Okay, as you can see, I've decided to change the title of this series. Again. Previously it was called This Month in Internet, but sometimes it's just too hard to get everything ready to go on the last day of the month. I usually ended up writing it on the first and pre-dating the post anyway, just for the sake of the title. So yesterday, November 1st, I was too busy, trying to get a video up, running errands, and scheduling an online meeting with a friend to film a video for a new series, and I just didn't have time to blog. Rather than beat myself up about missing an arbitrary deadline, I'm moving the deadline. By changing the title of the series. It's now called Last Month Online, technically giving me a full month of leeway, but I'm still going to try to have it up at the beginning of the month.
Anyway, now that that's over with, let's get to the new logo, and on with the post!
Since October is Halloween Month, let's just get my one Halloween video out of the way. I know you probably just want to move on to the next holiday, but I promise this one is worth it. Plus, like the movie it came from, you could also classify it as a Christmas video. :p
Ellen just seems to have a knack for finding the most talented kids from all over the world. I don't know how she does it, (actually I probably do, she can afford to pay people to scour the internet looking for talent.) but however she finds them, I'm glad she does.
Walk Off the Earth's Taekwondo was my jam this summer, and I am loving this acoustic version.
This video is criminally short. Like, how dare he make something this amazing and only give me 60 seconds of it!!!
Mystery Guitar Man is back! Okay, this was only one video, and it was a sponsored video, so he's not really back, I wish he'd make more videos like these again. I guess I'll just enjoy this one for a year and a half (or just a few months if I'm not being overly dramatic. :p) till some other brand gives him some more money. :p
We'll end this with another amazing video from Lindsey Stirling. Technically I could have use two this month, but the other one was a Christmas video to promote her new album, so I'm saving that one for a future Christmas post. :)
I considered making a post JUST for this next video, but I decided to turn it into an On Repeat post, because there have been quite a few amazing covers of this song over the years, and I wanted to feature a couple of my favorites, plus I wanted to see what else I could find, because I'm sure YouTube is full of amazing versions I've never heard before. But first up, the main attraction.
Last month, Pentatonix did something that fans have been begging them to do for literally years. Years! They covered Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody! While I have always LOVED the Muppets' take on this iconic song, I have to say, I think that Pentatonix might have just edged them out. Their version was so amazing! I was cheering, I was clapping, I was pumping my fist, I was basically behaving like a lunatic, and I am so glad that no one walked in on me, because I was IN to this song. I could go on and on about how much I loved it, but I think I've done that enough, you just need to go watch it for yourself.
Wasn't that AMAZING!? Mitch SINGING the guitar solo was probably the point were I first became the lunatic I described above. :p
When I watch the video for the first time and I realized where and how they were filming, I said to myself that I NEEDED them to release a behind the scenes video, and thankfully a few days later they did just that!
I mentioned it above, but up until PTX released their version, the Muppets version was the best version of this song that I had ever heard. It had everything great about the original song, but with 100% more Muppets! It is still so amazing, and still one of my favorite songs and videos of all time. To this day, I still think the Muppet version of the lyrics in my head, especially the end. "Nothing really matters... BUT MOI!!!!!!!!!"
I have a feeling that whenever I do an On Repeat post, Kurt Hugo Schneider will be featured. The guy seems to have an amazing cover for everything, and this song is no different.
Those were my favorite versions, not too many people cover this song on a regular basis, so I haven't built up a playlist or anything. I just thought it would be fun to look around YouTube and see what else I could find. I will say though, one of the problems with trying to find covers of this song is that everyone feels like it's too untouchable to do anything other than a straight up cover, so they all end up sounding too similar. I found a lot of great versions, but nothing that really made them stand out, like the ones I've already shared. Glee did a version a few years ago, Panic at the Disco did a version for last year's Suicide Squad movie, and they were great covers, I really liked them, but they sounded kind of a lot alike. By themselves, they were fantastic, but after listening to a whole bunch of covers in a row, they all start to blend together. Keeping that in mind, instead of just searching for covers, I decided to look specifically for less conventional versions.
So, let's move on to something completely different. I'll bet you've never heard the song like this before. :)
Hey! I just found an AMAZING orchestral version! I love this so much!
I had no idea that the Voca People had covered it! I love them! I love this! Theirs is more of a medley that uses Rhapsody as its framework, but it's still the whole song, and it's still great.
I COMPLETELY forgot the Mystery Guitar Man had covered it back in the day! That man had some of the best videos back then.
