Sometimes it’s nice to unplug your brain, set it in a bowl of ice water, and take a small mental break from the various horrors currently setting the world on fire.
There are different ways to manage the constant and heady stream of information invading your feeds on a daily basis. You can step out to your retailer of choice and buy something. You can eat a delicious chocolate chip cookie. You can engage in a text conversation with your oldest friend using only Bitmoji and GIFs of mid-2000s rapper DMX. But, if you’re sitting at your computer at your job and cannot engage in any of the aforementioned activities, there’s YouTube.
I asked the Jezebel staff for videos that make them feel good in the face of a world full of bad. The results were a delight. Here they are.
I love it because koalas are my fav and this cranky Bernie doppelganger stole my heart. —Clover Hope
I love this video because it’s sweet and charming and at one point a cute little girl with a Kiwi accent says she wishes she was a bubble. Sometimes I feel the same way. —Madeleine Davies
Vogue is the most beautiful and rich art form in America, and Leiomy Maldonado is the unadulterated queen of it. This compilation of her death drops makes me feel so powerful. - Julianne Escobedo Shepherd
The potato video is a heartwarming reworking of a classic song and “Love On Top” is just so joyful. —Hazel Cills
School officials dancing is a nice subgenre of YouTube videos that never fails for me, personally. This lawnmower taking flight to Mariah Carey’s iconic single “Emotions” has made me laugh so hard I’ve cried. And even though this red panda is having a hard day, I love this endlessly.—Me, Megan Reynolds
The Kangaroo Sanctuary Instagram account acts like a virtual pouch for my emotions. —Joanna Rothkopf
Otters are supposedly pretty obnoxious, disgusting creatures, but I love watching them eat. Seeing them throw food into their greedy little faces is more relaxing to me than yoga, and much, much cheaper. —Lauren Evans
I have a collection of screen shots of ads I’ve been served for things you can buy for your dog that just sort of make me happy, which I’ve saved in a folder on my desktop called “Stout Personal.” Here’s a taste of what I’m talking about:
I recently was served this one:
This led me to search for “dog in snowsuit” on YouTube, which helped me find this video of a dog named Bailey being fitted for a snowsuit. I love it so much and have watched it like 9 times:
Bonus: a few very good lip sync battles from Ru-Paul’s Drag Race.
Your turn!
DISCUSSION
Today I had to go to sort of the middle of nowhere (no offense to anyone from Gardner Mass) for work. And I stopped at a little diner for breakfast after (food was great!) But it was cash only and some other customers only had credit cards so the waitress told them to just eat and come back to pay whenever they have cash on them.
Then she told me that that happens all of the time and in 16 years nobody has ever not come back to pay. And that a couple of weeks ago a “cowboy” looking guy didn’t come back and it was the first time ever. But then he had come in just two days ago to pay! And apologized for forgetting.
Also, the guy behind me didn’t know what hollandaise sauce was and she brought some out for him to like sample (which is actually pretty gross but also sweet) to see if he’d like some on his homefries. (ETA: He DID want some on his homefries!!)
Sometimes the world really can be so nice! Why does everyone else have to ruin it.