Watch This! (November 2019 - But like, in April 2020)

Hey! A new video sharing post! If you're wondering about the title, it's because I started this post in November, and then kind of forgot about it. I had so much going on last year that my blog definitely fell by the wayside, but I'm going to try to be a bit more active on it this year. I'm not making any promises, but I am going to try.

And I'm definitely not going to promise more of these kinds of posts, they're probably on the low end of my priorities, but since I had this one started, I figured I might as well finish it. So let's just jump into it!

Since this is April, let's start with a video from this month. Peter Hollens' April Fools video! This was originally teased as a cover of Billy Eilish's Bad Guy, not whatever this video became. But I love a good Rick Roll. 😆



And because Peter Hollens and Lindsey Stirling have consistently been two of my favorite YouTube musicians for most of the past decade, it's only fitting that I start the post with both of them. Lindsey put out a few songs toward the end of last year, but this one was probably my favorite. In going back to put this post together, I listened to it in it's entirety at least 4 times in a row.



Rosanna Pansino is mostly known for her baking videos, but she also can sing! Including opera! This was just a short, one-off video she did last year, but I hope she keeps it up!



Avi Kaplan keeps putting out amazing music. As sad as it was when he left Pentatonix, at this point, I am so glad he did. I really love his solo music.



And speaking of Pentatonix spin-offs, not that he's left, he hasn't, but Scott Hoying has a new project - except he's not actually the one doing the singing! He has put together a kid's choir, and they are really good!



And then of course because I really like Bohemian Rhapsody for some reason, here's their mash-up of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and Somebody to Love.



I absolutely love it when Postmodern Jukebox does something really out of the box. Their jazz covers of Lady Gaga or Motown versions of Katy Perry are good, but when they do a jazz/tap-dance medley of songs from the Super Mario Brothers video games? I am all over that!



If you follow my video sharing posts, then I'm sure you know how I much I love the music of Steven Universe. A few years ago I made a giant BLOG POST of all my favorite covers of songs from the show. Now, as much as I'd like to do another post like that, I really don't have the time to comb YouTube again, so I will just share a couple covers that came out after last year's Steven Universe: The Movie was released.

There was a ton of great music on the film, it was a full on musical after all, but there was one song that I've played over and over since the movie came out, Other Friends. And soon after the movie was released, a couple of my favorite music cover channels put their own spin on the song, Video Game Remixes and Caleb Hyles. Normally I'd just do one here, but you know me, I love multiple versions of things, so I'm including both. Like most musicals, the lyrics don't make complete sense out of context, but who cares. I love it anyway. 😆





These posts have mainly been a way for me to share music or comedy I really like, but I saw this video and had to share it. It's made entirely out of photographs that people had posted online. It's amazing.



I have loved Pogo since I first discovered one of his Disney remixes back when I first "discovered" YouTube. Last year he did a remix of my childhood favorite film, Bambi, and it was everything I could have hoped for.



Walk off the Earth has come a long way since they started on YouTube, but this video really seems to be getting back to their roots. Specifically their roots of crowding a big group of people around one oversized instrument, and all playing on it together. :)



The Piano Guys did a collab with DoodleChaos, a channel who'd made a couple of classical-based videos I'd seen online, but always on a third party site like Facebook or Reddit, that never gave credit to them, so I didn't even know who they were. I am so glad The Piano Guys reached out to do this collab with them, otherwise I might never have discovered them for myself!



I think that'll be where I quit for now. I could probably add more, but I (re)started this post at the beginning of the month, and I haven't touched it for like a week, so I should probably just get it out there. I won't make any promises about doing another post soon, even a tentative promise like last time, but I probably will do one eventually. I enjoy putting these together, but I have other projects that are taking up more of my time at the moment, so I'm giving my own work priority. And hopefully I'll have some of my own stuff to share soon. :)

This Christmas Online (2017)

This is basically a last month online post, but with only Christmas videos. So I did the only logical thing and made an entirely new logo for it.

I will warn you in advance, that this is going to be another rather long post. I follow a lot of artists, and quite a few of them decided to release Christmas albums this year, (Or deluxe versions of last years' albums) so there was a lot of new music! I've tried to whittle it down to only my favorites, but, you know, I can only whittle things down so far... :p

We'll start with a Lindsey Stirling one, because she started early. Like, in October.



