Extremely passionate (in a positive way), niche content creators

Cafe Society
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Continuing the discussion from What would you do with a big storage amount of emergency-ration meals that you inherited?:

I love the guy running_coach linked. Not because I give a particular shit about MREs, but because the guy’s level of consistent, low-key delight shines through in all of his videos. And while some of his videos are interesting because he’s unboxing a 50-year-old meal, a lot of them are modern, standard kits.

Some time ago, I saw a video of a guy who works through ridiculously challenging sudoku puzzles and I spent 30 minutes completely absorbed in his journey and triumphs.

One of education’s Great Truths is that a dry or uninteresting topic can be made interesting - at least for a little while - by somebody who loves what they’re doing and is able to communicate their passion to their audience.

Anybody else have examples of folks like this? Use your discretion when it comes to the definition of “niche,” but no points awarded for something like, “this guy gets to spend all day blowing stuff up and partying with celebrities and really seems to love it!”

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The guy who makes knives out of ludicrous materials is the perennial classic in this category.

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I rather like the look into other countries’ approach to feeding their troops and the occasional odd choice such as the Italian ration that included a shot of cordial.

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This fellow

is passionate about railroad trains. Real trains. He’s got a very nice delivery appropriate to his target audience: low key, bland, but highly knowledgeable and his enthusiasm is very evident, if muted.

Some of his explainers are great: topics obscure enough to satisfy experts, but delivered approachably enough to entertain and inform noobs.

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Karen Puzzles. She’s a thirty-something LA woman who collects and solves jigsaw puzzles. She makes videos about rare puzzles she finds, and sets herself challenges - solid color puzzles, 10,000-piece ones, racing against other puzzlers. She clearly loves jigsaw puzzles, and communicates that passion to her viewers.

And she appears to be a genuinely nice person. In a recent video, she talked about her attempts to buy some rare puzzles at an estate sale auction. But she also paused to pay tribute to the woman who’s puzzles she was buying, and honored her family’s loss.

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I believe you mean Kiwami Japan. I love his videos, and would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. Here’s the knife made of smoke:

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I wonder if our own @puzzlegal is aware of this site/cite?

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LockPickingLawyer is great. I have very little interest in locks or picking, but his skill and knowledge is remarkable enough to sway anyone to watch him open the most difficult locks. Dude has thousands of videos and I have seen most.

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I like the YouTuber “Post 10”, who clears plugged culverts and other storm drains. He also has a channel called “New England Wildlife And More” where he mainly eats vintage and/or disgusting foods, like surstromming after someone sent him a can (and he made the big mistake of opening it indoors).

He does not like idiots with excavators. Non-idiots with excavators are OK.

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Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t an incredibly intelligent and yet foul mouthed degenerate self-taught botanist from South Chicago wanders the planet categorizing the plants, insects, animals and soils he finds. His love of nature and science and his hatred for litter and urban sprawl is infectious.

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The possum lady.

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Yep, I had a passing interest in it before and understood the idea. Now I want to buy stuff from his store.

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Thanks!

Not my kind of puzzle, although i did grow up on those springbok puzzles, and I’ve done that butterfly puzzle as a kid. But she’s certainly my kind of enthusiast. :smiley:

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I wondered if you were into jigsaws. Because there are certainly other types of puzzles. Another YouTuber I follow is Chris Ramsay. He’s a Canadian magician and puzzle lover, but he solves puzzle boxes, big elaborate contraptions that require finding hidden tools and solving sequential steps. He’s also another whose enthusiasm is infectious.

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Hmm, i would have described it as made of soot and gelatin, but i guess “smoke” sounds more romantic.

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Mostly mechanical puzzles. My avatar is one of my favorite puzzles. It’s six similar pieces that can be put together in lots of different ways.

I do also have a lot of jigsaw puzzles, but mostly wooden. If this site hosted photos, i might show some, but it’s not worth it to me to post them someplace else to link photos here.

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But you can tell us your favorite brands of wooden puzzles, right?

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It depends what you like, and whether you prefer laser cut or hand cut. Let’s stick with laser cut, as that’s much more affordable.

My favorite is probably not available now, as it’s a Russian company. But before the war, i bought some davici puzzles that really blew me away. The cutting patterns are really well thought out, and they are incredibly charming. These tend to be fairly easy, so you make constant progress. If you manage to get your hands on one, solve it on a board of some kind, so you can flip it over when you’ve completed it. You want to enjoy and appreciate the cut. City of Cats is my favorite of the ones i did.

In the “I can’t believe you can do that” category, nervous systems has made some really interesting puzzles. I especially like their globe.

Because their puzzles are designed by a computer algorithm, they also sell a lot of unique puzzles. For instance, they have a series of geodes, each of which has a unique image and a unique cut. I like the way their pieces feel and fit together, too.

If you prefer a chunkier cut (and many people do, i think I’m unusual in preferring a thinner puzzle piece) there’s a Canadian company, Stumpcraft, that makes some challenging, beautiful, and thoughtfully designed puzzles.

Notice the color on the lighter and the marshmallow.

If you want a traditional image with lots and lots of fun whimsy pieces, and very reliable quality, Liberty puzzles is a good choice.

They have a huge catalog, with images to please most every taste, and lots of cute whimsies. A few of the puzzles can be put together in more than one way, or have some other trick or second puzzle.

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Oh…! Now I remember my mom waxing poetic about a Liberty puzzle she got to work on at a friend’s house. Thanks!