The First Step Towards My Goals

If you have read my blog before, I mentioned wanting to become a YouTuber. A couple of days ago I posted my first vlog on YouTube. I know most Youtubers’ first videos won’t be popular that fast, however, posting the first video is a big step for me to keep going. I’m doing Youtube because I love editing videos, and I want to share my talents with everyone. I learned videography by myself from the internet, and also learn to edit videos by myself. I had made more than ten videos already for myself and my school. I’m still constantly improving my skills in editing and filming. Since posting my first video, my family and friends have been encouraging me to make more and that keeps me motivated to keep doing what I love. I felt stressed about being a first-time Youtuber. Without anyone’s help, I have to spend so much time getting the video done as soon as possible. For example, my first video is about my spring break, and I didn’t want to wait until summer to post it and still talk about spring break.

Meanwhile, the whole process takes a while. I already spend so much time editing, and I still need to spend extra time doing subtitles. Picking a song is also really stressful. I need to go to Youtube studio to search for songs that don’t have any copyright problems, and the music has to fit with the video, which really challenges me.

All in all, my Youtube account is Carlton Hsu, if you are interested please give some support. By the way, my first vlog on Youtube is all in Chinese, I know, I’m working on the English subtitles now. Below is my first Youtube vlog, I hope you understand and I hope you enjoy it.

Credit by me

My “Student” Character is ending…

Starting from my 9th grade, I can feel the time passing so fast. Every year passed with a blink. I kept complaining about school and life until recently I noticed that I only have a couple of years left being a student. I started to like being a student actually, the only struggle is homework every night. Otherwise, I can just have fun and do anything I want with my family and friends. With my work experience before, I imagine in the future, I will need to wake up so early and do my work until 9 pm. When I get home it’s probably 10 pm, plus, doing some stuff and taking a shower will be at 11 pm; Afterwards, I need to sleep at least before 12 am so I won’t be tired from tomorrow’s work. I also imagine that every day will feel the same. Nothing surprising will happen to me. It all just feels so complicated.

In this case, I want to give myself a goal. Although I might be busy working in the future, I still want to do something that I always wanted to do, which is to become a Youtuber. I’m not sure about when I am going to start, maybe from college or maybe after college. I love taking videos and editing them. Some of the successful jobs started from interest, and my interest is editing videos, so I give myself a goal to start the action and share those videos I made with everyone. I’m thinking the content of the video I will be posting is about a vlog or some prank video with my friends. To be honest, I haven’t started yet so I don’t know what the content will be. However, I wish I could do or even try anything I want to do before I get old and couldn’t move my body anymore.

Photo Credit: BBC News

Don’t hug me. I’m scared

A couple days ago, one of my friends introduced me to the youtube series “Don’t Hug me. I’m scared.” Before she played it, she told me it was gonna be pretty weird and messed up. I have to admit, she was definitely right about that.

It starts out looking like a children’s TV show. Strange puppets in bright colors in a room made of felt and fabric, all in a Sesame Street kind of style.

Credit: static1.squarespace.com

Credit: images.genius.com

Every episode follows the same pattern. It starts out somewhat normal, then a song begins to play. Each song addresses a subject that is important in today’s society. There is one about being creative, one about time and aging being unstoppable, about love, technology, health, and one about dreams.

Those don’t sound weird at all, do they? Well, just wait.

Because as the video goes on, the song becomes stranger and darker and more twisted, with loud noises and abrupt animations and a surprising amount of blood and death.

Honestly, I don’t even know why I started watching it in the first place. However, I was actually quite impressed by the deeper meaning of the show. Don’t get me wrong, it is creepy and messed up in so many ways. But I like the way it addresses things such as the brainwashing by mass media.

The way that all the “harmless” things and characters in the videos turn into literal nightmares- consuming your entire life, the way the characters get trapped inside a computer- and killed when they try to escape, or how you can only be accepted by people around you by joining the cult of love perfectly captures certain things that are wrong with our world and society, in an extremely twisted but ironic manner.

