Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 30)

This volume of my favorite YouTube videos returns to the good old days of video games, music and the truth (as provided by John Green ... the truth that is, he promised not to provide us with any more music).

• First up, we return to my favorite all time video game cover artist, CalebElijah. It turns out he wasn't eaten by snakes in Africa, so we get to listen to his cover of Magus's Battle Theme from Chrono Trigger. If this doesn't make the hair on your arms stand up your arm hairs are not wired correctly.
• Next is CalebElijah's cover of Windy City Winlan from Breath of Fire. A little less intense, but for me no less nostalgic. We might not hear from him quite so often as we used to, but I'm always glad to see he's made something cool.
• The next video is the finale to Chuggaaconroy's let's play of Mother 3. If you want to watch it,  you should start from the beginning, but I favorited this one for a couple of reasons. First the let's play is pretty well done, it's a bit rough being from Chuggaconroy's early work, but it's a good journey through a very intense game. Secondly, the game itself is worth seeing and given that it's not easily accessed outside of Japan this is a good way. Finally this episode is very well executed and really stands out in terms of voice acting and presentation.
• Next we have a vlog from Husky about various thing. He still hasn't really picked up vlogging, but he tells some interesting stories when he does.
• Finally John Green sets us straight on some misconceptions, plus tells an Inception joke, because he's cool like that.

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 29)

In this volume of my favorite YouTube videos, we take in some music, sit in all the chairs and help someone move.

• The first video is a cover of the song, Rouge Message, from Kiki's Delivery Service, by Laura Shigihara and LonLonJP. I was going to say that Kiki's was one of my favorite Studio Ghibli movies, but honestly all Studio Ghibli movies are my favourites. Either way Laura and LonLon put together a very nice song here.
• The second video is another from George Watsky (surprised ain't cha). I don't even need to tell you that the rap is great and the video for this one is a  completely engrossing time lapsed drawing.
• Next up is another Watsky,  just throwin' down.
• Now John Green takes us on a visit to the nicest hotel room in the world on the vlogbrothers. It's armoisome.
• Finally we help Charlie move house, because we're nice like that.

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 28)

This volume of my favorite YouTube videos is a mix of heartfeltness and Zelda. Apparently this is how  new years 2012 went.

• The first video in this volume is from Hank Green reflecting on the death of his grandfather. Heartfelt. (Also QI is great.)
• The next video is from Red Ash Mason and he is slowly recreating all of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in Minecraft, and it's pretty impressive. He's a bit quiet at the beginning  but if you want to take a look at a crazy project, this might be an interesting one.
• The third video is from Katers17, introducing a new class in Maple Story. (Well sort of).
• Next up is a vlog from Katers, where she and Corey finally admit that they've fallen in love. It's also pretty heartfelt, in the midst of a lot of stress (as life has).
• The last video in this volume is from Rawm, and I'm pretty sure that I watched it because Dodger plays Navi in it (I'm surprised I've been watching Dodger's videos this long). It's not exactly a favorite, but it certainly grows on you, and the visuals are also pretty amazing. 

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 27)

This volume of my Favorite YouTube Videos is a grab bag, but one that seems to have some pretty deep thoughts attached to it.

• The first video in this volume is Laura Shigihara's Cube Land. I like the song, but while re-watching it before posting, I was also struck by how much the video tells a story about dealing with depression. That's in my mind at least, Laura's description goes a different direction and you might see something different, but it's worth watching the video as well as listening to the song.
• Next up, you know you pets do this. You know it, the Mean Kitties are just worse at hiding it.
• The next video requires you to remember that time when Honey Badgers were the meme du jour on the Internet. If you're not sure why, John Green will help you to understand in this vlogbrother's video.
• If you think I post a lot of George Watsky, that might be because I do. The guy is prolific and honestly I like a lot of what he does. Here we see him do a one-taker of another of his tracks.
• Finally I have Hank Green's response to Frezned's response to his graphic* about how insignificant we are on the astronomic scale.

* Sadly I'm having a hard time finding the graphic, Google is assuming things and Hank accidentally blew his tumblr up one day.

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 26)

This volume of my favorite YouTube videos is a bit of a testament to the cool things people can make.

