April 26th, 2023
You’ve reached the place where all the bad, but oh-so-satisfying entertainment exists. Here, in the Trash Vortex, we provide you with only the trashiest, most bingeworthy recommendations. It’s a dark hole you won’t escape!
Videos to Take You Down a YouTube Rabbit Hole
Procrastinating on your finals? Brain feel like mush? Just want to take a “short” break? From video essayists to game critics, these YouTubers have consumed all of the trashy content you could ask for in order to present it in an easily digestible format. It’s like baby food, but in video form!Monster Factory
Monster Factory is a series created by the prodigious brothers McElroy (Griffin and Justin, to be precise) in which the two sit down to create the most monstrous character they can using the character creation tools a video game gives them. Between the Frankensteinian creations and the brothers’ childish giggling, it’s impossible not to have a good time. My personal favorite monster? Jaa’m, the sequel to dogs.The Excruciating Tale of Bad Cinderella
Have two hours to kill and want to learn about something completely inconsequential, but nonetheless entertaining? Hate Andrew Lloyd Weber and want to feel vindicated? You’ve come to the right place! Video essayist Ashley Norton thoroughly roasts Weber’s flop of a musical Bad Cinderella, first providing viewers with a rundown of the show’s rocky past and then reenacting the production with lovingly crafted puppets. Whether you love musical theater or detest it, there is something here for everyone.One Direction During the Purge 
Do you enjoy bizarre fanfiction? Jenny Nicholson does! If you have a half an hour to kill, join Nicholson as she browses Wattpad for works about the boy band that took the 2010s by storm … and discovers just how many stories there are about what sorts of activities Harry Styles gets up to during the Purge. As a lifelong geek, Nicholson’s earnest commentary is always a delight, even if the stories she’s reading sometimes aren’t.
—Kana Coonce, Trash Vortex Editor