From YouTube.com user: Brookers

I've been grappling with Ms. Brookers for a few days now. The girl is a freaking industry now: she has a career with NBC, she has a whole Fansite devoted to her, she has over 20,000 subscribers, and she is consistently on the top five of the "most subscribed channels(all time)" list. So, not only have the YouTube proletariat spoken, they've gotten bullhorns, started standing outside our windows at all hours of the day, and have been playing the obnoxious preprogrammed "Star-Spangled Banner" like camp councilors with too much bug juice in them.

My primary question going into her catalog of crazy was this one: what makes her so damn popular? And the answer, two days later, lots of "what smells?" faces made in confusion, and several patches of hair missing from my head is this one: I don't know.

I don't know what differentiates Brooker's videos from any other V-log on the YouTube. She seems to work from an ironic, sarcastic sort of conceit, sometimes making fun of other v-loggers. Sometimes not. Sometimes shimmying wildly to an eclectic assortment of bad music by herself. Sometimes with her younger sister. Actually, the only thing that seems to run a thread from first entry to last is her gap-toothed contortionist face and her penchant for making me feel like I'm on Acid and Crack at the same time.

Yet, somehow she owns the entire duration of each post and makes my mouse-clickin' finger go for more, like kettle corn, or Lays Chips. I am compelled by some sort of adorable, cherub-faced sorcerer that lives in a "Peeps" marshmallow-treat factory. The only reasoning I can come up with is that Brookers reminds me of an annoying and weird little sister who is kinda funny.

She'll go through several moments that feel so contrived to bother me that I want to smack her. Then she'll make a face or stumble a bit in her contrivance that makes her so immediately endearing, I can't help but chuckle a bit. She's like a really, really, really cute version of Karen Finley, although that may be giving a bit too much credit to her construction of the skits and not enough to her natural bizarreness.

I wonder if she walks down the street and gets stopped by her fans, and if so I wonder what they expect her to be like in real life. Is Brookers out of her mind? or does she put on the crazy like a mask? Is there a way to distinguish those two?

Truth is, I don't know. I don't even think she knows. Maybe if she figured it out she could be an artistic force to be reckoned with. Or maybe watching her figure it out on screen is what makes her so alluring. I don't know. All I know is that in this day and age, there is no such thing as 15 minutes of fame; those misguided voices that were once blips on the five o' clock news radar can now have their own television show, their own deal with Carson Daly, and a Wikipedia entry.

Labels: Brookers, cap'n guthrie, comedy, dance, NBC, Weird, whateva

From YouTube.com user: CBS

So yesterday I wrote about two videos on YouTube, and both of them are converging here on this clip of David Letterman’s show last night. Jerry Seinfeld was also on the show and offered to help give Michael Richards an opportunity to explain his actions at the Laugh Factory the night before.

First of all, Seinfeld is on a late nite comedy show telling people not to laugh. Second, they’re helping to laugh off what had happened when he stops them from laughing. Jerry and Letterman both seem pretty uncomfortable, and obviously Michael is more than awkward about the whole incident.

This is just one great bit of uncomfortable television, and really the only question to be posed is: did this work?

Labels: CBS, David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld, Kramer, michael richards, mischler, N-word, people

Please don't be that guy! Well, don't be unless you plan to make it into a film anyway. This short film comes to us from Don't Be That Guy Films. It is a comedy film of all the things you can't be seen doing when you're not in the pool. This one guy does everything from playing Marco Polo to the ultimate embarrassing act of peeing his pants. Definitely some funny moments in this one that had me laughing out loud. Check it out!

See more from this YouTube.com user: dontbethatguyfilms

Labels: avalos, comedy, dontbethatguyfilms, Short film

This animated video comes to us from Pete Moraites. In it, the question of how we dream is answered. The video is only a couple of minutes in length, and there are some choppy moments.

Overall though, the animation is okay, and there is some good background music to accompany the animation. There are some trippy moments too. Definitely a video worth watching though. It made me think about dreams and their source.

See more from this YouTube.com user: petemoraites

Labels: arts and animation, avalos, petemoraites

This is quick video intervention from stand-up comedian, Mark Day. I think we're all guilty of over smiley use in our day to day online communications. Well, according to Mark Day we're setting ourselves up for a future full of cats!

I already have two cats myself, so what does tell you? Does this mean I use way too many smileys? Hmm! This video is short and quite funny. Learn more about the T.S. Elliot equation by watching this video. There might be a quiz later!

See more from this YouTube.com user: MarkDayComedy

Labels: avalos, cats, comedy, MarkDayComedy

I found this video last night, and I knew I had to share it with you. It's short and simple. No effects. Just one man, a camera and his banjo. He definitely has some talent and fast fingers to pull it off. The camera was pulled in just a bit close, so that the man's head is cut off in some parts of the video. This doesn't distract from the music though. This video is definitely worth watching. Check it out!

