Hi everyone. I just wanted to let you know I most likely won’t be able to get around to posting any time this month, due to some familial complications and increased responsibility on my part. I need to focus on things that are a whole lot more important than book reviews at the moment. I’m hoping to be back by next month, with reviews of some of the arcs I’ve been reading as well as my favorite books of the month. I have a lot to say and hope I get the chance to write about it soon.

In the meantime, there is a lot going on in the world right now, especially in terms of the Black Lives Matter movement. Racial injustice continues to be a prevalent issue in all parts of the globe, and many Black individuals feel that odds are stacked against them every day as they just continue to live their lives. As a white person, I continuously have to recognize my privelge and work to make sure that the voices of these Black indivuduals fighting to be heard are amplified and listened to. Black lives do not only matter, but they are deserving of love and respect, without exception.

If you are a non-Black individual, I hope you take this time to understand your place of privelge, stand up to voices of injustice in your every day life, no matter how minor you may think it to be, and assist in making sure this world becomes a better place for Black people to live in. Please click here to be directed to a Google doc compiled by YouTuber StarlahReads, which will lead you to organizations you can donate to, petitions you can sign, books she recommends, and more. Injustice cannot be solved overnight, and we all must play our part to fight it.

I hope you are all staying safe out there during this uncertain time. I’ll be back soon, and I hope that you can donate to the Black Lives Matter movement – whether it be money, time, or energy, any positive contribution is not going to waste.

Why hello there! It’s certainly been a while, hasn’t it? It’s a new year! 2019 is finally over and now we get to bask in the glory that is a new decade, starting with 2020! 2019 was certainly a year full of change for me; I booked a trip overseas with a close friend, gained a brother-in-law, became an aunt, and found my place at work. I’m hoping for the best for 2020, and also doing my part to ensure that I follow through on all my personal goals set for the new year (or at least some of them).

With that being said, I have some goals in mind for this blog that I am going to share. I created this blog as a way to share my random thoughts about random things (hence the title), and I still plan on doing just that, with some parameters set in place to make sure I’m actually sitting down to write. Since it is already February and I didn’t post last month, I’m already a little behind, but things happen. So here are a few of my goals for this blog I want to set in place at least for this coming year:
1.) At least one (1) blog post a month, about a relevant topic
–Since I’ve already failed this goal by not posting in January, this post will be an extra tacked on to February. I’ve started a spread in my journal titled “Blog Post of the Month” to keep track of any ideas I might come across during the month, and I will work hard to make sure one of those ideas becomes a reality. I understand things come up and motivation is hard to come by sometimes, but hopefully this will keep me accountable.
2.) Review of last month’s favorite book
–After college, I’ve fallen back in love with reading, and besides to my family and the few coworkers who will listen to me rattle on about books, I don’t talk about them very often. So I want to start a series where I take my favorite book from the previous month and write a review for it. I want to gush about my favorite books, is that so much to ask? My favorite book for January was The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (I won an advanced reader’s copy, this book is not released until March 17th), so I am super excited to post that. I think this will also keep my motivated to post more often, if it’s about things I thoroughly enjoy.
3.) Become more comfortable with posting
–I think one of the main reasons I shy away from posting, or spend way too much time drafting and making sure things sound okay, is because I am scared of what people will think if they read it. But I started this blog for me, as a place where I could document my random thoughts about random things, and those thoughts wouldn’t differ if 1 person or 6,000 people read them. Sometimes it’s alright to be nervous putting things out into the world, because so many people have so many differing opinions. But these are mine, and this is my blog, and I’m willing to share it with others who want to be a part of the conversation.

So there you have it, my three main goals for this blog for 2020. I’ll probably look back on how I did at the end of the year and make adjustments as necessary, but those thoughts are months away, and if I’m going to keep to these goals, I have to focus on the now. I hope you made some achievable goals for 2020, whether they be professional, personal, or otherwise important, and I wish you the best of luck at reaching them. But even still, shoot for the moon; even if you miss you’ll land among the stars. Thanks for reading!

My last post about YouTube really inspired me to share a little insight into which channels I’m drawn to on the site. Now, it could be said that I watch a lot more YouTube videos than I should, at least that’s what I’ve been told, but I’m always just so fascinated (and entertained) by the variety of content that sometimes I just don’t realize I’ve watched several hours of videos. It also relaxes me after a long day at work. After careful consideration, I think I’ve been able to narrow down my top five favorite channels on the site, and I wanted to share a little bit about them. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find your new favorite from this list.

