Name: IM PUTTING ON A PLAY | Toronto Fringe Festival!! @TheVloggingNook
Uploaded: 2026-09-24T08:17:00-05:00
Duration: 8 min 17 s
Description: IM PUTTING ON A PLAY | Toronto Fringe Festival!!

IM PUTTING ON A PLAY | Toronto Fringe Festival!!

TheVloggingNook 2026-09-24 | IM PUTTING ON A PLAY | Toronto Fringe Festival!!

once in a lifetime - one direction cover

TheVloggingNook 2024-11-24 | let's ignore the fact that I have not posted a video here since 2021 (i'm on tiktok under the username "alexandelljones" if you want to actually see what i'm doing now)

i used to be a massive one direction fan, so i decided to actually do some music for the first time in years in honour of liam payne. he was my age. a complicated, greek tragedy of a life.

silent night (in four part harmony)

TheVloggingNook 2021-12-24 | yes, this was filmed on a potato (my iphone) because my camera battery was dead and I didn't want to wait for it to charge. so what

i'm not technically christian, but of the religiousy christmas songs, this one is v pretty

a belated look at my spotify wrapped 2021

TheVloggingNook 2021-12-06 | so self-indulgent and way late, but i like doing these videos! So here is me singing some songs

i do genuinely love fickle friends, they make flawless indie pop, but i am way more familiar with their first album so i just felt bad i was listening to them more vacantly this year

slip away - luke hemmings cover

TheVloggingNook 2021-11-21 | in which i sing a song and then splice in some dramatic and poorly lit shots from my dark bedroom

i really wanted to have a shot where the camera was super far away looking down at me but could not figure out how to get my camera on the literal ceiling, so we half-assed it

I love this song, and it sounds simple as hell but it actually took me a couple weeks to learn how to strum it and sing it at the same time, because the strumming pattern is NOT in sync with the rhythm of the words (I also did this take too fast, but oh well, it was still somehow the best take)

painting my own YA book cover (queen of junk island cover reveal!!)

TheVloggingNook 2021-10-07 | in which i paint my cover for a cover reveal even though the book (and thus the cover) has been googleable for like at least a full month

PREORDER THE QUEEN OF JUNK ISLAND!

(to preorder from your local bookstore, just search "The Queen of Junk Island" on their website and see if they have it!)

Indigo: chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-queen-of-junk-island/9781773216355-item.html?ref=item_page%3Avariation

Barnes and Noble: barnesandnoble.com/w/the-queen-of-junk-island-alexandra-mae-jones/1139743491?ean=9781773216348

ADD ON Goodreads: goodreads.com/book/show/58855153-the-queen-of-junk-island

ranking every 5sos song BECAUSE THEY DID A BAD JOB

TheVloggingNook 2021-09-25 | in which alexandra ranks every song 5 seconds of summer has put out

this was so hard and I got so tired at the end so there’s some mistakes here but I stand by the big changes I fought for (talk fast being a big one lol)

(but like, is empty wallets the worst song on youngblood? it's the only one i put in D tier, but maybe i was being too easy on the others, maybe there's a couple more D tier songs off of youngblood like...i really don't vibe with moving along. but it's hard to judge the newer songs more harshly when you listen to them next to an older song like social casualty and go "wow these new songs sound so much better" lol)

i wish i had talked a little more about the ones that i love and put in S tier, but this would have been like two hours long if i actually went in depth into each song

i still can't believe they put so few songs in A tier, like do they not like their own songs lol they put almost everything in C tier

christine - lucy dacus cover

TheVloggingNook 2021-09-03 | in which alexandra sings a song that made her cry every time she heard it for the first like thirty times

I love this song and it is devastating. also, peep me actually playing the song! those aren't "faking it on the piano" hands, i did actually learn how to play it and sing it at the same time lol good for me

posing with the moon (also preorder my YA book)

TheVloggingNook 2021-09-01 | PREORDER MY BOOOOK

(to preorder from your local bookstore, just search "The Queen of Junk Island" on their website and see if they have it!)

Indigo: chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-queen-of-junk-island/9781773216348-item.html?ref=item_page%3Avariation

Barnes and Noble: barnesandnoble.com/w/the-queen-of-junk-island-alexandra-mae-jones/1139743491?ean=9781773216348

also i love my extremely extra moon photoshoot, i AM the drama

so i finally made that 2019 road trip vid

TheVloggingNook 2021-08-07 | this is a followup video to a video from 2019 about flying out to alberta to visit my sister, alyssa! this is the unseen part 2 where i road-tripped home with my partner, fraser

feels nice to make a simple music and footage thing of a trip from before the pandemic, when life was simpler lol

alright, here's the long story i mentioned:

when i was 18, i took part in a volunteer program where you live in two places in Canada for a few months with other young adults and basically try to learn how to be people while also doing volunteer work. as part of that program, i lived in "the valley" in manitoba for a week with a billet family. i didn't know the name of the valley, or if it even had one, so i made fraser just drive around gravel roads in the wilderness of manitoba in the vague area i remembered until we saw va va voom garage and a house that i had personally helped to paint during my week of living there a decade ago. i had such vivid memories of the valley that i really wanted to see it again!

anyhow, fraser and i pulled up outside my billet mom's house and he convinced me to knock. luckily, as soon as i mentioned katimavik (the program), she remembered me, and invited us in for lemonade! it was a really lovely part of the trip.

