I’m going to continue clearing out the backlog this month of interesting “out of the way” content. One of the things over the years I have talked about on my site is the niche of theme parks being inside the pop culture lexicon. As much as we are all “nerds” to some level and degree, theme parks are kind of a cross between what normal every day folks enjoy, and straight up fanatics / weirdos. I’m not saying any of this in a disparaging way either, since a lot of people all over the world have their own crazy stories about their own local parks, and those who go to them religiously. In North America, it’s easy to see the “plight” of theme parks to be regarded as rich people problems. But it wasn’t always that way, and it’s increasingly become more bizarre as time goes on. In any case, Jenny Nicholson is one of my favorite human beings on the planet for being as quirky (yet extremely detailed) as she is for the content that she makes on themed attractions. If you want to see what crazy rich Americans have done to IPs like Star Wars, please watch the video in its entirety. You’ll get to see how the “1%” live, and how insane (yet fascinating) it all is. It’s a beefy video too, so be warned.
Continuing my tradition of showcasing stuff obviously I should have saved for spooky October things, this is a YouTube channel in Japanese that deals with paranormal stuff. I consider it “junk-food” content that is good enough to watch and be interested in as long as you’re not overly serious about the material. Paranormal stuff outside of North America is more refreshing to watch from someone who grew up in the western world, since a lot of the scary stuff we see can become formulaic over time. In other words, we get our fair share of Victorian ghosts, civil war spirits, sasquatch sightings, and ufos. It’s nice to see unexplained stuff be unrecognizable, in an unfamiliar language with no historical familiar context. It adds to the spookiness of it all and allows us to be curious again of what is out there we don’t know about.
Another “spooky thing in July” thing I wanted to share is basically a YouTube channel dealing with SCP foundation entries and reading them in a narrative way. The channel is called The Exploring Series, and is fantastic for those into story telling; especially when pulling a lot of elements from SCP archives. I have stated many times in previous updates that I tend to enjoy non-fiction stories in my day-to-day interests, but I do appreciate finely crafted fictious storytelling as a form of art from time to time. It helps me develop as a speaker and reminds me to interject emotion and emphasis whenever possible.
Let’s pull ourselves out of the pit of universal horrors and back into the wholesome geek culture of reality. LGR has been a longtime YouTube recommendation on my site for quite some time, but I’m not sure many folks know about his alternate channel called LGR Blerbs. Ever the professional, he puts stuff on there he feels may be too niche on the main channel. I’ve always enjoyed his trip videos specifically, because he shows the nitty gritty of traveling somewhere without all the obnoxious editing or “influencer” style trip vlog. If you like this kind of video, I highly suggest you check out his backlog and recent Chicago trip.
Random synthwave song? You bet your ass I’m going to include one because why not? Especially since this is a cover song and typically already has something going on for it in terms of mass appeal. The modern remix by Scandroid breathes new life into a classic. Check out their other tracks if this one hit a chord with you.
Artist is KyuYong Eom
Artist of the month is KyuYong Eom, someone I previously featured on my site a long time ago but never got the “official” treatment they deserved. That’s because KyuYong’s art is extremely reminiscent of old school fantasy art of the 80’s and 90’s with a little touch of modernism, especially in the look of the character faces. If you look over their portfolio work, you’ll easily find your next D&D roleplaying avatar for sure because they’re that talented.