In this informal YouTube vlog, Tom Guarriello, Ph.D., reflects on a bizarre week that coincides with several historic tragedies (Oklahoma City bombing, Waco siege, Columbine, Virginia Tech shooting, San Francisco fires, and Hitler’s birthday) while he was in San Francisco for meetings. He, along with his friends Renato and another companion (Speaker E), wander the Mission District on a full‑moon night looking for dinner. During the walk they capture spontaneous, unedited cellphone footage of a strange, seemingly coincidental encounter that “blew Tom’s mind.” The conversation repeatedly emphasizes that the video is raw—no sound effects or edits—and discusses the logistics of holding the camera, cross‑promoting each other’s YouTube channels, and the notion of coincidence versus randomness. The vlog blends personal anecdote, historical context, and meta‑commentary on video authenticity and creator collaboration.
Chapters
Hey, it's Tom. You know, last week was kind of a weird week. I was out in San Francisco having these meetings, and it's also, I mean, the period between April 12th and April 20th is sort of a weird week historically because a lot of nasty stuff happened. Let's see, Oklahoma City, Waco, Columbine, Virginia Tech, the San Francisco fires, Hitler's birthday, which is the same day as my sister's birthday, by the way. I used to kind of give her a hard time about that when I was a kid. But, you know, I mean, a lot of nasty stuff. But so anyway, Friday night, the elusive Joseph Beuys and Renetto and myself are walking down the street in the Mission District in San Francisco looking for a place to have dinner. And something happened which I'm going to show you here, which, you know, kind of blew my mind. It was also, by the way, a full moon.
Woo-hoo!
Anyway, you have to pardon the footage. We're using my camera phone and it was windy and the guy that I gave it to didn't quite get it. And now I want you to know, none of the— nothing has been added. None of the You know, none of the sound effects, none of anything has been added. This is what happened. So, uh, see you soon. Take it easy. Bye-bye.
How on earth? How on earth?
Could you take that please?
Could you hold that camera?
How on earth? I was thinking about bringing it with me on this trip.
Just keep holding it.
Don't push any buttons at all.
No, they've never let me. They only laugh at me all the time. How long are you here?
I was like, nah, we're leaving tomorrow. I'm like, I'm going around. See, you should have said something, man.
Like I— yeah, right, right. What would have happened? He said, oh yeah, come on, no problem.
This man was there last time. I told Renato, I said, Renato, you never email me.
I try to don't— I don't bother you is what I don't do.
He could have emailed me, told me he was here.
I'm like, no, no, you know. Hey, I was— I made a video and said I was here, but you don't watch my video.
I watched your video. You did, you watched my video. You talked about it in the beginning.
You did watch my video, Tom. That's good.
Hey, you know why I watched it? Because I featured it on my channel.
Oh, that's right, I forgot that. Otherwise I would have had no chance to get this spot.
What's going on over there on the Renato channel?
Yeah, 2 videos. Yeah, man, that's it.
We cut it all off.
Man, it's good to see you guys. Really?
Yeah, that was random, like they pulled up in the car.
What's random? I say it was random. Was that a—
No, no, no. Do you believe in coincidence, Tom Guarriello?
What did I tell you about—
I know, we just had a conversation.
You know, this week is an amazing week. Virginia Tech, fire, Columbine.
Forgot Columbine.
How can you forget Columbine? Waco, Oklahoma City.
Hitler's birthday.
Hitler's birthday is on Sunday. And horns.
And a full moon.
Devil's listening to you, trying to tell you stop.
