I stand behind the glass. In front of me is a line of famous RUclipsrs. Each is balder than the last. They all have beards. They all wear glasses. The detective hands me a Kleenex and asks “Alright doll, which one is Vsauce?” I cry into the tissue. I cannot tell. They all look the same.
@@timothymclean well it's a reference to both how a lot of youtubers, michael from vsauce and dan from folding ideas included, kind of look the exact same, and also to those moments in crime shows (i'm not gonna say whether it's accurate to real life situations bc i don't know lol) where a witness of a crime is told to point out the criminal from a lineup of similar-looking people :D
Or how the structure changed from dialogue between different personas of Dan to a well produced monologue form. Or how how the channel had "seasons" and "episodes" and called itself a "web-show." Yet, the changes are not nearly as disorienting as the ones Vsauce went thru. edit (P.S.): still waiting for more of "regret albums: a second look" from the the mailbag episode "Forgotten Pop Albums?"
At the beginning of each video, he says "Hey Vsauce, Michael here!" Meaning that "the vsause" is the viewer watching the video, you were the vsauce all along.
another way to think about it is that "vsauce" is a channel that he's reporting to. Like he just found something amazing and needed to share it TO vsauce.
Philosophy Tube We just met in real life and I fangirled like whoa. Now I come onto RUclips and the first video I come to watch, you're here in the comments. Uncanny! I will help you with makeup any time you need! :D
i didnt even really look at the vid bc I was working out but the way he spoke and started sentences was already enough, you dont even need the image to feel attacked
@@FoldingIdeas Dan, you should be careful - rapidly standing up like that causes the blood to flow away from your brain and your eyes for a bit, so you may go blind or dizzy for a second.
ThisIsMyRealName nah it's fine , strength athletes (mostly olympic lifters tho) practice standing up as fast as possible from a squat (with submaximal weight) to develop rate of force production in the lower percentages of 1RM In plain english , they use lower weights to practice speed so that they become better at lifting heavier weights
Everyone's talking about you jumping into the frame (which is absolutely hilarious I will admit) but no one is pointing out your ridiculously good impression of the way he talks or the fact that you're basically making fun of yourself for looking a bit like him at the same time Edit: Didn't say "particularly" enough, 9/10
He didn't need the music, because everywhere it needed to be, my brain instinctively just played an internal rendition of it. Vsauce brainwashed me into putting mysterious music right after anyone goes "X is Y... OR IS IT?!". I can hear it as I type this :')
Dan has become his own thesis in this one. What is Folding Ideas? A documentary channel doing deep dives into fraud? A video essayist focusing on film critique? A cardboard robot that explains tropes in short videos? Yes, if you scroll down.
One of the coolest things about youtube having existed for over a decade at this point is that you can watch channels and creators 'grow up' in real time, and Vsauce is a prime example.
My favorite example of this phenomenon is ContraPoints. The difference in style, presentation, politics, lighting, and overall aesthetic between her earliest vids and her latest ones is wild, and seeing Contra's ideas develop and change as she transitions is fascinating.
@@Full_Bloom2_Hey_Its_Leah It's funny you mention her because it's a prime example of what is was thinking. The creators can delete THEIR content from youtube and on a greater scope the web, effectively erasing parts of internet history. Sure people will make archives and even reupload and share removed content but that's not guaranteed. ContraPoints deleted the bulk of her old videos because she had a recent surge in gender dysphoria.
@@MumblingSolipsist It’s ironic/sad: I was about to reply that ContraPlops keeping up her old videos was one of the more Interesting things about her channel… Regardless, I hope she’s OK.
**pops up into frame** Yes, yes you are! **music starts** In fact, you are dying, much like most people who lived died, which reminds me of Victor Emmanuel the Third... **eyebrows**
And also the fact that he seemingly times his body movements to it sometimes. Like, have you noticed that sometimes his eyebrow thing will hit right on the strong beat of the music? The power of editing right there.
Michael did such a good job of phasing out the sex stuff that I had never heard of it until now. VSauce was always that weird science channel in my mind. Gotta hand it to him for such elegant brand development and letting old stuff go. He's certainly enjoyed far greater success as a sci-poetry channel than as a skeevy dudebro channel.
Well, we're honestly kind of on phase 3.5, which is the DONG channel. Michael uploads videos anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes long, and these will be much narrower in scope than main-channel Vsauce videos, generally revolving around a more physics-based concept and exploring a single object that makes good use of that concept. Occasionally, he'll also upload something about an interesting mathematic principle.
@@eterlinblue99 Vsauce videos involve probably about 1/3rd as much popping into frame suddenly, but otherwise yeah, this was basically a Vsauce video without the background music.
@@eterlinblue99 It really depends on what you mean by "a Vsauce video." If, as noted in Dan's video above, you're referring to the period most often brought to mind by subscribers to the channel as "Vsauce," this is an exaggerated - though not inaccurate - version of what one is like. There's typically a little less of Michael popping into frame and a little more of seemingly unrelated (at first) visual aids; graphs, video clips, approximations, etc.; but there are also periods where you get back-to-back Michael sliding/standing/leaning into frame as if concerned he might otherwise lose your attention (or maybe just preferring it to the more "standard" jump cut RUclipsr style). For what it's worth, a good number of those educational-poetic style videos are pretty interesting and can be worth a look.
There is some poetry to the fact that in 2023, Vsauce has morphed, yet again, into a shorts channel promoting a loot crate that donates to alzheimer research
The feeling I get out of Vsauce is hardcore pseudo intellectual. I lost all respect for him with "the speed of darkness". As well as asking if shadows have weight.
