- You get an app,
and you get an app,
and you get an app.
One of the things
which makes cord cutting so wonderful.
Is the fact that you can pick a la carte,
the content which most delights your heart.
Do you have very niche content sensibilities?
If so, likely there is something out there
that caters to them.
So today I'm gonna give you five streaming services
you may not have heard of.
Or if you have,
that maybe you haven't yet sampled.
That are likely to scratch your particular itch.
Let's get into it.
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Today, I have a mix of streaming operators
which cover everything
from hardcore geek and nerd content.
To old blaxploitation era films.
To African diaspora Indies.
To film lovers collections.
Shaw brothers era martial arts collections.
And broad educational content.
So a little something for everyone.
Let's begin with the ones
I'm sure a few of you may not have heard of.
I'm an nerd.
I speak sarcasm, gif,
and completely meaningless
existential argument fluently.
So let's start with the streaming service
I've only discovered researching for this video.
One that I'm definitely looking forward
to spending more time with.
Dropout TV.
From a name you might know, CollegeHumor.
Dropout TV has a three day free trial.
5.99 thereafter.
You can check out shows like Dimension 20,
for you role playing game fans.
Basically live tabletop Dungeons and Dragons play
with a superb dungeon master.
Who's just a joy to watch and listen to,
act out his role.
Then there's my personal fave WTF 101.
Which is, well,
imagine the famed cartoon, The Magic School Bus.
But with a teacher whose field trips
are absolutely disgusting,
like Garbage Pail Kids disgusting.
I know I just dated myself.
Covering such natural phenomena as parasites.
Including a wasp who lays eggs inside caterpillars,
and the larva then eat them alive
from the inside.
To the most horrific examples
of procreation in the animal kingdom.
The show's really disgusting.
It's gallows humor.
It's real,
but it's gross.
For some adult humor,
Dirty Laundry uses liquid courage
to help guests expose themselves-
Well, I mean,
expose their skeletons.
The skeletons in their closet.
With hilarious banter and shenanigans.
Overall, this is a really interesting fun channel.
With some interesting game shows and other content.
Next up a little something for hardcore cinephiles.
If you are one,
you probably are already aware of this.
But if you're just kind of a lover of film,
maybe casual lover,
but don't yet consider yourself a cinephile.
Then Criterion Collection will help build
your cinematic IQ.
So you can move from enthusiast
to student and fanatic.
Here's what you can expect from Criterion.
The service has a two week free trial
and is 10.99 thereafter.
The interface is easy to navigate.
With clearly laid out genre headings
and smart categories.
One category I really like
is Micro Movie Budgets.
32 movies made for $150,000 or less.
As an aspiring filmmaker myself.
It's interesting to see
what other creatives have done
with very small budgets.
But it doesn't end there.
Part of the draw of Criterion,
is its deep well of content
which includes behind the scenes videos.
Hey puppy.
Showing how movies are made.
And shows and interviews,
which provide critical analysis
of the movie making process
and movies themselves.
A great example of this,
is the Beyond Blaxploitation categories.
What are blaxploitation films?
How do they come into being?
Film scholar Racquel J. Gates,
walks you through a history and analysis
of blaxploitation films that is illuminating.
And provides context
to the 21 motion pictures you're going to watch
in this particular Criterion collection.
This kind of in-depth inside baseball
that is still quite accessible.
Is what makes the Criterion channel special.
I'm gonna tie the next two together a bit.
I'm a martial arts nut.
So the Brown Sugar network
and the Wu-Tang collection
are my yoga flame.
I could get my Jim Kelly
and Ron van Clief fix,
over on the Brown Sugar network.
A streaming channel dedicated
to hit movies and TV shows with Black cast.
And one of the largest collections
of uncut classic Black cinema.
Starring film icons of the seventies.
People like Richard Pryor, Pam Grier, Fred Williamson,
Rudy Ray Moore, Jim Kelly, Richard Roundtree, Jim Brown.
They're all there,
along with today's stars.
The library's a bit on the smallish side overall though.
You'll get a seven day trial.
After that it'll cost you 3.99 a month.
But to get that hardcore martial arts,
black belt theater, thirst quenched.
The Wu-Tang collection
has a host of stars and directors
from the heyday of Kung Fu flicks.
All the Bruce Lee clones.
I mean lee la, all of them.
Gordon Liu,
Bolo Yeung.
