# Videos

<!-- TODO Rec reverse emulation super powers -->

## Video Essay-ish

<!-- Video essayists -->

[**Tom Scott**](https://www.youtube.com/@TomScottGo)

- [Why Electronic Voting Is Still A Bad Idea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkH2r-sNjQs), 2019
<!-- A short, simple video that clearly and effectively explains the basic reasons why electronic voting systems are inherently dangerous, despite whatever the latest technical innovation/fad might be. -->
- [YouTube's Copyright System Isn't Broken. The World's Is.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jwo5qc78QU), 2020
<!-- A long, interesting, in-depth about the reality of modern copyright law and the strange and often counter-intuitive way it intersects with internet culture and modern entertainment.  -->

[**hbomberguy**](https://www.youtube.com/@hbomberguy)

- [A Measured Response](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRGz5EMig3r1jydQFyXTfBdD1xKhPa4Rt), 2014-  
<!-- Well-researched videos responding to hot-button topics that range from "quite a few people are wrong about this, actually" to debunking straight-up lunatic conspiracy theories.  -->
- [CTRL+ALT+DEL | SLA:3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TebCHHCw9rY), 2018
<!-- This is an exploration of CAD (and other weird gamer webcomics in general), but it also makes the key point that fiction can offer perspective into how the author sees the world, especially when seemingly distorted and out-of-touch with reality without meaning to invoke camp.  -->

**Jacob Geller**, [Nebula](https://nebula.tv/jacob-geller/), [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@JacobGeller/)

- [The Horror of Universal Paperclips and Space Engine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oca8BnDMin4), 2018
<!-- A contemplation on the web clicker game Universal Paperclips, the space simulator Space Engine, the topic of automation, and the cosmic horror of scale. -->
- [Games, Schools, and Worlds Designed for Violence](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usSfgHGEGxQ), 2019
<!-- Another video from Jacob Geller, but on a completely different topic. A video essay about how spaces are designed for expected use, and the potential psychological effects of the militarization of common spaces like schools. Starts with the design of video game environments, but quickly moves to apply those ideas elsewhere. -->
- [Does Call of Duty Believe in Anything?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtCV421T52s), 2019

[**Folding Ideas**](https://www.youtube.com/@FoldingIdeas)

- [Ludonarrative Dissonance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04zaTjuV60A), 2017
- [Manufactured Discontent and Fortnite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPHPNgIihR0), 2019  
On Fortnite, modern free-to-play game monitization and design, Fortnite as a "content delivery mechanism", and games as a service in general. A good talk about hostile design and how digital spaces enable monitizing user agency and psychological pressure. "Fortnite is a glimpse of the future. An awful, perpetually monetized, vertically-integrated, vaguely hostile future."
- [The Nostalgia Critic and The Wall](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rokAtlFGa7Y), 2021
- [Why It&#39;s Rude to Suck at Warcraft](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKP1I7IocYU), 2022
- [Line Goes Up – The Problem With NFTs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g), 2022

[**Ian Danskin**,  (Innuendo Studios)](https://www.youtube.com/@InnuendoStudios)

- [This Is Phil Fish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmTUW-owa2w), 2014
- [The Alt-Right Playbook](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJA_jUddXvY7v0VkYRbANnTnzkA_HMFtQ), 2017-
- [Tomatoes, or How Not To Define "Art"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmxIK9p0SNM), 2017
<!-- A summary of the "what is art" conversation/argument and the difference between experiential definitions and axiomatic definitions. An argument about how to think about words and definitions in general. -->
- [CO-VIDs: the gandhi trap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BB0Q1qHpAw), 2020
<!-- A short video essay about the optics of brutal state violence against peaceful protesters -- Bob Altemeyer's "Gandhi trap" -- and the use of intentional disinformation campaigns to manipulate them.  -->
- [CO-VIDs: the semiotics of &quot;cuck&quot;](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQjVbk6JSck), 2021


[**shaun**](https://www.youtube.com/@Shaun_vids)

- [The Death Penalty feat. PragerU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L30_hfuZoQ8), 2020
<!-- A long video essay about the political debate over the death penalty, the various factions pushing on both the issue, and their arguments.  -->
- [PragerU & The Law](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCTp_kYwz1E), 2021
<!-- A relatively short but thorough video about the law and how the rhetoric of legality is misused by authoritarian factions, and how what some people refer to as "The Law" (when wielding it) has nothing to do with legality, policy, or any sort of civic process. -->
- [Harry Potter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1iaJWSwUZs), 2022


[**Big Joel**](https://www.youtube.com/@BigJoel)

- [Ben Shapiro and the Politics of Imagination](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV_yhvaU6Vk), 2019
- [The Strange World of YouTube's Corporate Propaganda](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUAkZPJeiBM), 2020  
A video essay about YouTube and modern content platforms in general. Makes the excellent point that YouTube's business model depends on it seeming like an invisible, natural force, when in fact it actively engages in relationships very similar to employer/employee, but with fewer protections.

