I’ve been enjoying the YouTube Shorts from Japan Eat, which often feature video game references and, more importantly, numerous restaurants in Japan! Even convenience store food; if it’s edible, it’s eligible, and the variety is fascinating. I’ve discovered some new favorites because this channel sent me looking for them!
Somehow, despite years of watching Smosh videos, I’ve yet to write a post about them! I’d say Smosh is a YouTube channel, but it’s actually three: there’s the main channel, for scripted content; Smosh Pit, for unscripted shenanigans; and Smosh Games, which, as the name implies, is all gaming! I mostly watch the latter two, but I fondly remember the main channel’s Every [Blank] Ever saga, and more recently, the Funeral Roasts in which one of them plays the “deceased” and their friends surprise them (and each other) with hilarious eulogies. There’s a lot of friendly ribbing, including a traditional counter-roast from the “dead”!
Smosh Pit definitely has a similar chaotic energy, with shows like Try Not To Laugh, Eat It Or Yeet It, and Beopardy! They also recently started a Culinary Crimes series, which aligns nicely with my interest in food videos. (So does Eat It Or Yeet It, but Culinary Crimes is collaborative and deductive, whereas Eat It Or Yeet It is more… ah, “hope you get something good, or the bad option isn’t too gross.”) I look forward to seeing them continue it!
Smosh Games, meanwhile, features a mix of board, card, and video games, often with a twist. The Board AF videos remind me of TableTop! Which I really need to rewatch.
Regardless of which Smosh channel you favor, you’ll find them all to be hilarious and hilariously creative.
Last week I talked about Tasting History. Now for a more specific niche: baking recipes from the 1900’s through the 1980’s. This niche is occupied by B. Dylan Hollis, who posts to both TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Naturally, these videos are much shorter than Tasting History’s, but they pack a lot of wit into their brief duration as Dylan blitzes through the cooking process (with no small amount of judgement at the creative decisions involved) and then reacts to the final product! Forever my favorite is Pinto Bean Cake, which I may or may not have memorized by now, and I had enough trouble picking one other example that you get three: Lime Jello Fudge, Prune Whip, and Secret Cornbread! The absurdity of the concepts alone is amusing, but add to it Dylan’s commentary and the fact that some of them are actually good, and you have an ideal recipe for entertainment. (Some are also hilariously bad. Dylan’s face is priceless either way.)
He also does some long-form videos, the longest of which is Food for the Gods, in which he also goes into his process of taking vague vintage recipes and refining them into something specific and replicable for his cookbook, Baking Yesteryear! Where the shorts are super chaotic and packed with wit, the longer videos are calmer and more informational. I happen to like both!
Also, he plays jazz piano. A man of many talents, truly.
One of my favorite YouTube channels is Tasting History with Max Miller. Each video features a different historical recipe, how to make it, Max’s thoughts on how it turns out, and a history segment centered around an ingredient, the era, a specific event… it depends on the recipe!
The mrouzia episode, for instance, stars the origins of the tagine as a cooking vessel. This one in particular imparts so much secondhand excitement, because Max went to Morocco recently and got to explore the culture himself, and you can definitely tell!
That said, all of his episodes are witty and passionate and a joy to watch. Another favorite is Byzantine Honey Fritters, which is mostly about Byzantine food culture, but also features one of my favorite fun facts ever: “[S]ince the majority of Constantinople’s water supply came from far off, they had to do some pretty fancy engineering in order to keep the city watered should the city ever be besieged. And the city was besieged… thirty-four times.” Talk about a smart investment!
Now those both sound fantastic, but not every recipe turns out that well. Like Ancient Roman Jellyfish. The food did not seem pleasant, but the history segment featured the Black Banquet, which I found fascinating!
While I especially loved these three, there are years of videos to choose from, and a Tasting History cookbook if you want to try some recipes yourself. (Side note: the cookbook is organized by parts of the world and then chronologically, which makes so much sense, I love it!) Regardless, if you’re a fan of food, history, and/or food history, I highly recommend giving this channel a shot!
