I didn't expect much from San Marino. Even filming this episode I was a little annoyed with how little I could find worth telling.
But this story entertained me, and Kata edited it beautifully. I'm super happy with how it turned out.
I hope you all enjoy!
2019-08-31 18:00:23 +0000 UTC View Post
We happened to be driving past Liechtenstein on our way to filming and came across this story. I couldn't find it online in English, so I decided to make the pit stop.
Thanks for watching and supporting!!!
I don't expect a lot of people to watch this episode, but it was the main reason I went to Somaliland in the first place and it damn well needs to be heard.
200 million women. At least a million little girls this year, every year, until we make it stop.
This is precisely why we use Patreon as our main source of funding. So ...
Laas Geel was amazing!!! The art is incredible and the paintings are so well preserved. Hard to believe they are at least 5,000 years old. Makes a visit to Somaliland totally worth it, even if you have to spend the rest of your time hiding in a hotel room. ;)
Thanks for watching!
Lots of love from us both,
Kata
...
Hello Patrons,
As you might guess upon watching, this week's video is an emotional follow up to our rather clinical look at Somaliland independence. I feel to understand the true drive towards freedom, you need to know the trauma that got them there. Make their struggle a little less forgotten.
Huge thanks to Eric for stepping up to ...
2019-08-03 18:00:37 +0000 UTC View Post
It is my understanding that Somaliland receives around five hundred tourists a year. We were three. But within a single day, street assaults over tattoos meant we were two. Then one.
Naturally, it was an extremely difficult place to film. I did my best with what I could.
That said, I had a unique and life-affirming vi...
Today's video, the last from Ethiopia, is my favourite of the season.
Abel is a hero of mine, but also a friend. I'm proud to have met him and to have been able to pass on his story. He deserves better from this world, and I hope that in some small way this helps him achieve that.
This week's patronage will be going towards funding...
Tej! It looks great but tastes horrible. I think it may just be antifreeze. Both of us who drank it vomited, and really badly so at that.
Yet, I still highly recommend it. Why? Because we can use it to save our beeeees. (not really)
Enjoy!
Kata (& Evan)
Hello dearest Patrons,
I am back, not gunned down in the street, and here in my normal chair trying to figure out this week's normal video. Luckily for me, this week is a bit of a break from the heavy stuff and is instead just a quick video we made on the way out the door of Ethiopia. It isn't the last video this season before Somaliland ...
The battle of Adwa is among the most famous battles in history. Hard to call rare. So instead, this episode is about an obelisk. All joking not aside, everything, of course, is a matter of perspective. To Evan, for example, Italy's greatest shame is Francesco.
It took a great deal of effort to produce this episode. Lost A roll, limited amo...
2019-06-29 18:00:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Chewing khat at this point is tradition. It is so much a part of East African culture that you can even use it to bribe the police.
Evan probably wishes he could have bribed men with bags of leaves in Sarajevo as well. Some sort of police/mafia robbed him, Francesco and Eric at gunpoint two nights ago. They took the camera, phones, wallets...
2019-06-22 18:00:18 +0000 UTC View Post
God is just what we make of it. Even when they aren't.
The Rastas of Shashamane are a very secluded community, so trying to respect their privacy, filming this episode was challenging. Luckily, the owners of Zion Train Lodge were incredibly helpful and welcoming. Their lodge is a literal art gallery filled with beautiful murals. As we don'...
2019-06-15 18:00:50 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a story about coffee. We hope you like it.
Tesfamikael and his family were very nice people. They invited us into their home for coffee.
Ethiopian coffee is really good. You supposed to drink 3 cups (3 brews). Often in the evening. So good luck falling asleep afterwards!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Hello Earthlings.
This week's episode is a bit of a silly take on a serious topic.
It's hard to deny that I wrote this whole episode because I wanted you to see Samuel the amorous donkey attempt to court his unwilling lady love. But I still think it might be worth the watch. :)
Enjoy!
- Evan
Teff. It's the primary staple of the national diet of Ethiopia. It forms injera, the daily bread of an entire nation, and has been around since the very dawn of agriculture.
But today, despite being more important to the nation's survival than ever before, teff is facing its greatest threat: the Dutch.
The locals said that we w...
