Five YouTube Channels I Love

I write about some YouTube channels I love. While most of my output on this site has been fiction, I have done some critical essays, reviews, and some other kinds of posts here and there. One thing I’ve not really embraced, though, is good old fashioned blogging. So for now, I am going to hijack my update category and try to post some blog-type stuff.

I figured a great start for that would be to write about things I like, outside of the rigid structure of Panel By Panel and Graphic Content.

On YouTube

So, yeah. YouTube. I have been a registered user on YouTube since 2006, but never a YouTuber myself. I’ve not branched too seriously into video content, preferring to just find and archive ephemera I find that people post. It’s a fun time capsule with all those little hits of nostalgia. I also find myself watching more material on YouTube than any streaming service I pay for.

I really consider YouTube, as both a platform and concept, to be essential in internet culture and it is something I cover in one of my introductory English classes as a form of resistance and punk aesthetics. Specifically, I have students read Laurence Scott’s piece in The New Atlantic, “In Search of Lost Time on YouTube,” as part of this framing when we do “weird internet video week” near the end of the semester.

Basically, I take YouTube very seriously and I cannot think of a day in recent memory when it has not been part of my life. Yet I don’t really upload much. In fact, any video I have uploaded has only ever been private or deleted in time. I have done a lot of work behind the camera, but I never really produce any videos on YouTube of my own. Go figure.

The YouTube Channels I Love

Anyway, this isn’t about me. Here are five YouTube channels I adore, in no particular order. But these are the channels I keep close to my heart.

Project Kamp

Project Kamp is a project that scratches at a lot of niches that tickle my lizard brain. It is this entertaining documentation of environmentally conscious homesteading, experimentation, and construction projects. It is also a very seasonal channel so when the off-season hits I miss it terribly, which is about a close as any channel on this list gets to a television season model. That just makes the active season all the more exciting for me as it runs.

The long story short, this is a group of young folks out in Portugal who purchased some overgrown land and over the course of several years (5 as of the time I write) have managed the space and taken on sustainable living and building projects. Each season presents new challenges and new faces, as some regulars stick around, while new people join the volunteer program to contribute where they can.

This channel has really appealed to me since I discovered it and it is something I try to watch on Monday mornings to help prepare for the rest of my day. If you want to learn more about Project Kamp, you should definitely check out their website.

Anyway, here are some videos.

Matt Draper

There are no shortage of media analysis YouTube channels out there, and while I subscribe to many, I think I appreciate Matt Draper’s the most. Really, media analysis on YouTube is a 50/50 ratio of insightful commentary or dogshit, media-illiterate’s ramblings about things they have no business commenting on. Thankfully Draper’s channel as a whole is firmly in the former category.

It also helps that, generally speaking, the media he covers is the exact kind of stuff I would love to cover, such as a lot of horror. Matt Draper is probably the reason why I’ve not been to compelled to make my own YouTube channel because I doubt I could do it better. I’d actually love to talk to him one-on-one because we seem to share a lot of similar opinions on the subjects; but it is where we differ that would make for the most interesting conversations. He is definitely a content creator (god I hate that term) that I would love to invite to Supernatural Selection or The Distraction Hole. Matt, if you read this, please email me and we’ll get you on.

If I were to move into YouTube in any form of media analysis capacity, I’d probably follow Matt Draper’s lead, and that is really the highest complement I can give anyone. Plus, his Letterboxd reviews are pretty fun.

How about some videos?

Abroad in Japan

I am not a weeb – Okay, well. I am. Like every white man in his late 30s who likes anime and video games, of course I find Japan interesting and I would love to travel there. I’m just too financially unstable to actually do that. But, I am financially stable enough to afford internet access so I can live vicariously on YouTube, and I really like how Chris Broad’s Abroad in Japan covers his life within the country.

One of my favorite YouTube channels, I appreciate Abroad in Japan for many reasons, not just the exposure to contemporary Japanese culture (though that is probably the primary appeal). I do find Chris Broad to be a very effective filmmaker and documentarian from an ethical and aesthetic perspective. I am not expert in Japanese culture, but it really does appear, from my perspective, that he treats the culture even handedly, especially as a resident who came to the country to teach English and chose to stay there. There is a deep love and appreciation for the country, but there is a real acknowledgement of some social issues that emerge in a culture that to some degrees is fading due to depopulation.