Jennifer Valentine Vsauce isn't about showing michael's intellect. It's about making people think and raising curiosity in certain subjects. Asking questions like if shadows have weight is inducing thought and curiosity. There is a tedx talk of him where he kind of talks about this.
@@jennifervalentine8955 Could you explain how those are pseudo-intellectual to you. . . ? I don't want to assume, but it seems like you think "weird" or seemingly nonsensical and dumb questions are pseudo-intellectual?
@@jennifervalentine8955 ....obviously Michael knows the answer to the question he is posing in the video. The point is to teach other people who didn't know. I'm not sure what your issue is with educational videos centered around unexpected questions.
This video was great. Thank you for taking the time to do that. I myself found VSauce pretty late when it was in its poetic free-flow informational video form and have been pretty sad to see that come to a close with Mindfield, which felt to "TV-like" for my taste (and the obvious gating with RUclipsRed/Premium). But the way you made this video was very informative, I personally didn't know of the channels past and though it took me a few minutes to get the backwards trend, in the beginning, I loved every second of it as you nailed the style and tonality perfectly. I hope that you have a better time now finishing other projects you have started and as always, thanks for making content :)
I really liked VSauce's classic era and for some reason mind field just doesn't do it for me either. The DONG thing is close enough to classic vsauce tho
I first discovered VSauce when they were doing Leanbacks. No idea which part of the phase-shift that was in, but basically they created curated playlists of interesting videos from around youtube that all followed a theme, with their own video commentary sprinkled in at certain points to make observations about what you just saw. I always assumed that's where the channel name came from, since "sauce" has the colloquial definition of "context" and youtube playlists are basically "video context". Never thought to look back further
As a teacher, I am constantly struggling with this problem. I try to be as precise as possible when I teach something, because I think the more I simplify, the greater the chance that a student will try to use the concept where it doesn't work because of the simplification, and therefore he will be confused. But I am always forced to balance this against the limited time I have to teach, and the potential usefulness of the added information. Who would have thought that such a philosophical idea would have real practical implications? I think the only workable solution is that things are only something within context - As Dan said, to most people, in most cases, Vsauce is simply the "speed of dark" version. Bringing up the game channel, gone curiosity and sex jokes channel, gone science channel, gone RUclips Red content producer story would only clog the discussion - except of course when it doesn't, because you found the correct combination of people and context where those things matter (such as this video). In the case of my classes, whenever I am describing something that is a simplification, I try to be clear about it, and, if possible, give a brief description of which facts I am ommitting - in the case o Vsauce, I could say something like "It's been a lot of things over the years, but now it is mostly known for its videos exploring many aspects of various scientifical concepts."
@@Walkerreynolds91 I have never once been interested in photography and the equipment involved, but damn hearing that click and seeing that gorgeous camera made me feel a certain type of way. Is this how obsessions start?
Was just about to comment "Gorgeous camera!" and then clicked to read the reply, lol. I don't know what it is about that old Pentax that made me think "gorgeous" but I'm glad I'm not the only one. :) Edit: I bet it takes some pretty gorgeous photos too.
Now we need Vsauce to make an alternate version of this discussing the shift Folding Ideas has made from gimmick rantsona to film-worker perspective on bad movies to internet meta-culture discussion to a cult-focused documentarian.
Your impression of Michael is amazing. Excellent job. You found the internal logic, not just the voice and mannerisms. In my view, that is the very definition of good pastiche. Well done.
This was a really interesting video about the history of Vsauce and the nature of digital content creation but I really need to go back and watch a different Folding Ideas now just so I can feel comfort in Dan's regular cadence again
I think an interesting thing to note in the channel metaphor is how many damn spin-offs Vsauce has created over the years because of this very idea. It would be interesting to discuss how these sauces basically tried two to three times to return to its video game variety show routes and then literally every time the person who helmed the new channel decided to just not do that anymore.
Perhaps the corollary is that if you imitate something that wasn't actually good in the first place - just gimmicky - the act of imitation reveals the flaws in the original that may not have been apparent when it was a novel idea.
Yeah, in this case, he took a headshot at the uncanny valley and hit the bullseye. I think we might need to make a case about the existence of two simultaneous caveats regarding the accuracy of the imitation for the idiom to be somewhat close to being accurate: Namely, -A direct correlation between flattering effect and accuracy turning into an inverse correlation of accuracy of the imitation to the flattering effect on the imitated once a certain point is surpassed. Let's call this point "the Point of Obvious Verisimilitude". + A simultaneous direct relation of the accuracy of the imitation to the general entertainment value of the imitation turning into an equal but inverse relation once the Point of Obvious Verisimilitude is surpassed. In other words: Do the same but slightly better and he will hate you and they will be indifferent, Do the same but much better and he will hate you and they will love you, Do the same but slightly worse and he will love you, and they will hate you, Do the same but a much worse and he will love you, and they will love you, Do the same but fail at it and nobody will love you. He deliberately went for the second to last option: Commendable courage.
i love Vsause because my ADD makes it difficult for me to stay on one topic while paying attention and their content is both entertaining and keeps my attention long enough for me to finish the videos
VSauce's classic era spoke to the part of me that is obsessed with vaguely existential questions, abstract, and absolutely incapable of sustained focus
I'll be honest, I have the opposite problem with him for the same reason. the constant jump cuts and tonal changes make it impossible for me to concentrate and absorb anything he's saying so I can't watch basically any of his videos. :') definitely feel you on the topic transitions though, I'm absolutely a tangent-within-a-tangent-within-a-tangent person. hence my great love of the Technology Connections channel.
