i see you alex albon

i get people not being happy about the watcher move. i get people mourning that they can't afford to follow the guys rn. but actually wishing they would fail? hoping watcher employees are stressed and anxious? i don't think you actually like them, i think you just like having your whims catered to and you just see the guys as your funny little puppet friends.

i get that parasocial relationships are a...complex topic, particularly when a specific kind of content pretty much requires fostering that vibe. even when you know it's a real phenomenon, it's really easy to fall into the trap of, "these people are really cool/funny! i wish we were friends" (and tbf, i think a "friend crush" is still a *little* different bc i think most parasocial relationships make you think, "we ARE friends...or would be if we met.")

BUT. the flip side is forgetting that these guys are people, too. people who gotta make ends meet, particularly if they want to keep providing great content. people with families, bills, expenses, and yes even little treats. like, shit costs money and we can't accuse someone of greed or hope they fail and then pat ourselves on the back for being anti-capitalist or something. this move is a risk but also surely not an impulsive one, and the guys feel this is the right move both financially and creatively then you should hope they succeed!

and, ftr—i already signed up, and i've already sent out my login info to friends who aren't in a place rn to pay. support the guys if you can, but i think the bare minimum is not hoping they crash and burn.

I'm so hungover and I made TERRIBLE interpersonal choices last night and I need to go and collect my charger from work and I really cannot cope AND Lewis is out in Q1 what is the POINT of LIFE

this is the most green flag thing to ever green flag 😭 [not mine!!]

losing ym marbles about the Oscar Williams podcast for multiple reasons but especially the bit where Alexander Albon simply drops in that he DEFINITELY wanted to fuck the girl car in Cars and both Oscar and Logan ignore his borderline millennial ass and move on with their days but sir what the FUCK

also you SHOULD aspire to run a media company where you not just create sustainable content but get to employ your friends on your own platform. you should NOT be aiming to fund fucking Google at the cost of yourself. you are not put on this earth to suck dicks you don't want to, you are here to get your beloveds off the best way you can.

I'm gonna be controversial and say I have absolutely no problem paying for Watcher on a separate site. YouTube is a hole that frequently promotes right wing shit and despite my incredibly careful curation and premium subscription it constantly tries to make me watch the WORST people, it also makes even the best people have to run horrible promos for bad companies as part of their videos because even getting the kind of viewing numbers that would keep a major TV show going doesn't pay the bills for a production company operating with relatively low overheads.

I get that it sucks but I am FINE (and I am extremely poor, I work a minimum wage job and have average adult who's nearly 40 life costs) with them saying they want to get the money direct not via being ripped off by one of the world's biggest companies profiting by making things worse. $5.99 a month is not much, $41.99 for a YEAR (currently) is fuck all. when sport paywalls itself behind something that's like £35 per month that's one thing but I already willingly pay for loads of creators on Patreon and Substack because I know damn well, as someone who used to earn my whole income in media it doesn't fucking pay you anything.

Max and Lewis | China 2024 by Lars Baron.

I'm gonna be controversial and say I have absolutely no problem paying for Watcher on a separate site. YouTube is a hole that frequently promotes right wing shit and despite my incredibly careful curation and premium subscription it constantly tries to make me watch the WORST people, it also makes even the best people have to run horrible promos for bad companies as part of their videos because even getting the kind of viewing numbers that would keep a major TV show going doesn't pay the bills for a production company operating with relatively low overheads.

I get that it sucks but I am FINE (and I am extremely poor, I work a minimum wage job and have average adult who's nearly 40 life costs) with them saying they want to get the money direct not via being ripped off by one of the world's biggest companies profiting by making things worse. $5.99 a month is not much, $41.99 for a YEAR (currently) is fuck all. when sport paywalls itself behind something that's like £35 per month that's one thing but I already willingly pay for loads of creators on Patreon and Substack because I know damn well, as someone who used to earn my whole income in media it doesn't fucking pay you anything.

i think you would enjoy the guy who runs aging wheels on YouTube

I do! i started watching him cus he reviewed the citicar which is a crappy old EV from back in whatever oil crisis and then have been going through his stuff. most of car youtube is so completely garbage it's extremely refreshing and lovely that people like him and Regular Car Reviews exist just y'know, having fun with it.

Lando coaches Chelsea players Levi Colwill and Robert Sanchez

I dont care about ethics but rpf seems like it requires a lot of research.

Yeah but that's secretly the fun part.

Lewis at the Rimowa event

some higher power give me the strength and grace not to think unkind things about the male journalist asssigned a piece about F1 Academy who for obvious reasons knows so little about women in motorsport he will be collecting the commission for the piece but has to interview me (for free) in order to write it

jfc I just got a Blaze/ad post shoved onto my dash of reader x Carlos Sainz Jnr can someone have a word with the reader x driver creator community or something, this is completely out of hand. I don't think anyone should feel shame about creating fanworks, I think creating things is a very important part of loving something, I think that takes lots of forms and so this isn't trying to be massively judgy about what they're actually doing, just that surely they have to get that not everyone wants to see that?