• So have I mentioned that George Watsky is a pretty boss poet?
• Have you ever considered building an economy based on things you can cut with a sword? It's worth thinking about. Also Jayne!Hank and Kaylee!Katherine is pretty damn adorable. 
• The next video is another from Fruity Ukuladies, furthering my belief that is possible to make anything better through the power of covers. 
• Sometimes an inside joke just has to go to it's logical conclusion. Here we see Corey and Katers finishing this one off.
• Finally we see the ways in which certain video games could have been significantly faster. If you're interested you can see some of the filming in Kater's blog.

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 24)

This volume of my favorite youtube videos is a musical one with a little bit of vlog mixed in in the middle. So here we have some inspiration, some angler fish football, some exploding green fellows and some animated felt... (plus the Muppets).

• George Watsky is an incredible voice, poet, rapper and human being. You've probably seen him rapping to a goat. Here, like he often is, he's talking about seizing your dreams and being true to yourself.
• So have I mentioned that the best bits of vlogbrothers is when they're together. Also this is the birth of the Swindon Town Swoodlypoopers (even if they never did manage to play together again).
• The next video is a Minecraft song by CaptainSparklez. It's a parody of Usher's "DJ Got us Fallin' in Love" but way better because it's about creepers.
• I like The Muppets, I like OK Go. Is there any reason not to love the combination? Also, please to enjoy the ending Catapult Nightmares.

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 22)

This volume of my favorite YouTube videos includes some cool music, some cool writing and some cool costumes.

• The first video this volume is Bill Withers singing "Ain't No Sunshine". This is an incredible performance with so much passion. I'm not sure where it's from, but it's worth taking the time to enjoy.
• The next video is Alex Day and Bryarly Bishop, singing "Under the Sea" from Disney's "The Little Mermaid".
• The next video another vlogbrother video, this one with John and Hank together (which is the best kind of vlogbrother video). Beyond that I'm not sure why I favorited it, other than the generally entertaining insanity and possibly The Katherine hiding in the bathroom (spoilers). Plus Ellen Hardcastle is my favorite album by Hank so far.
• The next video, again from the vlogbrothers is the first part of the nerdfighter book club on "The Great Gatsby". Whenever John talks books it's interesting, but now I'm especially interested in this one because he has returned to it on their Crash Course channel. The concepts are the same but the presentation has changed.
• Finally we have a lipdub of cosplayers from the London Film & Comic Con in July 2011 by Cosplay Fever.

Blog: Cool Things I Never Mentioned

So I decided not to keep going with the weekly Cool Things posts. I either had too many or too few things to post and then keeping cool things for a week doesn't make much sense. So from now on cool things will show up on my Twitter feed (and I might post a round up here from time to time).

I have a pretty big list of videos left over that I didn't post and I'm going to post a list of them here (just as links since I don't think any of us need a 40 video long post).

• Team Wheaton's 2012 Wiggle Waggle Walk
• God's Number and Rubik's Cube - Numberphile
• Archdukes, Cynicism, and World War I: Crash Course World History #36
• What To Do With Your Life
• Talking About Tape
• Hot Metal! (Megaman 2 Medley) - Ferdk16 and Laura Shigihara
• Tengami GameMaker Video - IndieCade 2012 Nominee
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown | Tactical Role-Playing Game Review
• Soundz
• Inside Adam Savage's Cave: Geeking Out about Bits and Bytes
• 6 Episodes of SciShow
• Hey It's Pomplamoose - Theme Song
• IDTIMWYTIM: Stochasticity - THAT'S Random
• HOME FOR A REST - Ukulele Cover by Fruity Ukuladies
• "BEN" (Official Trailer)
• Leslie - From Nataly Dawn's Upcoming Album "How I Knew Her"
• Problems with Zero - Numberphile
• Notes on Friendship
• How To Make a Mechanical Pumpkin
• Infographic Trick or Treat Bags - Halloween Craft Series #5
• Tested vs. The Slow Motion Camera
• For those of you who enjoy discovering cool new music...
• Mean Kitty Fight Training
• More Magnets - Sixty Symbols
• REMEMBER, REMEMBER [NOV.05.12 DAY 740]
• Hack To Power, Brian
• Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project - Video Games - 11/20/2012
• John Green: The Paper Town Academy
• Penn and Teller - Fool Us S01E01

Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 20)

In this volume of my favorite YouTube videos we have video game playing, vlogs an a short ad (which I don't get paid for, I should note).

