Video of the Week

Yet another already featured YouTuber, Nick Robinson is back once more with another narrative-centered video. Two years ago (stick with me), Nick made a video about a viral image of a storefront sign that reads, "Michaelsoft Binbows", going over its meaning, history, and locating the store in VR. I watched that video when it came out, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The last thing I expected was him to make a follow-up to that video years later, and have it be even better than the already great original. Not only is this video funny, out there, and a showcase of what lies inside an unassuming Japanese building that millions have otherwise only seen in the form of a meme, but it's deeper than that. It's a story about the wonderful experiences that one can find where you'd never expect them. It's an exploration of what happens when someone ventures into a culture very distinct from their own without the help of any guides, or foreigner amenities provided by tourist destinations. It's a story about doing so much for something so small just because it means a lot to you. Honestly, its unexpectedly touching, and I suggest you watch Nick's first video on Michaelsoft Binbows, and then this one. I sure know I'm glad I did.

I could talk about this video's masterful editing, its clean transitions, good sound design, and masterful animation sequence. But I won't, because although all of that is great, its not why I've made this the video of the week. Geometry Dash has been a part of my life - at times a very minor part, at others a big part - for most of my existence. The game has been stuck on the same update for a little under seven years, and I've spent around a third of my entire life waiting for an update. In that time, I've seen some of the most amazing creations from any game come out, the rise of enthralling content creators, and players who stand above everyone else in their level dominating capabilities. As silly as this may seem for a dirt cheap mobile game, Geometry Dash has developed a community that I find amazing, and one that's very important to me. This video is one of the best conceivable summations of that community possible. It legitimately moved me, and sparked a lot of joy at how far the game has come, and how happy I am to have been around to see it with my own eyes. Oh, and on top of all that, RobTop included an unexpected release date for the next update, which, as you may expect, sent shock waves through the community. Although I have my issues with how he runs the game, I can't help but thank RobTop for directing such a wonderful video, and for creating this unassuming game that has legitimately changed my life.

I've often featured very long videos on this channel, but never have I included a video this short, barely over a minute long. I'm by no means an avid Jerma fan, but this clip was really funny, and had me laughing quite a lot. However, what made this video stick with me was the wonderful animation. I've seen Corax's work once or twice before and thought it was quite good, but he really went all out on this one. The colors are rich and vivid, the backgrounds are detailed, and, most importantly, the movements are unbelievably fluid and animated. It's near impossible to convey how good it looks with words, so PLEASE watch it, especially considering how short it is. Pure eye candy.

I've featured Doggie here twice before, and this video encapsulates what it so special about his videos. This is a very long compilation video of the funniest and most memorable moments from his time on YouTube, and it is a blast. In my opinion, what makes his videos so good in the first place is how often there's the most ridiculous, but also hilarious, stuff that takes over as the subject of the video, and completely derails it for minutes on end. Taking all of those times and putting them into one video is bound for success, and the result was great. There's nothing particularly unique about a supercut like this, but its hilarity is enough by itself, and whether or not you play Geometry Dash, you can easily enjoy this video.

I have an unbelievably high amount of hours in Terraria, currently sitting around 1,600, so I have seen just about everything there is to see in the game and from the community. However, I've never seen something like this. Although the video itself is amateurish, with scripting that needs some work, editing that could be a bit faster, and a few things that are hard to follow, the core idea is enthralling, and extremely impressive. Hopefully, From Scratch will continue to expand on his Terraria computer, and we can see another video on it in the future.

Well would you look at that, yet another very long video. In an unexpected twist, I'm going to go over a few problems I have with this video first. I've typically enjoyed Foekoe's videos, although I'm not an active viewer, but I find his humor to be a little overly pessimistic, his voiceovers a little too fast, and his editing a bit much for me. However, aside from that, his videos are very well made, with good editing throughout, good voiceovers, and he manages to keep this long and repetitive video interesting throughout. The amount of dedication that went into making this video is eye-watering, and it's overall a good video.

Nick Robinson's entire specialty is practically making videos about the most niche things that you'd never think you'd be interested in, but come out of with your life completely changed. A few months ago, I saw a video of this guy who seemingly had a crazy obsession with this one anime character, who I now know is named Maizono. Like many who'd seen this video, and as Nick Robinson mentions in this video, I passed it off as either an insane person, or someone extremely dedicated to trolling. This video is a deep dive into the man behind that video and the so-called Church of Maizono, and it's truly a fascinating bout. I don't want to spoil that much, so I'll simply say that the video itself is well made in every aspect, and as thorough as need be while not being overly detailed. On top of that, the story itself, and the truth behind such an insane project such as this is very interesting, and you certainly won't expect just about anything in this video.

