Rare Earth

Take a deep breath before this one. Chances are you'll need it. Also, the music is by Kevin, not Kevi. I only noticed that mistake a minute before posting this so I'm just gonna let it ride.

Happy New Year! By which I mean sorry for taking two weeks off. Francesco and I needed a rest. This is a video about the plight of the Hmong, and how not every rebellion leads to freedom. I only got around to recording the V/O on a -13 day in a Canadian backyard, if you're wondering why I speak so fast during that part. I just wanted to get back indoors.

Despite being extremely tired of filming, while waiting for the flights home we decided to add one Vietnam video to our SE Asia journey. This is on heroism, and the women who died for Vietnam.

We are in Cuba, so my wife Kata is writing this description. See you all next week/season!

Use subtitles if you don't speak Spanish. We've translated their words the best we can, but as mentioned, this is their voice and therefore also their language. For our time in Cuba, we wanted to see how we could do with no plan going in. Practicing new stuff. With six days on the ground we got four videos. Plus, we didn't get arrested. Bonus! We hope you like them.

Jose Marti was an incredible person. Any nation would be proud to call them their own. This is the story of coopting a hero, and how legacy is not our own to write.

William Alexander Morgan was no hero. But he died in revolution. His story is not uncommon, but important. This is an episode about brotherhood, war, and ideology. Cuba's revolution, in a nutshell.

Every empire makes mistakes. I suspect Guantanamo will live among some of my generation's worst. Today's episode is about human rights, and prisons we shouldn't support.

Belize! I went on vacation to an island paradise with some friends, but of course couldn't help but make an episode. It's another video without Francesco, but luckily this time I had the help of some high school students: Preston Smith and Aldair Rosato. Thanks, guys! I appreciate you joining me on this mini-adventure.

A year ago, nearly to the day, my wife and I stood before the Moai of Rapa Nui and discussed what we would have to sacrifice for me to live my dream of starting a world documentary series. Today, Francesco and I are releasing our first video from the island and I couldn't be more overwhelmed. We have a few coming from the island before we move to mainland Chile, and I hope you enjoy watching them as much as we enjoyed making them. Thanks for coming back again and again. We appreciate you. Even the trolls.

Today's video is just for fun. After last week's episode, I figured it would be good to do something light. It's a story about tanning, virginity, and how we basically can find anything attractive so long as it means that person is doing well socially.

My hair is fabulous. I should model. Today's episode is about value. This is the story of a rock. It was once worth fighting wars over. Now its just a rock.

Aliens are a religion to so many people. And as crazy as it might sound, I think they're on to something. Just perhaps not the something they're imagining.

Just after deciding to create this series, I met a man in Hanga Roa who I knew I wanted to interview. A man who cooks for a living but hates eating, serves for a living but hates customers, greets for a living but hates people. He doesn't consider his food art, although it is. Nor would he his restaurants (deceased and half-built), although they are as well. To him they are work, and work is his passion. In ninety countries around the globe, his food remains the best I've ever had. His restaurant was a temple to the concept of attention to detail. He calls the one he's building a castle. I'm certain it will live up to the name.

Mainland Chile! Goodbye Rapa Nui, hello Santiago! The first episode is on the most internationally famous thing to happen to the country in recent history: the story of Pinochet and Allende. As much as we've avoided Pinochet-era stories for most of this season, we figured since everyone knew about it we should get it out of the way first. Hope you like it. Also, since this was filmed at the end of the trip, I get it, I'm looking haggard. Imagine I'm Brad Pitt and it'll work out.

We're in the Atacama! And we only got in a single massive fight with one family during filming, so spirits are high. Nothing like dressing down strangers to boost the general vibe. After our opener in Santiago, we've decided to release the Chile episodes North to South. As we drove the length of the country (twice) while filming this series, the videos cover a span of nearly four thousand kilometers. It was a lot of time in a car, mostly in a desert, but it was worth it. Hope you like the episode!

San Pedro de Atacama: A town dedicated to the rocks that surround the tiny oasis it envelopes. I didn't really know what to say about San Pedro until a few days after we left town. But after wading through a sea of new age hippies upon arrival this is what stuck out to me. It's a bit looser script than usual, due to the story coming on the fly. Hope you enjoy regardless!

