So over the past two weeks I talked about two shows I loved growing up, both on cable TV. Now it’s time to move to the realm of YouTube, and oh boy, believe me when I say I love YouTube.

So my love for YouTube started the summer of 2012 after a friend of mine showed me to these YouTubers called Achievement Hunters. The Achievement Hunters are a group of guys ranging from their late twenties to early forties who play video games online. Pretty plain and simple actually, but before you make any judgments about who these people are, let me tell you they aren’t the stereotypical gamers who stay indoors all day and only eat Doritos. The Achievement Hunters are just a group of guys who love to yell an curse while playing video games. Many of them are married, fathering children, have voice acted for many animated tv series, or have been in of filmed many blockbuster movies. You might not find action stars or parenting exciting, but when you were 13 when you found people screaming and yelling expletives,  you kinda get attached.

Now not to get into too much detail, there are six Achievement Hunters. Geoff Ramsey, Jack Pattillo, Ryan Haywood, Michael Jones, Gavin Free, and Jeremy Dooley. These six are the main performing in their videos they post on YouTube. And as I’ve mentioned, these six have been recording themselves play videogames for over five years now, so the amount of chemistry and inside jokes they have is truly amazing.

One of the main shows they do is called Let’s Play Minecraft. It’s when they play the game Minecraft, of course, but each episode is different and unique. Most of them involve the six teaming up to win or a free-for-all where all hell breaks loose. Geoff, the founder of Achievement Hunter, usually thinks of a challenge for the rest to complete, and whoever wins that challenge first, wins the price. The Tower of Pimps. Made up by Gavin while drunk in a video, The Tower of Pimps is a tower entirely made up of gold. Each week everyone fights to be the winner, and for over 297 weeks, the Tower has changed hands many times.

Their second longest series the AH crew has is their Let’s Play GTA V series which has about 230 episodes.  Just like their Minecraft series, the GTA series uses unique ideas or game types created by the Achievement Hunters themselves or the community behind them. But some of their most viewed videos in the series are the self-made heists. When GTA Online (this is where they create all of their content) was released, the promise of in-game heists were not met. So, to combat the lack of heists in the game, the AH crew started to make their own. In this miniseries, the crew creates, setup, and execute a heist. These episodes create the most tension and the most action out of any video the AH crew makes. To pull the heist off perfectly: Teamwork, Communication, and Skill are needed to get the task done. Sadly, the AH crew usually lacks all three. Nevertheless, they produce content gold with each video easily getting over 2 million views. The commitment the crew has to their on-screen characters shows how well of actors they are. They are willing to do anything to create the best content for their audience. There are moments when you are watching that you can’t sit down. The emotions they create are so real and awesome and everything and awesome.

The main jest of that I’m trying to get at is that the Achievement Hunters aren’t just your average videogame players. They are talented storytellers with terrific chemistry with one another. They have the ability to make you laugh, cry, and yell at your computer because they are so bad at videogames.

So last week I talked about one of my favourite on-air TV series, the WWE. Now let’s talk about the show that is currently off the air.

MythBusters. Enough said. If you have ever seen this Discovery Channel series during its 13 year run, you know how flipping amazing this show was. And if you haven’t heard of it, or seen what’s it’s about, well oh boy, are you in for a treat.

Let my give you the run down, so the basic cable channel Discovery Channel is a science channel geared towards teaching the public about the topic of science, but if you were anything like me, science and information would bore the hell out of you. This was the common theme among viewers of the channel . So in the early 2000s, the channel wanted a new way to get science to their audience, but to also keep the attention of the audience. Thus entered the MythBusters. The idea behind the show was to keep the audience informed and entertained about science. You might be asking yourself, “How did they make science fun?”. Well, imagine Bill Nye, but with explosions and better. So basically nothing like Bill Nye. Anyways, the MythBusters goal in the show were to either to confirm of ‘bust’ common myths told throughout history or in the media, movies, novels, stories. Any myth you can think of, odds are the MythBusters have tested it over their 282 episode series.

So, to quote the first opening lines of the show “Who are the MythBusters?”. Well, the two main MythBusters were Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman with a “Build Crew” of Tory Belleci, Kari Byron, and Grant Imahara. Together, Adam and Jamie, they have decades of special effects experience and have been apart of many blockbuster films, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, and The Matrix Reloaded. Prior to the show, these two ‘actors’ had nearly a decade of history with each other, which made for a great flowing show. Together, Jamie and Adam would bust myths by actually performing tests on them to test the validity of them, and these tests were pretty legit. One of the myths they tested was the famous Alcatraz prison break in 1962. The MythBusters, true to the materials that prisoners supposedly has, were able to break out of the prison and raft to safety. Another myth they tested involved the myth that you can’t open your car door while under water. The proved that when you waited until the car was filled with water, you can open the door. Amazingly enough, this information actually saved the life of a fan. Not only is this show funny and informative, it saves peoples’ lives. Suck it Bill Nye.

