Silver is up 154 % in 2025 and "Asian Guy" is trending on Fin YouTube

This is "Asian Guy." Seriously, that's what he calls himself now.  Who is he really?  How does he know so much about the precious metals and financial markets?  Is that really him, or is it an AI avatar?  Is this a PR campaign from China?  Is it a PR campaign out of London?  Is it a PR campaign out of J.P. Morgan (who now reportedly holds 700 million to 1.1 billion ounces of silver in their vaults)?  Nobody seems to know for sure.  

I stumbled into one of his videos on Christmas Eve, four days ago, and have been hooked since.  He has a real name, he said it in at least one video.  He also said he's been a trader in London for over 20 years.  He has multiple channels, and he talks about more than just silver.  I think the guy we see is an AI created version of him, not actually him.  Obviously all the graphics (which can be really weird and really funny at times) are AI created.  I don't think he's a Chinese PR campaign.  I don't think he's a J.P. Morgan PR campaign either.  Whoever he (or the team) is, he/they are INCREDIBLY knowledgeable about precious metals, commodities trading, economics though history, and Big Picture dynamics in economics, financial markets, and industrial processes and infrastructure.

Pure and simple, he's WAY TOO INFORMATIVE to be a government or bank PR campaign.  His quick Disclaimer says he or his business may hold positions in the markets he talks about.  His insights are fucking mind blowing.  He's way too smart to work for the government, media, or a PR firm.  My best guess, having watched several videos, is that's he a trader who's kind of sick of the BS, and decided to school people on how these markets work.  He's been making videos for at least a month or two before the recent silver market drama exploded.  In any case, he's the new hot trend on Financial You Tube, and conspiracy theories about him are starting to pop up.  

Here's a video from 4 months ago on his Financial Historian channel, and there are only 16,000 views.  This channel is really informative, if you're into economics and history.  If there was a huge PR machine behind this guy, he'd have a lot more views, and the posts would all be super dumbed down, like Fox News.  I actually watched a couple of these videos before the first silver video popped up on my feed.  Whomever he is, whatever the reason he/they is/are making these videos, there's A LOT to be learned from them.  

Greyson Fletcher's new "Hellion" segment

Just watch this video.  

I remember going to the Action Sports trade shows in San Diego in the mid 1990's and seeing this little kid running around.  "That's Christian Fletcher's son," someone said.  He's a fourth generation member of the Fletcher surfing dynasty, Great Grandpa Fletcher was a surfing and big wave pioneer.  Grandpa Herbie Fletcher is the well known surfer and legendary surf filmmaker Herbie Fletcher.  Grandma is a really good artist.  Dad Christian Fletcher took short board surfing vertical, airing off waves, and ripping in general.  Uncle Nathan Fletcher pushed surfing even further.  

Coming up in that family, we could definitely understand if Greyson found it hard to forge his own path, and make a name for himself.  But he just tore it up in his own way, found his own path, and in his mid-30's now has this absolutely insane new skate segment.  Just watch the video.  

When I was driving a taxi in Huntington Beach in the 2000's, I had Christian Fletcher in my cab twice.  One time he was pretty blitzed, and decided he wanted to autograph the dashboard.  I talked him out of that, since I didn't own the taxi, and had him sign my taxi permit instead.  That autographed permit was in the storage unit that got auctioned off when I wound up moving back East in 2008.  I'm still bummed about that.  

The Many lives of a Great Song- Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"

The Big Push, from the U.K., covering "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," live on the beach, in the fall of 2025.  This has become my favorite cover of this song, eclipsing the Guns N' Roses version from 1990 on a soundtrack, and 1991 on the Use Your Illusion II album.  

Bob Dylan wrote this song for the soundtrack of the 1973 movie, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.  Dylan even played a role in the movie. The song was released a couple of months later as a single, and became one of several songs Dylan is best known for. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" has been covered by all kinds of people, in several different styles, ever since.  Here are some of the best versions over the years.  

Bob Dylan- Original studio version, 1973

Bob Dylan- live, Rolling Thunder Revue, in 1975

Bob Dylan- studio version with lyrics

Bob Dylan with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Hard to Handle concert film, 1986

Guns N' Roses - live at The Ritz, 1988

Guns N' Roses - music video for studio version- Use Your Illusion II album- 1991

Eric Clapton - live at the Royal Albert Hall, 1991

Jon Bon Jovi- live accoustic- 1997

Avril Lavigne- studio version- 2003?

Avril Lavigne- live- 2003?

Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler- 2008?

Slash featuring Perry Farrell on vocals- live- 2009?

Popa Chubby- live- 2011?

Chris Woods on and SOW Band- live- 2013?

The Rolltones- live in studio video- 2013

Zac Harmon Blues Band- live- 2018

Cris Pinzauti- a capella- all parts done by him- 2020

Eddie Bullen featuring Keisha Christian- live in studio- 2020

Afro Fiesta featuring Twanguero and I-Taweh- live- 2021?

