Coury's Column - Some YouTube Shows I Like (week of 8-16-2020)

Hey everyone, hope you're doing OK on this late summer day. Man, I can't believe Summer is coming to an end. I know its cliche, but remember when Summer seemed like it lasted forever? Summer of 69 lyrics aside, its true. Even with the amount of quarantining my family has been doing, its seemed to go super quick.  My kids go back to school next week, but their school is doing 100% virtual for the time being. I'll miss the first week due to me driving down to Florida to help my Mom after the knee replacement surgery she is having on Monday morning. Its been a little while since I've visited down there, and I'm driving this time. I've never driven so far, and for so long on my own but I feel like it'll be relaxing - just gonna put on an audio book or 2 and go. 

On the way, I'm making a quick stop outside of Nashville to drop of a couple of PVMs with Steve of RetroTech, for some repairs and tune ups. I have 14L5 with burn in on the screen from being used as a security monitor, and he just happens to have an extra tube for it, so he's going to swap it out. I've also decided to bring him my trusty old 20L5 for a overall recap and tune up. I'm not positive if it needs it, but I figured its best to keep it tip-top while I have the chance. I'll pick up the monitors on my way back at the start of September. 

Once I'm there, I'm not sure how things will go. I will be helping my Mom with whatever she needs - it could be busy, it could not be. I'm going to be bringing all of the footage I've been sitting on way to long of the Electronic Gaming Monthly documentary to really dig in and see if i can get that written and sorted out. Other than that, I'll bring my Switch and see how I can progress in Dragon Quest XI, where I'm sitting around the 33 hour mark right now. 

Before driving down, I'm getting as much done on this EverDrives in 2020 update video done, and will wrap that up when I get back. Current runtime is looking to be around 43 minutes or so... which, of course, is longer than the original ED video. Typical, I guess, even though it covers less overall. Maybe I've just gotten to be too wordy these days, but hey. 

So, the real subject I'd like to share with this week is some of the different shows that I watch on YouTube that not only are great, but that inspire me in various ways. Sure, its a bit tough to stay current with even the stuff I like, but I at least try to keep up with new releases when I can. Anyway, here's a sampling of channels I watch and enjoy, in no particular order. 

1. RetroRGB 

This one probably comes as the least surprising, so I figured I'd get it out of the way first. Bob provides an absolutely invaluable service to anyone who is involved in the retrogaming tech scene. I have no idea how he keeps up with everything, and his weekly roundup videos help keep me in the know of all the important goings-on. 

2. Game Sack 

This is another one that is probably of no surprise. I didn't really start following any YouTube shows closely until I started making one myself. Game Sack was the first one I found (back in 2013) that I felt spoke to my gaming preferences in particular. Upon getting to know Joe since we were first introduced working on The Video Game Years for Retroware TV, its not really surprising - our "lives" in gaming were surprisingly similar. Not in the least because we both chose the Master System over the NES because of Space Harrier. I've been lucky enough to get to know Joe over the years, and yet watching the new episode of Game Sack every other Sunday is still regular part of my routine. 

3. CGQ+ 

I've talked endlessly about how much I love Classic Gaming Quarterly's magazine readthroughs. I grew up reading gaming mags, and revisiting them through the Chris's lens., is. Its also been great to participate in read throughs with him on both live streams and in his own videos. 

But I wanted to take a minute to shine a light on his side channel, CGQ+, which is a more personal - and not always game focused. Since he and I are close to the same age (over 40), much of the stuff he talks about in his flashback series hits me right in the core. Chris is just so good at telling stories and is so well spoken that it makes me incredibly envious. Last year I put on CGQ+ and just let it play, audio only, for an 8 hour car trip. I recommend you do the same.

4. Action Button 

Being a gaming forum dweller at The-Nextlevel.com for years, I was familiar with Tim Rogers often divisive "wall of text" reviews. In written form, they can be intimidating enough to make you not even bother. In video form, they're just about my absolute favorite pieces of content right now. 