#5.) Let Me Explain Studios 
Creator: Rebecca Parham (she/her)
Type of content: Animated Storytelling
Favorite video: 1,000,000 Subscribers Extravaganza
-Let Me Explain Studios is the newest addition to my favorites list. Lately, I’ve been exploring the animation community on YouTube, especially the likes of Jaiden Animations and TheOdd1sOut. I came across a video titled “How to Creep Out Your Fav YouTubers at Conventions,” and was intrigued since I’ll be attending VidCon this year and needed some advice on what not to do. The video was entertaining, and I was eager to check out what else this channel had to offer. I love Rebecca’s character design and attention to detail – none of her characters have mouths, so she exaggerates other character features to portray the proper emotions. She’s able to make her audience feel a certain way just by the tone of her voice while storytelling – she’s able to be light-hearted and bubbly one minute while being somber and serious the next depending on the topic she’s discussing, and it all feels genuine. My all-time favorite video from this channel is her 1,000,000 subscriber celebration. Rebecca reveals how she came up with the name Let Me Explains Studios, and this involves her performing the song “Bei Mir Bist Du Shein” by The Andrew Sisters on camera, while a silhouette of her character persona can be seen dancing in the background. In you’re in anyway interested in the animated storytelling scene, which has sparked in popularity on the site quite recently, I highly recommend Let Me Explain Studios. Rebecca Parham won’t disappoint.

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#4.) Brizzy Voices 
Creator: Anna Brisbin (she/her)
Type of content: Impressions, Voice acting, Nerding out
Favorite video: Gender-Swap Disney Impressions ft. Brian Hull
-A few years ago, I was scrolling through social media and came across a page sharing a video of a YouTuber singing “Alphabet Aeorbics” by Blackalicious as various cartoon characters spanning the entire alphabet. As I searched the creator, I learned that Brizzy Voices, or Anna Brisbin, was extremely talented at impressions all across the board, from princesses to sidekicks, superheroes to villains, video games to cartoon series. While her channel did start as a place to hone her impressions, her channel has a myriad of videos traversing multiple fandoms. She’s a knowledgeable Ravenclaw and takes pleasure sorting pokemon, Disney characters, Pixar characters, and even dogs and other YouTubers into their own Hogwarts houses. She wastes no time spreading the word about her Podcast “Fantastic Geeks and Where to Find Them,” co-hosted by her best friend Tessa Netting. She’s recently discovered the magical world of Dungeons and Dragons, and has videos devoted to introducing her characters from her different campaigns, recapping a specific campaign, Dark and Dicey, while in painting a miniature of her character, Trixa, and even turning herself into a playable D&D character. That doesn’t even scratch the surface. My favorite video from this channel is a collaboration with another voice actor, Brian Hull), and the two of them trying their hands at gender-swapped impressions of Disney characters. Hilarity ensues, and it’s incredible to see the range of characters these two are able to do. If you are a nerd, in any form of the word, and enjoy impressions from an incredible voice actor, I highly recommend checking out Brizzy Voices. Anna Brisbin will not disappoint.

#3: The Game Theorists
Creator: Matthew Patrick, MatPat (he/him)
Type of content: Game analysis
Favorite video: Game Theory: What is MatPat Hiding?
-I found the Game Theory channel after a Five Nights at Freddy’s theory video was suggested to be while watching Markiplier’s playthrough of the games. I subscribed to follow the FNAF storyline, as complicated as it may be, but I stuck around to really see everything the channel had to offer. Game Theory shines a whole new light on classic and modern video games, which has the ability to change your entire perspective on them, or, at the very least, these videos can bring your attention to aspects that would’ve otherwise gone unnoticed. From exploring game files to discover clues about new game releases, to brightening game teaser images in order to show that there’s often more than meets the eye, the audience is always learning new sleuthing skills to become game detectives themselves. In fact, those sleuthing skills most certainly came in handy when new Game Theory merchandise was released in 2018, and with it came MatPat’s very own alternate reality game (ARG). It banded the community together while they deciphered clues and collected the puzzle pieces left by clever packaging and interesting drawings. MatPat himself explains the entire ARG in the video “What is MatPat Hiding?” which is linked above as my favorite video. This channel has challenged me to look at video games with a fresh pair of eyes, and while it may all be “just a theory,” it’s still highly thought-provoking and entertaining to watch. If you enjoy video games in any way, and are looking for a community of theorists to share your thoughts, I highly recommend giving The Game Theorists a watch. MatPat will not disappoint.

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2.) Philip DeFranco
Creator: Philip DeFranco (he/him), Rogue Rocket Team
Type of content: News
Favorite video: N/A
-I believe I first came across the Philip DeFranco show when my high school history teacher played a segment of his video to explain a current event topic we were discussing in class. His style was both succinct and informed: the segment wasn’t terribly long, but it was packed full of information and broken down so it would be easy to understand. I came across the channel again when in college, and since then it has become one of my main sources of news coverage. I try to do my own research, with varying degrees of bias, to make sure I have enough information to formulate my own thoughts and opinions of the subject. This channel was really the push I needed to be more informed about news both nationally (and internationally) and locally. I appreciate that with every show, Phil will work to give both sides of the story, occasionally give his opinion, and then will “pass the question” off to his audience, which prompts a discussing of varying thoughts and opinions down in the comments section. The team has been talking about launching their own Rogue Rocket News Site, which is currently in the works, and lately there have been news “deep dives” released every Tuesday and Thursday morning, which explore one specific topic in detail instead of including multiple stories. A few intriguing topics they’ve delved into are the problem with paid family leave in America and Hepatitis C spreading rapidly in prisons. All in all, if you are in any way interested in keeping up to date with important news stories, definitely tune into the Philip DeFranco show every weekday. Phil and Rogue Rocket will not disappoint.

