Road Blocks and Diversions | The Friday Update

Welcome to the Friday Update!

This is my weekly post in which I pull back the curtain on how progress on my next video is going. Enjoy!

What have I been up to this week?

It's been a week of ups and downs at my desk this week... In previous editions of the Friday Update, I've reflected how upbeat I've been about my upcoming video and how easily the writing was coming. Well, as ever, that optimistic high tide had a brief ebb this week.

I find this often happens when I'm entering the final stages of writing a new video (and I am entering the final stages of writing this one now!). With everything finally coming together, there's a brief moment of doubt about whether it really works as well as I thought it would and whether anyone's going to like it. It's perhaps summed up by the fourth part of the trajectory described by the tweet below.

Nevertheless, on Wednesday, I sat at my dining room table (a change of scenery always helps) and took a look through what I'd already written. Taking an hour or so to look at the bigger picture of what the video's trying to explore gave me a big boost of confidence that I was onto something when I picked the topic. Following that, I've had a really good couple of days writing and am now really looking forward to putting the final touches to the script next week!

And outside of work?

Last weekend, my aunt was staying nearby for her annual caravan holiday in Cornwall. My grandparents used to live in Newquay and her and my Dad spent lots of their summers there. As such, my aunt and her family often come down and stay for a week or two at one of the caravan parks.

On Saturday, my partner and I drove down to spend the day with my aunt and one of my cousins. As I had no doubt we would, we had a really lovely day. We went for a walk around the town and had some delicious American-style barbeque from a food van that was parked up outside one of the bars.

Having grown up in Cornwall, I often complain about the holiday-ification of the county and the rise of second home ownership. I suppose the emergence of some better food options is a plus side though!

What have I been reading/watching/listening to?

I have a couple of recommendations for you this week...

Some of you will know my adoration for the work of the YouTube channel What's So Great About That. They're not a particularly regular uploader but their work is very much worth the wait.

This morning they released a video called What Isn't a Video Essay?. It's about what a video essay is, what a video essay isn't and the problem of trying to define a genre. As ever, it's both engaging and eloquent; really thought provoking and certainly worth a watch!

I'm also currently enjoying the album Hypersonic Missiles by Sam Fender. He's just released a new album which I've not checked out yet, but I think that prompted some algorithm somewhere to recommend his stuff to me and it's been keeping me occupied whilst running errands.

What have I been thinking about?

As I enter the final stages of writing this video, my mind has begun to drift onto which of the potential topics I've got on my to do list I'll choose for the next video. There's a couple of ideas that are singing out to me in particular. One is a video essay about The Queen's Gambit, the Cold War, American Anti-Communism and the limits to individualism, the other is an episode of What The Theory? about YouTube, OnlyFans and the rise of Platform Capitalism.

Whichever I make, the other is sure to follow not too long after. Nevertheless, it's always tough to pick between ideas I think have real potential; and that I think I'll have fun making. If you have any thoughts, lets me know!

Thanks for reading this edition of the Friday Update!

FYI, I've decided to push back the Patreon Q&A another week to allow for a few more submissions if anyone has any. I'll put up another post about that soon.

Thanks as ever for your generous support all!