Back in late December when I was gushing about MALINDA, I mentioned that the prince in her music video “Don’t Make Me” is played by Thomas Sanders, “who’s also awesome and should probably get a post of his own at some point.” Well, it took four months to come back around to that little promise, but here we are!
Thomas Sanders is an adorkable YouTube creator (and also formerly Vine, RIP) with an eclectic repertoire of content. I can’t recall which particular song introduced me to his work, but it was definitely his music I found first. That facet of his art is a mix between parodies and mash-ups, like the incredible Friends On The Other Side – Disney Villains Mash-Up, and original songs, my favorite of which is probably Recipe For Me.
Granted, there are a few other songs that would be contenders for that title if they weren’t part of a different talking point: Sanders Sides, an ongoing series featuring… well, Thomas talking to himself, if we’re being honest. But that’s an oversimplification — what Thomas has done is taken different aspects of his personality and turned them into distinctive characters of their own, namely Logic, Morality, the Prince (who represents Creativity), and Anxiety. These characters and Thomas himself then debate various topics together. For instance, A New Year of Lying To Myself has the whole gang questioning the practicality of New Year’s resolutions… in song! If you’re looking for a sampler, that’s the episode you want– it’s got all five of them, and it’s early enough to avoid spoilers, since Sanders Sides has actual inter-episode continuity and dynamic character arcs over the course of the series. (Fair warning, the comments sections are a minefield of spoilers, so you might want to avoid them on the first watch.) You can also, obviously, just start at the beginning of the playlist, which I’ll link to here. Make sure to stick around for the end cards!
I think Sanders Sides is intriguing in large part because it’s a brilliant balance of goofy, quippy fun and meaningful messages. Among other things, several episodes provide tips for managing anxiety, there’s an entire video dedicated to dealing with intrusive thoughts (which is understandably darker than the others, just a warning), and others with discourse on everything from originality as a creator to the balance between the mind and the heart. It’s touching and thought-provoking, but with the right amount of humor to still be lighthearted, and a pace that somehow blends the two perfectly.
It should be noted that I rarely write about books, shows or movies, specifically because I find it difficult to properly express my appreciation of the works without spoiling anything. However, this musical was phenomenal, and I feel it warrants a post. Not about the plot, just a little bit of why I appreciate it. I will, as always, try to avoid spoilers.
I should start by saying that The Secret of My Success is new, and it shows. While the musical is based on a film (which I haven’t seen, so I can’t really compare the two), the casual use of (light) swearing and more traditionally “inappropriate” humor (nothing too crude, and if your children understand it’s not the musical’s fault) mark it as a modern work. So do some of its references — both Barack Obama and Prince Harry were mentioned.
One of the keys to this show is the humor. They make fun of themselves (“Is he singing at me?”) and have plenty of in-character comedic moments, so even though the story actually has a lot of deep, serious messages, you spend the whole performance laughing.
I can’t say much about the serious themes of this show, what made it so clearly modern, or the details I appreciated, because that’s spoiler territory, but I will say that I appreciated how intelligent the kid in this story is. Ernie is eight, which, it seems to me, is an age often written with linguistic difficulties and a lack of situational comprehension. Possibly because I was a precocious child, or just because I was close enough to that age to be interacting with real, live eight year-olds semi-regularly, this portrayal always bothered me. In contrast, Ernie is an intelligent, articulate young man, who, while he still (rightly) acts like a kid, is also aware of what’s going on around him. I can’t begin to pick favorite lines from this show, but Ernie definitely had some good ones.
In short, I really, really loved this musical, and I’d highly encourage you to check it out!
Warning: Sherlock Holmes: Hound of the Baskervilles potential spoilers, for the book, the Hallmark film adaptation, and the BBC Sherlock episode. I did my best to edit out my spoilers, but still, you have been warned.
Perhaps you are one of those people who doesn’t like it when books are adapted into movies. As a general rule, I don’t mind the movie, I just don’t necessarily like it as an adaptation of the book. Watching two adaptations of the same book is even harder, because then you naturally try to compare them. Especially interesting for both films were how they portrayed the setting, Watson and Holmes and – arguably most importantly – how they handled the changes in the plot.