But then, so did Pentatonix.



It's still sad to see them without Avi, but they're still as good as ever.

And of course Peter Hollens did a bunch of new music as well.



As did the Piano Guys.



And Taylor Davis



And Voctave



Even Sia released a Christmas album! I absolutely loved this video, and it might actually be my favorite video this year. I was not expecting that many cameos, and I just loved that it featured Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard. :) The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have Kristen actually singing with Sia, instead of just lip-synching to her vocals. Oh well, I loved it anyway. :)



I don't normally care much about Hollywood marriages, but there's just something about Kristen and Dax that I love. :) Side note, wouldn't he be perfect for a Mr. Rogers bio-pic? Just look at him in that cardigan! They're practically twins! :p

Blimey Cow recently put out a Christmas themed video with some of my favorite brand of satire. :p I especially loved that they were picking apart of that awful "Christmas Shoes" song, and I about died laughing at the "Happy Holidays" segment. Sadly, I know too many people like that.

Let's do another Lindsey Stirling one, because I have several of those to share. I may even save the least Christmas related one for the next Last Month Online post, because I just have so many.

And another Peter Hollens

Another Piano Guys.

Walk Off the Earth did a great version of Deck the Halls! I love the creative, different ways they do all their videos! How cool would it have been to randomly be on that plane with them!

Nick Pitera recently put out a Christmas EP, and I just loved this song he did with Susan Egan.

And Mike Tompkins did a great Home Alone Medley.

Studio C has put out a few Christmas skits this month, but this one about killed me. XD

The "Missionaries" scene is even funnier when you remember that the Studio C team are Mormon themselves. I love that they keep a sense of humor about things like that. :)

Lets do one more Pentatonix before we close this. This was one of my favorites of all these Christmas songs. It's still sad that Avi has left the group, but they seem to have found a great replacement. I'm looking forward to hearing what else they do with him.

And we'll close the way we opened, with a Lindsey Stirling song. One of my favorite Christmas songs, and I love her spin on it. :)

This Month in Internet (May 2017)

Let's start this post by getting the bad news out of the way first. Remember in my last post how I was so excited that Avi Kaplan was starting a side project in addition to Pentatonix? It isn't a side project. He is leaving the group. I should have known, but I didn't think it was possible. As long as they find another bass as good as Avi, Pentatonix can survive without him, but it won't be ever quite the same. Anyway, here's the next song from his new EP. It's amazing. As sad as I am about PTX, I know Avriel & the Sequoias is going to be amazing.



Okay, let's lighten the mood a bit, shall we? Here's a sketch by Studio C that has me in stitches every time I watch it. And I've watched it quite a lot. :p



You haven't lived until you've listened to Steve Urkel as remixed by the amazing remix master extraordinaire, Melodysheep.



Here's something quite a bit different. I recently discovered a YouTuber who goes by the name Peter Draws, as that is what he mostly does. However, there is no drawing in this video, but it's one of the best videos he's ever made. And make sure you watch until the very end.



Lindsey Stirling has been busy. She released several videos and a full length documentary this month! This was her best video of the month, a thematic sequel to her Shatter Me video.



And then The Piano Guys came back with a bang! This is their best video in ages!



And the trifecta is complete with an amazing new Peter Hollens video! You're Welcome, from Disney's Moana, with Andrew Huang!



Then Blimey Cow released a new Homeschoolers video, several points of which were, as usual, uncomfortably real. :p



And speaking of real, this video from Glove and Boots, BEAUTIFULLY explains my social media policy. It uses a little more language than I myself would, so, fair warning, but the sentiments expressed are exactly how I feel.



Next, we have a brand new video from the other remix master extraordinaire, Pogo!

Next up we have an AMAZING video from Funny or Die. However, unless you and I share a similar taste for absurd humor, you are unlikely to find this as side-splittingly hilarious as I do. Side note, have I ever mentioned how much I love Louie Anderson? The man is a treasure.



And finally, we have a brand new, amazing video from Puddles Pity Party. Normally when I feature the most amazing clown in the universe, it's with Postmodern Jukebox. Not that he's not good on his own, it's just that he's usually at his best with the musical styling of Scott Bradlee and Co. Well not this time! This video was (mostly) on his own and it's amazing!!! Side note, P³ is on this season of America's Got Talent! I am so excited! I hope he goes all the way!



