Steve Lookner has made another video for his Lookner channel on YouTube. It is entitled “I Check The Car for Animals - LIVE”:

This live stream video starts with Steve in his apartment building’s parking garage. He says that he got a new phone recently, because the old one was getting too old, but he doesn’t yet have a microphone for this new phone.

Steve explains that during an earlier news stream, he had learned that some people were reporting that animals like rats had started living in their cars because the cars hadn’t been used much during the COVID-19 lockdowns. He says that the last time he drove his car, about a week earlier, he thought he had heard a weird sound like something moving, along with what he thought was a weird smell. So Steve thinks he should check his car before driving it again, and he plans on live streaming while he does the check.

He shows us the back of his parked car, and it appears to be a black Infiniti G35 sedan. He apologizes for it being dusty, as he hasn’t driven it in about a week.

Steve explains that he does wear a mask when out in public, but isn’t wearing one while filming because nobody else is around in the parking garage. Returning to the topic of his car, he mentions that it’s a 2005 model, and that he loves it.

He explains that his plan is to knock on the hood first, to see if anything runs out. Then he plans on opening the hood, to check if he can see anything. He mentions being scared that he might find a dead animal inside.

Steve again shows his car from behind, explaining that a dark bag on the ground on the passenger side is his, so it’s nothing suspicious. He walks around the driver’s side, up to the hood. At this point he realizes that he should turn the alarm off, so he proceeds to do that. He apprehensively taps on the car’s hood several times, and doesn’t hear anything, so he taps it again.

Since he didn’t hear anything suspicious after tapping, he decides to open the hood of the car, and to check it using the help of a flashlight he keeps in the car. He proceeds to get in the car so that he can pop the hood and get the flashlight. Not long after he gets out of the car to fully open the hood, and while on the way to the hood he says he thinks he might have heard something, but that he isn’t sure if it came from under the hood of his car or if it came from somewhere else. He reads a comment from one viewer who thinks it might be a snake!

He has to pull a latch to open the hood, and once that’s done he opens the hood fully and starts to check inside. He doesn’t immediately see anything, and so he uses the flashlight to help do a more thorough inspection. He does seem some leaves, but no animals and no signs of animals around the engine of the car.

Steve decides to start the car as a final test, but has to close the hood first, which he does. He gets in the car, starts it, and again doesn’t hear any animals. He says he’s happy that he didn’t find anything, and doesn’t smell anything unusual. He mentions he’ll go for a drive to get some use out of his car, and a viewer suggests that he turn on the heater while driving as another check.

He proceeds to wrap up the live stream by thanking the viewers and the moderators.

I think that this turned out to be a live stream that was full of suspense! Since he appears to keep his car in a modern parking garage I wasn’t expecting there to be any animals in the car, but you can never really be sure. Mice and other small animals can sometimes find their way into unexpected places inside buildings, and unexpectedly finding animals in one’s car isn’t exactly unusual either. At least Steve played it safe and checked his car, and thankfully there didn’t appear to be any animals living it!

• Karl

It’s a relatively short live stream video by Lookner Channel standards, but there is a new video entitled “Late Night Lockdown LIVE!":

Steve starts by explaining how he has discovered some previously-unknown-to-him camera functionality that allows him to easily choose between close and far views. He demonstrates to the viewers how this works.

A viewer mentions that a comet may be visible in May. Steve briefly looks at the Wikipedia article about C/2020 F8 (SWAN).

He also tries out some different colors for the background lights, which he can change using a remote control.

Moving on, he wants to hear how the viewers are handling whatever COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak lockdowns or quarantines they may be under, so he can share some of their tweets or photos.

Steve mentions that he personally misses running. He also shows one meme image that a viewer made depicting Looker with his old package opening knife looking admiringly at the new portable safety knife that a viewer sent him recently. He tries to find the new smaller knife on Amazon, but can’t find it listed.

He shows off a variety of photos and tweets that viewers had sent him. He also shows off some face masks, including an Agenda-Free TV one, that viewers had sent him earlier.

Steve briefly mentions that he likes animals, and talks about The Incredible Dr. Pol TV show.

Before wrapping up the live stream, which is shorter than many of the others at just under an hour and a half, Steve shares a few more viewer submissions and thanks the mods.

After the understandable lack of Lookner Channel content due to Steve’s extensive Agenda-Free TV coverage of the COVID-19 coronavirus situation (see here and here), it is a relief to see that he’s had a chance to start making more Looker Channel content again. I look forward to seeing more Lookner videos again!

• Karl

There is a new video on the Lookner channel on YouTube entitled “I Try To Cook Stir-Fry - LIVE STREAM”:

The video starts in Steve’s kitchen. We can see the counter and the stove. He jokes that it might be the “worst idea” he’s ever had. He says he’s hungry, because he hasn’t eaten all day since he’ll be making stir fry during the live stream. He mentions having cooked stir fry years ago, when just out of college, but he didn’t do it again and has completely forgotten how to. He has chosen a simple recipe, but insists that he’ll mess something up, and he doesn’t seem to be optimistic.

He has bought some chicken breast and steak, along with peanut oil, premade stir fry sauce, broccoli florets, and snow peas. Since he doesn’t have a wok, he’s just using the frying pan that he does have. He decides to use medium-high heat on the stove, and mentions that he has enough ingredients to try again if it does go bad. It looks like he’ll need to use the stove fan, so he turns it on to see if it’s too loud on the live stream.

Steve is filming the live stream using his webcam, which is connected to his computer in the other room using a USB hub and a long USB cable. The microphone is also connected to the USB hub. He has to use his iPad to see comments in the live chat, and to watch the video so he can see where he is in the frame, so that’s why he may be looking down a lot. He also indicates that he only has one pan, so the viewers will just have to accept that he’s using it!

He checks on his phone to see if he needs to wash the chicken breast, but he decides not to. He’s trying to follow a recipe, and goes over the plan. He isn’t using rice right now, since he’s trying to keep it simple. A viewer asks if he has a fire extinguisher handy, and Steve shows a large fire extinguisher he has under his sink.

Steve starts with preparing hte chicken breast. He takes one out and puts it on the cutting board. He’s not sure how large to cut the pieces, however. Members of the audience in the chat suggest “bite size” pieces or “strips”. He cuts a piece, and shows the camera. Some of the viewers say it’s fine in the live chat. Steve proceeds to cut the rest of the chicken breast into pieces. He jokes that he doesn’t care if the food is bad, he just doesn’t want to burn his apartment down! He shows the viewers the pieces that he cut, and doesn’t think that he’s messed it up so far.

Next, he moves on to the pan. He turns on the stove heat, and sets it to medium-high. He also puts some peanut oil in the pan, but doesn’t think it’s enough and so he adds some more. He also turns on the stove fan, and says that he does have renter’s insurance. He notices that the oil hasn’t really spread out in the pan yet.

The viewers in the live chat say to add the chicken, so he adds it to the pan, and it starts to cook. He notices that it’s getting brown on the outside, and he can hear the sizzling. The viewers say to cook it to “golden”, but he says it’s not there yet. Steve opts to err on the side of overcooking. Eventually he says he thinks that the pieces of chicken are done, and so he takes them off and shows the cooked pieces to the audience. A viewer suggests to cut one of the pieces and make sure that the inside isn’t pink. Steve shows a cut piece to the viewers, but it’s hard to see. He says it’s not pink at all.

Steve moves on to cooking the vegetables. He adds more oil to the now-empty pan, and opens the stir fry sauce so that it’s ready. He isn’t sure if he needs to wash the vegetables, but decides not to after noticing that one of the bags says they’re pre-washed. He puts some broccoli florets in the pan first, followed by the pea pods, and lets them cook. He’s not sure how much stir fry sauce to use, so he pours some in. He then adds the chicken back in, and says that one piece of broccoli has all of the sauce on it! He thinks it’s done, so he pours it from the frying pan onto a plate, and he shows the plate to the camera and the audience.

It’s time for a taste test, but he decides some salt may be needed. He starts with a piece of chicken, and it seems perfectly fine, other than needing some salt. He tries a pea pod, and it’s good, but oily. He tries some of the broccoli, and it’s good, too. He salts a piece of chicken. Steve describes what he made as “perfectly edible”, and thinks that the chicken needs more salt. He also puts the vegetables back into the fridge.

