Tapa Update #7 - oh damn oh damn oh damn

Aaand we're back! The latest video's doing good numbers and has brought a lot of newlings into the fold. A special welcome to all of you. If you're wondering what a classic Tapa Update post entails, well, it goes a little something like this:

Behind the Scenes
I made a terrible mistake

So, you work on a video for, like, three months because you care a lot about quality. You want to make it the best goshdarn video on the subject that is possible to produce within the confines of a Youtuber's upload schedule. Everything is double and triple checked. Every factoid properly sourced and the premise of the video thought through dozens of times to make sure that it all makes sense. The first, German version of the video's all done, ready to be shipped out to the world. Now the only thing left is to translate the whole thing into English and adjust the illustrations and edit accordingly. That whole thing is basically done in auto-pilot-mode. No thinking required.

And that's when it happens.

While adjusting the illustrations, a tiny little mistake slips through. You won't notice it until two days after video release, which basically means that mistake is carved in stone now. No way to remedy the slip-up post-release. You accept your fate. Something like that just had to happen eventually.

Before I tell you - does anybody have any clue which mistake I'm talking about? If so, let me hear it in the comments.

So, you want the tea? Here's the tea:

Last video's script contained a line about how violating the Insults Act could get you into prison for up to 3 years. That's: "≤ 3 years". Well, that's not what's in the video, though. When changing the text from German to English the whole line slipped to the left, which meant the "≤" moved inbetween the "3" and the "years". That looked correct enough for a braindead zombie knocking lines of text into a computer, so I just properly position the text in the frame, then move on without thinking anything more of it. Well, "3 ≤ years" is not correct. At all. Even if we're really generous and consider the very weird positioning of the symbol just a bit quirky, it now means "equal or more than three years", which is pretty much the opposite of what I'm saying.

Now, obviously such a mistake isn't the end of the world. Most people probably didn't even catch it. And most importantly: It doesn't have any impact on the rest of the video. It still makes sense and it still is quite enjoyable. But, man. That kinda thing just always stings a bit.

Best way to deal with it? Carry on and focus on the videos I haven't made yet. Those I can still do something about.

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Qomments and Cuestions
"question: why not make up your own indian flag with the same design, but without the blue thingy, say it is the unofficial flag of india and do whatever you want?"

Context: The Indian Insults Act punishes even unintended disrespect against the national flag quite strictly.

Though you might think you just stumbled upon a cheat code there, the fact of the matter is, not only proper Indian flags with the navy Chakra in the center are seen as worthy of protection under the Insults Act, but any kind of picture, cloth, piece of plastic that resembles the national flag. Relying on the fact that it isn't exactly the national flag doesn't help one to stay out of trouble one bit. Example: A film poster showed a woman dressed in orange-white-green clothes. Beside the public uproar it produced, there were also real legal threats to consider because it was very obvious that that color combination didn't just happen on accident. It very clearly was an allusion to the national flag and could therefore legally be treated just the same. Same goes for flags made of other materials like paper or plastic, btw. Despite what another commenter had to say, the law doesn't only apply to flags made out of cotton. Everything national-flag-like counts.

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Interesting Stuff
Emilia Pérez

This is one of those films where it's best to go in knowing as little as possible. It is a wild, emotional, very much enjoyable ride that uses the tools of the medium really well. I know it's on Netflix and stuff, but please - and I'll never get tired of saying this - watch it in the cinema. It's so much more fulfilling this way; especially with an epic, pulsing, energetic film like this.

Oh, and I know there's been a barrage of criticism against the film, especially since its oscar nominations, but while some lines of critique are very much warranted, it still is, all in all, a powerful, interesting, magical experience. Just what I want from a visit to the cinema.

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Don't let 'em get you down. Have some hot choccy and a cookie and show 'em who's boss.

Have a good one!
Tapa