Reflecting back on the newer channels that I’ve subbed to has been intriguing to me. Its like a google maps-esc map of your journeys, but for my mind! As the years have gone by I’ve found myself moving further away from the traditional television box and choosing what’s there currently to a more digital option where I can choose my interests and focus more on that content.
There are so many youtube videos out there for anyone to see, whatever your into, and the potential for learning new things is vast. Here are some of my favorites so far:
Coding
Its great to see the youtube space forming with some great channels in 2018. Before the content has be dominated by dull (but sometimes useful) tutorial formats. Now there are higher quality content focusing on topics and most importantly, showing mistakes!
Kevin Powell — This is one of the best front end channels out there imo, mainly focusing on CSS. Its been super helpful for me especially with my work, and is super newbie friendly.
DevTips — The coding duo of MPJ and David from funfunfunction has taken over this channel and it *should* be more newbie friendly. Previously was more focused on front end, now quite a varied bag. Very cool that you see their ups and downs to show the software development process in all its raw ugliness which might not be shown on other channels.
The Coding Train — Pretty funny that this was one of the first channels I learning coding off, and after all this time I still love and use it! Coding challenges are the highlights, creating literally anything from a game, to using fractals or a webcam! Uses the P5.js library to simplify and get things going as fast as possible.
World Affairs
Its hard to know what is going on in the world sometimes when the focus is on the ‘big stories’. But youtube really allows people to share their culture and experiences and keep us informed.
Geography Now! — A channel dedicating itself to explaining literally every country in the world. Currently I think its a ‘M’, so a long way to go! It does a great job of trying to get their information from people that actually live from those countries as to be as accurate as possible and not play into stereotypes (when they’re not true). Very interesting to know which countries like each other, and also how they see themselves.
Serpentza — A white South African expat that used to live in China for many years(very recently moved), giving his perspective on the current going ons in this huge newly capitalist powerhouse. Things have been changing recently, and he is able to talk more freely about what is happening in comparison to the local Chinese.
Vox — News from around the world with a focus on explaining things as best as possible. There are great reports on providing clarity to situations such as How ISIS came to Rise, China’s ambitious belt road, and how Putin came into power. These topics may not have been as easy to find out yourself.
The Philip Defranco Show — A news show with a difference, focusing on complete impartiality and openess to opinions from both sides. Will report on what each side has to say and encourages an open dialogue within the comments sections. Also has a great part of the show where he recommends other youtube videos and cool stuff.
Food, Glorious Food
I’ve really gotten into cooking, and youtube has helped me learn a lot. So much to learn, so many inspiring creators out there!
French Guy Cooking — Perfectionist Alex always looking to improve his skills and learn the best ways of cooking the ultimate meal. Sometimes involving custom made machines and/or trips to countries of origin. Loved his series on making ramen as I’m obsessed with trying to make my own version of this Japanese noodles from heaven!
Ziang’s Oriental Food Workshop — Recently gotten into this channel to harbour my inner Chinese! Really interesting to see how dishes are made and why they’re never the same when you make them at home.
Food Ranger — Chinese speaking Canadian Trever James reviews and tries out mainly street food around the world. Mostly in China, but has expanded to other places. Has a very positive style and does great ‘Waaaoh’ and ‘Mmmmmm’ sounds :D
Brothers Green — A more practically focused cooking channel, from cooking on a budget, teaching us how to use seasoning and other lessons, to challenging themselves to use a microwave to create 8 inspired ‘gaming’ dishes!
Epicurious — Ever wondered what makes someone a food/drink expert? Well these guys put them to the test in their Price Point challenge series making them guess which two products are expensive, and they certainly can talk the talk.
First We Feast — More known for its series of interviewing guests whilst they eat wings that are increasingly spicier. The Hot Ones more entertainment then cooking tbh but still good…
Tech/Machine Madness
Tech is mad! Mechanics + Tech equals even more craziness. I’ve found a few channels that are really tech focused, and some others that are just outright crazy with their engineering skills. Its really amazing how you can create anything nowadays, you just need to start out with an idea…
Colin Furze — This crazy English engineer might as well be straight from a comic book! He literally has the most insane ideas and then creates them. From a bike made of springs to Wolverine claws to a hovercraft bike, he just goes to town with his inventions!
Sexy Cyborg — This voluptuous Chinese lady builds awesome things mostly tech orientated wearables. She showcases Shenzhen, the manufacturing capital of the world.
Marques Brownlee — He is one of the most respected tech reviewers on youtube. His channel is known especially for reviewing smart phones and other tech. Super clean slick style with clear narration and format.
Tech Linked — Great for daily tech updates. Super casual and hilariously unserious
Unbox Therapy — Unboxing tech products with a blunt but honest review style
Entertainment
Well we gotta chill and relax sometimes right? I’m a huge Overwatch and Hearthstone fan, two games which are super different which I think is great! I’m also into film analysis and random sciency stuff. And to top it off, I cant get enough of memes, so bring on the king of youtube, and rightly so in my opinion…
Aimbot Calvin, Kandy Rew— Calvin is a unstoppable badass at Overwatch, Kandy not so much but pretty hilarious
Kripparian, Disguised Toast — Both titans of Hearthstone, Kripp more so an arena player and Toast more known for his interesting interactions (meme style) discovery videos
Did You Know Gaming, Core-A Gaming — Both analysis and historical factual channels about gaming. DYNG is more focused on the history and developers of games where as Core A is more on the theory and has more biased towards analysing fighting games
The Take (formerly ScreenPrism), Wisecrack, Nerdwriter — I love these great film analysis channels, they really tell us so much more about movies that you probably never noticed before. Sometimes its hard to quantify why you or reviewers might like, or dislike a film and these guys are great at explaining why.
Dan Mace, Casey Neistat — Superstar Vloggers, both are filmmakers so they have amazing edits and record their lives in interesting ways. Kinda made the drone shot overlooking New York a popular thing, what a view!
H3H3, Jarvis Johnson, PewdiePie — Last but not least these channels analyse other ridiculous channels and reviews videos and memes! Its insane to think that at this point Pewdiepie has 80 million subscribers, but his last year of content has shown that he’s truly doing videos that he enjoys, and that genuineness has increased his popularity.
Also, subscribe to Pewdiepie lol.
Whats your favorite channels? I’m always open to adding to my collection and learning more! Leave suggestions in the comments below!
I’ll be focusing more on tech snippets in React next time, so until then have a great one!
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