He notes that at least he knows what’s in the food that he’s eating. If he doesn’t get sick, it will be very good for his purposes. The viewers tell him to put the extra piece of chicken back in the fridge, and he says he’ll do it shortly. Assuming he doesn’t get sick, Steve says he’s happy with the outcome. He would be satisfied if he got food like it at a restaurant. He eventually wraps up the extra piece of raw chicken using plastic wrap, and puts it in the fridge.

The viewers tell him he should marinate his chicken. Steve says that he doesn’t know when he’ll eat, so he needs to be able to cook without much preparation. He answers some viewer questions from the live chat while eating. He does think it would go good with rice as he’s eating it. He likes that it’s simple, and it’s all that he wants. He reads the sauce ingredients, and says it worked well for his needs. He mentions that he doesn’t like eating while standing up, and he shows off the emptied plate. Steve says that he’s in the “clean plate club”. Once the stream is done he will clean the kitchen. He moves the camera and light so that he can sit and digest.

He confirms that his stove is off, but the light remains on because the surface is still hot. He indicates that the food was very good. He asks the viewers if the chicken will be good for another day, saying he’ll make it tomorrow. He stops to wrap up one other piece of chicken.

Steve asks the viewers for some suggestions about how to improve his cooking. It’s suggested that he season the meat, and get a thermometer. It’s also suggested that he put the sauce in the fridge, which he does. He says he’ll get a different pan if he’s doing more stir fry. As for different mixes of vegetables, he wants to get comfortable with simple ones first, and only then will he add others. He gets some food safety suggestions, and it’s suggested that he add peanuts or cashews.

He says he’s anxious about raw meat and anxious about “brain eating bacteria”, and that he’ll likely obsess over it. He now thinks that he should have read up on food safety before starting to cook. Viewers in the live chat suggest that he get a wok or a deeper pan. It’s also suggested that he won’t get mad cow disease from chicken! He says he bought about a pound-and-a-half, and cooked about 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound. He also says that he doesn’t want to get sick from the kitchen after, so he’ll have to clean it. The topic of shrimp comes up, and a viewer says that it cooks fast.

Steve says that assuming he doesn’t get sick, he would cook like this every day. All he wants for lunch is a bowl of meat and vegetables, but he can’t get it anywhere. He could just buy some stuff, and not have to worry about going out. He asks the viewers about ready-to-cook shrimp. He also remembers back to tenderizing chicken in the past, and removing some tendon or gristle or something.

He reads up about how to clean up after cooking raw meat. He asks about using a rag to wash, and what to do with it afterward. Viewers suggests he use cleaning spray and a paper towel, and rinse or wash any rags that are used. Steve decides to clean his kitchen during the live stream. He turns the camera around so the viewers can watch him clean. He puts the oil in the cabinet, and puts the raw material in a plastic bag to throw it down the trash chute. He leaves briefly to dispose of it right away. Steve mentions that he’ll probably cook more that night, and will probably make the same thing! He proceeds to wash the cutting board with soap and hot water, but he’s not sure if he’s cleaning it well enough. He washes his knife off next, and then wipes down the counter top and stove top with warm soapy water. He says that he has to read up about how to clean. Steve also mentions how he doesn’t leave his water running when doing something.

He adjusts the camera back so he can sit and chat with the viewers some more. He shows off the new microphone he’s using, and leaves briefly to use his computer to add info about the microphone to the video description. He says he bought some corn on the cob, so he’ll make some of it. He also says that his mom wanted him to do complex cooking. He thanks the moderators and audience, and says he has to leave to call his mom. He also hopes that he doesn’t get sick!

From what I can tell, Steve’s attempt at cooking went quite well, despite his initial skepticism and doubt. There were no major incidents, and the food turned out well in the end. Hopefully his fears about getting sick won’t amount to anything, too. I think he may be eating a lot of stir fry going forward!

• Karl

There is a new video on the Lookner channel on YouTube entitled “Should I Learn To Cook For Myself? (Possible Major Life Change!)".

This live stream takes place at Steve’s desk in the living room area of his apartment. He’s using his lights to light the wall behind him, and has switched up the sides of the blue and purple/pink lights. He’s also using his new microphone, and it seems to sound good. Steve additionally gives an update on the BestBuy price matching request from the earlier microphone video.

Getting to the topic of cooking, Steve wants to explain why he doesn’t cook for himself. He says he likes going out to eat, as it gets him out from the office or home or wherever he is. He’s not an expensive eater, so it’s not a budgetary matter. He also says he’s busy, and needs to be on-call to report on breaking news on his Agenda-Free TV channel, so he also doesn’t want to spend a lot of time cooking.

Steve explains how he likes to eat healthy, but also has to eat something substantial for lunch. He doesn’t want to eat fast food, pizza, or fried food. He also doesn’t want to eat fancy, as he can’t accord it and doesn’t like it. Once he rules those out, there’s not much left, at least when it comes to casual places.

He says that what he wants is a bowl of chicken, beef, or shrimp, plus some vegetables and flavor, like Chinese food. He’s been in Atlanta for over a year, but can’t find any good places. He’s come to realize that he could probably just make food like that himself, as long as it doesn’t take overly long to do. He says he did learn how to stir fry a long time ago, but has since forgotten how to do it. He also adds that he wants to buy the ingredients in advance, and not every day.

Steve asks the viewers what they think. Lots respond in the chat saying he should do it. One viewer says that stir fry could take 15 minutes. Another suggests he try frozen dinners, but Steve says he wants fresh food. Some suggest an “Instant Pot”, which Steve looks up, but it sounds like it could take up to 90 minutes to cook meat.

He emphasizes that it needs to be fast, as in within 30 minutes. He doesn’t want ramen noodles, as he doesn’t think they’re healthy enough. He also doesn’t want a prep day, because minimal preparation is important to him.

Steve searches the Internet for how to stir fry. It does sound like what he wants. He says he doesn’t realize that it’s possible to buy bags of frozen stir fry veggies. Regarding stir frying, he thinks he could try it, to see how it goes. He’s also curious how long chicken breasts last, so he searches about it and finds out it can sometimes only be a day or two. He can’t go the grocery store daily, and freezing isn’t an option because he doesn’t want to have to defrost them, although microwave defrosting might work.

One viewer suggests he try making sandwiches, but Steve says he tries to avoid white bread and processed meat, so sandwiches aren’t really an option.

Steve says he should just try making stir fry sometime. He says he used to know how to do it, just before or after graduating from college, but he forgets how to do it now. One problem might be that he doesn’t have a wok. He’s not sure if it’s called a frying pan or a skillet, but that’s all he has. He looks up the difference between a skillet and a frying pan. Eventually he gets up and brings over the pan so he can show the audience. He asks if he can use the frying pan for a one-time stir fry test, and the viewers suggest that he can. He points out that he doesn’t want to buy lots of equipment, and just wants to take small steps like he’s been doing with his Lookner channel and its equipment.

He mentions that he doesn’t eat pasta, and explains how his metabolism slowed down a few years prior, and how he gained 20 pounds. He says he likes white rice, but doesn’t eat it. There are some Chinese or Thai restaurants around where he lives, but he doesn’t really like them. At least the grocery store is close by.

Steve says he thinks that the best thing to do is to try to make stir fry. When his metabolism started changing, he started grilling food. He links to the grill he used. But he eventually stopped using it, and then gave it away. He needs more than just a piece of meat for his meals. So he plans to watch some stir fry videos, do some research, and then do a live stream where he makes some stir fry and then eats it.

He talks about some other kinds of streams he could do for the Lookner channel. As an Amazon affiliate, he sees a list of items that other people have bought that he’s gotten referral fees for, even if he didn’t directly recommend the products. He might do a live stream where he goes through the list and shows items, since some of them are unusual to him. He has done small versions of this before. A viewer suggests he do a movie review stream, and Steve says he’s open to it, he’s just not sure what to do about viewers who might not have seen the movie. A Q&A stream is suggested, as well as having on guests. Steve says he’s open to having guests on, but he’s just need to find people. Somebody suggests he stream himself doing a 3-day cleanse, but it sounds risky. A stream about things he likes is another option.

