For a long time I have been a fan of Electro Swing. It's the perfect combination of modern music production, melodies and rhythm. Caravan Palace is one of the shining stars of this genre. And I was blown away when I first saw that they actually play this live as well!
Quite a while ago I randomly stumbled upon the music of Rebecca & Megan Lovell, who commonly go by the name Larkin Poe. Their style of music is somewhere in the area of southern US rock in a very stripped-down and raw form. They grew up with music and it's clearly rooted deeply in their souls. In every song they play you can hear (and see) the deep connection they have to what they are playing and where it's coming from.
I was really impressed when I heard that first song of theirs and have been hooked ever since. So far I haven't managed to see them live, but it's definitely on the bucket list now.
Rather than a band, Steam Powered Giraffe is a special kind of act that combines immense musical talent with comedic elements and also a whole universe the group created for themselves. The general idea is that several robots (namely "The Spine", "Bunny" and "Zero", plus some others that have only been with the group for a while), who were created for specific tasks, became obsolete over time and turned to music. (More information can be found on their website.)
I was blown away by the sheer soulfulness in many of their songs. And after learning a bit more I got more and more fascinated with their pure artistic talent and amazed by how detailed their fictional backstory, the costumes and everything else is. On top of that they also formed a uniquely kind and positive community online that is filled not only with avid fans, but also simply with many kind people.
Technically they could also go into the YouTube channel category, but what stands out most to me personally is their music, so I'll go with that. :-)
During the Corona quarantine I stumbled upon the YouTube videos of this incredible band. They have been making music together since 2012 and their sound has consistenly been very unique, but also slowly evolved. Most outstanding is probably the voice of Mandy Lee, their lead singer. She shines especially in all the live concert videos you can find on YouTube.
This a-capella group is hardly a new discovery, but they have been a staple in my playlists for a long time now. It still amazes me how much volume and power they manage to create with just 5 voices. All of them are extremely talented singers, but when they come together it’s magical. They are still working on releasing original music and I’m looking forward to hearing them, but they created so many great cover versions that I can wait as long as it takes.
Violet is a Brazilian singer-songwriter. She produces a lot of awesome metal covers, but I personally enjoy her original songs even more. Her somewhat raspy, but powerful voice gives every one of her creations a unique style. She has also done some awesome collaborations with other musicians that are fun to discover as well.
I don’t think this movie really needs an introduction. It is one of the best Science-Fiction creations in recent history in my opinion. From the lovely relationship between father and daughter, to the impressive visual effects to the ingenious soundtrack by Hans Zimmer – awesome individually, but as a package this is absolutely incredible. I still fondly remember the first time I saw it and everytime I’ve seen it since I discovered something new that solidifies this movie as one of my all-time favorites.
You might know Zach Braff from the popular TV series Scrubs. “Garden State” is his debut as movie director and it is a great first piece. The love to detail in this movie is what really makes it shine. The soundtrack is lovingly chosen from some of the most moody and chill songs out there. And the movie itself is just delightfully small. It tells a small, insignificant story in a really unique style. You can either just jump in and let yourself be swept away by it or you start looking for hidden messages all over the place. Either way it is to this day one of the most unique experiences I’ve had from a movie.
This movie is a really wild ride. It really plays with the viewer's perception until you really lose track and don't even know anymore what's happening. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the main character perfectly and largely carries this movie all by himself. It is most certainly not a movie for any day, but it's intriguing and brilliantly made, so keep it for the right day and you'll have a great time.
Jon Favreau was bold enough to take on the herculean task of remaking the Disney classic "Jungle Book" into a modern live action movie. And as a huge Disney fanboy himself, he wanted to make sure to celebrate the movie and its brilliance, which he did with flying colors. This CGI masterpiece is an incredible homage to the original movie, but at the same time done so well that it totally stands out by itself just as much as its predecessor did in its time.
This show really is a delight to watch. It incorporates so many different things that it is hard to list them all. It’s quirky, geeky, heartfelt, funny, sad, sometimes a bit cringy, but always entertaining. When you binge watch this series you really feel like you get to know the characters on a very deep level. The writing is incredibly well done and stays very consistent throughout all 12 seasons. They introduce a lot of recurring elements (e.g. various nerd culture references and many insider jokes) that really rope the viewer in as if they’re part of what’s happening on the screen.
With 279 episodes (22 minutes each) in total this is not something to binge in a weekend. This series is a companion for weeks or months and when you’re done it really feels like something is missing.
This series made it to the top of all kinds of charts when it was running. To this day it is still a regularly used source for funny quotes and quirky references. There are many things to like in this one, but for me the most impressive thing is how the writers managed to combine jokes – no matter how crass – with super emotional moments and it never felt forced or unnatural. Binge watching this series is an emotional rollercoaster.