Oh boy, what to even say about Chris Chan. In short. Chris Chan is one of the most infamous and most documented people on the entire internet, with an online presence of around two decades. I've always had a surface level understanding of Chris Chan's history, and have known about GenoSamuel's series on this history, but until now, have not decided to take the plunge.  Now, that's changed. I have gotten a good few episodes into the series, and have thoroughly enjoyed all of it, but I can only pick one video of the week, and so I thought it best to pick the first one. This episode, but also the rest of the episodes, are very comprehensive, well-paced, have a good documentary-like style, and great voiceovers, which, although dry, are still often humorous. Although this format of  video may not interest everyone due to its relatively slow pace, minimal editing, and plain narration, it is something I've easily gotten invested in, and I think it makes sense considering there's another 76 episodes and counting.

Speedrun progression videos, where would we be without them? Well, we'd probably be in just about the same place, but never mind that. Point is, speedrun progression videos are an oft good format, especially this one. Whoovie takes this format, cuts out the overly slow pacing, adds in more dynamic, interesting, and useful editing, and adds a healthy dose of humor. This video is everything I love about speedrun progression videos without all of their aspects I often wish were left behind, and on top of that, it's simply a good video. The game covered is one I never knew about before this video, and I bet that's the same for you. However, that's not necessary, as this video is good enough on its own merits. Everything you need to know to understand the speedruns is explained thoroughly, though not overly explained, it's neither too slow and dull nor too fast and in your face, and the humor is just funny. Please go check out this video, and check out some of Whoovie's other videos, as he has some other good ones too.

I know, I know. A 2nd Doggie video in a row, and another Geometry Dash video featured on this page. As I said in the previous video of the week, Doggie is a great YouTuber all around, and this video is yet more evidence of that. It's not particularly outstanding or amazing, but is just a fun time, with fitting editing, good pacing, and Doggie's exceptional personality and humor all the way through. I enjoyed this video even more because I'm already a pretty big fan of tier list videos, because I like seeing things ranked, praised, and berated. Just a solid video that I was pleased with all the way through.

For the second time on this page, I've picked out a Geometry Dash video, but this one is exceptional. Doggie is consistently one of the best YouTubers in the game due to his natural sense of humor and ability to parse out the funniest things that happen in his streams, his mastery of pacing, and editing skills, and this video is no different. For those who don't know (which is probably most of the people reading this), Silent clubstep is one of the hardest and most legendary levels in the game, and this makes for a particularly interesting video compared to Doggie's other work. Seeing his slow -- and at times painful -- progression over this beast of a level is engaging, and paired with the constant humor throughout, makes for a great watch. A lot of Doggie's video have some random thing that suddenly derails the video and leads to minutes of hilarity, and in this video, that happens many times. Overall, great video, would highly suggest watching it if you play Geometry Dash, but even if you don't, you may still get enjoyment from it.

That's right, you're not dreaming. Danton Bantz has gotten a FOURTH video of his on this list. By this point, I honestly have almost nothing to say regarding the videos themselves. They're well made in just about every sense, and they are a breath of fresh air in the otherwise stale AI presidents scene. Also, since I've featured him 4 times on this page, I can confidently say his videos are also getting better as we go. The plots are becoming more complex, the characters have gotten more development and the cast has gotten bigger, the editing is cleaner, and the pacing is better. Like the rest of his Biden & The Gang videos, this one has a sweet message at the end, which, although predictable (which is kinda the point), is always a good note to end the video on. Huge congrats to Bantz for being the most prolific creator in this section by far. I predict there will be even more videos of his added here in the future.

I didn't watch as many videos this past week so I'm going with something a little different. In case you didn't know, I am an avid Geometry Dash player, and I am embedded within the community. Zeronium is a top player of the game, and a prominent up-and-coming content creator, and I have been a huge fan of his ever since I discovered him in July of 2022. He has a great personality, is naturally quite funny, edits just enough to keep things interesting but not too much to make the video's coherence fall apart, and I always look forward to his videos. This video is not particularly special from his other videos, but I enjoy practically all of his videos quite a bit, and considering I haven't watched many interesting things this past week, this takes the cake for video of the week.

