What is up, guys? This is Kurt. And today we have something a little bit different.
I got sent a secret present from MatPat.
I got a little purple box.
[CHUCKLING] Oh wait, check that out.
It says "Kurtendo." I love that.
I guess we better take a crack at opening this box.
We have a direction lock on the left-hand side.
[KURT READING]
"It's not the name of the game."
This is, uh, Zelda.
Um, the Tri Force... I mean maybe "T".
[KURT READING]
Now, the cheat code, I figure I'm allowed to cheat.
The cheat code is up-up-down-down.
[KEYS BEEPING]
That brings us to what's inside this little thing.
Okay, we have another letter it says "N".
[KURT READING]
I'm guessing, since it's a reference to a dragon,
which breathes fire,
maybe this is supposed to use heat to reveal something.
[EXHALES]
I probably look so silly right now. [EXHALES]
I can kind of see a "D".
"This has been fun, up until here."
[KURT READING]
Literally, what will you find at the end of Metroid?
Which the last letter of Metroid is a "D".
[LOCK CLICKS]
[TRIUMPHANT CHEER]
We have what looks like a big old cartridge.
[GRUNTS AND EXCLAIMS]
"MatPat has made a charitable donation to Bat Conservation International
"in your name."
Yeah. Okay, so bats have a little bit of a bad name. Especially, right now.
I actually think they're very cute.
And if you don't know, bats are actually extremely important to the world that we live in.
Dude, thank you so much, MatPat.
I really appreciate that. And now looks like they've got a video here.
Okay, let's play.
Hey! It's Alton DuLaney, the world's most famous gift wrap artist. Yeah.
and YouTube's "Wrapresentative", "Giftlomat" "Presenter."
You have been selected to be a part of YouTube's Great Gift Exchange.
Where you and 11 other creators will participate in a chain of charitable gift giving.
You will each be assigned a creator,
and as a gift, each of you will make a donation to a charity...
-[KURT CHUCKLES]
And then you will be whisked away to my magical wrapshop magic,
where I'll teach you how to gift wrap the creator's donation in a thoughtful way.
Now, without further ado... Ahh!
I took years of modern dance.
Let's find out who you're lucky giftcipient is.
[LAUGHS]
What?
Oh, come on.
Kurt Hugo Schneider, for the grand finale...
Your official giftcipient is... The astonishing AsapSCIENCE!
I couldn't have picked any better people.
The AsapSCIENCE guys are incredible. Actually, they're really good musicians.
Get your tail on that train and I'll see you at the wrapshop.
Guys, I know this is a little bit different from my normal videos,
but I promise there's music coming at the end.
I was working on a little medley of Christmas songs
with my friends Ni/Co, who are incredible singers.
So I'm bringing my recorder. So maybe grab some sounds there
and yeah, at the end of this whole thing is gonna be a music video.
[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS]
[FESTIVE MUSIC PLAYING]
[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING]
[MUSICAL TINKLING]
NARRATOR:
on his way to Alton's wrapshop
to create a magical song.
Our grand finale today is the perfect match for Kurt.
Who better to help wrap up our entire series of all of these talented creators than
the man himself? Kurt Hugo Schneider!
I'm really hamming it up here.
-[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING] -Ah, that's music to my ears.
Here comes Kurt now.
-I'm here today with Kurt. Hi, Kurt. -Hello.
And thank you for joining me for what is the grand finale of the Great Gift Exchange.
Thank you so much for having me.
-Is it loud in here or is this just my outfit? -You are perfect.
Was music a big part of the holidays growing up?
Like, I always have memories of my mom singing carols.
My dad would play the flute.
For a while I was the one person in the family who wasn't as into music.
-Now the tables have turned. -Yeah.
I'm doing a bit of collaborating.
I had a holiday medley
that I recorded with a couple of friends of mine, Ni/Co.
They're a vocal duo, and it be cool to grab
some sounds from around the wrapshop to incorporate in that mix.
I would love that.
And looking around, I was thinking we should maybe
pull a little bit of a music video.
You've got my full permission. Make yourself at home.
But as far as gift wrapping skills, I'm looking forward to your knowledge and wisdom.
Don't worry. I'm gonna walk you through everything
and create the perfect symphony of gift wrap.
