You've probably had one of those nights: you're not tired enough to go to bed, but you're too tired to do much of anything else, so you sit in front of your computer watching YouTube videos. Alternatively, in a desperate attempt at procrastination, you've exhausted your Facebook newsfeed and have resorted to randomly browsing YouTube for entertainment. I've been there more times than I care to admit. That's how I stumbled upon most of the channels I'm about to share with you, to assist in all your video-watching endeavors.
**Disclaimer: some video content may not be appropriate for younger readers. Discretion advised.**
1. Today I Found Out
Okay, can I be shallow for a second? Simon Whistler, the regular host of these videos, has one of the most soothing voices ever. Like, he's almost on par with Benedict Cumberbatch. I have actually put on a playlist of these videos and fallen asleep to it. Not because I'm not interested in what he's saying, but because his voice is that smooth.
Okay, so maybe it's not that good...Beyond the host though, Today I Found Out supplies daily(-ish) videos on numerous topics, from why police officers wear blue to the time the US accidentally nuked Britain's first satellite. It's an excellent way to procrastinate while still actually learning something, and it's very easy to lose track of time linking from one video to another.
2. CinemaSins
Their tagline is "no movie is without sin." They have dismantled every "Harry Potter" movie just to prove their point. Once upon a time, these videos were actually relatively short, but now they usually clock in at over 10 minutes long, not because there are more plot holes or continuity errors in movies, but because fans have genuinely enjoyed the witty quips and sarcastic commentary. I honestly don't mind watching them rip apart my favorite movies, and have adopted some of their catchphrases--most notably "roll credits!"--whenever I sit down to watch movies on my own. If making fun of movies is your thing, also check out the Screen Junkies YouTube channel, home of Honest Trailers.
3. AsapSCIENCE
Answering science questions you never knew you had. Videos are just long enough to teach you something, but not long enough to feel like school if you're not as interested in the topic as you thought you might be. One of the things I really love about AsapSCIENCE is that their sources are cited in each video's description, and often linked to for further investigation, so not only could you, for example, use something from one of the videos in an essay and cite something other than a YouTube video, but you could actually read up on the subject of a video if you're a nerd like I am you found yourself engrossed in it. If science-y videos are your thing, then the channel minutephysics might pique your interest, too: they present short(-ish) videos about physics-related concepts, questions, and musings (including, but not limited to, the well-known thought experiment Schrödinger's cat).
4. Alltime10s
On the subject of citing sources, Alltime10s also puts their sources in their videos, as you can see from the example above. Being an English major and a very big nerd, I'm a real sucker for channels that present facts with sources to back them up, even if they're not cited so precisely that I'd know exactly where to look if I wanted to find them. Nevertheless, the little jokes thrown in here and there keep the videos amusing, and not [really] like what you might expect a "top ten" video to look like.
5. jacksfilms
You've seen jacksfilms in my articles before: he's a big source of inspiration for my "5 Grammar Mistakes That Need to Stop" series (which, since there are three now, does in fact count as a series... I think), and his haiku song, aside from getting stuck in my head, has ensured that I will never again improperly craft a haiku. He's written more songs than just that one, though. My favorite comes from his series "Your Grammar Sucks," which makes fun of the atrocious grammar all around the internet, though his latest--and perhaps catchiest--composition calls out YouTubers whose egos have grown too large for even the most high-definition screens. There's kind of a little bit of everything on this channel.
6. Halocene
Since we've sort of bridged into music, let me introduce you to one last channel. In addition to their own music, Halocene does covers of popular songs. Sometimes they sound similar to the originals; other times, they take a song and really make it rock--for example, I was never really a fan of the song "Heathens" because the instrumentation wasn't fun enough. Halocene changed that, though it probably helps that I love rock music. (If you enjoy covers, you could also check out Ten Second Songs--this guy effectively does impressions, but with music. It's pretty cool.)