First off, a large factor in how a movie plays out is the setting. When I read the books, I imagined Baskerville Hall as a dark, gloomy place, which it was in the Hallmark film, but only indoors. Outdoors, it was sunny and clear. The BBC version had a slightly creepier feel, with the light blurring across the screen with every transition, accompanied by a soaring sound effect. Baskerville itself looked not nearly as I imagined it, but that’s because they modernized it.
Neither of them captured my expectation of the moor. Rock piles here and there in no way equate to the perpetual gloom and bogs that I had pictured. For the Hallmark, the only satisfactorily creepy shots of the moor were at two different death scenes. For BBC, Dewer’s Hollow was the only place that hit my imagination, with the eerie fog and dark, gloomy trees. That is, in fact, very similar to how I imagined the surroundings for the original Baskerville Hall.
The hounds themselves are another important part of the setting. One reason I found the Hallmark less frightening is that we saw the hound a lot. That hound itself wasn’t particularly frightening, and I felt more sorry for the creature than afraid of it. With BBC, not only was it not revealed until the end, making that much more terrifying, but the hound itself looked freakier. Either way, neither hound was a huge, glowing hell-hound, which disappointed my imagination, but notably relieved my conscience.
One of my favorite things to compare is the characters themselves. With Hallmark, Sherlock was a very exaggerated speaker, more so for the beginning than the end. This made him harder to understand when he spoke, and I was very disappointed with how little we could see of his thought process. In BBC, Sherlock was again exaggerated, not in his words but in his character. There was much more drama with Sherlock’s general personality, and I appreciated watching him think. It made some of the deductions easier to follow.
Watson was also very different in each film. The Hallmark Watson was older and quieter, whereas the BBC Watson was younger and very vocal. He wasn’t leading the investigation, but I feel that, – noting Sherlock’s presence at the scene – he tried to be as useful as possible. Both Watsons were willing to argue with Holmes, but I found the BBC Watson much more interestingly done. (This may just be because I like Martin Freeman as an actor, though.)
The Sir Henrys were also very different. In the Hallmark, I was very impressed. When I read the book, I kept forgetting that he lived in North America, but the movie showed his slow transition to a British life in a way that worked well for me. I wasn’t particularly impressed with BBC Henry, though. They portrayed him as an Englishman with psychological issues, as opposed to an heir who was brand new to the area. That said, BBC did stick with the death of a relative as (at least part of) the reason for the case.
In all probability most interesting is how the interpretations dealt with changes of plot. Hallmark didn’t have many. They changed the town of Coombe Tracey to Grimpen, the ending was slightly altered.
The BBC film was more “inspired by” than an “interpretation of” the book. They played on the names, changed the genders of many of the characters and changed the villain of the story. The crime was centered around a completely different basis, as we find out, and the whole reason Sherlock took the case comes down to wordplay and a glow-in-the-dark rabbit. This isn’t to say that the BBC Sherlock is bad, it’s just very different.
Overall, the two plots were both the same and very different. They had different portrayals of the settings, the characters and the overall plot, and yet you can tell that they are both based off of the same tale. What would be interesting is if Sir. Arthur Doyle was alive today, so that we could show him both adaptations and get his opinions. Personally, I liked both in different ways. I generally don’t like jump-scares, so the BBC film was a little concerning, but because of how early Hallmark revealed the hound, it didn’t have the thrill of the BBC. If you are watching for faithfulness, watch Hallmark, but if you are watching for relatability, watch the BBC version.
Who? Rhett and Link are YouTubers. They’re best known for the daily talk show, Good Mythical Morning, where they either learn about, or, more often, try different things, mostly food. They frequently try foods blindfolded or just without being told what they’re eating and then have to guess what it is. Some examples are Whole Foods vs. 99 Cent Store, Blind Fast Food Sub Sandwich Taste Test, The Blind Chicken Nugget Taste Test, and, one of my favorites, The Ultimate Water Taste Test.
