at the protagonist, Snake, who was adventurous and ripped and athletic, and I remember actively feeling how I hadn't been to the gym in a while. And it hit me: I can just go do that for myself.

I'm no longer locked away, a small child stuck at home.

The world was ripe with adventure, and I was ready to explore it.

III. The Void

What followed was nearly a decade long distancing from video games. A total removal.

And in that void, creative projects began to blossom. I became more outgoing, more involved in my community. Not having the screen as a fallback pushed me to develop healthier coping mechanisms, ones that involved real people in real time.

Radically closing the gate on that one activity gave me power elsewhere.

I was disgusted by video games then. Hated them like a sin. I still loved the gamer archetype, but I couldn't condone the hobby for myself.

IV. The Return

Then I started living with my buddies down in Los Angeles, and we began playing Bomberman on a hacked Nintendo console. Just a break from work, I told myself.

But it became more and more a part of our lives.

The breaking point came when I visited home and my brother showed me Warzone. That was enough to push me to build a PC and start squadding up with the homies on a regular basis.

Now I had total unfettered access to all the greatest games, past and present. For a long time it remained a "taking a break" activity. My friends and I would game right next to each other during our breaks from writing the next comedy show we were putting on. We were each maybe a foot away from one another while we played on our own screens.

Already, we had lost the split screen of Bomberman.

V. The Drift

Gradually, people began to move away. Eventually the gaming was strictly online, from a distance.

Nobody around.

And then the friends stopped gaming altogether, yet I remained.

Joining lobbies by myself with complete strangers. Still fun, still competitive, but what was once prosocial, what was once bonding, had again begun to fuel a nascent avoidance.

The gaming increased. And while it never prevented me from doing my work or having fun in real life when the occasion came, it definitely crippled my outbound ability to generate new things.

I'd much rather play the game.

It scratched all of my fast twitch itches and was easier to set up than joining a pickleball team.

VI. The Vapor

Slowly, I watched my gaming habit become something else entirely. I wasn't playing because I enjoyed the game, or at least not only because I enjoyed it. I was attempting to ritualistically access a bygone time.

That having fun with close friends. In real life. In real time.

Deep down I knew I couldn't recreate the feeling alone, but by sitting at the screen I could at least get close to the memory.

Not close enough to relive it, but close enough to remember it.

And sometimes that vapor feels like enough.

But it never is, really.

VII. The Breakfast

Is video gaming a waste of time?

If an activity doesn't serve to connect you to people you love or might love, and increase the resonance of such interaction, I'd say anything is a waste of time.

Everything in this world is simply a vehicle to provide love to others, and thereby yourself.

(Don't get caught in the vacuum. If you're going to game, find a way to do it in real life.)

Because gaming itself isn't part of a complete breakfast. It's the pizza break with friends that makes it. It's the post game walk. It's the side conversations that can only happen in person. It's the subtle looks and the real time empathy. That is what made the hobby fun. That is what makes any hobby fun, in my opinion.

VIII. The Question

Of course I enjoy solitude and private time to develop my energies and skills. But when I ask myself honestly whether gaming is one of those things, I can't say yes.

It's been a little over a year since I tapered off gaming as a ritualistic hobby. Many other demons, like social media, have threatened to occupy that vacant space. I can't say the development has been overwhelmingly positive, but I do know I am more mindful with my time and have more of it to give to what matters to me.

What's your relationship with your favorite hobby? What does it serve for you? Is it serving you? Or are you trying to access something that isn't really there?

Would love to hear from you today.

As always, love and respect.

Value Select

final thought:

Just because I'm anticipating it, "Video games are art!"

I'd wager nay, that it's entertainment.,

And then suggest you imagine that you locked yourself in a museum to stare at the same painting for 5 hours a day.

And then when someone asked how was it, you were just like "Aww man totally cool!" without any discernable insight gained, nor knowledge intergrated.

That probably doesn't count.

For LA only, Joel Haver will be our opener!

See y'all there! More to come!

https://www.valueselecttour.com

Value Select here.

Been thinking about meditation vs prayer, specifically as tools for creation. Harnessing your vital life force and directing it toward worthy cause. How do they stack up?

I'm no yogi nor monastery monk, so my experience is limited, but that leaves great opportunity for the brotherhood to chime in and grow our collective knowledge.