I was first exposed to Tim's videos via the trailers he did for a number of games, such as Octodad and Luftrausers 

Tim spent the last couple of years making video content for Kotaku.com   and that's where I really came to appreciate his tangent filled and endlessly prescriptive reviews. At first, his videos seem like a nearly impenetrable fortress, but once you get it, they become the funniest thing I can imagine.  The key to it all is his line delivery. Honestly... every sentence of his voice over sounds like its the most important point of the entire video. And it just gets more and more funny. 

Tim left Kotaku a few months back and started his own channel funded by Patreon. He's done 2 videos for it so far, with both being over 3 hours in length. Since its release, I think I've watched his Final Fantasy VII Remake review all the way through at least FOUR TIMES in chunks. Thats over 13 hours. 

5. Gerald Undone 

One of two main video production channels that I follow. I only discovered Gerald at the start of quarantine but put his stuff on in the background a lot of the time. He reviews a lot of different video tech as well and shares some really neat tips and tricks for those looking to become a better videographer, editor, grip, etc.

His presentation skills are really impressive to me, especially since I don't think he is teleprompted at all. He had an outline, but hes good at just getting the information out. He speaks fast, but never jumbles his words. I'm pretty envious. 

One of the most fun things he did was visit other (big, popular) youtubers and checkout their setups. If you like that sort of stuff like I do, then you'll get into it. I think its just really fun to see how people produce their shows. 

6. Cosmonaut Variety Hour

I discovered this show when I was editing the M2 documentary, and it was right before it really blew up. It just passed 1 Million subs a couple of weeks back.  Marcus covers a ton of different topics, mainly movies - but he also talks a lot about  video games and other stuff.

A glance at the front page of the channel might make you think that "oh its just another negative channel thats full of yelling and complaining." And that would only be sorta true. Theres a lot of interesting criticism here, but I really find most of humor to be extremely fun and on point.... although it does delve into the completely random internet meme stuff here and there, and that doesn't work for me.  

I'll be honest that a big part of my enjoyment of this channel comes from Marcus's  voice and sense of humor being very, very similar to an old friend of mine from when I lived in Buffalo. In my mind, I sorta imagine them being the same person? I like other movie reviewers a lot, but I'm pretty lax with my enjoyment of films - I rarely ever find myself disappointed with a movie. Its for this reason that I latch onto CVH more than others - its fun to take a silly look at a silly movie and move on.

7. Sal 

So, I dunno if I've talked much about it, but being over 40 now, it goes without say that I was a big fan of going to the Mall. I spent a lot of time at them as a teenager, worked at them in my early 20s. I am a big fan of "Mall Culture" in and of itself. But these days, many malls have become empty wasteland of a time gone by. Its sad, but it makes sense at the same time.

The touring of "Dead Malls" have been made popular on YouTube primarily by Dan Bell but I've really gotten into Sal's channel. Although i don't care for the "Stranger Things" style that his openings have, I like that it seems to be scripted versus more of the stream of consciousness than others like Dan and Ace's Adventures has. I think this approach gives Sal to get into the back story of the Malls he talks about. 

The video on the Warren Mall, in Warren PA was the first of his video I watched. This mall was around 30 minutes from where I grew up, so I went there a lot. I have some vivid memories of this mall:  going on my birthday in 1989 where I spent my money on Thunder Force 2 and Rambo 3 for the Genesis I had just gotten for Christmas the day before - and we'd see National Lampoons Christmas Vacation later on that day.  The Aladdin's Castle arcade there, where I played the Neo Geo for the first time (World Heroes) as  well as lots of other classics, like RoboCop arcade. The last time I went there was to see Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back at the movie theater there. 

It was recently torn down, so in my mind, videos like this is like preserving game ROMs and stuff like that. I'm glad that there is someone doing this... if MLiG didn't exist, I wonder if I would have been inspired to do videos such as this. 

-- Well, this took a lot longer than I expected it to. Started writing it on Tuesday, and here is on Friday as I wrap it up.  So there might be a smattering of things you're familiar with here, and things you're not. I'll definitely share more in the future, as I have plenty I didn't mention. 

Anyway, have a good weekend everyone!

Coury