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1.) Thomas Sanders
Creator: Thomas Sanders (he/him) (Joan (they/them) and the rest of Thomas’ team always assist)
Type of content: Scripted series, Comedy sketches, Original music
Favorite video: Lesser Known Broadway Songs – Mystery Solo
-Three years ago (March 2016), Jon Cozart posted a video titled “Vine vs YouTube: The Song,” a parody of Anything You Can Do from Annie Get Your Gun. In it, Jon, a prominent figure on YouTube, goes up against Thomas Sanders, a prominent figure on Vine at the time, and each state the case for why their platform is inherently better. This was my first exposure to Thomas Sanders, as I was not a dedicated fan of Vine back in the day, and his personality intrigued me so I checked out his channel linked in the description and the rest is history. Since Vine is no longer active (RIP), Thomas is now primarily on YouTube, and occassionally makes longer short videos to post on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. While his channel started out primarily as a place to post his Vine compilations, and sporadic sit-down vlog -type content, lately he and his team have created scripted series that tug at the audience’s heartstrings. The most popular series by far is Sanders Sides, where Thomas works out problems with the help of different aspects of his personality (the main four being his logical side, his morality, his creativity, and his anxiety). He plays each part so well sometimes I forget that it’s just one person. There are also plenty of videos where he is able to incorporate his friends and their talents (my favorite video involves a unique spin on the game “Finish the Lyric”), but now he has a separate channel “Thomas Sanders and Friends” for those videos, and reserves his main channel for his scripted content and his music (both original music and covers of songs). I’m going to stop now before I go into full fangirl mode, but Thomas Sanders is truly my favorite YouTuber, because this channel is one I can turn to when I need to laugh, when I need to think, or when I need a reason to keep going. I highly recommend checking this channel out if you’re looking for reasons to smile. (Thomas Sanders will not disappoint.

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I spend a fair amount of my time on YouTube, so I figured I would write about the site at some point on this blog, but I wasn’t expecting it to be my first official post. I was actually inspired by one of the most recent videos on “The Game Theorists,” a channel run by Matthew Patrick (also referred to as MatPat) and his team. The channel is usually devoted to in-depth theories regarding popular video games: exploring lore, applying real world science, and ruining your childhood one video at a time (only kidding). However, on March 5th, 2019, he posted a video titled “What They WON’T TELL YOU About Your Favorite Channels,” (which you can find here) and he makes some very good points about society’s impressions of YouTube, while also highlighting some of the amazing work some of the platform’s biggest creators have done.

In the first three minutes of his video, MatPat explains how he and his team wanted to do some positive P.R. work to spread some awareness of their cool upcoming projects in the midst of some negative press surrounding the YouTube platform, and they were told that “no one wants positive news stories about YouTubers.” Only three minutes into the video, and my gears in my head are already working. Most of the time when I come across a mainstream news article regarding YouTube, it touches on the negative aspects / problematic creators of the platform (most notably and recently are the Logan Paul suicide forest video in January 2018, and the child predator comment controversy in February 2019). Media outlets have no problem lumping the thousands, or even millions, of content creators with these “bad eggs,” while simultaneously ignoring all the good this platform provides on a daily basis.

YouTube is a site that teachers use to search for educational videos to help enhance their lessons. It’s a site where a first time traveler can scope out good tourist sites on a travel vlogger’s channel. It’s a site where a college student can watch comedy videos for entertainment to distract from the impending doom of finals week. It’s a site where I can listen to the entire Hamilton soundtrack in the background while writing this blog post. And those four examples don’t even begin to scratch the surface. YouTube is such a versatile platform, where creators of all interests come together to educate an audience, entertain viewers all around the world, and build a community of people who are finally seeing their interests represented in a place easily accessible to them. The site is not without its faults – creators voice their concerns and frustrations fairly often – but it’s constantly expanding and adapting to its audience and the ever-changing world around it far quicker than mainstream media.

Matpat makes a point in his video that in today’s society “YouTuber is a dirty word.” I hope that there comes a time where people can truly appreciate the site, and all the good that its creators accomplish.

Hello there! Welcome to my blog! My name is Krista, and this is a place where I put into words all the random thoughts that pop into my head. I sometimes like to go on rants so this could be a place where I can just say how I feel about certain topics. I’ll be talking about books, work, school, entertainment, and really anything else I get motivated to write about cohesively. So while this blog might just serve as a place for me to talk about things I’m passionate about, feel free to come along this journey with me. I have lots to say, and now plenty of space to write. Hope you stick around!