I don’t necessarily recommend anyone to watch this show, since I’m not really sure if it was or wasn’t a complete waste of time, or if the producers actually meant to be that deep. But in case you are looking for a great way to waste time, just watch it! It is definitely unique.

The Return of Twaimz

On August 30th, 2017, a Youtube legend and internet icon known as Issa Twaimz made his return back to youtube.

After being gone for a year, stuck rewatching the same beautiful videos over and over again, Twaimz finally started hinting at his return. At first I thought it was just another rumor. Maybe it’d get all our hopes up like that time My Chemical Romance posted a “Welcome to the Black Parade” teaser on their Youtube channel for the first time in years – sending us all back into our emo selves – but it wasn’t.

It was real.

And it was amazing.

At the beginning of August, Twaimz started dropping hints that had all his fans leaning off the edge of their seats. From little video snippets on Instagram, to suggestive tweets and hilarious Snapchat stories, the return of everyone’s favorite Youtuber would soon fall upon us.

And thus, The Return of Twaimz was born.

He said that a small surprise would be coming, but it was anything but small.

It was huge. It was nineteen minutes worth of terrifying, hilarious content that was absolutely beautifully constructed. Please note, that I had stayed up until one in the morning to watch this video due to technical difficulties, and the lack of sleep I had was worth it. With nothing but the light of my telephone screen, the video starts off with a sweet tribute to all his old videos. From the crush song, to the videos of “what to do as a Christmas tree”, the first couple minutes were nostalgic until the video took a dark turn when he began getting haunted by his younger self.

Though I do not want to spoil the whole video, let’s just say it was memorable. It mostly consisted of plastic horses, Donald Trump, and Twaimz ability to master the art of rapping Nicki Minaj without messing up.

I could not have imagined a better return to Youtube than this. It was creative, spooky, and hilarious. Since his return, he has released the bloopers to his new video, an “ask Issa”, and a couple other videos. But most importantly, on October 1st at midnight, Twaimz released a new song to put everyone in the Halloween spirit.

The return of Twaimz was the best way to start off my junior year, and I am already more eager to see more of his new videos. So, if you need some comic relief in your life, or need a motivational theme song to walk into battle with, I suggest you start watching his videos right away.

Photo Credit: Tumblr.com

Successful or Sell Out?

Image Credit: Variety

Earlier this week, it was reported that YouTuber and filmmaker, Casey Neistat, has sold his app, Beme, to CNN for $25 million. This news came just weeks after Neistat announced to his over 5 million YouTube subscribers that he’s ending the daily vlogs that have made him famous.

Many people are accusing Neistat of being a sell out. But in reality, Neistat is making a smart career decision. Neistat ended his daily vlogs because they weren’t challenging him creatively. In the video where he announces the end of his vlogging, he explicitly states that doing the daily vlogs became boring for him – he knew the formula for an interesting vlog, and was not challenged daily.

Neistat selling Beme to CNN is a career move. He and the handful of people on his team will now have all of the opportunities that a power company like CNN can offer, and CNN will now have access to a team of hugely successful creators.

Does YouTube mark the end of the TV?

With new forms of entertainment such as the internet, or more specifically YouTube, the TV seems to be consistently getting lower use each year.

Maybe it is because people prefer cheaper and more versatile forms of entertainment instead of being stuck with a strict schedule or constant ads.

Another website that is stealing the show is Netflix, a website that allows people to watch TV shows for only eight dollars a month, with no ads and tons of variety. Even though Netflix doesn’t have the newest episodes, it still allows you to watch entire seasons in a row with no interruption.

It is time for the TV to step aside and allow the age of internet dominance to begin, even though some argue it has already begun.

Netflix and YouTube are also widely known for ruining people’s grades in school.

