SarahZ

Bonus content: My first ever "video essay" (from 2014!)

Videos I'll Never Make (and why!)

Off-Script Episode 2 - with Princess Weekes!

QUIET ON SET!

The Rationalism Video I'll Never Make

New Patreon Exclusive Series: Off-Script Episode 1 - with Maggie Mae Fish!

Making Sense of #ConformityGate

Hey folks!

This is a Patreon special just for you guys. It's not a fully researched, tightly scripted essay or anything; it's just me working through something in real time.

If you've been online this past week you've probably seen ConformityGate: the Stranger Things fan theory that the finale was fake and a secret episode would drop on January 7th. Which is today, and thus far it hasn't. BUT the day isn't over yet!

I haven't watched Stranger Things. I'm not an expert...

Cutting Room Floor: Everyone's Cheating at Chess (Allegedly)

Here it is! This is the stuff that ended up on the cutting room floor for the chess cheating video. 30 minutes of stuff that didn't make the final cut, including why India suddenly has 85 grandmasters, what actually happened with Anna Rudolf in 2007, the phone-in-toilet cases I didn't have room for, FIDE's ongoing institutional meltdowns, and some thoughts on how I decide what's fair game when covering real people. Hope you enjoy!

2026 Check-In and Patreon Update

Hey everyone! Happy new year :) Figured I'd do a proper check-in since it's been a minute.

Life stuff:

2024-into-2025 was a lot. I finally finished my MA after years (defended in December!), did my first live shows in Toronto and Vancouver, ran a charity stream for the Transgender Law Center that raised over $150k (!!!), and have generally been trying to figure out what the next phase of this whole thing looks like. I've also been playing an embarrassing amount of...

NEW VIDEO: Everyone's Cheating At Chess (Allegedly) - Patreon Early Access

Hi folks!!!!

As well as on Nebula, my new video is available for y'all on Patreon right now! Expect it up on YouTube in a few days for everyone as well. I hope you like this video. Chess has been one of my hyperfixations for months now as I grind to reach 1600 and maybe even eventually 2000 rating. Whether you're not very familiar with chess at all or you know how to google en passant, I think you'll get a lot out of this video. Please enjoy!

I'm also working on a second video ab...

LIVE SHOWS!!!

Hey everyone!

I have some exciting news to share! I'm doing my very first live shows!!!

This summer I'll be bringing "This Might Be A Tangent..." to Toronto (July 24th & 25th at The Garrison) and Vancouver (July 27th & 28th at Biltmore Cabaret). I'm going to be talking about some absolutely fascinating topics to me, including the political economy and art of retooled fanfiction - think Fifty Shades of Grey, The Love Hypothesis, and even pseudo-fic stuff like The Locked To...

NEW VIDEO: The Narcissist Scare

I'm finally back! ❤️

And I really, really missed making videos. I can't say when the next one will be up, but I am intending to get back to regular uploads of Patreon specials now, so be prepared for that. This video took a lot of work, including editing help from the amazing Ella Grant and script supervising help from the equally amazing W.S. Healed (please check them both out!). I'm incredibly proud of it and I hope you all like it, too. It's up on Nebula now, but as...

NEW VIDEO: On Buffy Season 6 (Early Patreon Access!)

Hey everyone! My newest video is out here and on Nebula! I'm still making final edits to ensure that the public version video doesn't get copyright restricted or demonetized for its content, but I wanted to share the early version with you guys right now. Hopefully the public version won't take too long to make, but I still wanted you to have access to it now. The aim is for this video to be accessible both to Buffy fans and non-Buffy fans. This is a piece of art I have a LOT of passion for a...

NEW VIDEO - I Was Wrong About Queerbaiting

Or something. Title may or may not be subject to change; I'm not locked in on one yet. ANYWAY, I've been interested in exploring this question of queerbaiting as it pertains to real people for awhile now. But the more I worked on and wrote this video, the more unsure I was about the entire notion of queerbaiting in general. Why is this a topic we're so heavily focused on? What are we trying to get out of the art we engage with? I had a lot of fun dealing with those questions in this video, so...

NEW VIDEO - Bad Cinderella: An Edgy Autopsy

Hi everyone!!! After working on this for awhile, my next video is finally out! It's about Bad Cinderella, Andrew Lloyd Webber's edgy goth musical that was so universally despised that it ended his unbroken Broadway streak. We take a look at it, what it tried to do, and why so many musicals end up being so milquetoast. I hope you enjoy!!

NEW VIDEO - The Rise and Fall of Replica

IT'S OUT!!!! I'm pretty proud of this one. I hope you all enjoy it too. :)

Update

Hey everyone (and happy Homestuck day),

I've received some messages about people concerned about how I'm doing, as well as just people wanting a general update- and now that I'm doing okay and getting back into things, I wanted to respond and give you guys an update about how things are going. 

First and foremost, I wanted to apologize for dropping the ball on monthly Patreon exclusives. I want to assure all of you that those videos are still going to co...

