This months post is shorter than usual, but there's still a lot of good stuff here. Let's start it off with Lindsey Stirling! I really love the stripped down version of the song. I love her elaborate music video productions, but I also love these videos. I love that she had a song she liked, and just sat down and played it on her violin. :)
Earlier this week I shared my eclipse vlog, a video where things didn't turn out exactly as I wanted, but everything worked out anyway. Turns out, things didn't go as expected for lots of people, Peter Hollens included, but I love that even though he kind of failed at making the video he wanted to make, he put it together and put it out there anyway. It's easy to forget that people who make such amazing content like Peter have days where things don't work out for them either. I loved this little reminder of that. Plus I still loved the song, no matter what happened in the actual video.
Last month I introduced you to Ava Ryan with a video compilation of her character Charlene. Charlene is probably most people's favorite Ava character, but not mine, I do love Charlene, she's hilarious, but my favorite character is Bossy Boss Lady.
Last month I also introduced you to Joe Jeremiah, with his epic 8-bit Steven Universe song. Well this month he managed to top that, doing the theme song to Gravity Falls!
And then he also did a piano cover!
Well, it turns out that my favorite clown was not Simon Cowell's favorite clown, and Puddles Pity Party did not make it to the end of America's Got Talent. I'm sad he lost, but I know this isn't the end for him. A talent like his won't be forgotten easily. I still haven't brought myself to watch his last AGT performance, but I've been keeping up with all his videos on YouTube. Here's his latest.
Let's end this post with Mike Tompkins' latest collab with Peter Hollens. This was my absolute favorite music video all month.
Well, I figured it was only a matter of time after I started doing YouTube before I decided to vlog something. I've been blogging for years, so I guess this was the natural evolution. One could argue that my movie reviews are a kind of vlog, but this was me, actually going out into the world, filming something I was doing.
My cousins and I were planning on going to see the total eclipse for a few weeks before it actually happened. It wasn't until a few days before the event that I actually thought about vlogging it. Until that point I hadn't given vlogging much thought. I thought it might be fun, but it wasn't, and still isn't, something I was planning to do as a regular thing. But for something as big as the eclipse, what better thing could there be to do for a first vlog?
Sarah and I were planning on going by ourselves, but about a week before the eclipse, we found out that Shaina had the day off, so we convinced her to come. The only problem was, by that point, we still hadn't gotten eclipse glasses. I had planned to buy them on Amazon, but then there was that whole scandal with scammers making fake glasses to cash in on the hysteria, so I never got any there. The store I work at had apparently gotten some in, but they had sold out before I even knew we had them, (allegedly, to one person who bought them all, I'm assuming to resell to desperate people) and they weren't planning on getting any more in.
(Side note, that last week before the eclipse was so much fun at work... *sarcasm* SO many people coming in to ask if we had any of the eclipse glasses left. They all said they'd been all over town and we were their last hope. Apparently my store could have cleaned up if they'd had the foresight.)
The Friday before the eclipse we were down to the wire. I started calling all the local stores, going out wider and wider, until of them told me that they'd heard that the Hy-Vee in Council Bluffs had just gotten some in. So I called them and was told that yes, they had just gotten a shipment, but they were down to the last couple hundred pairs, and they weren't able to hold any for anyone. So Sarah and I jumped in the car right then, and drove to Council Bluffs to get some. We had to wait in line for a lot longer than I expected to, at a register where all they were doing was selling glasses, but we got some!
Monday morning was the day of the eclipse, and since I vlogged all that, there's no need to blog it! You can just watch it all here!
As you could probably tell, I was taking pictures while we were there, and I plan to blog them at some point, but I haven't gotten around to editing them yet. I've actually done a LOT of photography this summer, I just haven't gotten around to blogging any of it. You might have noticed, but YouTube has been my main creative focus this summer. :p
While we were driving, we filmed another episode of Wonderland Wednesday, which has quickly become my channel's main series. We had listened to a radio adaption from 1948 while we drove, so I thought it would be fun to do the review as we drove too. :)
I have no current plans to vlog again, but I did enjoy doing it, and I had fun editing the video, so I will probably do it again someday. I definitely don't want to become a daily vlogger, that just sounds exhausting, but if I'm doing something fun, or going somewhere interesting, I could easily see myself doing it again.
Awhile back I talked about making a post dedicated to Steven Universe covers, so here it is! Complete with a (probably) one-time use graphic that I just decided to make an hour before I posted this! I actually started this post months ago, and I just keep adding to it. Steven Universe is such a great show, and it has such amazing music. The composers and song writers are musical geniuses, and so many people have taken notice, you can get absolutely lost on YouTube if you just search "Steven Universe Song Covers." So, since most of you probably don't watch the show and would have no reason to search such a thing, I'll do the work for you and pick out the best ones. Some of the songs will be repeated, but I love different artists takes on different songs.
I'm just going to group these by song, and I'm not going to do introductions to most of the videos because some of these are people I follow all the time, but a lot of others are just ones I've come across online, and I don't really know who they are beyond the fact that I like their cover. Though a number of these people I discovered while researching this post, and I subscribed right away.
And just so you know, this is definitely going to be a long post, so make sure you have the time to watch, or plan to come back. :)
Steven Universe Theme
Is it a cover if it's sung live by the cast? I don't care, I love it anyway. :p
Giant Woman/Let Me Drive my Van into Your Heart
Be Wherever You Are
Comet
Stronger Than You
This has pretty much become the iconic song of Steven Universe. I could probably do a whole post on just this song along, but I won't, I'll limit it to two very different versions.
Did you know that the five second rule is not true? You can leave pickles, bologna, cheese, a wide variety of casseroles, and almost any other foods except baklava, on the floor for at least 2 minutes before any wild bacteria will even begin to muster up the courage to climb on board. #TrueFact
Did you know that the moon used to be a part of earth? It was a land mass located between Australia and Antarctica. The moon people were so annoying that the Australians and the Antarcticians got together to build a giant slingshot, scooped the whole continent out of the water, and launched it into space. The moon people are still mad about that, and are vengefully plotting against Australia. Their Antarctic revenge has already been enacted. #TrueFact
Did you know that dwarves are just children wearing fake beards? #TrueFact
Did you know that leprechauns are just dwarf dwarves? #TrueFact
Did you know that gnomes are just dwarf dwarf dwarves? #TrueFact
Did you know that fairies are just dwarf dwarf dwarf dwarves with wings? #TrueFact
Did you know that the ocean in and around the Bermuda triangle is ruled by an evil dolphin named Frank? He is responsible for all the mysterious phenomena that have happened there over the years. #TrueFact
Did you know that caviar was originally called fish grapes?#TrueFact
Did you know Bigfoot is just a man in a suit? The suit's Armani. It's real nice. #TrueFact
Did you know that Adam Sandler changed his last name before he became famous? His last name was originally Birkenstocker. His father also changed his last name before Adam was born, as his parents' surname had been Flip-Flopper. #TrueFact
I regretted writing that last, exquisitely, excruciatingly horrific pun, almost immediately after it had entered my brain, but it's too late now. It exists, and there is nothing I can do about it. I can only apologize and move on with my life. I am so, so sorry.
