Unique, niche, special interest | YouTube Channels

[Mister Pink]

Thought I would create a thread for some of the more unusual but fascinating YouTube Channels. Today I found this channel of guy living and restoring a ghost mining town, Cerro Gordo in California. 

 

There isn't many videos but what there is very intriguing, including him doing some mine explorations. Might appeal to fans of western frontier life, RDR etc. 

 

 

 

Have you discovered any unusual or very special-interest channels? 

 

[LittleBlueTroll]

I love YouTube. I subscribe to so many channels and most of my media consumption (aside of movies) comes from there. I don't watch much TV, YouTube is my version of TV.

 

I stumbled across this guy called Dave Bull, he's a Canadian who's lived in Japan and for many years, and does something called "woodblock prints" an old, Japanese style of printing. I had never even heard of this before, and somehow it was on my recommended once. I've been watching every upload for about 2 years now. He is so passionate about his craft, and his videos are relaxing and informative, I think he's great.

 

He does a series called "David's Choice" where he picks out his favourite works and artists, and explains in detail about the print. Should check it out:

 

 

He also has a video story about how he ended up in Japan, and how he came across this niche profession (worth checking out)

 

[Mister Pink]

1 hour ago, LittleBlueTroll said:

I love YouTube. I subscribe to so many channels and most of my media consumption (aside of movies) comes from there. I don't watch much TV, YouTube is my version of TV.

 

This is exactly it for me. I have a bunch of interests from gaming, photography, filmmaking, documentaries etc. With the amount of channels I subscribe to, my whole "tv watching time" is full but with things I chose and that speak to my interests. The mere concept of legacy TV seems atrocious now - picking from scheduled "live" broadcasts of interests and shows created by some studio head thats trying to appeal to X, Y, Z demographic so then the scheduling is done when they think that demographic is mostly available. Then there's 5 minutes of ads. It's mental, really. But people put up with it. Then I used Netflix for some films and TV shows. It's great mix. I haven't watched TV since I dated someone 10 years ago that had TV and used to watch it in the mornings or night when we both didn't work or on our days off. 

 

1 hour ago, LittleBlueTroll said:

He is so passionate about his craft, and his videos are relaxing and informative, I think he's great.

You have to admire these people. I had a quick look at this channel. Part of me gets envious when people like David or the guy that bought the ghost town really apply themselves and become experts in their field. I find my hobbies and interests a bit broad and end up not excelling at one thing. I check out his woodblock prints and they're quite nice. 

 

Another I dip in and out of occasionally are the tiny homes channels. 

 

 

[The Time Ranger]

I recently came across a channel called Epheral Rift which focuses on relaxation and ASMR videos, ASMR seems to be a fancy way of saying relaxing visuals and audio that chill you out. This guy has the typical relaxation videos like woodland ambiance sounds, but then he has more quirky ones which I like, such as this.

 

 

Nearly an hour and a half of him playing a Union soldier in his tent, just talking softly to you, gently asking you questions, talking about the war, showing us his canteen etc. He's got a natural presence and believeability which draws you in.

 

This next guy went viral and is quite well known for this video, he sits, stares and smiles at the camera for hours on end. That's it. He has many like it but this one is special.

This video became quite popular due to an unexpected guest at 2:36:37. A would be robber enters the house and quickly makes his exit when he sees what's going on, you'll need the volume on for this bit. Looking at his channel now he's branched out to walking and talking videos, his channel is an oddity but I like it.

[AkshayKumar]

I second Ephemeral Rift, his ASMR videos are one of a kind

 

@-7- introduced me to this Romanian guy who climbs tall structures and does some stunts at the top like playing chess precariously or riding a unicycle on a tight rope.It's fascinating and horrifying at the same time. Here's the video that introduced me to him

 

At one point I used to be into British magician Derren Brown's channel. I don't know if his tricks are staged or not but I used to find them entertaining. Here's one of the last videos I saw of his channel

 

 

[Rhoda]

Oh boy. Okay. During the first lockdown, me and my wife discovered an infectiously enthusiastic cheese maker on YouTube. Every now and again we still say "g'day curd nerds" to each other every now and again. I honestly wouldn't ever try to make my own cheese but I am endlessly entertained by people who are so dedicated to a hobby.