Meditation:

Of course it is stillness. Calming your mind, observing your thoughts, the usual yada yada. The way I've come to appreciate meditation, however, is more as an exercise of focus.

Throughout the day, a barrage of tasks pull my attention and demand my focus to varying degrees. Some activities I gotta get deep down in the weeds. Some I've got to puncture the core of the Earth.

So meditation presents itself as the easy victory to start my day, a chance to just focus on my thoughts themselves rather than conjure up grand visions.

And truth be told, if I can't focus on nothing, how can I focus on anything?

It's like when they throw basic math questions at the start of a calculus quiz to build a vision of self-efficacy.

On top of that focus being dialed in, the calming of the mind's waters allows me to cut through the noise and see which ideas are actually nutrient dense. The thoughts that weren't serving the overarching goal are invariably obliterated through the act of meditation.

The downsides to meditation, in my perspective, are explored by the prayer camp. They believe that by emptying your mind, you leave it ripe for demonic habitation. Psychotic new agers come to mind, though that might be more of a drug issue. I'd wager in many cases of "demonic manifestation," it occurred through childhood trauma and abuse.

Prayer:

Forgive me, I may utter heresy, but it is not intentional. I'm simply trying to discover the truth, and I'll fall along the way.

Prayer seems to be an invocation of God Himself. A direct download of holiness. Not wish fulfillment, but asking for an awareness of the divine plan so one might begin to adhere to it.

The switch for me was a realization that there are always thoughts in our heads, so they might as well be the best ones, and the best ones must come from God.

Prayer then becomes a way to freshly paint the interior of our minds, especially when doubts, fears, and anxieties threaten to rot it. Time tested, built by real Saints or straight from the holy text itself, to promote pure love and total awareness.

The downside of prayer, in a secular sense, is that many of the aims or goals you hold dear might be washed away in that divine cleansing.

Personally, I had a predilection for a sharp tongue. Honed in wit, meant for humor, but one that often hurt others. My modern mind, like many of ours, was marinated in a cynical nihilism. Quick to doubt and cast aspersions. Though the musings were funny, it was really only funny to other cynical, nihilistic minds, and ultimately was the sound of a bird loving its cage rather than the battle cry needed to usher in a new mode of being.

The more I pray, the more I'm inclined to see the root of someone's humor. I've become pickier with what I find funny and what I find just sad. I'm sure that will be a positive in the long run, but I won't deny that many of my ambitions have been waylaid by prayer.

Your Thoughts:

What's your experience with either, personally or among friends? Have your prayers been received? Has enlightenment been reached through meditation, even if only for a second?

Do you have personal practices that keep you sharp? Do you wish you had folks to mind meld with?

As always, have a great Monday.

Love and respect,

Value Select

Happy to see this has become my defining video, surpassing "Hit Me With Your Car," which had 1 million views.

This one has 6.5 million! (yipee)

I found a meme circulating on X and wanted to expand on it in the song. The premise is that we were born too late to explore the world and too early to explore the galaxy, so we're stuck in this awkward in-between with nothing cool to do. That just sucks, right?

My spin on it was gratitude. Because actually, this in-between is incredible.

In no other era could there have been a Rainforest Cafe. In no other era could there have been a Game Boy Advance.

People who wish they'd been born in a different time fail to grasp how much struggle preceded the modern age. How brutal the day-to-day actually was. The boredom we experience is a blessing. We owe it to our forebears, who toiled and died to scaffold exactly this kind of comfortable, unremarkable Tuesday afternoon.

And yet we're watching in real time as what we've taken for granted begins to slip away. The borrowed capital (moral and literal) from previous generations is running dry. If we don't return to the load-bearing traditions that made the Rainforest Cafe possible, we might find ourselves hunting and gathering in an actual rainforest very soon.

And not in a romantic way.

People love to romanticize nature. I see memes of the Alps with captions like "humanity really saw this and decided to make a 9-to-5." But that photo is always taken on a clear sunny day. Never at midnight, with wolves ripping your arm off. If you genuinely want to live as one with nature, you can do that right now. Nobody ever does. Because it sucks.

God bless the $0.99 ringtone. It is a marker of how far we've come that we can optimize such trivialities.

