In these social media days, hardly a day goes by when one will not be in touch with social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and of course, Youtube. Over the years, I have come to rely on video sites for my dose of debates, motivation talks, travels, documentaries, interviews, how-to-do tutorials, comedy, music videos, concerts, movies and other forms of entertainment. Image Source: Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash
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However, over the years, I have come across some types of Youtube videos which I think does not add any values or does not add any sense watching them. It seems like it was created for the sake of monetizing the video channels via heavy advertisements.
Here are the 3 types of Youtube video channels that you SHOULD NOT watch and the better alternatives that you instead SHOULD watch.
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Contents
Type 1 – Movie Reaction Youtube Channels
Avoid These Youtube Videos
Just search for reaction videos and you will have tonnes of video channels on Youtube. In recent years, those Youtubers who do nothing but react to trailers and scenes from movies have now found a niche audience to bait for their reaction videos – viewers from India.
These Youtuber will react to the latest Tamil, Hindi or Telegu movie trailers or mass scenes or fight scenes and get a lot of comments from India praising them. Some of these commenters will even recommend these Youtubers to watch and react to other Indian movie scenes. Some Youtubers have now built a large number of following (one has almost 1.5 million subscribers) or views (more than 1 million views) just by doing reaction videos.
Smart ones even dress up in Indian attires and pick up some Tamil or Hindi greetings to use during their “reaction”.
Now the reason why I said you need to avoid watching these kinds of reaction videos because these Youtubers have no background knowledge on the movie, does not speak the language and just seem to react artificially. They even have the gall to ask the audience to put down in the comments to tell them what is happening in the movie scene or what is being spoken by the movie characters.
If they don’t do their backgrounds check or understand their language, then how genuine is their reaction? And worse, why the audience getting excited seeing some strangers who probably never seen any Indian movies reacting on Youtube? Being proud of the said movies being seen by non-Indians is one thing, reacting to their reaction is another.
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Instead, Watch These Youtube Videos
Reaction video by someone clueless is one thing, reaction & analysis by an expert is totally another thing.
Watch for example these guys from Corridor Crew (with almost 4 million subscribers) who are experts in CGI and where they actually break down the various CGIs done on movies. It is interesting on how they talk about the tools used and the techniques in the CGI done for the particular scene and even compare with similar CGIs done in other movies. They also consider the physics utilised in the CGI, lighting and rendering details which is great because CGIs need to be good and realistic too.
And yes, they have done a reaction to CGIs used in Bollywood movies too and see the vast difference in their reaction compared to some Youtubers who most of the time just clueless of the scenes.
Another is GQ Youtube Channel where they get REAL professionals to actually view movies scenes and comment on it against a real-world situation. Over time, they have gotten Doctor, Navy SEAL, Fighter Pilot, Professional Hunter, Wildlife Expert, Car Expert, Astrobiologist, Pro Chef, etc to actually watch scenes related to their profession and comment on it.
Watch this example of an ER doctor reacting to movie injuries and commenting on whether this is fake or a realistic situation correctly replicated in the movie scene.
You will learn a lot watching these kinds of reaction videos instead of watching some dumb guy reacting to some scenes of a movie that they have no clue to the background.
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Type 2 – Military Might Comparison Channels
Avoid These Youtube Videos
There are tonnes of video channels that basically takes the raw data of two countries and do a very high-level comparison and said that Country A will win over Country B in case these two countries goes to war.
Another is where these Youtubers will come with their so-called Top 10 or Top 5 list of military prowess. Their ranking is basically done using raw data or worse, their own personal judgement. Any military enthusiasts out there will know that mere numbers mean nothing when it comes to two military forces going against each other.
There is something else that is in play namely tactics, supply chains, timing (one that cost the Japanese dearly in the Battle of Midway – watch this video for a very detailed, impressive analysis) and superior training. Big guns alone meant nothing in winning battles.