Oh my God, how did mirror universe Dan escape into our world?!? This is definitely the most frenetic exploration of the ship of Theseus I’ve ever seen.
I'm actually really glad you talked about this because I've been SO CONFUSED about Vsauce for a while now but trying to research it seemed like a hassle. This explains a lot.
Vsauce is a series of semi-periodic RUclips Shorts uploads made primarily for the purpose of non sequitur visual gags and selling Curiosity Box subscriptions
Amazing that you cover so much of what Vsause is, was, and tries to be all without mentioning any of their secondary series and channels like Vsause2, Vsause3, and DONG.
There's vsauce... then there's Vinesauce, which is both the title that Vinny Vinesauce uses as his own handle as a twitch streamer but also the umbrella term for a bunch of streamers he's put on his.. website? Team? I- okay I honestly am confused on this one other than they all get to be "a part of Vinesauce". Anyways. Vinny also has a band called Red Vox, who's drummer is a cool dude named Michael (aka Jabroni Mike, another person Vinny got into streaming) who I only assume isn't added to the Vinesauce team officially because Vinny already gets a ton of questions about whether or not Vinesauce has anything to do with Vsauce when really they just both started/picked up around the same time with similar names. (I don't know why Vsauce is named that but Vinny got the nickname Vine after silly Mario Party antics and well, Vinny Pizzapasta, Mr. New York Italiano, likes the word sauce.) Anyways, HUH, now knowing about the much earlier Vsauce stuff, DONG makes more sense for why it exists.
i subscribed to vsauce waay back when, I really liked the IMG series, there was something calming about the fast pace of those videos. And I guess the channel managed to grow up around the same time when I did.. Seeing those unexpectedly deep videos in my subscribtions when I logged in after a while was a bit surreal. also he said he doesn't remember the password to the main vsauce channel
@@noahmay7708 It's hilarious And Micheal is so effing weird that if he DID really lose the password to a huge channel like VSauce, we'd all just be mildly surprised
A telling story from Michael from VSauce: He was doing an episode of Mind Field with his camera crew about the reality of truth serums and was asked a question, and admitted he preferred making VSauce. He might have grown up from the "here is my vlog of bro-ish college humor" but he still wants that crazy self paced poetic flow.
That reminds me of Vsauce, the popular educational RUclips channel with several long form essays on big ideas like human Reason, the history of Photography, and the subjective experience of the flow of time
This video was engineered to be a masterpiece, you really paid attention to every detail from wording to pauses to pretty much everything I was expecting you to squash something with green paint in it at the end while some 8bit tune plays
Knees of steel. What a workout this must have been. I see some people comment how tedious and exhilarating it is to watch - but now imagine actually doing it. Dan - uh, I mean Michael - had to physically perform every single one of those sit-ups. And then a whole bunch more for all the takes that nobody will ever get to see.
It's mentioned in the description box, along with an explanation of why it's not mentioned in the video (the video bring an analysis of the structural format of a RUclips channel over time)
All the popping into frame was killing me 😂 This particular theme has been on my mind a bit lately, as I've just started regularly watching a handful of new channels and as I run out of the current content I'm often really surprised by how different the older videos are, haha. And speaaking of, I kinda miss Foldy... not that I don't enjoy Dan's wonderful visage, but Foldy's a really cool puppet design.
I was expecting you to mention the stage show he did with Adam Savage. I had the privilege of watching that in Kalamazoo Michigan, it was truly amazing. (if far more, Adam, then Michael.
I like videos that assume I am smart. Your videos stand soundly apart from all the mediocre sludge and I think this channel is a real gem. I always smile when I see that you’ve posted something new and I’m never disappointed. Thank you for everything, and please keep ‘em coming. Sincerely, a guy who could be mistaken for you in a slightly blurred photograph.
Whoah, deja vu. Just a little bit ago I wanted to go rewatch Vsauce's old videos and found to my surprise a very very different channel about gaming girls and dick jokes. I wondered what fucking bizarro land channel I'd stumbled into and how it so vastly was different from their later content. Ironically this made the channel itself very much Vsauce.
God I remember discovering Vsauce around 2012, right when it was starting to be more "professional" going back and finding that video with the tied up girls in costume. I thought that was creepy when I was fifteen, and it's just over the top cringe now
Only discovering Folding Ideas just now. Watched 3 videos today, subbed on the first one and reached for the sub button on both subsequent videos. Gosh you make good content.
I stand behind the glass. In front of me is a line of famous RUclipsrs. Each is balder than the last. They all have beards. They all wear glasses. The detective hands me a Kleenex and asks “Alright doll, which one is Vsauce?” I cry into the tissue. I cannot tell. They all look the same.
This is art.
What is this a reference to?
*points shakily* is it that one?
"No that is BrySi. You have failed the test"
@@timothymclean well it's a reference to both how a lot of youtubers, michael from vsauce and dan from folding ideas included, kind of look the exact same, and also to those moments in crime shows (i'm not gonna say whether it's accurate to real life situations bc i don't know lol) where a witness of a crime is told to point out the criminal from a lineup of similar-looking people :D
This is easily the best RUclips comment I've ever read, or perhaps, that has ever been written.
Surprised you didn't go meta into this and talk about how Folding Ideas used to be a channel about a talking box reviewing movies
But what IS Folding Ideas?
@@kinsnuf Ideas that Fold.
@@Konsaki It could also be the act of folding an idea, no?