How I Met Your Mother ran for 9 seasons with a total of 208 episodes (22 minutes each. Another one that takes a while to go through, but it’s definitely worth it.
If you had told me a few years ago that I might enjoy a TV series about lawyers I probably would have called you insane. But seeing “Suits” definitely changed my perspective. It’s all in all very over-the-top, but I think that’s why it works. The actual legal topics don’t really matter, because this series is all about the dynamics between the different characters, about the egos and also about relationships. I loved the first season the most, but every subsequent one introduces a new topic or situation and keeps things interesting.
The series has 134 episodes (44 minutes each) spread out over 9 seasons and the last episode aired in September 2019.
This is a classic comedy series. It’s ridiculous, not believable at all, but fun and entertaining all the way. All the officers in the police station shown here are nuts in one way or another. The jokes come rapid-fire one after the other and most of the storylines are more a canvas to bring them to life than actually at the heart of the story. This series is very easy to watch in small batches, because every episode in itself is like a big comedy sketch.
There were six seasons so far with a total of 130 episodes (22 minutes each). A seventh season is currently airing in the US.
Do you know Hugh Laurie? He played the main character in “House MD”. Can you imagine him as evil villain? Well, this is what you get from this series. This series tells the story of a hotel night manager who asks one question too much and thus stumbles into a major crime situation. With only six episodes (60 minutes each) “The Night Manager” really is a triple length movie rather than a TV series. You can easily watch the whole thing in two (or even just one, if you’re really committed) sitting. And I’m certain you won’t regret it. At the very least it is a nice change from all these endlessly ongoing series, but I also enjoyed the acting, the storyline and the tension.
David Budd is a police officer in London and works in a special protection branch that guards royalty and other important people. One day he gets assigned to the Home Secretary, whose policies the severely dislikes. He is stuck between having to do his duty and feeling like he is contributing to a problem he had been fighting against. This series is suspenseful and feels very real. The storyline is compressed into only 6 episodes (60 minutes each) with a second season currently not officially confirmed. But it’s enough to be a really nice experience as the first season already delivers in style.
I don't think this series of books actually needs an introduction. I read the Harry Potter books as a teenager and really loved them. For a while—like so many others—I kind of grew up with them. The excitement never really lessened over the years. I simply love the combination of topics in these books.
For me it has by now actually become a yearly ritual to listen to all seven audiobooks as soon as summer is over and the evenings get longer and darker. I know the stories by heart, but it doesn't matter in the slightest. For me it just feels like coming home. And every single time I feel a little lost as soon as the listening marathon is over.
Just for having said it, the seven books in order are: Harry Potter and…
Whether you know the books already or not, I can highly recommend the English audiobooks read by Stephen Fry. He really brings the characters to life by giving them their own voices and otherwise his soothing tone and perfect English pronounciation is just a perfect fit.
This project is absolutely incredible and a brilliant example for the creativity empowerment that the internet can provide. An author that goes only by the name "pirateaba" started publishing some bits and pieces of a story a few years ago. People got really excited about it and she kept going. By now she has published several massive volumes worth of content for free on her website.
I personally don't enjoy reading novels on a screen and even though there are also ebooks available I was delighted when I saw that Audible had actually picked this up and started creating audiobook versions. (At the moment the first two volumes are available.)
The story pirateaba weaves in her books is really intriguing. The main character (and several very important secondary characters) randomly ended up in a parallel world that oddly resembles a fantasy video game. Not only are Drakes and Gnolls a common occurrence, but everyone is also caught up in a curious system of classes and levels. The world that is slowly introduced and developed ever further is really well considered and at the same time simply hilarious. It's just pure joy to learn about all the curious ideas that found their way into the story. And the characters are all oddly loveable, so that it's easy to enjoy the various side-stories that interrupt the main story line.
This fantasy epos is my original entry to reading fantasy novels in their original English version. After I read the German translation I was unhappy with some of the very obvious translation mistakes that were made there and they distracted me from the story. I read them again in English and never looked back.
Tad Williams tells the classic hero story of the kitchen boy Simon, who grows up in the greatest castle in Osten Ard. His quiet, day-dream-filled life is suddenly disrupted as the kingdom is brought to ruin and he somehow gets tangled up in all of it. This becomes the start of a long journey that not only brings him all across the wast world invented by the author, but also is Simon's coming-of-age story.
The four books in this series are:
Read by Andrew Wincott, the English audiobooks are a great way to dive into the world of Osten Ard if you have never ventured there. It's a long journey, but absolutely worth it.
This book series from Brandon Sanderson is really clever and very well written. Sanderson is well-known and one of the big fantasy authors and with these books he definitely nailed down his reputation as a highly creative and brilliant writer.
