What can I say about YouTube that hasn’t already been said by another, slightly more original cynic? It’s a fun place for people to share videos that make you laugh, make you cry, make you vomit, and make you record a reaction video of you vomiting so that you can post it on YouTube.
My YouTube playlist can be broadly classified as things that are funny or interesting or both. In the funny corner are videos from Roosterteeth, Zero Punctuation, Tomska, and Five Second Films. In the interesting corner are music videos and etc. by DJ Earworm, OK GO, and Pigpen Theatre Company. Everything else is… everything else.
Why I Chose These:
Roosterteeth
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BAM9fgV-ts&index=4&list=PLuzwfXa0FpV22NCzpyRLsRYPKDr3jiF-P[/youtube]
I’ve been following rooster teeth almost since the beginning. I remember back in elementary school (I went to a K-8 school so maybe I mean to say middle school) my friends and I would watch Red Vs. Blue. Once it migrated over to YouTube, we began watching it there and the rest is history. Now, since I’ve found less interest in Red Vs. Blue, I’ve been watching a lot of the Achievement Hunter Let’s Plays, one of which is on the playlist. I don’t usually watch Let’s Plays, but I’ve always enjoyed theirs. They were the reason I found YouTube and I suppose I’m kind of grateful for that.
Five Second Films
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpHlKLMgNYA&index=5&list=PLuzwfXa0FpV22NCzpyRLsRYPKDr3jiF-P[/youtube]
Five Second Films has been one of the most strangely consistent (in my opinion) comedy websites I’ve ever seen. They have always stuck to their formula. Even when, as in this instance, they want to do some more jokes on a similar theme, they still structure each joke as a five second film. They have been doing this for years now and they don’t really show signs of stopping.
OK GO
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w&list=PLuzwfXa0FpV22NCzpyRLsRYPKDr3jiF-P&index=8[/youtube]
I love OK GO as a band, and it makes sense that I would love their videos. Interestingly, for a long time they had more views of their music video for “This Too Shall Pass” than they did actual listens of the song on iTunes and Spotify. This is one of two versions of the music video done. I also adore the marching band video because… well… trombonists in ghillie suits.
Egoraptor
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FpigqfcvlM&list=PLuzwfXa0FpV22NCzpyRLsRYPKDr3jiF-P&index=10[/youtube]
Egoraptor is usually a surrealistic or shock humor comedian, but his Sequelitis series (three video is a series? I’d like to believe he’s making more) is a sometimes comedic, mostly educational series on game design. It’s about the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a true close reading of a video game. He goes very deep into aspects of the game design, from color palettes to the use of non-tutorial teaching mechanics. It’s a really neat video that looks past the usual descriptions of a video game and shows a true love of the art form.
SNL Wes Anderson Parody
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSEzGDzZ1dY&index=11&list=PLuzwfXa0FpV22NCzpyRLsRYPKDr3jiF-P[/youtube]
I like Wes Anderson movies and this makes fun of them in a loving way. I would also gladly pay to see The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders.
Thoughts on YouTube as a Whole:
I’ve always avoided the comments section of YouTube for a few reasons, as detailed here:
- You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
- I feel myself getting stupider the farther down I go.
- One time somebody called me a bad name and I got scared.
I don’t know what it is about YouTube that creates such a terrible environment for discussion but it usually boils down to the following comments:
I’m fairly sure that I only frequent areas with these kinds of people, though. The best I can say is that YouTube is a special place, for better or for worse.
Anyway, here’s a bunch of videos.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuzwfXa0FpV22NCzpyRLsRYPKDr3jiF-P[/youtube]
Ah, egoraptor! Love Sequelitis! Such a shame he didn’t do more of them. Seemed like he had a lot to say about design, something I’m interested in as well. Red vs. Blue is also a favorite. Good taste, I’d say!
Shame the comments section is what it is. Kind of comes from anonymity, I guess. So many trolls…
I always always always go on YouTube for music and sometimes I forget that other things are on there. It’s cool how well versed you are in YouTube’s comedy channels. I also agree with you about the comments–total bollox. Sometimes I read them for a good laugh, though.
I like you you mention the comments section on YouTube. I don’t think I’ve ever commented on a video, but I used to always read the comments and they tended to leave me feeling angry/ annoyed. Now I just tried to avoid even looking at them,
Wow I have never seen that OK GO music video, I knew about their “Here It Goes Again” video but never heard about this.
I couldn’t agree with you more on the comment section. Did you ever see the episode of The Newsroom that discusses comment sections? The lead tries to make comments no longer anonymous…very funny!
The comment section on Youtube may be one of the worst places on Earth, seriously. I don’t know what it is about Youtube that makes people so angry and hateful, but it’s crazy how insane people are in those comments.