Timestamps
0:00 intro
0:19 alberta
1:07 manitoba
4:37 ontario

All music is by LuKremBo: youtube.com/channel/UCcUuUhBChMXm-irdwoFT-vg/featured

im obsessed with knitting now (a beginners weird project haul)

TheVloggingNook 2021-07-12 | in which alexandra shows off her collection of newly knitted things, some of which are cool as hell and others which are meh

tutorials I followed!
The Snugglery sweater tutorial: youtube.com/watch?v=Y4XnT_NtJH8&t=1s
The chunky crop top tutorial: youtube.com/watch?v=c8MU1QY_Xq0&t=1704s
The bralette tutorial: youtube.com/watch?v=EEWoyDjyLsw

(the pattern for the lace scarf is from a book I own. I'm too lazy to go get the book to find the title rn, but ask me in the comments and i will)

0:00 intro: the obsession begins
0:47 learning the basics: the first scarf
3:03 right side, wrong side: the second scarf
5:34 revelation: the first sweater
8:05 yarn sizes and hats
9:33 ALIEN SWEATER
12:06 lace patterns: the weird scarf
13:17 knitting is kinda expensive
15:56 a wool crop top?
16:37 making a bralette
17:43 the outro: see you next haul

deja vu - olivia rodrigo cover

TheVloggingNook 2021-06-10 | in which alexandra literally makes a video that's just one shot the whole time and it's in a green-screened tv

this song is hard to sing y'all but easy to play on the ukulele and i hadn't played ukulele in MONTHS so i took a stab at it

also you'll note that i remembered like a solid ten percent of the lyrics wrong lolllll i was just full on making stuff up in those choruses

here is the greenscreen btw: youtube.com/watch?v=_uz5hS5cJW0

I GOT A BOOK DEAL?? | bisexual YA debut!

TheVloggingNook 2021-04-12 | Yeah, so my book is getting published???? absolutely wild, I know. I'm not even really sure what to write here since it's still so huge to me.

You might be wondering why it took me this long to announced it on youtube, since I've known for ages, but honestly I just kept putting off making a video because I was so busy with edits! and also anytime my editor hadn't gotten back to me for more than like, a day, I was like 'but what if she's decided she hates my book and i have no book deal anymore'

I hope y'all all like 'the queen of junk island' when she gets here! it's long, it's dramatic, but it means a hell of a lot to me.

anyway, i guess you could follow me on insta if you want to keep up with my life, i'm alexandelljones on there (yes, it includes my main character's name -- Dell -- in it. that's how connected to my life this book is. i've had that insta for ages)

(some stock pic/vid credits: brightskydrones.co.uk, Mateas Petru on pexels.com, Dương Nhân on pexels.com, a bunch of royalty free footage i found on youtube that didn't require a credit but let me know if yours is here and you DO want a credit)

truce - twenty one pilots cover

TheVloggingNook 2021-03-04 | in which alexandra sings a song she got a request for!

was very excited to receive a request in the comments of another video, i have only ever received one request before! also, very nice of them to request a song with easy piano (peep me absolutely failing at fake-playing the piano in all of the wide shots because i recorded each hand of the piano playing separately with both hands because my hands are literally too small to hit some of the chords that are meant to be played with one hand. i genuinely can only play the intro of this song on the piano with both hands at the same time lol)

yes, i am an interpretive dancer, i studied at the school of *garbled static*

also my next video should have some very exciting news! if i ever get around to filming it lol

painting random pics from my insta (3: concert)

TheVloggingNook 2021-02-05 | back at it again with a painting that is ironically harder than the other two despite having much less defining details and being all one colour (those are the reasons it was much harder, actually)

also ignore the camera focusing in on my partner's richard nixon's biography in the opening section (to be clear, richard nixon can rot in hell)

Music: “misty” by Birocratic (http://www.birocratic.com)
The songs used in this video were licensed via Birocratic License v05.2016. For info on how you can use this music in your project, check out http://www.birocratic.com/license-app.
To download Birocratic’s 60+ song discography, visit http:// birocratic.bandcamp.com.

ill be home for christmas - cover

TheVloggingNook 2020-12-24 | kinda self-explanatory in 2020

i am not going home for christmas this year, much to my parents' dismay, but i wish i were! i wish it were safe enough for everyone to visit their extended family!

also i thought this lighting would look cool, but my camera could NOT handle this dim of light lol so it looks like i filmed on a potato

my spotify wrapped 2020 - music recs for a pandemic

TheVloggingNook 2020-12-07 | so im like a week late and it's just for future me lol, but here is my spotify wrapped!

if i have a weird aura of light disappointment emanating mostly through the text bits I added, it's because i was baffled that so many albums that meant a lot to me throughout the year weren't on there.