The series consists of:
In the world these stories happen in magic is real. But it's not like you might know it from other fantasy worlds. Magic here is tied to metals. Not everyone can use metals this way and most people can barely use one to achieve one single unique feat of magic. But there are some rare individuals—aka Mistborn—who have a much wider arsenal. And the story woven around them is full of politics, drama, loss, heroism and much more.
The English audiobooks are read by Michael Kramer and I enjoyed them a lot!
Peter Grant is a police constable in London. Everything is pretty normal and pretty boring until he randomly stumbles upon a very old and very obscure branch of the London Police. It consists mainly of one peculiar old man and some support staff. And they deal with the supernatural.
The real hook of these books is the perfect combination of modern day London—with really accurate descriptions of the city and the people living there—and the fantasy elements that should not really fit but are so well integrated that everything sounds almost believable. It's a lot of fun.
So far the series consists of:
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith did a marvelous job reading the English audiobooks. He takes great care to fall into the right English slangs, which is a huge part of the enjoyment I get out of these recordings.
For the last year or so I found myself gravitating towards documentaries whenever I need some distraction. In Germany we have public broadcasting companies, who produce very high quality documentaries of all kinds. One of my absolute favorites are the various episodes produced by NDR, who focus on documenting life in the North of Germany. They have a couple of different formats like the "Nordstory", which is a longer format, and the "NDR Doku", which are usually around 30 minutes or so. I enjoy the variety a lot and adore the quality they established for all their documentaries.
All episodes are available in the ARD Mediathek and on YouTube:
For the last year or so I found myself gravitating towards documentaries whenever I need some distraction. In Germany we have public broadcasting companies, who produce very high quality documentaries of all kinds. One of my absolute favorites is a series called "Handwerkskunst" (translates roughly as "art of the craft"), which is produced by SWR, the public broadcast for South-West Germany. They focus on calm, honest and beautifully shot movies about craftsmen, who simply show their expertise. Their goal is to keep records of crafts that will probably not exist anymore in a few years, which keeps surprising me with jobs I didn't even know exist at all.
All episodes are available in the ADR Mediathek and also on YouTube:
Although Peter is a singer and therefore should in theory go into the music category, I decided to put him in here, because his videos are such a significant part of his art. On his YouTube channel you can find a large variety of music videos, most of them with cover versions of all kinds of different songs. The thing that makes Peter stand out is that he produces everything without instruments and creates pure a-capella arrangements. He often layers lots and lots of tracks on top of each other, but all are recorded with just his own voice. And he constantly re-invents himself and finds new ways to do even more impressive things with just his mouth.
I also really enjoy the positive vibes that he puts into each one of his videos. The joy he gets from creating music is really tangible every time.
What Chris does on his YouTube channel is absolutely mindblowing. He is a master clockmaker and documents his projects in long video series. But his projects are not just normal mechanisms, he usually goes for some old piece that was discovered somewhere are even just described and then he tries to recreate the process of making it in a way that might be close to the technology level of the time of origin.
His biggest project to date is to recreate the Antikythera, an antique device that simulates the movement of sun, moon and planets in much more detail than any other comparable clock of that time. The level of craftsmanship and his attention to detail never cease to amaze me. It's fascinating to watch for many reasons, not least because of Chris' incredible videography skills, to which he applies just the same amount of perfectionism as to his physical creations.
I have been following Dave Wave on YouTube for quite a while, because he creates awesome videos. He lately started a new series, where he explains the music theory behind producing songs completely electronically. Starting from different types of sound waves he goes on to explain how to layer them together, how lowpass and highpass filters work and much more. Each video is just a few minutes long, but it’s incredible how much knowledge is stuffed into these videos. And they are also entertaining because of the adorable animations and the cool song that is developing over time.
The series starts with this video:
I can also really recommend his other videos, e.g. this one, where he explains how the music style “Electro Swing” works.
Leo Moracchioli is a musician and producer or primarily metal music. From his studio in Norway he regularly uploads some of the funniest music videos I have found on YouTube so far. His channel is full of great metal covers of all kinds of songs and every single one is accompanied by a hilarious and usually insanely creative video. I can highly recommend browsing through his collection as every one of his creation is different. And he collaborates with lots of very talented people, whom he usually gives a great stage and allows them to put their own style on his music and videos.
Insider tip: Always watch the videos to the very end. :)
For all intents and purposes I consider myself to be a digital native. I grew up as the internet just started taking over everything, from how we communicate, to how we work and—of course—how we spend our free time. I discovered countless things while browsing the internet, many of which I have already forgotten again. But I wanted to create a home for all the things that surprised or delighted me the most. That is how this page came to life.
You can follow me on Twitter, where I occasionally post additional things that don't quite make it on these lists. :)