OK, probably everyone on The Fora is focused on, well, your academic career--pubs, admin gripes, tenure woes, adjunct porn, and so on. BUT maybe sometimes your attention wanders and you say, "To hell with this for the time being. Let me find distraction." Distraction is where you find it, but a lot can be had--well, on the computer. I waste time on (Shh!) YouTube. You, of course, in propria persona, do not. But, here where we are anonymous, we can be candid. Of course, we spend time there. Right?
So, why not give all of us some places you go to take your mind off "important" things. Give us--oh, three, and links? But make them varied, not entirely bee-bonnets, and fun, not solemn. You do have some like that, right?
Here, then, is a selection of three, with a note or two:
1. Erik Normark, a Swede who does solo hiking/camping backpacking videos, beautiful Swedish wilderness, minimal low-key chat (but he has good English), and always a "holy moment." You'll have to watch some to find out about that. Hint: it's about coffee.
https://www.youtube.com/user/fagelguiden
2. Dale Calder, Canadian on Campobello Island, New Brunswick. Cooking, gardening, dog, chickens. Very restful.
https://www.youtube.com/user/dalecalder2003/featured
3. Julian Baumgartner, art restoration. It's great to see a true expert at work, step by step of his conserving paintings explained, often once w/o narration, and again with. Calm and restful, too.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvZe6ZCbF9xgbbbdkiodPKQ
If the links are bollixed, just type in the BF'd name. That should take you. Enjoy.
When it comes to Youtube, I only have two subscriptions:
The Marty Mouse House (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKMotyVHbSbgzZYQRSRKgHA) - these are the cutest rat videos ever, my favorite of which is Fibbs' Presidential Campaign Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja7zkmnpoXo)
Watch It Played, starring Rodney Smith (https://www.youtube.com/user/WatchItPlayed) - Rodney is the best at teaching us board games
Jackson Crawford, scholar of Old Norse
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXCxNFxw6iq-Mh4uIjYvufg
Bill Vicars, lessons in ASL
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvd8SHzSp07_U55qFI0-dDA
Soviet Movies
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTKpdDNg-FgqRDg7TbIOgoQ
Language learning videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/JudasLundy/
Audio books, unabridged
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA8Bg-tQKShZRZhe610SC-Q
It doesn't have to be Youtube, does it?
I like the web comic Strange Planet. All of the comics eventually show up on the author's Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/nathanwpylestrangeplanet/?hl=en) (in no particular order, intermixed with repeats and merchandise). They're really cute. Here is one of my favorites (https://miro.medium.com/max/2367/1*3TeKC12StnF0Rue5dNdr2Q.png), from some other site since I don't know how to link to Instagram images.
The blog Cake Wrecks (https://www.cakewrecks.com/) is a fun time-waster. It has photos of professionally made cakes that look terrible yet are being sold for actual money, along with humorous commentary by the blog author.
Finally, there's the Very Lonely Luke (https://twitter.com/verylonelyluke?lang=en) Twitter feed, written from the perspective of Luke Skywalker living the hermit life as in the last couple Star Wars movies. It's funny too.
I guess most of my time-wasters are humor. Well, that and cooking blogs, but I assume nobody wants a list of my favorite cooking blogs.
I don't do youtube, because generally I don't have the patience for videos.
Places I go often enough to kill time that they show up on my frequent places dropdown shortcut include:
tor.com (http://tor.com): free speculative fiction and articles about same
tvtropes.org (http://tvtropes.org): a black hole time suck of clicking from one thing to another
And I don't actually have twitter, but keep up with several feeds (mostly authors I like and some of the more opinionated academic science twitter people, which is also a black hole if you click through to read linked articles etc.)
And my guilty-ish pleasure of keeping up with tv/movie/fashion gossip at avclub.com (http://avclub.com) and tomandlorenzo.com (http://tomandlorenzo.com)
Walter the French Bulldog (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS_NQmg0Ndo&t=29s) has actually become his own little industry.
For more intellectual entertainment, try Bad Lip Reading NFL (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvSWIOtp3hs&t=191s). There are many installations of Bad Lip Reading and they are all fun.
Quote from: onthefringe on November 20, 2019, 08:28:48 PM
I don't do youtube, because generally I don't have the patience for videos.
Exactly why I don't do Youtube either. I don't know why I'll spend several minutes reading an article but think that a 60 second video is too long, but I do.
Quote from: onthefringe
tor.com: free speculative fiction and articles about same
How did I not realize this? I had trouble even finishing this post because I got distracted by something on Tor...
Plants vs. Zombies.
Quote from: Liquidambar on November 20, 2019, 08:37:07 PM
Quote from: onthefringe
tor.com: free speculative fiction and articles about same
How did I not realize this? I had trouble even finishing this post because I got distracted by something on Tor...