**Some More News**

- [Perhaps Ben Shapiro Shouldn&#39;t Be Taken Seriously By Anyone About Anything](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDMjgOYOcDw), 2019
- [Why Is Tucker Carlson?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vMK-p6-M5E), 2019
- [How To Cover These Police Riots](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGxfNl9C6CQ), 2020
- [Elon Musk Is Not Your Friend](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pNL7MlUpmI), 2021
- [Our Popcorn Movie Dystopia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj-wc9qugGY), 2021
- [What Conservative Hypocrisy Reveals About Their Ideology](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DA6nQVYrsE), 2022

[**Pay to Win**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQIHqkudgNY) &vert; Jimmy McGee  
A series of videos about making money from games.

[**The Right-Wing War on Education**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo0M3H1QsEQ) &vert; Zoe Bee

[**Unity&#39;s Plan Won&#39;t Work, but Someone Else&#39;s Will**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDPPig9JR5Y) &vert; Pillar of Garbage

[**The Austrian Wine Poisoning | Down the Rabbit Hole**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhN-o2ame-4) &vert; Fredrik Knudsen 📚, 2020  
The incredible story of the Austrian wine poisoning of the 1980s, and how it turned out the wine industries of entire countries relied on poisoning their supply with antifreeze.

<!-- Individual videos (essay-ish) -->

[**Don't Be a Sucker**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K6-cEAJZlE) &vert; USA, 1947  
Anti-fascist propaganda produced by the United States military in the wake of World War II. An explanation of the social engineering and rhetoric that pulls people to fascist ideologies, as well as how police forces with discretionary authority to arrest people are tools of evil. Honestly heartwarming.

[**Rise of The Doomer: Why So Many People Are Giving Up**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2YptT8l3jM) &vert; Sarah Z, 2020  
A look at the "doomer"; the disillusioned, hopeless generation. Where the name came from, some of the causes of modern existential despair, and ways of dealing with the burnout.

[**Social Constructs (or, &#39;What is A Woman, Really?&#39;)**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koud7hgGyQ8) &vert; Philosophy Tube, 2021

[**Disney Channel&#39;s Theme: A History Mystery**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_rjBWmc1iQ) &vert; Defunctland (Kevin Perjurer), 2022

[**How did everything become a monthly fee?**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ut_JGyTcYo) &vert; 
Simon Caine, 2022

[**The Consumerist Dystopia of Harry Potter**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBftW7FzOVI) &vert; Verity Ritchie 📚, 2023

[**Unboxing the hidden politics of SimCity**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_51_YJQpeg0) &vert; Clayton Ashley, 2021  
A video about how SimCity -- a simple city simulation game -- comes bundled with a particular political worldview, why such bundling is actually necessary, and the danger of treating a computer simulation as value neutral.

[**Music Theory and White Supremacy**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr3quGh7pJA) &vert; Adam Neely, 2020  
A look at "dumb liberals think music is racist, lol" and how it turns out if you study the history, it absolutely is. On the integration of white supremacy into "neutral" society, and "the epistemology of ignorance".

[**Capitalism makes sh!t products**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtrR8IaOWvs) &vert; Yugopnik, 2020  
A video by self-proclaimed Balkan Socialist on planned obsolescence and the inadequacy of market incentives. Different economic systems incentivize different kinds of products, and this is a good explanation of why planned obsolescence in particular is/demonstrates one of capitalism's great weaknesses. 
<!-- See also [0749478055](https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Planned-Obsolescence-Unsustainability-Consumption/dp/0749478055) -->


[**Let’s go whaling: Tricks for monetising mobile game players with free-to-play**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNjI03CGkb4) &vert; Torulf Jernström, 2016  
A talk from a mobile game development conference that explores the "dark pattern" design techniques to make addictive video games that extract as much money from the public as possible. Dark stuff.