Inspiration

The internet is full of inspirational videos. Sports videos, spiritual videos, just plain old inspirational videos, but there are few that touch me and make a big difference. Being that team sports have not always been a part of my life, but have recently come up and made an impact I look for something to keep me moving. Something that makes me want to play hard and something to inspire my teammates. A quote by Henry Ford is something I keep in my mind when the team is having a hard time, “Keeping together is progress, coming together is a beginning, and working together is success.” Sometimes our teams don’t work together, but work as individuals. That isn’t how the game is played. Some people have to be willing to work hard and get none of the glory. Being a lineman in football I understand this feeling very well. I go out everyday and I try and I try. Am I the best at it? No, not even close, but do I try? Yea, I try really hard day in and day out. But nobody ever says, “hey he really took up space so that that someone else could get the glory.” The glory goes to the people who run the ball, throw the ball, but that’s not possible without the people on the line. As our coach said, we are the Dirty Dogs. Nobody wants a dirty dog, but they are rough and tough, but get no glory. That is how to work as a team, everyone has to be willing to put in 110% and get nothing in return personally, but understand it was for the betterment of the team. This is one of the first speeches that truly inspired me to be better and do better.

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Timeflies

I recently came across a musical group called Timeflies.

I was drawn in by a rap that I found while studying for finals called “Adderall and Redbull,” that raps about staying up late studying for finals.

I thought that the vocalist Cal had extreme talent in his vocals and his ability to rap.

The song featured above was a freestyle on a track previously made by another artist.

To have the ability to freestyle is something I wish I had, but it is extremely difficult and takes great talent.

He shows his great freestyle ability in a cover of Ke$ha‘s “Die Young.”

In this song he has his friends write down random topics on which to rap about.

He gets the basket while in the booth and makes great music out of it.

Cal and Rez have only been around as Timeflies since 2010 but are growing in fame with the great music they are producing.

Most of the songs feature an electronic track with great vocals and raw raps.

The song “Turn it Up” features a more electric/dubstep ish style.

The groups ability to merge genres is something that they have been credited with since performing in high school and college bands.

His album “The Scotch Tape” can be found by clicking on the link.

Hope you enjoy the music

AVGN-Craziest dude on the Internet

I’m all about nostalgia. I love it when I hear about those old TV shows and books that I used to have in my life. Some that come to mind are the Angry Beavers, Doug, and of course the Captain Underpants books. Those things were the best.

While on youtube one night a long time ago, I came across a new channel that I had never seen before. The title was “JamesNintendoNerd.” Anyone who knows me knows I love video games. I love the new games but there is always place in my heart for the games I played during my youth. There are few people that will tell you that they own a Nintendo 64, but I got one. That thing is great. It introduced me to so many characters like Mario, Link, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and one of my personal favorites, Pokemon. Yes, I’m aware Pokemon isn’t one character. But the franchise has cemented itself into my life. I’m not ashamed to say that I still play Pokemon from time to time. There are certain things you never grow out of.

Anyway, I’m rambling. The channel features a character called the Angry Video Game Nerd. He too prefers the games and consoles from his youth. The Nintendo 64 is rare these days, but an original Atari 2600 or a Nintendo Entertainment System are borderline impossible to find. Most current TVs don’t even provide the proper basic technology to accommodate these prehistoric game systems.

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Somebody That I Used to Know

“But you didn’t have to cut me off

Make it like it never happened and that we were nothing

I don’t even need your love, but you treat me like a stranger

And that feels so rough

No, you didn’t have to stoop so low

Have your friends collect your records

And then change your numberGuess that

I don’t need that though

Now you’re just somebody that I used to know.”

-“Somebody That I Used to Know“, Gotye

This song stuck in anyone else’s head?

Yeah.  I thought so.  For the longest time I could NOT figure out what this song was or who it was by.  But finally I did and I love it.

The music video is surprisingly good.  Very artistic and mellow, but not enough to be considered hipster.

And I suppose Wally de Backer is alright cute.

Gotta admit though… the reason I wrote this post was to show you this picture:

That shared, I’m done.