Youtube, an all but dead platform compared to its heyday. Today, it stands riddled with fake internet drama, Jake Pauls, and cringy corporate cable talk shows. Youtube has lost most of its magic due to promoting corporate media over original content creators. It is totally out of touch with reality. However, that does not mean that quality content has ceased to exist on Youtube. On the contrary, there is more than ever. Sadly, it is harder than ever to discover. Join me on a journey as we sift through the trash on the platform to find hidden gems of their respective genres.
Have a recommendation? Know of a cool channel with few subs? Let me know!
A series of explanations around how complicated things were engineered. This is a surface level dive into things and satisfies the layman understanding itch. I have since dropped the channel. It got a bit too into pushing Nebula and the formula was getting a bit old. Content quality did not go down but I have to cull some channels and this one hit the chopping block. I like technology connections, practical engineering, and New Mind better.
RPG video game news and build guide. Sometimes they shill a little too hard but the content is solid and relatively original. I dropped the sub on this channel. The reviews became far too spun in favor of obviously bad games and the overall content became far to content view driven. I get needing to make a living but 9/10 videos are nothing more than regurgitating the latest video game news with little value added. Their wiki websites and build guides are still decent enough.
Mortismal Gaming is a new'ish channel in the video game reviewer space. What sets him apart is that he 100%'s each game before reviewing it. His reviews are even handed weighing in on the overall merit of the game as a cohesive experience avoiding any outside drama. While this content is generally decent, the majority of his channel is "filler" content. That is to say content which exists only for gaining viewership. There have been at least 10 versions of "my top 5 favorite xyz games" which typically have almost the exact same form of script and often reference the same 10 or so games leaving a feeling of watching the same content over again. It is understandable that one must make a living and I am happy Mr. Mort has paid off his house. Sadly, the quality content is sparse enough now on the channel it isn't worth the subscription given the competing space. I may revisit here later to see if the dirge of lackluster content lessons.
It is Dan Carlin. Amazing.
n/a
A bliz rts game challenge channel. Plays Blizzard games with constrains like no deaths or pacifist. Even if I am not into the challenge kind of style, the writing is fun and watchable.
Tiny little channel. Idk why I sub but I like the reviews of rings of power.
Dude goes into play throughs and reviews of odd games and mods. Interesting dry sense of humor.
Fantastic product reviews. Dig the style and lack of ad pushing. Content formula is on point.
Oozing creativity and originality. This is a diamond in the rough. No ads, no trend following, just quality content.
n/a
I was subbed to this dudes channel for a bit as it has a fun style but have since dropped watching anything. The earlier content was decent and a little different. It has a wiggle drawing style during the explanations with a smooth narration voice. The content comes together well. However, the more recent content feels a little more like putting out a video to fill a sponsor spot rather than digging into anything meaningful. The channel is also going in the "interview podcast" format which is super boring. There is nothing particularly interesting about the podcast. If the podcasts were condensed down to a shorter video, I could see myself being more engage but as it is right now they are just super boring. Maybe I'll come across the channel again one day. Idk. Probably not.
One of those people who makes "edgy" content and as such has a hard time making a living off of content creation. Is the content good? Yes. Content is creative but more so the guy evolves it over time. I love seeing the quality of work get better as a creative grows and finds their voice. I enjoy the content and think it is underrated. Highly recommend giving a few videos a watch.
TLDR; A trashy channel who focuses on pumping out low effort content to meet a video schedule. I dropped the channel. EDIT: saw more recent videos and it is all Ukraine crap. Yup, riding war for views. What garbage. I kind of liked this channel but after a few videos you find that the creator is more focused on content then quality. If you removed the stock footage from the videos, you'd be left with the opening and closing....which is to say that the visual element is almost exclusively just a bunch of stock video clips....low effort. The content? The content is presented as facts but typically with high school level research and effort. Yes, for some topics Wikipedia is sufficient but the moment you get to more complicated subjects it is much harder to argue a point or present without misleading. The format tries to not argue a point to much and just say "here are the facts." Sadly, it doesn't always come across that way as often some facts are left out. Likely because they were not on a Wikipedia page or reported by mainstream news. If you look at comments on videos, you can tell that the dude just straight up gave out incorrect information or incredibility misleading information. The one in particular which caused me to drop a sub was on gun laws in Australia and their effect. This was around the time another big shooting in the US happened and was CLEARLY done to jump on the algorithm hype train that was around related to guns. Not a cool start. The angle was clearly trying to show how the same policies in the US could work but left out a tremendous amount of contrary information to his point. Naturally, the video got ratio'ed. If he wasn't so quick to hop on the trend train and just did a bit more research, it wouldn't have been bad. But it seems like he never considered the opposing angle. Again, this isn't to say that gun control is bad but just that when digging into such a complicated topic, you really need to do more research than throwing together some stock videos while reading off a few stats you pulled from Wikipedia. The issue isn't a political topic but the low effort in presenting the information or more so missing information.
