Last year, I recommended some Google Image Search suggestions to lift your spirits when things looked bleak. But as our collective anxiety levels rise, so does our need for comfort. Still images just aren’t cutting it in The Year Of Our Dark Lord Satan 2017. Instead, here are some Youtube search suggestions for soothing your weathered capacity for emotional fortitude — or at the very least, providing you with a momentary distraction from feeling bad for a few fleeting moments in an otherwise overwhelming time.
When you visit your friendly neighborhood Youtube Dot Com and search for the keywords below, almost every video is guaranteed to give you a feeling other than creeping existential dread. Plug them in the next time you’re feeling too stressed out to function and let the relatively good feelings wash right over you.
1) “Cat Island”
If you, like me, spent too much money on your obligatory millennial tithe of avocado toast, avocado toast-fueled indignation, and necessary medical care, you probably can’t afford a vacation. So why not piggyback off of a stranger’s good fortune through a Youtube excursion of your very own?
Off the coast of western Japan, the island of Tashirojima is known for its staggering cat population — apparently cats outnumber humans 6 to 1. Every video in these search results either describes Cat Island, or documents someone’s trip there. Push the pause button on your internal screaming about some Facebook rando’s condescending musings on that comic about gender inequity in emotional labor and journey to an island paradise full of chill-ass kitty cats living, unlike us, in semi-perfect harmony.
Recommended Clip:
Come sail away with me (and cats)
2) “Americans in Anime”
From the loftiest Studio Ghibli feature film to the sketchiest early aughts titty anime, Americans in anime are all hilarious and terrible. Laugh as the world laughs at us, and remember a better time, back when the world thought of America as a war-mongering, lawsuit-happy nation of rude slobs, instead of spiteful, idiotic harbingers of an increasingly likely nuclear apocalypse. Laugh, cry a little, and then laugh some more as you sift through all the pervy anime clips to find lots of goofy cursing.
Recommended Clip:
It’s like looking into a mirror tbh, u fuckin cowboy
3) “doot”
“doot” videos are a reliable dumb old meme in bad times; evergreen content guaranteed to heal through laughter. Mr. Skeltal can’t doot up the broken criminal justice system or the cruel Republican healthcare bill, but he can doot up all your least favorite songs, and that’s something? At least?
Recommended Clip:
Mr. Skeltal / Yeee Dinosaur 2020
4) “PBS Remixes”
Did the conservatives succeed in stripping PBS’s budget? Or is public access TV still eking by? Because of the breakneck speed of horrifying news this year, who can even keep up? Not me, dear reader, and probably not you, either. Thankfully, Youtube still exists to preserve these clips of soothing parental figures gently believing in you, but set to music. Each remix will help you tap into your long-buried feelings of hope, optimism, curiosity, and joy. So, just keep on looping them and hope for the best.
Recommended Clip:
Remember having the emotional capacity for free-spirited imagination? You can now.
5) “Dog Scared of Own Fart”
I mean, dogs tho. At least we still have dogs. Sorry, dogs.
Recommended Clip:
Enough said
Featured image source: from Cats Take Over Japanese Island, via Youtube.
