InnuendoStudios
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quantifica may
🕑 Added 2025-06-02 18:38:26 +0000 UTCHey team.
Lotta new faces here, so lemme get you up to speed: quantifica is my monthly update where I crunch numbers/data for my various ridiculous, patron-exclusive projects. You can check out the last year-and-change of updates with the quantifica tag. This year's projects were outlined in this video, which is where I first discussed the debt problems here on Patreon. Obviously things have, ah... evolved... since then. I'll walk youse through it gently today!
PROGRESS REPORT
I am now, officially, on sabbatical, so the progress reports won't be very substantive save for the updated number on the Adventure Game Tier List. So let's take this opportunity to talk about the sabbatical and what I've decided it entails.
With the overwhelming outpouring of support in response to my indefinite hiatus video, I am now making more than enough on Patreon to survive without accruing debt and the GoFundMe was large enough to pay off my outstanding debts with a considerable amount left over. I have said thank you many times in many places and it's just gonna keep happening I'm afraid: thank you all so, so, so incredibly much for this! I cannot believe this is real.
A lot of folks have been very insistent that these donations and pledges do not mean they expect me to start making videos again. Which, again: thank you. And I'm taking that to heart. I had accepted when I made that video that I simply might not be a YouTuber anymore, and finally let myself feel the full weight of how much burnout and exhaustion I had been carrying. There wasn't room for it. I came into this year excited about finishing The Alt-Right Playbook and thinking of all the different kinds of videos I might make; I had to lay all the burnout on ARP, that I wasn't exhausted from the hustle and the financial precarity, I was just burnt out on that one project. And, having now let it in, I can't exactly wring it back out of myself.
But it's not as if the enthusiasm for the John Wick and Disco Elysium and Adventure Game Tier List videos has disappeared! The odd thing about this kind of job is you can feel rejuvenated and absolutely sick of your job at the same time. So, what I said in the video still holds: I am not committing to being a YouTuber or to quitting. For the the length of this break, I am entertaining the idea: what if I wasn't a YouTuber? I cannot tell, at this moment, the line between "just need to rest" and "ready to move on." Only thing to do is give myself the rest I need and see where we stand.
So the terms of my sabbatical are as follows: for the summer of 2025, it is not my job to make videos. This does not necessarily mean I won't make videos (though don't hold your breath), merely that it is not my job to. I will rest, I will probably work a part-time W2 job, and I will explore projects I haven't had room for with the channel. And I will spend time with my family, put my new home in order, maybe start riding my bike again, get into baking. I dunno.
In September, I'm going to visit a friend of mine. They live in Japan, and I've wanted to take an extended trip to see them for ages but haven't had the money for it. They live very cheaply in Japan, and it's likely I can actually break even on expenses provided we cook most of our meals together, it's just a matter of having the up-front airfare costs, which, thanks to you, I have! And, while I'm seeing my friend, we're gonna make a project. We haven't decided what the project is, just that we want to make something together. And, whatever it is, it will end up here for all of you.
I will be back in the States some time in October, and, by then, I will have decided whether or not I'm still a YouTuber.
No matter what, I'm still an artfuck who likes making things, so whatever I do during my break will still end up here. And I'll still be updating the Adventure Game Tier List, still be doing these monthly quantifica posts, and probably I'll be interacting with y'all a bit more than before. (There's a bunch of audience participation stuff I promised this year that I'd say it's time for!) You will not be starved of art and engagement, I just don't promise any of it will be video essays.
If that sounds good to you, stick around! We'll take this journey together.
BINGO CARD
So a bunch of money-related squares on the bingo card got filled all at once when I expected them to be year-spanning projects. (I'ma say it again: thank you!) I have paid off a debt (two, in fact), gotten the Patreon back to (and well beyond) pre-pandemic levels, and I achieved my 2024 financial target and then some in a single weekend. Y'all are a little bit throwing off the program here, but I'm not complaining!