And that was May! There were a few more videos than I normally put in one of these posts, but it's probably going to vary from month to month, depending on how many great videos I see. This month we had a lot of great ones! I'll see you again in June!

The Internet is Awesome 25 - Year End Extravaganza!

It's my last post of the year! And as such, I decided to make it almost twice as long! No special reason, except that I still have a ton of videos saved that I need to use in posts. :p

Let's start off this final post with another Hollens Disney song. They are just magical together. :)



Leave it to Kurt Hugo Schneider and Kina Grannis to come up with something like this. I already loved this song, but this unique spin on it is just so good.



This next video is an utterly amazing rendition of Danny Elfman's Spiderman theme done spectacularly by Lindsey Stirling and Lang Lang. It is so incredible. It makes me nostalgic for the days when we actually had memorable themes and scores in movies.



I have a bit of a confession. I have never really liked the song Danny Boy. I've always thought it was way too schmaltzy, and even years ago when my favorite artists like Charlotte Church or Celtic Woman covered it, I just wasn't that impressed. I don't think it's a bad song, I just never cared for it. I actually cared so little for it that when Peter Hollens announced he was starting an email newsletter and giving away an exclusive track to anyone who subscribed, I was so disappointed and actually did not subscribe when I found out that it was Danny Boy. Then he released a video. I couldn't believe it. For the first time in my life, I LOVED a version of Danny Boy. How foolish I had been. I immediately went and signed up for his newsletter to get the track. :p



Pentatonix's Scott Hoying and Mitch Grasi, who have been best friends since they were little kids, have had their own YouTube channel for years now, Superfruit, on which they normally post vlogs and challenge videos, but lately they've been putting out some great stuff, including this cover of a Katy Perry song. Hopefully they keep this up! As entertaining as they can be when they aren't busy as part of Pentatonix, they are at their best when they are singing.



Recently there was a Disney movie called The Queen of Katwe released in theaters. It is about a girl from Africa who becomes a chess champion. It sounded really unique, and I wanted to go see it, but I pretty much never have time to go to the theater. However, Disney released a song from the movie on their Vevo channel, and it is amazing. I was tempted to buy the soundtrack based on this song alone. I didn't, because I like to see movies before I start buying their merchandise, but still, how great is this song!? Now I need to see this movie!



A couple months ago I discovered a British show called Yonderland. It is about a 30-something mother of two that gets sucked into a portal in her pantry to a magical land where she has to fight monsters and save the world. And also it's full of songs and puppets. It's like they made it for me. :p This song was one of the best parts of the show.



Pogo has been one of my absolute favorite electronic remix artists for years, and this video is everything I love about him.



I heart Tessa Violet.



I love it when my favorite things collide into one giant mashup of awesome! Twenty One Pilots, Kurt Hugo Schneider, and VoicePlay!



This song is literally everywhere, but thankfully everyone seems to put a new spin on it, and the Piano Guys are no exception. :)



Technically Pentatonix did this song for their new Christmas album, but I've never thought of this song as a Christmas song, so it didn't go in my Christmas post. Either way, they killed it. :)



Everything that Bad Lip Reading does is incredibly stupid. But for some reason I can't help but love it anyway. This song was one of my favorite things they have done in ages. It's so dumb, but so catchy. Also, I almost died laughing at "That log had a child!"



We'll end this with another amazing video from Lindsey Stirling. And she's themed it around Alice in Wonderland. This video is everything! :D

Disney+YouTubers

YouTubers all over the internet have been covering Disney songs a bit more frequently lately, so much so, that I thought they deserved their own post, apart from my semi-regular TIIA posts.

First up we have Peter Hollens, of course. Only he could do Let it Go from Frozen, and make it feel completely new. :)



Then we have his wife, Evynne, who, along with another YouTuber, Malinda Kathleen Reese, also recently covered a song from Frozen, For the First Time in Forever.



And then they did a ridiculous Google Translate version. :p



They have both actually been doing a bunch of Disney songs, but I think I'll save the rest for another post. For now, let's move on to someone else.

Sam Tsui recently covered Rainbow Connection from The Muppet Movie.



The group Resound, who has recently had a few viral hits, recently put out their most professional looking video yet, which was a Disney medley.