• The first video is part 11 of Chuggaconroy's Let's Play of Mother 3. I have to confess first that I'm not entirely sure why I favorited this particular video and I think I recommend that if you're interested you start with the first video in the series (since this is rather in the middle of things).
  
  Mother 3 is quite an odd game, created by Shigesato Itoi it is the sequel to Earthbound (which was Mother 2 in japan). It's an RPG for the Gameboy Advance (after having been converted from a scrapped Nintendo 64 game. For a video game though, especially and RPG it's very interesting in how many topics it tackles and how deep a view it takes on life. It was never released in North America and as such Chugga is playing on a fan translated patch.
  
  Chuggaconroy's Let's Play of this game is quite good (although I think he's improved his videos over the years, these older ones show him being very young). And given that it's really a landmark video game I think the whole series is worth a watch.
• The next video is a vlogbrothers video in which John looks at some of the questions the people have asked google lately.
• The next video is also from John Green, vlogbrother. In this he talks about nerdfighteria, sports and a little book that he can't figure out the name for yet.
• Next we have a video from the incredibly talented Elmify. In this video she talks about home-made gifts and how some things just aren't quite the same as you grow up. I find her videos phenomenally well paced and when you consider the amount of work she actually has to do to put them together they're quite incredible. I recommend you look up more of them, but don't be surprised that you'll see her here again.
• The final video in this set is an ad / promotional video that Kater17 made for Mountain Dew Pitch Black. It's a bit slow to start, but it's creative, kinda fun and the effects work is really good.

Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 18)

In this volume of my favorite YouTube videos, we have a wide ranging grab bag. From video game music, to teddy bear tossing, to the dawn of a new YouTube star (who keeps drawing on stuff), to some four legged film makers and finally to a nerdy song about the matter of the Universe.

• Baba Yetu is the opening theme to one of my favorite all time video games, Civilization 4. Here's it's covered by ModestOne, who had done a good job making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Another vote for why music is the most important element of video game production (well, at least I say it is). In formation about the original composer and a link to an mp3 version are in the video description (which is a nice touch).
• The next video is a bit of a departure from the norm for my favorite YouTube videos, but it's included here because it's a very important part of my life. Each year the Calgary Hitmen (my local junior hockey team) hold a teddy bear toss in which fans all bring teddy bears to the arena and when the Hitmen get their first goal of the game throw them on to the ice. The bears are then gathered up and distributed to several organizations throughout the city to make sure that kids who need a teddy bear have one for the holidays. 
• The next video is an early video from the mathamagician Vihart, who seems to get board and find herself doodling in math class from time to time and discovering the fundamentals of mathematics  You might have heard of her (or not who know how far the internet reaches). She's gone on to be an amazingly insightful and educational YouTube creator and educator. The firehose pace at which she unloads information is exciting and all of her videos will make you think about at least one thing you haven't thought about before.
• The next video is Cat Diaries: the first ever movie filmed by cats, and it is (as the title rather suggets) filmed by cats. Now say what you will about cats, they are for example lousy camera operators (their whiskers keep getting in shot), but this video is adorable and heart warming. 
• Finally we have another Hank Green song, this time about Quarks (no not the Deep Space 9 bar) the fundamental constituant of matter. Up, down, strange, charm, top, bottom. As a bonus this video also announces the unveiling of dft.ba the url shortening service that reminds you not to forget to be awesome.

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 17)

Welcome to the 17th volume of my favorite YouTube Videos. This volume has a lot of music and a little bit of thought about design.

• Have you listened to a good book lately? The first video in the volume is a video song for Hank Green's "This is Not Harry Potter." Harry Potter has always been an important touch stone in Nerdfighteria, and Hank puts out an annual song with sometime to do with Harry to celebrate that link. I always enjoy the one voice and guitar style and I think this is one of my favorite song Wednesday songs.
• The second video is the video for Janelle Monáe's song Tightrope. I noticed this song because it was in a car commercial and was hearing it 20-30 times a day (thanks YouTube/network television). When I looked the song up I discovered the video had a great concept (as I guess does the whole album, although I must confess that I haven't listened to it in its entirety), was really visually compelling and just a lot of fun.
• The third video is from designer and nerdfighter Karen Kavett. She plays an exciting game of "what if" with YouTube. As you might have guessed by now I spend quite a bit of time on YouTube so I find this pretty cool. Some of the ideas she has have since been taken up by YouTube and some of them are kinda crazy, but it's really refreshing to stop and think about how websites we use all the time are simply products of design.
• The last two videos in this volume are from Pomplamoose (are you surprised, I can tell that you are). The first is a great cover of Deck the Halls, complete with crazy exuberance  the thing I'm calling the "Pomplamoose Key Change" and one of the back up Natalies even smiling! The second is not only a great song but also a great story, which I'll let them tell you at the end of the video.