Or how the structure changed from dialogue between different personas of Dan to a well produced monologue form.
Or how how the channel had "seasons" and "episodes" and called itself a "web-show."
Yet, the changes are not nearly as disorienting as the ones Vsauce went thru.
edit (P.S.): still waiting for more of "regret albums: a second look" from the the mailbag episode "Forgotten Pop Albums?"
Compare this to another channel, Folding Ideas, which is a video game and Choose Your Own Adventure streaming channel
oh my god re-standing up every shot is so terribly annoying i love it. that joke must have caused considrable backpain.
Squat from the legs, not your back buddy
Ah shit, i've been doing it all wrong then! Years of practise as a michael stevens inpersonator down the drain.
@@zeabeth What if your knees are made of spine?
@@peterdietrich8810that's when you ask for a refund
i was like "stop doing that!!!!!"
At the beginning of each video, he says "Hey Vsauce, Michael here!"
Meaning that "the vsause" is the viewer watching the video, you were the vsauce all along.
another way to think about it is that "vsauce" is a channel that he's reporting to. Like he just found something amazing and needed to share it TO vsauce.
The real vsauce is the knowledge we gained along the way
he could also be saying "hey, Vsauce: Michael here”. He is Michael from Vsauce and is saying hey to nobody specific.
What if the real vsauce was the friends we made along the way
It's clearly a salutation where he comes from.
"Hodgepodge of nonsense and dongs"
I tried to say it as non-judgementally as possible. Many of my best friends are nonsense and dongs.
Philosophy Tube We just met in real life and I fangirled like whoa. Now I come onto RUclips and the first video I come to watch, you're here in the comments. Uncanny! I will help you with makeup any time you need! :D
What we all aspire to be
So... The internet in a nutshell.
@@aaronhossain4492 that and various forms of catgirls
Only two minutes in and I am feeling attacked by the constant popping into frame.
i didnt even really look at the vid bc I was working out but the way he spoke and started sentences was already enough, you dont even need the image to feel attacked
@Fabian Lohrmann the one at 2:00 is so hilarious already
The next time I hear of someone "sliding into my DMs" I'm going to imagine Dan popping into the frame like this.
@Fabian Lohrmann what do you mean it stays constant throughout the entire video
@mAdius H RAT Welcome to vsauce. It was just like that.
I don't understand why Folding Ideas just posted a VSauce video in its entirety, but with Michael just doing a light Canadian accent.
HEYO!
Is that his accent?
Cool.
omfg i'm an idiot, i thought "dan doesn't have an accent" then i remembered i'm canadian XD
@@CelestiaLily lol same 😂
Dan's accent is Canadian?
was this video a good glute workout?
More aerobic, actually
@@FoldingIdeas My knees are aching just thinking about it.
@@FoldingIdeas What I want to know is, how are you knees doing after all that?
@@FoldingIdeas Dan, you should be careful - rapidly standing up like that causes the blood to flow away from your brain and your eyes for a bit, so you may go blind or dizzy for a second.
ThisIsMyRealName nah it's fine , strength athletes (mostly olympic lifters tho) practice standing up as fast as possible from a squat (with submaximal weight) to develop rate of force production in the lower percentages of 1RM
In plain english , they use lower weights to practice speed so that they become better at lifting heavier weights
Everyone's talking about you jumping into the frame (which is absolutely hilarious I will admit) but no one is pointing out your ridiculously good impression of the way he talks or the fact that you're basically making fun of yourself for looking a bit like him at the same time
Edit: Didn't say "particularly" enough, 9/10
-parodies vsauce
-doesn’t include the iconic music
"Station?" More like... STATIONARY... With its own... "Office Stationery" *keyboard riff*
I'm so MAD!
He didn't need the music, because everywhere it needed to be, my brain instinctively just played an internal rendition of it. Vsauce brainwashed me into putting mysterious music right after anyone goes "X is Y... OR IS IT?!". I can hear it as I type this :')
I wanted to like the comment, but it was at 999... NVM, 1k likes :D
I was so devastated when we didn't get the noise
Dan acting out Michael's mannerisms is messing with me so much more than it should, holy crap
The font as well.
I always die laughing when someone imitates how he stands up from the floor every single shot. lmao
Every time he pops up into frame I get a little happier.....
When Dan does, not Michael.
It's incredibly grating
its like the moment he did it i was seeing somthing i wasnt ment to
sci-poetry, great way to put it.
Hey Adam, I'm a huge fan of your channel as well. Keep up the great work. :)
Repetition legitimizes
Repetition legitimizes
Repetition legitimizes
Repetition legitimizes
Repetition legitimizes
Repetition legitimizes
@Daniel Ambrosini Lol how childish! 🙄 People can comment on something they enjoy if they wish. They don't need your permission. Stay mad dude.
Oh shit, Adam watches Folding Ideas. That actually makes so much sense!
Adam Neely? What's this a crossover Episode?
God, this video just hit a long-neglected dopamine sensor in my brain.
I miss Vsauce, I wish Vsauce would stop being Vsauce and just be Vsauce again.
Yeah, but let's hope he doesn't go back all the way to being Vsauce, that stuff was awkward.
The fact that both of these comments made complete sense to me is deeply concerning
That just might happen shortly after Half-Life 3 drops.
MattheJ1 if you liked vsauce, vsauce2 is doing something similar to vsauce.
MVVA
Dan has become his own thesis in this one. What is Folding Ideas? A documentary channel doing deep dives into fraud? A video essayist focusing on film critique? A cardboard robot that explains tropes in short videos?