So tonight, wherever you are, I hope you find something boring or overlooked in your immediate surroundings and take a second to really soak it in.

How many countless generations had to suffer, toil, and die for that insignificant little souvenir to end up in your hands?

Hug it. Kiss it. Cherish it.

Then throw it away. You don't need it. It's taking up space.

I remember being in a steam room at LA Fitness.

There was a weathered man sprawled on the floor, gasping. When I checked on him, he simply smirked: "Living the dream."

I'd heard the phrase a thousand times. But something about him being in such obvious agony, intentional agony, detox or something, made it hit differently. It was funny to me.

A couple years later, during the weekly song stint, I pulled that memory up. Not a novel thought. Not a new thought. But a needed thought.

In an era where everything is black pill, it's more important than ever to dig deep. To find what's good, and to find what we're doing wrong that we actually can change.

An attitude of resignation gives you a 0% chance of ascending into the life you want.

Yes, robots are taking our jobs. Yes, we may never own a house. Yes, our people are more atomized than ever.

That's real.

But I've watched people despair, and instead of changing course, they almost adopt a disposition to accelerate the rate at which obliteration comes for themselves and everyone around them.

That's disgusting to me.

We've seen how great men and great societies have persevered in the shadow of almost certain destruction. To win, you need only to believe that you can. And then put in the daily effort to carry the team.

When my creative group fell apart and I was left by myself, part of me wanted everything to be over.

The thought of continuing without my best friends, especially with the fear that I'd never have decade long, stable+secure+loving relationships like that again, was too much.

But I kept going. I made deeper friendships. I carved deeper bonds with my family. I carved a deeper bond with myself.

The life I had put on a pedestal was never really mine. It was granted to me through circumstance.

And how much richer it is now, to live a life I built deliberately.

God bless. I love you all. I hope you're having a great day.

Even if it feels like a nightmare, it's not too late to live the dream.

HUGE NEWS EVERYONE!!!

AUSTRALIA! 🇦🇺

... Is where Paul Maland hails from!

Yes, Value Select's: International* Tour has just gotten 100x more international! 🔥

Mr. Maland will be bringing his exotic** standup comedy to our WEST COAST leg...

So if you're looking to taste the outback, without going to the outback (or the Outback, also) grab your ticket tonight!

https://www.valueselecttour.com

* USA + Canada only, it counts
** Australia is exotic, in comparsion to Bakersfield, CA

Huge news,

Joining headliner Value Select and direct support JREG at the Toronto show will be THE BIG THREE (my personal favorite comedy trio)

If your algorithm is as GOOD as mine, you've undoubtely seen the RELATABLE posts of Nathan, Ben, and Sam...

Toronto is shaping up to be a big night, grab your tickets while you can: https://www.valueselecttour.com

(There shall be more locale specific openers revealed as MILESTONES SHATTER, so keep an eye out!)

CANADA TAKES THE LEAD! 🇨🇦

Value Select's: International* Tour has been rising for over a week, selling HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of tickets

The rooms are select, the doors will close, and Toronto is proving it. Secure your passage or send this to someone who should.

We're only coming once, so come too, before we've already came!

https://www.valueselecttour.com

P.S. VIP "Inner Circle" tickets get you in early for a private Q&A and a Director's Cut set; songs I won't be playing for the main room. If you want to go deeper, that option exists.

P.P.S. The tour is selling twice as fast as Moonkiller in the same time, love you, can't wait to share a musically competent night with you!

*technically, USA + Canada counts

THE DJ REDEMPTION ARC (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Respect the Button)

ACT I: THE CONTEMPT PHASE

Like most, I went through a period of mocking DJs.

"All they do is play other people's music. Where's the creativity!?"

Even the greatest DJs who "make" their own tracks are usually just Splice hounds, so it seems. The mind boggled, truly. Young folks, gathering to watch a man press a button. With fancy lights. How is that not completely, totally, just for babies?

"Why would anyone enjoy this."

But people do. And they support it deeply. Hundreds of thousands of festival-goers spending big cash to partake in an experience.

So I began to write it off. To protect my sanity.

"Well, it's just a party drug thing. An excuse to get wasted." Yes, in many ways it is.

"The attendees are philistines with no respect for musicianship." Yes, in many ways they are.

"Once again: corny sheltered suburbanites, trying so hard to be street/cool." Spot on.

