For each video, click the play button (>) and click the "X" at the top right when it finishes or you have seen enough. (Sometimes the X doesn't show, just click beside the video.) This year, getting enough recent videos was difficult once again, so I added a few entertaining ones from other years. Some might have a Christ-mass theme, some may have a New Year theme, but most are just entertaining.
Melbourne Victoria - 8k Australia
Last year, it was a 4K video video of Melbourne, this year it is 8K. Of course unless you are watching this on something with an 8K screen, it is not going to look much different. You do get a warm feeling though that you are a little bit more justified in buying an 8K display one day😉. It is a bit long, so jump forward here and there or cut it short. When you play it, at least set YouTube to the maximum resolution and full screen. Beautifully videoed views of our fair city. There are some great videos of Melbourne on YouTube, and this is another good one to show overseas friends and relatives.
The Crown Casino in Melbourne holds a Christ-mass show in the Yarra using fountains and coloured lights. It gathers a big crowd and is very entertaining.
Tim Ellis is the principal magician of Melbourne, a globally recognised FISM winner and FISM judge. He has made headlines since he was a teenager and became a resident character on Young Talent time. He has performed at the Magic Castle. He is also the originator and director of the Melbourne Magic Festival. He lives in a combination home, magic museum, and theatre in Northcote, a suburb of Melbourne. He is very hard-working, performing magic shows at his theatre, going on cruises, etc. If you get a chance, go and see one of his shows, you will not be disappointed.
Chris Tangey, the Alice Springs Cinematographer, has done another fantastic photographic video this year. He travels around Australia, capturing scenic videos of the country from the air. For overseas family and friends; Chris's videos are excellent to show people why we like living on the driest continent.
Australian Magician Helen Coghlan should be more well known than she is. She has appeared on the TV show "Penn and Teller Fool Us" 6 times now and fooled them every time. Her tricks were invented by her 91-year-old father. This video is not really about Christ-mass, but it shows some Aussie inventiveness at its best.
3 Cars Vs Mountain! Extreme Downhill Racing Chaos How Ridiculous
I am obliged to put a "How Ridiculous" video up here again 😉. They are now at 23.1 million subscribers. They tend to play up the "Aussie Yahoo" quite a lot; I guess it works. In this video, they are in New Zealand, rolling all sorts of objects including cars down a hill. It's not really a Christ-mass theme, but it is entertaining.
Car Thief Gets Instant Karma - Knife Drill Version - Turnah81
Craig Turner is another Aussie YouTuber; I think he deserves more followers. He makes some very funny videos; this time, it is the Aussie answer to Mark Rober (coming up later) and his trap for car thieves. Again, this video is not about Christ-mass but shows some funny, dangerous engineering to solve(?) a problem(?)😏. Don't try this at home.........actually don't try this anywhere.
Eric Mead and Shoji Jazz on Penn and Teller Fool Us
I regularly Zoom meet with a card sleight group that has in attendance the amazingly accomplished while very young Shoji. Shoji appeared on "America Has Talent" at the age of 9 and performed at the Magic Castle at about 11. The Castle is normally restricted to 21 or older, but they adapted the rules to allow Shoji in. This video shows Shoji performing with Eric Mead on "Penn and Teller Fool Us." Hard to believe, but Shoji is just starting High School next year!
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Theme - Patricia Janeckova
Back in 2020, during COVID-19, Ennio Morricone passed away. He was the composer who wrote the themes for the most famous Spaghetti Westerns. The compositions are unique because of Ennio's genius choices of unusual instruments: ocarinas, electric guitars, choirs, mezzo-sopranos and sopranos singing wordless notes, etc. Ennio wrote the music for 'Once Upon a Time in the West', considered by many to be the best Western ever. Throughout the movie, a soprano voices a recurring haunting theme. In 2012, during the judging of a European beauty competition, Patricia Janeckova, a young 14-year-old girl, sang Ennio's theme from 'Once Upon a Time in the West' as entertainment for the audience. Since then, singers have been trying to do as well as Patricia.
Colin is a plumber turned very successful YouTuber with 13.1 million subscribers. He mostly builds entertaining (scary, dangerous) devices in his home workshop. In this video, he demonstrates a machine he built that allows him to emulate the apparently weightless moves characters make in video games and movies.
This video is more typical of Colin's contributions to YouTube. He is working with Tom Lamb to make a swinging arm in the style of Mad Max for the back of a moving vehicle.
My New Satellite Can Take Your Selfie From Space - Mark Rober
Mark Rober is usually trapping porch pirates with Glitter Bombs, this time he has returned to his space career to launch a satellite that can take selfies. His YouTube channel has one of the biggest followings with 60.6 million subscribers.
Can A Crow Solve 9 Impossible Puzzles? - Mark Rober
Another one from Mark Rober: In this video Mark demonstrates one of his other interests, testing the intelligence of wildlife. He makes an elaborate puzzle of 9 linked tests to compare the intelligence of a crow versus human children.
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen x Peter Bence (Piano Cover)
This is Peter Bence playing his arrangement of Freddie Mercury's Bohemian Rhapsody. Some of the best piano playing I have heard. Peter Bence is a film composer, pianist, producer, student of Berklee College of Music, the "World's Fastest Piano Player" who broke the most piano key hits in one minute (765) by Guinness World Records, 2012 in Debrecen, Hungary.
Incredible Drone Display is World’s Biggest Ever - Guinness World Records
I hate seeing Quadcopters being called Drones, an unfortunate slang term from a military aircraft used as a target. Nevertheless, the media dictates what we use conversationally and prefers monosyllables. There is finally a competitor to fireworks for colourful aerial displays in the night sky. Using computer control, thousands of drones fitted with coloured lights can be programmed to produce 3D images. Each pixel (dot of light) is a drone. The number of drones involved is rapidly rising; last year, it was in the hundreds and now in the thousands. This video in China has 7598 drones and is the current Guinness World Record holder (at the time of writing!!!).
Shawn Farquhar is a fantastic Canadian magician, the first to fool Penn and Teller twice in a row. He is a multi-World Champion of Magic winner. I have friendships with many magicians, and learning from them helps my research work. Shawn has more directly helped me by providing input for a project. I always like to finish the list of videos with something special from Shawn. This video shows his personal favourite routine and definitely one of mine too. He performs some wonderful card artistry, matching his moves to the lyrics of the music, 'The Shape of my Heart'.