Hello Internet!
I’m back! I hope you missed me. Or maybe you didn’t notice at all. Or you’re a first time reader and you are very confused about what is going on. Those are all possibilities. Anyway, no matter if you’re a new viewer or an old viewer, I welcome to my Blog/Creative Writing Outlet. If you’re confused check out last week’s Weekly Blog about Writer’s Block or the most recent Bulletin Board post talking about it. Basically I was a little burnt out from 5 months straight of uploading and I just needed a week off to relax and refill my creativity meter. Now I’m back and ready for the next five-seven months of Weekly Blogs, Poems, and Writing Prompt inspired creative writing. If you’re new here, welcome and I hope you stick around. We’re nearing 200 followers here on the website and you, yes you, could be 200 so why don’t you follow me. There are over 230 pieces on the website for you to check out with a wide range of topics. There’s a lot of fantasy, but there is also science-fiction, horror, slice of life, and other subject matter in my creative writing as well as my attempt at poetry and my thoughts written down in Weekly Blogs. Tons of fun stuff. Normally I would plug this week’s pieces here just in case you missed any published stuff, but we didn’t have any so I can’t do that. I will say that even though I took the week off, I still had a great turnout in terms of views for the week, so thank you for that. It’s good to know that I can step away from writing for a week and my audience won’t completely abandon me. Anyway, that’s enough of that. Let’s move on to the subject matter of this week’s Weekly Blog: YouTube Rabbitholes.
Now I’ve mentioned, in an article which is a little over a year old, that YouTube was my main source of entertainment, and that’s still true today. It’s true that I watch stuff on Netflix and Twitch, but most of the stuff I watch comes from YouTube. More and more I search out new channels and start binge-watching their channels. I recently discovered this awesome, relatively unknown YouTube channel, but I’ll save the reveal for sometime later in this blog. First I want to talk about other rabbit holes I have traveled down while searching on YouTube. If you’re anything like me, you’ve experienced similar rabbit holes where you’ll start with a video on your home page or a video that one of the creators you are subscribed to and then a bunch of “suggested videos” will pop up. You might see one that looks interesting so you click on it. Then another. Then another. Eventually you can find yourself in a place that’s completely unrecognizable from where you started. Jacksfilms (a YouTube I’m subscribed to) actually did a video on this where he connected things like the Holy Bible to the Emoji Movies. Awh YouTube…so good. Anyway, this rabbit hole of suggested videos can sometimes take you to crazy places or what I call the weird part of YouTube.
I know that there are really, really strange places on YouTube and the internet as a whole, but one video really sticks out in my mind. When I was 17 or 18, and still pretty new to YouTube, I remember stumbling upon this conspiracy theory/aliens/crazy stuff YouTube video. It’s all about aliens and our “real history” and Atlantis and other planes and stuff that is waaaaay out there. So how did I stumble upon this video? Well it has really good animation. The whole thing is animated in a style that I really liked, so I clicked on it thinking it was going to educational and fun to watch. Oh no. I got something way crazier. Now I won’t link the video here, but I will tell you that I went to YouTube and searched “The real history of the world animated” and it was the first result, so if you really want to check it out, you can. I will tell you straight up that I do not support anything this person says in the video and don’t advise you to watch it, but you can if you want to. Again, the animation is pretty good. So there I am as a senior in high school watching this video which I thought was going to be a fun, educational video about history in an animated style and I ended up watching about 5 minutes of crazy, conspiracy theory stuff. I should also mentioned that the whole video is almost an hour long. ONE HOUR. I watched about five minutes due to the animation, but left when the author started mentioning other races and portals on the moon and stuff. Again, super strange stuff.