Blog: Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 16)

Welcome to the 16th volume of my favorite videos on YouTube. This volume is a mix of music, cuteness and deep thoughts and is a lot of things that have showed up here before.

• The first video is by British YouTuber, Alex Day for his friend, collaborator and roommate Charlie McDonnell. This was a birthday gift in which Alex got several YouTubers (especially ones with ukuleles) to sing a song to Charlie on his birthday. (Also yes, these guys are freaking young!)
• Speaking of Charlie, we also have his video for Ben Folds and Nick Hornby's song Saskia Hamilton. I feel like this video is an example of the age old adage (at least as old as when I first thought of it) that when in doubt you should shout the name of a poet.
• The third video in this volume is a pair of bunnies in cups. I don't think I need to say more.
• Next we have a song from Hank Green about the likelihood of alien life, because most scientific concepts are best handled in song.
• Finally we have a TED talk from the brilliant brain-disturber Ze Frank. In this talk he discusses the show he ran in 2006 (which influenced pretty much anyone I've ever seen vlog, at least indirectly) and engage in deep participation.

Blog : Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 15)

This volume of my Favorite YouTube Videos is sad, but also heart warming. It starts with a eulogy for a nerdfighter who died too young, and goes on to some very amazing cinematography and then geeky/cool music and  and film making.

• The first video is John Green's eulogy for Esther Earl, who was a nerdfighter and a cool person who died of cancer at the age of 16. It's difficult to know what to say with this kind of video, but it's a good thing to have a time and a place (that they're on the internet makes no difference) to be able to go and say, yes this was a person who existed, who impacted us and who is gone now. I also think the advice at the heart of Johns message is very important, "Don't just do something, stand there."
• The second video is an accompaniment to a NPR RadioLab episode called Words. I haven't listened to the episode yet (and I really should't put things off this long), but the video stands strongly on its own and is a remarkable piece of film.
• The third and fourth videos are music videos by Charlie McDonnell doing acoustic covers of some of his songs from his Trock (Time Lord rock) group Chameleon Circuit. We also get the Charlies of two different periods, the first concerned with Weeping Angels and the second with the ongoing relationship between ... well actually I haven't watched enough Doctor Who, to know who's at war here, but it's certainly epic. 
• The final video is from my perennial favorites Pomplamoose, working together with generally awesome music person Ben Folds and novelist Nick Hornby. This was a bonus track for Ben and Nick's (can I call them that?) ... Mr. Folds and Mr. Hornby's album Lonely Avenue. It's a little more contemplative than some of the songs I've favorited, but it's still a very pleasant listen.

Blog : Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 13)

This volume of my favorite YouTube videos is mostly musical with a side of spoon.

• The first video in this volume is possibly the best cover of a Zelda song ever. The music in Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is astoundingly good to begin with and this cover by FreddeGredde only improves on it. I also really appreciate the video song style with all the different instruments and voices he added in to give the song a lot of depth and interest. If ever there was a song to wake up to on Christmas Day, this is it.
• The second video in the volume is from the department of things you've probably heard of, but I still like the video anyway so there (which is a weird department to have, but there you go). Fireflies by Owl City is fun and upbeat and makes me happy, so here it is.
• The third video in the volume stems from the interest the vlogbrothers developed in anglerfish (I'd say don't ask, but really that's just how the vlogbrothers work, they're a series of inside jokes), and their unusual sexual practices (which are outlined in the song, I won't spoil it for you). Also, a floating cat (cuter than the anglerfish in the picture).
• The next video is important because it involves The Tick and the origin of the most important battle cry to ever grace the television medium. SPOOOOOOOOOON!
• The final video in this volume is another song by Hank Green of the vlogbrothers and tells the tail of the most dangerous squirrel ever to live. The video is fun, and shows just how awesome the community of nerdfighters can be. Also it provides a free lesson in squirrel linguistics.