Interviews with martial arts greats.
A WTF category of weird Kung Fu flicks
like Kung Fu Zombie.
And a collection of movies
you won't find on Netflix.
And while I did state
these are Shaw Brother era films.
There aren't any actual Shaw Brothers films
on the service.
You'll get movies
from one of the Shaw brothers top directors,
Chang Cheh's, Nine Venoms.
And there are documentaries
on Jackie Chan and Jet Li
that you can check out.
Then you have classics like Shaolin vs Wu Tang.
And rare scope DVDs that are now available to stream
like Chinese Hercules
and Thunder Blade And Lightning Foot.
The interface is easy to navigate
with easily searchable content.
Allowing you to search by cast and crew names
or the films name as well.
You also get the ability
to create a favorites list.
There's a lot of good stuff here.
And for 3.99 a month,
it isn't a bad deal at all.
Next up on the list is kweliTV.
Though the Criterion collection
definitely has its share
of African diaspora directors
and film content.
This streaming channel
is a treasure trove of that content.
Featuring everything from Indie films,
to large budget content.
Or larger budget content.
This site is Black owned for Black artists
and curated by them.
There's content from all over the world.
So if you're into foreign films,
you'll definitely appreciate the mix.
You'll get shorts and feature length content
along with award-winning documentaries.
And some Avant garde Afro-futuristic pieces.
They've also partnered
with popular comedian, Lil Rel.
Who you may know from his role
in Jordan Peel's, Get Out.
As the hilarious police officer friend
to Kaluuya's character.
He has a curated list of content.
Which doesn't include just comedy,
but drama, web series,
animated content and more.
One of the things which makes kweliTV interesting
is that it breaks content up geographically.
So you get a list of content
from creators from the US and Canada.
Then Europe, then Africa.
and the Caribbean and Latin America.
The last of which is a poignant choice.
As you hear about those of Afro-Latin ethnicity
often feeling invisible in their cultures.
And here on kweliTV,
they're creative endeavors
are right up front and easily discoverable.
There's a five day trial for kweliTV.
And it's 5.99 thereafter.
Before paying, you can watch their live TV channel
to sample the content.
Last on the list is MasterClass.
This one could be a whole review in and of itself
because it offers so much.
This platform is all about education.
Almost anything you want to learn
from the masters in their fields
can be found here.
Cooking, filmmaking, screenwriting,
learning how to be a better negotiator,
gardening, political campaign strategy
and messaging.
He needs to go to the bathroom.
But I'm gonna finish this up first.
'Cause he doesn't watch MasterClass.
You can learn all these things,
even like how to be a dog trainer.
From people like Gordon Ramsey,
Shonda Rhimes, Serena Williams,
Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye and Anna Wintour.
You can watch on all of your devices
regardless of screen or OS.
Download videos for offline viewing.
Download accompanying workbooks.
Access to their forums communities.
And the ability to listen
using an audio only mode.
So that you can kind of digest
and listen to these-
Many of these classes.
Not all of them,
but many of them like a podcast.
This subscription is structured
a little different than the others.
And is a bit more expensive.
They offer three plans beginning at $15 then 20.
And 23 for the family subscription.
All billed annually.
So you'll pay $180 for the lowest plan.
The difference in plans
is the amount of simultaneous devices
you can watch on.
And the ability to download for offline viewing.
Which you don't get at the $15 subscription.
Right now they're offering 150 classes
broken up into 11 categories.
Along with their new sessions offerings.
Which are hands on, project based learning classes.
Which promise to get you up and running
with a new skill in 30 days.
Included with all three subscription tiers.
For learning how to write my first screenplay,
I actually subscribed to MasterClass.
And it was very helpful in that endeavor.
Illuminating even.
I mean it really got me up to speed really quickly,
and really gave me some great fundamentals.
It wasn't a specific like ABCD, nuts and bolts class.
It was more theory and mixed with some practice.
So it was really good for me
in the way I learned.
So that's five.
I think I actually may have done six.
But who's counting?
Not me.
I'm not a mathematician.
That's why I'm doing this.
So I'm to Tshaka Armstrong.
Of course for reviews.org.
If anything I talked about here.
If you have any other questions.
Or if you'd like to share with me
your favorite hyper ultra niche streaming channel.
You can go ahead and leave that
in the comments below.
I'll get to it.
Love chatting with you all.
I will catch you on the next video.