Steve mentions a Roberto Blake video he watched about making 100 crappy YouTube videos. The idea is to just make videos, even if the quality isn’t very good. Steve finds the video’s advice to be very direct, and he recommends watching it. He doesn’t think it just applies to videos, but also for making other stuff, too. He does say that he doesn’t want to do taste tests or other reviews, as so many other people are already doing that on YouTube, and would rather do things that are different.

He talks about how doing a live stream is a bad way to attract new viewers, but he likes the interactivity of the live chat. He thinks that people new to the channel who watch the videos once they’re archived might expect a well-produced video, but are then surprised when they get a live stream recording instead. He doesn’t think that people who stumble upon the archived videos will keep watching.

Steve indicates that he’s thinking about doing Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve streams on Agenda-Free TV. He will show photos and videos of Christmas trees and other stuff submitted by viewers.

He checks to see if his current live stream appears in the YouTube live videos section. What he doesn’t understand is why more and more people are showing up even though it’s near the end of the stream. He says that sometimes it feels like an interactive talk show, where a bunch of different topics are covered during a stream. He mentions that he’s thinking about doing a random talk show like stream, with no fixed topic.

One viewer gives a large donation, and has offered to pay for Steve to travel to Austin, Texas. Steve would have to figure out some technical issues first, like getting a good quality signal for his phone. He shows the web page of a device that can combine multiple phone services, but it’s too expensive. A viewer suggests that Steve pre-record the content, but then have a live stream while reviewing the video, and be in the chat room while the video is premiered. Steve also points out that while he wants to travel, doing so makes it harder to report on breaking news.

He wonders why people keep joining the stream. Maybe people just join a stream if it stays on longer, he suggests.

Steve talks about some fantastic car washes in Alabama. A viewer says she’s giving a bug zapper, which Steve showed in an earlier stream, as a gift. He show it, pointing out how its battery cover got lost during a move. He highly recommends it, and says it’s good for small flies.

He checks his Amazon referral earnings, and is at $98.95. He looks at some candles that a viewer mentioned buying. He mentions that he’s not sure what a lot of the items in the list actually are. He tries to figure out what the melt things are, and is still confused even after looking up what the product is. He says that if someone sends him a scent device, he’ll try it and live stream it, but won’t pay for it himself. A viewer says she’ll buy one and send it to him.

Steve checks again to see if he shows up in the live section of YouTube, but can’t find his stream listed. He briefly looks into a vehicle fire near LAX airport that’s being reported about online. He also talks about possibly using StreamLabs.

He talks about his background lights, and about possibly doing a 3 AM stream at some point. He also talks about the third-party microphone situation some more, saying that the third-party reseller has changed their name. He mentions that he normally works out late at night, but doesn’t have to because he’d worked out earlier, and will watch stir fry videos instead. He talks about wanting software where you can talk and it will type into wherever the cursor is, but it’s not built in.

The viewers are asked what time the Christmas Eve special should start. Steve’s thinking 7 PM or 8 PM Eastern time. The viewers generally want 8 PM Eastern. He talks about doing a 24 hour life stream at some point. One problem is that he can’t stream for longer than 12 hours for the video to go into the archive. He thinks it would be miserable, but he’d do it if people would donate. If news came up he thinks he might just leave the Lookner stream running while reporting in the other room on his Agenda-Free TV channel. One of the viewers says he would match donations made that day.

Steve starts to thank the viewers and moderators, but accidentally hits some ad-insertion button, and apologizes. He checks to see if he ordered his frying pan from Amazon, but it doesn’t look like he did, and he thinks he got it at a store. After over 3 hours of live streaming, he finally wraps up the stream.

This was a long stream! While he did talk about learning to cook and stir frying, there was also a lot of discussion about so many other topics, too. I think some of his ideas for future live streams could be interesting, and I’d like to see what he manages to come up with.

• Karl

A relatively short live stream video entitled “Parking Over The White Line: World’s Worst People” is now on the Lookner channel on YouTube.

The video takes place in the parking garage of apartment building that Steve Lookner lives in. The noisy road plate crises of some of his earlier videos has been fixed, but there is now a new crisis. For a second straight time, the car parked in the spot next to Steve’s parking spot has parked a little bit across the white parking spot separator line.

Steve explains how he has an assigned or reserved parking space, but the one next to his spot is not assigned parking, so it can have different people parking in it at different times. He says that the previous user of the parking spot next to his had left the car parked across the line for several days, and now the latest user has done the same thing, as he’s showing us.

He thinks it’s very disrespectful for somebody to park like that. He even shows the other side of the parked car, showing that there’s room on that side. Steve says he would never park like that, and if he accidentally did, he would back out and try parking again. Even if the car tire is only partially over the line, the side mirror extends into his spot’s air space.

A viewer asks in the live chat if Steve thinks it’s worse than the steel plates. Steve explains that it’s different. He doesn’t consider the steel plates a personal attack on him directly, while the parking situation is. He indicates that it feels more personal than the road plates, which affected the entire area.

Another viewer suggests that maybe it’s because of the structural concrete pillar on the other side. Steve suggests that drivers shouldn’t park in a space near a pillar if they can’t handle it, and names the other driver “Overly-Cautious Chris”.

Steve explains how somebody who parks like that must not care about other people at all. It even makes him feel like a non-person. There’s just no excuse for it. Such people must be among the worst people in the world, according to Steve.

I can understand why Steve would be frustrated by this situation. It isn’t as bad is it could have been, but it is unnecessary. Also, I think this may be the first live stream video I’ve seen filmed in a parking garage!

• Karl

Steve Lookner of the Lookner channel on YouTube has created a live stream video entitled “Best Toothpastes - LIVE Review!":

The video features Steve in the bathroom of his apartment. It’s a slightly awkward place to live stream from, as in order to view viewer live chat comments or see where he is in the video frame, he has to use his iPad.

He talks about the toothpaste he used to use, Aim. He says he used it while growing up, and liked the taste, but eventually stopped using it. He also says he used Colgate Total for a while.

Steve moves on to talking about what is the best toothpaste, in his opinion. About five years ago he went to the dentist, and get a trial tube of Arm & Hammer CompleteCare toothpaste. He liked it, and has continued to use it since. Steve doesn’t know if his mouth is actually cleaner after using it, but he thinks it is. He mentions the toothpaste feels kind of grainy.

Steve shows that he has several different Arm & Hammer toothpastes, and states that he likes Arm & Hammer CompleteCare and AdvanceWhite the most. He points out that there’s no rule that says you can only have one toothpaste at a time. He currently has four different ones that he switches between, and he also points out that you can multiple flavors of mouthwash, too.

One thing he likes about baking soda toothpaste is the grainy feeling, and that it’s not as “sweet” as some other toothpastes may taste.

Since it’s a review live stream, he decides to show the toothpaste in action. He uses his electric toothbrush, and starts with the Arm & Hammer CompleteCare toothpaste. He shows himself brushing his teeth, up close to the camera, for about 30 seconds, and then rises his mouth. Steve shows his teeth, so the viewers can judge the result for themselves.

Steve shows the tree Arm & Hammer toothpastes he has, and describes the different specializations according to the product packaging. He’s not sure if they actually do anything differently, and he says that the active ingredient listed for all is the same. Maybe only the taste is different.

To keep the review fair and realistic, he decides to eat some bread between trials to make his mouth dirty again.

Next he proceeds to demonstrating the Arm & Hammer AdvanceWhite toothpaste. Again, he puts some on his electric toothbrush, brushes for about 30 seconds close to the camera, rinses, and shows the audience so they can see the result.

Those two are his favorites. He says he uses CompleteCare at night, and AdvanceWhite during the day. He doesn’t like the taste of DentalCare as much, as despite buying some on sale, he doesn’t plan on buying any more once what he has has been used up. Steve also points out that it’s the winterfresh flavor of AdvanceWhite that he likes, and suggests that it may be hard to find.

He also talks briefly about Crest Complete, with Scope. He would sometimes use it while on the go. It can be used if you want to change things up.

Steve proceeds to catch up on viewer comments that have accumulated in the live chat, reading some out loud. One viewer suggests to investigate the colored stripe on the toothpaste tube and what it means. Steve looks it up, and the marking appears to be related to the packaging machinery and where to cut the tubes.

He talks about some other topics such as how he has to return some bad celery to the grocery store, and how to film in his apartment’s bathroom he’s using the 32-foot long USB cable that he normally uses with his webcam when he’s filming in his apartment’s kitchen area. Steve also checks if live captions are enabled for the live streams, but they don’t appear to be, even though the other videos have captions.

