#Also the defunctland video on the theme park ride is really good

[autisticseaserpent]

Sorry Athena, but that’s actually American Pie.

American Gods is actually a 2000s reality show singing competition, the og of the modern version of this genre. That actually spawned several singing careers but more interestingly spawned an absolutely horrible 2003 movie, a logistically improbable theme park attraction, and a interactive DVD extra for Shrek 2.

My dad is making me read American Gods… So like, what’s it about? The copy of the book we have has no dust jacket, therefore, no summary.

It's about three American Dogs who have to travel home from California to Maine. It's a long journey, but they face down a bear and several other dangers, including dogcatchers.

[lonesome--hunter]

Do you watch YouTube, and if so, which creators?

I have YouTube on a lot in the background because it's an easy passive watch usually.

I really love Defunctland and Yesterworld. If you're into theme parks and old rides I highly recommend.

For dumb funnies I watch Danny Gonzalez and Trixie Mattel's channel (mainly the toy and Barbie vids), Unhhh or however you spell it lol. Recently I've gotten into Hbomberguy because of his plagiarism video. Toddintheshadows did a companion video to Hbomberguy that's also incredibly good and he also does music reviews. He has two great series called Trainwreckords and One Hit Wonderland.

[pixies-and-poets]

39?

39. youtuber you’ve been obsessed with and why?

Ok so!! I don't watch that many Youtubers but there are a few I like to have on or listen to when I'm drawing, and sometimes their videos are so good I have to give them my full focus too. Here are some recommendations:

Nitro Rad - Top-tier gaming youtuber. He's introduced me to a lot of obscure 3D platformers, indie games, and horror games (this last category I would never play on my own because I get scared too easily lol). I really admire his approach to analyzing games, wanting to see the positives in them, and trying to see where the devs were coming from even with ideas that don't work out in the end, rather than being exaggeratedly negative or dismissive for "entertainment". When he can't enjoy something at all, you know it must be really horrible, lol (see: Frogger- the Great Quest). He's really an inspiration for my own approach to how I interact with and describe games.

Defunctland - I know a lot of people know about Defunctland but I just have to echo the sentiment that Kevin manages to make everything interesting. So many times I've started the most recent video thinking "I can't possibly care about a Wiggles ride" or whatever, but I managed to be invested and eager to hear about the attraction's fate by the end. He turned an investigation into the four-note Disney Channel theme into a full length documentary that literally made me cry. I'm not a theme park expert but I do love them and find them fascinating and I've learned a lot about theme parks and related topics from these videos.

Matt McMuscles - the What Happened series is always fun and has taught me about the dev histories for a lot of notorious games (and even some good ones!) and how rough and messy the game industry is behind the scenes. Like Nitro Rad, he tries to give credit where it's due; he investigates when "bad" games are the result of crunch, low budget and bad management to help banish myths about devs being simply inept or lazy. But I also really love his "The Worst Fighting Game" series! I don't know much about fighting games myself but it's just cool to see someone analyze something they're so passionate about!

Designing For - ok I'm biased because one of the writers and the person who does the voice-over is my friend, and I've done some art for the channel and even a vocal cameo, but seriously they do amazing work and I'm always super pleased to see their work spread around. They put out a decent-length Donkey Kong video for EVERY DAY this past December and all of them were varied and interesting!! Their analysis is great, and their editing is frenetic and hilarious- so I never just listen to these, I always give them my full attention.

These aren't the ONLY youtubers I watch or anything but they're my favs that come to mind right now.

[tentacledtherapist]

Lisa,

Per our last letter: I am so impressed! Physics is fascinating but I do not have the brain for it. I love when my friends who love math and physics tell me about it though, they make it make sense, you know? My last roommate kept a whiteboard in her room and just FILLED it with mathematics and would dissect math problems in conversations with us in order to solve them. It was fun. Pity about the Men In STEM type of Personality though, I'm sure you're a delight to chat with minus the golf. Funny, I get zapped myself.... not irregularly? I like the way it makes my fingertips buzz.

As for essayists and Youtubers I also quite like Jacob Geller and watch Bernadette Banner, Bernadette is an inspiration to me. I'm very familiar with both nightmind and Defunctland, I also share a theme park fascination. I love videos of urban exploration in places like that, as well as the technology behind them. My specific fascination is dark rides, but I also enjoy just watching rollercoaster videos too just cuz they're neat. I started in the theme park side of youtube when I started watching Haunted House runthrough videos, looking at the effects and costumes, then it moved on to the dark rides and went from there.

I also watch Morgan Donner, Nicole Rudolph, Karolina Zebrowska, Sew Rena and Rebecca Maksy who are in the same vein of creator as Bernadette. I also enjoy doll creators in the background like Dollightful and Hextian, etellan and Poppen Atelier. Essayists I like, or content creators in general, Athena P is deeply funny, Strange Aeons and Izzyzz are very popular, Kaz Rowe is my BELOVED for a LGBT perspective on history, Li Speaks and Dream Jelly for nostalgia essays, CZWorld and Dead Meat are great for horror, Caitlin Doughty for some really good insight on death work and death culture though she is by no means the last and only creator i follow on that, and hazelyt with their AMAZING creepypasta retrospective I cannot recommend more. If you like horror, but not necessarily campy horror, check out the yt channel nana825763. They made the famous username666 but made this absolutely insane short film called "my house walkthrough" that is a must see for those who like horror that allows you to dissect it moment to moment but isn't very long. Entirely practical effects, I cannot stress how much this formed a huge portion of my standards for scary stuff that doesn't rely on jumpscares, but pure artistry. They literally destroyed this house over time to get each take for the movie so it is WILD to imagine how they did it (the behind the scenes is also amazing).

