You're Too Old for This!

They ignored you and counted you out, but I know something they don't.

There are certain people who, when they get up on stage to speak, I will always listen. Casey Neistat, Matthew Dicks, Beau Miles, and Jack Conte.

Yesterday, I watched a great keynote speech by Conte that he gave at an event in Switzerland called The Swiss Creator Village. They invited dozens of the best content creators from around the world (their words, not mine) to meet, listen, learn, and create together.

Jack Conte speaking at Swiss Creator Village 2024

It sounds like an amazing event, but when I caught a glimpse of the roster of people invited to participate, I noticed there wasn’t a single person under the age of forty aside from Conte.

Perhaps it’s my old-ish age talking, but I couldn’t help but get upset that nobody of legacy was invited to participate. I have no illusions that I would qualify for an invite, but it seemed odd to me that nobody in the curator group thought to invite older creators with experience and wisdom to share.

While doing my research, I saw a promotional video for the event where they used the phrase above, “Greatest content creators from around the world.” It frustrated me, and I got upset because I am nowhere near ready to be put out to pasture.

Over Fifty and Ready to Fight

As much as I enjoy talking to my peer group over a bunch of twenty-somethings, I believe it’s crucial for us more seasoned creatives to get out and share what we know and do so with the same passion that festers inside of us until we turn it into art.

Everything now seems like a young person’s game, but it’s not. The playing field is level, but so many of us have given up. We’re tired, upset, out of shape, and maybe a little constipated from the shit we constantly deal with in our regular lives, but the game is not over.

It’s Not Over

I can’t speak to your motivations, but if you have any inkling to do a thing, share a thing, and scream from the mountaintop into a lapel microphone with a fuzzy, gray wind buffer on it, DO THAT THING.

Make the videos, share the podcasts, publish the books, and wheatpaste your posters of resistance in defiance of the status quo. Do not go gentle into that good night!

Old age should burn and rave at close of day… - Dylan Thomas

My kid, who is in much better shape than I ever was, looks at me like I’m ancient, but one thing he knows for certain is that he cannot take me in a fight (at least not yet). We wrestle, and though he’s getting stronger, he knows he cannot win.

I call it dad strength, but it’s more than that. It’s wisdom, experience, and the knowing that there is a monster inside, tempered by life but could quickly be unbound in a moment of necessity.

That same passionate energy exists within my creative output. That video of Jack Conte speaking to an amphitheater filled with twenty-something creators cut me from my bindings, and I now feel charged to do the same for others. Will you rage with me?

---

Making Membership Way More Rad!

I am one two (long story) pages away from finishing my first handmade multi-page zine, and I cannot wait to share it with everyone. As part of their membership, members will get a copy free, which is the first of a few new perks of membership.

Members Perks:

• Bi-monthly zines in both print and digital versions (print for U.S. residents only).

• Bi-monthly digital asset packs and tools (textures, images, templates, etc.) on alternate months.

• Access to the entire back catalog of everything.

• Random member-only surprises (when the whim hits me).

Become a member today and get 20% off the annual price.

You can take advantage of this new deal immediately with the F*ck Jeff Koons zine. You can pre-order the zine now if you wish, but members get the digital version free and a healthy discount on the print version later this month (provided you become a member before April 30th).

All of these things will be available in the shop eventually, but why not save a considerable amount of money by becoming a member now?

The Goods…