Yes, if you scroll down.
That's way too meta, I'm getting dizzy.
Is he a movie, a comic book or a bimonthly curated box of Snacks?
That "Station-ary" thing is the most VSauce thing in this video. Much verisimilitude, such effective.
One of the coolest things about youtube having existed for over a decade at this point is that you can watch channels and creators 'grow up' in real time, and Vsauce is a prime example.
yep
My favorite example of this phenomenon is ContraPoints. The difference in style, presentation, politics, lighting, and overall aesthetic between her earliest vids and her latest ones is wild, and seeing Contra's ideas develop and change as she transitions is fascinating.
"coolest"
@@Full_Bloom2_Hey_Its_Leah It's funny you mention her because it's a prime example of what is was thinking.
The creators can delete THEIR content from youtube and on a greater scope the web, effectively erasing parts of internet history. Sure people will make archives and even reupload and share removed content but that's not guaranteed. ContraPoints deleted the bulk of her old videos because she had a recent surge in gender dysphoria.
@@MumblingSolipsist It’s ironic/sad: I was about to reply that ContraPlops keeping up her old videos was one of the more Interesting things about her channel… Regardless, I hope she’s OK.
oh it feels weird to hear dan talk like the vsauce man
Michael
am i having a stroke
joyburd2 yes
**pops up into frame**
Yes, yes you are!
**music starts**
In fact, you are dying, much like most people who lived died, which reminds me of Victor Emmanuel the Third...
**eyebrows**
It's not a stroke, it's vsauce.
ye
@@alex0589 or are you?
Raise eyebrows.
Until watching this satire, never really appreciated how much vsauce’s background music adds to Michael’s science “poetry”.
And also the fact that he seemingly times his body movements to it sometimes. Like, have you noticed that sometimes his eyebrow thing will hit right on the strong beat of the music? The power of editing right there.
Michael did such a good job of phasing out the sex stuff that I had never heard of it until now. VSauce was always that weird science channel in my mind. Gotta hand it to him for such elegant brand development and letting old stuff go. He's certainly enjoyed far greater success as a sci-poetry channel than as a skeevy dudebro channel.
Phase 1: Vsauce Cringe
Phase 2: Vsauce Classic
Phase 3: Vsauce Commercial Television
Phase 4: Endgame.
Well, we're honestly kind of on phase 3.5, which is the DONG channel. Michael uploads videos anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes long, and these will be much narrower in scope than main-channel Vsauce videos, generally revolving around a more physics-based concept and exploring a single object that makes good use of that concept. Occasionally, he'll also upload something about an interesting mathematic principle.
Phase 4: Profit!
Zanthor Now we’re in phase 3.75, the D!NG phase. Exactly the same, but renamed.
I thought this was just the phases of growing up
Dan imitated vsauce man so well I forgot what he normally sounds like
(Despite me watching folding ideas videos repeatedly and vsauce almost never)
It's like Dan is Michael's long lost Canadian twin
For a minute there I thought vsauce man was Patrick h Williams.
I thought the impression would only last for the intro, but I was fuckin' wrong. Good work, comrade!
@@eterlinblue99 You know, you could.... just watch one and find out.
@@eterlinblue99 Vsauce videos involve probably about 1/3rd as much popping into frame suddenly, but otherwise yeah, this was basically a Vsauce video without the background music.
it lifts obnoxious on a whole new level.
color me impressed.
i still hate it.
@@eterlinblue99
It really depends on what you mean by "a Vsauce video."
If, as noted in Dan's video above, you're referring to the period most often brought to mind by subscribers to the channel as "Vsauce," this is an exaggerated - though not inaccurate - version of what one is like. There's typically a little less of Michael popping into frame and a little more of seemingly unrelated (at first) visual aids; graphs, video clips, approximations, etc.; but there are also periods where you get back-to-back Michael sliding/standing/leaning into frame as if concerned he might otherwise lose your attention (or maybe just preferring it to the more "standard" jump cut RUclipsr style).
For what it's worth, a good number of those educational-poetic style videos are pretty interesting and can be worth a look.
Maybe the real Vsauce is the friends we made along the way.
Andrew Ollmann lmao
Argh feck, me feelings!
There's a particular cadence to that line I hear in my head whenever I read this joke.
The DONGS we saw along the way.
Maybe you should learn a second joke
There is some poetry to the fact that in 2023, Vsauce has morphed, yet again, into a shorts channel promoting a loot crate that donates to alzheimer research
You emulate his cadence too well. 2/10 uncanny valley anxiety.
what a whole ass mood
@@oof-rr5nf i really need to stop mentally inserting hyphens after the "ass"
whole ass-mood just broke a part of me
@@mirmalchik This the most wonderfully bizarre reply I have received on youtube in quite some time. _Thank you._
@@oof-rr5nf any time
@@oof-rr5nf It's not that bizarre, it's a reference to a popular xkcd strip.
I think you less wanted to finish something and more wanted a workout. Holy crap, I'm tired just from watching you stand up that many times.
I'm pretty sure one involved him standing from lying straight on his back. That's a hell of a trick.
*Butterfly meme* Is this a VSauce?
Ceci n'est pas une Vsauce
Jake: am I a joke to you?
I went to UChicago with Michael, and this is a perfectly meta to catch up on what he's been up to, so thanks.
I know the whole video was done in a vsauce style, but the STATION-ARY title card caught me so off guard and made me laugh so hard
I would like to nominate Dan Olson for Best Actor in "What is Vsauce?" as "Vsauce, Michael Here", outstanding performance!
