Number Go Up: A review of Louie Zong's Nubby's Number Factory song

     Louie Zong is an American illustrator, animator, and musician with 1.11 million subscribers on YouTube, and an Emmy nomination for animation under his belt. Louie Zong might not be a name you have heard of, but you might have stumbled across some of their popular videos: Ghost Choir, Hello World, or Rhythm Hell. Across their channel, they have experimented with a variety of different styles of art and music, making each one of their videos unique and refreshing to watch. My personal favorite songs of his are:

1. Burn Him Down: A song about the U.S Forest Service’s Woodsy The Owl mascot, and their requirement to rid of the old costumes.

2. Asymptotic: A lighthearted, yet tragic song about an unrequited love paired with various mathematical concepts to explain the situation the lovesick singer is in.

3. Falling for you (a gravitational love song): A fluffy love song comparing the singer’s deep feelings for another person to different physics and astronomy concepts. It’s similar in concept to Asymptotic. 

Louie Zong is present on various social media sites, all listed in the “about” page on his website. This website also serves as a portfolio, where you can view all the different types of art he creates. YouTube seems to be the site where he is most active, with his activity on Twitter decreasing after Elon Musk purchased the site. 

A song of Louie’s that stuck out to me recently was “Number Go Up (A Nubby’s Number Factory Song),” inspired by the aforementioned game, Nubby’s Number Factory. The genre of the song is something that I’m going to call “video game parody music,” because I don’t know if it has an actual name. This type of music was popular in the early 2010’s, but has since faded out of the public eye. Video game parody songs are usually about a specific game’s mechanics and/or plot, and typically parody an already existing song; But can also have original instrumentals and rhythms of their own. Popular artists who dabbled in this genre back in the day were TheLivingTombstone, TryHardNinja, and CaptainSparklez. The most popular games to make songs of were Minecraft, Undertale, and various mascot horror games like Five Nights at Freddy’s and Bendy And The Ink Machine. 

The song follows Nubby and their journey throughout the game, accompanied by an image of Nubby drawn by Louie Zong along with gameplay footage to go along with the music. The style of Nubby’s Number Factory is distinctly early 2000’s, with low quality graphics and cartoony 3D models. It looks like an amateur flash game made for kids, but I mean that in the best way possible. I find this kind of style very fun and nostalgic, and it’s interesting to see it being brought into the present day and being mixed in with Louie’s style. The tone of Louie’s song matches the silly and childish nature of the game, with short and simple sentences and the occasional bit of improper grammar (ex: “number go up,” “Nubby go down”). At the same time, he also reflects the early internet theme of the game within his vocals by applying some kind of static-sounding filter as he sings. It makes the song sound more aged, like it could have been a bit of recorded audio from an old game. Somehow, Louie has also made the scratchiness of the vocals not sound completely irritating, it’s quiet and blends in with the music rather than obnoxiously standing out. 

As the song gets closer to the end, the chorus of the song changes in tone. It’s sung in a much harsher tone, and the ends of the lines end in a lower note rather than in a higher and more cheerful one. The “number go down” section of the chorus is then followed by a countdown, lessening by an interval of one each time the line is sung “five more tries to keep the sun around.” The last two lines of the song are shouted out, and once the countdown reaches zero the song abruptly stops with a shout and really funny explosion sound and gif on the screen. This ending reminds me of a song from Mr. Bungle’s 1999 California album, Pink Cigarette. The ending to Pink Cigarette is also a countdown of sorts, starting with “There’s just 5 hours left until you find me dead,” and repeating that line while decreasing the number of hours in increments of one as it repeats. Once the countdown for zero begins, the singer is cut off almost immediately by the blaring sound of a flatlining heartbeat monitor. I don’t think Louie was specifically inspired by Mr. Bungle or any of their songs, though. There’s plenty of songs out there that end with a bang rather than slowly petering out, I just thought it was a fun coincidence how similar the endings were. The ending of the song which is so starkly different from what was previously being played, along with lyrics such as “search for answers, in the coffee shop or black market, jumbled up life now” give an air of mystery around the game. It hints that the game contains some darker themes or hidden lore that’s sprinkled throughout the game for you to discover. It left me very intrigued and wanting to check out the game for myself. I hope to learn why the existence of the sun is solely dependent on Nubby’s factory staying successful. 

If I were more knowledgeable on the process of creating music, different instruments, or music theory, I’d be able to describe why the song is a pleasant listening experience in a more compelling way. The song just sounds nice. It wouldn’t appeal to a more general audience due to the subject matter of the song, the video game parody music genre has always had a target audience of children. The song isn’t horrible by any means, though, it’s just not something that the public isn’t interested in anymore. 

