Now that we’re in the thick of midterm season, it’s time to load up your backpack with brain food, grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and hunker down in the library for hours and hours at a time. To keep your sanity, though, don’t forget to take a break every now and then. Sure, taking a walk or doing breathing exercises can help, but my favorite way to kick back is by watching a movie or, at the very least, a short video guaranteed to crack me up and keep my mind off school. Here are 10 YouTube videos sure to boost your mood and relieve any study-induced stress in no time.
“Sporty” Kyle Mooney, who you may recognize as a featured player on the current season of SNL, has an entire channel devoted to absurd videos featuring his über-awkward alter ego Kyle. If this video of his deep commitment to his favorite sports team leaves you wanting more, be sure to check out “The Kiss” and “My Heat.”
“Fast Food Lasagna” Epic Meal Time creates culinary masterpieces with the most unhealthy foods they can find, especially bacon (they even sell shirts with “Bacon Strips & Bacon Strips & Bacon Strips…” printed on the front!). In this video, they craft a “lasagna” using Big Macs as noodles. While there is a definite ick factor to these insane calorie-fests, the channel is strangely addictive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9FRSghXhDM
“Ignition (Remix) Violin Cover” Peter Lee Johnson is both crazy talented and crazy attractive, and I’m not sure which of these qualities has me watching his violin covers of popular songs, especially this one, of R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix),” on repeat. If the “bounce, bounce” part doesn’t pluck at your heartstrings (pun definitely intended) and give you major goosebumps, all this library time might be causing major damage to your emotions—get out of there ASAP!
“Hot Kool-Aid” One night I spent multiple hours watching all of Julian Smith’s videos instead of writing a paper, and while I definitely don’t recommend that, I do recommend you watch this video. Smith’s channel is equally as bizarre as Kyle Mooney’s, and this clip will ease you into even weirder ones like “Malk” and the “Mr. Timn” series.
“The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” If you’re a Jane Austen fan and have time on your hands to binge watch a 100-episode series of five-minute videos, “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” is for you (if you don’t have that kind of time, sorry for including this on a list of ideal “study breaks”!). This channel is dedicated to telling the story of Pride and Prejudice in a modern context, with the heroine, Lizzie, sharing her experiences via a vlogging project for a college class.
“Boys Will Be Girls” The Harvard Sailing Team comedy troupe are neither Harvard grads nor sailors, but they are extremely hilarious. This video dramatically and semi-accurately parodies a girl group hangout/gossip sesh and features genius, easily quotable lines like “It’s totes the best hun-cal froyo!”
“Someone Like Me” Sure, we’ve all seen Ylvis’ “The Fox,” but did you know this Norwegian group has other and arguably even funnier videos online? This music video varies between a slow, heartfelt ballad and an intense shouting match backed by raveworthy dubstep. I’m still waiting for a guy to ask me out with “Excuse me miss, but do you like my dubstep?”
“Vaseline Frenzy” Tyra Banks rolls around on the floor, screaming about making dreams come true, while her entire studio audience screams uncontrollably. You would think all this hub-bub is caused by her giving away a super expensive body cream, but you would be way wrong. Tyra’s antics are usually pretty ridiculous, but this one definitely takes the cake.
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” This quirky little shell talks about his life as a shell, describing what he uses as skis, how he talks on the phone and what his greatest fears are. That description does the video literally no justice whatsoever, but it’s difficult to capture just what makes it so LOL-worthy. Just watch it, okay?
“Casey + Brandon” Technically, this video isn’t on YouTube, but it’s kind of the greatest video of all time, so I’m including it as the perfect finale to this list. After hours of non-stop studying, put those strung-out emotions to good use and spend a few minutes crying happy tears over the adorable, impeccably soundtracked wedding video of some random couple!
http://vimeo.com/fancyrhino/wedding