The Educators of YouTube
I've been blogging about books, movies, television series and various pop culture issues since 2009 and it gradually dawned upon me over the years that the way I'm doing things isn't all that common in the blogosphere. Most bloggers are interested in telling you if a book or a movie is worth investing time and money into, and so do I, but I'm interested in ideas more than technical achievement, performances or emotional response, although sometimes I can't avoid the latter myself.
Point is, I've never found many bloggers who were interested in the things I was interested in. I did however, found many sources of inspiration on YouTube. Over the last couple years, I built a comprehensive list of channels that do similar things I do here and I wanted to share my favorites with you guys today. Here is a list of YouTubers who are important influences on Dead End Follies. I have particular reasons to like every one of them and hopefully you will too. If you have suggestions for similar YouTube content, please post them in the comments.
Maddox: Maddox is possibly the angriest and most awesome internet person that ever was. I've been a fan of him for over ten years and followed his evolution from writing to video and now podcasting. He rarely tackles products like I do, but cultural concepts like clickbait, social justice warriors, hacktivism and calling out idiocy in general. He's a very controversial figure because he's openly antagonistic to everyone, but I've always found him to be open to structured and documented arguments. He is charismatic, explosive and hilarious. He has a homepage for his writing you can browse.
Wisecrack: My latest YouTube obsession. Wiscrack is somewhat of an umbrella banner for several fascinating channels such as 8-Bit Philosophy, Thug Notes and Earthling Cinema, but it's Wisecrack's creator Jared's video series breaking down the underlying philosophy of mainstream art I'm most interested in. It is my utmost sincere belief that all art vehicles ideas and I can only aspire to break it down to you guys as well as Jared does. Enjoy this breakdown of Kanye West's Kierkegaardian leanings. If you like it as much as I did, visit his channel because there's a lot more where it comes from.
Nerdwriter: I've discovered the work of Evan Puschak on another YouTube channel I really like called The Needle Drop and I've been a huge fan ever since. Puschack is a bit of a renaissance man who takes interest in everything from art to history and social issues. His video essays are beautiful, accessible, intimate and devoid of academic ambition. They're like having a discussion with a smart and thoughtful friends about movies, philosophy and ideas. He releases one video a week every Wednesday and it's something I never miss.
Scott Green: By far the least popular channel on this list, but consider it the best kept secret on the educational YouTube. I've stumbled upon Scott Green's work by accident while browsing Nerdwriter videos and have been a huge fan ever since. Green's a musician by trade and a smart and diligent music critic that thinks outside the box. His videos on Death Grips' influences and legacy and Kanye West's creative process should be mendatory viewings for everyone's that either claims to love or loathe them. Music criticism is a rather new endeavor on this blog (I started in 2015), and it's the work of people like Scott Green that makes me grow.
The Needle Drop: Anthony Fantano, the internet's busiest music nerd is a reviewer and a music critic who I feel a strong kinship to because he's the only loony soul on the internet that I know that releases more content on a weekly basis than I do. I've stumbled upon his work years ago while looking for live videos of doom metal band Sunn O))) and I've followed his work ever since. He's been a huge influence on me and the main reason why I've started criticizing music on this blog. His work helped me define a style and a structure that I felt comfortable with AND made me discover countless new artists.
Cinemassacre: Another channel I've been following for close to a decade. I'm part of the first generation of kids raised with video games and understand their cultural importance perhaps better than anyone. The work of James Rolfe and Mike Matei, while colourful and often foul-mouthed, is important because it reexamines a period of unchecked enthusiasm towards a booming technology and puts in into historical perspective. We were sold a lot of crap by people who had no idea what they were doing and Cinemassacre does a great job at breaking down the crooked evolution of this fascinating medium. The Angry Video Game Nerd iis the channel's flagship series, but they have more serious material that's as fascinating and relatable.
Red Letter Media: This YouTube channel would probably have equal success as a podcast, but it would've probably have equal or more success on television, radio or whatever Jay and Mike would set their mind to. They have a winning formula: casual, but passionate movie discussions driven by love of movies and common sense. These guys have seen a lot of movies and won't respond well to Hollywood's bullshit clichés. That's what I like about them. They're not looking to get into anybody's pants. They go to every big budget movies and they WILL speak their mind to their 500,000 subscribers. They have integrity that few reviewers can boast to have.
