It's time to learn Geography (𝗡𝗢𝗪)

October 16, 2024 1:31 PM

On October 15th, 2014, budding Korean-American YouTuber Paul "Barbs" Barbato uploaded a 6-minute guide to the country of Afghanistan. A longtime geography geek disappointed by the lack of country-by-country educational content on the platform, his Geography Now! series set the ambitious goal of making one in-depth episode for all 193 UN-recognized sovereign nations. Following a basic four-part structure (Physical and Political Geography, Demographics, and "The Friendzone" for foreign relations), these initially amateurish episodes slowly expanded in size and scope over time, incorporating motion graphics, increasingly absurd vexillological running gags, myriad side topics, faux-country April Fools, fan content from "Geograpeeps", special correspondents and history skits from eclectic friends from around the world, and even on-location specials in select countries -- deep dives into culture whose breezy humor revealed a deep love for the world and all the people in it. Now, ten years after it started, Barbs has released the final episode in the series: Zimbabwe. While he's implied the channel may evolve into a travel-focused one (perhaps modeled on his moving "Letter to..." series of travelogues), for now you can check out the completed A-Z playlist on YouTube to experience the impressive journey for yourself.
posted by Rhaomi (7 comments total)

drooling!!! cannot wait to dive into this later!
posted by supermedusa at 1:57 PM on October 16

I am moving to Bandiaterra!
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 4:11 PM on October 16

Oh my goodness.

This sounds AMAZING.

I have this sense that I knew about this channel, once - way back closer to when it started? - but if so, I'd completely forgotten about it.

I am really, really looking forward to checking this all out.

Thank you so much for posting this, Rhaomi! I am grateful, and filled with anticipation.
posted by kristi at 4:20 PM on October 16

Woohoooooo!
posted by inexorably_forward at 7:37 PM on October 16

I fell in love with this channel during lockdown, and this is a reminder to get back to it. Such good stuff! Thank you!
posted by armeowda at 10:54 PM on October 16

Shared with my favorite geography nerd. Thanks!
posted by Vigilant at 10:17 PM on October 17

So...Now what?

Dear subscribers,

You're either going to love me or hate me for what I'm about to do next.

So, I'm in a relatively precarious position. For the past 10 years, I've been doing pretty much one thing: teaching geography and covering profiles on every fully sovereign, recognized country in the world. My "magnum opus" has been achieved after completing the Zimbabwe episode. It caught a bit of attention—I've been interviewed, articles have been written on the channel, the fan support has been overwhelming. So now, I'm in a bit of a situation: how do I move forward after this? What do I do now that my crowning achievement has been complete? I feel like Marvel after Avengers: Endgame. They had one final huge, major, epic moment and battle where people cheered and cried, and then they... tried to continue with... other stuff. In this industry, they say you either have to reinvent yourself or retire, and I don't want to retire. But while I make this next move, I do have some side missions:

1. I need to find my biological grandfather. I mean, it's very likely he already passed away, but I need to know exactly what happened after he was deployed back to the USA shortly after my mom was born.

2. I need to fix my diet and eating habits and get back in shape. Yes, I am sort of body dysmorphic, but even visually, it's very evident I've been letting myself go. My abs are now flabs—it's time to get back into the regimen. Also, I think I might need to go see an ENT. A long time ago, I got elbowed in the nose when I was dressed up as a hot dog (that's a long story), and since then, I've been having issues with my nose. Originally, I just brushed it off, but the problem has been persisting for years. I think it's about time I actually get it looked into.

3. I want to learn an instrument! I've been wanting to do this for so long, but Geography Now videos took up so much of my time that I never had the opportunity.

4. Get better at speaking French. I have a lot of travel plans that involve Francophone nations and regions across the world. People don't realize how useful French actually is.

5. I want to eventually write a book, maybe two. Again, I never had time because of Geography Now.

So, those are my five goals, and I'll focus on them eventually. But that being said, my main focus will be on the channel. But in that regard, I have to reinvent Geography Now.

Now, here's the dilemma: I know exactly what my subscribers want. They mostly just want to watch the country episodes, and maybe an administrative division video. They want to be "edutained." But the thing is, after 10 years, I'm kind of tired of teaching. It takes forever to research and write the scripts, let alone film, edit, and delegate motion graphics to my animator guys. And I have to have the budget to pay them. But that's what my subscribers want—they want me to be the "fun teacher guy", even though I'm not an accredited source with a teaching degree. I'm just a YouTube guy who really likes to learn about the world and share what he's learned.

I could, in theory, change nothing and do the exact same thing over and over again for another 10 years. But I know that if I do that, I will go crazy and lose my f***ing mind. So, how do I move forward without compromising the integrity of this channel being an "educational geography-based channel" without being the "teacher" that has to write long-winded researched scripts and report them in front of a teleprompter all the time?

Well, I have an idea. Actually, I've had an idea for years, but I had to wait for the Zimbabwe episode to be finished in order to start. I originally started Geography Now because I wanted to be a travel show host. I either failed or never heard back from any of the already-limited positions available in the industry that I applied for. And eventually, I just got so sick and tired of trying to sell myself to a bunch of productions that didn’t even want me, so I figured if nobody wanted me, then I would want me. I'd make my own show. So I did.

And that's what I've always wanted to do. This whole time, I never actually wanted to be in a studio all day talking about the world. I wanted to be all over the world showing people the world. I've spent 10 years learning about every country in the world, but ironically, it was mostly just through the myopic lens of pure academic online research. It's time I take everything I've learned in the past 10 years and put it to the test. It's time to go out there and live my research. That's the direction I want to take this channel in. I want to go back to the original dream. I still want to keep it educational and use those map and motion graphic visuals, but it's time to get out of the studio and into the world.

For those of you wondering: no, my plan is not to go to every country in the world. I mean, if it happens—great, cool—but that's not my "goal." And to be quite frank, in my opinion, going to every country in the world is a little tired and played out at this point. There are already over 300 known people that have officially done it, and the list keeps getting longer and longer. It's like those people that try to climb Everest just to brag about it. I don't travel to places because I want to brag about it. I travel because I want to discover things either nobody or very few people have seen or documented, like when I became the first known person to document themselves crossing the world's narrowest salient in West Africa. That was one of the best days of my life. If it's been done before, I'm already uninterested. I don't want to climb Everest—I want to discover a new Everest and be the first to climb it. I want to be the first.

I already have a list of secret destinations I've been compiling for the past 10 years that I feel would fit this objective. I am holding tight to this secret list of destinations, and I will only reveal them in my videos if I'm able to successfully arrive there and document them.

This is what I want to do, and who knows—this new direction might kill my career and maybe my subscribers will hate it and get bored and stop watching. But I just don't care anymore. I've been secretly planning this next step for 10 years, and I know it's what I want to do.

I'm tired of teaching geography. It's time to do geography.

posted by Rhaomi at 10:50 AM on October 20