Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 152)

In this volume of my Favourite YouTube Videos,  we drum up some memories, hammer down some problems and then sponge up some more useless knowledge.

• First, I hope your imaginary spaceship is ready, because Dave Bulmer is really excited about Forbidden Planet and he has his iambics, his pentameters and corrugators ready. (If you're also wondering what the hell he's going on about, he explains, in this video).
• Next, Brent Black brings us Super Mario 3D World with lyrics, because it's nice to celebrate the games that can save your friendships rather than destroy them.
• Finally, John Green has some facts that you might need to know (by which of course will never *need* to know, but will still come to you when you least expect it).

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 145)

In this volume of my Favourite YouTube Videos, we die, we lament our lost days and we relax.

• First, it's game over, man, game over ... with Brentalfloss and his comic crew making a tribute to Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies and how bad we all are at games.
• Next, Lindybeige laments that one insignificant day.
• And finally, Yungtown's here to help us relax with the 10 most relaxing pieces of video game music.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume (144)

In this volume of my Favourite YouTube Videos,  we get a little superstitious about song writing.

• First, Pomplamoose rebuilds a song to create the Stevie Wonder Herbie Hancock Mashup.
• Next we take a deep dive with Dave Bulmer and Brent Black where they talk about their collaborations to date and the new (then) Ocarina of Time with Lyrics Video. (It's two parts and total, about an hour and a half, just a heads up).

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 136)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we go to a concert, chill in Sweden and get lost in people's dreams.

• First, Hank talks about the 13 things you need to know about being cool at concerts.
• Next, Mr. Smooth McGroove takes us to Sweden and gives me all the nostalgia and feels for Minecraft.
• Finally, Brentalfloss shares his first ever composition with us and it's pretty damn cool.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 130)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, it's music day. Wake up, suck up and chill!

• First, get up, and don't forget to wake Pomplamoose up before you Go!
• Next, Brentalfloss flosses up the theme to Luigi's Mansion. So grab your vacuum and get to work (although I don't recommend listening to the cover if you're planning to play the game in the near future, the ear worm quotient is ... high).
• Finally, CalebElijah plays "Sub Zero Snow Field" from Seiken Densetsu 3, which I think may be one of the most beautiful pieces of music in video games. Certainly the cover is absolutely gorgeous. 

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 115)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we go to school, learn some chemistry and get our axe ready for dancing.

• First, Laura Shigihara is ready for her first day of high school, singing the theme she wrote for the game High School Story.
• Next, we get a chance to watch 500 videos of Periodic Videos ... or at least to celebrate them.
• Finally, we get to listen to an instrumental piece created by the one and only Brentalfloss.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 108)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we face life and death, obsession and the limited resources of language.

• First, we have Brentalfloss's Zidane to Vivi original song. I was going to say that I don't remember liking the music to Final Fantasy IX so much, but then I realized that (I'm pretty sure) this is 100% original Brentalfloss composition. Yay 100% Brentalfloss composition.
• Next, Kevin Gisi talks about his obsessions and then invents a British person to read the news... 
• Finally, Gunarolla was asked to sing a song without repeating words, which he could do without any detectable problem at all...

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 107)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we accidentally the whole ... food!

• First, Kevin Gisi tackles the dreaded, I don't know what to make a video about video. As it turns out most issues are complex and there are a lot of ways to look at them. I like the idea of sticking to a schedule (he said as all his deadlines sailed past) because it forces you to keep going and not to get stuck on things, but there's also something to be said for getting things done as well as you can when you get them done. I guess that's why there are two models of Patreon funding.
• Next a squirrel discusses why there aren't that many squirrel super heroes.
• Finally, we recently watched AcapellaScience set string theory to Bohemian Rhapsody, but in case you're still looking for nerdy content in the from of incredibly long rock songs, here Pat the NES Punk and Brentalfloss present us with: Nintendohemian Rhapsody.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 91)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we can have a dream, a laugh and a journey!

• First, Brentalfloss shares an original composition with us. 
• Next, Wil Wheaton's son Ryan Wheaton was on an episode of Table Top. His interview is good and it's nice to see such a great family dynamic, but mostly ... well you really should just watch it.
• Finally, if you need music to walk over green hills to, CalebElijah covers Colour of the Summer Sky from Secret of Mana. Now if you'll excuse me it's time to go get too hot working in the garden, then go hide in the basement and play Secret of Mana.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 82)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we get musical, argue with ourselves and then soar to greater heights.

• First, we have two entries in the ongoing chap-hop fight between Professor Elemental and Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer. At some point I think I had a grasp on which videos were in response to which, but now we just have these two which are (as you might guess from the post) my favourites. Either way it seems these two have been at it a long time.
• Then to calm down a little, let's go with Brentalfloss (and some of his fans) to help Mario get to a date with Peach.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 71)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we do science in space, our business in space and then we rock out in a cave.

