The YouTube sweet spot is that special balance between quantity and quality. The quantity of support from followers is enough to keep the creator excited. The excitement makes for quality content.
I said in my introduction that my discovery of independent creators led me to Steemit. I want to take a moment to promote my current favorite Youtubers. If they get even one subscription from this post, then I have done my job!
Foreigners in China: ADVChina
This channel is the conversations about the day-to-day life of 2 foreigners in China riding about on motorcycles. A South African and an American, both are married and living in China for some years, and both speak Chinese fluently. The conversations and the scenery are, in a way, mundane, but in another way, quite fascinating. And they manage to talk and steer without crashing into anything...
Their points of view are pretty interesting. It is not the commentary of someone that has just arrived and is starstruck by a new environment. Neither is it bitter as can happen to many expatriates. They don’t shy from being critical, but they make sure to talk about the aspects of China that they love.
The comments section has 2 very specific types of trolls. There are Chinese who take every single criticism of China as a dire insult. They generally say something equivalent to, “If you don’t like it, leave!!!” There are Americans who take every single compliment of China as a dire insult against the superiority of American capitalism. They generally say something equivalent to, “Whatever! It can’t be as good as America!!!”
Anime & Manga: Super Eyepatch Wolf
I love it when someone can explain to me why I like something.
I first found anime and manga when I had a back injury that kept me in bed for 2 months. I was in too much pain to sleep well, so I had about 20 hours a day of needing to distract myself. Somehow, I found anime. I devoured the Top 30 Anime list at The Cart Driver blog, and I have never looked back.
Unfortunately, The Cart Driver is nearly inactive though it still does new season previews. Fortunately, Super Eyepatch Wolf fills the void. When I first saw his video “Why You Should Watch Hunter x Hunter,” I was enrapt. It explained exactly why I love that series so much in terms and contexts I would probably never have thought of.
From character design, production values to plot structure, he reveals new ways for me to understand the genre that I love so much. When he does a “Why You Should Watch…” I really do want to watch it. That is how I found the sublimely insane spectacle that is "JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.”
I love me some Super Eyepatch wolf.
Mixed Martial Arts: MindSmash
MMA has always had a certain allure for me, and as brutal as it may seem, it has become an incredibly nuanced sport over the last 10 years. In the States, I loved inviting friends over to watch the latest UFC event on Pay-Per-View or going to a sports bar to eat wings and watch it on the big screen. In Europe, most live UFC events are going to start at about 4 in the damned morning, so I sadly lost the habit.
MindSmash has renewed my interest in this sport. In his short and digestible videos, he may highlight a certain fighter, a certain fight, or a certain technique over several fighters. His knowledge of the sport is DEEP. Furthermore, each video supports the commentary perfectly with slow motion shots that demonstrate exactly the point being made. Finally, the narrative is clear and coherent for each video. You get pulled right along until the very end.
Augmented Reality Games: Night Mind
First of all, I want to make a YouTube channel consisting of precisely one video: 20 hours of Night Mind’s voice. It would be for helping cure people of insomnia.
I mean this in the best way possible.
His voice is silky smooth with just the slightest hint of glib irony. His voice is evocative of a late night, easy-listening DJ that moonlights as a used car salesman (uh… maybe “daylights” in this context). But somehow more like the used car salesman that makes you feel calm and assured about your decision to fork over your cash for the coming nightmare…
Night Mind reviews ARGs. A writer at Cracked described ARGs, just today, in the following manner:
“If you don’t know, ARGs are a sort of combination of puzzles and marketing materials, and usually take the form of riddle-laden websites.”
Okay, fair enough… But there is a diverse array of ARGs created by independents ranging from the ball-bustingly difficult brainteasers of Cicada 3301 to the Creepypasta-inspired, multi-media fever dreams that are “Marble Hornets” and “EverymanHYBRID.”
I like Horror but not the blood spattered kind. I like Horror that gives you that same nervous feeling you got listening to scary stories around a campfire as a kid. It is a certain sort of terror where every potential lies. A good ARG can give me this feeling, but who the hell has the time to check them all out and sort the wheat from the chaff?
Night Mind does, and he does it well. His commentaries can get long, but I find myself listening to every word. He goes beyond mere description. He really delves into the material, gives a clear and novel interpretation of what he is reviewing, and makes predictions based on his own reasoning.
Every time I hear those words at the end of another video, “Thank you for joining me in the dark again this evening,” I get a little shiver.