but the truth is that my use of spotify itself dropped off a lot when i wasn't listening to at least two hours of it everyday on my work commute. i listened to folklore a million times the month it came out, but most of that was through my boyfriend's phone because he liked the album too, and we played it in car rides (his phone pairs to his car's speakers better than mine) as well as while we were painting our patio furniture.

so while i'd forgotten that selena gomez even had a 2020 album, she beat out other artists in numbers purely by being something i listened to on work commutes when it came out. it doesn't matter that that album didn't have the staying power in my mind as phoebe bridgers' album did -- it just comes down to numbers

for real, the albums that mean 2020 to me the MOST are probably Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa, Heartbreak Weather - Niall Horan, CALM - 5SOS, Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers, Chromatica - Lady Gaga, Folklore - Taylor Swift, and DISCO - Kylie Minogue. (I almost made a video exclusively about how pitchfork's review of Kylie Minogue's album was bullshit (they gave her like a 5.9) and that they clearly didn't enjoy dancing or having fun, but then I got too busy to film it)

Albums like Selena's and Halsey's honestly feel too early in the year to feel part of the year.

Also for those who have checked out Mali-Koa's new debut album, the best song is def "Get it Wrong," right?

carry you (cover) - missy higgins + tim minchin

TheVloggingNook 2020-11-08 | listen, i can't play the piano, yes it takes me two hands to play one chord that contains only three notes very close together on the keyboard

this is for my dad's birthday, which is on november 9 -- he sent me this song! it's pretty low for my voice, but i think i did an okay job

im a witch

TheVloggingNook 2020-10-31 | uhhhhhhhhh sometimes you just gotta be a witch

ooky spooky

cool girl (demo) - dodie cover, but its on a kalimba

TheVloggingNook 2020-10-22 | of course i would finish recording a cool girl (demo) cover the day the full version came out lol (it takes me a few days to edit these videos, okay, but i filmed this on the day of her album announcement)

also, i know, i know, i'm playing fast and loose with the lyrics here -- i learned the song off a couple times listening to the demo and loving it, and then just sang it to myself a million times, so the actual lyrics got muddled somewhere in there. it's "until", not "before", and i don't think she sings "should" for the closing your eyes line

i'm so glad there's a full version now! and that my instinct to extend the final chorus into a third round was the same as dodie's instinct! makes a gal feel good

also, yes, i'm playing a kalimba as the only instrumentation lol and it's incredibly simple but i still have the gall to call this a kalimba cover

i'm pretty happy with this cover, i think! it's not perfect, but i think i did pretty well! dodie's voice is naturally so soft and lovely, but i really wanted to lean into the anger at the end and try to give that more belty feel on the last chorus bit.

(also this is actually a reupload, because i uploaded this last night for one minute and when i relistened, there were these weird glitches in the audio so i tried to fix that. hopefully it worked this time!)

my tears ricochet - ukulele cover

TheVloggingNook 2020-10-13 | this video is also called "i thought this would be a chill video and then my dumb brain was like 'let's try to add every single background ooooh but not add anything to the visual to match the musical effort'"

(im pretty happy with the intro alone though. i thought that sounded pretty smooth)

speaking of intros, had to include a running joke between me and fraser lol

also why do i insist on covering songs that are just factually too low for me to sing

also excuse the general house noises that occasionally intrude

i moved for the first time in four years (new apartment!!)

TheVloggingNook 2020-10-05 | in which alexandra moves to a new apartment???? whaaaaaat

it's the end of an era!!! so obviously i had to get v sappy and say a proper goodbye to craven haus, where i lived for many years. one day i'll tell some of the behind the scenes stories of craven maybe, like my eccentric landlord and exactly how much rent cost (cheaper than you would imagine possible in a major city lol, that's one of the reasons why living there literally opened up opportunities for me and changed my life)

anyway, i will miss living with tara and watching drag race and great british bakeoff constantly and having that ease of being able to hang out at literally any time

but my new roomie does bring me coffee every morning, so there's that

(also, yes, searching for a new apartment and moving in during a pandemic was a v weird situation. we toured like three places in masks, clutching hand sanitizer. we got our new apartment pretty quick because the guy who showed it to us wanted to get the process over with and was happier to give it to us than to do more showings)

we found a tiny island at the side of the road

TheVloggingNook 2020-08-20 | it's my birthday, so i can post whatever garbage tiny video i want

(been a busy month! I'm moving soon, which i hope to make a video about, but probably won't be able to till september!)

yeah, me and my partner went on a roadtrip camping trip thing in july because a trip that involved flying that we had planned....for may.......obviously got cancelled. we took loads of precautions during the july trip, and also, remember that i live in canada, so things aren't quite as dire here, covid-19-wise.

girls like girls (a sort of cover for pride)

TheVloggingNook 2020-06-30 | in which Alexandra's desire to upload ANY pride-related video was stronger than her desire to only upload covers that...she performed well

i was exhausted and extremely overheated when i filmed this lol, and it is obvious

but this song still slaps, despite my inability to strum it

happy pride! being bi is the best part of me, so get off my page if you're a homophobe

painting random pics from my insta (2: brunch)

TheVloggingNook 2020-06-17 | in which alexandra paints a picture of brunch place she went to two years ago, long before there was a pandemic

this is the first video i've posted since a white Minnesota police officer killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes in late May so i obviously had to make it clear that im very much for the Black lives matter movement and that if you aren't, you're on the wrong side of history and uh...don't talk to me

and for anyone who lives under a rock who is like "i thought all those protests were like two weeks ago, isn't it over" NO, dumbass, Black people are still getting killed by police (one of the most recent ones was Rayshard Brooks, shot for running away from police officers who were trying to arrest him for sleeping drunk in his own car in a Wendy's parking lot) and protests are happening still across the U.S. and in Canada there's been an uptick in murders of Indigenous people by police, or police brutality aimed at them, over the past few weeks, so defunding the police and demanding change is v important right now!