So this video is a good analogy for the ambling structure of vsauce making no point and simultaneously loads at once, good job
Dan's satire is so spot-on.
The feeling I get out of Vsauce is hardcore pseudo intellectual. I lost all respect for him with "the speed of darkness". As well as asking if shadows have weight.
Jennifer Valentine Vsauce isn't about showing michael's intellect. It's about making people think and raising curiosity in certain subjects. Asking questions like if shadows have weight is inducing thought and curiosity. There is a tedx talk of him where he kind of talks about this.
@@jennifervalentine8955 Could you explain how those are pseudo-intellectual to you. . . ? I don't want to assume, but it seems like you think "weird" or seemingly nonsensical and dumb questions are pseudo-intellectual?
@@jennifervalentine8955 ....obviously Michael knows the answer to the question he is posing in the video. The point is to teach other people who didn't know. I'm not sure what your issue is with educational videos centered around unexpected questions.
This video was great. Thank you for taking the time to do that. I myself found VSauce pretty late when it was in its poetic free-flow informational video form and have been pretty sad to see that come to a close with Mindfield, which felt to "TV-like" for my taste (and the obvious gating with RUclipsRed/Premium). But the way you made this video was very informative, I personally didn't know of the channels past and though it took me a few minutes to get the backwards trend, in the beginning, I loved every second of it as you nailed the style and tonality perfectly. I hope that you have a better time now finishing other projects you have started and as always, thanks for making content :)
D.O.N.G. has a bit of that sci-poetry feel to it sometimes, when he's not harvesting raw pennies for his clingy oatmeal.
Agree!
Hes started back up again!
I really liked VSauce's classic era and for some reason mind field just doesn't do it for me either. The DONG thing is close enough to classic vsauce tho
Excellent as always, Dan. "How shall we handle the transitions on this one?" "oh, I'll just keep popping into frame like the shark from Jaws".
I'm taking a shot everytime Veeeeeesauce is mentioned
he was never heard from again
Have you recovered from your alcohol poisoning?
I just drink to sooth the pain on my own pace
Or is it the other similar channel, Vsauce?
I mentioning my alcoholism every time someone takes a shot at Vsauce
i think im gonna have dan olson popping into my nightmares this weekend
e: this is like a talking heads video
u dont seem to know how many people my age love talking heads then @@eterlinblue99
You may ask yourself… is this my beautiful RUclips?
Once in a Lifetime video, huh?
Same as it ever was
@@FoldingIdeas look where ur puppet was
I don’t know what you did different, but I somehow feel like I’ve been physically assaulted
I feel like my brain was just punched.
I always said Folding Ideas is like if Vsauce did film and media theory. This is my analogy exploded into horrifying form. Cheers Dan
I first discovered VSauce when they were doing Leanbacks. No idea which part of the phase-shift that was in, but basically they created curated playlists of interesting videos from around youtube that all followed a theme, with their own video commentary sprinkled in at certain points to make observations about what you just saw. I always assumed that's where the channel name came from, since "sauce" has the colloquial definition of "context" and youtube playlists are basically "video context". Never thought to look back further
Dude...you just gave me the largest epiphany I think I'll ever have in my life. ..
As a teacher, I am constantly struggling with this problem. I try to be as precise as possible when I teach something, because I think the more I simplify, the greater the chance that a student will try to use the concept where it doesn't work because of the simplification, and therefore he will be confused. But I am always forced to balance this against the limited time I have to teach, and the potential usefulness of the added information. Who would have thought that such a philosophical idea would have real practical implications?
I think the only workable solution is that things are only something within context - As Dan said, to most people, in most cases, Vsauce is simply the "speed of dark" version. Bringing up the game channel, gone curiosity and sex jokes channel, gone science channel, gone RUclips Red content producer story would only clog the discussion - except of course when it doesn't, because you found the correct combination of people and context where those things matter (such as this video). In the case of my classes, whenever I am describing something that is a simplification, I try to be clear about it, and, if possible, give a brief description of which facts I am ommitting - in the case o Vsauce, I could say something like "It's been a lot of things over the years, but now it is mostly known for its videos exploring many aspects of various scientifical concepts."
I have no idea, but very eager to learn.
Nope, still no idea.
Oh my god that Pentax is gorgeous
Asahi Pentax 6x7
I was thinking about that for the rest of the video!
@@FoldingIdeas been considering picking one up, and hearing that powerful click definitely gave me some feelings
@@Walkerreynolds91 I have never once been interested in photography and the equipment involved, but damn hearing that click and seeing that gorgeous camera made me feel a certain type of way.
Is this how obsessions start?
...is not something people say in the 21st century ahah.
It is awesome though, i wish i had loose change for film.
Perfect intro as always, Michael
I’m so tired that my brain legitimately several times failed to differentiate between Dan and Vsauce Michael Here.
The fact that Dan has a Pentax 6x7 with the wooden grip and a Takumar 105 just melts my heart. That's my EXACT setup.
That camera is gorgeous!
Was just about to comment "Gorgeous camera!" and then clicked to read the reply, lol.
I don't know what it is about that old Pentax that made me think "gorgeous" but I'm glad I'm not the only one. :)
Edit: I bet it takes some pretty gorgeous photos too.