[**What You need to know about stalkerware**](https://www.ted.com/talks/eva_galperin_what_you_need_to_know_about_stalkerware) &vert; Eva Galperin 📚, 2019  
A brief Ted Talk about so-called "stalkerware": commercial spyware commonly used by abusers to do in-depth reconnaissance on their victims, often deliberately allowed or ignored by commercial antivirus and other security systems.

[**Level Design**](https://joewintergreendev.tumblr.com/post/152188146576/reposting-my-videos-about-modern-level-design) &vert; Joe Wintergreen 📚, 2016  
A collection of short videos from Joe Wintergreen about geometrical level design tools and problems modern game development workflows have that old systems like Quake and Half Life didn't. See also his [twitter thread here about the design tools in Half Life: Alyx](https://twitter.com/joewintergreen/status/1262662025903128576)

[**The War on General-Purpose Computing**](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnokcTec4FE0mDHclDrlhcTsyRBchE46B) &vert; Cory Doctorow 📚, 2011-  
A series of talks by Cory Doctorow on legal and corporate attacks against general purpose computers, and how those attacks are serious threats to liberty. Started as prescient prediction in 2011, has evolved into a summary of how that's happening today.

[Investigation: How Roblox Is Exploiting Young Game Developers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ)  
[Roblox Pressured Us to Delete Our Video. So We Dug Deeper.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTMF6xEiAaY) &vert; People Make Games

[**Everything is a Remix**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJPERZDfyWc) &vert; Kirby Ferguson, 2010 (HD 2015)

[**Modern Wonka Doesn&#39;t Work**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMM2zdGzIs) &vert; Jack Saint, 2023

[**Anti-Vaping Ads want you to Vape**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbV6I8VRMG8) &vert; Maggie Mae Fish, 2023

## Skits and bits

<!-- Comedians -->

[**Michael Guy Bowman**](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5ykJ3-tVwrZFNtMSlTaVQ/videos)
<!-- 2011-2018 -->

- [Texas History](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tULy69RF9xE), 2013
- [Bumper To Bumper](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSw9DXNTTxI), 2014
- [Good Cop, Red Cop](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRsWP_-dO_c), 2014


**Stuart Ashens on Terrible Old Games**  
Stuart Ashens has a few great videos from presentations he's done on terrible old computer games. See [Terrible Old Games](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Shmi76Pax8), [Gallery of Shame](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFF9O73iwko), and [Hareraiser](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouvi-fwrfIY). Also, he has [some books](https://unbound.com/authors/stuart-ashen)!

**Brian David Gilbert**

- [Polygon's Unraveled](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaDrN74SfdT7Ueqtwn_bXo1MuSWT0ji2w), 2018-2020  
YouTube video man Brian David Gilbert's Polygon series on "unraveling" game lore and gaming culture
- [Gill & Gilbert](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaDrN74SfdT5llW_-09rj_109vSto5BP1
), 2018  
Also with Brian David Gilbert, a gaming streaming improv variety show. BDG describes it as a "nightmare public access show". Also Patrick Gill is there
- [Earn $20K EVERY MONTH by being your own boss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbfu39l0kxg), 2020
- [building your online brand](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPHK494AUxE), 2020
- [Teaching Jake about the Camcorder, Jan &#39;97](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXZy8BbMz_U), 2021
- [Just One Day - 2winz² (Official Video)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdVgPCM5wEk), 2021
- [Welcome to the Neighborhood!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2f37Vb2NAE), 2023



[**What Codec should I use?**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DMcm4ga_Vc) &vert; Alan Resnick 📚, 2020

[**Adults React To PewDiePie**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFbVKL-Meo0) &vert; Retsupurae 📚, 2012  
PewDiePie is a YouTube sensation from 2010- who posted videos of himself reacting to video games. Here are some reactions to his videos.


<!-- Comedy -->

[**Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) &vert; Real-Time Fandub Games**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGe79n-jcHk) &vert; SnapCube, 2019  
A group of voice actors ad-lib over the dialogue from Sonic 06 in one take with zero rehearsal.

[**TV Repair**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paj43J0pi4s) &vert; Sesame Street, 2011(?)

[**LOCAL58TV**](https://www.youtube.com/@LOCAL58TV) &vert; Kris Straub, 2017-  
Analog horror. *Contingency* is top tier. 

