Ruby Granger #45 "Um" -- Ruby Granger, 2023

[FolderDuvet]

That's incredibly niche knowledge! You're not a trainspotter, are you?

No no, just I travel from Oxford to London fairly often (was there last weekend with my bf, saw rubes on the high street while I was wandering about actually) and I know that you don't get the train to or from Marylebone if you can avoid it, because it's slow, uncomfortable, and that station has bad transport links in London.
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Spoiler: Underground knowledge - off topic

this is so off topic but Marylebone does have an underground station but it's only the bakerloo line!! Paddington has a direct train to kings cross via the circle and Hammersmith & city lines which would explain the change in service too

Ok you beat me there! I never use the Bakerloo.
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I still think the trip to Paris was hastily arranged because for someone who claims that she is organised and plans things out everything she did still felt very rushed. I mean she seemed to spend more time in coffee shops and bookshops rather than deciding to visit famous Paris landmarks and when she did visit them i.e. the Louvre she didn't get to see all the paintings that she wanted to.

Spoiler: ramble

I read an interesting article in the New Yorker recently about this sort of landmark grabbing tourism, and I question the value of it as a practice. The gist of it was that the sort of tourism for that is going to a touristy place and doing touristy things because you're a tourist isn't really any sort of grandiose personal development task. Like, if you never engage with art back home, what is the point of going to the Louvre to see art? You don't have the skillset to pick it apart and appreciate it, and it isn't going to change you in any fundamental way to see it. You're probably not going to be more interested in art when you get home. If I go to Dubai and go to a falconry centre because it was suggested to me on TripAdvisor, what is the point? It doesn't develop you, it just gives you something to brag about having done. The argument of the article was that when you travel, you should travel with purpose other than being able to say to people that you've been there and done these things. If you're an artist, seeing the art in the Louvre in person makes sense.

Going to Paris because you want to go to Parisian bookshops and cafes is a perfectly valid way to spend your time, especially if you've been before. Ruby, however much reading she actually does, clearly likes being in bookshops, so her going abroad to bookshops makes sense.

Edited Addition: it does seem like a slightly hastily organised trip though, you are right.

 

[hart301]

Spoiler

It's also a lot of sugar. Ruby doesn't show much savoury food. It's always donuts, vegan snack bars, cupcakes, croissants, sweet pastries, fruit porridge, cakes and whatever else I'm forgetting to list. I'm not judging - I like sweet foods too - but it's just noticeable.

I think it’s because her diet is so restrictive already that she has to mask the blandness with some sort of flavor. The almond ‘cake’ probably has no flavor hence all the sugary icing. The porridge is the same way. It’s to mask having no flavor in the food she already eats. The only ’savory’ food I’ve seen her eat is like a plate of random assorted bargain bin looking vegetables with her family.

 

[Officedoor123]

I can only imagine how ridiculous those two looked filming Ruby going up and down stairs, walking to her seat etc. I would have loved a ROH person to tell them loudly to grow the fuck up or go home.

 

[gossip_guy]

imo it's unethical to promote a product you don't use and/or don't understand. And yes, a lot of ads on a lot of platforms are unethical. Hence Google's class action lawsuit about using users' data they claimed they didn't retain for things including ads. There's an entire company called Ethical Ads that is commonly seen on websites for python documentation that specializes in showing only ethical ads because it's so uncommon for ads to be ethical.

Yeah, it'd be one thing if she didn't use the products/services she advertises and was at least honest about it, but Ruby just lies through her teeth about every single thing she advertises.

One of the major hallmarks of unethical advertising is if it's misleading or dishonest. In the case of most of what Ruby advertises, the ad copy she's asked to include isn't honest, from the claims that fast fashion outlets like MISSPAHH TEENAHHH are sustainable and ethically-made, to the generally misleading pitch of NordVPN's sales pitch to things like Karma, where she made wild claims about it "AHLWHEYS GATTING YEU THE BASST DEAL" that could be disproven with a sliver of common sense and 2 minutes of Googling. She has no excuse for parroting lies she was paid to tell since she should be doing her due diligence and vetting these companies/their claims first. In reality, she doesn't care; she'll say anything for more money she doesn't need.

