Tag: andrew hales

Contentment

Sup. It’s been a while. Remember that first post talking about how I was kind of against vlogging? Ya fuck that. I like it now. I’m tellin’ stories. Stuff like my DUI, blowing money on strippers, my drug habits, my fapping habits, why I left mormonism, the one that got away. I’m surprised to say I’m quite proud of my vlogs. My wonderfully intimate, youtubey, hand-held vloggy vlogs. For the first time in my life I feel like I’ve truly come out of my shell. I’m just so… and this word’s kind of gay but, happy. Gross. Good ol’ boring, I’m-13-again, quirky & relatable happiness. It’s very strange. Almost like I’m meeting my(jolly)self for the first time. Social Anxiety, what’s that? I actually talk to cashiers and uber drivers now without a care in the world. Is this how normal people feel? I don’t overthink things into a mild panic attack. Especially irrelevant, philosophical things like determinism or death. So. This is what 2 months of Lexapro feels like. My burning curiosity for anti-depressants (happiness in a pill?) is now finally resolved. I’m probably speaking too soon. There’s other factors too. The simple commitment to daily vlogging has probably had a relieving, cathartic effect on me. Not probably, it has. I also just turned 26 in May, signifying the completion of my brain’s natural growth and thus possibly maturing my state of mind and/or spirit to simpler, wiser level. Emotional retirement? Ha. Either way, for now, I’m in a good place.

Remember one of the docs I wanted to put out this year about Adderall and whether I had ADD or not? I drank a bunch of coffee (as well as 10 mg of addy of course) and busted it out over the weekend.

After uploading the nearly 12 minute short film to lahwfextra, I wait about about 5 minutes and then click refresh. The initial response is perfect. 40 likes, 0 dislikes. Ok cool. I play tug of war with Bonnie (my new Boston Terrier puppy) for 10-15 minutes. I click refresh again. 435 likes, 0 dislikes. Wow. They love it. Money can’t buy this feeling. I check up on the Donut Digger Prank on the main channel. Ratings are solid on that one too. Wow, today’s a good day for LAHWF. When my sense of accomplishment & ego gets this stimulated & inflated all I know to do is go for a fast-paced walk around the city. I put in my ipod, smoke a celebratory bowl and just sink into my own world, enjoying the fresh fruit of my labor. Aaaahhhh a pleased audience. Everything is in it’s right place.

“Good times, bad times, you know I’ve had my share…” – Led Zeppelin

Probably the most beautiful and simple lyrics ever written on this necessary fact of life. When I get down, I think of these lyrics and just remember to keep things in perspective, go with the flow, and ride the roller coaster of life. Losing All Hope Was Freedom.

Thanks for reading,

Andrew Hales

5:36am

Los Angeles, CA

Posted on by Andrew Hales 13

The Process

I haven’t had a hard life. I’m a white, tall, American, male, from an upper middle class family, two loving parents, 4 loving siblings, soccer practice, cabin in the summertime, noodle salad. Oh ya and then Youtube comes out of nowhere and makes me rich and famous popular on the internet. I kind of have it all.

The only problem I’ve ever had is not having any to begin with. Boredom. Depression. My own thoughts & imagination turning on me. Just a blessed, bored, bougie, little brat. Sex, Drugs, Alcohol, Sugar, Fat, Salt, Likes, Views, Attention.  It’s all wrapped up in a shiny, glittery box full of nothing. My neurotransmitters are shot. I’m not trying to sound edgy, there’s just something in me that wants to talk about this.

What’s there to do after you have it all? Do your best to contribute and help and be nice I guess. I think about this concept of short-term vs. long term gratification, but I’ve never really applied it to my life. Not consistently anyway. I’ve never really cared to. That’s kind of the root of evil right there. The tipping point. It all boils down to that spectrum. Good (long term choices) VS. Evil (short-term choices). You’ve thought about this.

Is it that simple though? I remember a girl asked me what’s the worst thing I’ve ever done. I thought about it for a second. “I don’t feel bad about any of the stuff I’ve done.” She laughed. You know, no regrets. It’s mAdE mE tHe PeRsOn I aM tOdAY! I don’t understand why people say that. What if you’re not a good person. What if you’re a serial killer. Same with Everything happens for a reason. Is it a good reason? I don’t like those phrases.