I am not knowledgeable enough to speak at length on these issues, nor should i be someone's source of news about this, but here's some links to just a few helpful reading materials. you can find so much more just by...googling

one perspective on defunding the police: thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/06/08/Defund-Police-What-Comes-Next

a Q&A with a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto on what defunding the police means: cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/question-answer-sandy-hudson-black-lives-matter-defund-police-1.5613280

on journalists getting attacked by police on the job during protests: buzzfeednews.com/article/shannonkeating/protesters-journalists-first-amendment-police-brutality

how police training in the U.S. is pushed by police unions to be more violent: buzzfeednews.com/article/melissasegura/police-unions-history-minneapolis-reform-george-floyd?bfsource=relatedmanual

for anyone saying "i woooould support the protests, but i hear some of them are looting and violent and i think that's BAD": thenation.com/article/society/minneapolis-rebellion-floyd

some organizations that specifically help black trans people: vice.com/en_us/article/n7wnbb/tony-mcdade-nina-pop-how-to-help

this one isn't a news article, but it's a great example of evidence of police attacking protestors for no reason and escalating situations into violence in early June, juxtaposed with the words of officials at the time: twitter.com/NickAndert/status/1268316722773192705

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also, this brunch place was really good, and i hope i get to return there one day. also, i'm not sorry i made that curtain more green in the painting. it looks better that way, fight me.
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Music: “marinade” by Birocratic (http://www.birocratic.com)
The songs used in this video were licensed via Birocratic License v05.2016. For info on how you can use this music in your project, check out http://www.birocratic.com/license-app.
To download Birocratic’s 60+ song discography, visit http:// birocratic.bandcamp.com.

high - 5 seconds of summer (cover)

TheVloggingNook 2020-05-20 | in which alexandra does a cover of 5sos's "high" from their newest album

y'all i am proud of being able to play this in one take with no screwups!! i practiced a lot to get the picking pattern and chords down well enough to do one take instead of just frankensteining several takes like i often do because i lose patience with practicing and record before i'm ready.

i was supposed to use bar chords for the pre-chorus segments and i straight up changed the chords to something easier, because this bitch don't DO bar chords. look how weak my fingers are.

also lol i keep changing the lyrics and changing all the "ands" to "buts" in each verse line for some reason

5sos's new album is really good! i like this song a lot, but i listen the most to wildflower, teeth, not in the same way and best years, i think.

explaining how star wars ends to my 2015 self

TheVloggingNook 2020-05-04 | this "may the fourth be with you", i ruin the dreams of my 2015 self by revealing how off the rails the last two movies get.

love that for me

i filmed and edited this in one day on my one day off lol im an icon

also my favourite part is how "five years ago" I am conspicuously reading a book that only came out in 2019. ~time traveling ~

harvest moon (neil young cover)

TheVloggingNook 2020-04-29 | in which alexandra plays a neil young cover because a person she loves likes the song and it's their birthday

why is this song so hard for me to play even though I straight up removed a chord from one riff to make it easier

why is it so hard to sing and strum

but to the birthday owner -- I love you very much!

painting random pics from my insta (1: the cafe)

TheVloggingNook 2020-04-12 | in which alexandra from the fall paints an insta pic of a cafe

okay, so, special treat for anyone who actually reads the video descriptions: an excerpt of the exact story I wrote in that cafe. (the story is unpublished as of yet, hit me up if you run a literary journal and want a story about childhood memories and buried trauma)

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When we were friends Amber’d never invited me to her house, but we’ve been assigned to do a science project together, so here I am. And the funny thing is I’d always thought she was rich, because she was always talking about her horses, but when I’m there in her house, the kitchen floor is like mine at home, tiles peeling and shifting to show the black grout underneath, and the carpets have weird stains, and when we rush down the winding staircase—she’s got a spiral one!—we have to step in a specific rhythm to avoid the squeaky spots and sticky-uppy nails. Even the lighting’s the same: plump yellow globes, spotted black on the inside where bugs had died against the glass, nothing like the bright white of rich girls’ houses.

For the first hour she’s got her chin bulldog-butted out, waiting for me to say something. Her mother chews with her mouth open, and there’s a bearded man in a hole-y t-shirt there who I’ve never seen at school functions.