Steve wraps up by thanking various viewers. At around 40 minutes long, this live stream ended up being shorter than some of his other streams, which can exceed two hours!

I think that this was a fun and silly stream. If you don’t like to see somebody brush their teeth up-close, then this probably isn’t the video for you! That said, I also think that this video shows Steve’s creativity with creating content.

• Karl

The Lookner channel on YouTube features a new live stream video entitled “Got Haircut AND Returned Microphone! (Live Breaking Lookner News)":

The video starts with Steve wearing a winter hat to hide his hair, presumably because he’s gotten a haircut, like he had been talking about needing in other videos, and will reveal it later in the video. He shows how he figured out how to use YouTube cards to add links to other videos, and demonstrates this by playing one of his earlier views that now has a card.

Steve mentions that one time after college, he died his hair blond, and might do a stream about it. He says that if he got enough financial support, he’ll consider dying his hair again. He also mentions that he’s planning Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve live streams on his other Agenda-Free TV YouTube channel.

The background of the video alternates between two short videos of Atlanta filmed by Steve on his phone while running errands. One shows the haircutting establishment where he got his hair cut, and the other shows the Amazon store where he returned the microphone he unboxed earlier but noticed some problems with.

Steve talks about feeling productive after getting the two errands done. His sleep schedule is unusual due to news sometimes happening at night, which can make running errands during the day more difficult.

While running errands, he also stopped to check his PO box. He got a yellow notification card, but the reason for getting it isn’t checked off on the card! The post office was too busy for him to deal with it at the time, so he might do another video when he goes to figure out what the card is about.

He gives some references to other videos to watch to understand what’s being talked about in this video.

Steve starts talking about how his haircut went. He used one of the prepaid discount cards he’d bought earlier. One of the viewers asks in the live chat about the hat that he’s wearing to temporarily hide his hair. He finds it on Amazon, and adds a link to the video’s description. He also talks about how he’s made $48.80 in Amazon referrals, showing the report screen.

While on the topic of Amazon referrals, he also looks at the list of items that people purchased that he received referral money for. These items include a key organizer, butter powder, a gold jewelry tree stand, a vintage pickup truck with Christmas tree shaped cookie cutter, and a pair of crossword puzzle books! He also indicates that he’s received the new microphone he ordered, and will unbox it later.

He gets back on the topic of his haircut. He thinks that there may be high staff turnover at the haircutting places he goes to, as he never gets the same haircutter. While getting his hair cut, he started talking to the haircutter about a trip that the haircutter is planning on taking. There were other customers in the store waiting, and Steve thought maybe he was annoying them by talking to the haircutter. He also notes that it’s too soon to tell if it’s a good haircut, as he’ll have to wait about a week and then see what it’s like.

Steve asks viewers in the live chat if they like videos about the mundane errands and other stuff he does. There are differing views, where some like such content, and others say they don’t. He also talks about notifications on YouTube and Discord. In addition, he set up a Twitter account that he’ll use to tweet when he’s coming on the air with a live stream. The Discord notifications are tied to tweets. He indicates that he won’t use this Twitter account for other content; it will just be for notifications.

As seems to be the case with his videos, it takes a while to get the main event. Steve finally starts the haircut reveal, but drags it out. He takes off the hat he had been wearing, and his hair is messy. He has to fix it as best he can. In the end, it looks like a typical haircut.

He briefly talks about baldness, and how he thinks that once there’s a cure of baldness, then pictures of bald people will look unusual in the future, like old photos of people riding pennyfarthing bicycles. He thinks it’ll be the same for driving using a steering wheel when self-driving cars become widely used.

While talking about haircuts, he mentions he once got a haircut in Los Angeles, at a place where celebrities got their hair cut. It was expensive, but he didn’t notice any difference with cheaper haircuts.

Steve discusses how he has a weird schedule due to the news coverage he does for his Agenda-Free TV YouTube channel, and this can make it hard to run errands. He talks of wanting to move somewhere where there are 24-hour grocery and other stores nearby, so he can go whenever he wants. When living in Los Angeles, he says he got used to going to a 24-hour grocery store at night, and lost patience for checkout lineups during the day.

He moves on to talking about his visit to the Amazon store, to return the microphone he had bought earlier but didn’t like for a variety of reasons. He said it’s a busy location, but he found it easy to return the package. It’s the kind of errand he says that wealthy people would have their assistants do. Steve says that this gives the wealthy people a lot of extra time and productivity, and thinks it’s a disadvantage for poorer people who don’t have assistants.

Near the end of the stream there is some breaking news: he gets an email saying his Amazon refund has been issued, and that the return is complete!

He wraps up by thanking donors and various viewers.

• Karl

Steve Lookner has created another live stream video for his Lookner channel on YouTube, entitled “Blue Yeti Microphone Unboxing from THIRD PARTY SELLER?! (Live Existential Crisis)".

Steve talks about the colored lights he got recently. Some of the viewers say that the sound quality is bad, so in response Steve sarcastically pretends to use the microphone that’s still in the shipping box to see if it helps at all! He talks about how he wants to make small improvements over time.

He moves on to talking about the unboxing. He explains that he wanted to do the unboxing, but realized that he had accidentally purchased the microphone from a third-party seller! He usually doesn’t do this, except for small items, because he doesn’t always trust items from third-party sellers. So he explains how he had set up a return right away, and even printed out the return label, but then decided to do a stream anyway.

Steve shows the microphone’s product page on Amazon’s website. He wanted the black colored microphone, but it’s hard to find from other vendors.

Even if the microphone he was sent sounds great, Steve says he thinks in his mind he just won’t trust it, and won’t like it. Despite his many doubts about its type, state, origin, and so forth, he decides he will unbox it and try it instead of the webcam microphone he has been using so far.

He mentions that he still has the $149 chair he bought for his kitchen. He was ready to return it, but decided to wait and is still using it. He says that a younger Lookner would have returned it!

Steve talks briefly about doing his master’s degree in Boston, and about his time in a PhD program at UCLA. He recounts how he had moved to Westwood, but was concerned because he thought he was living too far from the area where restaurants and a grocery store were. He thought it was too far to walk to, so he obsessed about getting a bike. He eventually bought one, but realized he didn’t actually need it. The store he bought it from took it back, but not the helmet he had also bought!

He explains how he was anxious in the past, and would return items he didn’t like. He says he once got a computer that was legitimately broken, and rushed to the UPS store to return the computer. But he accidentally left the dongle for his trackball in the returned computer, and so he couldn’t use his trackball! He says that he’s trying to be more patient. Steve briefly adds that he didn’t get a PhD from UCLA, as he was a year or two away from finishing, but did get another master’s degree.

Steve ends up checking for the microphone he wants on BestBuy’s website, and discovers that he could order from there instead. He asks the audience if they think he should do that. He decides to check the rating of the third-party seller he got the microphone from. The reviews were 95% positive over the last year, but some reviews indicated that a wrong model had been sent. This causes Steve some doubt.

He decides it’s time to finally open the shipping box. At least the box inside says “Yeti”, and it’s wrapped in plastic, but the plastic looks loose. Steve is unsure about this, suspecting that maybe the box had been resealed. There’s a sticker at the bottom that he thinks was put on by Amazon, who might have wrapped it.

Steve opens the plastic, but starts talking about other stuff like inserting YouTube cards into the videos, the Marvel movies, and the road plates. Regarding the road plates, he says he sent a video to city authorities, the building manager, and the rental office. He shows the video he made of the plates, but there is no sound for some reason! He gets the sound working, and demonstrates the noise the vehicles make as they drive over the metal plates covering some construction holes in the road. Steve says that his city councillor says that public works will be contacted about it.

He moves back to the topic of the microphone unboxing. He opens the plastic wrapper, and takes it off of the product box. Steve sees some little indentations and imperfections on the box, which causes him some doubt. The lack of tape on the box tab causes him even more doubt. He does note that there’s no bad smell, at least!

Steve opens the outer product box, and the inside box does seem to be packed well, at least. And the inner product box does have some tape on it. Inside the inner box he does find the cord, registration card, instruction booklet, two other instruction, styrofoam, so it’s looking fine so far. As an aside, Steve mentions that he was up late due to news, so he slept late, hasn’t eaten lunch, and everything nearby is closed!

