Keeping yourself entertained in Isolation: Youtube Edition
Since these are times of staying in and I have been chronically ill since I was 14 and am therefore super good at finding ways of entertaining myself at home, I thought I might share some youtube I use to keep myself busy here. I originally had a much longer list, but I think it got overwhelming, so I’ve trimmed it down to my favourites or the ones I think would be most entertaining/useful.
Learn a skill!
VeryPink Knits (featuring Staci, who is an awesome teacher and has a whole host of videos on everything related to knitting you might need. She also has a series of knitting techniques in extreme slow motion, which is good if you're having trouble with a specific stitch or cast on)
Learn About Some Stuff!
Dr Hope's Sick Notes (a pleasant young British doctor talks to you about medical stuff and reacts to medical stuff in television shows/movies while drawing adorable diagrams)
Erik Singer (a charming dialect coach/linguist speaks eloquently and passionately about accents, linguistics, and other cool language stuff while reacting to accents in movies and television shows)
Watch People Do Stuff!
Many a True Nerd (MATN consists of Jon [an Oxford graduate in Classics with a love of history, people in hats, fluffy animals, and overly complicated plans] and Claire [his sassy French wife who is mostly only on livestreams] playing video/computer games. Jon is 98% of the channel and is pure, dry, sarcastic, British humour with heavy drawing on history and Latin/Greek. I recommend his Crusader Kings II videos as a place to start. They’re like Alternative History War of the Roses Simulator)
Retro Replay (Troy Baker and Nolan North, two very prolific voice/mocap actors, play video games from their youths and just chill on the couch doing silly voices and talking about random stuff. There are three ‘Levels’ [seasons] so far, One and Two already completed, Three ongoing. There’s also playthroughs of Uncharted 1 and 2 [Nolan’s Big Role in gaming] and The Last of Us [Tory’s Big Role in gaming]. Start from the beginning to fully get all the running jokes.)
Drawfee (A channel where a bunch of artists take silly prompts and draw stuff to go with them while riffing and being hilarious and upbeat and positive. They were fired from their parent company, College Humor, in January due to massive downsizing [nothing to do with them or their abilities], but are still doing videos out of the apartment of two of them until they figure out how they want to continue. I recommend starting with Artists Draw Stock Photos Based on Their Descriptions for a good taste of what they do.)
Enjoy some music!
Jesse Ferguson (a Canadian folk singer who does lovely covers of English, Scottish, Irish, Canadian and American folksongs. Plays the guitar, the bodhran, the mandolin, the dulcimer, and probably fifteen other instruments. No ads, no asking for subscriptions or donations, just Jesse singing.)
Peter Hollens (an acapella artist who layers his voice hundreds of times to make awesome acapella music. Does a lot of covers of Disney, video games, and other more geeky songs.)
TG Lurgan (bunch of popular songs translated into Irish Gaelic and performed by talented singers)
FlamSparks (a channel devoted to Disney songs in various languages and sharing the translations of them back into English. I’m an language geek, so this appeals to me a lot and I love seeing how different songs are translated and the different voice actors. The Danish Elsa is amazing!)
Stay safe, folks!
Learn a skill!
VeryPink Knits (featuring Staci, who is an awesome teacher and has a whole host of videos on everything related to knitting you might need. She also has a series of knitting techniques in extreme slow motion, which is good if you're having trouble with a specific stitch or cast on)
Learn About Some Stuff!
Dr Hope's Sick Notes (a pleasant young British doctor talks to you about medical stuff and reacts to medical stuff in television shows/movies while drawing adorable diagrams)
Erik Singer (a charming dialect coach/linguist speaks eloquently and passionately about accents, linguistics, and other cool language stuff while reacting to accents in movies and television shows)
Watch People Do Stuff!
Many a True Nerd (MATN consists of Jon [an Oxford graduate in Classics with a love of history, people in hats, fluffy animals, and overly complicated plans] and Claire [his sassy French wife who is mostly only on livestreams] playing video/computer games. Jon is 98% of the channel and is pure, dry, sarcastic, British humour with heavy drawing on history and Latin/Greek. I recommend his Crusader Kings II videos as a place to start. They’re like Alternative History War of the Roses Simulator)
Retro Replay (Troy Baker and Nolan North, two very prolific voice/mocap actors, play video games from their youths and just chill on the couch doing silly voices and talking about random stuff. There are three ‘Levels’ [seasons] so far, One and Two already completed, Three ongoing. There’s also playthroughs of Uncharted 1 and 2 [Nolan’s Big Role in gaming] and The Last of Us [Tory’s Big Role in gaming]. Start from the beginning to fully get all the running jokes.)
Drawfee (A channel where a bunch of artists take silly prompts and draw stuff to go with them while riffing and being hilarious and upbeat and positive. They were fired from their parent company, College Humor, in January due to massive downsizing [nothing to do with them or their abilities], but are still doing videos out of the apartment of two of them until they figure out how they want to continue. I recommend starting with Artists Draw Stock Photos Based on Their Descriptions for a good taste of what they do.)
Enjoy some music!
Jesse Ferguson (a Canadian folk singer who does lovely covers of English, Scottish, Irish, Canadian and American folksongs. Plays the guitar, the bodhran, the mandolin, the dulcimer, and probably fifteen other instruments. No ads, no asking for subscriptions or donations, just Jesse singing.)
Peter Hollens (an acapella artist who layers his voice hundreds of times to make awesome acapella music. Does a lot of covers of Disney, video games, and other more geeky songs.)
TG Lurgan (bunch of popular songs translated into Irish Gaelic and performed by talented singers)
FlamSparks (a channel devoted to Disney songs in various languages and sharing the translations of them back into English. I’m an language geek, so this appeals to me a lot and I love seeing how different songs are translated and the different voice actors. The Danish Elsa is amazing!)
Stay safe, folks!