“Mom’s boyfriend Mark,” Amber explains. “He’s always here these days.” He looks friendly and says very little.
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that's it folks, that's what you get. riveting stuff.

anyway I have two more of these tiny square canvases right now and can't buy any more during quarantine unless I try and track em down online, so who knows how many more of these there will be. maybe none, cause im lazy.

uh subscribe I guess

Music: “merlot” by Birocratic (http://www.birocratic.com)
The songs used in this video were licensed via Birocratic License v05.2016. For info on how you can use this music in your project, check out http://www.birocratic.com/license-app.
To download Birocratic’s 60+ song discography, visit http:// birocratic.bandcamp.com.

no one is alone (into the woods cover)

TheVloggingNook 2020-04-12 | in which alexandra sings a version of "no one is alone" from the musical "into the woods."

I told yall this would be my next video! I didn't say it would be good, because I do NOT have a broadway voice, but I did say it would be my next video, and I kept my word!

if you look closely, you can see my face get redder during the last verse because that part has always made me emotional since way before the whole pandemic and end of the world stuff.

anyway, none of us are alone!!

here is the lovely backing track: youtube.com/watch?v=Oj0OA5GzOL8 performed by Matyas Bacso

also, this could have "in one take" in the title too just like the sarah bareilles one but that felt like overkill and also like I would be repeating myself too soon. fun fact: I did like eight different takes, and the only one without me screwing up the lyrics or there being audible background noise from my roommate doing her workout was...the very first take lol. so this is that.

4th channel birthday (celebration in the face of horrible times)

TheVloggingNook 2020-03-28 | in which alexandra talks about her channel birthday

this was hard to film cause I kept starting and stopping discussions about the thing I'm not trying to discuss: the pandemic

that's not the purpose of this channel. you shouldn't get your medical advice from "thevloggingnook" or any stranger on youtube. you should listen to health officials. you should heed their instructions. that doesn't mean being helpless -- by all means, you should use technology to bother your governments and officials about improving access to testing and demand things like rent freezes or extra help for the public, cause it's a crisis -- but I'm just saying don't take life and death advice from random people whose qualifications you don't know. we need accurate info in times like these

also every time I say that people should give themselves permission to enjoy frivolous things from time to time, I mean to do that while in the comfort and safety of ur own home while ur physically distancing lolll

also I filmed this on march 27 (the actual channel birthday) but im posting it a day late cause I needed to do a work shift and do some phone calls yesterday! my schedule is weirdly packed these days

anyway subscribe to hopefully hear me cover "no one is alone"

graveyard - halsey cover

TheVloggingNook 2020-03-15 | in which alexandra plays a cover of a Halsey song

been a hot minute, how's quarantine

sorry, "social distancing". remember to wash ur hands yall! also, sneeze into your ELBOW, not your hands.

annoyingly enough, this video is only in 720p because the old-timey filter thing I used is in 720p and if you use too much of a smaller file size, it overrides the 1080p base file. don't know why. but liked the old-timey filter too much to remove it

real love - beach house cover

TheVloggingNook 2020-02-14 | in which alexandra attempts a cover of real love by beach house for valentine's day

shout out to the asshole who predicted I was going to try to cover this by interrupting my internal scheming two minutes after he'd first shown me the song by going, "I wonder if you could learn the piano on that."

and answer is no by the way. the good thing about running out of time to create any sort of visual for the video that is not just me writing a card in real time is that I don't have to film a clip pretending I was capable of playing both hands on the keyboard at the same time.

anyway happy valentine's day yall!

someone else (bishop briggs cover)

TheVloggingNook 2020-01-31 | in which alexandra films in her creepy basement for the first time and sings "someone else" by bishop briggs

hi!!! I'm really excited about this cover because I was obsessed with this song the very first time I heard it -- I was listening to Spotify's "release radar" on transit and this song literally CUT THROUGH the noise around me and forced me back into my body so hard, and I knew I wanted to cover it instantly!!

also that is my actual basement, and my landlord (who has access to the first floor) came into the house while I was filming and it is TERRIFYING to hear footsteps above you while you are in that area, let me tell you

ALSO I posted a clip of this on my insta story while I was midway through editing, and BISHOP BRIGGS HERSELF saw my story and sent me just the word "Yes". LET ME TELL YOU I FREAKED

uh subscribe and stuff if you want

RISE OF SKYWALKER: WHAT WENT WRONG (characters, redemption arcs, and reylo)

TheVloggingNook 2020-01-10 | in which alexandra finally talks about a movie that came out like three weeks ago

so! I have so many things to say that didn't fit in this video, but I was trying to make something shorter than last year, so I focused just on character.

but truly, I would like to make a video about how shitty the world building was in this trilogy, cause it's connected to so many things I mentioned -- the weird way that there were no grounded morals. like the first order isn't bad because it "rose from the dark side". it's bad because it STEALS CHILDREN TO INDOCTRINATE INTO AN ARMY, AND IT RULES THE GALAXY WITH FEAR AND INDISCRIMINATELY MURDERS PEOPLE TO KEEP THE GENERAL POPULACE TOO AFRAID TO RISE UP. it is actions that are evil, not the colour of a lightsaber. it is not anger that makes you evil, it is what you choose to do with that anger.