- Creature

P.s.: I'm so glad you liked Frankenhooker! Definitely one of those sleeper hits that you can tell inspired some of LF, along with things like Re-Animator and Weird Science, Death Becomes Her too (which has some WILD old effects). But I also see the Heathers and Edward Scissorhands comparisons. Not sure if you're a Heathers fan?

i do like heathers quite a bit! and i love edward scissorhands! all the movies you mentioned there i’ve seen more than once and i like ‘em a lot! there’s a thing i’ve seen around more than once about how if lisa frankenstein the movie was actually made in the 80’s, we’d be played by johnny depp and winona ryder, which i do kinda agree with-

thank you for the recommendations too!!!! i cannot wait to check out “my house walkthrough”! it sounds so so so cool, omg. for your little description, it reminds me of, like, wham city comedy’s projects “unedited footage of a bear” and “this house has people in it”? both of which i absolutely LOVED

plus i’m a sucker for good practical effects? i love when you can watch an effect and see viscerally how real it is, because something is actually happening on set? even if it isn’t “perfect,” at least it’s real, ya know?

it’s the same principle as my fascination with theme park engineering? cause a lot of those places have to conceal the actual inner workings of things to maintain illusion, but they’re all real and practical and i think it’s so fun to try and figure out every bit of engineering that went into how the effects work? it’s like a puzzle, i guess

real, physical special effects are just so so cool

- Lisa

[sureuncertainty]

but that (and going thru the comments on the youtube video) got me thinking about how fucking SICK I am of this cynical attitude towards art and stories and media today. the whole idea that things were just better in the good ol' days. one commenter says "this is exactly what's wrong with the disney parks today, bc everything is a cash grab" like yeah? it's a company? and like yeah capitalism is bad, and yes it ruins things a lot of the time, and yes it can feel hopeless but you are SO WRONG if you think that the disney parks as they stand today do not have some of if not THE best examples of incredible detailed immersive storytelling in their lands and attractions

defunctland's video talks about how impressive the original space mountain in disneyland paris based on the jules verne novel was, and how it saved the park from bankruptcy because of its success and specifically talks about how impressive its storytelling was, managing to tell a story while also being a thrill ride. which made me think of guardians of the galaxy cosmic rewind, which is imo one of the best examples of immersive storytelling while also being a thrilling coaster AND having an absolutely banging soundtrack (bc if you say you don't want to ride a rollercoaster to one way or another by blondie you're lying).

like disney is making new things that are ALSO REALLY REALLY COOL, and there's always gonna be new things that replace old things, because things CHANGE that's just life.

this goes for literally all kinds of art, like it makes me think of those stupid tumblr posts that are all cynical and 'capitalism has ruined art" and "everything is soulless" and "every movie is a cash grab" and "don't watch barbie bc it's just an advertisement" etc. etc. etc. like oh my GOD this year has been an amazing year for film and TV and there are SO MANY amazing stories and storytellers and movies and shows and books and video games and theme parks and attractions and theater and musicals that are being made and coming out right now by passionate creatives who CARE SO MUCH and i'm so SICK of this attitude that none of that matters actually bc capitalism

like yes, be critical of capitalism, yes be upset about poor marketing decisions, be angry when your favorite show that means so much to you gets cancelled, mourn the loss of art that you loved, but you can't live in the past or the good ol' days, and if you do you're just gonna miss all of the amazing art that is right in front of you.

good stories have been told since the beginning of time and will be told until the end of time. and like not to be dramatic but capitalism is not the death of art because art will never die.

[excessively-english-jd]

Please share the niche rollercoaster knowledge. I'm curious now.

Lmao okay so a lot of my rollercoaster knowledge I don't know off-hand immediately, and it comes and goes depending on how recently I've dived into it lmao.

The one that sticks with me though is the reason rollercoasters make that distinctive clacking sound as they climb their lift hills! It's part of their anti-rollback system, where something called an anti-rollback dog on the bottom of the car slots against grooves on the track which, in the case that whatever is pulling the rollercoaster up the lift hill fails, catch and stops the train from rolling backwards down the hill. This video goes over the whole thing more in-depth.

Watching videos on rollercoasters and rollercoaster accidents has actually stopped me being so afraid of rollercoasters!! CoasterCollege is my favourite YouTube for actual technical rollercoaster information - his What Really Happened? and Debunked! series are good and go over real and fabricated rollercoaster accidents. I know a lot about the technical aspects of how a lot of big coaster accidents happened thanks to this guy, which also comes with a bonus of knowing about how safety features on coasters work!

ElToroRyan is also a good one for information on specific coasters/tracks, I like his Problematic Coasters series. Defunctland is also a good channel with some information on specific old amusement park rides, though it ventures more heavily into the theme park history I mentioned lmao

[thefloatingstone]

If you’re doing Self Quarintine (and you should be if you can help it) here’s some Youtube recommendations! Some of these I have posted about or recommended before but with almost all of us stuck indoors now’s a good time to remind you of some cool things you can watch for free!

I’m not gonna imbed the videos, I’ll just post the link because otherwise I would only able to post 5 and I want to collect a few so you can make a playlist or something. (I could make a playlist too but then I couldn’t tell you what each video is and you can’t pick and choose which one sounds interesting to you)

In no particular order:

Polybius: The video Game that doesn’t exist

An hour long documentary in which the youtuber did extensive research to find the origin of the “Polybius” Urban Legend, which speaks of an early arcade game reportedly seen around the early 1980s which reportedly gave people migraines, insomnia, nausea, subliminal messages, and in some cases heart attacks.

The Universal S

A shorter video in which LEMMiNO does his very best to try and track down where exactly this S that we all drew in middle school comes from? Why does literally every country on earth seem to HAVE their children draw this S?

I also recommend LEMMiNO’s video on the Dayltov Pass Incident and the perplexing UFO cases

Down the Rabbit Hole: Henry Darger

Fredrick Knudsen has an incredible fascinating series called “Down the Rabbit Hole” which simply focuses on... anything you can discover and go digging into. From weird internet personalities, to bizarre happenings in history. This video is about the artist Henry Darger, a man who lived in the early 1900s and for all intents and purposes had a perfectly average, lonely life, until it was discovered just before his death he had spent literally decades writing and drawing a fantasy world in what is possibly the longest piece of literature ever written.

