12 YouTube Channels To Cure Your Quarantine Blues

So, COVID-19. Yeah, I’m not too thrilled about it. The way I see it, however, there’s no reason to run around like a chicken with its head cut off, either.

Chances are you’re not working right now. I’m not working, either—I’m unemployed in the first place and I haven’t gotten around to job hunting recently. Chances are, though, if I did have a job, I might still be working at the moment since I live in a small town and we haven’t had any Coronavirus cases closer than fifty miles from here. But it’s only a matter of time.

However, if YOU are quarantined and looking for entertainment that will make the most of your time, I have a few suggestions, and they’re all on YouTube, so if you aren’t subscribed to any other services then you’re in luck. It’s just a short list of some of my current favorite channels and programs.

You may notice that several of these are animal-related. It just so happens that watching animal videos is one of my favorite pastimes. If you like animals too, then maybe some of these channels are for you. Also, if you’ve got kids stuck at home, some of the channels I have listed could help you keep their education going.

1) Men of the West

 

Interests: Literature, Fandom, Tolkien

Let’s start with something geeky. If you’re really into the Lord of the Rings and Tolkien lore, then you might want to check it out. The videos are ten to twenty minutes long and each one covers a topic in the history, kingdoms, beings, and leading characters of Arda (Middle Earth + the rest of the world that J.R.R.Tolkien created). The host, Yoystan, has done background research on ALL the extra books you don’t have time to read, but you can also play it in the background and listen to it like you would a podcast. The presentation visuals include movie stills but also lots of fan artwork and vintage illustrations. If there’s a topic in Tolkien’s universe that you’re curious about—the Nazgul, elven lords, even artefacts—you’re likely to find a video about it.

Channel Link: Men of the West

11 Reasons I Still Appreciate ‘Frozen’

Frozen II is about to come out. If you ask me, I think the trailers are intriguing and I think there’s a chance it’ll be good.  

To be honest: I am one of those people who is annoyed by just how POPULAR Frozen is and how every little girl (it seems) loves Elsa and “Let It Go”. Or is it that Frozen is marketed by Disney as the coolest thing (pun intended?) they ever came up with when it actually isn’t? Or it is Frozen Disney’s proposal for a Holiday cult for a secular society?

Yuck. 

On reflection, I do remember that there were legitimate reasons I liked Frozen when it first came out and in the first phase of its popularity before the hype wore off. Now is a good time to review them. 

1. Let It Go 

I adore the songs written for this film, all of them have a special place in my heart. 

I’m not gonna lie, “Let it Go” isn’t my favorite. It’s one of the things about Frozen that is so overrated. But it does deserve some of the love. 

12 Disney Movies That I Think Are Underrated

UPDATE: I’ve been meaning to write this post for months. Turns out it came out just in time for the release of Disney+. I suppose I’ll get it when I get it.

I’ve been feeling nostalgic for the last little while, noatalgic for Disney and the good old days when I’d watch my favorite Disney movies on video and on repeat. If you asked me to name some of those films for you, I’d definitely mention some of the bigger hits like Mulan, The Lion King, The Emperor’s New Groove, Cinderella and so on. However, some of my other favorites aren’t as well-known, or as well-liked, and some of them are classics that just aren’t talked about as often.  Here are just a few of my less mainstream favorite Disney movies, along with some memories, fun facts, quotes, and favorite moments. 

The Princess and the Frog

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The Princess and the Frog came out—almost ten years ago, wow—in December 2009, just in time for my eighteenth birthday. So on opening day, I drove to town and met up with two of my best friends and we went and saw it together. 

Like Tiana’s dream of opening a restaurant, my lifelong dream was to go to BYU. When I got to BYU in Fall of 2010, I remember having the song “Almost There” stuck in my head as I headed for new student orientation. It was great to have a song for that moment. 

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Just Little Sharky Things

I have not been having the best mental health this summer, so for any number of blog posts or ideas for blog posts that I have cooking I am running behind. So let me discuss sharks while it’s still Shark Week.

Funny enough, it’s not exactly “Shark Week Brought to You By Discovery Channel” anymore. Everyone wants a bite out of the action: businesses, even over networks. The National Geographic channel is doing its own “SharkFest” that is going for about a month. But they’re running basically the same kind of specials.

I had the opportunity last weekend while I was visiting family in Mesa to watch a couple episodes of “Why Sharks Attack” or something like that. It was pretty much what I expected: sharks depicted as savage predators, horrifying and gory accounts of attacks on hapless victims, thrill-inducing background music. Misconceptions about sharks are largely built on how documentary producers choose to frame them. If that isn’t a statement about how the media can influence public opinion then nothing is. 

A Short History of the MCU in Memes

If you’ve been able to see Avengers: Endgame, good on ya. There will be a review post coming soon, I hope. There has been a lot going on on my end. Keeping with the spirit of commemorating the last eleven or so years of Marvel films, here is a walk down memory lane that shows you the funnier side of this universe.

The early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were in the early days of the internet becoming a hub for social media and meme culture. Memes as a form of humor, to my recollection, exploded in 2012, around the time The Avengers came out. You could argue that Marvel fandom invented online fandom and memes. If not, you have to at least agree that this fandom and memes have more or less always gone hand in hand.

The MCU fandom has spawned billions of images with funny captions or screenshots of Twitter and Tumblr text posts.  This saga, that many are now referring to as the Infinity Saga, is the story that the digital generation grew up with. They have celebrated it in countless ways: the examples below are just a few.

1. Iron Man Not Having a Superhero Identity Crisis

*mic drop*

‘Liberty’s Kids’ Revisited

All of the screencaps are mine

Happy Throwback Thursday. Who remembers Liberty’s Kids?

Last month I re-watched the whole series from start to finish.

I had considered doing it for a while. Then I got the idea to do it right after the Fourth of July. I found all the episodes on YouTube. With the episodes running about twenty minutes each, I watched an average of four in a single setting, which worked for how the story was paced, especially near the end. And at the start of every session I played the theme song.

Celebrating Sharks

Ladies and Gentlemen: this week is Shark Week.

I don’t have cable access to Discovery Channel.

But I LOVE SHARKS!

I’m going to do whatever I can to celebrate sharks this week—and that includes writing this blog post (and delaying a really big post until next week)

13 Reasons Why Winter Soldier Wednesday is the Best

If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you might have noticed a little thing I do called #WinterSoldierWednesday. If you don’t know me at all, then you should know that every Wednesday I post something related to Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier or Sebastian Stan on my social media feeds. On the FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention Facebook group, I’m known to go crazy with photo spams. Almost every week.

Why do I do this? Because Bucky is my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe character. And because Sebastian Stan is one heck of a gorgeous human being. Let me give you thirteen reasons why Winter Soldier Wednesday is a big deal for me and my friends.

#1 Some of us otherwise find Hump Day rather dull

Daily Evanstan/Pinterest

#2 Instead, Winter Soldier Wednesday is a Bucky fan’s day to SHINE!

Pinterest