YouTubing Away
Though I’m like a lot of people and pay for streaming services like Netflix, Max, Amazon Prime and even YouTubeTV, I spend more time just going down plain old YouTube rabbit holes than anything else. I really should drop half of the streaming stuff and put some of the savings toward the commercial-free version of YouTube. Some day maybe.
Anyway, here are some of my favorite channels, and why.
Red Letter Media - like most people, I discovered them through their brilliant Mr. Plinkett Star Wars/Star Trek reviews, and I’ve been hooked ever since. If you like film and cultural criticism and discussion, their channel is worth checking out. Filmmakers themselves, they’re also interested in the mechanics of storytelling, and more often than not I find myself agreeing with their opinions. This channel also has the most rewatchable content—a tribute to the personalities involved.
Aquapros - I love aquariums. My first job was in a pet store that specialized in freshwater and marine fish, and that really got me into the hobby. I’m pretty lowkey on it these days. I have a single 125 gallon freshwater plant tank. Aquapros is one of the best channels online for the fish hobbyist.
Mark Felton Productions - Mark Felton is a British historian with a specialization on World War 2. His episodes cover so many fascinating, intricate aspects of the events and personalities on all sides. Both of my grandfathers fought in WW2. My mom’s dad died when I was a year old, so I know nothing of his service. But I grew up hearing interesting tales from my dad’s father, and one summer in the mid-80s TBS aired the famous “World at War” series and I watched it with him. That cemented my interest in this period forever.
Bart D. Ehrman - a well-known religious studies professor from North Carolina who has several NY Times best sellers on Christianity. His videos are good for exploring the historical context of the New Testament. I was raised a Christian (Methodist/Southern Baptist), but I my doubts were overwhelming me by the time I was 14. While I can’t claim any religious faith at the moment, I think you’ll find a lot of religious themes and tensions in my fiction that spring from my upbringing. I also fell in love with the language of the King James translation (though as Ehrman points out in one of this videos, that translation isn’t all that great in terms of capturing the plain meaning of the original texts).
Serious Keto - Keto/low carb eating typically works best for me. There are hundreds of channels dedicated to Keto, but this one is the best. The best mix of recipe experimentation and product reviews by far. Every once in awhile I get into baking and trying meal preps that are a little more elaborate than just frying hamburgers, and this channel almost always sparks my experimental moods.
Then there are all the golf channels that I obsess over. But those can wait for another time.