 

 

This is a recent discovery - somebody so hopelessly devoted to all things iPod that they made a YouTube channel, covering everything from hardware modifications, rival products, bootleg merchandise and general discussions about iPods.

 

 

I've been going through my subscriptions list to see who might be interesting (and simultaneously dull) enough to warrant a mention here. I say "dull" because if you're not at all interested in their subject matter, you'll likely be asleep within moments. Without embeds, I thought I'd drop some names in. LSuperSonicQ and blameitonjorge cover some interesting lost media and urban legends, Particular Mushroom dives deep into the secrets, glitches and exploits found in almost every corner of Super Mario Sunshine, Randy Santel is a competitive eater with an audience almost as large as his appetite but I'd still consider it a niche interest. Honestly, there's almost too many to mention, these are just some specific ones that jumped out at me. I'll probably add more as I think of them.

[Mister Pink]

Shiey is great for urban exploration and train-surfing. He makes and producers all his own music too which is quite interesting. He visits old soviet bus graveyards, and old Soviet nuclear fallout shelters on some of his journeys/missions. 

 

 

 

 

[Ivan1997GTA]

Technology Connections has great videos about various technology-related topics, like formats that failed to catch on or experienced a decline in popularity, such as the Laserdisc, and how certain things work, like closed captions.

 

 

I'd also recommend watching Techmoan, who covers lots of interesting niche or obscure electronics and formats, such as recordable postcards from Poland that can be played on a vinyl record player.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2020 by Ivan1997GTA

[Mister Pink]

On 11/10/2020 at 6:55 AM, Ivan1997GTA said:

Technology Connections

Interesting channel. Gave him a sub. 

 

One channel I dip in and out of is Bald and Bankrupt. This English guy spends his time traversing ex Soviet states and befriending locals from villages where no tourists would think to go. Often he meets friendly babushkas or some times the local town character and he'll drink some vodka with them and learn about the local culture. These people he meets are usually very friendly, happy to meet and talk with an outsider. Of course, it's not just ex-U.S.S.R countries he visits. He also does central and south America. But I find his interactions with Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians to be the best. Because they're interesting people and the culture there is fun. Reminds me when I used to have Slavic neighbours and we'd drink vodka and they would tell me stories of when they grew up in Soviet times. They were fun people. 

 

I really love going out meeting random strangers and having a laugh, so through lockdown I'm living vicariously through this guy. 

 

Here he visits a Chernobyl resettler. He's old and can barely walk. His wife died and he lives alone. This isn't as depressing as it sounds. It's actually quite funny and heart-warming. 

 

 

[Jason]

Dave Bull's channel is fantastic, I watched a whole bunch of it a few years ago, his best video for me has to be: 

 

 

 

It's well worth a watch, it's a brilliant little story.

 

I know of a few like SteveMRE and those guys who are always interesting, I'd also highly recommend the Grand Illusions channel where a British toy collector details his gigantic collection.

 

Also, it's by no means niche cause it's Jay Leno of all people, but his Jay Leno's Garage channel is fantastic for people interested in cars, especially his recent "Pandemic Edition" videos where it's just him telling stories about the vehicles, former owners and the companies who made them. Been hooked on those recently.

[Mister Pink]

Michael Franzese was a Caporegime in the Columbo crime family. He's the mastermind behind the gasoline bootlegging racket in the 1980's that earned him and his associates in the Russian mafia, millions of dollars and the whole era inspired films like A Most Violent Year which centers around a gas dealer during that time. Their enterprise was garnering about 8m-10m per month. His commentary on mafia films is great. He says there are three mafia films that capture the essence of mob life. Gotti (HBO), Goodfellas and Donnie Brasco. His likeness actually appears in Goodfellas and this guy met Donnie Brasco (Joe Pistone) as well as most people in the those films. 