This isn't a real video. You can tell because I released it on a Wednesday. Well, ok, yes. It's a real video. But it's not a *real* video. Support Rare Earth: https://www.patreon.com/rareearth Awto: http://awto.cl/

Humberstone! One of Chile's best preserved ghost towns, and a monument of national importance. This is the desert that blossomed the world.

Today's episode saw multiple equipment failures, script rewrites, and content concerns. But it took a lot of effort to film, and even saw Francesco scale his first barbed wire fence, so might as well show it off like a bauble. So here you are everyone, a bauble from Chile.

I've yet to find a popularity contest I can't lose. Today's episode is on what it means to be cool.

Sometimes knowledge isn't all it's cracked up to be.

This is not a happy story. But it's true.

Our next few videos are centred around the Mapuche, and they're among my favourite we've filmed so far. I'll probably tell the story of the car for our Patrons on our (yet upcoming) second channel. It was a wild day.

I cannot thank Alejandro (the proprietor of Cabanas am Berg) enough. He was not just helpful for filming, he was a genuine and honest person from the moment we met. If the world had more people like him, we'd not need to make this series.

Thank you, Mr. Tompkins. Rest in Peace.

Edit: Immaculate Conception (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immacul...) vs. Virgin Birth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_...). Ignore the words of the idiot who stands before you. The world has always been full of hideous goblins. Perhaps it is time we started to shine some light on them. Francesco and I often disagree on which episodes we like. This is one I'm less fond of. Oh well. It's our final episode in Chile, and the future is very bright. I can live with that. Starting next week - Armenia, and the breakaway Republic of Artsakh.

Edit: In case it isn't clear in the video, this is meant to be a story of Artsakh, from the view of Artsakh. It isn't unemotional geopolitics. The Armenians are in no ways saints, and the Azeri in no way demons. The Azeri refugees forced from their homes in the external lands that Artsakhians took in the war (even against their own internal judgement) for military purposes have every right to be upset and want it back. As I say in every video, please research this all on your own. There is a very deep, nuanced, interesting story to be told from all sides. This one just happens to be from Artsakh. If you would like to visit Artsakh, I'd highly recommend staying with Saro Saryan in Shushi. His family are the living embodiment of the community, fashioned together into a wonderful guest house atmosphere. His 23 year old soldier, diplomat, lawyer son is the focus of our next episode, which I hope you'll stick around for.

Our longest ever episode. Hope you can find the time. Obviously, this is a one-sided account from someone who fought for, and continues to fight for, Artsakhian independence. Take everything with a grain of salt, and in turn learn more about the interactions that make our planet spin. Thank you Samvel, for wasting your day on our little series. We appreciate it wholeheartedly.

A bit lighter than usual. My thoughts on the caveman. To clarify before the inevitable comments: Our intelligence has shown an increase over time, yes. There are likely a number of reasons, from atmosphere to diet to leisure time. The point of this video is not to explain the science of judging intelligence over history, but to contemplate on how we treat humans of the past. Also, the Areni 1 cave winery is over 6000 years, not 8000. That slipped in to two videos somehow without us noticing.

This episode was inspired by visiting Garni. It's a beautiful temple, and worthy of a visit. To clarify: Though the foundations of the faith branch from Nzhdeh's historic race religion ideals, it would be inaccurate to say that the concept of an Aryan/Armenian bloodline drive the modern version of the religion. There's a huge amount of nuance there, hence the somewhat contradictory points around 5:50 in the script.

Alcohol! One of our oldest and most polarizing past times. We've brewed it, bottled it, banned it, and barfed it. But for as long as we've been farming, it has been a part of our society. Welcome to yet another unfounded theory by yours truly.

The spear of destiny. The holy ark. The planet we're all so excited to touch. This video is about relics.

Today's episode isn't Sparta. But it does contain a 300 man army fighting back against 70,000 better armed troops. It's about Davit Bek, an Armenian legend. And more than that, it's about betrayal. This video comes courtesy of us wanting to drone some spots on the drive to Kapan and needing a concrete reason to spend the money to head south. In the end, the expense was totally worth it. Syunik province is easily one of the most attractive places on Earth.

