--> recommended 3 songs: holiday in cambodia, kill the poor, california uber alles
+---------------------------------------------------+
| home // links // recs // thoughts // guestbook |
+---------------------------------------------------+
jreg: (keywords: art//politics//philosophy//humor//terminally online) not only is he funny but he has good shit to say, i think he's actually onto some truths about the world. next to impossible to explain quickly, but if you like it you love it.
cj the x: (keywords: art//analysis//philosophy//terminally online) starts off with media commentary about media you've never watched, and turns it into the best video essays you've ever watched. oftentimes incorporates life philosophy that leads you to turn off the screen and start contemplating.
brian david gilbert: (keywords: variety//art//humor) this guy can upload anything and it will be good. does everything from music, skits, horror, informationals, game journalism, and more while always incorporating slightly concerning humor.
vlogbrothers: (keywords: analysis//variety//philosophy//science) two brothers who have been making short videos for each other and sending them back and forth for nearly two decades. over this time span, they have discussed thousands of topics, published multiple books, started charities, and built a longstanding yet easy-to-join community.
map men: (keywords: geography//analysis//variety) weird geography series (as in, the geography is weird not the series.) fast-paced discussion of interesting phenomena plus great skits because it's made by comedians.
josh czuba: (keywords: self-improvement//art//analysis) the only channel that helps me fight my internet addiction lol. the way he talks convinces you to want to stop scrolling and start slowly reclaiming your mind. also releases strangely gripping short stories (like this) which are among my favorite videos on the platform.
not buying it: (keywords: analysis//self-improvement) the anti-consumerist youtube space is saturated, ironically, with people doing it for the money. they record "minimalist house tours" or "1 week low-buy vlogs" or some other slop with midroll ads, going against the whole ethos. not buying it performs high quality analysis instead, a reminder to ignore both the corporate and "anti-corporate" noise.
pasta coma: (keywords: humor//variety) extremely funny college student with a unique/offbeat style. started off as a cooking channel for a school project but now she does shit like hanging art in restaurants and making switzerland in her closet. seeing this in my recommended with absolutely no previous exposure to the channel made me a fan for life.
jerma: deadass jerma is one of the funniest people currently alive. he does wild outside-the-box shit including real-life sims, weird shitty games from 12 years ago, really long tier lists, hours-long bits to trick new viewers. because he reacts very strangely to regular stimuli, you never get bored. he's just so insane that it's entertaining. even when he acts normal for a while, sooner or later he'll say something ridiculous that reminds you who you're watching. i linked his stream channel but it's probably better to do a youtube search for "jerma clips" to get a sense of the insanity for yourself. (here and here are good ones to get you started.)
northernlion: he's quick in the head and has a great vocabulary which allows him to come up with funny shit on the spot for any situation. especially entertaining when he plays geoguessr or random quizzes, or goes off on a humorous tangent about whatever's happening on twitter recently. very easy streamer to get into. i linked the clips channel but if that's too hard to sort through, this one should get you interested.
dougdoug: a bit different than the above two but still good. specifically recommend the novel.ai adventures because the ai is so shitty that it completely derails what the "plot" of the stream was supposed to be. ridiculous self-imposed modifications, or shenanigans forcing the incorporation of twitch chat, bring some actual originality to video game streaming.
100 gecs: goes so fucking hard. insane maximalist music for the internet generation.
--> recommended 3 songs: hollywood baby, dumbest girl alive, 757 (cd version)
--> true fan? underground recommendations: want u 2 love me, u know, gum, blinded by the light
anti-flag: very relevant new punk band espousing the issues of our age.
--> recommended 3 songs: american attraction, turncoat, the press corpse
the clash: probably the best punk band of all time, influenced a generation and their biting social criticisms remain relevant today.
--> recommended 3 songs: strongly recommend listening to the album london calling. it is one of the best albums ever made. but if i have to keep it to 3 songs: train in vain, clampdown, hateful
--> true fan? underground recommendations: the sound of sinners, hate and war
david bowie: im sure you already know who this guy is, give him a shot even if you're not an 80s head.
--> recommended 3 songs: suffragette city, life on mars, young americans
--> true fan? underground recommendation: his bizarre cover of the modern lovers' "pablo picasso"
dead kennedys: behind the provocative name lies a classic punk band full of short, powerful songs with hypnotic basslines.
--> recommended 3 songs: holiday in cambodia, kill the poor, california uber alles
dropkick murphys: some incredible stuff from the irish punk tradition.