They do “International” taste tests (International BBQ Taste Test here) where they taste something from one of the countries highlighted on their map, and then not only have to guess where it’s from, but throw a dart at that place on the map. The darts are scored on how close they are to the correct answer, and the player with the lowest score wins (like golf).
Other times, they’re testing assorted “Hacks” (Crazy Airplane Cocktail Hacks). Sometimes they have guests on the show, such as Feel & Squeal Challenge ft. Hank Green, The What If? Game ft. Daniel Radcliffe, Duo or Don’t-O ft. SMOSH, and Christmas Song Challenge ft. Jack Black.
Not only do they have a talk show, they also do skits and music videos! Some skits are The Puzzle, BFF’s, and Campin’. Their music videos include My OCD, the Graduation Song, BFF (not to be confused with the skit BFF‘s), Tough Decisions (A Whale Is Gonna Die), and Just Being Honest, just to name a few. They’ve also started a thing called SongBiscuits where they write a song with a fellow musician and then perform it. One of my favorites of these is the Cat’s 9 Lives Song. You can find the video where they write and perform it here and the animated song here.
As great as their talk show is, I prefer their music, mostly for timing, since their show is usually somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes, whereas their songs seem to cap at 5. But whichever you’re watching, they’re still light-hearted and silly.
“Okay, okay, I know this channel is supposed to be all positive and stuff, but there’s no way for him to possibly put a positive spin on that. Oh… I stand corrected.” And that, my friends, is CinemaWins in a nutshell. He posts 60-second spoiler-free reviews of new movies, but I honestly don’t pay much attention to those. They’re good; they’re just not the main attraction.
So what is the main attraction? Most of his videos are titled “Everything Great About” and feature a film. These are exactly what the title implies: clips of the movie with his comments on what make it so great, or sometimes, just the sound of the “Wins” counter in the corner of the screen dinging as it increases. Some of his comments are short, with only one or two words necessary (“Hugging,” “Teamwork,” and “Honesty” are some common ones) and sometimes they’re short paragraphs explaining why the particular scene was so good.
Usually, he saves the really long speeches for the end, when he reviews the movie as a whole, adding points for overall plot. The Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone video had a lightning round at the end, called The Many Faces Of Ron Weasley, and the Rogue One episode had a special “Wins” counter for K2SO. At the end of the video, he displays the Total Wins, plus a special “Award” with something funny. For example, Moana‘s award was “Shark Head!” and the Avenger‘s award was “Shawarma!” This is followed by the scene the award was referencing. I think it’s a cute ending to the video.
What I love about this channel, most, though, is the way that he (“The CinemaWins guy”, as I generally refer to him) can always put a positive spin on things. It’s an admirable trait, and the way he uses it adds humor to the positivity, making his videos a joy to watch.
In the world of obsessive fandom (where I have been stranded for years), sometimes we like to write our own endings for films. Sometimes, it’s because we think that our ending makes more sense, and sometimes it’s just plain funny. HISHE (How It Should Have Ended) uses a combination of both in their videos. I don’t think I need to say this, but I will anyways: these videos contain spoilers, so don’t watch them if you don’t want to know how the film ends.
I first ran into HISHE years ago, when my mother showed me the Frozen HISHE. Since then, I’ve scrolled through on my own, watching as many videos as I could. They’ve created two new places, the Super Café and the Villain Pub. At the end of the video, if the good guys win, they frequently hang out at the Super Café with Superman and Batman. If the villain wins, they can be seen bragging about it to the others at the Villain Pub. Each of these settings also has their own little compilation of videos, grouping together all of the clips from the previous videos (Super Café 1, Super Café 2, Villain Pub.)
When they’re not busy rewriting stories and pulling running gags (“Because I’m Batman!”), HISHE also does musical parodies. There’s the Sound of Violence (Batman, compilation), Here Comes My Arrow (Yondu, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2) which is actually the extended version of the one that played in the video, Not Worthy (Thor, compilation), and The 12 Days of Christmas (Villains in Villain Pub, assorted films).
You may have noticed that the videos I linked to have different styles of HISHE logos before them. So far, my favorite is the one that appears in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 and Spider-Man Homecoming.