Growing up this show was a gold mine for me. It really allowed me to experience what it would be life to be a scientist. Although they were technically scientists, they idea behind testing myths and running them through rigorous experiments really spoke to me. I attribute this show, and my Tinker Toys, to making me want to become an engineer. Being able to build wild creations just to break bottle over someone’s head to attempting to fly in a homebuilt helicopter. For their last episode, they lined up all of the machines they build over the past 13 years and drive through them with a cone-headed truck, not only as an homage to the entire show but to just to see what happened. The MythBusters are a true testament to the ability to be cool and have fun while doing science.

Hello folks! I appreciate all of you for coming to check out my passion blog! In this blog I will be talking about my favourite TV shows and YouTube channels and how they should be your favourite also! With that said, let’s dive in!

Alright, I’m just going to straight out tell you that I am in love with wrestling. And no, not the Olympic style wrestling where all you do is nonsense, it’s the hardcore WWE type wrestling with the chairs, ladders, and oh yes, the breakaway tables. This culmination of brutal violence and stage combat finesse makes this show one of my favourites.

Now I know what you all are thinking right now ‘He knows that it’s all fake, right?’. Right, I know it’s fake, but so is Star Wars or Game of Thrones, it’s all fake. We all know dragons don’t exist and that Darth Vader isn’t hiding in our closets at night, but these ‘fake’ shows are still loved, so why should the WWE be viewed any differently.

First off, let me state some WWE basics. There are two types of wrestlers, Heels and Faces. Heels are the bad guys who fight for their own self-interests, usually in a disrespectful way. While the Faces are the good guys who fight for the good of the audience. Basically, if a wrestler is great at acting their designated role, whether it be Face or Heel, the audience loves them. Then there is this thing called ‘kayfabe’ in the world of wrestling. Basically, what happens in the Ring or during a show is canon and can’t be taken back. So if during a match there is a botched count out, the writers would have to edit the entire season to fit that decision. So there are the common rundown for y’all.

Now let me start of by saying that the WWE is probably closer related to Shakespearian plays more than actual wrestling. While in the Ring, the wresters are putting on an act, trying to make the audience love them or hate them all without saying a word. Each wrestler has a story and a role to play during each match and furthermore, during the season. Think of it like a reality TV drama with a drawn-out story line that involves so many moving parts. The fate of each match had already been written by a team of writers before the wrestlers even walk onto the Ring. It’s the job of the wrestlers to put on a show while also staying true to their storyline and characters. Sometimes this doesn’t happen and then all hell breaks loose, but for the most part wrestlers follow what they have to do.

The Ring is the place where these actors perform their masterpiece. Countless hours of training goes into each match before the audience gets to see the final product. The amount of physical skill and improv abilities of these wrestlers are amazing. Being able to find your target while flipping through the air and maintaining your composure just to land on them just for the entertainment for other is what I call great performers.

Alright now to talk about the most recognizable wrestler in the WWE. John Cena. God damn do I hate how much I love this man. I might be in the minority of wrestling fans when I say this but I can’t help but love the guy. For the longest time, John Cena was getting pushed and pushed by the people up top and kept winning and winning all of his matches. It was honestly boring to see how John Cena will win again. What WWE fans hate the most, and so do I, are flat characters. John Cena was a flat character, a good guy that always win and never loses. But lately, as in the past year or so, John Cena has been slowly becoming more and more, well, human. As in, he wasn’t always winning his matches. Also let me mention that by himself, John Cena is a great performer. He can sell this hits and deal out some massive one. I did hate the meme, don’t get me wrong, but what John Cena does outside of The Ring is truly amazing.

John Cena is fulfilled over 500 Make a Wish wishes for young cancer patients who love wrestling. It is honest amazing what he does to give back to his fans and by giving up his free time for charity events. He has a motto “Never Give Up” that echoes through the hearts of the fans who love him. Here’s a link to a video showing how fucking awesome John Cena is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGC03TyU2YI

Well, I hope I left y’all off on a high note. And again, I know wrestling is fake and it’s all staged. But again I say, some of the best things in life are made up, I just know how to enjoy them to their fullest.

 

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