And on top of the ad blurb usually being incredibly misleading, she ads her own lies on top. She just can't stop herself from claiming every sponsor product is her favourite [blank] ever. She refuses to stop claiming that every product is one that she "YEEZES AVVERY SINGOL DAY!" even though that's blatantly not the case. She had to make up completely preposterous and outright untrue scenarios in order to shoehorn in a sponsor she doesn't use, like her claiming she needed a VPN to access Barnes & Noble's website or place and order. Sponsors don't (or shouldn't) ask a promoter to do that. She's doing that of her own accord to try to suck up to sponsors because she thinks it'll lead to more opportunities and cash.

Then there's her refusal to declare ads, which compounds the lies. That's incredibly dishonest and misleading in and of itself. It's a signal to gullible fans: "I YEEZE this prodockt and wasn't paid for it, so yeu can trosst me, JANUINELY; boiy this tyeu bee josst loike me." Meanwhile, she doesn't use the product and she was paid to advertise it and chose to lie about it.

Her ad deals and sponsorships are a Russian nesting doll of lies and whatever integrity she had got sold to BARDEN BLAND long ago.

 

[StatusWoe]

Ruby's dissertation sounds like a disaster but I bet she will pass. I just don't think it will be publishable.

I'm thinking of her Exeter dissertation. Ruby's description made it sound terrible, but she managed to get a first overall, so it can't have been as vague and thrown together as it seemed. I do think she'll pass this one, but who knows what grade.

I'm convinced the reasoning for not sharing her topic (people said discouraging things about her undegrad diss) was a direct response to Tattle comments. I remember everyone saying it would be a disaster. And yes it definitely sounded that way from the vlogs she was uploading.

Things I liked about her latest video:

Nature montage with piano music
Martha's car tour. The fuzzy dice

What I didn't like:

Smearing pumpkin puree into the carpet. Anyone would think a baby lived there.

 

[StatusWoe]

hdu maybe it just takes her a really long time to poop!

Not the take I was expecting.

Her morning routines aren't routines. They're just 'some things I did before the afternoon'.

*Aside from the teeth cleaning which is consistent enough to count as routine, but not interesting to watch. I'm boring myself just typing this comment.

 

[Hannahebee]

She really has fallen off the YouTube/Social Media train. I wonder what is going on with her.

I noticed that despite being home for the last 2 weeks she hasn't uploaded a new video as the last video she uploaded was when she was massively struggling/stressing out over her essays. Even though she is at home for Easter she still doesn't seem that happy to me and the fact that she went back to Oxford to spend one night there tells me that she doesn't know what to do with herself as she is very bored at home.

 

[frenchtoasts]

I can't get over the carrots with the porridge. My mom watched this with me and said she ate like she was on the eastern front

lmao literally radioactive war rations

 

[leah99]

I've just started watching it and she sounds like her age in the first part, then two minutes in, her voice jumps a good octave in her voiceover That's not quite the schoolgirl aesthetic we're after, is it, Ruby?

I love writing— write most days given the chance— but surely this isn't more important than her dissertation which we know very little about, mind you. I understand hobbies are important in keeping you sane but I wouldn't go ahead and spend an entire hour per day writing when I am so close to finishing something important like my Master's. The authors she is taking inspiration from are full-time writers, not people who have their dissertations hanging over their heads, not like Ruby who's undertaking a degree she's clearly floundering in as she's not flaunting her grades like in Exeter. There is a very valuable place for hobbies (whether writing, gaming, watching movies, painting etc) but it's very clear she's running away from the fact she isn't doing as well as she'd like in Oxford, even more so by the fact she runs home at any chance she'd get. And of course, a Skillshare sponsor I know content creators need to make a living with sponsors but it's a bit obvious at this point, isn't it? Only uploading a video when there's a sponsor in her inbox.

Side note: I wish she'd just change her style a bit, is it just me? A haircut would do absolute wonders, but alas, that may be a bit too grown up.

 

[FolderDuvet]

Cant be arsed to go back and quote a relevant post in the thread, but has anyone mentioned that Ruby and Blakeney were sharing a bed on their trip to that hotel? At 18:11, you can see that the sofa bed is clearly unused, while the regular bed has been slept in on both sides.

I don't think they are necessarily together, but I am just a bit surprised none of the sapphic speculators have mentioned it.