Tessa Violet did an amazing version of I wanna be Like You from The Jungle Book. This was on repeat just about every time I drove to work for a month after this release. :p



And Alex Boyé did an adorable mashup of songs from the same film with a special needs camp.



And since there was recently a new version of the jungle Book released, it was quite a popular target for covers, and The Piano Guys also did a medley.



And finally we have a very "Old-School" YouTuber, Kartiv2, an Israeli artist who was one of the first people I ever subscribed to. She doesn't do much anymore, but it's always great when she does, as you can see here in her cover of One Jump Ahead, from Aladdin.

TIIA 16 (The Internet is Awesome)

We'll start this of with Peter Hollens, amazing as always. I have always loved Celtic music, and when Peter does one, he makes it into something really special.



When Walk Off The Earth releases a new music video you never know what to expect, but it's guaranteed to be something totally different!



The other big walking themed group, Walk The Moon, recently released an amazing video as well. 80's & 90's kids should be able to spot a ton of references to a certain Robin Williams film from our childhood. :)



I recently discovered Tessa Violet, a YouTuber that I'd kind of known existed, but I'd never watched any of her videos before. I don't remember how I stumbled on her recently, but it wasn't long before I fell into (digital) love with her, thanks largely to this song.



I've listened to a lot of Doctor Who covers, and this is one of the best I've ever heard.



The Piano guys are so good. Not only is their music amazing, but their videos are so cool too!



Jon Cozart, aka Paint, has been making videos very sporadically over the last couple of years, but every time he does they go viral. It's not hard to see why. Now that he's out of school I'm hoping to see a lot more from him!



We'll close this out with an amazing video from Lindsey Stirling and an artist I'd never heard before this song, Otto Knows. I like what I'm hearing, and I hope he does more!

TIIA 12 (The Internet Is Awesome)

Before I get into the kinds of videos I normally share, I have one, or two if you want to get technical, that I had to include, because it was too funny not to. One of the things that I love about the internet is that people will take one seemingly insignificant video and turn it into something utterly ridiculous. Case in point, this video.



You'll be asked to watch that video at the beginning of the next one, so I thought I would just add it here and get that out of the way before I post the next one. This is a video by a channel called Mediocre films, and it's a parody of the previous video, which went viral super fast a few months ago. That was a real video by a real woman, who was really upset, and she had every right to be. If I remember right, from what I've read, she's alone in on an island in Alaska with no way of contacting anyone from where she was, which was was she was practically in hysterics. Everything did turn out fine, I think she swam to the other shore, and was able to call for help, and she was rescued. Knowing what I knew about the backstory going in, I really wasn't wasn't expecting the parody to be funny. I was dead wrong. I about died laughing.



Now to get back to the kinds of videos I normally add to these things, lets start off with a Piano Guys video. The instruments in this video have the names of all their original founders from a few years ago. Anyone who helped support them in the time when they were just getting started should have their name, somewhere on those instruments. I was one of the original founders, I sent them some money as sort of a pre-kickstarter campaign, so theoretically, my name is in there somewhere. I never saw it, but you're welcome to look. :)



This next video is another hilarious sketch by Studio C. I don't even know why it's funny, and maybe it won't be to you, but I can't help but laugh every time I watch it.



Last summer I found this song, I don't even remember how, it was one of those rabbit-hole scenarios where you find yourself getting lost in the depths of the internet, discovering things you never knew you needed. This was one of those discoveries. The singer is Britney Spears, but the artist is a guy named Giorgio Moroder. He was a composer in the era of disco, and he hadn't released an album since around the 80's! He had just released a whole new album of music, most of which were collaborations with present day artists, some covers, like this one, and others original compositions. I got the album immediately, and it was amazing. This song was still my favorite though.



This next video left me VERY conflicted. I can not stand most televangelists. From what I've seen and read, too many of them are basically religious predators/swindlers. Including this guy, who has been involved in numerous scandals, which is why I did NOT want to like this video. However, Pogo, an electronic music artist, took this old footage, and turned it into something amazing. I did not want to love it, but I did. And I do. It's just too good to not love.



To follow that up, we'll move on to Pentatonix who are never not brilliant. This is another song off their new album, full of original songs. This is one of my favorites. If you're familiar with YouTube culture you'll recognize a whole lot of YouTuber cameos.