I also recommend his video on the Hurdy Gurdy

Bedtime Stories Channel

I’m actually just gonna link the whole channel for “Bedtime Stories”. If you like weird and creepy stories, all of which at least claim to be “true” then Bedtime Stories is great. Coupled by illustrations and subtle sound effects, Bedtime Stories is literally listening to someone tell you a story about such things like hikers who mysteriously went missing, Sightings of Bog Men in Florida and giant Birds over Chernobyl, as well as weird and unsettling murders that remain unsolved. Sometimes the facts are a little dubious or have been disproved, but that’s not the point of the channel. It’s here to tell a creepy story, not give you a documentary.

A Journey Through Rule of Rose

Rule of Rose is a Survival Horror gave for the PS2 which has rather bad gameplay... but a FASCINATING story with just as many layers and symbolism as Silent Hill 2 could boast. It tells the story of one young woman traveling back into her own childhood in an orphanage in the 1930s, and all the horrors that contains. From repressed grief, abusive relationships, child neglect, abuse, and bullying... but it ALSO contains symbolism of societal class structure, politics, eating the rich, and how power structures work. Not for the faint of heart, but HIGHLY recommended.

I also super highly recommend his video on the similarities between Silent Hill 2 and Solaris

Clemps Reviews Crisis Core

Mr. Clemps is a great internet gamer who reviews JRPGs and other games he simply enjoys. Sprinkling in a heavy dose of comedy and very fast jokes and observations, Clemps’ videos are always upbeat, fun, and incredibly enjoyable to watch. I’m linking part 1 of his Crisis Core video in which he explains why the PSP game remains a personal favourite of his despite its flaws.

I also recommend his video on Eternal Sonata

Defunct TV: The History of Dragon Tales

Defunctland is a channel that deals with theme parks and theme park rides that are no longer standing, or which are no longer around in their current form. Defunctland also has a sub series though, called “Defunct TV” where they look at the origin of children’s TV which are no longer airing. I recommend the video on Dragon Tales which is incredibly wholesome, and a genuinely uplifting and soft story of good people trying to make good things for children. (I also recommend the videos on Bear in the Big Blue House, Zoboomafoo, and Legends of the Hidden Temple)

Hagan’s Histories of Polar Exploration

A Playlist for Diamanda Hagan’s videos about the doomed Franklin Expedition from the late 1800s, where England tried to find a passage through the Northern Arctic to the Pacific Ocean. This went horribly horribly wrong, with every member of the Expedition dead. Over a 100 years later we are still fuzzy on what EXACTLY happened, but apart from the arctic chill, there is also evidence of faulty canned food, a series of bad decisions, and cannibalism. Caution advised for this series.

I also recommend the rest of Diamanda Hagan’s channel. She is NOT for everyone, but if you enjoy somebody reviewing Z grade indie movies as well as just BIZARRE films, really bad Christian media bordering on Science Fiction (without making fun of religion itself) hot takes of classic (and modern) Dr. Who, an introduction to Red Dwarf, She’s an EXCELLENT channel to check out.

Good Bad or Bad Bad: Pass Thru

A half podcast half review show where two guys watch a terrible film, decide if it’s “Good” Bad or just Bad Bad and tell you if you should watch it too.

That’s it. That’s the whole show.

I recommend diving into the untold madness that is one of the best(?) bad film makers currently still producing batshit insane movies, the immortal Niel Breen.

There is literally nothing I can say that’ll prepare you for Niel Breen.

(I also recommend their more recent video for “Dancin’ It’s on!”)

History Buffs: Apollo 13

Do you like History? Do you like movies ABOUT History? Do you want to know if the movies about history you watch actually resemble what really happened in any way at all? History Buffs is an EXCELLENT channel, which does talk about the merit of a film itself, but is mainly focused on letting you know just how true to life that historical film you watch is. I highly recommend his longest video which covers the space race between the USA and the USSR, leading to what is known as “The most Successful Failure in NASA’s History”. The Infamous Apollo 13 and where the words “Houston, we have a problem” came from.

If you’re not interested in Apollo 13 however, I also recommend his video on the movie Casino, as well as his video on the female philosopher, Agora.

The Internet Historian: The Goodening of No Man’s Sky

With videos with literally MILLIONS of views, you probably already know the Internet Historian. But I still want to recommend him very highly because his videos are just THAT good and entertaining. I recommend his newest video, documenting that time we were all pissed off about No Man’s Sky, the difficulties the game studio was in when the game released, and how they have been working hard to finally create what is now a truly brilliant game which is winning major awards. A really good underdog story of how a video game company actually saw what was wrong with their game, and FIXED it.

I also recommend his video on Fallour 76 as well as the Failure of Dashcon

8 Creepy Video game mysteries

Hey. Did you know that sometimes there’s some REALLY weird shit in video games, hidden easter eggs which took literal decades to find as well as just a lot of “what the actual fuck?”. Oddheader is a channel with a dedicated discord and Reddit form solely focusing on trying to find or replicate bizarre video game finds, mysteries, and hidden glitches. Even if it means getting in his car and driving to a specific arcade just to check a rumour about Street Fighter II’s arcade version. So if you like getting spooked by weird game shit that’s not just some dumb creepypasta, this is a great place to start.

I also recommend his video on weird discoveries in DVDs and movies.

Red Letter Media: Best of the Worst

Look you already know who Red Letter Media is.

You know... these guys:

Here’s a video of them and Macaulay Culkin watching 3 terrible movies together.

I recommend literally any and all of their videos. Their discussion on Carpenter’s The Thing is amazing.

