YouTube > Television
In general, I’ve never been a fan of commercial television or movies. There are definitely exceptions — perhaps 50 movies that I love, and some TV series in the past which I enjoyed, but I have a hard time enjoying watching even those now. Mostly it’s that most media is inane or evil (serving the interests of people I hate in the Western world, and China…). I don’t think I’ve watched a new TV series or movie in a year or two; I tried watching The Expanse and it just wasn’t good enough to be worth the time. Even on long flights, I’ll listen to an audiobook or podcast, or read a book, in preference to any video in-flight entertainment system.
I also haven’t gotten into TikTok at all, or short-form video content really (although I recognize that commercially it’s the best place to go right now). I’m much more a book, audiobook, blog, podcast and specific forms of long-form-video guy. Games can be fun too, although only ones where you actually gain from the experience of playing the game, rather than just incrementing counters. Looking forward to interactive models in non-gaming contexts as ways to share information as well.
There are a few specific genres of video that I like.
Cat videos (I follow about 2000 cats, mostly Russian Blue, Bengal, Mau, etc. on IG for this purpose!)
Conference talks — even when I’m attending a conference, it’s rarely possible to see every talk I’d like to see. I also don’t tend to attend conferences too far out of my professional areas of interest, and my interests overall are more broad, so watching them on video is ideal. Especially if it’s something where I’m not as familiar as the rest of the audience, being able to pause and look stuff up is great.
Weird and somewhat obscure topics/technical content, mostly found on YouTube.
For category 3, I haven’t really come up with a good organizing principle, but a simple list of my favorites right now (in no particular order, and not comprehensive):
LockPickingLawyer - a lawyer who picks locks (exactly what it says on the tin), but he’s actually one of the top ~5 lockpickers in the world, and builds his own tools, has great commentary, novel methods of attack, and an incredibly soothing voice while describing what he’s doing.
Wristwatch Revival - pretty amazing amateur horologist who repairs old watches on his channel. Especially cool is that he has a bunch of vintage/specialty tools as well. I know one professional watchmaker IRL, and I love seeing how these mechanical devices work, although I wear an Apple Watch, and mostly just care about function. (I do collect some $50-200 range watches like Vostoks, and would love to get a Grand Seiko and an Omega Speedmaster at some point, though.)
Asianometry - Great videos about various technology topics (many about Asia, and a strong focus on semiconductor manufacturing, the most advanced activity humans have ever
Forgotten Weapons - The man behind the channel, Ian McCollum or “Gun Jesus”, has an amazing knowledge of firearms history and mechanical innovation, as well as a particular interest in the obscure and the French. He has a YouTube channel, but like many gun channels, he’s primarily on other platforms now, since YouTube has stupid policies for which they should be destroyed.
RetroBytes - Reviews/introductions of a bunch of vintage technology — scary that a lot of this stuff are things I remember from earlier in my life, mostly things that were already old in the 1990s, or the first computers I used in the 1980s.
Mike Chen / Strictly Dumpling - Pretty amazing food (and now travel) experiences, biased a bit toward Asian stuff
Wargame-specific channels: My favorite video game, an RTS called Wargame, from a French developer, with a relatively small number of players, has some nerds who are super into the game. Razzmann is one of the best
Louis Rossmann - Apple repair guy who is now big on the Right to Repair movement.
Zeihan on Geopolitics - Peter Zeihan’s short videos (daily!) about a range of economic, demographic, geopolitical topics, often about conflicts.
Technology Connections - Great presentation of older/vintage technology and especially things with weird quirks or development features which are interesting to learn about.
The Chieftain - Irish Former American Army Armor officer who explores various tanks and provides walkthroughs and commentary on design.
Project Farm - Exceptional reviews of products: unbiased, quantified reviews of the kind of products one would use in home improvement, farm use, etc. (drills, generators, oils, etc.)
Ordnance Lab - an FFL/SOT in Texas who does research and development, and demonstrations, on a variety of explosives.
9-Hole Reviews - Excellent firearms reviews from intelligent and high-integrity people.
Brass Facts and Hoplopfheil - Great product reviews for both firearms and especially accessories (optics, comms, etc.) with practical use considerations.
I noticed I have nearly 900 subscriptions in my account (many inactive or very low volume, many which I’d probably prune otherwise), but there are at least 150 channels on YouTube and other video platforms which produce great content I’d not be able to see otherwise. Happy with the explosion of original content in this genre over the past decade — looking forward to what comes in the future as production (AI assisted, better camera tech, etc.) becomes even easier.