Number Go Up can be compared to many songs within the video game parody music genre, but there’s actually very few songs of Louie’s that could really be called similar to Number Go Up. Louie has made many videos and songs that are inspired by video games, the most famous example being the previously mentioned “Rhythm Hell” video which is a clear nod to the video game “Rhythm Heaven.” His previous video game inspired works feel more like they’re trying to fit into the universe they’re based upon, rather than actually being about the game or the character’s within it. His video, “K.K What A Fool Believes” isn’t about the animal crossing character K.K Slider and his journey making music, it’s meant to be a song that K.K has written and sung. This is Louie’s first step into making songs of this genre, and it was a nice surprise. 

Nowadays, society’s standards for art, music, and entertainment in general have grown to be much higher than they used to be. More and more artists have grown anxious about their own skillset and the work they put forward, wanting each piece they put out to be the best it can possibly be. So, why make a song like this? It’s not that Number Go Up isn’t a song of low quality, Louie clearly has a lot of technical skill that has been built up over his years of creating art. But, Nubby’s Number Factory is a game with a niche audience, and the video game parody music genre had fallen from popularity a long time ago. The song is clearly self indulgent, and would not be able to appeal to a broader audience. The lyrics of the song don’t directly have any secret or deep hidden meanings within them, that point to some kind of epiphany related to whatever the game is about. On a surface level, it’s incredibly hard to find a way to relate this song to one’s own personal experiences or view it as a reflection of society in some way. But, writing this song off as meaningless would be a very grave mistake. Number Go Up teaches an incredibly important lesson to its viewers, and that is to make art just for the sake of it. Creating something of your own gives you the satisfaction of seeing the finished piece after all of the time and effort that went into it, allows you to release whatever emotions you felt before and during the process of creating your piece, and gives you the opportunity to connect with other artists from all around the world now that you understand what making art is like. With the way our society is in the U.S, it can be easy to forget that you don’t simply exist to work to put more money in another man’s pockets. You exist for yourself. Number Go Up doesn’t exist to appease the specific interests of another group, it exists because Louie adored a game and put those feelings into something. It must have felt great to be so carefree, and I think Louie wants the viewer to have the opportunity to feel the same way. 

I don’t think this song is one for the history books. As of now, the video sits at around 30,000 views after 9 days. I don’t expect the view count to suddenly increase into the hundreds of thousands. Louie has a reasonably large and active audience, if they were interested in this type of music, it would be much more popular. However, the message that I picked up from this song is something that will stick with me for months and years to come. It will inspire me to keep creating and living for myself. 

Snail parenthood

 On an unrelated note, I have recently become the parent to a garden snail which I have named Abeba with the help of my biology professor. On 5/1/25, she was found by some of my biology classmates in the pea plants we were using for some hormone and chemical experiments. That's scary for a snail to be in that situation! They're sensitive creatures!

Abebe quickly caught the attention of most people in the room, including me, who was very excited to get a close look at the cute creature. One person joked that someone should take it home, which led to my teacher suggesting that I care for the snail. Without putting much thought into the situation, I agreed, and was given a small plastic tub and a leaf from one of our control plants to feed the snail, and took her home. 

But as I was on my way home, the reality that I had a creature's life in my uneducated hands set in, and I began to panic. I know nothing about raising snails! What was I supposed to do? I can't let this thing die, the guilt would stick with me forever. Along with that, I can't just release the snail because everyone back in class was expecting pictures, and the snail was an invasive species that I didn't have the heart to kill.

So, I quickly went to the best and definitely most credible resource I could think of for snail care, Reddit. I was quickly informed about the different types of soil I could use for my snail. But I can't just dig up a bunch of dirt from my own yard, I would need untreated topsoil to ensure there were no parasites or pesticides hidden in there. I need a larger enclosure, coconut coir to retain moisture at the bottom, sphagnum moss for something soft in the tank, sticks, a hide, cuttlebone, fresh vegetables, spring water instead of tap or distilled, and so on. I ordered my terrarium as soon as I got home, along with the moss and cuttlebone. Next, I went out to find the dirt, coconut coir, and water that would ensure the safety of my snail.

If my snail could survive the next 12-ish hours, she would be living the dream...

And so far, she has!