When we film a video, sometimes 2-3 hours go by before we film anything. We’ll walk around campus, figuring out what exactly we’re doing, hanging out, eating, getting batteries. When I say ‘we’ I just mean whoever is with me that day. Usually Luke, Aryia, or Danny. What I was getting at though was that those 2-3 hours of ‘wasting time’ have never bothered me. It’s just what we refer to as The Process. All the hang-ups, frustration, trouble that we encounter trying to get a video done is just part of The Process. It’s normal. It’s inevitable. It’s the universe’s way of making you earn the video.

So if we go back to the Good vs. Evil thing, is it really that simple? Or was I, for instance, suppose to visit a certain amount of strip clubs in my early 20’s before I was bored with them, so now I’ve learned my lesson, and don’t go to strip clubs anymore because I’m more mature and it’s degrading to women, so now I’m gonna respect woman and practice commitment with someone I care about? Where in all that did I just go, “Hey, I’m not gonna do this now.” If everyone makes mistakes and learns from them, then what’s the problem? I’m asking what’s the problem with making mistakes if you’re just going to learn from them, is it all just part of the process of life? I don’t really know what I mean by that. I’ve confused myself again.

I tell you man, this Free Will dilemma, I just can’t get my head around it. Maybe I’m smoking too much weed. Or taking too much adderall, or Ativan, or Lexapro. That last sentence just made me sound like a pill-popper. I am. I’m a pill-popper. I love pills. I love having the ability to change my reality with a substance. I like that simplicity. I guess that’s evil though, it’s short-term. Are they still evil if they help you be a better person? Not just to yourself but to everyone else in your life?

I could go through this post and fix some of the points I’ve made (if any) and make them crispier, think about it more, ramble more, but I don’t really want to. I’m tired. I’m just gonna post it.

Thanks For Reading,

Andrew Hales

3:32am

Los Angeles, CA

Posted on by Andrew Hales 19

About Danny Duncan

“What is life?”

Danny says as we sit on the grass at Venice Beach. We come here to “film & skate”. It’s the end of July and the sun is nearly gone behind the flat ocean.

“I know right” I don’t skip a beat.

Danny is a complete extrovert. Social lubricant. It’s not possible to have an awkward moment with Danny, not even after this ultimate question.

“Like what the fuck is going on!?” laughing his ass off.

“I know, it’s weird!” I laugh with him.

One of Danny’s most endearing traits is that he’s sober. I don’t think I’ve even seen him with a soda. He’s athletic and cares about his health while at the same time carries no judgment towards anyone that parties (me). His Instagram bio reads, “I just like to laugh & have fun! <3” which couldn’t be more parallel to his being.

I met Danny when I met Chris Chann about 10 months ago. They’re good friends. I’d seen some of Chris’ videos before and noticed he had commented on one of my videos. I tweeted to him and we skated (with Danny) at the Berrics a few days later. Danny and I started hanging out more and filming videos for each other. Eventually he started couch surfing at my place and over the course of the year we (along with Luke and a few others) started to build a life together out here in the City of Angels. A real-life social network of moral support.

Another endearing trait of Danny is he’s always in a positive mood. Even through the bad times he keeps on laughing. After being car-less for the first month or so, he finally got a car after spending everything he had. The car broke down on the freeway on the first day he bought it.

He came home a few hours later laughing his head off, “Dude, Dude, what are the fuckin’ chances!” Pulling me in with his crazy grin, “I mean ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS??” laughing harder.

Luke and I laugh with him, “that sucks man” and “I’m so sorry man, that’s not fair at all.”

He calms down and starts editing something on his laptop on my floor where he sleeps. He’s hungry. He’s chasing the dream. He wants to ‘make it’. I believe in him, so I help him. I want to help him. Danny’s a good guy. He’s a good guy because he’s always honest and upfront with everything he says and does. Part of #teamrealpranks and #FTF (fuck the fakes), a movement outspokenly against fake pranks/social expieriments (Although no one cares haha), Danny shares my annoyance for Youtubers that profit off the ignorance of millions of people who actually thought their staged, crafted sOciaL eXpEriMeNt really happened. Sorry I started to get a little heated there haha.