The Impact of Akira: The film that changed Everything

Ok trying to pick just ONE Super Eyepatch Wolf video is literal torture. Originally I was going to suggest his recent video on Final Fantasy 7 for the PSone but I realised I recommended something FF7 related with Clemps, so instead I will recommend The Impact of Akira, a video talking in depth about Akira both as a film as well as a manga, how it completely and utterly changed the anime industry both in Japan as well as the west, and why it is still a meaningful and one of the most important anime/manga even to this day, still being unsurpassed despite so much competition.

However, ALL of Wolf’s videos are incredible, so I also recommend his videos on wrestling (despite me not caring about wrestling at all), His video on how media scares us, The bizarre reality of modern Simpsons, Why the Dragon Ball Z manga is great, and literally any other video he’s made. He hasn’t made one bad video yet.

Was Oblivion as Good as I remember?

Exactly what it says on the tin. The Salt Factory goes back to playing The Elder Scrolls Oblivion and now with hindsight and modern sensibilities, gives feedback on his experience and whether Oblivion still holds up. This isn’t a super in depth review of the game’s mechanics or how its put together or how it was made. This is simply one guy talking about his experience replaying it with somejokes thrown in and how he felt revisiting it. It’s pretty good.

I also recommend the video he did on Morrowind (because I’m biased).

Weird Japan Only PS1 games

Thor High Heels is SO GOOD and deserves SO MUCH MORE subs than he currently has. THH focuses a lot of obscure and lesser known games as well as big popular titles like the Yakuza series, talking about what he likes about them, what he thinks is cool, and just what kind of atmosphere and mood a certain game has, even if the game itself is kind of ass. He’s done several videos on games that were only released in Japan, as well as videos talking about the fashion in Squaresoft games and how it inspired as well as was inspired by real world street fashion, the aesthetic of PC-98 games and other topics. He also styles his videos and thumbnails after promotional art for video games from the 90s and generally just has an excellent style to his channel over all. Very chill.

Blue Reflection Review

ValkyrieAurora is a channel run by Sophie where she talks about games she personally likes and enjoys. Her videos are really laid back and her voice is really calm and pleasant to listen to. She’s made a bit of a reputation for herself as “The channel that talks about the Atelier Games” and general is just a really enjoyable channel worth checking out if you just want something soothing to listen to.

Ancient Chinese Historians Describe Japan

Voices from the Past is a channel were historical text is read out loud in english. These can be anything like the above video where Chinese historians describe the people of Japan around 297 AD, Accounts of “Dog-Men”, or the worlds oldest letter of complaint from 1750 BC. If you’d like something interesting historically to listen to but don’t want a full blown history lesson, this is a really good way to hear contemporary people talk about their experiences and what they thought about each other in their own words, without opinions or input given by the narrator.

The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet

Whang! is a channel that covers weird internet stories, some horrifying, some curious and interesting, and some just plain weird. His video on The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet and its update, are about a song which was recorded off the radio in Germany around the 1980s, and after one person online asked if anyone knew who the artist was as they couldn’t find any information, led to the realization that NOBODY online knows where this song came from or who sang it. It’s a fun mystery to look into that, unlike some others on this list, is not creepy or unsettling, although perhaps a little frustrating.

I also recommend his video on The Most Mysterious Anime theme song, and the haunted Ebay Painting.

5 Lost, Destroyed, and Locked away Broadcasts

Yesterworld is similar to the Defunctland channel in that it talks about obsolete rides, theme parks and other forgotten pieces of entertainment. Although the majority of the channel focuses on movie rides, rollercoasters and Disneyland, I recommend the video on lost and locked away broadcasts which you can no longer see. I also recommend the video about Lost and Rediscovered movie props.

The Nightmare Artist

I talked about this one recently as I just discovered this channel. This video is about the renowned Polish artist Zdzislaw Beksinski who painted surreal and horrifying paintings during his lifetime. There is no mystery here or anything like that, it merely talks about the impact WWII left on Beksinski and how the trauma his country and people suffered influenced his painting, and how certain images and motifs can be seen to directly reference this terrible part of Poland’s history.

Disabilities in Prehistory

Modern media likes to portray how “savage” the ancient past is, and tell us stories of how any person born with a deformity or disability would be thrown over a cliff or dumped in a well because they would be too big a drain on a community to look after. But here’s the thing... according to archaeological evidence, it turns out our ancient ancestors actually did their best to look after its disabled members to the best of their abilities. This video talks about archaeological finds of people who had genetic disabilities and what we can learn from their remains. TREY the Explainer is a great channel for archaeology and also talking about what answers we could have for sightings of cryptids. (not ALL of which we have answers for)

I also recommend his video on Pre-Contact dogs as well as Homosexuality in Nature and the Genetic History of the Ainu.

Decoding “The Secret: A treasure Hunt”

“The Secret” was an art book released in the 80s full of beautiful paintings, but it is also more than that. The book has a fantasy story talking about 12 fantastical races who left wonderful treasures for humans to find,and the book’s paintings and riddles will tell you where you can find each of these treasures which are yours to keep if you can solve the puzzle... and the treasures are 100% true and can actualy be found and claimed, if you can solve the riddles in the book. The video tells the story of the artbook, who was behind it, what the treasures are, how many have been found and various other facts and details.

I also recommend the videos on this channel “The Game: A scavenger Hunt” and “The investigation of Erratas”.

5 Ancient Inventions That Were WAY Ahead Of Their Time

I would recommend you be careful with this channel as its main focus is existentialism and rather alarming topics such as “how close are we to the apocalypse” and other things whose titles alone are enough to upset me. However this video is nothing like that. This video is exactly what the title suggests it is. 5 ancient inventions that were so incredibly ahead of their time you’d think they were made up. From the computer used by ancient Greeks to steel swords we don’t know how to replicate, this video is a great mix of mystery and history.