Leire- street performing live in London- 2025?

I have question marks on a lot of the dates because I'm going by the year it was loaded onto YouTube, and the performances may have been recorded earlier.  

I do most of my writing on a platform called Substack these days, it's a platform designed specifically for writers.  Check it out: 

Steve Emig The White Bear Substack

My Funeral Music Playlist (just planning ahead)

OK, there's a story behind this post, I'm not trying to be totally morbid.  I was at McDonald's the other day, talking to a friend, and Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" came on in the background.  I said, "I want this song to play at my funeral."  He replied, "You're crazy."  I agreed, laughed, and said, "Yeah, I want the hearse to be bumpin' this song really loud as they drive to the cemetery.  He just shook his head. 

But I was serious.  OK, I'm homeless (living in a "tiny home community" at the moment) and basically broke.  If I don't get my shit together at some point, there's a pretty good chance I'll just keel over on the sidewalk somewhere, some day, and get cremated or put in a potter's grave, with no funeral service.  But on the chance I get my shit together, and someone actually has a funeral for me, or some kind of memorial service, I want people to remember the times I made them laugh, or the times they laughed with me, or even the times the laughed at me.  I truly do want to put the "FUN" back in funeral on my way out of this life.  

With that in mind, I wrote down two or three songs that I'd want to play at my funeral or memorial service.  I started thinking about those songs this morning, and wound up with a list of 21 songs.  To be clear, I'm in no hurry to kick the bucket, but I figured I might as well go ahead and make a funeral music playlist.  I like to plan ahead.  I just put the whole thing on my YouTube channel: Steve Emig's Funeral Playlist.  So it's there, for anyone who wants to check it out.  

Here are the songs I selected, in order.  I lined them up so that if this music was playing in the background of my memorial service, or the hangout meal afterwards, most people probably wouldn't really catch the theme of the playlist until about halfway through.  Yes, I have a dark, fucked up, sense of humor.  It's served me well many times.  This is another example of that.  

"Just Another Day"- Oingo Boingo

"In My Mind" - Amanda Palmer

"This Thorny Rose" - Kerry Getz

"The Man in Black" - Johnny Cash

"Lucky Man" - Emerson, Lake, & Palmer

"Fire on High" - ELO (listen to the backward masking in the intro)

"Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" - Elton John

"The End" - The Doors

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" - The Big Push covering Bob Dylan

"Burning Ring of Fire" - Social Distortion covering Johnny Cash

"One" - Metallica

"Another One Bites the Dust" - Queen

"Dead Ringer" - Meatloaf and Cher

"Highway to Hell" - AC/DC

"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" - Charlie Daniels Band

"Highwayman" - The Highwaymen

"Dead Man's Party" - Oingo Boingo

"Trapped in a Box" - No Doubt

"Goin' Out in Style" - Dropkick Murphys

"Kiss Him Goodbye" - Steam

"I'm Free" - The Who  (Wishful thinking)

I do most of my writing these days on Substack, and most of it is less morbid than this post.  Check it out:

Steve Emig The White Bear Substack

AFA Masters flatland- Austin, Texas- 1987

Has anybody done a podcast with Don Hoffman (Pipeline Skatepark/Unreel Productions/Vision)?  Somebody should.  Same with Frank Scura and Bob Morales (who started the AFA).  On camera we have Frank Scura in the intro, and Don Hoffman behind the camera.  Bob Morales put on the contest, and I was a roadie at it, and rode in the comp as well.  This is the third video I produced and directed in 1987.  Nearly an hour of 1980's flatland.  Officially, this video is titled Texas Pro Flatland.  Enjoy.  

I'm doing most of my writing on a platform called Substack these days, it's designed specifically for writers.  Check it out:

Steve Emig The White Bear Substack

Colby Raha drops an amazing short film of FSMX/freeriding

This isn't a video, this is a short movie.  Beautifully shot, produced and edited, crazy action, and he breaks a couple of world  records, just for good measure.  Just watch it... like three or four times.  

Chinchilla "Ok As I Am"- new music video

Chinchilla's music keeps getting better and better.  I first heard of her a couple of years ago, after an old BMX friend's post turned me on to Ren's "Hi Ren."  Within a couple of days, I discovered the Rex X Chinchilla videos, "Chalk Outlines," and "I Forgot How to Be Me."  Those are still my two favorite songs I've heard of hers, along with her rendition of "I Put a Spell on You" on the British version of The Voice.  

I think there's a song out there with her name on it, something big and orchestrated, that will really let her show her skills as a singer and performer.  When that song comes along, she will quickly blast into the ears of millions of more listeners.  I'd love to hear her cover a Meatloaf song, or anything written by Jim Steinman, but that's just me.  Anyhow, I clicked on to find this video with under 6,000 views, and it's my new favorite solo video of hers.  It will have many, many more views by this time tomorrow.  A LOT more views.  Check this Chinchilla video out while it's brand new. 

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