MyTube, YouTube, TheyTube, We All Tube

I received a neat look at my YouTube stats for 2020.

Nope, I am not any sort of YouTube sensation but I'm enjoying putting out creative content and some folks are resonating with it. (A pretty strong parallel to the books and stories I publish - hanging out in that broad mid-list realm)

Of course the most popular new video this year was early on during the first wave of Covid-19, when Liz and I performed Stuck in this House Here with You, a Stealers Wheel parody of "Stuck in the Middle with You"

https://youtu.be/kFUlLTP1SgE

I think we did even better on the less popular K-Tel spoof commercial - a medley of pandemic-inspired parodies. Still Stuck, Still with You, Still in this House

https://youtu.be/q4yvcNoXJfY

 Liz and I appeared on three different Ontario television news programs for these fun collaborations. That was kind of cool.

Of course, I did a number of silly Dad Joke-inspired ones, too:

You Better Knock First (Horror Parody Dad Joke)

 

Dramatic Exit (Inspired by a Rubes Cartoons comic)

Under Attack (An Action Film Parody Dad Joke)

I was so thrilled to create a CHEERS parody (that I'm curious to try to do more episodes of throughout the winter), when I put out Mark's Tavern (because I so MISSED hanging out in bars)

I had fun schooling people in how to pronounce my name in this Peggy-Lee/Elvis parody of "Fever"

 

And it was fun getting frustrated that The Monster Mash is a song about a song that you never get to hear in There Is No Mash.

 

 
Looking forward to doing a few more towards the end of the year and into 2021.

Do you have a favorite one?

Cheers to Beers

Admittedly, I haven't been blogging here much, even though I'm proud to say that I have been blogging since my initial post on March 3, 2005.

That first post wasn't much, just a note that my friend from work, Mathew (work back then was Chapters Online, or Chapters/Indigo) had mocked me into starting a blog. It's short (so unlike me) and sweet (well I can sometimes be sweet) and called Beginnings. (I was unique, since it wasn't like many blogs, called "My First Post")

My second post, on March 9th, was a little more typical of the musings I would blog about over the years. It was called Not the TV show starring Dick. This one was about the growth of my Van Dyke beard. You know, the facial hair that everyone calls a goatee. (It is technically either referred to as a Van Dyke or a goatee and mustache. A goatee is just chin hair. A mustache is hair over the top lip. But, since laziness prevails and that affects language, most people call it a goatee. Gee, see how I like to rant about such things?)

In my first eight years of blogging I averaged between 180 and 190 blog posts per year, which was almost one every two or three days.

I haven't blogged as much since 2012. Perhaps one reason is that many of my updates end up being shared in the quicker click share of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. Another part of the reason is likely that my "blogging" efforts were directed towards the Kobo Writing Life blog as well as other writing efforts.


But I still quite enjoy blogging. Heck, I've even started other blogs that align directly specific passions.

While the KWL Blog was focused specifically on writing and publishing, and I was able to channel much passion into that, Liz and I started Spirits Untapped, a blog that focuses on the spirit and spirits that inhabit beer and bar culture.

A "Beer with Norm" - What does it say about me for this being on my bucket list?

Yes, this will be information that we have started compiling for a forthcoming book in my "series" of books on the paranormal, called SPIRITS UNTAPPED: Haunted Bars and Breweries that likely won't be out for a couple of years; but we started this the blog in May 2016 and on the blog we decided to focus on the Spirit of Beer Culture, while throwing in a few spots about haunted locations.

For example, the first post, May 7, 2016, was about The Winking Judge on Augusta Street in Hamilton. I first learned about it when writing Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle & Other Steeltown Shivers. And it has since become a local "haunt" since I moved into an apartment "above" the judge in 2014.

The Winking Judge - One of our favorite haunts

On Spirits Untapped, Liz and I blog about such things as:

• Haunted Locations (which will end up going into the book)
• Breweries
• Memorable Beers
• Interesting beer labels and artwork
• Beer festivals
• The intersection of beer and music 

. . . along with other fun intersections from beer culture as well as a map tracking the various locations we have enjoyed beers together since 2014.

I'm pretty sure that the Spirits Untapped blog will continue to grow now that I have more time for writing, and that I'll also be returning to blog more here as 2017 draws to a close and we usher in 2018.