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Anonymous

fmtownsmarty:

ulan-bator:

fmtownsmarty:

(http://pointnever.com/)

Hi. I feel weird (and probably bad?) because of this. For now, have a map while i think this over some more:

(0:00)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/9404668951/kagerou-meikyuu (0:06)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/50765158992/destruction (0:23)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/9303094501/lipstick-adv (1:10)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/12767991099/vastness (1:26)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/59818142884/twilight-syndrome (1:35)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/49873868175/ooedo-tantei-kamiya-ukyou-vol-2
(1:38)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/20787463989/tecela (1:40)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/12171066666/game-technopolis-super-collection-1

(1:41)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/15747924422/game-technopolis-super-collection-1
(1:42)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/5982103130/saori (1:44)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/11339935764/uchiyama-aki-no-chou-bangai-seifuku-zukan (1:50)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/12573648387/kurayami

(1:57)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/11206575194/possessioner (2:07)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/59608873549/yokohama-elegy
(2:13)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/10150244707/yami-no-ryousen (2:21)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/39187627211/present-duo (2:25)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/30193376496/s-a-3 (2:52)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/5942603546/gokko-vol-1 (2:56)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/3840810615/yuuwaku-no-toiki
(2:58)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/16798069576/koroshi-no-dress-2
(2:59)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/5460985757 sayaka-gibo (3:01)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/14046075682/lipstick (3:03)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/11663840537/ryouki-no-ori (somewhere between 3:10 and ???) http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/40503057229/possessioner http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/28105447864/rose-blood http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/5529852353/zatsuon-ryouiki http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/7901657582/tenshin-ranma http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/16602715210/re-no-stayin-alive http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/36273227467/presence

(3:58)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/31136166132/etsuraku-no-gakuen (4:09)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/6226040265/ballade-for-maria (4:16)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/17046140854/zatsuon-ryouiki
(4:49)http://fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com/post/18595208061/asoko-no-koufuku

I’m reblogging this because I want as many people as possible to be aware this happened. fmtownsmarty has been doing what he does for years — finding games that most people don’t give a second thought, playing through them despite of obscure outdated technology and language barriers, and presenting them in an original way, with intelligence, integrity and humour. He’s obviously the inspiration for what I’ve been doing — the original thought behind my first efforts in this was just trying to do something like what fmtownsmarty was doing since it’s not like I could copy what he’s doing anyway. The main challenge in keeping this blog going while getting better at it is not feeling like I’m ripping him off.

Then comes this fucker “artist” and cherrypicks his tumblr, juxtaposes it with stock internet shock imagery, presenting it on 4chan since I guess maybe he subconsciously realizes that’s about the level he’s working on. Of course 4chan thinks it’s really deep, cementing the impression of most people who don’t know where the actual effort involved comes from. Jon Rafman presents his work as gathering imagery from various fetish and videogame-sites on the internet, at first not mentioning any names. Noticably, the bits giving his video any structure, the final shot of the video which leaves the watcher thinking maybe some thought went into this video, and which in turn tumblr users have screencapped to yet again make gifs of, all come from fmtownsmarty.tumblr.com.

When fmtownsmarty gives Jon Rafman a hint that maybe what’s happened here isn’t all as it should be, he gets a nondescript link in the description on vimeo to his imgur account, neglecting to link to his tumblr where he’s been exposed for ripping off fmtownsmarty’s work, neglecting to say anything about the extent of his “work” that actually comes from fmtownsmarty. Of course Jon Rafman gets seen as a pioneering artist for his slumming in internet culture, much like artists in the past have been “pioneering” for slumming in street art culture or “primitive” culture.

I don’t think anyone that has been impressed with this video has any idea of the background of it. The only thing impressive about what this guy has done is managing to get hired by Oneohtrix Point Never.

For the past few days I’ve been grappling with how to best address/deal with this, and other than a few passive-aggressive tweets sent to Jon Rafman (i now have a twitter account as a result of this but I don’t get how i’m supposed be using it.) I really haven’t done much of anything. Ulan-Bator’s take on this is way more succinct than i’d probably ever be able to put it, and I’m grateful beyond words. He has always been a thoroughly excellent individual, and his presence (along with a small group of other people on here) is one of the main inspirational forces which motivates me to continue running this blog.

There’s a lot more that I need to say about this but right now I don’t know if I can. This whole thing unfolded in the middle of a bunch of other god-awful personal/financial/employment/living situation hells that are happening concurrently. Also, I found out a few hours ago that a family member passed away last night. Needless to say, I feel WEIRD and SAD and FUCKING TERRIBLE. I’m having a difficult time organizing my thoughts and it’s fucked that I’m spending all of this emotional energy on weird internet shit. I’d like to thank all of you for your kind words, and for opening up this discussion in spite of my mostly non-active participation. I’ve spent the last 40 minutes rewriting what was going to be the next paragraph of this message but it’s still a big incoherent mess and I have to try to catch a train so I can spend the next three or four days being miserable. I’ll come back to this later in the week I guess. 

  1. ilyazarembsky-blog reblogged this from fmtownsmarty
  2. 1-800-kill-me reblogged this from ulan-bator and added:
    still thinking about this years? later?
  3. culturaltelemetry reblogged this from systemsapproach
  4. systemsapproach reblogged this from fmtownsmarty
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