As long as we're talking about the debt, let me give you an update: the first debts I settled up were the loans from loved ones. They are the simplest to deal with, as they don't involve any paperwork. The IRS keeps me on hold for 80-140 minutes every time I call and usually all that comes of it is "the forms you mailed us still aren't in the system." I can't make a payment until everything is on-file, but I've gotten the relevant addresses to send money to and gotten digital copies of all the forms (printed, signed, and rescanned because they don't accept digital signatures!) so I can fax them next time they tell me the snail-mail hasn't arrived. The credit debt in collections is still up in the air - I think I have located the correct contact info for the collections agency that has it currently, so I have some fun-times phone calls to make.
Meantime, the money sits in a savings account til I get it where it needs to go.
(For anyone concerned: GoFundMe donations are, legally speaking, classified as "gifts," not "income," so I do not have to pay taxes on the donations.)
MINIMIX
Tonnes. As ever, if you are not logged into Spotify, the app will pepper this with extra songs not of my choosing. Don't blame me if it gives you poppycock.
Masa
-guitar riffs and incomprehensible vocoding-
Medusa
"Just wanna be sedated like my name is Joe Ramone."
Suggestion*
"Suffer your interpretation of what it is to be a man."
Gangsta
"Bang bang bang, oi!"
This is the Dream of Win & Regine
"Montreal might eat its young."
The Island
"Forty-winking in the belfry."
*this marks the beginning of my Fugazi deep-dive; at press time, I have listened to everything up to End Hits and watched the documentary, Instrument.
FILM RANDOMIZER
Reviews for Mars Express, Instrument, and Things Will Be Different.
READING LOG
Finished Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, which was a quintessential Goodreads book: eminently readable but not as substantive as it wants to be. Also started Tom Bissell's Apostle, which is so far very interesting!
GAME CABINET
Finished (well, "finished") Hades, though I still haven't written my review. I'm having trouble articulating a take on it. For such a heavily-discoursed game which I quite liked, I am finding very little to say about it! Will post when I've got something. I've also made progress in Tell Me Why but I'm still only about halfway through.
Meantime, you may peruse my review of Old Skies, which, in Wadjet Eye tradition, is not very good until it's suddenly great.
-I
Comments
Iris Dubois-Vergiat
I do not see myself stopping giving money to the cool internet guy in the future. You having time where you're not worrying about your work (if it still is your work) should be how this system works. Hope whatever you choose to do is what's good for you and what makes you happy <3
Stagnificent
your work has fundamentally changed my outlook and my politics for the better, please take the time to rest
Alex Smedberg
Hope you actually rest. On the taxes side. Good luck, the IRS is usually well meaning but understaffed as fuck. As to treating gofundme as gift. I assume you have, but I would for sure check that with a tax advisor, and maybe two. Don't want to be annoying those IRS people again. From my knowledge it sounds plausible if a bit odd, but I guess there was no service in return so what else could it be?
Ian Danskin
if you know something every search I've done does not, you're gonna have to tell me what it is: https://www.wkyt.com/2025/06/02/good-question-is-money-gofundme-taxable/
Justin
Hey, you’re definitely going to have to pay tax on those go fund me funds. 100%. You really really need to expect it.
Kait Hatch
Very succinct and accurate review of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Enjoy your sabbatical!
Dae Knight
Very glad to hear you're well. Enjoy the hell out of Japan!
Casey Cooley
It's extremely uplifting to hear that you got the outpouring of support to help you. As a long time viewer, I was one of those, though I was only able to subscribe at the measly $1.00 level. I'm also someone who lives in Japan (Tokyo)! So if you and your friend find yourselves looking to hang out, please hit me up!