Although I caution you with this channel, I recommend Joe’s other videos about mysterious books, as well as his video on the most inbred people in history.

However, I know I keep repeating this, I highly recommend caution with this channel. Perhaps its just me and the topics of life and existent are just triggering for me, but I’d recommend maybe just doing a search for the titles I mentioned and not to go searching through the video library unless you’re not bothered by this kind of thing.

-

Anyway I could keep going, but I think that’s a LARGE amount of videos to keep you occupied for the time being as well as some suggestions for further viewing.

Please enjoy, let me know if you found something interesting, and look after yourself!

If you enjoyed this list at all, please consider tipping me for a coffee

☕️ Ko-fi ☕️

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

Hey, so this is technically off-topic (in that it is not Disney or Tower), but this video really set me thinking about the interplay between themeing and ride system in attractions.  At any rate, I highly recommend this video and the YouTube series, Defunctland, it comes from.

My first thought upon watching this was “Wow, I wish I could have ridden that ride.  Thrills?  Immersive theming?  Heck yeah!”  My second thought was “Wow, that really shows what happens when you put effort into detailed themeing, even with an off the shelf ride system.”

When the video first revealed the ride system was a pre-built carnival ride, I thought for sure the setup would be that all the park’s hype had been for something disappointing and easily found elsewhere.  Instead, the rest of the ride coverage showed how immersive and detailed the treatment was (unfortunately exposed show building aside), creating a high quality, thrilling, and unique experience for guests.  Sure, the fit wasn’t perfect--as one guy in the video notes, the seating was still brightly colored rather than themed to any Tomb Raider/adventure crypt palette, and obviously there’s nothing about Tomb Raider that would immediately make one think of a Top Spin ride--but the designers used the ride system and themed sets together for unique thrill storytelling.

This is in direct contrast with, for example, Incredicoaster.  It has a unique track, but doesn’t really put it to any particular use for the story or theme.  “Themeing” is sparse and seems cheap.  The ride system and theme/story also have different target audiences, making the storytelling experience seem disjointed or at odds rather than coming together for something uniquely immersive.

Basically, my takeaway from this was that the effort put into making a cohesive experience makes all the difference.  An off the shelf system found at carnivals or lower-end thrill parks can become part of an immersive attraction with careful themeing and creative application of the ride’s abilities, while a unique custom track can feel cheap and useless when hastily applied to an ill-fitting story or theme.  When the developers/company actually try, it shows.

I know this isn’t Disney, but I’m tagging @pureimagineering and @laffiteslanding because I know you two also like discussing theme and such.

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to add, Tomb Raider also shows how things can go horribly wrong when a theme is changed!  Obviously we have plenty of examples of that already, but I feel like The Crypt is an especially standout one.

It would have been pretty easy to adjust the ride to non-Tomb Raider branding.  Heck, “The Crypt” is a pretty damn good ride title.  There are plenty of entries in the adventure-archaeology genre (Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, The Mummy (1999), National Treasure, Uncharted...) so it would have been pretty easy to come up with a basic, original ancient-crypt-based adventure plot for a re-theme, still utilizing many of the same effects but without the explicit references to Tomb Raider.  Instead, they basically made it with no storyline with the ride in the dark!

This further proves my point about effort. With effort, the non-branded version could have been just as good, but without anyone willing to fund that effort, well... you end up with The Crypt.

[xeno-fluff]

My recommended channels:

ElToroRyan - An engineer who makes fun videos touring theme parks with his friends. Also does informative videos about specific rides!

Mustard - more engineering stuff, mainly about failed experimental transport vehicles. Really high production quality.

Vinesauce - you probably know the name but never watched him. I recommend his Corruption Stockpile videos. He has the funniest laugh.

Two Minute Papers - a computer science channel about advancements in computer graphics technology! The simulations are really stimmy.

Lazypurple - if you love tf2 or have nostalgia for it, this guy can make you want to play it more.

Coaster bot - Another roller coaster information channel! Really good for park histories.

Defunctland - yeah

Expedition Theme Park - defunctland but cooler

find a new niche of youtube videos and maybe youll feel better

[haveievermentioned]

VIDEOS TO SHIFT YOUR YOUTUBE ALGORITHM TO AVOID SPOILERS!

  Videos on theme parks!

1) Defunctland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8NMCyvaimY  He covers extinct theme parks.  While some are on Disney, others are NOT.  Check those out first!... and the excellent vid on Journey Into Imagine who he did with...

2) Yesterworld: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixgjmWGrwOE Also does extinct theme parks. 

3) Expedition Theme Park:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixgjmWGrwOE He covers MUCH more than Universal and Disney.  Including a lot Busch Gardens and International parks. 

4) Park Ride History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFElVAOfRWA  He tracks Changes!

5) Theme Park History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XnosEdK17U New channel, does similar to the ones above, but a bit more casual. 

Videos on Games in general! 

1) Gvmers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7wHolvfH0  These people do STRAIGHT UP DOCUMENTARIES.  I have the Silent Hills video there, but they are famous for their Rise and Fall, like DEAD SPACE.  

2) Outside Xtra/Outside Xbox:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=illcn-FT2IU  A series of sister channels who do DND, recaps, and LISTS.  SO MANY WONDERFUL LISTS.  I have spent hours with these silly things.  

3) Oxhorn:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjl6E9X0XA8  He does Fallout Lore vids.  Fallout is... not a happy place.  But each video tells a small story in the world.  It can last from 15 minutes to an hour.  And despite not being a huge fallout fan, with all the stories linking into each other and how he tells each story, they are FANTASTIC and a good way to pass a day at work. 

4) Games Done Quick:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad8XZhgKWeA  A week long charity speed running marathon that goes on twice a year for 24/7.  Find a vid and go.  The couch and the runner talk to each other so you can also just have it run while you do something else. But if you watch, you can see lots of great tricks.  