I'm definitely not an expert on snails or anything, but I feel like I've learned a lot over the past couple of days! I feel as if I'm being brought back to my freshman year of high school, where my Building Life Skills class was given these very realistic robot baby dolls to take home and care for over the weekend. It was the worst weekend of my life. The cries were so ear piercing, and I was so scared of messing up that I hardly ever lifted the baby in case I would not properly support the neck, and be subjected to its wails. I kept it laying on my bed, and I didn't leave my room for the entire weekend, not even to take a bath. The untreated anxiety disorder was probably the cause behind all of my unnecessary panic, but even now that I'm getting the care I need I still feel like its coming back! Even after reading that snails are nocturnal, and also not very active creatures I panic that I've somehow killed him after he's been still all day; only for her to wake up at night and begin moving around and eating her vegetables. Then that cycle repeats in the morning. 

Despite all the fear that I've been experiencing, I'm very happy to now be the friend of a snail. I think he helps me reflect on and appreciate the smaller things in life. I hope it doesn't lay any eggs though because I would hate to have to crush them all, or later find all of the baby snails and kill them then. 

Talking about Common Side Effects

 

Common Side Effects is an adult animated thriller created by Joseph Bennet and Steve Hely. Those names might sound slightly familiar, because they have done work on incredibly popular and beloved shows like The Office, Scavengers Reign, and American Dad. The show was released on Adult Swim in February of 2025,  and is also available on sites like Hulu, Max, and Prime. The show is also listed as a “dark comedy,” but I’d say the humor from the show is a byproduct of having a talented and passionate cast, the comedy isn’t the main focus of the show.  I began watching this show right as it came out, after seeing a really intriguing trailer for the show posted to Twitter by @Catsuka. I also had to beg one of my close friends into watching the show with me, because my family doesn’t pay for streaming services, so I had to mooch off someone else. My friend quickly became as obsessed as I was with the show, and we eagerly awaited the drop of a new episode every Monday together. 

The show has a lot of characters and different perspectives to follow. The most important ones are Marshall Cuso (Dave King); A mycologist and activist with a history of run-ins with the law, who has discovered a mushroom that has the power to heal any ailment, and Frances Applewhite (Emily Pendergast), assistant to an executive at a pharmaceutical company, and friend to Marshall. The story follows Marshall and his attempts to cultivate the mushroom (the Blue Angel) so he can share it with the citizens of the United States, all while avoiding being captured by the government. 

There is not a better time for Common Side Effects to have come out. The topic of healthcare and its costs are fresh in the minds of the American public, with the event of the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, and the imprisonment of Luigi Mangione. Common Side Effects covers the subject with nuance and grace, while also tackling the topic of police brutality, their role in protecting the “1%”, and how responsible the average person is in making lasting changes. The eighth episode in the first (and currently only) season demonstrates a lot of these discussions in a concise and entertaining manner. The eighth episode in the season goes over a lot of these topics at once, so that is the episode that will be examined in this post. 

In an early part of the episode, officers Copano (Joseph Lee Anderson) and Harrington (Martha Kelly) are on their day off watching horses race. The two agents were formerly tasked with investigating and arresting Marshall Cuso, but as more was figured out about his involvement with the Blue Angel mushroom, they were called off the case without explanation. Copano continues to be intrigued by the case, but Harrington is trying not to get themselves involved with it any further. Copano uses the horse race and those involved as a metaphor for the agent’s experience with the Marshall Cuso case they were on. He connects Marshall to Frances, who is then connected to the CEO of a pharmaceutical company, who is then connected to law enforcement, and so on. He questions if the two of them are pawns being used by big pharma, and not actually helping out the citizens they thought they were protecting. Harrington merely questions if she’s going to be paid the same. This is a struggle a lot of people face when it comes to political movements. Should I risk myself and my work to fight for change, or should I turn a blind eye because I won’t be affected? 

It’s especially interesting to see this dilemma be shown in the two police officer characters, because their sense of duty conflicts with what they’re being ordered to do by their higher ups. Harington even says, “Dude… you shouldn’t have shown me this.” This is because she felt disconnected from the situation before Copano pointed out all these connections to her. It would have been much easier for her to keep her head down and do her job if she didn’t feel directly involved in the suffering of other people, but now she was made aware. This scene also works to add more depth into the entire “is big pharma bad” discussion. The audience gets to see how the discovery of the Blue Angel and the healthcare system affect all different kinds of people, and thus get invested into the issue now that they have a personal connection to all these different characters. 