A few moths ago saw the release of the Peanuts movie, which turned out to be one of the EXTREMELY rare CGI animated movies based on a comic strip that was really good! Even the integration of modern music artists worked! I loved this song by Megan Trainor. It really captured the feel of the movie.



We'll end this post with a video by the always amazing Peter Hollens, it's a medley from the movie, The Prince of Egypt, which I have never seen, but I probably should, because if the music is half as good as Peter's cover, then it's probably amazing.

PHIA (Peter Hollens is Awesome)

In putting together my other TIIA posts, I realized that I had a disproportionate amount of Peter Hollens songs, so I decided to give him his own post. As one of my favorite YouTubers, he deserves the spotlight for once anyway. :)

Peter has become very well known for his amazing covers of songs from The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit, and this one is no exception.



Quite often a song will come out, and it will be ruined by overexposure. This next song is one of those, but Peter's version, featuring rapper Watsky, is one of the best versions I've ever heard, and a refreshing change from hearing the original everywhere I go.



Next we have a beautiful collaboration with his wife, Evynne, and The Piano Guys. It's so good.



Peter recently recruited teen vloggers, Brooklyn and Bailey for a music video, which was something they had never done, and they were so good.



I have never seen the movie The Gladiator, but that doesn't stop me from absolutely loving this cover of the main theme from the movie



Peter and Evynne make absolute magic every time they work together for a video, and their latest collab is no exception. Tangled is one of my favorite recent Disney movies, and this song is one of the best Disney songs in recent memory.

JPIA (Jurassic Park is Awesome)

I know it's been a few months since Jurassic World was released, but as I said before, I'm behind in my blogging. Leading up to the release of the film, a number of YouTubers did tributes to the franchise with some awesome videos. I meant to post them, but, well, you know. Anyway, better late than never, right? :)

In case you need a refresher, I thought about including a trailer for Jurassic World, but I'm sure you've already seen it, at this point it's pretty impossible to have not at least seen a trailer. Instead, I'm including this utterly brilliant (and utterly ridiculous) parody trailer. It's just too funny.



And if we're going to be showing one parody, I can't not include this one. After Jurassic World came out, it seemed that all anyone wanted to talk about was Claire's shoes, as she had worn high heels through the entire thing. So some genius came up with this brilliant insanty.



Ok, so now that we're done with the parodies, lets get into the good stuff. The music. Starting with The Piano Guys. Amazing as always.



Next up was violinist Taylor Davis.



Then the YouTube Channel The Warp Zone, teamed up with Peter Hollens for this.



As great as that was, Peter Hollens fans really wanted a Peter only version, so he did it again himself. The results were everything we'd hoped for.



Jurassic Park is one of my all time favorite films and franchises, and a huge part of that is thanks to John Williams score. All these guys (And girl. :) ) took his music and made it their own in the best way possible.

TIIA4 (The Internet Is Awesome)

Let's start this out right with a Lindsey Stirling video. This video was made for the YouTube Music Awards where Lindsey was among the top winners of the year.



Next we have a Piano Guys video, in a video that is one of my favorite things they've ever done.



Carly Rae Jepsen recently released a new single, and the video made headlines everywhere because of who she got to star in it. This song and the video, are two of my favorite things this year. :p



Alaa Wardi just covered a song that I had never heard of, (which is not surprising, given the country of origin) but now love.



The Gregory Brothers, famous for "Song-ify-ing" the news, recently songified an argument about Batman, between the Vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green, and it is just about the catchiest thing ever. I bought it immediately, and it's been on repeat on my iPod ever since.



Mike Tompkins recently covered one of my new favorite recent songs, and he did an amazing job. As he always does.



Last, but not least, I will leave you with Player Piano's version of Bohemian Rhapsody. I LOVE when music of one genre is completely transformed into something totally new. They did an amazing job with this one.



P.S. As great as that was, it can never compare to the greatest version of Bohemian Rhapsody of all time, the version by the Muppets.

The Internet is Awesome 2

I know I've already done one video compilation post this month, but with as much as I wasn't blogging, I had plenty built up for a second one. And a third one later on, but that'll be just Christmas videos.

First up, we have the music video for my favorite song from the new Annie movie, You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile, performed by Sia.