5) Boundary Break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNlnlEObLhQ  He uses cameras to see what happens where games won’t let you look.  It gets really interesting.  

6) Nekorun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxWZM4oHLs0  He makes the cameras used in Boundary Break, and is a good videographer in his own right.  Does mostly Persona and SIlent Hill stuff.   MUSIC

1)Lucas Harris:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2kAQ-hbZs8  He does Bioshock Ambience vids.  They are FANTASTIC.  Bioshock is such a specific aesthtic that it’s really unique. 

2) OC Remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3HVHNf-oW4 People submit fan made remixes.  The best get approved.  The website has the ability to sort through based on games http://ocremix.org/

3)  Supradarky:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROKcr2OTgws  Has been uploading the “best” of Video Game Music for ten years.  There are a LOT of hidden gems on here.  I’ve played games because of good music on here.  WildARMS for example.   Video Essays:

1) Patrick Willems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdR_GU3Hi9U  He discusses movie making techniques.  It’s actually really great.  He does a lot of stuff on like camera movements and why tell certain stories. 

2) Lindsay Ellis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6srPCZhecOY More of a lore person.  Her Loose Canon is really great, and just did a whole series I have yet to watch on Gender in the transformer movies.  

3) Folding Ideas:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzk9N7dJBec  Also about story telling technique, but from the story side.  He’s most famous for his Lukewarm Defense of fifty shades of gray.  As a movie.  The first one.  

[mochibuni]

I watch a lot of YouTube, and I think some great and quality YouTube channels, and I really feel like putting out some goodness today. So here is a list of my YouTube watch list, with descriptions and why I think they're worth watching. Updated 3/16/2020.

GAMING

brutalmoose - Ian's reviews tend to be around edutainment games and old PC games, which he delivers his brand of comedy in a dry and deadpan tone. Which is hilariously contrasted by the comedic editing of his videos, some the most creative I've ever seen. I can't even adequately describe a typical video from him, other than it's creative and hilarious. I enjoy his style so much that I'll watch his reviews on 60/70's educational films.

The Completionist - Once a week Jirard chronicles his journey and struggles in 100% completing a video game. His reviews are earnest with a touch of comedy, but largely trying to accurately convey the sense of the game and his experience with it. He does, however, make bad decisions like 100% completing Hyrule Warrios and Fire Emblem Blazing Sword, which of course it's fun to laugh at his agony.

Game Theory - I usually stick to MattPat's videos, but all of them are quality in both editing and substance. However I enjoy MattPat's style and delivery the most. Even if I 100% don't agree with his theory, I 100% enjoy listening and watching him talk about it. He has energy and a great sense of humor, his voice really sells what he's presenting, but I also find a kind of mellowness to it that I enjoy just listening to. He also hosts a live stream with his wife playing games together, and they are adorable to watch.

Kshaway - If you're a League player, you probably already know about Kshaway. He makes the Wood Division series, chronicling everyone and his own fails and bugs with the game. His video style has no voice overs, just well timed music and text for the punch line.

Did You Know Gaming? - They do what they say, offering 5 to 10 minute videos with lesser known facts and production history on video games.

Pokemon Rusty - Made by Dorkly, this is a parody series following Pokemon trainer Rusty as he attempts to become a Pokemon Master in all the wrong ways. It is graphic with very adult humor, but I laugh ridiculous amounts at each video.

MOVIES AND TV

Film Theory - The sister channel to Game Theory and it does the same thing, only this time it’s about tv shows, movies, and web series (remember Salad Fingers? Mattpat made a great video series about it). They also do Did You Know Movies from time to time.

Be Kind Rewind - One of my new faves, she follows the history and culture surrounding movies by discussing female Oscar wins and their cultural significance.

Folding Ideas - Foldable discusses film theory and larger themes usually with movies. His 50 Shades series is probably my favorite, followed by how he accidentally made colonialism in his Minecraft server.

Jenny Nicholson - It’s like listening to your best fandom friend rant and rave with you at 3am in your bedrooms. Jenny has a very lowkey tone and attitude wrapped in a very silly and dry sense of humor. She talks about movies and theme parks. Her review of Avatar Land is probably my favorite.

Lindsay Ellis - I’m not even sure where to being with Lindsay’s work, I adore every video she’s made thus far. It is all film critical theory, but like talking to your smart and sarcastic fandom friend who goes out of their way to explain critical theory concepts.

New Rockstars - These are the guys going over every trailer, every second of a movie looking for easter eggs and fodder for their theories. Really great if you’re into superhero blockbuster movies.

OTHER MEDIA

Comicstorian - I love this channel, they break down comics (either series or single issues) and read them dramatically with visuals. Periodically they also give complete histories of comic book characters, especially when there is a universe reboot.

NerdSync - Somewhat similar to Comicstorian, NerdSync delves into the history and stories of comic books. They’ve moved down the path of being more history based, which is great for me since I know little about the American comic book industry. 

Sideways - Remember the music theory video about singing in native languages using Moana as an example? Yeah it’s this guy’s channel, and while he has few videos, all of them are great. My favorite is his analysis of Rogue One’s score.

Atop the Fourth Wall - Linkara reviews comic books, but I largely come here to watch his retrospectives on Power Rangers.

THEME PARKS

Magic Journeys - Largely a Disney centric channel, Mig V and Lovely Jannell explore any and all types of food at the Disney parks, largely sprinkling their videos with relevant Disney history. They’re expanding to other parks in the area, but Disneyland and California Adventure are where they film. Mig edits their videos wonderfully and I greatly appreciate the bits of history he provides. Jannell also makes sure to try a variety of dishes for those with dietary restrictions and has recently branched out into trying kid’s meals. They also started a Disney Foodie group on Facebook.

Defunctland - This channel talks about the history of now defunct theme park rides.

Theme Park History - This channel also talks about theme park history, defunct or currently running.

