Videogamedunkey And By Association, Super Mario 64

Reviewing, critiquing, or hating on things is pretty easy, when you think about it. Our culture is very negative and seeks out "AH HA!" moments to disprove our foes' points or bright lights to shine on how bad things are. It's easy to say "this bowl of ramen sucks!" and then copy and paste that in a Facebook-tagged post, a yelp review, and a text to your friends....maybe even an instagram pic of that HORRIBLE ramen. It's a lot harder to take in something, enojoy it, and explain why/how it made you feel and changed you. That takes effort. People are often afraid to do this.

I ran a comic book enjoyment blog for years. The whole point of it was to convey to others why comic books are great and should be read as well as suggesting good stories to read. I would talk about things that I was well-versed in and stuff I had only heard of, but I often found myself staying away from the really good titles. "What can I say about this? This should be reviewed and celebrated by someone better than me. This work made me feel feelings that I cannot describe, so how can I share that with others?!" Thoughts like these would shout loudly in my head and I would ultimately give up on trying to gather and express thoughts on the really good stories. Planetary, Chew, Essex County, etc... These comic books took the wind out of me and then I was silent other than to say "This is really great. Check it out. Thumbs up. Like. Subscribe."

This whole thing is kind of stupid. If there was something that touched me, shouldn't that be what is championed? Yeah, there is another super hero book with a girl version of the time-honored hero and yes there are things to discuss about that, but if you really want to share the good stuff with folks, wouldn't my time and energy be better spent trying to describe those things instead? The answer is "yes."

That is why I made this blog. I thought to myself, "If there are good things that I am super into, I will talk about them," even if it comes out infrequently. Even if bouts of anxiety and depression stimey my efforts, I will continue to celebrate the good... even if it is just about bean and cheese tacos. But, as I have struggled through making regular posts on this site for about two years, I have realized that other bloggers, vloggers, reviewers and celebs struggle with it too. That is why, when I watched one of the latest videos from Videogamedunkey (a Youtube favorite of mine and 5 million+ subscribers), I was re-inspired to keep this blog active and to keep myself looking for reasons to be delighted.

Videogamedunkey is a guy named Jason who reads and reviews video games and video game culture. His voice is wonderful. His wit is sharp. He is simultaneously lovable and talented. A real person who deserves even more notoriety than he has gotten, just from being himself. If you stopped reading this right now and only found out about Dunkey's Youtube channel, I still would have done you a favor. His content is hilarious and robust, but it is his most recent post that inspired me. He did a video on Super Mario 64.

Super Mario 64 came out 23 years ago, in 1996. It was well-received by critics, but for Dunkey it was a gamechanger. This game stood above the rest for him, both as a formative tool in his youth and as a masterpiece that he can appreciate now that he is grown. The video (posted below) that Dunkey made is dripping with gooey passion and respect for this simple game that was nothing to me (never played it), but watching his video and seeing someone who I regularly watch poke fun at things, celebrate something, made me want to get back on the horse over here at What's Good, Scott? He does a great job with it.

Seeing Dunkey collect and express his thoughts in a way that made me feel something...in a way that made me understand the weight of this game and what it meant to him and ultimately what it meant to gamers everywhere gets me pumped. It makes me want to write about my favorite Swedish artist and my favorite singer in L.A. and my favorite things about my close friends and the way my kid kisses me goodbye and the way that a really cold Monster energy drink tastes...et cetera. I want to celebrate that which is good...aggressively...and share it with you. That's why we are here.

Videogamedunkey is good. Regular old Jason is good. Inspiration is good. Super Mario 64 is good and I never would have known it was if Dunkey hadn't decided to make this video instead of goofin' on Sekiro again. I mean...I probably would have watched that too....and it would also be good. All of his videos are.