Great movie by the way, I highly recommend it for anyone who likes musicals.

Next up is a cover of Taylor Swift's Shake it Off, by Alex Boye.



I love the original twists he puts on songs.

Now for someone I haven't featured in awhile, The Piano Guys. I would have featured them awhile ago, but the video they did that I was planning to post, a Batman themes medley, was blocked by some...Well, I probably shouldn't get into that... Anyway...



Awesome as always. I love how they always mix classical music with more modern songs.

Next is a channel I have never featured before as they are relatively new, it's another piano channel but totally different than the piano guys, Player Piano. This time doing the theme to one of my favorite childhood (and adulthood) video games, Tetris!



Their videos are consistently awesome, and always with an awesome custom designed piano.

Next we have the incomparable Lindsey Stirling who can make even a sponsored video amazing.



I've never played Dragon Age, but the video is amazing.

Last but not least, Peter Hollens and... Jackie Evancho?! Really?! It was just last week that she was making headlines as this tiny little girl with a huge, powerful voice! How did she grow up so fast!? In all seriousness, she's amazing, as is Peter, and the video is awesome.

An Epic Rabbit Trail

YouTube is the "New TV". At least for me. I don't watch TV anymore, but I do watch YouTube. And in most cases it it so much better than TV, especially since everything is artist driven. It's not big studios determining what gets produced. It actual people, who want to be creative, just doing their thing with no one telling them what they can and can not do.

The one bad thing, or good, depending on how much time you have to spend, is that YouTube videos lead you on long rabbit trails, this is especially true when one YouTuber you like collaborates with another YouTuber that you've never heard of, and you end up liking them as well. That is how I got to know about almost every musician I currently follow.

Aside from MysteryGuitarMan, who is in a whole different class of video, The Piano Guys started my current love of YouTube music. I can't remember how I found them, probably someone on Facebook posted a video, which led to me subscribing and later watching everything they had. One of their videos was filmed by someone named Devin Graham.



His cinematography was amazing, so I checked out his channel. He didn't have very many videos, but the ones he had were so amazing! His videos are not focused on music, like the rest of these, but it's worth noting that he only uses original music in all of his videos. He has many musician friends who lend him music for his videos. Free publicity for them!



I subscribed almost immediately. He had a video called "Epic Violin Girl." It was awesome and it was "Celebrity Crush" at first sight. :p (Does it count as a celebrity crush, if she wasn't really a celebrity yet?) :p I've since found out that she and Devin are "An Item," so it wouldn't work out between us. So sad. :p



I had never been exposed to much actual Hip-Hop music before Lindsey. Most stuff with this kind of a beat that I had liked before had been classified as dance music. I always just assumed that Hip-Hop was some kind of Rap. (I've lead a sheltered life. :p) But thanks to her, I now know it's completely different.

After I watched the video, I followed his link to her channel and I discovered she had been on America's Got Talent, but had lost. The judges didn't think she was good enough for a live show, which was what the prize for winning was.



Little did those judges know that she would go on to find fame all on her own thanks to YouTube. I just looked up who won that season of America's Got Talent, and I can honestly say that before today, I have never heard of "Soul Singer, Micheal Grimm" the winner of that season. I have, however, heard of the little girl that he beat, Jackie Evancho, who is quite a lot more famous than he is, and is most likely more famous than he ever will be.



I was a little disappointed as I continued to look at Lindsey's channel. She only had a few videos, and none of them were anywhere near as good as the one Devin had made. I still subscribed to her channel because despite her lack of content she was still amazing. My hope was that eventually she make some more, and eventually my hope paid off. Within a few months she started regularly putting out quality music videos, mainly filmed by Devin Graham. I have since gone back to her channel and I think she's taken down the early videos. The only ones left are the good quality ones that she is now releasing. Such as her recent EPIC take on the Phantom of the Opera.



I love the electric instruments in the rock band scene. Especially her purple violin! :D I also love the transitions from Rock to Classical. The quiet moments in the snow are just beautiful. :)

Recently Lindsey did a collaboration with a guy named Peter Hollens. The subject of the music video is a video game that I have never heard of, but the guy's voice is amazing.