Later, the episode moves on to show us a conversation between Frances’ boss, Rick (Mike Judge), and Jonas Backstein (Danny Huston) who is on the board of multiple successful pharmaceutical companies. This scene demonstrates one of the best aspects of the show, which is how human every character is. There isn’t anyone who is uniquely or absurdly evil, or anyone who is purely good and kind all of the time. Their actions and feelings are grounded in reality and relatable to the audience. Rick tries to convince Jonas to let them try and produce more of the mushroom. Jonas shuts him down. He questions what will happen to all of those whose jobs involve medicine, what will happen to Rick when all he’s worked for is no longer needed. He tries to play on Rick’s feelings for other people. When it doesn’t quite work, Rick moves on to make the argument that people should work for their medicine because it brings balance to their world. It incentivizes people to work, and work hard at what they do.

This is a common sentiment from people who are around Jonas’ age, they have a very “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” way of thinking. That’s what they grew up with, and that’s what worked for them. But we don’t live in that kind of world anymore, simply working hard isn’t enough to make a living and take care of your family. That can be seen with characters like Frances, who does a lot in her job as an assistant, but can’t afford the costs of taking care of her mother with dementia. It’s seen in Amelia (Shannon Woodward), the woman who rescued Marshall from prison. She takes all the work she can get as a mycologist, she isn’t lazy at all, but is still unable to make enough to pay the hospital bills of her son. 

The episode ends with Marshall, after being rescued from prison by a fellow mycologist, being taken back to a small house he bought way out in the forest. Which is also where he finally figured out how to grow the mushrooms with Frances. It’s different than he remembers, there’s a lot of big white tents that weren’t there before, and people in front of garden beds that he definitely didn’t put there. He’s led to “the boss” of the operation, which turns out to be his old mycology teacher, Hildy (Sue Rose). This is where the audience can really sense that everything that’s been happening throughout the show is truly coming together. It reflects a moment constantly replayed throughout the show, of Marshall explaining how mushrooms are connected together with their mycelium. “This might look like individual fungi, but their mycelium communicates with each other. So, if a fungus needs help, the network ‘knows’ and transfers sugars, water, and minerals to a friend in need.” We’re more connected to our communities than we realize, and I think that is vital to remember if we’re to keep surviving in the currently individualistic society of the United States. It reminded me of a situation that happened at the school that I attend and also work at. 

My boss, as an employee, had a different view of a certain application than a student would. She wanted to take a look at it through my screen so she could update some instructions on how to use the app. It turned out that I was missing an important button that allowed me to schedule meetings with my advisor, which was a really big issue. She knew some tech guy that could go in and fix it, so she passed the situation on to him and it was resolved. Then a few weeks later, a faculty member brought a student over to me because he was having the same issue with being unable to schedule meetings. I was able to send him over to the guy who fixed the issue for me, as well as sharing alternatives to scheduling meetings through the application. For that student to make his way over to me, he would have to have some idea of someone he could go to for help. That teacher would then have to know of someone with more information to help the student, that person was me. Unknowingly, we were all connected to one another, with different bits of information to help each other out. Most people should have experienced something like this at least once in their lives, and should keep seeking them out. In the show, small interactions like connecting with your high school lab partner led to so many people receiving treatment from the mushroom that they otherwise couldn’t afford from a pharmaceutical company. In the real world, we can’t work together with our neighbors to find and mass produce a magical mushroom. But we can turn to each other, and come together to make a difference. I worry about listing any specific examples of boycotts, protests, or movements because I don’t want to come across as tone-deaf, but at the same time “we can do anything if we work together” isn’t very convincing if there aren’t any examples to go off of. Some events to show that our communities can make changes that I think of first include the Stonewall riots, the Montgomery Bus boycotts, and the Delano grape strike. Common Side Effects doesn’t want to make its viewers cynical, the show is actually pretty hopeful. It doesn’t want its viewers to give up on their world, it wants them to participate where they can. The feeling of hope that Common Side Effects spreads to its viewers is even more impactful because more often than not, it shows you how people are connected, rather than looking the viewer in the eye and saying “Don’t give up! There’s people who look out for you!” We trust our own experiences more than we do a strangers. Common Side Effects leads us to reflecting on our own lives and finding that motivation to keep working towards a better future within ourselves.