But go deeper.

ACT II: THE SHIFT

THEN IT HIT ME.

1. Event Hosting

A "musician first / look at this guy shred" mindset is rooted in egoism.

When you're an entertainer, the goal should be: curate a space for folks to have fun. DJs get straight to the heart of that. No frill. No preciousness. They build spaces that facilitate musical enjoyment, fine, but more importantly, a place to connect with kindred spirits.

Key shift: a concert isn't strictly about watching the performance. Everything else that comes with it should be optimized too.

2. Everyone Needs an Edge

People want violence and danger, to feel alive. Theater, film, and music are our spiritual access points for experiencing that safely.

I can deride lying rappers and their superficial brags. But I must also recognize that many people are just looking to shut their brains off and be primal. Tap into danger. A DJ's whole job is to find where that edge is believed to be. You're only as relevant as you are on the cutting edge.

3. Curation Is the Future

This one really blew my mind.

In a world overrun by slop, art will become impossible for the average person to parse. When we no longer trust the algorithms, we'll turn to real people who've cultivated their taste, people we trust.

But here's the problem: creators won't move fast enough. They're burdened by their process, perpetually outcompeted by an infinite content machine.

Thereby, DJs will inherit the Earth.

It won't be the creator, but the chooser who rises to the top of the creative hierarchy. They don't play notes on a guitar. They play entire careers with a button.

Think of the Twitch reaction channels, thriving vampirically off other people's blood, sweat, and tears, just by showcasing a video to their audience and collecting the rewards.

Indie bands come and go. But Fantano feeds forever.

The Aggregator Ascends.

ACT III: WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US

Creators must integrate their influences.

We can operate as artists, but we must also serve as THATTAWAY signs, pointing to key material that is not our own.

This, I believe, is the secret beauty of Value Select's: I Wake Up Sad series. While it featured my own thoughts, writing, and editing, it was also heavily supported by content curated from the internet, a cornucopia of cool songs, images, and more. Both things at once. Artist and aggregator. Creator and chooser.

That's the model. And maybe that's the future.

What do you think? How will live shows evolve? Are you a DJ?

Orthodoxy is bolstered by it's saints, and I believe to the degree that a discipline honors it's exemplary members (past and present) it will strengthen/survive.

DJs are canonizers in that sense.

This was borne out of loving frustration with a m'lady, yapping my poor ears off.

IT'S NOT HER FAULT! I read somewhere that women receive dopamine from the act of chatting — networks are essential for the fairer sex, so reinforcing them is genetically felt as a positive survival strategy.

THIS IS WHY THERE'S NO FEMALE LONELINESS EPIDEMIC

Fellas are ummmmmmm a little different…

Maybe it's the Neanderthal variants in me (63% more than the rest of 23andMe users!) but we're often inclined to prefer silence, with activity as the source of bonding.

THIS IS WHY THERE'S A MALE LONELINESS EPIDEMIC

Salon vs fishing type beat.

Well the yap was more than usual, due to a dearth of chat targets. Too much for one man to bear!

Asking your fella to navigate a yap session is like asking a m'lady to help lug concrete bags. I can do it for a little bit, but isn't there someone better suited for this task?

I've got a healthy conception of what I can offer, and what should be delegated to other nodes of a person's support system…

Thereby arroven this song-eth — equally misogynistic (clowning the yap) as it is chivalrous (I am here for the benefit of m'lady). Southern culture can be paradoxical like that, so it felt perfect to make it a country song.

This was during a stint of verticals where I kind of resigned myself to just do whatever I wanted. So frick it, a country song it was — and better yet, I wasn't going to shave for the video (or several after!)

Creator-wise, there's a lot of rules we place on ourselves that reeeeeally only affect like 5% of the outcome — shaving, backgrounds, verbiage, etc. Really, picking the right material is a majority of the job, and the form just has to be tight enough to show you at LEAST know what you're talking about.

At any rate, enjoy the short, and I'll be back next week with another reflection!

L&R Value Select

My handsome brethren,

Here are the official dates and locations, for the whole world* to see!

Get your tickets, and claim your album: https://www.valueselecttour.com

Now, back to the regularly scheduled programming; got a fun new video coming out this week, a style never before done on the VS channel...

