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By Angela Espinoza

his past May I stumbled across a
| video on YouTube that caught my
attention. I fail to recall the video’s
contents, but its character, the Nostalgia
Critic (a.k.a. “Critic” or “N.C.”), intrigued
me in ways no other Internet personality
has. After several months of viewing
his videos on separate sites, I eventually
discovered that N.C. had his own website,
www.thatguywiththeglasses.com (a.k.a.
TGWTG).

Doug Walker created Nostalgia Critic
over a year ago, followed by his two other
popular Internet characters: Chester A. Bum
(of Bum Reviews), a homeless person who
provides humorous descriptions of current °
films, and That Guy With The Glasses (Ask
That Guy With The Glasses), a mentally
unstable gentleman who often provides
ridiculous answers to strange questions.
Each character varies greatly from the other,
with Walker exploring (and perfecting)
several styles of humour, as well as having
a clear grasp on the film medium.

10 |

 

Originally, Walker’s videos were
hosted on Youtube, hoping to achieve a
level of Internet fame similar to that of
his “arch-nemesis”, James Rolfe’s Angry
Video Game Nerd. However, Walker’s
videos were often removed due to copyright

That Guy With The Glasses pleases the masses

 

personalities and websites that have become
part of the Channel Awesome family on
their own terms, having achieved some
fame beforehand. These include Linkara
(Lewis Lovhaug of Atop the Fourth

Wall), who specializes in comic books,

“Its programs, while humorous, provide thoughtful commentary

on many mediums, such as where comic books are headed, or

the wonders of what can be accomplished (or more accurately,
abolished) through film and animation.”

infringement. Eventually, budding
production company, Channel Awesome
picked him up, and the rest is history.

The TGWTG website is also host to
dozens of other characters created by many
other comedic personalities, covering a
range of subjects from video games, comic
books, anime and even fan fiction. The
website continues to promote young talent
through videos, and podcasts of audio clips.

However, there are also many other

The Spooney One (Noah Antwiler of The
Spooney Experiment), who explores various
video games, comics and films, and Angry
Joe (Joe Vargas of The Angry Joe Show),
whose main focus is on recent video games.
What I particularly like about this site
is that it’s as if you’re watching a digital
channel dedicated to presenting all forms of
nerd-induced fandom. With many separate
programs providing individual characters,
there’s literally something for everyone

on this website. Another nice touch is that
its programs, while humorous, provide
thoughtful commentary on many mediums,
such as where comic books are headed, or
the wonders of what can be accomplished
(or more accurately, abolished) through film
and animation.

Another interesting thing about the
site is how the characters will sometimes
guest-star or gain a special mention on
a completely separate program, again
providing an awkward “family” feel through
various connections. What’s wonderful
is that their occasional collaborations are
far from cheesy. In fact, these collabs are
like the Super Smash Bros. of the Internet,
proving fun and enjoyable entertainment
-- more often than not, through some form
of competition.

My only beef with the site is that
sometimes the films NC reviews are
so terrible, I can hardly watch the clips
shown in his reviews (i.e. the rapping dog
in Titanic: The Animated Musical). Then
again, with clips like that, how can you
afford to skip out on this website?