MrBiffo

UPPER TIERS EXCLUSIVE: POLAND BREAKDOWN!

At last it can be revealed... the full story of our Polish flat tire, and the stupid car we were "upgraded" to. I've been hesitant to share this, because I'm in SUCH a bad mood during it - a combination of a full day of filming, followed by the stress of the tire situation. I mean, I'm very, very tired in it, and you can see it in my eyes. But hey - it's raw, it's unfiltered. Enjoy!

MONDAY BLOG: THE NICHE IS... MY DAD

Happy Monday, gang.

Don’t worry. This isn’t about Doctor Who. Might write about The Last of Us for the upper tiers this week though… 

The past month or so has been reeeeeeeallly useful in terms of developing the channel, in terms of marketing it, in terms of growing it. I mean, even though we evidently got hit with a report by some loon which buggered up the reach of the ...

UPPER TIERS BLOG: HOW I WOULD FIX DOCTOR WHO

Sorry. More Doctor Who. I've had a chance to reflect on that first episode, and watched it again with Sanja yesterday. Well, almost. The first 10 minutes annoyed her so much that she chose to nap through the rest. Bear in mind, she used to love the show.

So, I was thinking - hypothetically - what I would do if I was in charge, and where do I think the show is going wrong?

Here's how...

DOCTOR WHONGOVER

Morning, kids.

Skip this if you don’t want to read about Doctor Who. Sorry. It’s just one of those things – like Star Wars – that has been such a big part of my whole life, and I’m always going to have an opinion on it. I’ll never stop wanting it to be great, and a huge success, and all that. 

This will be spoiler-free about the new episode, but I’ll probably ment...

UPDATE ON THE AD STRIKES

Quick update... we had all our ad strikes lifted. Hurrah! That was quick. So... no idea whether that was an automated strike or some idiot reporting us, but either way... all okay, as we knew it would be once a real person looked at them.

However, we're able to see our analytics for the chicken video and the border one, and... we can see why they've done badly. The chicken vid is getting ...

CURSE MY JUICY BULB

Oh the vagaries of YouTube and its damned algorithm!

So, now our most recent videos have been hit with “limited ads” for being unsuitable for “most audiences”. Which means they’re not getting pushed out, which means the latest one – just a mere six minutes! – is our worst performing video for a long time.

That’s okay, because it was an experiment, but… still....

SURPRISE VIDEO: THE CHICKEN BOMB IS REAL

Sorry I didn't get this to you sooner. I was going to put it out next week, but last week's video did so badly we thought we'd make it live today instead.

This is a bit of an experiment; seeing if we can do shorter, tighter, videos in-between the bigger ones. Obviously, an hour is a lot to ask of people's time, so we wondered if we sprinkle bite-sized vids in among the others then it migh...

MONDAY BLOG - PLUS DELETED SCENE!

Happy Monday!

Well… we did gardening.

Over the past couple of years where we had Other Stuff going on, we kind of neglected it. It has become a jungle, and needs a lot of work to get it back to where it was. But... we made a good start, cutting it back and repairing the fence. I mention this with a degree of pride, because Sanja and I don’t find this practical sort of stuff eas...

UPPER TIERS BLOG - WITH BONUS HORSE PICTURE

Happy Saturday, gang.

Latest video is... goiiiiing… sloooooowww. It’s fine. We might’ve put out too many long, heavy-ish, ones too close together. We lost a few subs at first – judging from various comments, probably ones wanting us to be funnier… and probably some who didn’t like us trying sharing take on world things that didn’t align with their views… but they’ve star...

PROBABLY THE MOST PERSONAL BLOG I'VE EVER WRITTEN

We got the above comment on the latest Digi video. There’ll be others. 

It’s a complicated thing, Digitiser, with a complicated history. It means something different to me than it probably does for much of its audience. I know for a lot of you reading this, and for many who remember it ...

VIDEO UP NOW FOR EVERYONE

This is out now for all of you. I've no idea how it'll be received - it's as far from Beanus as we've ever gone, but we felt it was important to make. We'd love a comment and a like if you're able to, as it helps push it out to the masses.

We were going to do a Biffo's Brain tonight, but I'm feeling a bit (very) burnt-out - this was three weeks' worth of solid work (not including filming...

ALBUM GIVEAWAY!

One of the nice things about the recent Poland eps is the comments I've had about the music. For somebody who still feels very much an amateur musician, this has been luvverly.

I wrote a ton of music - something like two-and-a-half hours over the past few months - and obviously not all of it got used....

EARLY ACCESS: POLAND PART 3

And here we go. What World War 2 can teach us about World War 3. We visit where the war began, take a trip around Gdansk, and head to the Polish border with Russia...

This took a lot of wrestling to get into shape, but... I'm so proud of where it has ended up. The work that went into it was insane, frankly, from the visuals, to the music, to the travel itself. And then the editing - it w...

MONDAY BLOG: GYAH!

I say again: Gyaaaah! 

Sorry I didn’t get the video to you yesterday. I was driving back from seeing the grandsons when something suddenly struck me… and I realised that it still wasn’t working – but I realised why and what it needed. I’m in the process of re-editing, and you should have it tonight or tomorrow. I mean, bloody hell. Three weeks’ work, and it still...

HAPPY SATURDAY - IT IS DONE

Faaaaaarkin’ hell. So, the new video is done. I think. That was a headache.