also, I have a GREAT idea for how to truly redeem kylo ren (I only laid the groundwork in this video, he really shouldn't just have to apologize, he should use his actions to start undoing the wrong he'd done) that is connected to the world building issues. imagine if kylo ren had gone back to his first order ship after Rey told him to reflect on his choice to be evil and to think about the people he'd hurt, and he remembers finn.........and he runs into a random stormtrooper on his ship and then uses his connection to the force to try and break through their years of brainwashing and bring back their memories. And it's hard, but he succeeds! the stormtrooper remembers their name, remembers being stolen from their planet when they were 10 years old or something, and kylo goes to the stormtrooper barracks and frees more of them, and then he goes to his officers and are like "psych, we're going to back up the resistance and fight palpatine," and when they're like, "what", he's like "AREN'T I THE SUPREME LEADER DO WHAT I SAY!!!!!", and then in the final battle, the reinforcements aren't just a million rebel ships that for some reason didn't show up to help in TLJ (it really stretched the suspension of disbelief that so many ships showed up when they didn't last time, especially when we couldn't see whatever rousing speech lando gave to convince them, and no one ever gave a compelling reason for why no one came to help in TLJ in the first place) -- the reinforcements in my rewrite INCLUDE the first fucking order, led by kylo ren and the stormtroopers that he has set free, shooting down palpatine's ships. he can still leave his ship to battle palpatine, but imagine the movies actually addressing the stormtrooper problem and having kylo use his position of power for good.

uh lemme know if you want me to make a video going into "the stormtrooper problem" and Star Wars' issue with world building more lol

other things:
-knights of ren served zero purpose, had no lines, and we never discover....who they are? are they friends of Kylo's who were trained under Luke or are they random thugs, cause he never talks to them??? why bring them back if you're not going to do anything with them (they were brought back to sell figurines, that's what)
-maz kenata did absolutely nothing in this film, they could've had her at the home base disporting force wisdom to Rey instead of Leia in some of those scenes, like,
-I forgot to really say that poe also doesn't seem to have a specific plot line, he's just...doing stuff like finn. he has a little bit more of an emotional line through the movie just pulled through some of his convos with zorii, but I feel like none of his character development from TLJ really built to anything here, why didn't we get a moment with him feeling his grief over leia's death? she was such an important person to him
-planet-destroying star destroyers is FUCKING DUMB. they were like, uhhhhh all of them have the power of a Death Star! that'll seem dangerous. it's not like we made the audience absolutely numb to the destruction of planets because no one ever mourned these planets for more than ten seconds in the past two films.

also this is the Vanity Fair article I took the headline of about how the two-second kiss was pandering: vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/12/are-we-really-going-to-pretend-the-gay-kiss-in-the-rise-of-skywalker-matters

and the variety.com article where they got that quote from JJ promising representation for queer audiences: variety.com/2019/film/news/star-wars-finn-poe-not-boyfriends-lgbtq-representation-1203423286

HOW TO MAKE BB-8 EARRINGS

TheVloggingNook 2019-11-29 | in which alexandra makes bb-8 earrings and they're ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE, PRAISE ME

I haven't made a crafty video in ages!! I had so much making these little guys. honestly if I had more time in my life I would 100 per cent make a bunch of them in different colours (pink bb-8! green bb-8!) and fuckin start an etsy or some shit, but my life is not structured with time for side gigs...other than my two useless creative side gigs, this and writing, lol

let me know if you want more crafts and painting and jewelry making! I have a painting video on the way so if you don't want that uh too bad

Music: "celery man" by Birocratic (http://www.birocratic.com)
The songs used in this video were licensed via Birocratic License v05.2016. For info on how you can use this music in your project, check out http://www.birocratic.com/license-app.
To download Birocratic’s 60+ song discography, visit http:// birocratic.bandcamp.com.

someone you loved (lewis capaldi cover)

TheVloggingNook 2019-11-08 | in which Alexandra does a cover of someone you loved (even though she can't hit those low notes in the first lines of the verse) because it is easy to play on the ukulele

do not come at me for how I sing "crazy" I KNOW it's not the right note, okay, just keep listening I swear it gets better

i will follow you into the dark (ukulele cover)

TheVloggingNook 2019-10-24 | in which alexandra does a chill cover of "I will follow you into the dark", a song she can never fully get through without screwing up

this was v last minute and unplanned!

peep the moment I decided NOT to go high lol (though that is me in the background singing the high note, I just put on a shit ton of reverb to that backup vocal bit because I couldn't smooth out the sound enough, it still sounded more shrill than I wanted. something to work on)

I know this song is done to death and everyone's sung it but facts are facts and the fact is that it is beautiful

i hang a frame & tell you to vote (mostly a life update)

TheVloggingNook 2019-10-21 | it's literally what the title says

I have done other things recently, but grad was all I could think of lol

I had words in two different published books recently, would anyone want to hear about that? (one of them was in an interview capacity, which is weird!)