Also, very surprised we have seen almost no mention of the Oxford Bird and Blend store? It's a great little shop, I always visit it when I'm in the city for a cup of tea.

 

[Whisper2Me]

It is interesting to look at the stats of her channel and observe the fact that her channel is dying. Slowly, but surely. Less followers, less interaction, less likes. Especially since January. Her lack of interesting Oxford content really did her in, as well, I believe, that she is getting older and only attracts a young audience, who then finds out they can't identify her content since they are either too young or more mature than she is. Her immaturity will be her own doing in.

 

[noodlehead1]

I love how she starts the vlog with 'a solo trip to Paris', mentions that she wanted to be alone, but then she constantly says "we" and ofc, Mother Granger can be spotted in a museum.

This is what I came to say!! I wondered why she didn’t blur the face, then I realised it’s her mum. (I’m not great with faces)

also at 19:26 (I paraphrase) ‘we didn’t come last time we were in Paris because we weren’t anywhere near notre dame, but we’re here now’…..who is ‘we’? Kind of feel like a detective when the suspect says ‘was’ instead of ‘is’

 

[tartandog86]

On instagram, Jade claimed that this happened '5 mins before' the formal dinner

Yet here she is wearing a totally different dress:

It looks like it might have been the PR manager's dress? In which case, what was she wearing? How quick did this change of clothes happen? Sounds like the story has been exaggerated for effect.

 

[tartandog86]

The cake looks really flat, and the random drippy icing on one edge......

 

[ChocolateCakeYum]

I can't get over the carrots with the porridge. My mom watched this with me and said she ate like she was on the eastern front

My rabbits eat carrots with porridge as a treat once in a while. I wouldn't have thought a human being would eat it, it stinks for a start (not sure why but the cooked carrots just react with the oats and boak, not good) and it tastes super weird. Also it looks like it would glow in the dark.

 

[moosesauna]

I don’t think she needs to take these entry level, admin, library volunteer jobs like people are suggesting. She needs to give herself a kick and make her content better.

She already has an audience, if she would just be smart about it she could get good ads and make good connections with publishers to get a children’s book deal to keep some money flowing in. If she had been proactive with her business (or had better management?) she could have tried to do partnerships with shops to get her stationery stocked on physical shelves. If she had worked at it, she could have found a niche on TikTok for her stationery and gone viral and sold through TikTok shop and her website. But she’s lazy, she doesn’t invest in the business and she’s terrified/paralysed of what seems like basically any adult decision. All she can do is ‘school’/uni.

Her relevancy online is only going to dwindle as the years go on and the chance at all this money will slip away.

I think she should do both: get a real-world job *and* make her content better. If her content was better or focused on a wider variety of things, it'd be more sensible for her to become a full-time content creator and 'skip the day job', but she's too disorganised and lacking in decent ideas to keep her channel up into her next decade. Either she wakes up and starts making creative content, analysing trends and incorporating fresh ideas into her channel, or she risks losing a sizeable chunk of her following. Her current fans will soon grow up and realise that Ruby is not a good role model, and younger kids are likely to get bored with her slow, repetitive videos. At least having a job that gets her outside of home will enable her to understand what the majority of 20-somethings are going through, which could kickstart something decent.

 

[emmer_moans]

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Terrifying, frankly.

This picture makes me think, has she poisoned my porridge, or does she plan to come behind me with a heavy ornament to bash my head... definitely would be looking over my shoulder if I was staying with her Her facial expression is scary.

 

[Pillow9]

I've also noticed her Pinterest boards and in her life, everyone is usually blonde, blue or hazel eyed, and fair complexion. Considering the variety of people in the world and of the students at Oxford, is she a racist? I have never seen her with any friends of colour or various ethnic backgrounds. She seems to only even attempt to friend people of a very western persuasion. I'm sure you get my meaning.

I feel like this is a bit of a reach, tbh.

 

[Griftwood]

So when she talks about the weather she's being profound and poetic but when others talk about the weather it's boring and shallow small talk?

Kind of like other people are vegans and don’t wear leather or wool

She’s used to having special exceptions made for her.

 

[snowclouds]

Not sure why Oxford don’t do a creative writing masters tbh. They have amazing alumni

They do, it's what Emma Watson's currently doing iirc and I'm suprised Ruby hasn't pounced on that. https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/mst-creative-writing