He shows off the bottom of the microphone, which is itself wrapped in plastic. There appears to be rubber on the bottom of the microphone, presumably to give it some grip, but Steve sees some marks on it. This causes him more doubt and concern, and pushes him toward returning it.

Steve removes the plastic bag from the microphone, and it did at least have a dessicant package. He indicates that he’s going to try it, but will likely return it, suspecting that it may have been used. He plans to do a reboxing, and then order a new one from another vendor during the live stream. To emphasize the uncertainty of the testing, he changes the background lights all to red.

To try the microphone, he starts by hooking up the cable to the microphone, and then to his computer. He finds that the microphone is too loose within its base. He tries tightening the adjustment knobs, but the microphone loosens again and tips.

Steve tries out the microphone’s sound quality by switching from the webcam mic he had been using. The new microphone does sound different than the webcam’s microphone. There seems to be less echo, and his voice is somewhat higher pitched. He tests out the mute, which seems to work. Then he plays the video so he can hear what it sounds like for himself. He has some minor audio difficulties while doing this.

After listening to the replay, Steve indicates that he likes the sound of it. He thinks it “makes a big difference”. Despite liking the quality of the sound, he decides to switch back to the webcam microphone because he’ll be returning the other microphone and needs to box it up again. He unplugs the microphone from his computer and starts reboxing. He mentions that he might do a live stream about him figuring out how to use YouTube Cards and how to add them to his microphone video.

Steve starts putting the microphone back in the box, but he forgot to put the microphone in the bag, and has to take it out and bag it. He puts in the other stuff that came with it, and closes up the box. At this point he realizes that he forgot to put in the dessicant package! So he opens up the box again and puts the dessicant package into the bag with the microphone. He notes that he doesn’t even want the boxed microphone sitting there overnight; he just wants it out of his apartment! He put the plastic wrapper on the wrong box, so he has to take it of, then the box opens and some stuff falls out! He packages it up again.

He puts the product box in the shipping box, puts in the return slip, and does a thorough job of taping up the shipping box. He affixes the return label to the box, too, and thinks he’ll feel better once finally returning it. There is some concern from the viewers that Steve didn’t put the cable back in the box after the stuff fell out, so he replays the video to prove that he did in fact put the cable back in. Now that the microphone testing is over, he goes back to the blue and purple background lights.

Since he still needs a new microphone, Steve starts to order one from BestBuy’s website, and he should receive it the following Tuesday. He doesn’t want to show his personal info, so he just describes what he’s doing. He says he uses a virtual one-time-use credit card number. The total for the new microphone is $118.69, including tax. He eventually submits the order, and is told it should arrive by December 17th.

Steve mentions that he can still hear banging from the plates on the road. He also talks about how he has made $32.57 in Amazon referrer fees, and shows some items that others have bought. He talks briefly about Amazon affiliate links for non-US buyers, too.

As the unboxing, and subsequent reboxing, are complete, Steve starts to wrap up the video. He talks briefly about the haircut video and the road plate video, and reads some viewer comments from the live chat. He says he needs to eat a very late lunch, and then he plans to go work out. At the end he misses the transition to the “THANKS FOR WATCHING!” screen, so he has to retry it.

I think that this video stream was a real adventure! There was so much uncertainty surrounding the condition of the new microphone he had purchased. It’s too bad that it didn’t seem to be in the condition that he had expected, and that it seemed to have some problem with staying in the proper position. At least he’s able to return it, and should have a better microphone on the way. I’m looking forward to seeing the unboxing of this new microphone once he gets it!

• Karl

A new live stream video (warning: parts of it contain flashing lights!), entitled “LIVE: New Colored Lights Unboxing & Tryout!", is now on Steve Lookner’s Lookner channel on YouTube:

This video starts with Steve showing the audience the shipping box that a pair of color-changing MELPO LED lights that he had ordered came in. He proceeds to unbox them, and begins setting them up in the living room area he’s filming the live stream in. He tries placing them in a few different places, to try to find a good way of getting them to illuminate the wall behind him.

Once finding positions for the two lights that appear to work well enough, Steve then starts to figure out how the lights work. He tries a variety of different color combinations and settings, asking the viewing audience for feedback about what they’re seeing and what they like in the live chat. One color combination he attempts is green and red, inspired by Christmas. Steve also adjusts his webcam’s settings, and he eventually seems to prefer a shade of purple on one side of the background behind him, and a shade of blue on the other side.

He also interacts with the viewers on a variety of topics, including trying to provide Amazon.com referral links to other products he owns that he has mentioned in other videos.

I think that these new color-changing lights should help make Steve’s videos more interesting. The plain wall behind him was boring, and these lights do seem like an easy and non-destructive way of improving the otherwise blank wall during live video streams from his desk area. I wonder what kind of color combinations he’ll use. Near the end of the video he shows that the lights have a mode where they can slowly and steadily change colors, so maybe instead of using specific colors he’ll use that mode and have a background that changes throughout the videos.

• Karl

There’s a new video that Steve Looker of the Lookner YouTube channel has created live, entitled “LIVE: I Clean My Apartment”:

As the title of the video suggests, in this live stream recording Steve does some basic cleaning of his apartment, while interacting with viewers of the stream. Since he appears to be filming it with his cell phone’s camera, and not using a device like a gimbal, there is a lot of motion and movement, which some viewers might find to be annoying. I found that I got used to it as the video went on.

While preparing to clean, he ends up giving a brief tour of his 1-bedroom apartment, showing the layout of the entry way, the kitchen area, the living room area that he also uses as a work area and and as a bedroom, the location of the room he uses as the studio for his Agenda-Free TV YouTube channel, and the apartment’s bathroom that is off to the side.

The first cleaning he does is with his vacuum, starting in his kitchen and entry areas. While cleaning, he stops now and then to talk about some of the items he owns, including some padded floor mats he has in his kitchen, his cutting board, a clothes drying rack, his foyer rug, and even the vacuum itself. He also talks about how he feels that having an automatic dishwasher in an apartment is unnecessary, because one can just wash their dishes by hand after using them.

He moves on to vacuuming under his bed and part of his living room area, before moving over to vacuum the bathroom floor and even the bathroom ceiling fan cover as suggested by a viewer. Somebody in the chat also suggested that he get some house plants, but he replies that he doesn’t like extra things in his apartment, and prefers things that have a practical purpose. He also does some more vacuuming near his desk in the rest of the living room area of his apartment.

Steve uses microfiber cleaning cloths to wipe down various surfaces in his bathroom. While in the bathroom he talks about how he wears a dental retainer, and even lost it in a rental car at one point and had to get it shipped back to him. He also uses the microfiber cloths to wipe down surfaces in his kitchen and his desk.

While in the kitchen area, Steve talks about his kitchen video streaming setup. He had used his cell phone for recording previous videos, but to get higher quality video he’s planning to get a long USB extension cable so he can use his webcam in the kitchen instead, with it hooked up to his computer that’s over in his living room past his bed. He wraps up the video with some more interaction with the viewers in the live chat.

This might not be the most exciting video, but at least he does end up with a cleaner apartment by the end of it. It also gives the audience a better idea about the layout of the apartment, which might not have been as clear previously when he had primarily filmed in just the kitchen or just at his desk work area.

• Karl

Steve Lookner has posted a live stream video entitled “This Is Driving Me CRAZY” to his relatively new Lookner channel on YouTube:

In this video, Steve is using his phone to record a live stream from the streets of Atlanta near his apartment. He’s filming from the sidewalk near an in-progress building construction site, and shows us some large metal plates that have been put over holes that have been excavated into the road.

When cars and other vehicles drive over the plates, it can sometimes make loud thumping or thudding noises. It doesn’t happen for every vehicle that drives over the plate, but it does happen often enough and it’s loud enough for Steve to find the noises to be very annoying. It can apparently happen all day and all night.

He explains how he has tried to contact city officials to try to get the problem dealt with, but he has not yet had any luck actually getting it fixed. He thinks it might take months before it’s resolved. To try to limit the impact of the noise on his everyday life, Steve mentions that he uses white noise machines.

I can definitely see how he could find those noises to be disruptive and annoying. They did happen often enough while he was filming his live stream, which was a few seconds shy of 30 minutes long. Good luck with this problem, Steve!