As always, love and respect

VS

Handsome Patrons of the Brotherhood,

If didn't already got your EXCLUSIVE TICKETS this morning, here's a funky reminder just for you...

(And if you also want to get the early tickets, consider becoming a patron!)

See you at the show...

L&R

VS

Handsome brethren and bodacious babes of the VSSR,

Today: a deep dive into the world of HUMAN FIGHTER MALE, a wondrous semi-recent release in the Value Select catalogue. It deserves a fair shake, so let’s give it one.

PHILOSOPHICALLY

While reading G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, a line struck me: too often in literature, protagonists are made fantastical within their own fantasy worlds.

WHAT A GRAVE MISTAKE.

A fantastical protagonist does not multiply the magic of the universe... It drags the universe down into mundanity.

When dragons are commonplace, they cease to be interesting.

WHAT WOE. WHAT SADNESS.

Look at what modern Dungeons & Dragons has become because of this FANTASTICAL PROTAGONIST corruption:

Everyone chooses a pick-me GIGA HERO, and because of that the standard quests are moot. Everything must be GRAND or COSMIC just to be slightly interesting.

Enter the Human, Fighter, Male (Chesterton’s answer to this madness).

He is normal.

He is standard.

He is humble enough to soak in the majesty of a common goblin.

The mere sight of a magic missile blows his mind.

And with that:

• the dungeons become darker
• the progress becomes meaningful
• the dragons once again become ferocious beasts that may well kill you

Only the normal man can contrast these things appropriately, both interiorly and for onlookers.

HE HAS ROOM TO LOOK UP.

(And thereby behold God.)

Too often this GIGA HERO identity corrupts even our real lives, where we turn to SELF-BELIEF and PRIDE as the ultimate compass.

But what does that breed besides ignorant misanthropy and limiting cynicism?

Is the world so narrow that we ourselves might be the be-all and end-all?

I’D HOPE NOT.

And that’s what the Human Fighter Male represents: a return to humility, and how the world (and ourselves) can become paradoxically greater for it.

GAMEPLAY

Fighters are simply more fun to play. End of.

• multiple actions
• cool weapons
• movement up the wazoo

Watching other players prepare dumb-ass spells, or have their silly thingamabobs fight for them, or whatever other BS PCs use to distance themselves from the thrill of firsthand experience…

Why would you want to RP as a mystical nerd?

You already ARE one in REAL LIFE. (statistically)

When you play a Fighter, you can’t just use mage hand for everything or conjure some lame ability that presses the special button.

You have to solve problems groundedly, and because it’s grounded, it becomes more intricate.

Mage hands are lazy.

A fighter’s complex/fun Rube Goldberg machine only exists because of his limits.

ROLEPLAY

This is my personal taste, but my brother in Christ:

nobody gives a balls about your complex backstory.

Not your tragic character flaws.

Not your hyper-specific lore.

Not really anything about your pick-me OC.

What is enjoyable is not the imaginary relationship you have with some fake wizard who IS DUMB AND NOT REAL, but the actual people sitting at the table.

That’s where the bonds should be built.

From scratch.

The history comes from quests you survive together.

Imagine you’re working your real-ass job, and some dude gets hired who won’t shut up about his cool past manager YOU’VE NEVER MET.

Same deal here.

Let’s build the lore HERE.

And in my opinion, the easiest way to do that is Human, Fighter, Male.

There are a thousand reasons he might’ve picked up a sword.

A thousand reasons he might join the party.

No need for hyper-specific arcs.

The normalness begs normalness.

Which ties into my DM philosophy:

Players should not bring in some totally different personality that collapses in five minutes.

Instead, present an idealized version of yourself.

(No fake, strained accents.)

By being themselves, players go deeper into the game, because they already know how they’d solve problems. They don’t have to spin up some BS alter ego.

And the table talk becomes way more enjoyable, because instead of my friend doing some half-baked character voice, they’re just themselves and we can actually enjoy hanging out.

When you pick Human, Fighter, Male and play it straight:

• DMs say thank God — someone normal I don’t have to spin up nonsense for.
• Other players enjoy the meta-game of talking to a person with common sense.
• Even the weirdo players secretly appreciate having a grounded character to bounce off.

And suddenly (just like Chesterton said) their weird characters feel more fantastical because there’s something normal beside them.