Expedition Theme Park - Okay sometimes you just need multiple channels of the same content. Another theme park history channel.

FOOD/COOKING

Laura in the Kitchen - Laura cooks largely easy to make, no hassle meals and deserts, and is warm and personable at the same time. I’ve tried many of her recipes and each have come out very well. I also find Laura very endearing, with her genuine love of food and cooking coming through in every video.

Maangchi - Maangchi is the adorable and sweet host of her Korean based cooking channel. She provides step by step instructions, with tips and tricks, on several Korean dishes. She also talks about her time in Korea, relating dishes to stories of her life there. I have made several of Maangchi’s recipes as well, but I’d watch just about anything from her as she’s sweet, funny, and has a soothing presence to her. She’s basically everyone’s Korean Mom.

Strictly Dumpling - Mike Chen talks all about his favorite Asian food, largely Chinese, as he travels around exploring and eating at Asian restaurants. And when I say Chinese, I mean that he talks specifically about provinces and the differences and types of food each have. He also has a variety of cooking videos and traveling videos. Mike is informative, energetic, and hilarious, with a little bit of Chinese humor peppered in that makes Dan laugh.

How To Cake It - If you’ve seen the gif set of the realistic watermelon cake, then you know what Yolanda can do. She makes elaborate cakes ranging from multi-tier to recreating non-cake objects. Yo gives step by step instructions on how she makes her cakes and also sells baking supplies and cake inspired shirts on her website.

Binging with Babish - A charming and dead pan cooking series recreating food from various media. This channel became a must for Dan based on the sense of humor alone.

Destination Flavour - A mini series that aired in Australia, you can find the whole series on YouTube and I highly recommend it. Chef Adam Liaw travels to 9 different prefectures in Japan exploring the local food, culture, and recipes.

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - An older documentary about the history of breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Britain, also all on YouTube. I love this documentary, it’s very thorough and I learned tons about British food and eating customs that of course influenced my own culture.

Lofty Pursuits - Based in their candy store in Florida, watch the workers at Public Displays of Confection make pulled hard candy.

ARIKITCHEN - A Korean baker with super cute bakes and a personality to match. Most of her videos have English subs.

Christy Carlson Romano - THAT’S RIGHT, REN STEVENS/KIM POSSIBLE HAS A YOUTUBE CHANNEL! It’s usually cooking videos where she invites celebrities she’s worked with to make fanservicey foods.

CULTURE

CGP Grey - This channel is rarely updated, but goes in depth into cultural and political ideologies and misunderstandings in an easy to understand way. His videos are worth a watch if you’ve ever been confused about “once removed” family members or don’t understand how the electoral college works in America.

Begin Japanology - An ongoing NHK series exploring Japan, each 30~ minute video explores one item in depth, from sushi, to mushrooms, to the importance of umbrellas in Japan. These videos are in English and are also dubbed, though many of them have deleted audio in places due to copyright restrictions.

Japanology Plus - The sequel and current version of Japanology that continues to explore Japan and sometimes revisit old videos to update them.

Lunch On! - Also provided by NHK, it explores what the Japanese eat for lunch and the history and culture surrounding those dishes. The segments also tend to explain and explore the background of the people they’re following for lunch, such as the balloon industry or bus scheduling.

ARIRANG TV - A Korean channel, it provides a variety of subbed and dubbed videos about Korea. I usually just watch the food videos, but they also have videos about current affairs, media, and variety programs.

Crash Course - If you haven’t seen this show before, it’s mini video essays hosted by John Green discussing history, literature, science, and so on.

MISC

Buzzfeed Unsolved - Another Buzzfeed series, this time exploring the supernatural with a believer and a non-believer. This series is just hilarious, the supernatural cases are presented in a matter of fact way with visuals, but often intercut with commentary from the two about the cases that brings a nice comedic tone to the otherwise serious video.

Bright Sun Films - Jake’s current video series explores buildings and establishments that were abandoned, their history, as well as projects that were cancelled. Most videos are about the Disney Corporation, but also include Target in Canada, Blockbuster, and the McDonald’s Barge. His videos are well researched, great visuals, and his voice and personality are great to listen to.

AKB48 - 48g is one of the biggest music franchises in Japan, based on the idea of Idols You Can Meet. Since the COVID outbreak in Japan, AKB has been streaming their daily theater show on YouTube. If you want to relax to some cute Japanese pop for a few hours, check out their VODs.

Laura Price - Laura is a professional artist and most of her videos are either about her life as an artist or tips and tricks on art.

Royalty Soaps - Soap making! I find Katie really relaxing to watch and listen to, and she often talks about her soap making process.

Safiya Nygaard - Quirky and adventurous, Safiya tends to make beauty and fashion try videos, and some travel videos as well. Safiya is probably one of those YouTubers you need to watch a video of to see if you’ll like because her channel is all about her and her husband’s Tyler’s personality.

The Try Guys - Four very different guys who try things together. I’m assuming you all know who the Try Guys are, but.

Watcher - Shane, Ryan, and Steven left Buzzfeed to make their own video channel and brought many of their ideas over from there. Shane and Ryan continue to be a delight together in just about everything they do. So far my favorite is Shane’s Puppet History Theater.

ENGLISH SUBS

AIDOL - One of the last English subbers, though they update infrequently now. This links to their DailyMotion account as AKB videos are largely removed from YouTube quickly. If you enjoy the older AKB generations, this is a great resource of older subs.

Animegg.org - My go to English subs place if Crunchyroll doesn’t have what I’m looking for. Their adds aren’t evasive and they accept adblock.

[thefloatingstone]

ok! XD well that’s all the prompting I need!

I honestly can’t think of anything specific either, so I’m just gonna recommend some channels as long as I haven’t recommended them recently (so no Super Eyepatch Wolf this time because I recc him all the time) and I’m gonna recommend channels that are not “Let’s Play” channels. (which kinda pains me because I really want to recommend Matt McMuscles and Liam’s Let’s Play of Sonic 06 because it’s a gift)

But anyway! Some channels I’ve been watching a lot of recently!