A classic case of this is in the Vietnam War where the more technically superior United States were basically lost to North Vietnamese army who are armed with rudimentary AK-47. They used the local environment more efficiently compared to Americans.
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Instead, Watch These Youtube Videos
If you are military enthusiasts, then look for Youtube channels that focus on the specific military hardware and tactics.
My favourite is Matsimus Youtube Channel who I believe is an ex-soldier from the Canadian Armed Forces and has a tonne of videos that only do some comparison between the various hardware but also the history, tactics and some of the military hardware design roadmaps and possible upgrades.
See this, for example, his take of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III and you will appreciate his detailed analysis which means more for military enthusiasts like me.
Other types of channels to watch is where there is a detailed analysis of the machines and tactics from past wars. This will make sense as there are proven historical records to refer to for the analysis. My take would be Military History Visualized Youtube Channel where the quality of information and analysis is simply worth watching.
Here is the detailed analysis of German’s Flak 88 – one of the best tank killers in World War 2. It was also used on German’s Tiger main battle tanks. Incidentally, Flak 88 started as an anti-aircraft gun but soon German tacticians saw it’s usefulness for ground and coastal defences.
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Type 3 – Food Tasting Channels
Avoid These Youtube Videos
How many of you like to watch someone walking into a restaurant, order some food and then eat them whilst commenting on how delicious the food is. The worse ones will actually focus on the Youtuber’s mouth, munching and eating the food.
So what is the benefit to the viewers especially if the restaurant is famous and the food is something the locals have already tasted? Oh, I simply hate the “hmmmm” sound every time the Youtuber puts a dish in his mouth and eat it. It appears that every dish on the menu is delicious and nothing is bad to report which may indicate that the restaurant owners may have paid or provided free food for these Youtubers.
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Instead, Watch These Youtube Videos
Instead of watching someone’s mouth munching the meal, it is better to watch how the meal is prepared and cooked. This will add some values to the information related to that specific food – what are the ingredients, how it is prepped, how it is cooked and how it is garnished.
In Malaysia, the more famous one would be Sugu Pavithra’s Youtube Channel which caught the attention of many Malaysians during this lockdown and even the Prime Minister. Her narration in the national language and the cleanliness of her kitchen is highly respected and appreciated.
Making this newfound online fame more memorable for Pavithra, 28 and her husband, M. Sugu, is receiving a special delivery from Muhyiddin on Monday.
Among the items they received were a camera tripod, microwave, oven, rice cooker and cooking essentials.
(Source)
For something in Tamil, there are many “village” food video Channels out there and tonnes more in Hindi, Telugu and other languages in India. My favourite is the Village Food Factory Youtube Channel where the main chef is Daddy (and the elder son takes cares of filming, editing and direction) and Village Cooking Youtube Channel where it is a group cooking activities involving grandfather and his grandsons (both have more than 3.5 million subscribers).
Between the two, I find Village Cooking Youtube Channel to be well presented but that is understandable – more people involved, more things can get done. But the unique part of their cooking videos is where they actually use the grinding stone to prepare the various pastes for the dish. And these guys always seem to be on fire, excited to get the cooking done.
The surrounding is village greenery and they try to maintain traditional cooking as much as possible. And for both channels, in the end, the surplus from their cooking is distributed to the poor old and children.
For something non-Indian, check out Travel Thirsty Youtube Channel which provides an interesting insight on Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Chinese & Thai food and also hawker food (mainly seafood). Time is taken to show each one process from the start to end.
The only problem with this Youtube Channel is that they rarely provide narration or text description of the ingredients. However given that they capture every step of the cooking process, the ingredients and how to cook the dish is basically easy to follow.
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Summary
It is said that almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day and a total of 1.3 billion people use it for various reasons (Source).
Not all the videos especially those heavily promoted is worth watching but at the same time, there are videos that worth our time and effort to watch them for knowledge and improving our skills
Do you have your personal preferences of likes and dislikes when it comes to Youtube channels and videos?