• Karl

Steve Lookner has a new live stream video on his Lookner channel on YouTube entitled “My Housing Dilemma”:

He’s speaking from the kitchen of his apartment about his housing situation, telling us that he worries about it a lot. While he says he loves doing Agenda-Free TV, there isn’t always breaking news happening. This causes him to be anxious on days when there isn’t breaking news, as he’s then not doing streams, which means he isn’t getting donations from the viewers, which means that he’s not making money. He explains that he lives in Midtown Atlanta, and pays “significant” rent.

Steve talks about how for the fix six months of Agenda-Free TV, he lived in Roswell, Georgia, just north of Atlanta. But he found it too quiet there, and felt too isolated. He also had to drive from his apartment complex to go anywhere.

So he decided to take one year to live in the city, to see how it would work. He has found it more convenient. There’s a gym in the apartment building he lives in, for example, that allows him to work out but still get back to broadcasting on Agenda-Free TV quickly if there is breaking news. Groceries and food are also quicker to get, especially on busy news days. He says the first year is over, and he has just renewed the lease for his apartment in Midtown Atlanta, and now he has to decide what to do.

Steve says he has no anxiety on days with breaking news, but he finds himself getting anxious on other days. He wonders if he should cover more stories, or whether or not he should move somewhere cheaper. He could move somewhere where it’s very cheap to live, but he needs high speed fiber Internet and it’s not always available in some communities. He also needs to be able to stay close by, so he can get on Agenda-Free TV quickly if there is breaking news. He talks about living in Opelika, Alabama for a year. He found it nice, but also too quiet. He also points out that he needs to be in a building with solid walls, so his broadcasting and work doesn’t disturb his neighbors, and he doesn’t want to be able to hear them, either.

This leads to the question he’s facing: should he leave Atlanta for somewhere cheaper, to help with the anxiety and worry about not making money on slow news days?

Somebody in the live chat suggested that he should move to Hawaii. Steve says that his family is in Boston, so he doesn’t want to be too far away from them. He also has some doubts about the speed of the Internet there, as well as how to get his possessions out there if he were to move there. Orlando is also suggested as an option.

Steve mentions that there are other complicating factors. One is that 2020 is an election year in the US. His current Agenda-Free TV studio setup works great, and he thinks it’s risky to move because things might not work as well. He’s also not sure what he’ll be doing in a year.

He says he had considered ignoring the temperature requirement, and moving somewhere very cheap, like Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Internet download speeds there are fast, but he thought the upload speeds would be too slow for the work he does. Steve talks about how he’s never owned a property, as he’s always moved around a lot and never knew where he was going to be the next year.

Chattanooga comes up as a possible place to move to. Steve says he checked it out before renewing his lease. It apparently has very good Internet, but he also says it seemed too quiet on a weekday when he visited.

Steve ends up cutting the stream short because of a breaking news story that he wants to cover on Agenda-Free TV.

I think that this housing situation is a complex problem to deal with. There are a lot of factors involved that may not be as important for somebody who works in a separate office or building, for example, or for somebody who doesn’t have the high speed Internet requirement that Steve has. Although it’s a short stream, it sure gave me a lot to think about and to consider. I hope that Steve is able to find some arrangement that works, so that he can continue to create Agenda-Free TV and Lookner channel content.

• Karl

There is a new live stream video on Steve Lookner’s Lookner channel on YouTube, entitled “LIVE Atlanta Piedmont Park Walkaround - 1st Outdoor Stream!":

In this video we see him going for a walk, using his phone to record his travels. He starts near the intersection of 14th Street and West Peachtree Street NW in Midtown Atlanta, and proceeds to head toward Piedmont Park.

While walking, he talks about how he’s trying out the technology he has available to him for this style of outdoor live streaming. He discusses the microphone he’s using with his phone, and he tries out switching between the front and back cameras on his phone. Steve also talks about the tall buildings he passes or can see, and how the area has been developing since he moved in near by.

Once arriving at the park’s entrance, he shows off the gate. After proceeding through the gate, he stops briefly at a peace monument from 1911, before looking at some athletic fields that include baseball diamonds and soccer fields.

He decides to show the viewing audience some birds, and starts to walk towards Lake Clara Meer, a large pond or a small lake. As he gets closer to the edge of the water, he sees some Canada geese and some ducks.

After leaving the lake and the ducks, Steve walks to a large open area, where there are surprisingly few people. He talks about how events like music festivals are held in the park, and he also points out some large buildings that can be seen in the distance. He continues to walk, again showing off part of the pond/lake, and then another large open grassy field area.

Coming upon a sign with a map of the park, he shows the viewers where he has walked through the park so far. For viewers not familiar with Atlanta and not familiar with Piedmont Park, this part of the video probably helps them understand better where he has walked so far, and where he’ll be walking soon after.

While continuing to walk, he talks briefly about visiting various other attractions and places in Georgia or that would otherwise be relatively close to him. The chatters in the live chat give some suggestions. At one point a dog, apparently named Otis, runs up toward Steve.

Steve proceeds toward an area of the park with some dog parks. While on the way there, he stops briefly to look at the Piedmont Park Demonstration Orchard and its fruit trees. Not long after he arrives at the dog parks, where there is one fenced in area meant for larger dogs and another separate fenced in area meant for smaller dogs. He notes that there are few dogs in the small dog park area, and there are even some small dogs in the area meant for larger dogs!

After the visit to the dog park, he starts making his way back. He walks up some stairs, and shows off the pond/lake and some tall buildings that can be seen in the distance. He crosses a small bridge across the pond/lake, and shows off a swimming pool area. He continues to walk back through the park, stopping briefly at one point to show off a view of the Midtown Atlanta skyline.

Steve talks about how he’d be interested in visiting various cities, towns, and other places to make content, assuming the finances worked out. He proceeds back through the athletic fields area he had passed through earlier in the live stream, and back through the entrance gate he originally came in at. He walks down some of the nearby streets, again showing the viewers some of the various buildings that are in the area.

I liked this video. I have never been to Atlanta, and I didn’t even know that Piedmont Park existed until seeing this video, so it was a learning experience for me. Since he was just using a phone, and didn’t seem to be using anything to help stabilize the footage, it was shaky. This was annoying at first, but I think I got accustomed to it as he continued to film. For a first attempt at a live streaming video recorded on a phone and with lots of movement, I think it went relatively well.

• Karl

There’s another live stream video on Steve Lookner’s new Lookner channel on YouTube, entitled “Back in Atlanta…and Monetized!":

This live stream session is recorded in Atlanta, now that Steve has just returned from Boston. He hasn’t even unpacked yet, so he says.

The channel is now monetized, but YouTube Super Chat wasn’t enabled in the live chat for some reason. Steve goes over to his computer to enable that functionality. A viewer named Steve D makes the channel’s first donation, in the amount of $3.00. Other viewers make some subsequent donations. For some reason Super Stickers couldn’t be sent, so Steve goes back to his computer to enable those. Viewer Steve D also sends the first Super Sticker, for an amount of $2.00. It shows a cat animation.

Steve (Lookner, not D) talks about how mobile streaming was enabled while he was in Boston, and that he did some streaming from his phone while there. He checks the quality of the current streaming. It’s not bad, but he says he’s going to improve the lighting. The phone appears to be limited to 720p, unfortunately. Some viewers report the stream is choppy.

He talks more about some equipment he’s ordered to try to improve the video quality. He’s ordered a bigger tripod for the phone or camera, instead of using the small hand-held tripod he’s been using so far. He also has a ring light on order, to try to improve the lighting.

Unfortunately, he admits that he didn’t have time to do a live stream about the dog while still in Boston. He says he was busy with family stuff instead, but says he’ll try to do it the next time he goes back to Boston.

He emphasizes that he wants to do other kinds of content aside from what he’s made so far. Regarding monetization, he thought it would take a month or possibly longer to get monetized, but while sitting on the plane waiting to take off he checked his email and got an email about monetization.

Steve talks about possibly doing some product reviews. He might get a stool for the kitchen area where he’s filming, instead of standing. He also likes the idea of doing streams on random topics, but he doesn’t want to do too many short random live streams in case it sounds out too many notifications that may start to annoy people. Live streaming also uses more phone battery, so he’ll need to remember to start bringing his battery pack with him.