Ooh! And here's a really great string quartet version! I love YouTube! Where else could you go to see this song sung by weird aliens, then played on slide whistles and kazoos, and then performed beautifully by an amazing string quartet?
Hold.
Everything.
Weird Al did a POLKA VERSION!?!?!?!?
My life is now complete!!!! I can die happy!!!!! This is so amazing, I have no more words.
I think I'm going to have to end with this one. There is no possible way I can top that! It was just too pure, too amazing, too beautiful! Goodnight everybody!
Bonus Video! I saw this a couple days ago, and I decided I had to include it in this post. I love learning this kind of interesting behind the scenes information.
Let's start this out with an amazing song by Nick Pitera. He's mostly known for his covers of popular Disney songs where he sings both the male and female parts. This song is an original by him, about his unique voice. It's one of my favorite songs he's ever done. :)
Next we have a video from Mystery Guitar Man, which is rather short, but still awesome. I love it. :)
Then we have another Lord of the Rings inspired video from Peter Hollens, this time featuring violinist Taylor Davis.
We also have a viral video, another prank video using one of those ultra realistic velociraptor costumes. Normally I hate prank videos, but you could tell this one was all in good fun, and the targets were all eventually okay with it.
Pentatonix has slowly been releasing videos for all the songs from their debut album, and one of the most recent ones was for their collab with Jason Derulo, If I Ever Fall in Love.
Next we have a video from Lindsey Stirling. I know it;s just an announcement video for her summer tour, but it's still extremely cool. I hope she'll eventually flesh out this Tron-inspired idea into a full-length video.
Disney's new Jungle Book movie was recently released, and they put out this remix on their YouTube channel. I love it so much! I wish there was a full length version available for purchase somewhere!
Let's end this post with an amazing video from Alaa Wardi. I have no preconceived notion as to what these songs originally sounded like, but I love how he weaved them all together.
Bonus! This video is WAY outdated by this point, but I still wanted to include it in a blog post. For those that might not get the joke, it spoofs the meme that takes NSync's It's Gonna Be Me, misquoting it right before the month of May. It was released on the last day of April. The Gregory Brothers put their own spin on the song, as usual. :p
I finally made a logo for this thing! It's a bit garish, but it'll have to do until I have time to make something better. Probably in about 3 to 4 years. :p
Let's begin with a video from, literally the first YouTuber I ever subscribed to, Mystery Guitar Man! He has branched out into other endeavors far beyond the awesome musical videos he used to do way back when, but every once in a while he'll do a throwback to the good old days, and that's pretty much exactly what this video is.
Next we have a video from The Men Who Do Nothing, formerly from the YouTube Channel, Mr. Epic Man, of "How Animals Eat Their Food" fame. This is literally one of the dumbest videos ever, but that's what makes it so incredibly, stupidly funny.
Todrick Hall just did an amazing mashup of just about every Taylor Swift song you could think of. It's awesome.
ELO, a band you probably haven't heard of since the 70's, is releasing their first album since 2001, and the second since 1986! So it's probably a rather big deal for some people who have been around a lot longer than I have. Regardless, I love their music, and the first single from the new album sounds amazing.
I kind of hate to admit this, but Justin Bieber has been making some amazing music recently. >Choke!< I can't beliebe I just said that! I mean, it seems like he's been turning his life around recently, so is it okay to like him? Can I at least like his music? What if I like his music more when other people cover it? Because that's one of the best things about his recent string of great music, the fact that people even more talented than him will cover it. Like Pentatonix.
Speaking of covers, here's another one. This one is another(!) mashup of songs by Taylor Swift, covered by Peter and Evynne Hollens. These people are some of the most talented people on YouTube. I can't get over how awesome they are.
And speaking of amazing talent, (and acapella) Mike Tompkins can make a commissioned ad, and turn it into a work of art!
Let's end this with a video from Christopher Ballinger and his family. A parody of Mackleore's Downtown. You might know Chris better as the brother of Colleen Ballinger, AKA Miranda Sings, but he is very talented in his own right, and his kids are awesome.
First off, I'm just going to get this one out of the way, even though anyone who is anyone has already watched this thing like a million times already. Or just once, because they hated it. Those are some sad people.
I watched this video only a day or two after it was released. It only had around a thousand views, and I said at the time that it was destined for viral-ity. I was even more right than I knew, and it blew up BIG time. It is currently at almost 200 million views.
This next video has two different versions, and I love both. It's a collaboration between two of my favorite YouTubers, Peter Hollens and MysteryGuitarMan.
