The internet is vast and full of terrors
We stick to our favorite content creators and whatever the almighty algorithm throws at us. Today, I’m going to bring you on a journey to my side of the digital wilderness and hopefully open up a whole new world — shining, shimmering, splendid.
Justin is an Internet historian who specialises in video essays encompassing various subjects of online culture. His videos range from attempting to debunk urban legends (eg. viral photo of a Taiwanese man eating a baby for dinner that was spread via chain emails), catching up with The Star Wars Kid (the OG meme), shedding light on the horrific underground world of Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction (gone sexual), and even delving into the glittery era of 56k dialup internet through his series, “Angelfire/Geocities Adventures”.
He covers pop culture conspiracy theories in “Did Kurt Cobain fake his own death to become Rivers Cuomo of Weezer?”
…detailing legendary reddit threads in video form…
…and immortalising figures from the internet that the mainstream media dares not touch.
While Justin Whang tackles relatively light-hearted topics, the YouTube channels Nexpo and Reignbot take on darker ones, such as Reignbot’s “Stories from Our Disturbing World” and Nexpo’s “Disturbing Things from Around the Internet”.
These videos explore fascinating media like the last CCTV footage of a serial killer’s victim, the dying phone recordings of the unfortunate soul who got caught in a tornado, the online trail via Reddit post history of an eventual murderer, and even some very convincing documentation of supernatural activity.
Dr. Alok Kanojia a.k.a. Healthy Gamer GG
Few streamers can boast being Harvard-trained in their credentials but this psychiatrist hosts his therapy sessions with the biggest names on Twitch.tv for everyone to watch, learn, and relate about personal struggles.
In encouraging recent times when talking about mental health and seeing a therapist is increasingly normalised and no longer stigmatised, Dr Kanojia is a beam of light for anyone who grapples with a variety of social doom and gloom.
After going through addiction and depression himself, Dr Kanojia was inspired to reach and help out the tribe he identifies with most, the internet crowd.
Perhaps through the success of TV shows like MindHunters and a slew of Netflix documentaries on serial killers like Ted Bundy, the recent months have sparked a True Crime gold rush on social media. One of the best channels capitalising on this, affectionately called The EWU Crew, regularly digs up unsolved cold cases and shares hard-to-find details on cases we can’t believe we didn’t read up on.
Focusing more on social and digital media, their videos revolve around instances like how TikTok helped solve a missing persons case, a killer who navigated via Tinder, and how a quiet anime YouTuber turned into a mass shooter.
Niko Omilana and Stephen Tries
In an attempt to liven the mood up after the last few entries, this duo dwells in the same social circle in the UK YouTuber scene. Both classy as morally upright pranksters and skit writers. Niko ran and managed to come fifth in London’s most recent mayoral elections.
Stephen’s sketches represent one of the best examples of dry brit humor not yet on a syndicated TV show. Regularly making cameos with the biggest UK YouTubers, Stephen has been voted by fans as one of the funniest men on social media.
Primarily an independent visual effects studio, the artists have made inroads into Hollywood through their viral productions. This has enabled them to invite movie directors, artists and stuntmen to one of their most popular series, reacting and breaking down the technical details of your favorite movies.
Even if you’re not in the field of VFX, you’ll gain an extra dimension of appreciation for all the blood, sweat and tears that go into producing the films that we take for granted.
I have never imagined myself getting excited watching macro videography of ants going about their daily lives. Mikey Bustos, a former contestant on Canadian Idol, weaves an intricate tale around every colony that he keeps in what was once described by Canadian music magazines as “the voice of an angel”.
What would have been a simple 10 minute video of migration between enclosures is turned into a multi-part saga where Mikey fusses about soil dampness and prey-carrying accessibility for his precious eusocial arthropods.
Massive credit goes to his enthusiastic storytelling that is objectively better than Game of Thrones season 8.
The cool kids from 4chan and Reddit always boast that they’re the front page of the internet. Where memes are still in their embryonic stage and pick up steam to be passed down the pipeline and eventually die on Facebook pages. Even for heavy Reddit users, it’s tough to keep up with every subreddit thread. This channel turns Reddit into an audiobook that you can consume like a podcast while you’re multitasking on another browser window.
Hope the list does something for you! At the very least, it made you chuckle a little; at its best, it introduced more content options in this dreary pandemic season.