• First, Destin from Smarter Every Day talks about reflectors and the moon (and also poop) along with Henry from Minute Physics.
• Then, Henry from Minute Physics talks about space poop (and peeing) as well as reflectors with Destin from Smarter Every Day.
• Finally, Brentalfloss blasts us with Cave Story with Lyrics! Bang! Pow! I just watched a freaking video!

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 62)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we take a look at some cool and creative covers of video game music (surprise!).

• First we have Brentalfloss's Ballad of the Mages. The song is great, and the muppetry is awesome. One of my all time favourites (hence how it got in this list... I'm feeling super obvious today). 
• Next Brentalfloss sings of the love that a dinosaur who eats everything can have for a baby who fell out of the sky.
• Funny side note: I'm actually watching ProtonJon play Yoshi's Island right now.
• Finally Jimmy Wong puts together a great group of people to cover a medley of Legend of Zelda Music.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 60)

In this volume of my favourite YouTube videos, we get to enjoy music in boxes and music about boxes and learn together.

• First we have a guy making music in boxes. No not that guy. This guy! Even if the song doesn't grab you the video magic will! 
• Next Brentalfloss and DemonTomatoDave wax (on and off) reminiscent about the first ever Gameboy Mario game.
• Finally, John Green goes to TEDxIndiianapolis at how we learn together and how communities such as YouTube can help draw people together to learn.

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 53)

This musical volume of my favourite YouTube videos will be with you in a minute, but it has some questions about your philosophy (and also your building codes).

• Brentalfloss opens this volume up with the BioShock song. I find it hard to believe that I started following him because he seemed like a smart guy who could play video game music. Now look at him. Interestingly he also just released the BioShock Infinite song, if you enjoy this one.
• Next, Hank Green has his annual wizard rock song from 2012 with some questions for the wizards. Given that these feel a lot like the questions I run across when I'm looking at video games, I feel a bit like this song is an anthem for questions. 
• Finally, Pomplamoose will be there in a minute. (Minute, minute). Out of their original songs, I think this one is my favourite. I also like the dance for busy people who might have to pee.

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 11)

Welcome to the eleventh volume of my favorite YouTube videos. This week our musical journey is interrupted by the arrival of a new species of video, the vlog. *Play ominous music now* At least we'll start with a vlogger rapping to make our transition.

• The first video of the volume is yet another song by the perennially appearing Brentalfloss. Rather than his usual video game fair, this one is an awesome moment of thanks for a teacher.
• The second video is another video song from Pomplamoose. As with "If you think you need some lovin" this is one of their earlier original pieces. Always fun to see the exuberance vs the cool chick.
• The next three videos are the arival of the vlogbrothers into my favorites list. For the uninitatied the vlogbrothers are brothers (surprise) Hank and John Green, who started out with a project many years ago called brotherhood2.0. In brotherhood2.0, they set out to spend a year without communicating with each other textually. This morphed over time into the vlogbrothers and the community surrounding them nerdfightaria. One of the nicest aspects of their videos (aside from the fact that they're awesome) is that most of them are under 4 minutes in length.
  These three come from three different time periods in vlogbrother history. I think the first one comes just after I started watching, although that seems far too recent (after I started watching the vlogbrothers I went back and watch all their videos through (at least twice) so my sense of time is a little mushed where when their videos actually happened). The first video is Hank's wootstock rap and pretty much explains itself (but it starts with a reason for me to use the wheaton fawning tag) The second is further back, but deals with the important concept of braincrack (and gigantic blue penises) and the third is from brotherhood 2.0 days and is one of the first book club videos (and a demonstration of how slow John used to talk). As I've said before the vloggers are coming and this is their vanguard.

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 8)

This volume of my Favorite YouTube Videos is another mostly musical grab bag. I should point out that I'm starting with my favorites that are farthest in the past on the list and as such this shows how my use of YouTube has changed over time (basically, warning the vloggers are coming). This volume has some cool video game music, some interesting animal videos and a weird admission from my undergraduate degree.

• The first video is another by perpetual appearer in these posts, Brentalfloss. Here we have his with lyrics version of the Ducktale's Moon Theme. 
• The second video is another by the other perpetual appearer, CalebElijah and his rendition of one of the quieter more contemplative pieces from Secret of Mana. I'm always amazed by the amount of artistry in these videos, you don't think about it, but keep in mind that not only does he play all the instruments, but he edits together all the video as well.
• The third video is one that stick with me at least in part because of the music. It's a slow enjoyable moment relaxing and watching the fish go by.
• The fourth video demonstrates that squirrels are smarter than you think and are capable of getting into more places than you'd hope. Please to enjoy squirrels solving obstacle courses. With the necessary Mission Impossible cover, of course.
• The final video for this volume is a bit of a weird one. It's a remix of the theme of Tiny Planets, which was a children's television show about this bigfooty-thing and its ... pet ... thing ... destroying children's understanding of physics while improving their understanding of basic math and cooperation. I have really fond memories of watching this show before heading into classes on Fridays during the first year of my undergrad (in fact it and Neon Genesis Evangelion are some of my major memories of that year and between the two Tiny Planets is actually still watchable, if weird).