--> recommended 3 songs: rose tattoo, going out in style, shipping up to boston
flogging molly: more celtic punk i love this shit.
--> recommended 3 songs: devil's dance floor, seven deadly sins, what's left of the flag
gezebelle gaburgably: online music that will blow your socks right off. really latches onto something about the modern condition.
--> recommended 3 songs: afterparty, quarter pounder, pizza rolls royce
--> true fan? underground recommendation: i can't go back to her
green day: being popular doesnt stop them from being good.
--> recommended 3 songs: she's a rebel, bang bang, minority
--> true fan? underground recommendations: too dumb to die, east jesus nowhere, reject
joan jett: catchy angry music. you prolly know her from "i love rock and roll".
--> recommended 3 songs: bad reputation, do you wanna touch, i hate myself for loving you
--> true fan? underground recommendation: let me go
the kinks: wildly influential in the development of rock. part of the british invasion, but not so afraid as the beatles were to satirize their country of origin. not remembered as much as they should be.
--> recommended 3 songs: lola, destroyer, come dancing
--> true fan? underground recommendation: well respected man
lemon demon: yeah ill put bro on here. if his fans werent all 13, people wouldn't be so afraid to say his shit's alright sometimes.
--> recommended 3 songs: reaganomics, i earn my life, really cool wig, pumpkin pie
the police: great 70s/80s band with some reggae influences.
--> recommended 3 songs: every little thing she does is magic, dont stand so close to me, canary in a coal mine
the ramones: they were transformational and they go hard. simple as.
--> recommended 3 songs: the kkk took my baby away, rockaway beach, sheena is a punk rocker
--> true fan? underground recommendation: i dont wanna grow up
r.e.m.: yeah we've all heard "losing my religion" but they have so many g.e.m.s it's worth a deeper look into their discography.
--> recommended 3 songs: orange crush, fall on me, man on the moon
--> true fan? underground recommendations: stand, uberlin, imitation of life
sex pistols: transformative punk band that burned bright for a short time.
--> recommended 3 songs: anarchy in the uk, god save the queen, holidays in the sun
--> true fan? underground recommendations: they only had one album lol, hard to get too underground. i guess no feelings, emi, and pretty vacant. the riff of pretty vacant was supposedly inspired by abba's "SOS", another song i really fuck with
talking heads: epic alternative band known for wild lyrics and extended metaphors.
--> recommended 3 songs: and she was, wild wild life, road to nowhere
--> true fan? underground recommendation: lifetime piling up
they might be giants: fascinating, sometimes surreal alt-rock super popular among nerds, with lyrics that are cynically dark, ridiculously absurd, or both. they have written bops about the very core of the human experience, and composed bangers about topics no other band has touched.
--> recommended 3 songs: ana ng, they'll need a crane, till my head falls off
--> true fan? underground recommendations: canajoharie, damn good times, climbing the walls, push back the hands, the neck rolls aren't working, call you mom. i can keep going
tom petty: perfect aux cord music. groovy stuff, i have never met anyone who dislikes tom petty.
--> recommended 3 songs: i wont back down, the waiting, free fallin'
--> true fan? underground recommendation: the last dj
the velvet underground: these mfs were actually revolutionary, singing about drugs and poverty during the peace-and-love 60s. lou reed is an interesting character; it is despite this, or perhaps because of it, that his music is so aggressive and powerful.
--> recommended 3 songs: white light/white heat, waiting for the man, pale blue eyes
--> true fan? underground recommendation: who loves the sun
warren zevon: one of the most underrated rock figures, many of his songs have just brilliant storytelling.
--> recommended 3 songs: lawyers guns and money, excitable boy, poor poor pitiful me
--> true fan? underground recommendation: splendid isolation
the who: the who changed the genre forever, including by straight up inventing the concept of the rock opera. they were so ahead of their time it's ridiculous and if you know them you'll understand why these frenzied power chords pushed rock n roll to innovate so much.