Goodbye Armenia, hello Albania! Today's episode is about sainthood, and what it takes to be remembered.

Bunkers! Albania's most visible uniqueness. A negative that's so definitive of the nation that it has almost become a positive.

Extremism is the enemy. We give it a bunch of names, put it on a fake spectrum, and rail on each other about how our extremes will be better, but it's all the same thing. Extremism is the enemy. Welcome to Albania. Welcome to the world.

rama bay is gorgeous! Also, conversely, a place to see thousands of years of low-quality tagging from people of all backgrounds. From Pompeii Magnus to modern Albanian beach-goers, the walls ripple a unique type of history. Man do those boatmen know how to hustle, though.

Be you a Hatfield, a Black Donnelly, Alexander Hamilton or Zog, vendettas are an unfortunately common part of human existence. And while as an individual, our needs for vengeance are personal and deep, they're often at odds with society. Justice is not a universal concept. Blood feuds end in blood. It's right there in the name.

Watching people get sucked into a pyramid scheme is one of the most frustrating parts of long-term friendships. Today marks our final video about America, er, I mean Albania. Both, I suppose. New season starts next Saturday. We intend to change things up a little bit. Experiment with the videos. Maybe you'll hate it. I have no idea. Either way, next up: Home sweet home.

Enver Hoxha: Whether demanding they write his name in a hillside or erecting giant bronze statues to his glory, he was always looking out for the little guy. Not an egotistical bone in his body. No sir. Edit: In the video I say Romania's dictator was killed in his home. He was helicoptered to a military location, then killed. One more Albanian video (and a cottager) until Vinland! Typing this from a not-at-all gross Gros Morne morn. Looking forward to what we have in store next season. Some good changes, I think.

This video is for my wife, who gets her passport this year. It is for my niece, who will some day call this her home. For Mamie, who sacrificed so much to bring us to this frozen country. Since today's episode is just a throwaway between seasons, we've decided to go more artsy than usual. As ever, leave your impotent rage in the comments below.

It's Wednesday and there's a new Rare Earth? It sounds too good to be true! Well, you're right. It is too good to be true. But still not as good as the decorations in our Airbnb. Get tickets here: https://www.roythomsonhall.com/ticket... FB event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/12617... In all seriousness, the show is incredible and I guarantee you'll have a good time. If you like Rare Earth, you'll love Generator.

Welcome to Season....uh...five? I've lost count. Let's go by location. Welcome to Newfoundland! This episode is all about history. We're trying a new system with seasons where we provide a historical base episode up front, and then are free to be a bit more abstract as the season progresses. Hopefully it will translate onto your end. From our perspective, this season has been incredibly fun to film. Likely the best ever. We've added a new crew member named Eric, who will be joining us as much as possible in the future, helping out with all sorts on the back end. He's the guy kissing the cod at the end. Looking forward to seeing how y'all like it. Vinland here we go!

The coldest, windiest, worst place to set up a colony. Unless you count where they came from. Vikings!

If I'd had time and footage, I would have started this video with the collapse of the megafauna when humans first met this continent. I hope you'll accept this analogue in its stead. In short: Even if you love omelettes, there's wisdom in not cracking all your eggs.

When you're talking about Newfoundland, it's basically impossible not to mention the cod. They were this island's engine for hundreds of years. They were the main driver to colonize this country, and once kept the largest empire in human history fed. But the moment we took them for granted, they all died. This is the story of the cod.

Dr. Grenfell was a great man. He lived a great life.

Edit: To specify, they were from the Baylor College of Medicine, not Baylor University. If nothing else, I hope this video leaves you thinking about the many benefits of inbreeding. 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 those who had their blood stolen, nor are to my knowledge any more inbred than the rest of us). The reality is that all of our family trees have knots, and even the most abhorrent of actions come with a potential silver lining.

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 going to be ok. Shoutout to Jonah Haber for flying out to Newfoundland for our secret special project (yet unreleased). I'm certain what you're cooking up is going to be a masterpiece. Also - this is our last video of the year so that Franny can have a few days to rest up and take some holiday. The kid works too hard, and doesn't get enough credit for all he does behind the scenes. Merry Italian Christmas Frankie!