## Documentary

**Shiny Happy People** &vert; 2023  
Required reading on how the most toxic ideas of Christian fundamentalism infiltrated families, police, and government. 

## Shows

### Digital

**Electronic Game Information**
 
[**Angel Hare**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpJJ6e5tvaE&list=PLDf4D84f4DIR_KAN3Sc7T76zbDtsbEV67&index=2) &vert; [TheEastPatch](https://linktr.ee/The_west_patch), 2022  
Found-footage horror, but in reverse. With the exception of some hammy captions, this is a mastercraft. It looks like they've kept the story going but I'm specifically recommending "Season 1" (through Tape 6) as the main experience.

[**Infomercials**](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/star-wars-parody-infomercials) &vert; Adult Swim, 2013-  
Originally mock infomercials about fake products or services, though some of the later episodes evolved into more advanced unfiction. [Some episodes on YouTube.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQLdhVpLBVE)

[**Petscop**](https://www.youtube.com/c/Petscop/videos) &vert; Tony Domenico, 2017-2019  
An unfiction series about a boy LPing a lost playstation game. Themes of child abuse and a murder mystery.

[**alantutorial**](https://www.youtube.com/user/alantutorial/videos) &vert; Alan Resnick 📚, 2011-2014  
An unfiction series about a man who makes video tutorials for the internet.

[**On Cinema At The Cinema**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFHLfmoLchI&list=PLQl8zBB7bPvIooDTYwY7v_V12KJfQueXZ&index=1) &vert; Tim Heidecker & Gregg Turkington 📚, 2012-  
A movie review web podcast that deteriorates into... something else. I might call it a performance art soap opera? It's hilarious. 

[**Don't Hug Me I'm Scared**](https://www.youtube.com/@donthugmeimscared/videos) &vert; This Is It Collective, 2011-  
Fantastic children's educational horror. I'm including both the youtube series and the [channel 4 full-length series](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14932528/) in this recommendation. Also, I recommend [Patricia Taxxon's analysis here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ7cStxqgFE)

[**Daily Life Hack with Carole Anne**](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpH1RUeNMas7yKWMm901hdc5S2_USNdo6) &vert; joe o, 2015

[**Sex House**](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4NL9i-Fu15hEvLzZoJ6vthn7_VFiY_-z) &vert; The Onion, 2012  
A sexy reality show loses the plot. Parody.


### Broadcast

**Galavant** &vert; 2015-2016

[**Infinity Train**](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/infinity-train) &vert; 2018-2020  
An animated series about people who find themselves on a mysterious train.

[**Daria**](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/daria) &vert; 1997  
An adult animated satirical sitcom about a cynical highschooler in the disappointing, shallow reality of suburban life.

[**Person of Interest**](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/person-of-interest) &vert; 2011-2016  
A CBS "science fiction crime drama". Starts as a semi-procedural but goes to some really interesting places about surveillance, privacy, artificial intelligence, and the ethics of ASIs. Fun fact: this series seems like it was written in a response to the Snowden leaks, but it actually predicted them.

[**Elementary**](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/elementary) &vert; 2012-2019  
An adaptation of Sherlock Holmes set in modern-day New York. It's the one with Lucy Liu as Watson, you know the one. It's probably my favourite Holmes adaptation. 

[**Psych**](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/Psych) &vert; 2006-2014  
A show about a detective who's claimed to be psychic and has to constantly maintain the ruse while solving cases. Slapstick comedy.

[**Community**](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/community) &vert; 2010-2015  
A deconstructed sitcom about a study group at a lackluster community college. Dan Harmon's show. Origin of that one danny glover pizza gif.

<!-- TODO more jellyfin shows -->

<!-- TOO BASIC: -->

<!-- monty python -->
<!-- arrested development -->


<!-- ## Movies -->

<!-- TODO jellyfin movies -->

<!-- [What The Internet Did To Garfield - Super Eyepatch Wolf](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2C5R3FOWdE) -->

<!-- [The 10 tactics of fascism | Jason Stanley | Big Think - YouTube (watch)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpCKkWMbmXU) -->

<!-- [Andrew Tate: How to be a Real Man - YouTube (watch)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6_TOFy3k6k)  
Shaun 2023 -->

<!-- [Being a man ain&#39;t what it used to be. - Thought Slime 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfL4se4pZWg) -->