See more from this YouTube.com user: charbs408408

Labels: avalos, charbs408408, music

Meet Nerk! This was his first Vlog, and as you can tell he is not from this world. In fact, in this Vlog he hasn't even reached our planet yet. To him, we live on a stupid place called Earth. Nerk is just your typical teenager dealing with parents and traveling along life.

This video is short with simple animation, but the video is definitely funny. It isn't even a minute long, so it won't take you but a minute to watch. I'm going to be checking out more of Nerk in the future, and I'll let you know of any other good moments from his life you should check out!

See more from this YouTube.com user: JollyMunkie

Labels: arts and animation, avalos, JollyMunkie

From YouTube.com user: Vancouver Film School

After watching this short video you will never be able to look at a Rubik's Cube in the same way ever again. It is really quite amazing. It comes to us from Ori Ben-Shabat, a recent graduate of Canada's Vancouver Film School.

The video is a mix of real life action with computer generated graphics and effects. The music is from another VFS grad, and it won Best Original Score. The video is only a little over two minutes in lenght, and the graphics are done extremely well. For someone just out of film school, Ori has a bright future ahead of him if he continues to produce work of this quality.

Labels: arts and animation, avalos, computer graphics, film, VancouverFilmSchool, VFS

We all love celebrity and character impressions. At least I know I do. Some can be pretty spot on, while others end up falling way short of the person being impersonated. I say this video has a bit of both.

This ten minute long video comes to us from Xion Productions, and in the video we see one man as he goes through over forty different characters and celebrities with his own impersonations. Some are great, and some had myself and my brother who was listening in while the video played shaking our heads.

Some of the impressions are quite good though. I think some of the character impressions, including those from Star Wars and various cartoons were quite good actually. They make this video worth watching. Check it out!

See more from this YouTube.com user: XionProductions

Labels: avalos, celebrity impression, comedy, news and blogs, XionProductions

Last week, I posted a video where one man talks about why he got out of bed each and every day. He did it just because each day is worth living. This video is another that answers the same question from the perspective of one Vlogger, DiGiTiLsOuL.

This video doesn't have any special effects, very little music in the background. It feels like the man in the video is sitting down and just talking to us. It really gives the video an honest feel to it. Sometimes you don't need the extras to make a good video. You just need something to say, and you need to say it well.

What's his reason for getting up each day? His son, which he shows in the video briefly. Definitely a video worth watching.

See more from this YouTube.com user: DiGiTiLsOuL

Labels: avalos, DiGiTiLsOuL, news and blogs

Halloween is not too far in our past. With Thanksgiving Day upon us this week, we are once again drawn to the plight of the pumpkin. First we carve them up for fun on Halloween, and then for Thanksgiving we offer even further humilation by making pies from them. The horror! Well, at least if you look at it from the perspective of the pumpkin.

This video from Blame Society Productions does just that. We take a journey with one pumpkin as it is ripped from its home at the pumpkin patch, while it is carved for Halloween, and then we watch as it finally finds freedom in its death and destruction.

This short five minute film allows us into the thoughts of a pumpkin, and it does so hilariously. The video itself is shot well, and the voiceover work of Matt Sloan as the pumpkin also works. No fancy effects here. Just a bit of background music and some good comedy. Check it out!

See more from this YouTube.com user: blamesocietyfilms

Labels: avalos, blamesocietyfilms, comedy, film

We all know in the computing world, the big boys are PC and Mac. We see the commercials on our televisions even with these two battling it out in humorous ways. The main forces between these two are Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. This video pokes a little bit of fun at this battle using one of the more infamous scenes of the new Star Wars trilogy.

Instead of Anakin Skywalker becoming Lord Vader, we have Steve Jobs becoming Lord Jobs hearing of the death of his beloved Power PC. It is a short parody clip that takes the footage from that scene and uses it to make a hilarious little video. The change of audio is pretty much unnoticeable. Although the picture of Steve Jobs used does look terribly fake. The video still works though! Check it out.

See more from this YouTube.com user: gizmodo

Labels: avalos, comedy, gizmodo, parody, Star Wars, technology

You ever wonder why so many football players have been shooting jump shots after making a big play this year? Blame Jim Jones. The New York rapper has started a phenomenon with this video “We Fly High” by mimicking basketball moves and yelling “ballin’!” in the process. This is not a great song, folks, but if you’ve been entertained by 300 pound gargantuans on Saturdays and Sundays pretending to shoot fade away jumpers after scoring a touchdown or making a sack, then you’ll enjoy this one for sure… “Ballin!”

See more from this Youtube user: rayrayaxe16

Labels: ballin, ethan, jim jones, music, music video