Underrated channel which covers interesting eclectic engineering subject matter. Ever wondered about the science of cardboard? No? Neither did I but I am glad I watched the video on it. There are many channels which basically are line reads over pure stock footage often having nothing to do with the subject being covered. This channel tries hard to cover in depth with good editing a specific topic without delving too much into stock footage line reading. Wendover Productions is a prime example of shallow content.
Reviews of all but forgotten old tech. Some restorations as well. If you enjoy the retro tech of the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, this is a channel for you. Clint, the dude who runs the channel, also has a fantastic voice which makes this excellent background content. It is like jazz for the soul.
This guy covers a bunch of stuff. Most of it is restoring old tech but he also reviews products. And he ALSO writes video games for C64 and other old computers. I love this channel. Something about using old tech in new ways is just awesome. Not for everyone though.
Amazing documentaries about video games and their history. From arcane controllers to failed products, a gem of a channel.
Decent reviews and overall video essay around video games. Goes deep into specific games focusing around niches and older hidden gems from the past. I would not play all the games reviewed but the content is entertaining and solid background noise.
Solid video game documentaries about the history of different IPs and what happened with them during their lifetime. Solid writing and solid voiceover.
A guy using javascript for video game development. Great examples of how far you can take something like javascript in the game dev world. His humor is dry and clearly deeply understands the subject matter of performance optimization. He seems to tend towards a video essay of his journey doing something rather than actual tutorials.
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
If I did Youtube, this is the kind of channel I wish I had. I think it does a great job showing how programming is art not in the sense of "this code is pretty" but in terms of the process and expressiveness it has much like writing or painting. Code is just another tool to paint the canvas that is life.
Generic crypto news guy. Doesn't seem super scummy and another data point to use. I ended up dropping the channel. Too many of the same kinda clickbait videos pushing lame affiliate products. I get it the dude needs to make money but the information just wasn't super valuable.
Dude builds all kinds of fun DIY projects. Super cool and some are actually doable. Seriously this guy should work a dyson.
Want to watch a bunch of old cynical men complain above new movies and review random VHS tapes? No. Then go ahead an pass on this one. The style is fun and to the point. The people on the channel truly love cinema and do not buy into the typical movie trends. Each person has a distinct perspective they bring which makes the dialogue interesting. There isn't always agreement or disagreement. I put this on in the background whilst working all the time.
Awesome videos which explain how civil engineering shit works. Makes small scale examples to demo stuff too. This guy is like everyone's favorite teacher in school who always had awesome experiments to show the physics of how things worked. Dude is was an actual civic engineer. Highly recommend for all audiences.
Makes random shit in a comedic way. Great style. Massive shit posting. Just my thing.
Another crypto news guy literally dudes name is Guy. Videos are decent and not shilly however usually behind the curve in terms of timeliness. Usually a topic is covered based on user demand which is slow
I like the channel and vision but Louis' personality gets a bit odious at times. I have considered dropping him.
Crazy fun maker stuff.
Short comedic videos about nerds and internet. Wish he made more content.
Camera shooting ref bookmark
This guy is a treat. Not for everyone but his content is more recent content is fantastic.
Raspberry Pi guy. Fun videos but only if you like Pi.
Bookmark for video production reference
This channel is stupid fun. Even if you don't make shit like myself, it is a blast to watch. I have to say my absolute favorite is the basketball hoop. So fucking cool. Humor is the perfect amount of nerd.
A fun channel with decent content around space and astrophysics. The presenter is a researcher of the actual stuff which make it fun. Only thing which almost ruins some videos for me is the way the presenter talks. When he is in front a camera he talks naturally and it works. But when doing voice over he sounds....unbearable. He slows down how fast he talks, gets all husky/sulky, and almost moans out each word. I can get past the weird sultry tone but it he runs at like half his normal speaking speed. I'd just advice the guy to dial it back a bit with narrating.
I don't watch much of the channel but bookmarked it. Nice to see some neat interviews with figures in crypto.
Basically a science news aggregator. I like his style and he doesn't click bait as much as he could.
Extra bits of technology connections.
I don't know how to describe this channel. I found it by seeing a toaster video and becoming engaged when I clicked on it. The host just has this personality which is....really good. He gets me engaged in topics I otherwise wouldn't care about....like dishwasher detergent. Seriously, just give a few videos a try.
The only sane source of covid information I could find. No BS, no narrative, just trying to help people. Now that the big scare is over, I don't watch it as much but I don't want to forget either.
A solid game news channel of sorts. This person doesn't follow trends the why others do and has a great side by side comparisons for different ports of a game. It is nice to have a detailed look at PC vs Console changes. Or even Retail vs Release.
