Anna writes about AgentXPQ

This post features a review of videomaker Levni (Lev) Yilmaz whose YouTube Channels are AgentXPQ and ingredientxvideo - written by Guest Blogger, Anna.

Anna's YouTube channel is Annaconda1984.

Visit her channel and watch some of the 199 videos she has uploaded. Anna has almost 15 Thousand Subscribers and about 300 Thousand Channel Views!

My favorites include Anna's singing duet with KrisShred and her compilation with 18 YouTubers reciting The Raven by Poe.

Anna's article is below...

But first, The News!

This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a pretty cool original pop song called "Library Girl" by ReinaDelCid. She dedicates it "To all kindred nerds." Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week!

Did you know that YouTube has a Blog? It's good to drop by there regularly to see what's new on our favorite website. Here's some stories you may have missed.

• YouTube Leanback is a new feature that lets you watch a stream of custom picked videos without having to do anything - just bring up the site, lean back, and watch!
  Read more...
• Ask Katy Perry a question and vote on the questions, until July 18th, hurry!
  Read More...
• The new YouTube Partner Grant Program will advance future ad earnings to accepted partners; apply now!
  Read More...
• YouTube now supports videos filmed at 4096 by 2304 pixel resolution; that's way more than 4 times bigger than HD!
  Read More...

Now, here is Anna's article!



The Mystery of AgentXPQ

Lev Yilmaz is like the Picasso of YouTube, except he colors in with wonderful stories instead of paint. Most likely if you are not struck by contagious creativity
during watching one of his short films then you will feel it shortly after you have finished viewing one of his animations. Perhaps you will even join a film school to start animating, yourself. Many animation students might dream about working for colossal cartoon studios like Pixar but would you rather be a technician and work on Nemo's tail for 10 years or be a story teller and create something of your own?

If you are an animation enthusiast, you must have come across the impressive and inspiring series "Tales of Mere Existence" by AgentXPQ (Lev Yilmaz). This artist and film maker tells stories based on his life, described on his website as "stuff you think but don't talk about"; episodes of humorous, self and socio-critical cartoons in which most of us find moments from our own lives we identify with and often smile about.

We encounter common situations like arguing about which film you are going to watch with your boyfriend or a mother and her concerns, and it may seem like a caricature of our own mamas...



If you really like his comics, you probably own a copy of Lev Yilmaz's book; your
companion "Sunny Side Down" will brighten the day, not just when you are feeling
low. How many of you know about his other channel though? In 2007, Lev and his brother launched the channel ingredientxvideo, where you can see a combination of many different types of videos. You can watch the baby steps of "Tales of Mere Existence," which back then had great stories. This is probably the x factor in both usernames but the ingredient evolved with the influence of Picasso's, "The Mystery of Picasso" from 1956...



into a cool 007 Agent. The technique he uses is similar to the painting technique Picasso used, filming while working on a transparent canvas. You can also see some puppet animations and a skit or two on his alternative channel, and some animations (not always technically perfect but narratively beautiful).

In the "Hellhammer" skit, we see Lev and his brother's poetic sides...



It's the kind of video one could watch over and over again. Last but not least, Lev is a superhero even if he denies it in Evildraft...



His special power is to cheer people up and entertain, and it's real, genuine happiness he spreads - not the artificial smiles which often surround us. Most people try to cover lack of ideas and plot though great special effects. AgentXPQ is a perfect example of a channel that doesn't need sparks; the stories move and make the viewer think and sometimes one might even learn something from them.

He denies his ability to fly but he grows wings like Supermario grabbing a feather, every time a letter hits a paper with a clickety-clack sound. Most superheros fly alone; he takes us with him through time and space on his back, trying to save the world from lack of humor and to erase your frown and change it to a smile.

If you want to discover how it all started, check out his secondary channel ingredientxvideo and if you don't know about AgentXPQ - where have you been, tune in!