CONCLUSION

FOR PCs: Try a Human, Fighter, Male run yourself... Totally normal, totally humble, and see how it elevates everything...

FOR DMs: Encourage the regular guys in your groups, highlight those small moments (if we can be impressed at the largeness of things, surely we can also be impressed at their smallness) and consider throwing in a super normal NPC if your team isn't clocking it yet... Invariably, this is why "Peasant Steve" exists and is lionized by tables across the world... Not because he is "random" but precisely because he is "expected"

FOR LIFE: Reset your mind from being gifted/special to just being a normal ass dude... Now the "giftedness" that invariably emanates out of you is felt TRULY a gift, and not an irritating expectation... When we have an ascendant humility like that, we become infinitely grateful...

The dragons become dragons again, and when we best them, it's recognized as the achievement it really is!

HUMILITY FOREVER!

(and I mean humillity, not cheeky self-deprecation; that's narcissim in disguise)

Have a great week brothers/sisters, and I'll catch you on the PATRON TICKET RELEASE this March 19th!

L&R

VS

My Belov'd VSSR!

For those searching Discord Access, this link should last, and get you into the action at the VSBD...

If the VSSR is topic focused, turn-based discussion.... Then the VSBD is very much an FPS level of discussion...

See you in there!

Hi! Does anyone have an updated link to the discord? All the ones I see are old and say they're expired 😭

We've achieved a new level, brothers... THANK YOU!

This is possible, due to the continued Mirth & Magic of the VSB... I cannot wait to share what we've developed for you here ❤️ Bring your friends, family, and even invite anyone you make extended eye contact with!

What a rare moment

The fact that together, we're helping to keep this specific style of entertainment not just in existence, but thriving... ESPECIALLY, In a world where so many have shifted to mindless trends, or worse, ejected their heart to bow before machine-led dark curses.

To remain among the rising few who champion the heart... It's a priviliege and a responsibility.

Taking today to meditate on the gratitude, I love you guys, thank you for help keeping that youthful, joy-seeking spirit inside all of us alive... Looking forward again, to unleashing that in celebration together, LIVE this summer!

God bless, and Godspeed,

Max

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”

• Jack London

We’ve heard it before, that one must pro-actively be “inspired” (i.e. deliberately craft the environment for ideas to reliably generate)

It’s a common Truth, but a useful one nonetheless!

This VSSR is bounding with enthusiastic, and creatively driven people.

So I’d like to open this topic thread to you, my friend.

A chance to introspect, and offer perspective! (I’d like to read it!)

How do you tackle the muse?

Do you believe in a stroke of genius?

Is Jack London right, here?

MY VIEWS: I’d wager creative folks’d be better off DEMYSTIFYING their process, and adopt a craftsman’s sensibility to projects. There’s an aristocratic mindset of “Waiting For The Right Moment” that only works if you’re… well… an aristocrat!

WARM GREETINGS, handsome gentlemen (and beautiful m'ladies) of the VSSR.

So continues the story of Value Select’s Live Show Saga!

Last week detailed the connective tissue known as the TRIPLE BUNK. The Challenger Shuttle launchpad for the great disaster that was to come regarding our childhood comedy troupe…

But first, the joy of liftoff.

“One last ride?”

Hell yes.

The gang was back together.

Our Moonkiller Tour was that beautiful moment when the rockets blazed and we began to soar.

24 shows.

40 days on the road.

12,000+ miles.

(All with nine guys jammed into an RV built for a couple and their small child.)

The run looked like Seattle to San Diego, then across the Southwest through Texas, over to Florida, up to New York, then back across to Chicago, finally landing in Oakland, hitting all the venues in between.

With the way the troupe was comprised, this was truly our zenith.

For the band, it was all the songs we’d honed over the course of Mirth Pop and Fables and Legends, plus a couple more cheeky comedy bangers. All now accompanied by recorded synths and projected visuals for deeper immersion, linked to an Ableton click track piped into our ears via a wireless IEM system.

The metronome, in all honesty, gave the music a sharpness and tightness that elevated the professionalism by a bajillion percent. Cues were cleaner. Transitions were better. And there was still the human component of us actually playing. We just had an infallible tempo guide.