Another story I have about YouTube rabbit holes happened when I was in college. Now I will say that this started out a little bit more deliberate, but I still ended up falling down a rabbit hole. Anyway, during my Freshman year in college, there was about a three week period where I got obsessed with Creepy Pasta. For those who don’t know, Creepy Pasta is this genre of scary/spooky/creepy internet stories that were sometimes popularized and spread around the internet. These were horror stories that ranged from local scary stories to cursed objects to demonic creatures. Things like Slenderman started out as a Creepy Pasta. So yeah, they are scary stories. One thing you should know about me is that I hate, HATE, horror stories. Like I don’t watch horror movies. I don’t like ghost stories. I hate all of it. Even when I watch YouTubers play horror games, I set my laptop down as far as way as possible to me so I won’t jump as much when the jump scare happened. So how did I get into reading Creepy Pastas? Well it started with the Creepy Pasta Story called Pokemon Black. Before Pokemon Black and White were even announced, there was this story going around on the internet about a cursed Pokemon cartridge some person bought at a yard sale (That’s how they all start). I don’t remember the details, but I’m sure there was a lot of blood involved. Creepy Pastas always end with a ton of blood. Anyway I was fascinated with cursed Pokemon Games, then other cursed game cartridges, and then that spread to other Creepy Pastas. I would start watching these videos at 1 AM and freak myself out. It was almost a nightly ritual where I would lay in bed and watch Creepy Pasta videos on my phone, freak myself out, and then watch puppy videos until I was calm enough to fall asleep…around 2:00- 3:00 AM. I could not continue this ritual for very long, so I stopped watching those videos and instead just focused on puppy videos.
Now let’s talk about my most recent YouTube Rabbit Hole. Don’t worry, this one is not scary or creepy or anything like that. I actually found this really awesome YouTube channel I want to shout out because I love their videos and I think more people need to see them. This week I was watching YouTube like I normally do and a video popped up in my suggested videos talking about the Pokemon Spinda and how its spots are determined on its face. It doesn’t matter too much for the story, but if you are not familiar with the Spinda, basically the spots on it’s face are different from one Spinda to another and it’s completely random like the pattern of a snowflake. This video took this idea one step further and talked about how due to the nature of Spinda and its spots, its possible that Spinda’s spots could form an “adult” image on its face. This video was both hilarious and educational and it sent me down a Rabbit Hole. The YouTube channel’s name is Fact Fiend – With Karl Smallwood. It’s a channel where two, British gentleman talk facts and tell funny stories. It is well researched, well presented, and also hilarious. There’s a lot of adult humor and British humor so if that’s not your thing, I’d stay clear of the YouTube channel, but for everyone else I recommend checking them out. They cover a wide variety of subjects including movies, television shows, video games, historical figures, pop culture, and so much more. I’ve been marathoning their back catalog all this week and I managed to get through three months of videos in one week. They are that great. Again there is some language and adult humor in their videos, but there are also a lot of awesome facts, so if you enjoy that kind of combination, I recommend checking them out. They have just over 80 Thousand subscribers and I think they deserve way more. I’m not getting paid or anything to endorse them (you know because I have nowhere close to 80,000 followers). I just think they create good content.
Ok that’s enough for this week’s Weekly Blog. Hopefully you enjoyed that tumble down YouTube Rabbit Holes with me and enjoyed those stories. If you really enjoyed this Weekly Blog, feel free to give it a like. Or you can leave a comment down below telling me about your journey’s through YouTube or what YouTube channel you subscribe to that you think needs more subscribers. I’ll definitely check them out. Also if you haven’t, why don’t you follow the website so you can see all the stuff I publish as it gets published. Again, we are nearing 200 followers and I would love to see you be a part of the growing community. I post Weekly Blogs on Sundays, Poems on Wednesdays, and Writing Prompt inspired pieces on Fridays. Sometimes I even throw in some extra, bonus content depending on how much time I have that week to write. I’m back after my short break and will begin publishing regularly again.
I really appreciate all the support and I hope you have a fantastic week!
-Allen_The_Writer
Header Photo Credit to Rabbit Hole KC
http://www.rabbitholekc.org/
Allen The Writer 