RiffTrax has made "Moose Baby" free on their Youtube channel. "Moose Baby" looms large in RiffTrax lore - I forget why - because it's arguably the most dull or the most pointless maybe. All I remember is it gets mentioned a lot.
For what it's worth, I don't get the hype other than it's a great title. I'm still more of a "Setting Up a Room" guy.
Yes, I've found another girl on Youtube watching the Rocky franchise. And while I don't expect anyone to still be with me on this pointless journey, it has to be noted.
Let it be noted that the pattern continues: women love Rocky.
Let it be noted that this is the first girl who appreciates the character of Mickey.
Let it be noted that this is the first girl who actually shows anything resembling tolerance of the character of Paulie.
I also want to re-state how impressed I am by their ability to intuit film analysis while watching a movie for the first time. As many times as I've seen "Forrest Gump," I never connected that Jenny prays to become a bird and then, during a certain climactic scene, "Free Bird" is played - she registered that. Even more impressive, she connects Lt. Dan saying "If you're ever a shrimp boat captain, that's the day I'm an astronaut." with the detail that when Dan gets prosthetic legs he mentions that they're "titanium alloy, it's what they use on the space shuttle". I believe I've heard people point out the irony that both Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise would both be playing astronauts together in "Apollo 13" but I've never heard anyone make that connection before. And on one watch. Impressive.
You might find this useful: "Christmas Music From Another Room - Relaxing Christmas Ambience with Muffled Christmas Music." I suggest putting it on in the background as you wrap gifts or cook or generally go about your day. I'm loving it.
[Embedded video removed because the source was deleted]
By the time I saw Mr. Rogers for the first time, there had been a thousand (perhaps thousands) of episodes that came before it. Now, in 2025, the first episode has been uploaded to youtube.
The differences stand out. The kitchen is different, the character of Edgar (the traffic light?) was never a thing in my day and rolling out a bed for make-believe is... pretty weird. Pretty weird. The closing song is different.
Visiting the woman who wears lampshades is an interesting segment. On the one hand, Fred traveling to another location to talk to someone is a regular part of the show. On the other hand, it was always a realistic person doing some real activity that kids could learn about. I don't remember anything like this "real" woman wearing lampshades in my day. Fred Rogers loved whimsy and lampshade fashion is certainly that.
But it's also notable how much didn't change. You're looking at a 20 year difference (this first episode being 1968) and it's pretty much the same show. Same theme song, same set (mostly), same format, same characters.
A new 9/11 documentary attempts to explain what happened using original research and gaining clues from raw footage from the day. Check it out before it's deleted, if you're interested.
Continuing my series of discovering and cataloging Youtube genres, I've discovered Pool Cleaning Videos and they're somewhat compelling but not compelling enough, for reasons I'll explain.
There are at least two types of pool cleaning videos. In the first type, the pool is empty and they're cleaning the cement. These are fine, these are pleasing but you'll note they don't differ in any meaningful way from the Pressure Wash genre so I will omit talking about them. See below for an example.
Categories: "Things Going from Disorder to Order", "Cleaning", "Pressure Washing", "Oddly Satisfying."
The other type of pool cleaning video - the main one for the topic of this discussion - is a pool cleaning where the pool is full of water. You'll find my favorite example below.
Categories: "Things Going from Disorder to Order", "Cleaning", "Bright Colors", "Oddly Satisfying."
There are two aspects of this example I need to point out. First, you'll see the pouring of chemicals, the churning of the water and the color of the pool changing from dark dirt to a crystalline blue. It's an amazing phenomenon and one that I'd never seen before. This process is the main feature that all videos in this genre have in common. But as much as I find the color change satisfying, it's also too slow and usually involves "checking back in" periodically so you don't really get the satisfaction of watching it change before your eyes. This is the main disappointment of the genre - the pretty color change that I want to watch mostly happens off-screen.
The second aspect of this video to discuss is pretty rare and the reason this one rises above the rest... The part where they run some sort of pool vacuum and you watch the pool bottom getting cleaned in neat strips - the part starting around 11:00 - that's superb. That's the best. More of that please, because I haven't seen other videos that feature it.
So in summary, I find the Pool Cleaning Genre to be compelling but not as satisfying as other similar genres.
Another video I found fascinating: it's just a timelapse on renovating a beaten down shack. Makes me wish I could do this. But maybe not... When it seems like they're still getting started and it says "Week 15" maybe it's not as satisfying as I imagine.
I've posted a number of youtube genres over the years under the heading of "oddly satisfying" but this one has to be the most pointless. Not just a marble race, but a virtual marble race. There are a million of these and they all have millions of views.
Please, no wagering.
I'm wondering if the same race is run multiple times, if the result is exactly the same each time.
It's Christmas time, basically, so naturally I've been wondering what sugar plums are and how to get hold of some. If you do a search on amazon you'll get sugar coated plums for sale, which are not the same thing at all. Then talking to a friend, he sent me a recipe but wikipedia warns:
"Another 21st-century take on the sugar plum instructs home cooks to combine dried fruits and almonds with honey and aromatic seeds (anise, fennel, caraway, cardamom), form this mixture into balls, then coat in sugar or shredded coconut.[8]"
... which is what the recipe was. I'm not looking for the 21st-century anything.
So this video explains what they are and how to make them and I guess I won't be trying sugar plums.
Except.
They mention jordan almonds are technically sugar plums and he also refers to some brand of coated pine nuts as being sugar plums; but he doesn't mention or link to whatever he's specifically talking about. Jordan almonds that fit the criteria are all over amazon, so that's obtainable. Pine nuts are trickier. With some work, I was able to track down the pine nuts he's referring to as being "1880 Candy Coated Pine Nuts." They appear to be obtainable but not from any place convenient to me. To be continued perhaps.