Blog : Favorite YouTube Videos (Volume 12)

This volume of my Favorite YouTube Videos is a mix of interesting vlogs and childhood memories.

• The first video is another vlogbrothers video (and there's going to be a lot of these for the next little bit). John's discussion of Healthcare reform is interesting on its own, but I really like the visuals added by ThoughtBubble.
• The second video is the theme to Today's Special, which I think was my favorite television show as a kid. I don't have much to say about the intro, but it makes me happy.
• The third video is from another favorite show from my childhood, Under the Umbrella Tree. It's interesting in that the show's producer (Noreen Young) managed to get some of the rights back for the show and begin selling the dvds (sadly the shop is now closed) and posting the episdoes to YouTube. Unfortunately I don't remember why I've favorited the second part (rather than the first), but all of the episodes are still pretty cool, even when viewed as an adult.
• The fourth video is another from the Hank's songs that were at a few times a weekly (or bi-weekly) feature of the vlogbrothers. This one was originally released for father's day (as the topic might make you guess). I think (although I'm not sure), that the animation was done by Hank's business partner Alan Distro.
•  The fifth video is one of my all time favorite vlogbrothers' videos in which Hank describes to us the 13 movie canon arm removals of Star Wars.

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 : Cool Things on September 14, 2012

I'm starting a new series of posts on the blog side where I'm going to mention some of the cool things I've run across. I hope this is roughly weekly, but the blog schedule has to flex to the actually being a student schedule.

This first edition is mostly things from youtube, where I'm a little better oganized about keeping track of cool things (and you don't have to worry there's at least a year's worth of favorite YouTube videos before I have to do anything there). In the future I will hopefully be keeping track of all the cool things.

Videos

Let's start then with the inimitable Dodger, who has started a let's play series of the game They Bleed Pixels. The style of the game is pretty cool, I especially like the character's pose as she jumps, and how reactive the game looks. It looks like it can become incredibly frustrating so I'm just as happy to let someone else play. Dodger's Let's Play style is enjoyable, she's actually good at games, and makes for great back ground listening. I also appreciate how she goes back at the end of the prologue video to pick up the collectables she missed. Check out the following episodes too, unfortunately there isn't a playlist of them yet.

Another cool video I found this week is Karen Kavett's video on how she created a Doctor Who Guess Who set. She's pretty inspirational on the getting excited and making things front and she makes some pretty cool things. The video features the music from Chameleon Circuit.

The last video this week is the 1000th video from the vlogbrothers (well, technically the 1001st). It's pretty cool all the things that have come together over the last five years. DFTBA.

Games

This week I've also been playing (a bit to my chagrin) Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Dark Lord, a downloadable title by Square-Enix on the Wii. This game is a pretty cheesy tower defense game (in which you have to defend your tower ... rather than use the tower for defense). The concept is a little weird/j-rpg the mechanics are a bit simple (and sometimes frustrating) but for some reason this is a hell of a lot of fun.

Yeah, that's what it looks like ... (via GameFAQs) 

Podcasts

I've recently run across the not-at-all new Film Sack from the Frog Pants Network. In which Scott Johnson, Brian Dunaway, Randy Jordan and Brian Ibbot discuss a movie each week, usually a B from a while ago and see how it feels, if it holds up and whether people should actually be interested. Despite not being much of a movie buff myself listening to these four guys talk about films is really fun and the kind of thing you can put on in the background while getting things done. I've started listening both to the oldest episode and going forward and the newest one going backward and we'll see what happens when the film sack trains collide.

On a related note, Film Sack's cousin podcast Autopilot is preparing for it's second season. This podcast (put together by Scott Johnson and Tom Merritt) takes a look at the pilots of television shows and is informative and entertaining. They released the first season earlier this year, and decided to fun the second season through Kickstarter (rather than through sponsorships). I enjoyed the first season enough to get on board to give them a kick.

Wrap-up

I'd like to thank my friend Daley for his bump to the blog earlier this week. He runs his blog at lingwhatics.ca and keeps a good eye on the world both there and on his twitter.

And finally, although I'm sure everyone's had enough gangnam style, here's the crew of Weekend Confirmed getting overwhelmed by the spirit of ... dance ...