Males Are the Minority in Booktube

I’ve spent quite a lot of time searching for new Booktube channels to follow and watch. But the more I search, the more I realise how few male Booktubers there are. It’s dominated by teenage girls and women in their twenties. But there are male Booktubers out there. I talk about that in this video.

I mentioned a couple big male Booktubers, Jesse the Reader and Benjamin of Tomes. But I also mention one of my favourites, Peter Likes Books.

There’s a playlist of male Booktubers compiled by Connor O’Brien. That’s a very useful resource, and hopefully I’ll be on it soon. Check it out and all of these Booktubers. And of course, watch my video!

Let me know what you think on the comments below. If you know of any male Booktubers, also leave a link!

The Sky Right Now

As is typical for Edmonton weather, we have another thunderstorm. The forecast says thunderstorms all day until about 11 pm. This is the sky right now:

Nice, huh? The clouds are behaving like a very slow boil. They’re moving around a bit, but slowly. It’s interesting to look at, but since it’s started raining, it’s hard to see how the clouds really look.

Well, tomorrow is Canada Day, and we’re hoping to see some fireworks. Thankfully, the forecast is good for tomorrow. But it’s the only good day over the next six days. Every other day is expected to be stormy.

It’s a good thing my daughter now says she likes thunderstorms. She’s not afraid during the day.

Ask Me Anything!

I’m thinking of making a video where I talk about myself. Oh, so self-centred, isn’t it? Actually, I don’t intend it to be entirely about me, but any topics related to what I like, how I make videos, how I write, and so on. Ask me anything!

Well, I think that the questions should be clean, of course. But also, try to stick to these topics:

• Books
• Making videos
• Writing
• Living in Japan
• Likes and dislikes
• Hobbies

I think those topics should be good. So, please ask me the questions in the comments below, and in the video, I’ll mention you and your blog name (or if you have a YouTube channel, I’ll also mention it). I’ll also link to it from the video’s description and the blog post I’ll do along with it. Thanks!

Authors I Have Not Read

I love reading, but there are some authors I’ve never read. And some of these authors are very popular, often considered required reading in science fiction and fantasy. Let’s just say there are a lot, but I only chose five authors for this. Again, I made a video about it!

Are you surprised? What authors have you not read before? Let me know in the comments below.

I Get Silly on YouTube

Another vlogger/Booktuber, jessethereader, did a video where you took book titles and tried to say them ten times as quickly as he could. He started off a little trend of people making videos treating titles as tongue twisters. It’s called the Tongue Tied Title Challenge.

Guess what I did? Watch.

Anyone want to try? Go ahead, record a video of yourself and put it on YouTube.

Comments? I look forward to them! Post them below.

Choose My Best Instagram Photos – Round 1, Group 42

In this group of photos, we moved on down the coast of Kamakura and into Fujisawa, especially Enoshima. You get to continue enjoying the seaside and island scenery with these ones. But which photos do you like?

The rules are simple. I post 10 of my Instagram photos every few days, and you get to vote on your favourites. It’s multiple choice, so please vote for 2 to 4 photos (3 is ideal). Leave a comment saying why you voted the way you did. The poll comes after the photos.

Here are the photos:

View this post on Instagram

Inamuragasaki cape

A post shared by Jay Dee Archer (@jaydeejapan) on Apr 14, 2012 at 4:49pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Enoshima and Shichirigahama from Inamuragasaki

A post shared by Jay Dee Archer (@jaydeejapan) on Apr 14, 2012 at 5:09pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Kamakura coast from Inamuragasaki

A post shared by Jay Dee Archer (@jaydeejapan) on Apr 14, 2012 at 5:18pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Enoshima condo

A post shared by Jay Dee Archer (@jaydeejapan) on Apr 15, 2012 at 2:39am PDT

View this post on Instagram

Sexy fountain on Enoshima

A post shared by Jay Dee Archer (@jaydeejapan) on Apr 15, 2012 at 2:42am PDT

View this post on Instagram

Torii on Enoshima

A post shared by Jay Dee Archer (@jaydeejapan) on Apr 15, 2012 at 8:16pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Surfboards in a narrow Enoshima alley

