We're Kind Of Going Outside

It’s summer in the northern hemisphere, and I’m taking you all along with me to the outdoors. Well… kind of the outdoors. Actually we’re not really going outdoors, but we’re going to do our best to bring you to places you haven’t gone yet, may never go to, or just aren’t able to visit. The “theme” if you will is going to be on virtual travel. That’s why there’s a fancy video above talking about the latest Quest 3S virtual headset. I’m not asking you to go buy one. I’m just suggesting it in case you never put the two concepts together. The finer details as always in the audio blog.

Before we set out on the real journey, last recommendation for you old school folks is to look into upgrading your audio equipment. We live in very competitive times now for price to performance ratio on quality headphones. If you like watching stuff traditionally using a huge tv and some “cans” on your head, then it’s a good time to be alive. DHRME is an excellent source for audio reviews from a more down to earth perspective, and I can personally vouch for them as trustworthy. Reasons being I have bought a few of their recommendations and have agreed with their conclusions. I also by the way and rocking the headphones they talk about in the video above. $62 bucks to my door here in the US, and worth every penny for what they do.

Ok let’s finally get down to business. You ready for a 9+ hour cinematic travel experience in a remote area of Japan? I know you are, because I just linked it above for you to enjoy. Anna Film Productions takes us all along with her on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, something I didn’t even know existed up until about a month ago. It’s a very real thing and you can do it yourself if you ever feel inclined. There’s even an APP to help you along your journey.

We travel to icy depths of the Chenzhou mountains in China next. This is where those upgraded headphones you bought really come into play now, as the soundstage of the actual environment will push the capabilities of it. Walk East is the YouTube channel with long form ambient walking tours of China in particular if you’re interested.

Let’s be real here. If you could afford to stay at the Cheval Blanc on St Barth, you probably wouldn’t be visiting this dumpster fire of a website right now. There’s also a good chance you can never afford it (nor could I) in a lifetime. Let us then together see how the 0.1% of the world lives. No obnoxious “vlog” style video or commentary by the way, just ambient videography of the experience from beginning to end. Luxury Travel Expert has a ton of other videos of places you’ll never visit by the way, in case you want to feel even poorer than you are now.

We’re going to end the virtual tour with something a bit more affordable and probably the only place you might be able to visit. It’s the newly opened theme park in Florida called Epic Universe. The YouTube channel Attractions 360 has been a long time recommendation on The List of my site for being a rather straight forward POV content creator of various theme parks around the world. Theme parks may have their fair share of issues, but they are good tourist destinations for those who have social anxiety and afraid of cultural faux pas.

Artist is かふん

Artist of the month かふん is a real treat to the eyes with their bold, colorful “graffiti” art style. Any one of their hundreds of designs could be printed on a t-shirt, hoodie or other merchandise. They are also openly prolific of their work and you can view their vast library for “free” on Pixiv. Absolutely one of the best of the year and may take the title if no one else dethrones them by December. Please show your love to かふん if you can on any of their socials.

The Internet Of Things

It goes without saying that the internet is a weird place. But it can also be entertaining while (mostly) harmless depending on the subject material. This month I’ll be taking you in no specific direction with any particular theme or topic. Just a bunch of stuff I find interesting and hope you all do as well. Always keep in mind I’ll giving you the “tourist” level of exposure with any of these subjects. A deeper dive and rabbit hole awaits you should you decide to pursue them. I’ll do my best to add color commentary in the audio blog so things aren’t so cut and dry as they appear. Historidame brings us the appetizer with dangerous theme parks of the olden days.

There is no direct agreed source where “Weaboo” came from. But it’s fun to see the various permutations of it around the internet over the years. Whang! brings us some myth busting in regards to one particular Weaboo made famous back in the early 2000’s named Ken-Sama. And it goes exactly how you think it probably does.

To the handful of younger visitors to my site, let it be known that I have memories of cassette tapes, but they are not good ones. To all my international visitors, a lesson in English vocabulary is in order. The word I’m about to teach all of you is called nostophobia. It is literally the antithesis of nostalgia, something you’re all probably more familiar with. On one hand, it’s nice to be able to physically own your music and not just a license to it digitally. On the other hand, there’s way better mediums to do that. I leave the choice up to you, but Cheapaudioman does a good job bringing everyone up to speed on the subject.