Vsauce is the evolution of self
Vsauce is the promotion of self.
yes
Implying dongs are not the pinnacle of human awareness
(leans up into video)
"Oh, hey! I didn't see you there..."
really enjoyed the loving recreation of michaels slight over-enunciation of every word.
everyone's talking about the popping into frame but i'm just in awe at how well you nailed the flow of michael's speech
Now we need Vsauce to make an alternate version of this discussing the shift Folding Ideas has made from gimmick rantsona to film-worker perspective on bad movies to internet meta-culture discussion to a cult-focused documentarian.
Your impression of Michael is amazing. Excellent job. You found the internal logic, not just the voice and mannerisms. In my view, that is the very definition of good pastiche. Well done.
In conclusion, Vsauce is a land of contrasts.
Is that a donoteat reference, because if not I’m still gonna assume it it’s, death of the author rules
@@leoforzeth that's bart simpson
This was a really interesting video about the history of Vsauce and the nature of digital content creation but I really need to go back and watch a different Folding Ideas now just so I can feel comfort in Dan's regular cadence again
Would love to see a revisit of this, because the final thesus is totally true - VSauce has gone through some thangs
I think an interesting thing to note in the channel metaphor is how many damn spin-offs Vsauce has created over the years because of this very idea. It would be interesting to discuss how these sauces basically tried two to three times to return to its video game variety show routes and then literally every time the person who helmed the new channel decided to just not do that anymore.
You know how people say that imitation is the best form of flattery? They lied.
Perhaps the corollary is that if you imitate something that wasn't actually good in the first place - just gimmicky - the act of imitation reveals the flaws in the original that may not have been apparent when it was a novel idea.
Another way of putting that might be Forrest Gump’s favorite game: “Does it have legs?”
Yeah, in this case, he took a headshot at the uncanny valley and hit the bullseye.
I think we might need to make a case about the existence of two simultaneous caveats regarding the accuracy of the imitation for the idiom to be somewhat close to being accurate: Namely,
-A direct correlation between flattering effect and accuracy turning into an inverse correlation of accuracy of the imitation to the flattering effect on the imitated once a certain point is surpassed. Let's call this point "the Point of Obvious Verisimilitude".
+ A simultaneous direct relation of the accuracy of the imitation to the general entertainment value of the imitation turning into an equal but inverse relation once the Point of Obvious Verisimilitude is surpassed.
In other words:
Do the same but slightly better and he will hate you and they will be indifferent,
Do the same but much better and he will hate you and they will love you,
Do the same but slightly worse and he will love you, and they will hate you,
Do the same but a much worse and he will love you, and they will love you,
Do the same but fail at it and nobody will love you.
He deliberately went for the second to last option: Commendable courage.
*footnote: also the best form of mockery
Three minutes into video and I'm like AAAGH, STOP DOING THAT!!!
Aw, Dan can't do the DreamWorks face
best comment
@Crow he's the vsauce of the good universe I guess
it feels vaguely dystopian that a facial expression is referred to as a brand
i love Vsause because my ADD makes it difficult for me to stay on one topic while paying attention and their content is both entertaining and keeps my attention long enough for me to finish the videos
VSauce's classic era spoke to the part of me that is obsessed with vaguely existential questions, abstract, and absolutely incapable of sustained focus
I was gonna say, Vsauce videos are structured how my ADHD ass talks about literally anything
@@Cobalt985 same lol
I'll be honest, I have the opposite problem with him for the same reason. the constant jump cuts and tonal changes make it impossible for me to concentrate and absorb anything he's saying so I can't watch basically any of his videos. :')
definitely feel you on the topic transitions though, I'm absolutely a tangent-within-a-tangent-within-a-tangent person. hence my great love of the Technology Connections channel.
The moment where Wittgenstein just became VSauce, I think I just died.
Wittgensauce.
The tasty stuff I put on Vpasta?
that can of vsauce will be 2 vbucks
@@gumass4534 surely you mean vcan
we all make vtypos, what's important is to learn from our vmistakes
Oh my God, how did mirror universe Dan escape into our world?!?
This is definitely the most frenetic exploration of the ship of Theseus I’ve ever seen.
oh my god vsauce is literally just the ship of theseus
I'm actually really glad you talked about this because I've been SO CONFUSED about Vsauce for a while now but trying to research it seemed like a hassle. This explains a lot.
Vsauce is a series of semi-periodic RUclips Shorts uploads made primarily for the purpose of non sequitur visual gags and selling Curiosity Box subscriptions
With a focus on pithy sayings, occasional historical trivia, illusions or camera trickery, and endings that break the established storytelling form.
It's simultaneously alarming and elating to see you recreate the era of Vsauce I fell in love with.
I’m so glad Michael dropped the innuendo and let his content grow up.
But I'm also glad he kept it on the channel. He left the past where it was, didn't try to change or remove it. That's real maturity right there
I think you're just uptight
Inevitable.
@@likira111 I think you're just 12
@@subzerobadass Dick jokes are hit or miss. Some are funny, some are boring. One must find their own flavor of dick jokes.
Amazing that you cover so much of what Vsause is, was, and tries to be all without mentioning any of their secondary series and channels like Vsause2, Vsause3, and DONG.
So many dynamic entries into the frame!!! Aaaaaa!
There's vsauce... then there's Vinesauce, which is both the title that Vinny Vinesauce uses as his own handle as a twitch streamer but also the umbrella term for a bunch of streamers he's put on his.. website? Team? I- okay I honestly am confused on this one other than they all get to be "a part of Vinesauce". Anyways. Vinny also has a band called Red Vox, who's drummer is a cool dude named Michael (aka Jabroni Mike, another person Vinny got into streaming) who I only assume isn't added to the Vinesauce team officially because Vinny already gets a ton of questions about whether or not Vinesauce has anything to do with Vsauce when really they just both started/picked up around the same time with similar names. (I don't know why Vsauce is named that but Vinny got the nickname Vine after silly Mario Party antics and well, Vinny Pizzapasta, Mr. New York Italiano, likes the word sauce.)
