Most of us are broke. First-world broke, but still, broke. So for all of us who can’t afford a vacation, or just want to save money, or even just don’t want to be around people, I have some suggestions for entertainment you can get for free as long as you have an internet connection.
Quick tangent on “free” entertainment. If it’s free, you are the product.
YouTube is a treasure trove of fantastic free entertainment. However, there’s a lot of chaff with the wheat, so here’s a few series that are gems of YouTube: DONG, Pretty Good, and Chart Party. These companies make money mainly by ads, so all of you who use an ad blocker, you are only hurting the creators you enjoy watching. If you want these people to keep making good content, suck it up and watch the ads.
DONG stands for “things you can Do Online Now Guys,” and it’s made by the same creators from Vsauce, another excellent channel. The name is appropriate, as most of their videos are stylized lists of, well, things you can do online now. Whether they’re games or just interesting websites, a single video from DONG can provide hours of fascinating entertainment that won’t cost a dime.
Pretty Good and Chart Party are similar shows and easily my favorite two series on YouTube. Both are done by Jon Bois, a talented statistician with way too much time on his hands. These shows use charts and stats to tell documentary-type stories, and while the graphics are crappy most of the time, that’s somehow part of the appeal. It has such a retro, down-to-earth vibe that is somehow also incredibly professional. His voice-overs and delivery alongside the visuals make for a humorous experience that is also emotional and interesting. You could not ask for a better show with a lower budget.
If we step away from YouTube and narrow the scope, let’s go to RWBY, an anime by RoosterTeeth. This is free on RoosterTeeth’s website, and it’s a great western anime. This show is well written, extremely well animated and a fantastic introduction to anime if you’ve never seen one before. The brainchild of the late, great Monty Oum, RWBY is action packed, with a great premise and excellent character development that makes all of the main characters and side characters memorable and likable in a way unique to each of them.
So for everyone who doesn’t have friends, family or money to help get them through their boredom, these are great shows that will keep you entertained.
