Saturday VLOG List

I have a wall of great movies, some classic TV, and no connection to broadcast cable nor TV, for going on 20 years now, nor any intention of changing that. I miss broadcast entertainment like I miss going for a walk amidst the radioactive wastelands around Chernobyl.

I've lost nothing but endless inane commercials, and increasingly mediocre programming, plus movies I already own, except cut to ribbons into maddeningly short ADHD segments.

And I don't pay $50-100/month to companies that hate me, my principles, my beliefs, and my entire way of life, and spend the profits from their horrible service to browbeat me every chance they get.

Instead, I cherry pick a random assortment of regular YouTube channels, for programming that is entirely satisfying, relatively commercial-free, or nearly so, and which I can watch as and when I feel like it, pause and restart, or binge watch for hours of internet wormholing.

If you are in any way inclined to any of that, I offer the following gem-worthy finds, for your entertainment pleasure.

This ranking is deliberate, and in my personal order of entertainment value:

1) my little homestead

A family of six (and a new in-law since last summer) building their earthbag empire somewhere in Paradise Valley AZ. Find their earliest forays, and start there. Or watch the consolidated hour-plus marathons of an entire project stitched together. They post weekly updates most Fridays at 6PM PST, and their content goes back 10 years. If there were YouTube Emmys, they should win one annually.

2) Life Uncontained

A couple who sold out of their FL home, moved to the grandparents' ranch somewhere in east-central TX, and are building their dream home, one bite at a time, for just about a year. They expected 2000 subscribers to their adventure. They're now at about 100,000. There's a reason for that.

3) My Self Reliance

Ontario, Canada building contractor Shawn James has been vlogging on breathtaking Canadian travels for three years, and working on his cabin from scratch in the wilds of the Great White North for going on two, since March of 2017. He does it laconically, and then with a what-did-we-learn-today homily at the end. And with food. You will gain weight watching his series. If you can't sit through episodes of This Old House and New Yankee Workshop, and then transition into watching this guy craft a log cabin on dirt from scratch using all hand tools, I don't want to know you.

4) Living Big In A Tiny House

Bryce Langston is a Kiwi travelling the world finding people making small homes fantastic, and documenting it better than the dreck on pay cable. Whether you're thinking of downsizing your life, just starting out, curious for ideas that work in bigger spaces too, or just killing 10-15 minutes at a time, there isn't a single video going back 5 years he's posted that isn't worth the time to watch it. Two personal favorites: Caboose House bed & breakfast cottage in Portland, and the farmer's NZ Hobbit-style Eco Cave house. When I'm building Camp Snoopy (starting this fall, I hope) see if I don't steal some of both ideas before I die.

I visit several prepper channels, most well-known to folks, but no one preps 24/7/365/forever, self-evidently, so their content is spottier.

But sooner or later, everyone builds a house. Or wishes they could.
Man is a house-building animal.
These channels scratch that itch until you can get to it yourself, give you ideas, and something to watch on the days you're too beat to work at it yourself.
We all need some down time.

These are unhesitatingly recommended for your leisure moments, in whatever chunks of time you might devote to them.