Holiday Vibes

Ten years ago, I came across this music video with an electronic beat to it that instantaneously became an earwig of mine. It was catchy in that generic pop-song way and the music video was entertaining. But that world is long gone, along with the location in the video. Any locals of the area will tell you that the entire block it was made on is now unrecognizable. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that good memories last forever regardless of the present circumstances. I know some folks tend to get introspective during the holidays when they (hopefully) have a little bit more time to themselves.

I espouse everyone to go outside throughout the year, but there’s also an argument to be made for bringing nature indoors. The easiest way to do that is obviously getting some sturdy succulent house plants and placing them around your living space. If you have the drive, skills and patience however to step up your game; then maybe try a terrarium. This particular video is on the higher skill ceiling side, but the awesomeness of what “could” be possible should hopefully motivate you to give it a shot. Or at least spend money for someone else to do it for you!

There are a lot of “survival” style content creators on YouTube. Frankly, a lot of them are also obnoxious. Xander is not one of them. There is no clout chasing, close up of his junk and butt, or reasons why he’s doing this because he needs to feel “alive” again from his every day billion-dollar lifestyle. He’s also not an aging boomer angry at the world letting them know everyone else is wrong. He’s just a chill Canadian who enjoys the wilderness, and he brings you along best he can. He’s also a bit quirky, which adds to the charm of it all.

I met a lot of folks earlier in the year during my physical rehab from 2023. People from various walks of life in various stages of fitness. I was shocked to see how many workouts there were for different stages of capabilities. This spurred me to motivate others I knew for a very long time who always found excuses not to move; especially hiding behind reasons such as time or financial worries. If you have a chair, you can work out. More importantly, anyone of any ability can get these movements done in a short amount of time. If my then crippled, semi-blind husk of a body got through 2023 / 2024 doing whatever I could - you super strong lads and lasses can certainly do better. Don’t make it a goal for 2025. Make it one for life.

It wouldn’t be winter here in North America without some type of ice related video. So, I thought a virtual train trip from a Japanese guy going through the American rail system would be awkward and fun enough to suggest viewing. Although this is a cozy “no commentary” video, the captions are full of snark and dry humor. Solo Travel (he has multiple channels) has been going throughout the world for a long time now, so he’s a veteran and edits his videos well. You can check out all his other stuff for cozy atmospheric travel stuff.

Artist is Love Cacao

I know I typically don’t put super risqué stuff on the monthly updates anymore, but this entire update has been so wholesome I need to bring some balance back to the universe. Artist of the month is Love Cacao, because their quality is exactly the stuff you can make gacha video games out of. Enjoy the portfolio, and they of course pass the “Art Station” test of being a good artist. Seriously some S rank stuff on that platform compared to the others. Have a great holiday season and New Year’s Eve! January will be the yearly retrospective.

Nerdy November

Over the years, I always make a habit of reminding most folks that true “nerds” are exactly that. It isn’t a prerogative, but rather a descriptive term for someone who’s really into what they’re doing - that may involve math and science. If you ever needed to know how a game made back in 1992 functioned to the letter, than nerds like Displaced Gamers will answer all your questions, and then some. They also remind me what a talentless hack I am and know nothing of the world, but I’m happy just to exist with people as dedicated as them.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have nerds so good at what they do they can reverse engineer things. Although Primitive Technology doesn’t need an introduction (look at his subscriber count), I will vouch for the man that he was one of the originators of this type of content. More importantly, he wasn’t one of the many impostors who came later with dedicated camera crews and clever editing. In either case, don’t sell yourself short (literally) in what you can accomplish with some ingenuity and your bare hands.

It seems like every single day you hear some dire news somewhere in the world that a database has been breached. I can tell you that the biggest threat to your online personal security really comes from human mistakes rather than sophisticated means. Still whatever the cause is, it only takes a few steps to get your security on a software level up to par. Ken Harris has a quick guide to get you up to speed, and I highly recommended it for the list of free software alone you can use.

Ever felt some video games are better watched than played? Maybe it’s just not your personal favorite genre or maybe you’re strapped for time and can’t play anything this month. Whatever the reason is, there’s always someone out there making some sort of “theatrical” full video of any game you can think of. And as someone who’s knee deep in multiple gacha games at any moment, sometimes it’s nice to just watch other folks tell me a story. Popular no commentary playthrough channel Shirrako has you covered for most AAA game titles. Better yet, he’s really good at them and a step above the rest when it comes to skill.

Everyday people keep complaining about “AI” paving the way to take over the world. Frankly speaking, I have yet to see anything worthwhile actually be created other than the masterpiece you see in the video above. Countless billions of dollars being thrown into corporate blenders to see who can make the first completely AI generated video about an obviously natty Gordon Ramsay. I’m not sure what everyone else is mad about, but I for one welcome this new future. JACKSFX by the way has many more videos for you to enjoy.

Artist is Akira Hiramoto

I try to be less degenerate when it comes to the monthly updates, but I still want to give credit where credit is due. In our case, Akira Miramoto is artist of the month bringing us such wacky (and amazing) characters like Meiko Shirako in his works. If your normie friends haven’t watched Prison School yet, I suggest it’s a good gateway drug into the non-mainstream hipster stuff.