That sounds amazing.
Maybe tell me a little bit about AsapSCIENCE.
Yes, Mitch and Greg are awesome.
They're doing awesome stuff just spreading enthusiasm for science
to a ton of people around the world.
-I brought a donation to Rainbow Railroad. -Okay.
It's an organization that helps LGBTQ+ people escape persecution and violence.
Without further ado, I'm hoping you might drop us a magical beat
to transition us over to the wrap bench.
I think I have just the thing.
[MUSICAL TINKLING]
[RHYTHMIC BEAT AND MUSIC PLAYING]
Ah... Here we are in one of my favorite places, the wrap bench.
[PLAYS CHRISTMAS TUNE] KURT: I love it, a little glockenspiel.
And all of these gifts, this incredible mound of gifts,
which has each and everyone been wrapped by a creator such as yourself.
All of these gifts and many more will be going to a charity that's very dear to my heart.
[PLAYS A DRUMROLL]
Toys for Tots!
[CHUCKLING] I don't know if that was the best drum roll for you.
But I love it.
Toys for Tots helps provide toys for children who might not
otherwise be getting toys for the holiday season.
And that's why this charity is so near and dear to my heart.
The Great Gift Exchange has been all about giving back.
The spirit of giving is so important because it focuses on others.
It's not just about the physical item, but it's about the act of caring
and how you make someone else feel.
It's a crucial year to let others know that you're thinking about them.
-Oh, there we go. -ALTON: There he goes.
Actually, I'm gonna just record that really quick.
Really quick one. [SCISSORS CUTTING] Nice.
We're now gonna be able to tump this over and have a nice...
That's a good sound as well. Just the sound of it dropping on the table.
I have to say, you're really inspiring me to "listen" to gift wrap.
I always say if something makes noise, it could be a musical instrument.
ALTON: Take one of our jingle bells and tie that bell right in.
We're gonna do five lines across that, such as sheet music might have.
KURT: They're called "staff lines."
ALTON: Ah, staff lines.
Why don't we do to melody in F major.
-My major with gift wrap... -[KURT LAUGHS]
But I'll do whatever you say.
And that's where our G clef goes, right around the G.
I like that, you say it, like, G is that note, like, everyone knows that.
-Actually... -Come on.
[CRASHES]
[MAN LAUGHING]
-That was a dramatic note. -KURT: The power of music.
MAN: Marker.
All right, so we got our notes on there because it's "Deck the Halls" inspired.
We're gonna add our bough of holly.
[SLEIGH BELLS JINGLING]
ALTON: Great job! Bravo!
-It's time to wrap the gift for AsapSCIENCE. -Yes.
-Which I'm super excited about. -We got donations of Rainbow Railroad
-presented on... This is a little music bomb. -ALTON: Ah!
So basically, the way it works is, you punch holes in the sheet music here.
-ALTON: Right. -And then when you crank it through this little device,
-it plays -ALTON: Amazing.
[TUNE PLAYING]
-KURT: Wizardry, as I said. -Wizardry for sure.
Yep.
Now, you'll see here that I have some vintage sheet music,
which is going to be our wrapping paper.
Go all the way around with double-stick tape.
Think I got it going on.
So now what you wanna do is trim this paper.
[SCISSORS CLACKING]
-Ooh, There's some good metal scissors. -Hey.
You want to record that, actually? Ooh, yeah, that sounds really nice.
Could you actually hit my scissors with yours?
Okay, I know that sounds weird, but actually, I think that's gonna go together
-with the scissors sound. -Perfect.
So now what we're gonna do is put a row of double-sided tape all the way around.
Should I record this tape sound? Here you go. Let's just get a good rip.
-Got it. -And a nice little [GRUNTS AND CLICKS] for a sound.
Yeah, the double-sided tape definitely feels like magic.
ALTON: That is one of the secrets.
And there is our vintage sheet music inspired gift box.
ALTON: Ta-da!
And now we're going to bind this all together
and seal the gift by using a custom wax seal.
-I've never melted wax before. Definitely a first. -ALTON: Wow!
-Does smells like happiness and dreams. -ALTON: Oh...
-All right. Yes. It actually works pretty sweet. -ALTON:
KURT:
All right, let's take a listen to some of those sounds that we recorded.