I
love Tor.com! I love it so much that I've signed up to get their fiction bundled as an ebook and mailed out every couple of months, so I can read it properly. Also, if you sign up for their newsletter they'll send you a free ebook every month--and they're solid books, too! LIke, Scalzi's
The Collapsing Empire and Doctorow's
Walkaway.*
*Actually, I hated
Walkaway and didn't finish it. My point is that it is a well-known title by a respected author.
Quote from: Wahoo Redux on November 20, 2019, 08:32:58 PM
For more intellectual entertainment, try Bad Lip Reading NFL (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvSWIOtp3hs&t=191s). There are many installations of Bad Lip Reading and they are all fun.
I'm a fan of BLR, but my favorite -- hands down -- is "Medieval Land Fun-Time World," a bad lip reading of the first few seasons of Game of Thrones. The gimmick is that it's edited as a trailer for a early-2000s screwball comedy.
Well, back to You-Tube for me...
Almost anything in the BBC/ITV line of historical series: House of Eliot, Duchess of Duke St., Upstairs/Downstairs, Are You Being Served?, all their Jane Austen films, and the Austrailian ones like Miss Frayne's Detective Agency, or Dr. Blake....
Most recently, I'm halfway through the Sherlock Holmes series.
(I have followed a couple of the US ones, like Klugman's "Qunicy, M.E." awhile ago, but most of them seem more slowly-paced and less nuanced.)
Just thought: not that I need more distractions by which to waste me time, but...are there any good Canadian series like these that I've missed?
Don't tell me now...
M.
I just had a meeting today with a young wealthy man who had been one of the first Youtube enthusiasts. He then got hired by them when he was about the 50 or 60th employee right out of college. Then Google bought them, so he worked for Google. Then he moved into something else, but that Youtube and Google money made him pretty successful at a young age.
Quote from: mamselle on November 21, 2019, 09:38:25 AM
Well, back to You-Tube for me...
Almost anything in the BBC/ITV line of historical series: House of Eliot, Duchess of Duke St., Upstairs/Downstairs, Are You Being Served?, all their Jane Austen films, and the Austrailian ones like Miss Frayne's Detective Agency, or Dr. Blake....
Most recently, I'm halfway through the Sherlock Holmes series.
(I have followed a couple of the US ones, like Klugman's "Qunicy, M.E." awhile ago, but most of them seem more slowly-paced and less nuanced.)
Just thought: not that I need more distractions by which to waste me time, but...are there any good Canadian series like these that I've missed?
Don't tell me now...
M.
Ooh, I know this one. Murdoch Mysteries is a Canadian historical detective drama. Not my cup of tea, but Liquidspouse seems to enjoy it very much. I believe it's streaming on Hulu and Acorn.
Quote from: mamselle on November 21, 2019, 09:38:25 AM
Well, back to You-Tube for me...
Almost anything in the BBC/ITV line of historical series: House of Eliot, Duchess of Duke St., Upstairs/Downstairs, Are You Being Served?, all their Jane Austen films, and the Austrailian ones like Miss Frayne's Detective Agency, or Dr. Blake....
Most recently, I'm halfway through the Sherlock Holmes series.
(I have followed a couple of the US ones, like Klugman's "Qunicy, M.E." awhile ago, but most of them seem more slowly-paced and less nuanced.)
Just thought: not that I need more distractions by which to waste me time, but...are there any good Canadian series like these that I've missed?
Don't tell me now...
M.
Have you seen "Frankie Drake Mysteries" yet? It's set in 1920s Toronto. The 2nd season is now available on DVD.
Uh-oh.
Nope.
Guess I'd better finish up all those loose ends I've been working on.....thanks!
;--}
M.
I became immersed in Professor T. on Amazon Prime. It's a Belgian series (although I believe there is a German version as well), in Flemish, with some French. I became as intrigued by the language as by the plot, so now have a Dutch grammar book added to my library.
I made the splurge (ahem) and dropped $20 this summer to subscribe to the NYT Crosswords. (I have a free e-sub to the Times via my college library--remember, this and other library goodies are why we all want to be sure to take emerita status when we retire.) I waste spend way too much time doing crosswords from the archive when I just can't bear reading one more crappy Comp I word salad.
I also like Lileks.com--a weird compendium of current daily observations and some really oddball ephemera. The collections of old cookbooks, matchbooks, and other artifacts, along with the writer's snarky and often hilarious commentary, are a hoot.
While out of work sick with a sinus infection, I have re-read the entire Harry Potter series, most of the Familias Regnant series by Elizabeth Moon, and the latter 2/3 of The Hobbit--starting with the episode with the trolls.
My go to timewaster is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a dangerous website for those of us who would read encyclopedias for fun as a kid.
I wasted time by actually submitting a budget. Everyone was level funded (i.e. a cut).
I've recently discovered Community, the TV show about a dysfunctional community college on Hulu. I know, I've been living under a rock since it's been around a long time. Been bingeing that.
For short time wastes, https://cabinporn.com/ (https://cabinporn.com/) (SFW) does the trick.