 

He's now a writer and motivational speaker. It's just bizarre how a Capo of the Italian-American Mafia in New York, one of the 5 families can now have a YouTube channel. Just hearing him thanking for all the subscribers is just bizarre. He's an interesting character. He's obviously that personality type that's just entrepreneurial. He's not just street smart. He's very intelligent and extremely charismatic, and I'm sure, very persuasive. 

 

He offers great insight to some of the characters we know in these films. Sometimes he dispels the Hollywoodification of some of these characters. He also offers night personal insight - for example someone's character  might be portrayed not in the best light but he'll offer some insight about how they really were and some times it's complimentary and other times no so much.

 

He talks about the whole mob life on his channel but since I love films, I think it's a good 'in.' 

 

 

[Rhoda]

Almost kicking myself for forgetting about MRE Steve and his iron stomach. He doesn't upload too often, sometimes it can be weeks or months, but he's always coming through with knowledge and a genuine review of the food that not only analyses the quality but the conditions of war relating to the period of time that the MRE was issued in. He's encyclopedic and his enthusiasm is impossible to resist.

 

 

I practice card magic as a hobby, and one man who introduced me to the more intricate tricks was a Mr. Peter Pelikaan, a mysterious Dutchman who specialises in what are known as "packet tricks" - these involve few cards, some are heavily gimmicked but are often reliant on sheer card manipulation and skill. I've bought some of his effects and spoken with him a few times. He's a really clever, lateral thinking individual and I owe a good deal of what I know about card mechanics to him. His videos are often short and I guarantee he'll have you rewinding three or four times just to catch one move.

 

 

[Mister Pink]

I brought the attention of this channel before but it's Michael Franzese, an ex-capo in the Columbo Crime Family. But here he is having a conversation with "Donnie Brasco" an undercover agent that was trying to take them all down. We will in strange times when ex mafia guys are YouTube starts hosting undercover agents as guests. 

 

Enjoy

 

 

[RARusk]

For me that would be Modern Vintage Gamer:

 

 

[Mister Pink]

5thavenueproject (first vlogger, pre-internet?)

 

Here is a YouTube Channel that's really almost historical in a cultural sense. It's videos by Nelson Sullivan. He's often considered as one of the first vloggers, pre-internet. He was a videographer involved in the art scene in New York. He hung out with gay/drag scene and one of his closest known friends would have been Ru Paul. His videos are interesting to watch because they're like a rare time-capsule. I love New York City and love seeing it in the late 80's. 

 

Interesting things on the channel are a trip to McDonald's in 1989 when it was relatively new for a lot of people, or at least newly in the height of it's success.  Sadly he died from a heart attack at 41 and his friend rummaged through and found all these videotapes including a videotape of them out walking his dog on the last day alive (2nd video).

 

 

It's really sad when you've watched a few videos and then you get to his last day alive... 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by Mister Pink

[sabitsuki]

Lately I've been really getting into war history and archival videos from the 20th century, along with all the 4K remastered footage. I think it's a cool window into how people thought, adapted and devised back in the day.

 

Simple History and Armchair Historian come to mind. They do really cool videos on mostly WW2-centric battles with some really good and historically accurate visuals. They cover a lot on perspectives that most people don't really talk about historically, like Axis-centric war stories or Allies that aren't part of the big three.

 

 

 

Nineteen century videos, glamourdaze and the 1920s channel are pretty cool because they do remasters in color that make the footage feel more alive. Instructional muzak is also really relaxing to listen to.

 

 

I really love my guns too so my go tos are usually hickok45, Ahoy or Forgotten Weapons.

 

Edited March 30, 2021 by DownInThePMs

[LL Cool L]

yh comedy puppet videos and some gta related ones lool