Scam Nation

Wow... That's neat! Never had an "A" rating before... even during peak early ‪@scamschool‬ days! Now that ‪@ModernRogue‬ 's ramped up, I get to do more fun, silly and experimental stuff here on Scam Nation. Speaking of which: yes, we all want more new magic tricks and puzzles, but what other topics would you like to hear about here?

1 month ago | [YT] | 46

Scam Nation

Scoundrels! Which is more noteworthy? This insane spike in the Modern Rogue channel (the biggest single day spike in 19 years of YouTubing for me, personally), or this random photo of me wearing the same jacket as Joel from The Last of Us?

1 month ago | [YT] | 36

Scam Nation

I got another comment expressing hunger for new content and lamenting all the polished up older stuff. I wrote this response that ended up feeling more like a full post than a simple comment reply. Hope you dig it. Also, I made this a poll because I don't think YouTube loves just random essays... But I do like to write random essays so...

[[Insert_Wonderful_Fan_Comment_Asking_For_More_New_Stuff_Here]]

My response:

Yep.

It's hard to get pumped about cleaned-up older content, but like Carl Sagan said: "If you wish to bake an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiX...

All projects go through predictable stages of expansion and contraction, and then expansion into the next evolution. After landing the plane on the 5-year journey through the total solar eclipse (thank you, Founders!), I had to walk back all the way to the fundamentals.

I had to force myself to learn stuff that I hadn't had to worry about in years, like "where are all the episodes located? On what drives? Where are all the logins? How many services are we double-purchasing?" And "how much of this equipment is old, broken, antiquated, redundant and just taking up space?" And "it's been 15 years since I edited things. What's changed? Do we even need physical media on our cameras? How much of all of this is now silly to have humans still doing?"

Essentially I've had to re-learn and re-design every stage of the production pipeline. And that means "Undercover Boss"-style, actually performing every single job of every single person that had been standing between you the viewer, and me the creator. There were just too many steps in-between us for years and years, and it was long overdue that I fix that.

I know it's not very exciting to hear about data backups of hundreds of terabytes of footage, setting up systems with robot cameras, configuring automated systems that let me conceive of an episode during my 6am run, and have it published by lunch, and so on...

Those are all the parts that are too boring to watch. We're only just now getting to the more fun parts that make for good livestreams (BTW, those are really fun hangs... I'd encourage you to give them a try in the MR channel).

We went nearly a decade building brittle patchwork systems on top of brittle patchwork systems, all while my real time body had to be out giving lectures and talks, performing magic shows, hosting podcasts, workshops, etc. etc. And now it's time to get back to the shortest possible distance between me and you.

Basically, we're 6 months into a literal once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a better storytelling engine that can run faster and better for the rest of my life, and while it's not earth-shattering to see old ads vanish and previous content cleaned up, I hope you'll keep peeking in so you can catch that lightning-in-a-bottle moment when the Wheel of Ka turns, and stuff catches fire once again.

-Brian

PS: One small ask? Get on that email list, and very little of this will remain hidden from you :-) In fact, let's make that the poll question! Are you on the email list?

2 months ago | [YT] | 49

Scam Nation

Science Poll #2: Regarding these cleaned-up Modern Rogue episodes...

3 months ago | [YT] | 20

Scam Nation

Important poll for science! This channel just celebrated its 15-year anniversary. How long ago did you subscribe to it?

3 months ago | [YT] | 57

Scam Nation

Tomorrow, December 28, we're doing the World's Greatest Con Season 1 listen party on the ‪@ModernRogue‬ channel. It's a 3-hour event. What start time is best for you?

4 months ago | [YT] | 23

Scam Nation

REMINDER: World's Greatest Con Season 1 Listen Party is THIS SATURDAY, December 18th on the ‪@ModernRogue‬ channel. Total event is about 3 hours long. So, question: Have you already listened to it before?

4 months ago | [YT] | 28

Scam Nation

Okay, Scoundrels: Looks like mid-day Saturday, December 28, 2024 was the runaway favorite for our World's Greatest Con Season 1 listening party! (Oh. Times are central USA time.). Next question: can you make it and hang out for the full 3-4 hour journey?

4 months ago | [YT] | 27

Scam Nation

24 hours left to Torbrenner! Ryer's *literally* working around the clock fulfilling holiday orders, but YOU ONLY HAVE 24 HOURS LEFT if you want the discounted launch price and GUARANTEED delivery by Christmas. On 12/14/24, Torbrenner flips to full price, and we can no longer guarantee delivery by xmas. Head to TORBRENNER.COM now to learn more and grab yours! -Brian

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4 months ago | [YT] | 32

Scam Nation

This was so cool to see. When Dan White appeared on the Tonight Show, he used my book test in part of his performance. It's an amazing trick, and it's normally very, very expensive. But *this week only* the price is the lowest it's ever been. Check out Dan's performance and learn more about the book test here: www.scamstuff.com/products/brian-brushwood-book-te…

5 months ago | [YT] | 13