here's a link with more info on voting: election.ctvnews.ca/do-you-need-id-to-vote-seven-things-to-know-about-voting-1.4646930

in case you're watching this on a day other than the day I filmed it which is fair because im posting this in the late evening lol, the election is MONDAY OCTOBER 21

if you're watching this after the vote like wow what is the future like

give this a thumbs up if you like absolutely pointless videos where I hang a frame and babble

LOVER - taylor swift cover

TheVloggingNook 2019-09-17 | in which alexandra does a taylor swift cover and attempts to create a confusing storyline of Romance in the ~ music video ~

hello potential friends! the b-roll for this is interesting because my roommate tara is technically playing my ~ lover ~ in this video -- which is fitting when you realize that the lyrics are about partners who live together and tara and I do -- but the card that she secretly tucks away into my little heart fanny-pack is an card I received last Valentine's Day from my actual current partner lol

romance on youtube is all about who has time to film with you

(heart fanny-pack is by sugarbones, in case anyone is interested!)

give this video a thumbs up if you too think that t-swift's new album is a significant improvement on her last, but that her first two singles are literally the worst songs on the entire album, why did she even record those

STAR WARS MYSTERY BOX UNBOXING - FanExpo 2019

TheVloggingNook 2019-08-27 | in which alexandra falls for the Scam of "mystery boxes" for the second year in a row at fanexpo

lol I been busy AF but I filmed literally three super low effort videos in this princess leia look as soon as I got home from fanexpo (I went on the friday) so although I decided not to vlog fanexpo this year because I didn't feel like I had time or energy for that, I will be putting up a haul video eventually and another dumb thing

next year I'm springing for a $50 mystery box again, one with a nicer looking box. I genuinely liked at least half of the thing from last year's box and was like "this is alright!" about the rest, whereas this year I genuinely liked...one (the socks) and was like "okay" about two others (hat and keychain) and was like "this is funny but realistically I'll never wear it ever again" about one (stormtrooper necklace) and legitimately hated two (TRULY tacky plastic coin necklace and ugly mandolorian wallet)

follow me on tumblr: thevloggingnook.tumblr.com

give this video a thumbs up if you too would do an ominous sock dance in ur kitchen

somebody loves you (betty who cover)

TheVloggingNook 2019-07-22 | in which alexandra plays a cover of somebody loves you (which is INCREDIBLY easy to play on the ukulele or guitar, go out and do it now, it's three chords lol)

hello potential friends

I haven't had time to plan things or to edit any of my stacks of road trip footage recently, but I had that "want to do a video" itch, so I learned this song on the ukulele in one night and then put on way too much blue eyeshadow while I was waiting for my camera battery to charge!

betty who has been one of my favourite artists since before her first album came out. this song, while one of her best known songs, is actually not my favourite of hers, but it is DEEPLY cute

(first time I heard her was through a link on Tumblr to the song "all of you", which is STILL a fucking BANGER)

give this video a like if you too think betty who is underrated

comeback - jonas brothers (cover)

TheVloggingNook 2019-07-03 | in which alexandra makes a Comeback (see what I did there) in the form of the song comeback, off the jonas brothers' new album

look I got a KALIMBA

also known as a "thumb piano"

fun fact: my parents bought it for me for Christmas, but it didn't arrive in time, so they couldn't get it to me until they saw me in person again......which was literally in may. so I've only had it for a very brief period!

the new jonas brothers album is pretty solid! I picked the last song not actually because I was trying to be funny, but because I could pick out the guitar riff on the kalimba and all I wanted to do was rush into using it in a cover lol

so of course it took me a million years to actually put it out!

(btw, I will be doing the part two of the road trip video! it will just take me a hot minute because there's more footage of that)

give this video a thumbs up if you liked my ~ symbolism ~ with the black and white turning into colour. thank you I am an Artiste (TM)

VISITING BANFF & CANMORE (spring road trip | part 1!)

TheVloggingNook 2019-06-09 | in which alexandra flies to alberta to visit her sister and spends the whole time just taking pictures of mountains

hello potential friends! I was trying to make one long road trip video and then was like nvm I'm splitting this in two! so part 1 is the week I spent visiting my sister, alyssa, and her boyfriend at their place in canmore. part 2 will be the road trip back, which I took with my current partner, a boy who was visiting his own parents in calgary while I was with my sister!

Music: “next stop” by Birocratic (http://www.birocratic.com)
The songs used in this video were licensed via Birocratic License v05.2016. For info on how you can use this music in your project, check out http://www.birocratic.com/license-app.
To download Birocratic’s 60+ song discography, visit http:// birocratic.bandcamp.com.