A post shared by Jay Dee Archer (@jaydeejapan) on Apr 17, 2012 at 6:51am PDT

View this post on Instagram

A finger into the ocean

A post shared by Jay Dee Archer (@jaydeejapan) on Apr 17, 2012 at 7:35pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Rugged Enoshima coast

A post shared by Jay Dee Archer (@jaydeejapan) on Apr 18, 2012 at 3:23am PDT

View this post on Instagram

Rock arch

A post shared by Jay Dee Archer (@jaydeejapan) on Apr 18, 2012 at 11:14am PDT

 

And now the vote. Please vote for your favourite photos (ideally 3, but anywhere between 2 and 4):

 

I was joking about the sexy fountain. Anyway, I’m very interested in what you think of these photos, so please leave a comment explaining your votes. Thanks!

This Is 10:40 pm

I took this picture tonight. 

Can you believe this is 10:40 pm? Edmonton is at around 53.5 degrees north. That means it’s closer to the Arctic than it is to the tropics. When I lived in Japan, I was at 35.4 degrees north. Sunset was around 7 pm at this time of year. Sunset in Edmonton is 10:06 pm. Too late?

What time does the sun set for you around the summer solstice?

Pirates of Japan?

Continuing my From East to West video series, I talk a bit about Japanese pirates. Actually, my daughter was pretending to be a pirate in the park while I talked about packing and throwing out garbage. Enjoy the video!

I’m going to try to get these videos done over the next month. Once I’m all caught up with these, I can work on the more travel-related Japan videos that should have a much broader appeal.

Let me know what you think about these videos in the comments below. If you want to see the entire playlist, you can go here. It’s in reverse chronological order.

Week in Review – June 26, 2016

Well, it’s been quite the week on the internet. You’ve probably noticed a continued focus on YouTube videos. I’ve done a lot. And the channel has grown! But don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten the blog. Let’s find out what happened this week.

Reading

I’ve been reading! I’m now at 45% in Redemption Ark, by Alastair Reynolds. I’ve felt a lot more motivation to read now that I’m hiding away in various places during the day to read.

Writing

If I could hide away to write, I would. It’s easier to get away and read, because interruptions don’t destroy my train of thought. For writing, I must have quiet and solitude for a good amount of time.

Patreon

As I expected, I’m getting nothing yet. But as I said before, I expect to get something once I’ve started writing again and have gained a considerably larger number of YouTube subscribers.

Languages

I’ve done a bit more with Esperanto, and I’ve been telling myself I really should split my studying time with Esperanto and French.

Videos

Here’s where the news is the biggest. My subscriber count has increased quite a bit. Nothing amazing, but it’s a lot more than it was a week ago. I also published six videos. Some do well, some don’t. I’m still discovering what kind of videos attract viewers, and what don’t. The other is that I’ve become a YouTube Partner. If I get to 1000 subscribers, I get some extra perks.

The Blog

The blog continues! It’s been a slow month, though a little more traffic this past week. But it seems summer is often slow for views because people are going out more.

Studying

Nope!

The Next Week’s Goals

Perfecting my video editing skills, making myself appear more outgoing on camera, and doing some of the more popular tags and types of videos. I plan on doing a multiple part series of unboxing my books. Most of my books are stuck in boxes and some are in the basement. I have to dig out some boxes in the basement. Also, June will be ending this week, so the Month in Review is coming. I really, really should do some reviews this week. Three book reviews and a TV episode impression. Maybe one a day. That’ll take us to the end of the month.

How was your week? Let me know in the comments below.

Retro Book Review – Running With the Demon

More than four years ago, I wrote my first book review for this blog. That was for Running With the Demon, by Terry Brooks. On my YouTube channel, I’ve started a series called Retro Book Reviews, where I will talk about books I’ve reviewed in the past, including how my impressions may have changed and how I feel about them now. Here’s the first one!

If you’ve read this book, what did you think of it? Let me know in the comments below.