Fearful of intruding with a semi-serious tone, “Just let me know if you need to me to leave, it’s not a big deal at all.”

He says this about once a week. Buys his own groceries with the little money he has, Peanut Butter, Jelly, Bread, Milk, Cereal. Doesn’t touch my food, get’s uncomfortable if I try to buy his meal, “haha no dawg, put that away.” Little things like that can give you an idea of someone’s character.

I’m not sure where this post is going or what it’s original purpose was, but it’s good to practice gratitude. It takes effort to count your blessings and appreciate them. Though, at the moment, it feels effortless to be grateful for my friend, Danny Duncan.

Happy 100k subs man, love you.

Thanks For Reading,

Andrew Hales

6:49pm

Los Angeles, CA

Posted on by Andrew Hales 8

No One Cares if it’s Fake

Took me long enough to come to that realization. People stage videos on the internet and no one cares. People will never care. They have much more interesting things to worry about. I now accept this as a fact of my culture. Roman realized this early. Then Vitaly, Fousey, Ock, Saladhands, etc. They made the strategic switch from Documentary to Reality TV and people ate it up without a single synapse of suspicion.

To be clear, there’s two types of staging. Harmless and Harmful. Harmless is usually something like those Canadian Just For Laughs Gags where it’s an actual practical joke. Fousey’s Yoga Pants thing is a perfect example of a harmless staged prank. How do I know it’s fake? I don’t. You can just feel it if you’re not a moron. Strangers simply aren’t that animated. He’s been proven to hire actors off Craigslist anyway. But that’s besides the point! No one cares. At that point it’s Reality TV and people are happy to be distracted from their lives for a few minutes. Whether or not it’s real, no one fucking cares. On the other hand, Fousey’s Rape Prank, Homeless gives money, or cHaNge tHe WaY yoU tHInK lean more toward harmful staging which I’ll explain why gets on my nerves:

Harmful staging happens when a fuccboi starts out calling it a ‘Social Experiment’ (it’s sCieNcE!) then pretending to be a blind person asking change for a dollar  and having the “strangers” (blurred faces of course) rip him off. OMG! What kind of Fucked up Society do we LIVE in?! clearly deceiving the viewers. You’d think these outraged, naive posts from my own friends & family on Facebook, sharing the video along with it, would settle down after a couple years because maybe people would catch on, but no, they’re still popping up, lately from Saladhands or Zac Efron.

I hate this because I know they’re fake and my friends & family think they’re real. They truly believe they’re real and it completely baffles me. They don’t understand the industry. They don’t understand they’re perpetuating a negative stereotype when they share a fake social experiment that did not actually fucking happen. They don’t understand the creator/prankster crafted it purposely to disgust them, or sometimes to melt their heart, and to then to share it, making them thousands of dollars. They just don’t understand. And that pisses me off.

I’ve already explained all this in this video here. *Fun fact, the first 6 hours after I uploaded this, it got picked up on Reddit and made it to the front page. My friend from high school even texted me to let me know. I was thrilled. About an hour later it was taken down by a network which I can’t name in fear of them fucking me over because they have and will use if they just feel like it, that power. Anyway, the link on Reddit was now worthless. I immediately called the network and figured out who filed the copyright claim (I was clearly in fair use). It was either go back and forth over Youtube’s rebuttal system for the next week OR tweet to the fuccboi and pay him to remove the claim as well as guarantee no one from the network could take it down. To my surprise he responded, I paid him $1500, and after 7 more hours it was put back up, but the trending rhythm had died. Who knows how many views it might have gotten. Of course, at the end of the day, no one cares.

Does this mean LAHWF is going to start staging videos? No. It means no one cares because no one cares. And no one cares at all because no one cares about that. It means I’m getting too old for this cliche, saturated genre on Youtube called Pranks.

You pretentious piece of shit, you think you’re above Pranks Andrew? 

Short answer: Not yet.

I need to get back to practicing piano.

 

Thanks For Reading,

Andrew Hales

1:53am

Los Angeles, CA

 

 

 

Posted on by Andrew Hales 10