A viewer reports in the live chat that they couldn’t see the live chat replays. Steve checks, and can’t see it on his iPad, but can see it on his computer. So maybe it depends on the device being used?

Steve talks about his flight from Boston back to Atlanta, reporting that he couldn’t control the TV in his seat. He will inform the plane company about it, and thinks he might get a small credit. He confirms that he is feeling better, and isn’t stick like he was in Boston earlier.

A chatter asks if he’ll do a tour of the room in his apartment that he has set up as his Agenda-Free TV YouTube channel studio, but Steve is hesistant to do that. He doesn’t necessarily want to be helping other people who might want to create a show similar to his. He does go into the studio room briefly, but only to show off the YouTube award that he has mounted on the wall, without really showing the rest of the room.

He says that he has to go grocery shopping at some point. He got some carrots to eat on the plane, but isn’t sure that they’re still good, as they hadn’t been refrigerated for a while. He also shows a container of two week old tuna, adding that he won’t be eating it and will throw it away instead. He couldn’t go shopping since getting back because the flight he was on had been delayed 3 hours due to the weather.

Steve wraps up the video by thanking a number of viewers. One viewer asks if he’ll have a Christmas tree, but he says no, as he doesn’t have a good place in his apartment to put it. He likes a functional apartment, with few decorations.

This probably isn’t a very interesting video for people who haven’t been following Steve and his work on his new Lookner channel. It’s more of an update than anything else, but I think it’s also setting the stage for some promising future videos.

• Karl

There is a new video on the Lookner channel on YouTube, entitled “Mobile Live Streaming ENABLED!".

This is the first major non-studio streaming video! Steve is filming from Boston, from a room in his parents’ house.

Somehow he started two streams, so he has to go into another room, to a computer there, to get rid of one of the streams. It looks like a studio with a green screen that he uses when he’s there in Boston. He alerts the viewers of the other stream about the actual one, and deletes the other stream.

He’s filming using his phone, since mobile live streaming had just been enabled. Once he’s back in Atlanta he says he’ll have to figure out the lighting situation.

Steve had made one video outside, but it wasn’t live, so this stream is the first one with live video from his phone. He thinks he’ll use the phone for streams indoors, but not in the studio. He checks the audio, because he’s using a microphone that works with his phone.

He says that he’s submitted the monetization application for his new Looker YouTube channel, but thinks that it might take a month before it’s approved.

A viewer, possibly joking, offers to donate an iPhone to Steve. He does say that he might upgrade his phone if he ends up doing a lot of streaming. One with a wide-angle lens could be useful, he suggests. Some of the viewers suggest a GoPro camera, but Steve isn’t sure if such a camera would be able to live stream to YouTube like his phone can.

Steve explains how he’s been busy with family stuff while in Boston. He visited his dad in a care facility, visited his brother and family, had dinner with his mom, and walked the dog. He also had a high school reunion, and he enjoyed it.

He gets some water, and it shows how flexible live streaming can be. He’s happy that live streaming is enabled, as he can now make a lot more videos once he’s back in Atlanta. Steve talks about how he doesn’t want to buy equipment prematurely. He’d rather try making some videos, to see what he actually needs. He says he has watched some videos about blogging equipment, and might get some small panel lights.

Steve goes downstairs in his parents’ house, as he has to move out of the room he had previously been using. He leaves briefly to check something upstairs about 30 minutes into the video, and points the camera at some window blinds for about 2-and-a-half minutes! So your stream probably isn’t broken, you just need to give it some time until he returns!

He answers a few questions from users, and shows off the external battery pack that he uses with his phone so he can use it longer while live streaming. He’s also using a small tripod to hold the phone. He thinks a wide-angle lens would be good to get, but doesn’t think he’ll get a stabilizer just yet, although he may get a small lavalier microphone. According to Steve, his phone is about 3 years old, but it was a high spec phone back then.

Steve talks briefly about notifications, asking the audience if and how they got notified. He also mentions that there’s a Discord channel that viewers can chat on.

He talks about the predicted snow storm, but doesn’t think that it will interfere with his flight back to Atlanta. Before heading back he’s hoping to do a live stream with the dog, but the dog is currently sleeping and Steve doesn’t want to wake him up.

Steve wraps up by thanking the moderators and viewers.

I found it unusual to be seeing Steve outside of the Agenda-Free TV studio setting where he’s been for so many of the other videos of his that I’ve watched. It is good that live streaming has been enabled, because I think it will give him a lot more freedom to create a much wider variety of content for his new Lookner channel. I’m really looking forward to seeing what he is able to create!

• Karl

Steve Lookner of the Lookner channel on YouTube has created a new live stream video entitled “Sickness & Mobile Live Streaming Update from Boston”.

In this video Steve is still in front of a green screen. He says that on his phone and his iPad he was getting a message saying his account isn’t eligible for live streaming. But recently a “live” button showed up, and he thought that live streaming was working. But when he tries to do a live stream after clicking the button, he got the eligibility error message again! So he says there is still no live streaming, although maybe some progress is being made.

The Lookner channel’s YouTube page does now have the “Community” tab enabled, however. He asks if anyone got the message he posted there. He also demonstrates how to use the YouTube “SUBSCRIBE” button, and also how to use the bell button to get notifications, too. He talks about notifications in general. He thinks that the Discord channel should give notifications soon.

Steve moves on to talking about how he has been sick lately. It’s day three, or more, of being sick. He says he’s had terrible sleep, getting only 5 hours in bursts of 1 hour, but he also says he’s feeling a little better. He’s staying with his mother, so he sees her often, but he hasn’t been able to see his father who is in a care facility. He also hasn’t seen one of his brothers and his brother’s family, as he doesn’t want to risk them getting sick.

He also gives a monetization update. The channel needs 4,000 viewer hours to apply for monetization, and it’s now at about 3,500 watch hours. So he’s hopeful that he’ll soon be able to apply for monetization, but expects it might take up to a month before it’s enabled. He discusses the monetization process. He talks about community notifications, and how they might not work on iPads. Steve also answers various questions from viewers, and chats about various topics.

Even when he’s sick, or recovering from being sick, I think Steve puts on an interesting live stream! I’m looking forward to seeing some Lookner channel live streams once live streaming is enabled for his phone. It sure sounds like it’s close to being enabled! Get well soon, Steve.

• Karl

There’s a new live stream video out from Steve Lookner of the Lookner channel on YouTube. It’s entitled “I’m Sick”:

Steve is in Boston, and he says he’s sick. He thought he was getting sick the day before, but now is definitely sick. He says he has a cough, runny nose, pains, digestive problems, exhaustion, and “a little bit of everything”, but will be doing a live stream anyway.

He mentions that he often gets sick when three things happen: 1) he travels, 2) he’s very busy, and 3) when the weather is cold. All three things have happened to him recently.

Because he’s sick, he isn’t visiting his relatives, to avoid getting them sick, too. Somebody in the live chat suggests he try some chicken soup. He talks about some sugar-free Ricola cough drops he got.

Steve is still waiting for live streaming to be enabled for his phone. He also talks about how his mother made some Thanksgiving stuffing a few days early.

In the live chat he’s asked about why he has to watch his weight. He explains that 5 or 6 years earlier he went for an annual checkup, and the doctor looked at his vitals and noticed that Steve had gained 20 lbs in a year for no obvious reason at all. Some tests didn’t find anything wrong, so it looked like his metabolism had slowed down. Steve says he had to change his diet, and couldn’t eat the same things he had been eating. He had to give up caffeine and desserts, and tries to avoid pizza, white bread, white rice, and fried food.

Steve also says he used to like drinking pop for lunch, and thinks he might have been addicted to caffeine. He would get headaches if he didn’t get caffeine. He’s happy that he gave it up, saying he sleeps better, and has fewer highs and lows. He does miss pop, though, along with clam chowder and ice cream.

He talks about how he usually uses hand sanitizer on the plane while flying. He also says he can’t visit his dad who is currently in a care facility, because he doesn’t want to get anyone where sick. When he’s sick he says he needs more sleep, but being sick makes sleep harder. He talks about how he doesn’t like to take certain medications, because they make him feel knocked out and tired.