I think Chris Broad is a funny guy and has a great sense of presence in his videos. But it doesn’t hurt he has surrounded himself with some great people in the “Abroadverse” who I am delighted to see in different videos. I also happen to listen to the podcast as well.

Anyway, video time!

Tasting History with Max Miller

Max Miller’s Tasting History is the compromise I made as I could have easily had five food-adjacent channels make up this list alone. I wanted to diversify, but I don’t want this to sound like I am settling on anything. Tasting History is a fantastic series and I firmly believe this would be a top-tier television series if networks weren’t busy having terrible ideas. Just let him keep creative control.

I think of Tasting History as the promise of YouTube as a TV-alternative: polished, well-produced videos that you just wouldn’t ever see on TV, because they’re more creatively uncompromised. It also combines my love of food and history, in the way of shows like Good Eats, back when I cared about Food Network.

But really, it is the little things about the channel that give that “cozy” feel, an almost comfort food. Miller’s polished presentation skills, with a delightful cadence to his speech. His format of breaking up the recipe with interesting history. His very clear facial ticks when he likes or dislikes the food he eats. The Pokémon toys that his partner tucks into the background of his videos. It’s all very wholesome and the videos inform, entertain, and make me happy – and that is everything about YouTube to me.

Also, I want his cookbook. I am not above asking for gifts on my website.

How about some videos?

Patrick (H) Willems

Patrick (H) Willems is the reason I am a Nebula subscriber. I know that I limited myself to one food channel in this list, but for some reason I am okay with two media-analysis channels? Am I a total hack? Probably – but I think the approach Willems takes is distinct enough and the production values are so genuinely good that I see him as a Mr. Rogers of film analysis; a wise man with an imaginative world that surrounds his particular niche.

I am not necessarily going to say Willems is cozy viewing for most. His videos are long (which I appreciate) and his takes can be controversial (because people love to die on pointless hills). But it is the expanded universe he has constructed and his fascinating aesthetics that elevate a form of discord that is frankly synonymous with YouTube at this point. Media analysis on YouTube is largely a swamp of opinion pieces that are structured around regurgitating plots and calling out “plot holes” with little actual genuine discourse worth any merit.. As it stands, YouTube’s greatest sin will always be CinemaSins; a channel that has done irreparable damage to film discourse in general.

But Willems is the antithesis of this trend. Patrick’s videos are smart, backed by great analysis, and include a puppet called Nobbles – so that’s fun. Also, he is completely correct about trains in film.

Here are some great Patrick (H) Willems videos.

… and the rest!

There are many YouTube channels I could talk about, but cutting myself at five seemed like a good idea. But I can of course drop a list of other creators and channels I really like. Gonna keep this one short: a channel and a video.

• Office Hours Live – Tim Heidecker has a call-in podcast show. Love it. Here he is talking to Marc Maron.
• Matty Matheson – That one guy from The Bear runs a cooking show as chaotic as his character. Here are some eggs that fuck.
• Mythical Kitchen – Probably one of the best things to come out of Good Mythical Morning. Last Meals is a wonderful series – here is Trixie Mattel’s episode.
• Phil Edwards – I am a big fan of Phil Edwards, even back to when he was working primarily at Vox. Here he covers Buc-ee’s.
• The Nando Cut – Solid media analysis channel with some takes I don’t agree with at times, but the casting videos can be fun.
• Feral Historian – I just dig the vibes. Here is a video about Starship Troopers and citizenship.
• Night Mind – Nick Nocturn covers all sorts of creepy things like ARGs and unfiction. Here is a video on an Adult Swim project, “Live Forever as You Are Now.”
• Renegade Cut – Leftist analysis and doom vlogging. Politics, gaming, pretty spicy stuff. Here is a video on Planet of the Apes.

At the end of the video… if this were a video…

Thank you for taking the time to read this nutty little “essay” about YouTube channels here on my site. it’s outside of the bulk of what I create here, but I enjoyed writing it and sharing a bit about myself. But what about you?

What are YouTube channels that you adore that you want to share with me? Who produces the must-watches in your day-to-day YouTube trawling? Fire off those suggestions in the comments and feel free to judge my choices.

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