This Moment - Jonny Easton (youtube.com/watch?v=VObTSz0ufhQ&list=PLioCi3GBdC8BIHAa8Xo4Sk7EUvoJRFEhR)

Lake Louise - Andrew Huang

and some songs from Audioblocks

give this video a thumbs up if you too love mountains and big-horned SHEEP

drive - oh wonder cover

TheVloggingNook 2019-05-23 | in which alexandra does a hodgepodge cover of drive by oh wonder

hello potential friends! yes, I've been gone a hot minute because I was on a road trip with a boy in the western and central provinces of canada. I will hopefully have a vlog filled with many mountain-scenery shots soon (yall know, obvs, that for me, soon can mean anywhere from next week to a MONTH lol)

the reason this could not be used as background for road trip shots is cause it's clearly a breakup song and my road trip was with my current partner (who I do not want to break up with at this juncture lol)

give this video a thumbs up if you love to add layers and layers of vocal stuff and humming and whatnot instead of doing literally any visual editing when you fail to play a song in one take ever

writing first person vs. third person (book vlog 4 + CREEPER STORY)

TheVloggingNook 2019-04-29 | in which alexandra tries to make coherent points about first person vs. third person perspective while discussing how she rewrote her whole book, but mostly just talks about her outfit

hello potential friends! this is the book blog I mentioned two videos ago that I completely forgot to EDIT and POST

as is probably obvious in this, im no teacher, but I hope some of my rambling was helpful! it took me probably three months to rewrite the entire book from third person to first person (while also having a job and whatnot). In case you're wondering why I said it was 95k at one point and then 113k later, that's because it started out at 95k, but while rewriting it into the first person, I was also adding missing scenes and whatnot to fix the book.

other books that are similar in size to 113k are the third Harry Potter book and Wuthering Heights. it's not a mammoth sized book by any means, but it is a biiiiiiit long for a first time author and especially for a YA book. I've cut it down to 111k since receiving my notes from my thesis advisor (she thinks it's good overall, and actually didn't have a problem with the word count and thinks I'm worrying too much about it being too long!) but I'm not done my final edits, so hopefully I can cut a smiiiiidddggee more.

I'd only recommend changing the perspective of your entire book in this way if you're truly stuck. I was not seeing a way forward in getting this book to publishable quality, and changing the lens to a first person one allowed me to see the book in a new and fresh way and re-enter the narrative. it gave me that boost.

(fun fact: I edited this video instead of napping before I have to leave my house at 3:50 a.m. to catch an hour and a half long bus to the airport to catch a plane! I'm an idiot!)

anyway uh like this video if you think those pants were cool (they're sparkly!!)

astronauts (ukulele cover)

TheVloggingNook 2019-04-19 | in which alexandra sings a highgate road song about astronauts

hello potential friends!

so this is a band i found out about last year (through knowing the songwriter/lyricist) and tragically, a member of the band died recently. heart of the band, really.

I did my best to pick out one of my favourite songs of theirs on ukulele, though I didn't know the chords and im musically stupid

much love to this band, look them up on Spotify!!

or iTunes: itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/highgate-road/830538423

give this video a like if you too love astronauts

3rd channel birthday!!!

TheVloggingNook 2019-03-28 | in which alexandra remembers that the vlogging nook is three years old today, and rambles tiredly at the camera

it's my birthday!!!!! or it was when I started uploading this, but irritatingly it won't be done uploading until technically past midnight, thus TECHNICALLY making me late and posting this on March 28 instead of the 27. but ah well. we've made it to three years! here's some lil milestones I forgot to mention in the video:

-two of my videos passed 20k views this year! my bleach review and my planet painting video even though I still HAVE NO IDEA WHY IT'S SO POPULAR
-the main actor in the music video for a song I covered COMMENTED ON MY COVER (the village)
-I now have 5 videos with over 1k views each
-according to the ~ analytics ~ despite making less videos this year, my views went up by 50% compared to the last 365 days before that, and my watch time and subscribers went up by around 30%!! so y'all like me better when I put out less stuff, got it (JOKES)

give this video a thumbs up if you forgive me for being too tired to get and use my external mic for this

here's to the fourth year of the vlogging nook!

makeup declutter time!

TheVloggingNook 2019-03-19 | in which alexandra of last summer sorts through her makeup and finds out what sparks joy and what doesn't

im still alive y'all! hopefully soon I'll record an update on how writing my thesis (my book!) is going, but in the meantime, I found this old footage of past me doing a makeup declutter, and I thought I would resurrect it

if anyone wants an actual list of what makeup I threw out, with proper brand names and stuff, just let me know, as this is just the highlights of me chucking shit lol

give this video a thumbs up if you too have a hard time throwing things away lol

cant help falling in love - a valentines day cover

TheVloggingNook 2019-02-14 | in which alexandra gets sappy and plays a cover

as jake peralta would say, "rough but sincere, title of your sex tape"

MAKING MAGIKARP WITH TINY BLOCKS

TheVloggingNook 2019-02-06 | in which alexandra literally just makes a magikarp out of incredibly tiny blocks

I got this little kit for christmas from tara! it was super fun and I would love to make another (she had previously gotten herself and made a little abra so I'd love to see which pokemon they have in these kits. tara got me magikarp as a joke, but jokes on her, I'M LOVE HIM)

all magikarp facts are 100% absolutely factual*

Music: “favela beet” by Birocratic (http://www.birocratic.com)
The songs used in this video were licensed via Birocratic License v05.2016. For info on how you can use this music in your project, check out http://www.birocratic.com/license-app.
To download Birocratic’s 60+ song discography, visit http:// birocratic.bandcamp.com.

give this video a like if you too believe that magikarp is an underrated pokemon who everyone is mean to

*okay, some are lightly peppered with Opinions