I’ve sadly really really struggled with finding good history-focused youtube channels that aren’t just uploading garbage TV “documentary” shows from the History Channel or, if you’re lucky, the BBC. So I can only really recommend one which is an actual history focused channel.

The best history focused channel I’ve managed to find is “History Buffs”. History Buffs is a channel focusing on movies based on historical events, recounting the historical facts of the event covered, and then going over the movie and seeing how historically accurate the film is. Some movies that are covered turn out to be barely accurate at all, sometimes vastly missinterpreting historical facts for some kind of agenda the filmmaker has. Some movies are very good MOVIES but are not historically accurate, some movies are VERY historically accurate but aren’t very good movies, and some movies get it 90% right AND happen to great films as well.

History Buffs doesn’t upload videos often, only a small handful each year, but this is mainly because each video takes an incredible amount of research to do. But I highly recommend the channel both for how professional the videos themselves are, and for how deeply researched they are and the fact that the facts you learn in them, both in terms of movie making as well as just history, is fascinating.

I recommend the video on Apollo 13, but it’s almost an hour long and covers the whole of the space race, so it might not be the best place to start, so instead I’ll link one of my favourite of his which is easier to get into for a first time watch

The other channel which I COULD count as a history channel that I’ve found a is a channel that focuses on defunct and closed down theme parks called “Defunctland”. Of course a large number of the videos on this channel focus on Disney but there is also a wide coverage of other theme parks. Like I said, not exactly a historical channel as a focus, but because most of these theme parks and rides that have closed down were a product of their time, it’s interesting to see how entertainment has changed as time has gone on, but also how theme parks and their rides are a product of their time.

Defunctland is also great as a channel because they will do interviews with theme park imagineers as well as people who worked on children’s TV which also slightly overlap (like Legends of the Hidden Temple for instance)

Their video output is a little faster but they still only seem to do a video or two a month. However the interviews means there is a little more content you can go through. They’ve recently been focusing a lot on Jim Henson.

I decided to specifically link a video of theirs which does NOT focus on Disneyland specifically, just because Disneyland does pop up most frequently in one way or another, but I feel it’s important to show that’s not all they talk about

In the same vein, there is another youtube channel that ALSO focuses on theme parks and rides that are no longer functioning called Yesterworld. Essentially it covers similar or even the same topics as Defunctland, but I find the content and presentation different enough that I won’t say one is better than the other. I feel Defunctland has the better presentation, but I don’t think one has better information than the other does, and so would not want to just exclude Yesterworld JUST because I already mentioned Defunctland.

Although Yesterworld covers more than just Disney (even more than Defunctland), Yesterworld will talk about unfinished rides, missing and abandoned film props etc etc, I AM going to link a Disney video here just because it makes me good and angry, and it’s the kind of righteous indignation I want to spread to others.

A video game person who I watch every now and then is a channel called “Thor High Heels”. He does videos on video games but his approach is less “Let’s talk about THIS game and cover and review it!” as most other youtubers I’ve seen. Even though that is.... basically exactly what he does.

His video topics tend to focus on a broader subject matter which he will then use 2 or 3 games to explain what he’s talking about. Recently he did a video on how survival horror is ““““““back”“““““ Even though he argues it never really died to begin with, and instead has just really changed in how it functions, and how the survival horror games that try and emulate “classic” survival horror games of old timey times of the 90s are also shackled to the parts of the genre that have been changed in the ACTUAL Survival Horror genre scene.

Stuff like that. He also has a video series literally just called “So I’ve Been Playing...” and he’ll talk about other things like Japan only PS1 games, the meaning behind the game Chulips, and his opinion of the Silent Hill visual novel.

I’m linking a video of his I watched first just because I found it so interesting and it talked about something I had legit never even heard of, which was the Japan only computer console, the PC-98, and its indie gaming scene as virtually anyone could make video games for it and just... sell them. In a way far removed from Windows or Mac. And he talks about the machine’s incredibly high image quality and the very specific look and design video games for the PC-98 had.

I also find his voice very hypnotic to listen to

And lastly, (because tumblr will only let me embed 5 videos at a time) I will recommend an up and coming youtuber called “Oddheader”

He’s only been making videos for about a year now and you can see at first he was unsure what his focus should be. He clearly wants to talk about video games, but his earlier videos lack focus and he has a tendency to mumble in them.

But in his NEW videos, he’s finally found an excellent focus and has gotten incredibly good both in his presentation and his narration. And his focus is; video game easter eggs, mysteries, and unexplained happenings!

And honestly, it’s a LOT more interesting than that may sound! Rather than just talk about basic easter eggs we’ve all heard of a hundred times before, he goes out of his way to hear about, prove, and discuss not only video game easter eggs, but weird video game happenings and mysteries for which we have no answers. He has videos discussing weird glitches that became infamous (like the manimals in Red Dead Redemption) or developer notes that were accidentally left in the game only to be found by players later.... to some truly weird bizarre shit that not even the video game developers THEMSELVES can explain. (like the one game with an AI where you can have a conversation and end the game in a way the developers didn’t even program themselves??? And the developers have no answers for this???)

His videos have a very strange and borderline creepy vibe to them, without he himself having to TRY and make the videos and easter eggs creepy. He also goes through great pains to prove easter eggs and mysteries he hears about himself by playing the games and verifying easter eggs his audience tells him about, and does a LOT of research to make sure his information is correct.

He also actively encourages his audience to discuss easter eggs and video game mysteries with him, and asks that people chare things he may not have mentioned before.

He’s still growing, but I already recommend his videos on this topic as they’re fascinating and he genuinely puts a lot of effort and passion into his topics.

(also excuse the red circle in the thumbnail. I swear he’s not obnoxious)