--> recommended 3 songs: you better you bet, pinball wizard, substitute
--> true fan? underground recommendations: athena, don't let go the coat
[in progress]
battlebots: weaponized robots fight each other, chaos ensues. very entertaining if you like robotics, or enjoy watching explosions, hammers, giant saws spinning 250mph, and hundreds of pounds of steel being thrown into the air.
bojack horseman: uses animal people to depict struggles with addiction, mental illness, interpersonal problems, and general adult life. its clever writing, in both silly and somber parts, cements it as one of the pinnacles of the animated genre.
breaking bad/better call saul: very strong characterization and plot that never stops. there's a reason some people call these 2 the greatest shows of all time.
good omens: watched this with my family and enjoyed it a lot. contains both humor and meaning with characters you are intensely rooting for.
death note: intricate plot and examination of good and evil. one of the most popular anime of all time for good reason, as it is quite well-constructed above and below the surface.
serial experiments lain: short, gripping, and borderline prophetic. it's about the internet, and existence, in the broadest scope of those terms.
neon genesis evangelion: almost as peak as lain. if you like philosophical anime you have definitely watched this.
monty python and the holy grail: one of my favorite movies of all time, raucously funny and you can reference it for the rest of your life. a group of knights go through various trials and tribulations to find the holy grail, but every scene is a hit. honorable mention to life of brian, another monty python movie that's almost as good.
the princess bride: parody romance movie that's also hilarious. the characters in this one are so nuts they actually seem like they could be real.
reservoir dogs: the ability to tell an epic theft story while jumping back and forth in time to reveal character motivations makes this a masterpiece. while i like pulp fiction as well, reservoir dogs is the better tarantino movie because it's tighter. never wasting a moment on fluff, it keeps you focused the entire time.
fight club: yeah no shit, it's renowned for a reason. one of those movies you just have to see at least once, and you'll definitely enjoy the ride.
one flew over the cuckoo's nest: the cast of characters present in a mental asylum make it not only entertaining but also rebellious. im shocked at the amount of people who havent seen this one, it's fire.
godfather/godfather 2: they're good whatever hot take
guns akimbo: my favorite action movie. about a loser guy who wakes up with guns bolted to his hands, forced to participate in an underground livestreamed fighting ring. hidden gem (read: nobody else has seen this movie)
use open source software whenever possible.
you definitely want to be using vlc over windows media player or quicktime player. vlc is lighter, has a better subtitle system, and can play just about any format, codec, or file extension you throw at it.
my torrent client of choice is qbittorrent, it has every feature and you will see it recommended everywhere. ive also had good experiences with deluge but it hasnt been updated in years.
ive used surfshark because it's cheap, but wouldnt really recommend as they removed port forwarding when it was previously a selling point; never trust products shilled by youtubers. mullvad is the most private vpn and the best choice if you don't care about port forwarding. if you want port forwarding use proton.
i assume you're using firefox (or one of its forks) if you read this far in the software section. if you're not, respectfully, what are you doing? you can easily switch over your bookmarks, passwords, and browser history, plus you'll be able to use adblockers since chrome has banned most of them.
speaking of adblockers, ublock origin is by far the most comprehensive. other recommended extensions: behind the overlay for a paywall blocker, adnauseam and disconnect for privacy. i also use youtube playback speed control to watch videos at 4x speed B)
highly suggest you ARCHIVE YOUR SHIT. if your computer dies tomorrow, imagine everything you'd lose. the best strategy is to identify critically important data and back it up to an external ssd. samsung ssds are reliable and go on sale frequently, but any drive is a better deal than professional data recovery.
old macbooks and macbook pros (2010-2015) are good linux machines and underrated options for cheap computers. since the old ones originally retailed for an arm and a leg, the components are of good quality (except 2015/16-2019's butterfly keyboard, do not buy a machine with that joke of an input system.) ironically, the new arm macbooks suffer more compatability issues than old x86 ones. the mid-2012 macbook pro, which i used for years until its drive died, is regarded as one of the best macbooks over made. anecdotally, i picked up my current early-2015 macbook pro for cheap at a local computer shop and it was well worth the money.
of course, thinkpads are always good too.
in order to do work when you dont want to, you have to either disengage all the way or engage all the way.
to disengage, force boredom by throwing your phone across the room and staring at the wall. in most cases (notably, not high-stress tasks) your brain will choose the work over the lack of stimulation.
to engage, the key is associating a sensory input with work. once a sense is engaged, it's not in the background distracting you from what you want to do. most people do this with music: a genre, a playlist, or a song. something like lofi would be a genre. you can make a playlist of songs (or find one on youtube, search "procrastination playlist") that you ONLY listen to when doing work to permanently build that association. or you can listen to one song/track, like this, on loop until it becomes background noise.
another suggesion is "coworking" streamers on twitch. when you and the streamer are doing the work at the same time it feels much less intimidating. the 3 people in chat will hold you accountable, the twitch bot will make completion feel more rewarding, and becoming part of a small community makes it easier to rebuild your discipline skills in addition to its psychological benefits.