In Momento of Mori

         Today marks the 3rd anniversary of Unus Annus. Three years ago a couple youtubers named Mark (Markiplier) and Ethan (Crankgamplays) collaborated together to make a YouTube Channel called Unus Annus. In case any of you are interested in Unus Annus, it's unfortunately too late. Two years ago, the channel died. It was deleted off of the platform and right now there is no legal way to watch any of the episodes. Your best bet is to read the Wikipedia, watch the clips, or ask anyone who has seen any of the episodes.
         You may be wondering what happened to this channel and why it's gone. The reason was intentional. After a long walk together, Mark and Ethan decided to make a YouTube Channel to have it last one year and delete the entire channel along with all the videos, hence the name "Unus Annus", which means "One Year" in Latin. Now why would they go through all the trouble of making all those videos just to delete them? The channel itself represented life and death. They'd often said the catchphrase "memento mori", which translates to "remember death" or "someday you will die".
         The concept of the channel comes from the idea that if you were given exactly one year to live, what would you do? Most people would do everything they ever wanted to every day like there's no tomorrow. Thus, every day Mark and Ethan would upload a video on the channel doing all sorts of things they wanted. These included finding the meaning of life and death, going to places, paranormal activities, doing weird but fun challenges, made nude paintings of each other and even cooking with sex toys. These activities would be filmed by Amy (Mark's girlfriend) and Evan and would later be edited by several editors including themselves.
         Not all the videos featured only themselves. Some of those videos would include guests on the show to either collaborate with them or have them teach lessons most people didn't know before. Most of these guests only appeared in one video each. Some such as Vixen Deville, Alex Tima and Jacksepticeye, would return for multiple videos. The most popular video to have guests stars featured James Charles as Mark and Ethan pushed him through a military obstacle course.
         For the first few months things were going really well, but then the pandemic hit. During the lockdown, Mark and Ethan were left separated in their own houses and much of their initial plans were cancelled. Usually people during quarantine would put their plans on pause, but not Unus Annus. They kept making videos throughout the lockdown because time doesn't stop, so they did what they could. They used facecams to have facetime conversations with each other while browsing the web for online activities.
         A few months later, after testing negative for Covid, they returned to their usual activities for the channel in close contact with each other, face to face. Not everything was completely normal though, as they had to keep a distance from other people. That also meant they had to severely cut down on the number of places they were planning on going to and how many guests would appear on the show. Even then, they manage to make a diverse amount of content for the channel while waiting for the end to come.
         They changed things up by introducing a few more arcs. Around late summer, Mark and Ethan went camping in the outdoors during "Camp Unus Annus". Throughout this arc, they did the usual camp activities as well as running from bears, forcing Ethan through Mark's Outdoor Escape Room, and documenting the legendary HeeHoo (Mark's alter ego). They returned home to film the usual random activities in the fall. In the process, they accidently created an SCP that resembles Amy, which would haunt some of the videos.
         The videos got a bit darker and more chaotic in October to fit the Halloween season. They built a scarecrow, carved pumpkins, ate pumpkins, and tried on Halloween costumes. Later they explored a haunted house to find some things more horrifying than they could possibly imagine. They also soaked themselves in a bloodbath. To do so, they sacrificed Evan and drained him of all his blood. Actually, what they really did was mix a tub of water with a combination of ketchup, chocolate syrup, corn starch, and food coloring. Inspired by Mark's escape room, Ethan trapped Mark in one of his own to have him solve puzzles based on references from the channel. Later that night, they both received mysterious phone calls that reminded them of the harsh truths of Unus Annus.
         Despite all the good things the channel, had it couldn't last forever. In "The Truth of Unus Annus" they reminded the audience that they had done all they could for that year and soon it would be time for the channel to go. After "Accepting the Truth", they made more videos based around the grieving process while also reminding the audience that they would be a livestreaming on the final day of Unus Annus when they got around to deleting the channel. They had one last supper, discussed all that they did and couldn't do on the channel, and said goodbye to all their guests. They later had one final sleep over to prepare for the big day ahead.
         November 13 2020, 12:00pm. The final day of Ununs Annus had begun with a livestream titled "Goodbye". During the livestream, they discussed about the channel, how it came to be, why they did it, and their overall experience throughout the entire year. They also took a trip down memory lane by watching their most memorable videos and explaining the behind-the-scenes process of how they were made. Midway through the livestream they showed each of the editor's highlight reels showcasing videos made by that editor. They later interviewed the editors as well as the online store manager, Stevie Hopkins from Second City Prints, and thanked them for all their hard work.
         About a quarter of the way through the livestream, they watched Alex Tima's Unus Annus Eulogy video, which you can still watch on his channel. Ethan had hired a tattoo artist to get the tattoo "000:00:00:00" to remember the channel by after it got deleted (if you look hard enough, you might be able to see the tattoo on his left arm in his latest videos on his own channel). When the livestream hit one million likes, they finally opened the coffin they got from ABC Caskets. Mark, Ethan, and Amy took turns getting in and out of the coffin while the other two say eulogies to the person inside. At around the last hour, they deleted all other social media accounts and shut down the online store. Later, Mark, Ethan, and Amy put all their hands together on the delete button, said their goodbyes, and then the screen went black.
         Other things had to come to an end in the years of 2019 to 2022. Some game servers shut down, shows were canceled, channels stopped uploading videos. Famous celebrities sadly passed away. In fact, my favorite Batman actor just died a couple days ago while I was finishing up this essay. The point is, death comes to us all matter what, whether it will happen to living or even non-living things. As a matter of fact, even your life will eventually come to an end. Sure, healthcare can prevent you from dying or expand your lifespan, but when you think about it, that will only stall your end life quite a bit. Even with all the medications or operations, someday you will die. Try to live longer, but make sure to do whatever you can to live out your life with all the precious time you have left on Earth, because the clock is already ticking and it will never stop.

         Momento mori.

         Fun fact, the word "memento" isn't spelled with the second letter being an "o" but with an "e". Some people have mistakenly spelled it wrong, including Alex Tima who misspelled the word in his eulogy video. Personally though, I would argue that for this occasion it should be spelled as "momento" because the year Unus Annus had was for only a brief moment. A moment to witness. A moment to experience. A moment of a life time, until it was gone. All we have left now were the memories we made along the way.