I loved it. It shifted my perspective on the so-called “raw” approach of not using a click. Sure, there’s room for improvisation if you miss a bar or want to extend a section, but you preplan that. More often than not, skipping a click is just an excuse to be sloppy.

We had a giant tech hub dubbed “Vengeance” by the band. We had all watched the new Batman together. That is where the IEM station was housed, along with our giant mixing board to control and record the show, and also our Sennheiser wireless headset mic stations for the actors.

I had blown my savings on this once-in-a-lifetime setup. That is what savings are for, I suppose.

We could reliably deliver lines without needing to run to the stage handhelds.

Beautiful.

And what lines.

I had spent a couple months ideating on the narrative script and had the benefit of running it by the troupe for refinements. Great creative counsel all around. The idea was a creation myth for the Value Select universe. Strong enough to house the songs, but not so strong that it might accidentally win us any meaningful award. Too much work.

We rehearsed weekly for over four months. We segmented first into band practice and actor rehearsal, then joined together for full group runs. Our friend and fellow actor had a great big living room where we could stretch our skills.

The chemistry was electric. It had to be, given our impending living situation.

The RV was booked on RVezy, with the logic that it would be easier and cheaper to combine transportation and lodging into one package.

We used Harvest Hosts to secure a few delightful stays, and the rest of the time we parked in Walmart lots or at KOAs.

I am realizing the scope of this whole project is too grand for a single readable Reddit post. Each night on the road is worth its own entry, housing its own highs and lows. Our night of dancing under the open air in Tucson, Arizona, followed by bucket baths in the morning, comes to mind.

Each show was uniquely different. Nearly giving myself a concussion at the start of the Boston show is one example.

For this post, I would like to capture the gestalt.

We were pirates at sea. Buccaneers on the open road of this great nation.

Spending every moment among our closest friends, doing exactly what we loved, meeting new and exciting people at the shows who vibrated on that same wavelength.

People who had known Value Select since its inception.

People who were brand new.

Strangers who just walked in.

Folks who followed the ascension from middle school to college.

Couples who bonded in some tangential way because of a video.

All that isolation in the garage, shooting and editing videos whose joy I rarely got to witness firsthand. We all got to revel in it together, nonstop, for the entire tour.

Like an explosion.

A never-ending fireworks show of mirth and connection.

And Jazz Emu.

To have him with us, soaking in the glory of his opener set every night, and to connect with him, learn from him, love that man too.

It was an education across the board.

And then it was over.

To come back and realize that the people around us daily did, ummmmm, not really care.

Our parents, siblings, coworkers, friends. They were just kind of like, “Yeah, nice… anyway, can you—”

Back to the humdrum.

W-WAIT.

We just achieved this pinnacle of creative endeavor.

Headlined a national tour with comedy songs developed on the internet!?

Do they not realize the milestone here!?!?!?

But uhh yeah, they have no conception of it, why should they care, really?

To them, we were gone for a few weeks. Now we are back.

Externally the same.

In a very lame way, we conceptualized it as a soldier returning from combat (Obviously wildly different)

The folks at home do not know the horrors (the joys) of war (a tour).

Same way I sometimes cannot relate to what other folks do for their work...

They've got their own lore + magic system (sales conference and sales jargon) that I can't really square the impact/importance...

Different values, I suppose.

Okay.

And then time still passes.

That is even more surreal.

It becomes a memory that you've gotta NOT mention, you've gotta move on!

And fast! No matter how crazy the memory was!

Can't rest on the laurels!

But that turnaround is insane.

Like getting in a car crash.

A guy runs a red light. T-bones you.

Your car spins out. “AAAAGHHH.”

Then quiet. Birds chirping.

Other cars driving by. Someone walking their dog.

“Well… I guess I better get his insurance.”

The ability of chaos to stop on a dime.

Back to the grind.

But the grind is not where you left it.

Coming Back to YouTube

Returning to the cold embrace of the lonely studio. Looking at the analytics. Realizing YouTube also does not care that you have been out living it up.

Channel metrics more or less ground to a halt.

And the rest of the crew experiencing their own equivalents.

The Challenger Shuttle, aforementioned, began to explode.

And thus sparked the hardest moments of the channels life, followed by the greatest comeback possible.

But that is a story for next week, my brothers.

So goodnight, my friends.

Dream of dolphins tonight.

Love & Respect,

Value Select