Another nice video essay style channel. Earlier content was a bit...hit or miss but the voice and style has been found.
n/a
n/a
n/a
Like art? Like history? Like both? Well this is basically a giant series of lecture videos you'd get if you were taking a collage course on art history. I find this stuff fascinating and great to fall asleep to or have as background content. Are the lectures particularly fantastic? Not really, but they are thorough and plentiful. This is exactly what you would get from a collage course and it is free. I have not watch a ton of the content here, in part because there is so much, but I don't want to forget that it exists.
Have not watch a ton of this channel, just a few videos. The content seems solid though. This is one of your "learn programming skills" channels and does a decent job at it. If you are just getting into the devops space or looking to get into it, this is a great start. I am mainly subbed so I don't forget about the channel. It is not something I watch regularly.
I am only recently getting into the "maker" genre of content creators. People who make shit be it 3d printing, cnc, or idk I don't make shit it is all just cool. The maker kind of content I just get a kick out of. It is entertaining in a way the shit on Netflix is not. Major Hardware is the most recent find I have in this maker space. His biggest series he does is 3d printing peoples 120mm PC case fan design and testing them against each other. He breaks things up into seasons to keep it digestible and fresh. The editing and pacing is on point. Doesn't feel to long nor too short. The biggest callout I have is how he keeps the overall series interesting. He has a great way of encouraging "meme" designs along with the "performant" designs. This leads to interesting 3d prints which keeps content well....interesting! Gears, covers, bladeless fans, all kinds of random shit. He has a fog machine which makes watching how each design performs fascinating esp with the more eclectic designs. The dude has a fantastic personality. He seems to be someone you could have fun with just sitting down drinking beer talking about anything. If you are into maker content or PC building, give this dude a go. The content is maybe a bit too focused on the 3d prints of PC fans but there is sprinklings of other content in there too.
Video essays are one of my fav genres of youtube channels. People writing out their thoughts on something they have a passion about and talking about it. Maybe they sit in front of a camera. Maybe they sit behind a microphone. In both cases, you can share in the passion. EmpLemon is the ladder case, a person who sits behind a microphone and adds great editing to help illustrate the points he makes. So what kind of stuff does EmpLemon or uhh EmperorLemon cover? Whatever he wants which ends up being culture topics which were meaningful to him in his life. This ends up being strongly dictated to what generation the dude who runs this channel grew up in. It is no wonder then why I like the content as the culture topics have a strong cross over to my generation which is a late millennial. Another more accurate name I call this kind of channel content is "nostalgia porn" as more often than not the topics are interesting due to a shared sense of nostalgia the viewer and creator have. Spongebob, Simpsons, Video games, and a little cross over into zoomy territory with meme culture. All my jam. One of the things I enjoy about the newer videos is that EmpLemon has clearly refined and honed editing and writing skills to weave together much better narrative journeys covering what he finds interesting. One of the best videos I think is in his "there will never ever be a 'blank" like 'blank' again" series where the the idea is to leverage a shared sense of memberbarries with the viewer to cover why we membered something at all or why one particular memberbarry was great. I think the video he does covering one particular Smash Melee esport player is one of his best videos not just in the series but on his whole channel. Why? Because I don't care about Smash Melee. I don't think I ever even played it much. I knew people were super into it but nothing more than that. So you would think I wouldn't be interested in the content of the video. However, the narrative in it, is well...compelling. It is compelling in the same way an Olympic athletes' journey to a gold metal is compelling even if we don't care or understand much about the sport. That heroes journey of hard work paying off after years of practice. It is a fantastic video and something just about anyone could watch...even without the "memerbaries" the initial series is based on. I love finding channels which start off a bit weak and then clearly show a transformation into quality content. EmpLemon has found a fantastic voice. I think boomer is the cutoff generation in terms of who would enjoy this content. GenX to most recent would all get a kick out of this channel. Give it a go. I give it my quality seal of approval. :approved:
TheraminTrees is an interesting channel. It covers some interesting topics around manipulation and systems of power or influence using some rather unique artistic illustrations. Sadly, the content itself is somewhat suspect and a bit....repetitive. While I only found it more recently, I think this channel gained traction back when bashing on religion was all the rage. And it does a good job showcasing some of the crazy shit which can happen in very dogmatic situations. However, after just 1 video you start to see the pattern. Almost all examples involve rather contrived, "religion is bad" situations which makes it start to feel less like learning about say manipulation and more about an agenda, an agenda of "religion bad". The dude who does this (assuming it is one person) often references a rather toxic and shitty childhood with what seems to be an awful mother. I do get the sense though that the mother would have been awful even if she was not religious. Idk, this channel just feels too much like a self righteous anyone who disagrees is a "non thinker" so I can dismiss them vibe. After about 3-4 videos I almost unsubbed. Then a new one came out and well, that confirmed my unsub. The content just feels too regurgitated and agenda pushy to me. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT a fan of most religions and systems of centralized power. But the hatred of such things oozes out too much in the content of TheraminTrees. So TheraminTrees, ima have to pass on you. If someone has not seen much content around tackling old 90s era religious nonsense, the content is a solid starting point but after a few videos, you can dip out to something a bit more...thorough.