Steve moves on to talking about how he wanted to do the live stream somewhere else, but YouTube hasn’t enabled live streaming from his phone yet. He says he doesn’t want to do all of his videos in front of a green screen. He wants to go out and film elsewhere. Steve gets on the topic of the t-shirts he wears. He likes solid color Old Navy shirts. For some reason he finds that gray and black colored shirts are not as comfortable to him as navy blue ones are, possibly due to being made out of different fabrics. He says that gray is never as soft as blue, and wishes that the gray and black shirts were more comfortable.

A viewer suggests he do live call-ins. Steve says he can’t, because he doesn’t know who would be calling in, and he can’t stream calls while live streaming. It would be more technically complex, too. He starts coughing, and asks the viewers to vote in the live chat whether or not he should use a cough drop while talking on the live stream. The viewers vote yes, even if there are annoying noises. He says that he never eats on air. He did it once, and it was a disaster. He also says he doesn’t like tea, and tends to drink water.

Steve gives a monetization update. The channel needs 4,000 watch hours before it’s enabled, and earlier it was at 2,600 watch hours. He hopes he will soon be able to apply for monetization. He responds to some viewer comments from the live chat.

He talks about a news story he had covered earlier on Agenda-Free TV, involving a police standof with a veteran in New York. The chat room discussion got very heated at the time. So he’s considering doing news reports on Agenda-Free TV, and then immediately after doing a post-show show on the Lookner channel. He was going to do it, but was too sick. He’s surprised about how much attention that story got, though. Steve says he would do late-night chat streams if he knew viewers would donate. He says he has limited resources, and has to put a focus on things that will help cover his expenses.

A viewer asks in the live chat what Steve would be doing for a living if he wasn’t making content for his Agenda-Free TV and Lookner channels. He says he doesn’t know. Before RSBN, he was in grad school for philosophy, working on getting a PhD. They would pay him to attend, and he’s give teaching help. He wasn’t sure what he would do with a PhD if he got it, and was about a year away from getting it. He says he has two master’s degrees in philosophy, with one of them coming through the PhD program.

Steve is also asked if he would get back into comedy writing. He says he doesn’t know, and might talk about it in another live stream. He used to be a TV show writer, but says that as a writer you don’t always have a lot of control when writing for a show. He likes the freedom of his own channels.

He also talks about taking seven or eight months to write and publish some comedy books when he was in grad school. It was a fun experience to create things, he said. He had wanted to write a book, so he did it. His personal favorite of his own books is “The Fault in Our Pants”, a parody of “The Fault in Our Stars”. He says he liked it because he wrote a parody about a book that he didn’t think would typically be parodied. Another of his own books that he likes is “The Lightning Fart”. He describes it as having the strongest plot underlying it. His friend made the cover for the book, and got him an agent. The agent’s son read the book and liked it, so the agent tried to get a book company to buy it, but none would. Steve says he might do a favorite books stream sometime.

One of the viewers suggests in the live chat that Steve make a “hot toddy”. Another suggests that he eat some pineapple. Steve says that he did buy some earlier, and may have some. He thought about streaming from bed while being sick, but doesn’t have live streaming enabled yet from his phone. He says that he doesn’t usually have time to sit and watch TV, but he did it for the first time in a while while sick. He also says that doing the live stream helps keep him distracted from being sick! Steve asks the viewers about personal steam inhalers, and gets some other suggestions from the viewers about how to inhale steam.

I think that this was an interesting stream. I think it helped the audience to get to know Steve better. And I hope he starts to feel better again soon!

• Karl

Steve Lookner of the Lookner channel on YouTube has created a live stream video entitled “Boston Update: Why I’ve Been So Busy - LIVE STREAM”.

He mentions that he came back to Boston on Tuesday evening, and wants to explain why he hasn’t been able to stream news. It turns out he has been very busy with a variety of activities.

On Wednesday and Thursday he says he had a college-related event. When he was in college, he was on a humor magazine called the Harvard Lampoon. He says there is an event where graduates come back and meet with newly elected members. He thinks it’s important for him to attend because he benefited from the presence of older members when he first joined.

He also explains that his family is all in the Boston area, and that his father is having some health issues and is in a care facility and no longer at home. So Steve has had to split time between seeing his mother at home, and seeing his father at the care facility. He’s also trying to see both of his siblings and their families.

Steve doesn’t want the channels to grind to a halt. He would have covered other news on Agenda-Free TV if he hadn’t been so busy. He says that Thanksgiving is coming up on Thursday, and it’s a big family event that will likely have 40 or more people. He also has a high school reunion on Friday. With all of these things going on at once during his trip, he can’t get on the air as much as he would like, and apologizes for this.

A viewer asks why Steve doesn’t just live in Boston, instead of Atlanta. He says that he really hates the cold, and feels sicker when it’s cold outside. Sometimes he even finds Atlanta to be too cold, and has considered moving somewhere warmer, such as Florida. He says that he plans to do a stream on the Lookner channel about possibly moving somewhere else, and what his requirements would be.

He’s still waiting for YouTube to activate live streaming on his phone for the Lookner channel. Once it’s activated, he can then do things outside the studio while live streaming. With his current set up he’s tied to streaming from a computer, which is limiting. He says that part of the reason for creating the second channel was to get out of the studio.

Steve says that he’s grateful that his parents are still alive, as many friends he has have lost one or both parents, so he’s trying to see his father as much as possible.

The idea of getting a second host for Agenda-Free TV comes up. Steve says maybe it’ll happen some day, but currently he thinks it would be too complex to find somebody who’s qualified, and to then train them and get a studio set up. He also doesn’t have the money to pay them.

He says that he also has to figure out the moderation situation for the Lookner channel, such as how it will work and how people will become moderators. He also says the channel still needs more watch hours before monetization is possible, so he’s waiting for them to accumulate. There are lots of different things he wants to try out, such as different types of content, but he needs live streaming from his phone to be enabled first. He wants to do a stream where people meet the dog, for example.

Steve mentions that after the stream he’ll be having dinner with his mother, and he is thinking of doing a news stream after that. He wants to cover the Hong Kong elections, but the timing is unusual for somebody in Boston, where Steve currently is. A viewer asks where Steve will be going for dinner, and Steve says probably Chinese food. He likes it in Boston, but not in Atlanta.

He reads and responds to various viewer questions and comments in the live chat. He also talks about the COPPA-related changes coming to YouTube and if they’ll apply to his channels. He think that toy review channels might be affected, as the restrictions are significant. He thinks he’ll have to read more about it.

Steve recaps the current situation with the new Lookner channel, where he’s still waiting on the activation of live streaming on his phone, but he does want to make more content, and will be busy for the next week or so while in Boston. He thanks the viewers, and mentions that he loves sushi, but it’s too expensive. If he had lots of money one live-changing thing he would do would be to eat more sushi.

I think that this was an informative news stream. It gives the viewers a better sense of what’s going on with Agenda-Free TV and the new Lookner channel. I hope that Steve is able to get streaming on his phone enabled soon, so that he can make more content. I also hope that his father is doing ok.

• Karl

Steve Lookner, who also hosts the Agenda-Free TV YouTube channel that focuses on breaking news, has held a live stream session to create the first video for his new Lookner channel on YouTube. This first video has the relevant title of “The First Video”:

In this video, Steve goes into more detail about the new Lookner channel that he is in the process of building up. It sounds like he has a number of ideas for content, possibly including some comedy content and more live stream content, although he indicated that his first priority will still be Agenda-Free TV.

He also talks about some of the limitations of a new channel. It’s not currently monetized, for example, so that is something he will be working toward. He also thinks it may be harder to draw people to his new channel, as it may not be as easily found as his Agenda-Free TV channel is. Steve is also waiting for live streaming support to be activated on his phone.

A variety of other topics came up. Steve talked about his sleep schedule, which can be unusual at times because of when breaking news happens, and his coverage of it. Additionally, he talked about his apartment and its layout, and how it might present some challenges for recording content. At one point he indicates that he prefers live videos to pre-recorded content, as the live streams allow for more interaction with the audience, and they allow him to avoid doing video editing that he doesn’t have time for. He considers possibly doing a video about his living situation and his requirements for a home.

Steve mentions that he will be traveling to Boston, and he wraps up the video by sending thanks to the audience.

I think that this is a good start. It’s a simple live stream video, but I think it does help prepare the viewers for what Steve might have in store for his new Lookner channel. I know that I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of content he’ll be creating for this new channel!

• Karl