2019-05-25 18:00:24 +0000 UTC View Post
If we found the Ezana stone before the Rosetta, I suspect you'd already know this story. But we didn't, so you probably haven't heard about it. Even now, the Ezana stone is pretty hard to find. It's hidden in a tiny hut by the side of the road in Axum. The old man who guards it, sometimes whacks children with his stick - probably mostly out of b...
2019-05-18 18:00:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Harar! Where feeding various animals chunks of goat has become a tourism bonanza.
The town itself is probably the most unique and interesting place we visited in Ethiopia, and we ended up doing about four episodes from the area rather unexpectedly. The city has an intensely cool history, lots of glory and horror and humanity, and most of...
Helllllllllo dear Patrons,
Welcome to another Saturday's attempt to entertain and educate. Today's episode is about Awra Amba, a cult by any other name.
This video was easily our most difficult this season. Not because the location was hard to get to, or the subjects hard to film. They were pleasant, helpful, and forthcoming. No, t...
I liked this story. I liked it so much that I made an entire episode about something that is completely incapable of being filmed. The story of Abba Mahari: Ethiopia's Moses.
There is almost nothing written about him, and nobody left to pass down oral tradition. Yet, if you scour the history long enough, you can pinpoint a fairly comical ...
Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. Today's episode is about a dam they'd never let me get close to, and the countries who wish to destroy it.
I'm going to try to start tailoring the videos into a more questioning tone, I think. I only did it in the title here, but I like how it leads me to think when forming the episo...
2019-04-20 18:02:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We're back!
Although it wasn't the first episode we filmed in Ethiopia (actually, nearly the last), we felt that humanity's beginning would make for a good opener.
This is the story of Lucy, and the splinters of history that she represents. While she may not be one of our ancestors, she is a symbol across the globe. A bipedal ape ...
Hello everyone. I might not be dead, but I am slightly out of focus!
It has been a heck of a long time since I've put an update out here on Patreon, and I'm excited to announce that we're finally ready to launch our new season from East Africa. It has been a very long and complicated road to get here, but we're finally here.
On top...
Dear Patrons, it's time we had a quick chat about the future.
Francesco is gone. And while we are all wishing him the best in what is undoubtedly the right decision, the kid was 50% of this series. He was the heart. It's not a simple transition to lose him.
Yet, most clouds have silver linings, and in his life upgrade...
Welcome to 2019! We're back, if momentarily, to bring you some childish jokes from a small town in Newfoundland.
As mentioned in the description of the video in more detail, Francesco is moving on in the world and we're in the market for a new battle hardened videographer/editor. If you know that person, let me know!
As always, tha...
Dear Patrons,
I don't really remember why we decided to do this, but we've made a video about how we make videos, with a real video wedged in. I'm not sure if you'll like it, but doing it this way was a lot of fun to film.
There was a lot of driving around before we came across ol' Kyle here. But when we saw her, we knew it was all ...
2018-12-15 19:01:30 +0000 UTC View Post
It's Wednesday, and that means we're talking in my house. Today's episode comes with an incredibly long preamble and a little back and forth about a product I actually like (and a Patron friend of mine makes).
Dan Demsky, you're a mensch. Thanks for all the shirts.
(Also: Apparently, my heating sounds wanted to join for the first minu...
Hello everyone. I hope you're excited for a video about incest and blood theft. I know I am.
But more seriously, this episode was made possible by the friendly and open attitude of people who knew that I was essentially going to be calling them bad names on the internet (and I should make note that none of the people featured on screen were ...
Hooray! My body is finally bounced back from getting in the car accident, and I'm able to get back to filming various long delayed second channel Patreon videos.
Today's video is the story of that accident, a few days after the fact. It was graciously sponsored by our Patron Wes Mills. Wes, you rock.
Love to our entire Patreon family,...
Today's episode is the story of one of my heroes. Dr. Wilfred Grenfell. He was a good man, who lived a good life. I have huge respect for anyone who puts up with a Labrador winter, let alone simply to keep others alive.
Much love to you all!
What do you do when the cod's gone?
To follow the theme of our last episode's fishery doom and gloom, we wanted to show what had been done since the collapse on the island of Fogo, and how a single person can make a difference when they decide to.
Also: We are back this week with Common Ground videos. We made a ton when France...