Anyways, HUH, now knowing about the much earlier Vsauce stuff, DONG makes more sense for why it exists.
i was wondering when dan was gonna mention vinny!
Dan clearly had so much fun with the jumping into frame bit. Probably got his exercise for the day, factoring in retakes.
Really liked the Wittgenstein reference, it was pretty accurate too, you don't see that often.
Vsauce: The Duality of Man
what does this mean
@@TinoYahoo I don't remember anymore
Vsauce: The Quaternity of Man
i subscribed to vsauce waay back when, I really liked the IMG series, there was something calming about the fast pace of those videos. And I guess the channel managed to grow up around the same time when I did..
Seeing those unexpectedly deep videos in my subscribtions when I logged in after a while was a bit surreal.
also he said he doesn't remember the password to the main vsauce channel
Lol
He's never actually said this
@@kenbee1957 Would be pretty funny though
@@noahmay7708
It's hilarious
And Micheal is so effing weird that if he DID really lose the password to a huge channel like VSauce, we'd all just be mildly surprised
A telling story from Michael from VSauce: He was doing an episode of Mind Field with his camera crew about the reality of truth serums and was asked a question, and admitted he preferred making VSauce. He might have grown up from the "here is my vlog of bro-ish college humor" but he still wants that crazy self paced poetic flow.
the reoccurring joke
hit me harder every time
i love this video so dearly
Yup
What Is Vsauce?
The more popular bald guy.
Omg 😂 perfect comment
Seth Everman?
Binging With Babish?
early boy gets the sauce
Good video Geordie Man
That reminds me of Vsauce, the popular educational RUclips channel with several long form essays on big ideas like human Reason, the history of Photography, and the subjective experience of the flow of time
This video was engineered to be a masterpiece, you really paid attention to every detail from wording to pauses to pretty much everything
I was expecting you to squash something with green paint in it at the end while some 8bit tune plays
[*pops up from the bottom of the screen*]
Oh cool, a new Folding Ideas video. Nice.
Also I gotta give props for all the little touches on making this a style parody; good job
Hey Fold Sauce, Daniel here.
I miss the puppet characters, and Dan excluively being on the Toliet.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more complete and successful mimicry of style. It’s putting me off balance
This is so great ahhh I love that I know every vid of yours I watch is gonna be something so different and unique and extremely interesting.
I guess Vsauce was whatever Vwanted sauce to be
0noregrets0 but along the journey, he couldn’t find his way, and became Vlost
The real Vsauce was the friends we made along the way
@@Tropcopter you mean, "the friends Ve made along the Vay" XD
Knees of steel. What a workout this must have been.
I see some people comment how tedious and exhilarating it is to watch - but now imagine actually doing it.
Dan - uh, I mean Michael - had to physically perform every single one of those sit-ups. And then a whole bunch more for all the takes that nobody will ever get to see.
Is this parody or criticism? I can’t tell.
.... Yes??
Parody IS criticism
Marco Miceli I think what you’re trying to say “is this a parody or a satire?”
Yes
Ah, the inclusive or.
As parodies go that was frankly a transcendental experience. Also a nicely informative one.
Me: *watches a Folding Ideas video to get a break from all the film photography vlogs*
FI: *WHIPS OUT A PENTAX 6x7*
That was fun and interesting, but without a changing background doing Micheals jumping into frame bit was making me ill XD
You didn't mention D.O.N.G. really thought you would
Edit: Oops it's in the description. My bad
It's mentioned in the description box, along with an explanation of why it's not mentioned in the video (the video bring an analysis of the structural format of a RUclips channel over time)
@@originalname1337 okay, I see. My bad. Thank you!
Your slide ins are so on point.
All the popping into frame was killing me 😂
This particular theme has been on my mind a bit lately, as I've just started regularly watching a handful of new channels and as I run out of the current content I'm often really surprised by how different the older videos are, haha.
And speaaking of, I kinda miss Foldy... not that I don't enjoy Dan's wonderful visage, but Foldy's a really cool puppet design.
I was expecting you to mention the stage show he did with Adam Savage.
I had the privilege of watching that in Kalamazoo Michigan, it was truly amazing. (if far more, Adam, then Michael.
I like videos that assume I am smart. Your videos stand soundly apart from all the mediocre sludge and I think this channel is a real gem. I always smile when I see that you’ve posted something new and I’m never disappointed. Thank you for everything, and please keep ‘em coming.
Sincerely,
a guy who could be mistaken for you in a slightly blurred photograph.
Whoah, deja vu. Just a little bit ago I wanted to go rewatch Vsauce's old videos and found to my surprise a very very different channel about gaming girls and dick jokes. I wondered what fucking bizarro land channel I'd stumbled into and how it so vastly was different from their later content. Ironically this made the channel itself very much Vsauce.
God I remember discovering Vsauce around 2012, right when it was starting to be more "professional" going back and finding that video with the tied up girls in costume. I thought that was creepy when I was fifteen, and it's just over the top cringe now
Jesus Christ this was a trip.
Thank you very much, amazing video. Summed up my thoughts about what Michael and the others are doing really well.
Only discovering Folding Ideas just now. Watched 3 videos today, subbed on the first one and reached for the sub button on both subsequent videos. Gosh you make good content.