I think I prefer Peter's acapella version, but they are both so great.
This cover of Imagine Dragon's "Radioactive" is a perfect demonstration of what I said last year in my POST about Dupstep. When it is paired with something else, in this case a piano, it is so much better than when it is by itself.
As an aside, this video was shot by Devin Graham, one of my favorite cinematographers on YouTube.
I usually try not to have too many repeat artists in these posts, but I have to share another video by Peter Hollens. I loved this song so much, I bought it immediately, and it has climbed all the way to number 4 in my top 25 most played songs on iTunes in less than a month. And that's not counting all the times I've watched the video.
After I watched this video, I had to find out more about Alaa Wardi. I looked him up on YouTube and immediately subscribed. He is amazing.
No video post of mine would be complete without a Lindsey Stirling video. This one isn't one of her better videos cinematography-wise, it's essentially an ad for NBC's new Dracula show, but I'm sharing it because the music itself is BEYOND fantastic! I loved her original Debstep version of "Elements" but this new orchestral version? It is SO much better! It make me hope that eventually she'll do orchestral versions of all her music, because it's amazing!
And finally, today Pentatonix released their second album, which I had preordered ages ago, so it was waiting in my iTunes for me this morning, and they released this video to go with it. I can't stop watching it. The whole thing is just mesmerizing. This video is the perfect example of why they are my favorite group on YouTube.
I have seen a whole bunch of great videos recently, and I wanted to compile them into one blog post to share them all. Because they are awesome. Enjoy. :)
The first video is from MysteryGuitarMan. He was the first YouTuber I ever followed, it was because of him that I discovered a wealth of independent talent on YouTube. This video is one of his best in a long time. For anyone interested, all the clips that are featured in the video are from other YouTubers.
The next video is another one that just made me laugh. A guy doing a Gollum impression covering a Taylor Swift song. You just need to watch it. :p
I hear this song every day at the store where I work, and I have to say, I like this version so much better. :D
The next video is a dance video. It is amazing. Watch it.
Next is an ad for Dennys. Why would I like a video from Denny's so much? It was made by Rhett and Link, and it is hilarious!
The next one is a sequel to the last one, and is just as funny.
This next one is a time lapse video of Riga, Latvia. I love time lapse videos in general, but this one seems especially unique to me. I really like it.
This last video I am sharing because it made me laugh harder than anything I've seen in a very long time. Seriously. I was in stitches the entire time. I have rewatched this so many times now, I have lost count. :D
Sorry about the title. That was SO cheesy. I promise never to do it again. Probably. Maybe. :p
This video from Lindsey Stirling was what inspired me to write yesterday's Rabbit Trail post in the first place, but as happens to me a lot these days, I start writing about one thing, "Rabbit Trail" onto another, and then I end up splitting the posts up.
If you are like me, and watch more YouTube than TV, you will notice a LOT of familiar faces in this video. Most notably to me was Joe Penna, AKA MysteryGuitarMan. That was an unexpected and very welcome surprise. :)
This video is a collaboration with >Gasp of Horror< a Rapper! Shock! Boo! Hiss! Yay? I really can't believe I'm saying this about a rapper, but the guy is pretty awesome.
Over the last year or so, thanks to YouTube, I have come to realize that what is out there as "Main-Stream" rap, is not indicative of all rap as a genre. When people talk about rappers, they are usually referring to the "Thugs" who cuss up a storm, yell about all the perversions of their lives, defame women, and yammer on and on about their >Gag< "Bling". This is not always the case, and the rappers of YouTube are so much different and better than the ones of the radio. The world would be so much better if artists like this guy were what came to mind when someone said "Rapper."
To illustrate "Tolerable" even "Good" rap I found some more great collaboration videos that feature in at least one part a rap verse. First up is a collaboration between Peter Hollens and Eppic on Ellie Goulding's "Lights." It is not a rap song, but Eppic is a rapper, so they added a rap verse. Peter's version, in my opinion, is better than the original.
Another one is this collaboration between MysteryGuitarMan and DeStorm.
And this one.
Sometimes I like finding out that what I thought I knew was wrong. I've always "Known" how evil rap was, but I am really glad to know now that rap itself is not evil, some people just use it for, >Ahem< Less than pure purposes.
To end this post I will share the very first "Rap" song I ever liked. This could be the first time I ever gave any thought to the fact that what I've always "Known" about rap might be wrong. Is it any surprise that it's an Owl City song? :p
