Recommendations: Week of 11/18/24
New... media?
A lot has happened in the last few weeks, she understated. Suddenly, we are all talking about new media. Suddenly, it is imperative that we learn how to use the YouTube podcasting community to get people elected, sell ideas, and promote ideals. Well, that’s all well and good, but as much as I find it amusing to read thirty memos on how to get on Theo Von’s podcast to talk about cocaine or how to play golf with Bryson DeChambeau for clicks, it also feels a teensy bit reactionary. I, for one, would rather recommend three of my favorite YouTube channels that cannot in any way be turned into vehicles of the resistance. Escapism might not be a long-term solution to the ills of our times, but it might just save us all in the short term.
Mike’s Mic: Mike is Australian. Mike is multitalented (did you know he can play piano, too?). Mike knows everything about the show Lost and everything about the show Gossip Girl. Mike is a pop culture meme machine. I originally found him because he took on the gargantuan task of reviewing and organizing the entire Pretty Little Liars universe in a series of hours-long videos that I have watched every second of. Mike just has a lot of thoughts about everything and he makes funny, fast-paced (even the long ones) videos that give you a lot of joy and a lot of laughs. I particularly recommend the PLL series, his Scooby Doo videos, and his series on Glee.
Mic the Snare: I found this YouTuber through his videos on Glee after I watched Mike’s Mic’s excellent video on Glee because there was a time in my life when I was really trying to understand what went wrong there. Mic the Snare (whose name is not, as far as I can tell, Mike) makes videos primarily about the music industry, music production, specific album and band reviews, and random bugaboos related to the above. He is a great source for reviews of new music, deep dives on artists you want to get to know, and commentary on the music industry itself. His video on Glee is a great starting point, as it looks at the music of Glee from a music industry and charts perspective, making it clear how incredibly dominant and weird that show was and how impactful it was in the music industry as a whole (it basically owned the music charts for years).
Passion of the Nerd: This channel was created in a lab for me, but since you (presumably) like reading me, it might be just right for you as well. The channel started 10 years ago with a video called “Why You Should Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The real girlies will know that Buffy inspired a large number of the TV critics of today to become critics, including the redoubtable Emily Nussbaum. Scratch the surface on a great show you like and someone there either worked on Buffy or loved the show in their youth. It is my origin story as well, one I will likely one day write 3K words on and tearfully send off to this list. But, due to naming challenges and also some creator oopsies, it is not a super easy sell to people. This video makes that sell beautifully and is what I point people to when I want them to understand why I write (and fight monsters). The creator went on to do episode-by-episode breakdowns of Buffy, its spinoff Angel, and other shows created by Joss Whedon, namely Firefly. He takes a very long time to produce a new video but it is still juice very worth the waiting squeeze.