OCTOBER PATREON EXCLUSIVE: OK, Fine, I'll Talk About Wife Guys

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN, and so as democracy goes, I shall give you my Wife Guy Hot Takes. I hope y'all enjoy! Also, happy Halloween!!!

NEW VIDEO: Buffy's 'Worst' Episode Is The Government's Fault

Hey everyone! Hope folks are doing well! Here's the link to the new video, up a little early this month (it'll be out publicly shortly). In this one, we're talking about Beer Bad, the (debatably) worst episode of Buffy, and why it even exists in the first place (spoiler: it's because of government propaganda). This one was a fun one to do- to be honest, I'm considering maybe doing a full deep dive into Buffy one of these days? I don't entirely know what form it would take yet, but I really en...

NEW VIDEO (Early Access) - Sacrificial Trash

Hello everyone! This new video is coming out early for patrons, mainly because I finished it and thought I might as well make it available for y'all before it goes up officially tomorrow :) In this one, I wanted to sort of examine the way "innocuous" backlashes against certain media end up being used as smokescreens for socially acceptable bigotry and further radicalization. That's a bit of a tough concept to put into a title or thumbnail lol, but I hope you get a sense of what I'm talking ab...

Patreon Exclusive - Broadway Jeopardy w/ Emily!

This one got wild toward the end. Enjoy!

PATREON EXCLUSIVE - Playing Old Flash Games with Emily!

Hello everyone! The second of this month's three Patreon videos featuring Emily has arrived! Last month's poll asked for our experiences with pre-2010s Internet. For us, that meant a lot of old flash games in all their coolmath glory. Join us for fun times with The Impossible Quiz, Barbie makeover, Fireboy and Watergirl, and more!

Patreon Exclusive - Ranking Disney's First LGBT Characters (Featuring Lady Emily and Big Joel!)

Hello! So, you may be wondering why the videos have taken so long. I was going to do this one on my own, but remembering that my cowriter Emily was coming to visit me this month, I thought it might be fun to film them together. As said in the video, this was originally an hour and a half of us talking about LGBT characters and representation. Then all our files got deleted because iMovie is terrible (this is why I don't use it anymore for actual videos!) So, we decided to do something else ho...

NEW VIDEO: Doctor Who's Pro-Life Episode

Hey everyone!!! So, this month I've finally decided to confront the spectre that's been haunting me, as a human being, since the release of this episode back in 2014. Doctor Who put out a weird, seemingly anti-abortion metaphor episode, and it vexes and haunts me every single day. 

Because of the subject matter, I haven't been able to put YouTube ads on this video (I might try them out later, but for now they're completely off), so I wanted to take the opportunity to say that I rea...

NEW VIDEO: Is Fanfiction Art? (It's Complicated)

I'm BACK!!! Rest = taken. COVID = gone. Opinions = still pretty salty. 

I hope this video is worth the wait! I wanted to talk about these ongoing conversations of fanfiction as Art vs Not Art, and what it means to be considered as such in our broader cultural mainstream. I hope you enjoy!

In the next couple of days, I'll be putting out a poll and suggestion post for $10+ patrons this month's Patreon video- as a reminder, I'll be doing two this month, since I'm one behind. As ...

Patreon Exclusive: First Kill Review (The Netflix Lesbian Vampire Show)

So sorry for the delay! As voted on by patrons, I've watched and talked about First Kill- V.E Schwab's lesbian vampire/hunter retelling of Romeo and Juliet. It's.... a lot. I hope you enjoy! 

Patreon July Update

Hey y’all!

Wanted to share an update on how I’m doing and what’s up with work this month. Unfortunately, COVID kinda kicked my ass and then logs got very busy with other stuff (my sister is getting married this weekend!), so I’ve been a bit late on getting the June patreon video out- but rest assured I’m still working on it! You’ll just get two Patreon videos this month instead of one. Sorry for the delay!

Otherwise, things are doing well on my end. Emily and I have se...

NEW VIDEO: You Don't Actually Enjoy Bingewatching

Hey everyone! This month, we're talking about the explosive rise of bingewatch-style releases, how we just may have hit critical mass, and the culture of serialized fanfic, webcomics, and indie projects that might help fix this. Inspired largely by the popularity of serialized projects like Dracula Daily, I was curious to look into what the appeal is, especially in a culture where we're so used to entire seasons of a show dropping all at once. This one is a little shorter than usual, actually...

Patreon Exclusive: They Riverdale-ified Scooby-Doo

As voted for by patrons, it's time to watch and talk about the fanmade Riverdale-style Scooby Doo pilot: Mystery Incorporated! Tune in for a first-time watch and a broader discussion about edgy reboots. 

 Next month, I'll be doing another similar style video with a topic voted on by $10+ patrons. This is my first time doing one of these, so I'd love to hear what y'all think!

NEW VIDEO - The Rise and Fall of Geek Culture

Hey everyone!!! 

This month, we're taking a closer look at the 'geek boom' of the 2010s, spurred on by the Doctor Who reboot, the beginnings of the MCU, the Big Bang Theory, and more. This one took a bit of extra time, but I really hope you all like it!