Here are the TV shows, online trends, films and YouTubers I’ve been enjoying this quarter:

TV

Bake Off: The Professionals

This is the second consecutive year I have been watching this GBBO spin-off. Like with the 2018 series, the 2019 series has been presented by Tom Allen and Liam Charles while the judges were Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden. Highlights of this series were the Asian week to celebrate Finden’s Singaporean heritage and one episode where one Showpiece appeared to depict a plane crashing or flying into a volcano. I was even excited that two of the chefs were from the South Place Hotel, which is near where I work.

Fireman Sam

 

The original series of Fireman Sam (first broadcast in English from 1987 – 1994) was one of my favourite programmes as a child. I have revisited this series plus the 2000s stop-motion series and the newer CGI series on Amazon Prime Video this quarter although episodes can also be seen on YouTube. While the original series remains my favourite and has the best nostalgic value, the newer versions were worth watching in terms of new characters (the Flood family and Australian rescue helicopter pilot Tom Thomas in the 2000s stop-motion series; Sarah and James’s parents Charlie and Bronwyn in the CGI series), new rescue vehicles (Tom’s helicopter Wallaby 1 in the 2000s stop-motion series; Neptune, Bessie, Titan and Juno in the CGI series) and storylines if some of them were repetitive or derived from plots from other episodes (for example, The Great Guinea Pig Rescue in the CGI series has a similar plot line to A Real Live Wire in the 2000s stop-motion series).

Online trends

Honourable mention

Snapchat’s gender swap filter

Left: iPad version of gender swap. Right: iPhone version of gender swap.

Snapchat is not my most widely used social app, but during this quarter some people I follow online as well as one of my friends on Facebook and Instagram have used Snapchat’s gender swap filter to see how they would look as the opposite gender. Although one man I follow looked like his sister with the filter and one woman I follow looked like her brother with it, I looked nothing like my brother, but the filter was still great fun.

Letting the Person in Front of Me Decide What I Eat for 24 Hours Challenge videos

While I couldn’t get my head around this challenge when I saw that Jacy and Kacy from YouTube have done it, I decided to watch it and I totally got the gist afterwards. Basically at least one YouTuber goes to a drive-through branch of a fast food chain and orders whatever the person/people in the vehicle in front of them have ordered. The YouTuber then gets exactly what the people in front of them have ordered. Jacy and Kacy have done three parts of this challenge while Sam4G0d has done two albeit on foot since she doesn’t drive: one in London and the other in Disneyland Paris for example (unfortunately I have had to remove Sam’s videos from this post because her YouTube channel that she uploaded these videos to was hacked, so I have added Jacy and Kacy’s other LTPIFOUDWWEF24H videos instead). This is a very entertaining challenge and one of the biggest this year so far.

Films

Mary and Max

Mary and Max is an Australian feature-length stop-motion animated film that was directed by Adam Elliot. It revolves around the lonely Mary Daisy Dinkle (voiced by Bethany Whitmore as a child and Toni Colette as an adult) and the obese middle-aged man Max Jerry Horowitz (voiced by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) who become unlikely pen pals. The film is very touching with top notch stop-motion animation, various series issues and the relatable character of Max since he has Asperger syndrome and I can relate to him in some way or other with my autism. I have seen this film a few times and I watched it with my mum in this quarter. She enjoyed it a bit more than I did, although my dad found it weird when I lent my DVD copy of the film to him and my mum.

Toy Story 4

Toy Story 4 is obviously the fourth instalments of the Toy Story franchise. In this film,  Bonnie (voiced my Madeleine McGraw) and her parents (voiced by Jay Hernandez and Lori Alan) go on a road trip to a carnival. During the road trip, Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) is reunited with Bo Peep (voiced by Annie Potts) in a nearby antique shop. Although I didn’t enjoy this film quite as much as the first three (Toy Story 3 is my favourite), it was still very good with brilliant animation, an intriguing story, some funny and moving moments, the return of Bo Peep and new characters with Forky (voiced by Tony Hale) being my favourite.

YouTubers

Rosanna Pansino

I have been watching Rosanna on YouTube for a few years now, thus making her my last old favourite I will mention in these favourites blog posts. My favourite videos of hers are part of a series called Nerdy Nummies where she makes some edible goodies based on media such as films, television shows and video games. She has also done some other videos such as those where she introduces her dogs Cookie and Blueberry Muffin as well as her sister Molly’s baby boy Greyson; shows us what’s in her fridge and pantry; and answers the most Googled questions about her. Rosanna is a sweet, fun and creative YouTuber. She also has her own baking line and cookbooks that I would definitely consider buying.

Husky (AKA Michael or Mike, Rosanna Pansino’s boyfriend and manager)

Prior to seeing videos by Husky, I have seen a few videos of Rosanna’s where she mentioned him including some I have mentioned above. The first full video of Rosanna’s where he was featured was her boyfriend tag video although I soon found out that he was in her Not My Arms Challenge video that she did with Molly in 2015 when clips of it were featured in FBE’s Kids React to Rosanna Pansino upon rewatching the latter. In April – May this year, Husky started uploading videos onto YouTube on a regular basis again starting with a video where his friends, including Rosanna and Molly, roast him by reading hate comments about him whether they were on his now-deleted old YouTube videos or elsewhere online; he surprises Rosanna with Blueberry Muffin; and answers his viewers’ questions. Husky is a generous and entertaining YouTuber and I look forward to seeing more of his content throughout the year.

Links

April, May and June Favourites Part 1 plus Life Update: https://stompgal87.blog/2019/07/25/april-may-and-june-2019-favourites-part-1-plus-life-update/

Bake Off: The Professionals: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/bake-off-the-professionals

Fireman Sam

Official website: https://www.firemansam.com/en-gb

Wiki: https://firemansam.fandom.com/wiki/Fireman_Sam_Wiki

Rosanna Pansino: https://www.youtube.com/user/RosannaPansino

Husky: https://www.youtube.com/user/husky

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored blog post. All opinions expressed are my own.