For how many videos I have on YouTube, it was kind of ridiculous that I never actually made a channel trailer. I mean, how else is someone going to know what they're missing?

On our honeymoon forever ago, we went to a wine tasting and met a couple who was celebrating their 10th anniversary. They were hilarious to talk to, because they very obviously had more money than they knew what to do with, so they constantly went on all these crazy exotic trips and were telling us about all of them. It was really actually pretty interesting to hear about them, but the most interesting of all was this gem:

"You haven't really had champagne until you've paired it with a greasy cheeseburger and some Fritos."

I'm sorry, what?

They repeated that sentiment, and we laughed. Who would spend good money on champagne and then have a burger and Fritos. And why specifically Fritos? They were insistent, though, that we were the crazy ones for laughing and that we absolutely had to try it someday. "Get a good bottle of champagne and some Fritos. Trust us. You won't regret it."

As ridiculous as it sounded, that story has stuck with us over the last several years. Every once in a while we'd look at each other and say "remember the crazy people who wanted us to try champagne and Fritos?" and we'd laugh all over again. Except on our anniversary Geoff suddenly came home with a good bottle of champagne (he actually found a shop that has a "champagne connoisseur' and a secret back room we never knew about!) and a bag of Fritos. "We keep laughing, but they were so serious! We need to try this damnit!"  So, recently we put on a playlist of YouTube videos we needed to catch up on, popped the cork, and chowed down on Fritos.

Holy shit.

You guys, they weren't kidding. THEY WEREN'T KIDDING. IT IS SO GOOD.

We thought we weren't champagne fans, which is part of the reason we never tried it. Turns out if you actually spend more than $10 on it (I think the one we got was ~$40), it actually tastes pretty good. But then, BUT THEN, you eat a Frito (I'm sure any chip whose primary flavor is "salt" will do) and it changes. Just like food does to wine, it changes. And we annihilated that bottle. Annihilated. It was magical, and I can't even really describe why. It just...is.

I don't know if we'll every do it with a burger like they suggested (we don't really do greasy burgers...), but we will totally be doing Fritos and champagne again. Not all the time, of course, but like a special occasion kind of thing. New job? Champagne and Fritos. Finally moving? Champagne and Fritos. Win the lottery? Lots of champagne and Fritos. For everybody.

Take it from me: if you get the chance, you absolutely need to try it. No matter how crazy it sounds.

You may have heard me talk about Patreon on stream, or mention it on Twitter, or even just seen the little icon over on the sidebar, and have zero idea what I'm talking about. Or maybe you know what it is, but still don't quite get why I exist there. Or maybe you're already a back and just haven't seen "Jenn on 3 Red Bulls" in a while. Whatever category you're in, you're in luck! I made a video for you!

Still confused? Think of it like a subscription. You pick a subscription level, and every month after your subscription goes through you get access to certain things based on the level you chose. You help fund the content you love, and you get bonuses in return for doing so! Check out all the perks and rewards I offer, and help me make more awesome stuff for your eyeballs and earholes!

At the very beginning of 2016 I ran a Teespring campaign to make some shirts in a super sweet purple with my logo on it. You guys were totally awesome and bought, like, 50 some of them. It was crazy. Nearly every convention I've gone to since they went to print I've run into at least one person wearing one, which is even more crazy. It makes me super excited that there are people across the US and Europe who go outside repping our awesome little community!

A number of people have asked me when I'd ever run them again, and I haven't had a good answer. Teespring doesn't have the greatest customer service, and to get any printed you have to hit certain thresholds, and it's just a big ole thing. Now that I have my site here, I can do them whenever I want! These shirts are a different brand (they fit a little longer, which I personally love) and don't come with the URL on the back (so you'll just have to tell people how to find us and join our party), but they're available now! If you missed them the first time, want one that fits different, or need another one because you loved the original a little too much, I've got you covered. Literally.

Get it? Because it's a shirt? And it covers you?

...yeah okay I'm done now.

<3

One of the reasons I've focused on streaming over creating videos specifically for YouTube is that I love the interactive element that comes with it. Comments on videos are nice but I really enjoy being able to have a conversation, share reactions in real time, and develop a feeling of camaraderie over everything from silly games to life events.  Because a big part of the experience is interaction, I've started adding some cool things to my stream to make it more fun and immersive for you guys. I want you to have a good time too!

I've wanted a way to say thank you to people who are regular viewers and support what I do by sharing my content with their social circles. After all, bringing more eyes to what I produce grows our community and furthers our plans for world domination!

I've started using a service called Revlo, which is a fancy bot that essentially tracks viewer loyalty on Twitch. If you watch the stream while logged in to Twitch, it keeps track of when you're on my page and awards you points ("rupees" in my channel, because Zelda) based on how long you're there. It also gives you the option to connect your Twitter and YouTube to your Revlo profile and it'll award bonus points each week for following/subscribing to my accounts. You can also earn bonus points for hosting (an extra point for every viewer you bring) and for donating (ten for every dollar). All these points are redeemable for a variety of rewards like access to the Patreon Discord server, a discount on shirts, and more!  Head to revlo.co/rt_lozelda to see how many rupees you have, check out the leaderboard, and see all the stuff you can cash in for.

I took some time creating all of the alerts that pop up on my stream because I love celebrating all the ways people support my content and I want to make sure they know I genuinely appreciate it. Because of the way social media works, Twitter is an incredibly effective way to share the fun of the stream with people who are both watching it and not. Everything from announcing the stream is live to quoting ridiculous things that have been said to fan art to just saying hi, it's all a part of the experience. Despite being a part of the experience, it exists somewhat separately. Nobody watching the stream has any idea what's happening on Twitter that's relevant unless they're actively tracking it themselves though, which always made it feel a little weird to me. Not anymore!

I've implemented a tool call "Tweet Alerts" which will allow tweets that meet certain criteria to show up on the stream. Right now the tool is limited to displaying tweets I favorite or ones that contain certain hashtags, but they're working on expanding its functionality, adding new ways to trigger them to show up, alert sounds (right now they just appear with no fanfare), and self-moderation, but it's a good start! Right now, tweeting #TiaraClub AND mentioning me in the same tweet will make it show up, and on Thursdays #TiaraThursday while tagging me will also be active. I'm sure more will get added as time goes on, but we're going to test it out with these.

Eyeballs are the most important currency for content creation, but I wouldn't be able to do what I do without the super kind generosity of some of my viewers who help support my endeavors financially. Patreon backers get constant recognition, but people who donate directly during a stream get a singular fanfare for something like ten seconds (I think that's how long my longest alert animation is) and I feel like that's not really adequate. I feel like they deserve a little more on-screen recognition and praise. I'll be implementing some sort of ticker or table (still playing with the format) that shows and thanks recent and top donators. Because gosh darnit you guys deserve all the love you can get.

We're going to try all of these things out for a few weeks and see how they go. They may get tweaked, updated, or removed depending on how you guys like them as we get used to them popping up and stuff. I'm looking into some other ways to add fun stuff to the streams in the future too. I always want to try to make it better for you guys! Once things get rolling with these updates, I'd love feedback from you on what you think of them.

See you in the streams!