The concept of the show, while absurd, treats itself and the subjects it divulges into seriously. This brings in the audience to do the same, and engage with its ideas meaningfully. It welcomes people of all backgrounds and beliefs to view it. People don’t like to be belittled for their thoughts. Berating someone won’t lead to someone opening themselves up to a different viewpoint, it only serves to solidify their stance on a topic. Common Side Effects avoids this scenario entirely. It’s a truly unique show, I don’t think there is a single adult animated show that’s like Common Side Effects out there. You can feel the passion everyone who worked on this show had for it in every frame and every voice line. There are few adult animated shows that have a story to tell like this,  and are genuine in every step of the way. I think the vast majority of adult animated shows are of the comedy genre. This isn’t a bad thing of course, it just makes Common Side Effects stand out from the rest a bit more. Shows like Family Guy will bring up real life injustices, there’s one instance where Peter Griffin claims that men have always run the country just fine, and then goes on to list multiple examples of men messing up the country and world. It’s funny, but it’s just forgotten about later on. It doesn’t inspire any deeper thinking or desire to take action in its viewers, it just gives the viewer a moment to think “Hah, I know right? The world is so messed up” and do nothing further. I don’t want Family Guy to change its genre and become super serious, I want there to be more shows like Common Side Effects.

The target demographic of Common Side Effects is young adults. The subject matter of the show is mature and gory at times, and younger adults are more open to the idea that animation has value than many older people believe. I think the target audience is fairly broad, because the show shares so many different viewpoints that many different people can relate to or believe in, and also because most adults have experienced struggles with money and health. The reception of the show has been incredibly positive, with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, an 8.6/10 on IMDb, and an 8/10 on IGN. The show is praised for its realistic and funny interactions between characters, beautiful artwork and smooth animation, captivating story, and so on. 

Kambole Campbell at avclub.com brings special attention to the character’s body language and banter, and how that creates characters that feel like they could exist in real life. “Focus on making these characters feel true to life is crucial to the overall point of Common Side Effects. Even amid the conspiracy between shady corporations and federal agencies, these are not supervillains, just people handed the keys to far too much power.” I agree completely with what was said. Common Side Effects implores the viewer to compare the show with what goes on in their real world, and it needs to accurately reflect the people in it to accomplish that. 

Another review at hollywoodreporter.com, written by Angie Han, wonderfully puts into words how thoughtful and provocative the show can be in a way that I struggle to. “But if a justified cynicism courses through the story, it’s counterbalanced by an earnest and disarming sense of awe. Common Side Effects’ other co-creator is Joe Bennett of Max’s gorgeous and eerie Scavengers Reign, and his new show shares with its predecessor a wide-eyed curiosity about the natural world in all its balance, resilience and capacity for change. Though the writing is too thoughtful to fall back on messaging as simplistic as “Mother Earth good, mankind bad,” it does ask us to reflect on the havoc we’re wreaking on the planet — to mourn our careless destructiveness, to observe how ecosystems respond, to consider our place in these cycles of damage and adaptation.” It was really hard to try and cut this quote down, so I’m deciding to leave it in full here and demand that you read the review in its entirety on your own. I don’t have much else to add to this quote, I agree with it wholeheartedly. I think the profundity sewn into the show makes it one of the most incredible shows that I have had the pleasure of viewing. All of the different perspectives Common Side Effects shows the viewer keeps the show inside of their head and keeps them thinking about and coming back to the show. It acknowledges the impact of our behavior, but it doesn’t stop there. The show doesn’t want us to sit on our butts feeling sorry for ourselves, it pushes us to make change and be better as we move forward in our lives. It shows us that we’re going to make mistakes, and be frustrated, and that there will be forces moving against us but we have to keep trying anyway. 

Surprisingly, I haven’t seen much promotion for this show on social media. On Twitter, I have to go out of my way to find people talking about it, and the posts that I do find aren’t popular at all. It’s unfortunate, but I think this show really easily flies under the radar of most people. As far as I can see, the show doesn’t have an official account on websites like Twitter, and the Adult Swim account rarely brings it up. Despite the lack of promotion, every post I have found has been positive. Even my friends who were skeptical of the show because I was telling them it was good (they’re very skeptical of my taste in music, games, etc.) came around to adoring it. 

All of this to say, Common Side Effects is a wonderful work of art and I think everyone on the planet should watch it.

Works Cited

(n.d.). Common Side Effects. Max.com. https://www.max.com/shows/common-side-effects/eaa21376-a54d-4245-95d6-a86dce6313c8

(n.d.). Common Side Effects. IMDb.com. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28093628/

Han, A. (2025, January 31). ‘Common Side Effects’ Review: Adult Swim’s Animated Conspiracy Thriller About Big Pharma Is a Whole Vibe. Hollywoodreporter.com. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/common-side-effects-review-adult-swim-1236120712/

Campbell, K. (2025, January 27). Common Side Effects skewers big pharma with deadpan humor and expressive animation. Avclub.com. https://www.avclub.com/common-side-effects-review-tv-adult-swim

(2025, January 30). Catsuka. X.com. https://x.com/catsuka/status/1885015386002772418