Peter Hollens does A Cappella videos. Of course there was the violin in his duet with Lindsey, but usually he uses only the human voice. And he does a lot of collaborations as well. One of his most frequent collaborators is his wife, Evynne.



He has since become one of my favorite YouTubers. I've loved A Cappella music since I was a kid and Rockapella did the theme song to one of my favorite PBS shows "Where In The World is Carmen Sandiego?"



And with that I think I'll end this rabbit trail. That was such a random ending to such a YouTube musician focused post that it just seems right. :) I surprised even myself with that one. I was not planning it, the memory just came to me out of the blue. For those of you all misty eyed with nostalgia, you're welcome. :) Oh, it's just me? Ok then. :p

Africa

Africa is one of my "Must visit" places. I probably won't get there until I'm an old man, but I still want to go there someday.

Two of my favorite YouTubers, Devin Graham and Lindsey Stirling, traveled to Africa recently to make a bunch of videos. They captured everything about the continent that makes me want to visit it so much. From the people, to the landscape, and most of all, the wildlife, these videos are just amazing. I've watched them multiple times, and I thought that others would enjoy seeing them all as well. :)

This first one may be my favorite. Africa is so often stereotyped as a poverty stricken nation where everyone is skin and bones, everyone is dying of AIDS, and everyone is miserable their entire lives until they die, usually while still in childhood. There may be some areas like that, but it is not the entire continent. There are plenty of happy places as well. No country (Or continent) is perfect. America has places that are just as miserable as Africa is stereotyped to be. We just don't like to think about it.
Anyway, the reason this video is so good, is that it completely disproves the misery myth. I love watching the little children as they interact with Devin and his camera. No one who watches this can help but smile. :)



Devin released a behind the scenes video just about this video to explain how he got the children to smile so much. It was well worth watching. :)



Lindsey's video is, of course, a music video with her playing her violin. The song is Rihanna's "We found Love" but with a beautiful African twist. I love it when when artists take a well know song and add their own twist to it. Especially an African twist.



While I'm writing about African music, I will link to another of my favorite videos, an African version of Coldplay's "Paradise" done by the Piano Guys. It is amazing.



This next video is everything I love about Africa all wrapped up in one amazing short film. I guess you could call it a music video as well, but it's not a specific song, it's just an instrumental with African vocals. But it is beautiful.



Devin made a much longer behind the scenes video that covered their whole trip and showed all the places they visited, and everything they did. It looks like an amazing experience!



At the end he teases that there is one more music video still to come. I can't wait to see it!

ChristmasTube

There have been a whole bunch of Christmas related videos on YouTube lately. I decided to put all my favorites into one blog post for your viewing pleasure. :)

On my dead “Entertainment blog” I posted about a series of videos called “Kid History”. That was one of the posts I actually saved, and moved over to this blog because their videos were so funny. You can find that post HERE. They recently released a Christmas video, and of course it had me laughing all the way. (Sorry for the lame “Jingle Bells” reference. It won’t happen again.) :p

One of my very favorite YouTube Channels is the Piano Guys, who don’t JUST do piano music, there’s a lot of cello there too. They have also gotten into the Christmas spirit and have started releasing their very first Christmas videos.

Okay, confession time, really, this post was just an excuse to blog about one of my favorite YouTube stars, Lindsey Stirling again. :) She just released another Christmas video, and I just had to share it. If you missed her beautiful version of Silent Night, check out my post HERE, and watch it, plus her amazing “Legend of Zelda” video.

This time her video is a song she apparently wrote herself, and it has a Celtic Flair to the music! I love Celtic music, so I couldn’t NOT share this. I generally dislike a lot of “Santa stuff”, but even though this is a kind of a Santa themed video, (Without Santa) I still love it. :) I also love that she is reusing her elf ears from the Legend of Zelda video. :)

The guy who has been filming her most recent videos has his own YouTube Channel as well. In fact it was because of his channel that I discovered Lindsey, after he filmed her first major music video. He is a film maker named Devin Graham, I actually discovered him through the Piano Guys as he has worked for them before. His video are always very cool. Until this one, which isn’t so much “Cool” as it is “Cavity Inducingly adorable.” (As a side note, this video has gone seriously viral in the last week, over a million and a half views! He may end up getting quite famous because of this one!)

Awe! Don’t you all just want a pile of puppies now?! :D

Merry Christmas everyone!