Ian Danskin
I would never
Alice Alysia
Artist that you are, I'm sure there's a million different artworks in a million different formats you've always wanted to make, be those films, songs, games or shows. I don't expect you to be a youtuber, I expect you to follow your dreams. So as you continue your well earned sabbatical, I hope you take the time to dream.
ohjeezohno
it's been a long time since I listened to Owen Pallet, but Has A Good Home & He Poos Clouds were formative – thank you for reminding me of their existence! (and by proxy Dntel: this song's title is a reference to one of theirs, also been a minute since I listened)
Matt Gilbert
I’m glad to hear you’re doing better than you were when the hiatus video went up. Best of luck and take care of yourself
Peter Benzoni
On the credit card debt, don't disclose you have enough to pay the whole thing. Those companies usually get and this expect 10-30% of the headline sum. You can be honestish though, you recently came into enough to pay some of the debt, would they settle the debt for, say, 40% of the original sum? Reddits got some good guides for negotiating with them
Kerley
I'm glad you're not drowning in debt as much your work is important
Kae Winters
This is fantastic news. You captured my attention with the Alt Right Playbook series, and I'm so glad to be able to (literally) pay you back and help relieve some of the stress. I'm so glad you're taking our words to heart, and giving yourself a break. And have fun in Japan! I get to go pretty regularly for work and it's my favorite place in the world, you'll have an incredible time.
Please enter your name
Glad you're doing well! I wish you all the best and I hope you can successfully manage this burn-out!
chris rogers
Your videos helped pull me out of the alt right rabbit hole years ago, and have saved several of my friends from the same since. Enjoy the hiatus man. Just wanted to say my favorite video of yours is "three short arguments on the secret of monkey island." Such a good video.
Sean D'Souza
if nothing else, hope you're enjoying that fugazi deep dive. would love to read your thoughts excised from the Instrument letterboxd review & for posterity Argument is a generational record. savor it while it's hot
Mikael Bergström
Very happy to hear you're doing well! I didn't subscribe to your Patreon in the hopes of getting you to create more videos; I saw it more like a way to retroactively pay for the stuff you've already done. Like many others, I've found the ARP to be immensely useful and meaningful. You have done very well, you have done more than enough, the work you have done will continue to reach people. I hope you have a very nice trip to Japan. It's a weird, wonderful place. Rest, make art, don't feel the pressure to share any of it with us.
Wander In Wonder
I just joined and it’s really as a thank you for all you have produced over the years. I don’t expect anything and I hope you can relax. If I knew things were so difficult for you I would have joined up earlier. Japan is my home away from home. I hope you enjoy it thoroughly!
Forged by Geeks
Huge +1 on this. ARP is a masterpiece. It is a tool you gave everyone that we will be able to learn from and use for decades to come.
PC Escobar
I'm THRILLED you will be able to take a trip to Japan and do a project with a friend just for the hell of it. If you get something out of it that you want to share with patrons, bonus! As long as it comes from a desire to share, not from an obligation to repay.
Courtney Jones
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the alt right playbook is enough for me to sub to your paetreon for as long as I can, if doing that allows you to make passion projects and such that aren't anything like ARP then that's perfectly fine with me. And as multiple other people said I don't *need* to see anymore vids from you frankly the ARP is enough of a juggernaut that anyone should be happy retiring with only having provided that. That being said anything you make im interested to see even if its not my thing I want you to do what you want because its what *you* want So frankly thank you and if you need now is the time to have a good rest
Ian Danskin
nope, that's Dan Olson
Bryan Mills
A lovely update, so glad you have a plan to care for yourself in this intermediate period I finished 'Apostle' recently, and I adored it! He is such a good author, and deeply evoked beautiful ideas between cultures. I found myself specifically frustrated with all the ideas he discusses that I've never heard of before, or that were specifically destroyed. Heartbreaking they way people in power try to force a narrative. Peace be with you!
Forged by Geeks
Good for you taking this personal time. EDIT: cut talk about wrong videos... You have a ton of interesting perspectives on everything from gaming to politics. While everyone loves a good 1 to 2 hour well researched deep dive into an intense subject matter, we also just love a funny quick video talking about something that is at the top of your mind. Either way, hope you love Japan. You have a bit of extra cash for the first time in years, don't try to break even. Buy a couple things you want, hit a hot spring, take a trip to see Fuji-san, get your ass bit by a deer, enjoy your trip. Make some memories for yourself.
Nate Ford
Enjoy your rest! You deserve it.