There will be two versions of it – one that’s just for upper tiers. That’ll be an unfinished version that Sanja and I watched… and decided we didn’t like very much. I've mentioned to you that I was struggling with this edit, and when we watched the assembly cut back we realised why. It was just too he...

POLAND - NEW TEASER

Here's a short teaser for next week's episode. I'm close to done with it.

Sorry I'm behind replying to comments and messages, I've had to hyper-focus on this one to make it work - but we'll get some exclusive stuff up for you next week. Plus Sanja's been doing the accounts this past week, so we've both been a bit preoccupied...!

As I said before, I'm nervous about this video. It's p...

CHECK-IN-SLOVAKIA

Hello, you lot. Just checking in.

I’m in the midst of editing the third of the Poland videos. It’s very different to the other two – though has the same cutaway animation style. It’s more serious than some we’ve done – there are some funny bits, but in all honesty... fewer laughs than I’d have liked – but we do take you to some interesting locations, including the border w...

UPPER TIERS BLOG: LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT

Happy Sunday. New video’s doing well – by our standards anyway – so that’s pleasant. All moving forwards nicely.

First, a warning: skip this if you’d rather just hear me talk about Beanus. Sorry. This is kind of political, but just where I’m at right now.

With these being the first videos we’ve done about WW2, I was kind of expecting getting Awful People popping up in...

UP NOW FOR ALL GOOD CHILDREN

Our new video is up for everyone, and it's a good 'un. This week we're taking you INSIDE - literally inside - the bunker where Hitler spent more time than anywhere else in WW2: The Wolf's Lair. We also find out some terrifying stuff about Germany's nuclear weapons projects, and interview the man who revealed the existence of Die Glocke to the world.

Please give it a like, a comment, and a...

NEEDED: YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE OF DIGI!

Morning! 

So, we had a big planning meeting yesterday. We even had a pin board with cards that we put up on it. We're proper posh.

Included on there was everything we NEED to do – which includes finishing Digi Level 2 as a project (sending out Kickstarter rewards, Drong’s Challenge etc.) – as well as everything we’d like to do. We’re not ignoring the Digi Level 2...

EARLY ACCESS: INSIDE THE WOLF'S LAIR.

Here we go, gang. The second of the Poland videos. Follows on from part one, but is also standalone. There's much I could say about it, but for now... let's just say I'm especially proud of this one.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Paul

BIG BAD WOLF

Hey-lo! Righty. New video is done and rendering. Might take a while to finish and slap onto YouTube – for it is a big boi, with lots of fiddly bits – but I’ll try to get it uploaded tonight. If not, it’ll be ready for you tomorrow, before going out for everyone on Thursday.

Oh! And there's a P...

SUNDAY SERVICE

Happy Sunday morning, chums.

Biffo’s Brain and Writer’s Club Zoom at 7pm tonight. Link to follow later.

In other news… the new vid is doing good! We – well, I - had a bit of a wobble in the first 24hrs, because it seemed to be going badly. But! I tinkered with the title and the thumbnail, and on Friday evening it started to take off. Right now it’s on a level with Big Cats...

UPPER TIERS: OLD McBIFFO HAD A CHANNEL - S-E-S-E-O

I've said it before, but I hate SEO and trying to game the system. Or, at least, game people’s brains to get them to watch.

We know from the metrics that the latest video began getting pushed out by the algorithm, due to strong engagement – watch time is up, likes are up, hours was up, great comments… all good, and that got it pushed out. But… once it did, it just flatlined. Maybe...

ENGAGE!

Hello all members! The first instalment of our Poland adventure is up on the channel now. If you have time to give it a watch, a comment and a like today - heck, even a share - that would be lovely, as getting engagement in the first 24hrs really helps push it out.

This trip was months in the planning, and only possible thanks to Patreon and our channel members, to whom we shall always b...

EARLY ACCESS: INSIDE PROJECT RIESE

Boo-yah! Here's the first part of our epic Poland trip. This is technically part one, and has all the usual bickering and nonsense plus a deep dive into probably the biggest mystery of World War 2. For both of us it was a properly head-spinning trip. And it just gets madder and madder in the subsequent instalments... Our final conclusions may surprise you!

I interviewed the military histo...

UPPER TIERS BLOG: INTERVIEW JOB

Hello, g-g-g-gang.

So, Po-po Vid 1 is done… barring the interview clips, which I can’t do until I’d conducted the interview, which is happening tonight. I’m a bit nervous… I love talking to people with a weird story to tell, but I find interviews quite stressful – the whole having to make it feel like a natural conversation while also ensuring I kind of get what I need.

...

MONDAY BLOG: OLD NEWS

Happy Monday from the Old Folk's Home.

Getting older isn’t all bad. You – hopefully – become a better version of yourself, closer to who you always wanted to be. You've learned to learn from your formative mistakes. You become more aware of how the world works – for better or worse – and you’re more selective with your time. You feel a little wiser, but also aware that you do...

POLAND TRAILER

We've started going through the footage we shot for just the FIRST video we intended to make, and it's clear that it'll be more than one video. Anyway - here's a taste of some of what's heading your way.

THE PO-PO HAS LANDED

Hello, hello. We are home. Now we need to go through a ton of footage that is scattered across a bunch of different devices, hard drives, and SD cards. God knows how many hours of footage we have… it’s going to be a massive effort to get it all into order.

Despite a bit of fun at the beginni...