Let's hook up our little recorder to the computer.
Right. Now, we got...
first, paper wrapping, crinkling, something like that.
Here's the sound.
[CRINKLING SOUND PLAYING]
Yeah, that will definitely be useful. [CHUCKLES]
And then, this is the sound of a present that we just dropped on a table.
-[THUMP SOUND PLAYING] -Yeah,
I think that could be used for like a little... [BEATBOXES GRUNT]
We need something that's a little like sharp, higher pitch. [IMITATES CLACKING]
This is like tape ripping.
[RIPPING SOUND PLAYING]
Here's the sound of a jingle bell that I added a ton of reverb to.
-[BELL JINGLING PLAYING] -[LAUGHS]
I gotta of bunch of like, metal sounds, scissors, metal things hitting themselves.
I don't know. I kind of just stacked them on top of each other and made this.
[METAL CLACKING PLAYING]
Now I wanna put it all together. And when I do, I just want it to feel
like the sound of the wrapshop, the sound of the holidays and just have this loop continue.
[LOOP PLAYS]
Yeah.
[SOUNDS PLAYING IN RHYTHM]
Yeah. I'm liking where the track is at. I think we're good.
If we could just, you know, pull Alton away from the wrapping table.
Let's get this music video going.
[SOUND LOOP PLAYING]
♪ Deck the halls with boughs of holly
♪ Fa la la la la, la la la la ♪
[SONG CONTINUES IN THE BACKGROUND]
Holidays to me mean many things.
-Spending time with the people you love. -Quality time.
Family, close friends.
All by the fire playing boardgames.
-Cookies, food. -Some really good food.
-Putting on a lot more weight than I had hoped for. -[SNIGGERS]
The holidays mean something always going wrong.
MAN: No!
[CRASHES]
It's a great time to reflect on where you've been.
To appreciate where you started the year and to look at how far you've come.
And share in just the joy of life.
♪ Should auld acquaintance be forgot... ♪
And these gifts will go to children in need.
So I'm counting on you to do a good job.
You know, I spend the rest of the year thinking only about myself.
December rolls around. I go, "You know what? I should give thinking about another person
-a shot. -[SNIGGERS]
-Thank you, Great Gift Exchange. -[SONG CONTINUES]
Thank you for this, girl.
Giving back. It's a big part of the holidays in my family.
Thank you, MatPat.
Thank you, Alton.
And thank you, Great Gift Exchange.
It's about giving back to other people.
People you might not even know.
Thank you, Alex Wassabi.
Thank you, Kris London.
Giving a gift really does make you feel good.
It's the magic moment. It's the celebration.
-Whoa! -Whoa!
Oh, my gosh!
That's the main reason why the holidays is my favorite part of the year.
-[JINGLES] -[COUNTING]
ALL:
♪ And never brought to mind?
♪ Should auld acquaintance be forgot...
♪ Fa la la la la la la la
♪ For auld lang syne, my dear
♪ For auld lang syne
♪ We'll take a cup of kindness yet
♪ For auld lang syne ♪
[CHEER AND APPLAUSE]
I didn't think we could possibly have any more fun here.
You've really taken it to the next level. Thank you so much for sharing that, Kurt.
-That was amazing. -Thank you. I'm so glad.
And now it's up to all of you out there to keep the spirit of the Great Gift Exchange going.
A very happy holiday to everyone out there and much love from us to you guys.
And don't forget to tune in to all of our other episodes
to see all the other creators experience the Great Gift Exchange.
-There's still plenty of holiday to be had. -BOTH: That's a wrap!
[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING]
I think that's my ride.
-You better catch that. -Happy holidays, y'all.
-Thank you. -Thank you. Happy holidays.
NARRATOR:
Now delivered all gifts and donations for change.
Our creators concluded the Great Gift Exchange.
What's up, guys? I just got this card from YouTube.
"Kurt, all this holiday cheer does not need to end here.
"Choose one more creator for the giving train and let's start a whole new chain."
Gotta challenge some other creators to get in on the giving madness.
I'll think about that one. But in the meantime,
guys, have an amazingly happy holiday. Much love from me to all of you
wherever you are out there. Happy holidays!