Actually Spooky And Strange

Not sure what it is about 2024, but there were a lot of instances where I came into uniquely strange or downright spooky stuff throughout the year starting all the way back in January. Sakura Stardust kicks off the monthly update bring you a binge-worthy iceberg compilation of strange stuff from the land of the rising sun. Even though I’m giving you the appetizer that ironically is bigger than the main course, I make no apologies about it because it’s worth a watch alongside her other content if you like strange “weeaboo” related topics.

Although I’m not a huge fan of fictional works, the SCP Foundation is an exception to this rule. It’s a good call back to the days where people only had their imagination and their way with words in order to tell a good story. Sometimes these stories can be downright disturbing if given enough time to conceptualize what is being told and believe me when I say that it’s really hard to conceptualize a lot of stuff in the SCP lore universe. Thankfully TheVolgun adds a lot of visuals and narrative context to give you an idea of what you might be thinking, and it is indeed horrifying.

If you’ve been living under a rock for a very long time, chances are you probably never heard of Wendigoon. Although I have mentioned him once this year in an earlier weekly update, I’m doing it again because he is one of the coziest in terms of paranormal and horrifying non-fiction content. There’s A TON of stuff on his channel, each one worthy of a separate mention - so stop wasting time over here and get at it if you haven’t done so already.

I was a bit hesitant to recommend Grief (even though I’ve actually talked about his channel before) due to the fact that his content can be extremely disturbing for some folks. That being said, some might argue that true crime is even more depressing since it’s based on real events, while most of Grief’s topics are in the realm of fiction. To that end, for the month of October I would find no better channel to recommend if you really want the “harder edge” stuff when it comes to anything macabre or disturbing. As a side note, Grief himself is an excellent content creator, and I just wanted to separate the art from the artist in terms of explaining my reservations earlier. As someone (Grief) who also gets the YouTube demonetization strike often, please consider supporting his work on his Patreon.

Artist is Ryouta Magaki / 犬ころ

Closing off with artist of the month, the prolific Ryouta Magaki. A note of waring that their pixiv page is extremely NSFW and full of stuff from their talented years of work. I particularly like his style since it’s nostalgic to me back during the early 2000’s era where the “small soft eyes” look was in vogue. Hope you enjoyed this content packed October update!

I'm Getting Too Old

This month is all the stuff that reminds me that I’m old, cause I find it interesting. I’ll try my best to make it relatable to all of you without going off the rails too much, and hopefully you find some usefulness out of it. We’ll start off with some weird tech that I thought was 100% a scam product category. So apparently in recent years, personal “air conditioner” devices are a thing. I thought they were those cheap neck fans that have been around forever. But apparently, they actually have Peltier technology in them and cool your neck and face. Additionally in Japan, there has been innovations in developing a lot of personal cooler devices (and even clothing!) to help beat the day-to-day heat. I’m actually curious how these products actually work out and have plans to look into the Reon Pocket if it ever goes on sale over here in the states (I need an easy return policy if I don’t like). If any of you have personal experience with these particular units, please let me know in the comments.

Consumer product testing channel Project Farm recently did a fun little video looking at YouTuber merch (shirts) to see which ones held up and which ones didn’t. If you wish to skip the intro and head straight into the testing portion, it starts at 5:13 in the video. Considering these shirts on average cost $30 to $50 shipped, you would expect a lot of them to be pretty durable and last a while. Surprisingly the results are all over the place, and you can watch the video for the finer details.

There use to be a saying on the internet that states, “Just Google it”. Well that saying doesn’t really have any weight anymore in 2024. Google as a search engine is absolute garbage in the modern era, and I highly recommend you look up an alternative if you actually want to find anything useful nowadays. My personal choice is DuckDuckGo or Brave Search - but whatever other option you like - stick with it and encourage others to make the switch. I would also switch browsers away from Chrome, if possible unless you want your ad blockers to slowly one by one be banned.

I’m a huge fan of silent (or minimal talking) travel vlogs around the world. They allow you to experience a place you’ve never been before with as much immersion as humanly possible. There’s a time and place for narration and a host for sure, but excessive commentary on top of grating music can ruin any first impression of a place quite quickly. So, I was delighted to stumble across this video of an atmospheric tour of Minatur Wunderland in Germany with no music or host talking. It combines two minor hobbies of mine into one - silent travel vlogs and miniatures / models. It’s a bit on the lo-fi side of life, and I hope you find it equally enjoyable when you need to unwind a bit.

Artist is Gil Elvgren

Artist of the month is the late Gil Elvgren who passed in 1980. Since this update was really Gen-X boomer focused, I might as well link my very first pin-up poster I had in college at the age of 18! Although not the exact same image I had back in the day, I still remember the on-campus store owner who sold me the poster and the funny conversation we had because of it. You can click on the picture for a link to Nylon.Net who has an entire archive of Gil Elvgren’s works!