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 7)

This week the grab bag of things that once held my attention on YouTube (known of course as Favorite YouTube Videos, volume 7) is all over the place with stuff that at one point held my attention. For what ever reason that means that this week we get a few cool stop-motion animations, some inspirational moments with a group of cellos and two very different kinds of video game covers.

• I love animated short films. The one things I'm most likely to see at the annual film fest here is the  animated shorts program. I enjoy getting my mind bent around new ways to look at what's going on in the everyday. This one, by PESfilm in a nifty take on making dinner.
• Interestingly right on the heels of that first video the second one is a commercial for RBC which we were bombarded with during some major sporting thing (I'm fairly sure it was the 2008 Olympics). I really like this for several reasons, one of which is the animation, the second is the structure of the one long pull back and the third is the architecture of the pavilion that builds up around Mr. Muffin. One of my favorite ads of all time.
• The next video is a cover of Final Countdown played on cello with orchestral backing. Need I say more?
• Brentalfloss is known for his Video Game Music ... With Lyrics series and this is one of the early entries. I like this one and will sing about taking the stuff of poor mangle monsters whenever the opportunity presents itself. I will say though that the one time I played this for my D&D group after one of their victories I was met with rather uncomprehending faces.
• Finally we have a remix of Mario music. It's missing a video (as a lot of music things do) and it's pretty housy (I think, I'm a lousy gauge of music genre), but it's fun and I think it would go well in a Mario game.

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 5)

Welcome to the fifth volume of my favorite YouTube videos. This week is a bit of a grab bag. Still mostly musical but also a little bit of brain melting thrown in for good measure.

• The first video is the video for Dana Lyons song "Cows With Guns". It's ... punny and you should consider yourself warned. The song is also a fond reminder of the old days of CBC radio and "Richardson's Roundup" which was always the highlight of my day. Quick note, really long intro so you might want to skip about 20 seconds in and turn your volume down until after the singing starts.
• The second video is a few minutes with renowned physic professor Walter Lewin. This is part of his Electricity and Magnetism Lecture (I think from 2002). It comes in a bit late if its been a while since you covered electro-magnetism, but is still a fascinating video and a view of an amazing lecturer (also he's a man who is very good at drawing lines). 
• The next video is a return to our friend Brentalfloss and his interpretation of the original Zelda Theme. (And it's a good thing he got those 400 views of his Mario medley.)
• The fourth video for this volume is of comedian / musician Rob Paravonian and his famous Pachebel Rant. (I'm not sure about famous exactly but looking on the internet this seems to be the thing he's known for best). 
• And the final video for this volume is Stephen Malinowski's Music Animation Machine video of a harpsichord recording of Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata in G Major. This video is favorited for two reasons, the first of which is that I like the harpsichord rendition of the song (midi though it may be) and the second is that the style of animation of music inspired the visualizations I used for a project of mind called Agent Jam (which I haven't mentioned here yet, but I  may in the not too distant future.)

Interestingly one of the videos that would have been in this volume got axed by copyright request in the last few days. It's interesting in this case because the video was of Rostropovich playing the prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 and had been up on youtube for at least 5 years by this point. Copyright is always a thorny issue and I'm not making any statements about that here other than that its frustrating when things disappear out of my favorites list.

Blog: Favorite Youtube Videos (Volume 4)

Welcome to the fourth volume of my favorite youtube videos series. This volume is a musical grab bag and another visit to internet history.

• The first video is one of the versions of the Pi song. There are several songs composed so that the digits of Pi inform the music. In this case it dictates the pitch of the note, there are others where the digits control other things, you can see a bit more at Numberphile's video on making a Mathmetal song about Phi. This version is pretty up beat and kinda fun to listen to.
• The next three videos are that visit to internet history. Brentalfloss has become pretty well known for his video game music "with lyrics" series, but did you know that he started out doing simple covers of old video game songs? (You did? Oh for heaven's sake, why do I keep using this device?) Here we see three renditions of Mario Bros. music two on keyboard and one a cappella and you can see a little bit of where Brent is going to go, but I have to say at the time I didn't expect just how cool he was going to become.
• The final video is a funky rendition of Fur Elise by a guy called GovernorWatts. I also found him through some of his video game music videos, but he wandered off into other fields. It's interesting that at the time Brentalfloss and GovenorWatts seemed about the same (both doing "in bedroom music covers" and political rants) and to see now how differently they came out. (And no I'm still not sure about the"son of Stephen Colbert" bit, but I do know that this was going long before the Report came out.)