Honestly, I don't have much to say. First off, big congrats to Danton Bantz for becoming the first creator not only to be featured twice on this page, but three times! Honestly, I have little to say about this video that I haven't already said about Bantz's other videos. This one also has high production value, though even better than his previous videos, and it has a cheesy but wholesome message at the end that really makes this video feel like part of a PBS show (and I mean that in the best way possible). Seriously, go subscribe to this guy.

Content warning:  somewhat gross images, descriptions of absolutely horrendous conditions, borderline body horror.

I'm typically not the biggest fan of Wendigoon, but this video hits different. This video does not have particularly good production quality, nor is it especially impressive, but I feel it's a story worth telling with the thoroughness of this video. It's an absolutely heartbreaking story, it's absolutely terrifying at points, and pretty disgusting to image (though I don't know what else one would expect from the title "The Most Painful Death Ever"). In short, this video describes the 83-day long torture of a man named Hisashi Ouchi, who survived one of the most extreme radiation exposures in history and somehow survived for an incredibly long time considering his situation. Although it's a story of suffering so intense that it's well beyond any human's comprehension, it's also a story of perseverance, and of fighting the forces of nature themselves. I highly suggest you watch this all the way through on a day when you have little else planned, you won't regret it.

I wasn't expecting to feature two videos by the same creator so quickly, nevertheless two weeks in a row, but here we are! Just like Bantz's other AI presidents videos, this one is a step above the rest on YouTube, with its natural voices, good scripting, and good editing. However, this one is probably the most wholesome of his videos yet, and I love it. I won't spoil the story for you, but all I'll say is; while it's pretty cheesy, it's a funny, yet genuine video that'll assuredly make you smile, and that's something you can't say about most videos nowadays in an age where genuineness on the internet is often in low supply.

Let me start this entry by saying that never in a million years did I think I'd be writing an entry on an AI presidents video. For as long as these types of videos/memes have existed, I haven't been a fan of them, but this video, alongside Bantz's other videos in his AI presidents series, single-handedly changed my mind on them. What sets this video apart from other AI presidents video is how natural it feels, from the voices themselves to the scripting. The suiting editing is also a big help for this video, and overall, it's just a fun watch. It's honestly quite endearing, and, for the duration of the video, I really felt like these were the actual presidents hanging out. I'll spare you the details since I suggest you go watch it yourself, but it's really great, and I'm excited for what Bantz makes in the future.

Yet another really long one, clocking in at over 4 hours, this video is a thoroughly comprehensive response to, and debunking of, both What Is a Woman?, and transphobia in general.  I am pretty in tune with the discussion surrounding transgender people, and I'm very progressive on the issue myself, so while the overall ideas presented in this video and the evidence to back them up in specific weren't groundbreaking or surprising to me, the thoroughness of it all and how Jessie ties a lot of what is covered back to discussions of conservative ideology was greatly enjoyed by me. On top of that, the video goes pretty in depth into Walsh's history, which, although I had already heard of some of it, I was not aware of the full extent of his depraved worldview. To add to all of that, despite its length, the video's quality doesn't dip throughout it all, the lighting is great, the voice overs are good, and overall, the editor did a great job on it. As the cherry on top, it's fun to dunk on transphobes and especially Matt Walsh in particular, and this video delivers on that.

I have watched a few of Not Just Bikes' videos before, and have thoroughly enjoyed a good few of them. His ability to effectively institute both funny and authoritative voice-overs is stellar, his editing is clean, and most importantly, the content of the videos are informative and very important. Car-based infrastructure is one of the most important issues for me, and this video brought up points about SUV's and light trucks in specific that I hadn't considered. Not only was it interesting, but it only further drives home how absolutely awful car-based infrastructure is, and how the automotive industry is despicable (though, really every large industry is within capitalist societies). Yet another banger from Not Just Bikes.

Clocking in at only nine minutes, this will probably be one of the shortest videos featured on this page. Huggbees is known for his parodies of educational content that disguise themselves as real, and this is no exception. Wonderfully animated by RWappin, this video poses as an informative video about the US presidents for kids, but quickly devolves into buffoonery. The vast majority of the jokes land, the production quality is high, and the animation is wonderfully fluid and wacky. This is a rare case where I literally laughed out loud throughout my first watch, and I bet there's a good chance you will too.

I'm a sucker for long-form video, and this is no exception. FNaF is always a fun topic for me because the series is so ridiculous that any aspect of it can be talked about and you can get good content from it. LS Mark's video is everything you can want from a series review: it's well-paced, comprehensive, balanced, funny, and is topped off by good editing and narration. I wasn't bored while watching any of it, and that easily propels it to my favorite video of the past week.