Iceberg videos are a guilty comfort of mine, as they are (mostly) a concise way to digest a lot of information on various obscure topics. Conor’s Curiosities has come a long way when I started to watch him back in Part 1 of the series, and I think he’s only going to get even better over time. If you like the above video, there’s an entire series he’s done for you to marathon.

This maybe me projecting my personal interests, but there seems to be a very small steady rise in popularity with “outdoors” streaming. With the recent news of one of the biggest YouTube channels The Outdoor Boys retiring, there’s also going to be an influx of younger content creators trying to fill the void. Harmen Hoek is one of those up and coming creators, and he deserves anything good coming his way.

Artist of the month is the extremely talented ももやまかねちち. Absolutely drop dead gorgeous work, especially with a more modern look. Please show a lot of love to them over on their socials and send them an encouraging word. If you have the money, they also are currently accepting commissions.

Appreciate The Moment

I’m writing off personal experiences this month, doing my best to collect my thoughts to coherently share with all of you. I wanted to express the joy of consistency and having a sense of stability, even if it appears mundane. In other words, this month’s update kind of has a theme. The theme is appreciating what you have and where you are at the moment, because what we focus on not having tends to take away from what we do own. More details in the audio blog of course, and the video above is a bite size explanation at what I’m getting at in regard to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

I promise you this entire update is not just about caves. This is pure coincidence on my part that a video I wanted to share helps illustrate the previous point I wanted to make about reenforcing good habits and practices in the face of new things. Whenever we experience something that goes terribly wrong, it makes us appreciate the times when it didn’t much more. Lots of other close encounters on Chilling Scares YouTube channel.

I still visit theme parks whenever I have the chance to do so. Not once in my entire life have I ever felt that I was going to be in danger of getting hurt when I go. But there’s always something in the back of my mind that it may go wrong, and maybe that adds to the allure of it all. Sometimes I wonder if the long wait times is divine intervention protecting me from becoming a stain on a concrete floor. In any case, thanks to Coaster College for bringing the accident details in a clear coherent way.

My boy EmpLemon has another banger of a video, looking into the philosophical implications of the movie Office Space. Further illustrating what I’m trying to convey this month, it’s funny to dig so much thought and content out of a movie over 25 years old that didn’t do well upon release. The irony is also not lost that this movie was (and is) remembered fondly more so than anything that has been released in the last 10 years in terms of lasting cultural impact.

Artist is Cacao

There is a good chance that I’ve mentioned this artist of the month before. But their work is so stunning, I’m just going to go with my gut and recommend them again. Cacao is the artist of the month, and you can see their vast array of jaw dropping work on Pixiv and Artstation. Always share your appreciation when you can with them.

Clearing Out The Cobwebs

I’m going on a journey this month to clean out some things hanging out in my brain for a while now. I promise you it’s not a journey into narcissism but rather information I made a mental note of to talk about but never got around to doing so. It may change some of your lives for the better, but more than likely it’s just (hopefully) interesting to note. We’re starting off with the philosophical appetizer of luck vs hard work and the “misuse” of the terms fortune and luck. A ton in the audio blog, but for you reader only folks - read this article. Unfortunately, I think it’s AI generated (the site) and copied from multiple sources and authors. The information checks out (to me), but there are no citations. Sucks, but I really tried on this one to credit the original folks.

I would assume correctly that a lot of my typical monthly visitors are a much older crowd than my weekly regulars. It’s strange to have two audiences, but it’s a byproduct of my unhinged interests across many things. A lot of modern pop culture was built off the back of frauds and misinterpretation of the facts, and it’s funny to see this decades later for what it was. Ironic that in the modern era it takes a few minutes to fact check anything practically yet claims by various influencers on social media are taken as fact and gospel. In other words, people will believe what they want to believe, death touch or TikTok recipe be damned.

You don’t have to record everything you do in your life digitally. I think this factoid gets lost in translation with the younger crowd. Making a memory and sharing a story verbally is just as good, if not ironically better if podcasts are to measure against. As a word of encouragement, everyone who’s reading this right now (you) have interesting stories to tell. You just have to make sure to document them in some form. Eventually family, friends or thousands of people will be curious about your tales; and you better hope that you have the details squared away.

Artist is Mitsu Art

Artist of the month is Mitsu Art. Not only do they have their own website, but they’re also very talented. As with my more “distinguished” monthly viewers, we like our waifus a bit classier. Nothing screams classy than 2B from Nier Automata and an Egyptian themed costume!