From YouTube.com user: happyslip

Home. Home is where the your heart is. Home for the holidays is the best wish anyone could grant. Merry Christmas.

Labels: aitkins, carol, Christine, Christmas, family, filapina, happyslip, New York City, NYC

From YouTube.com user: Zipster08

Now this is what the "worldwide web" and "community" is all about: Bringing people together from around the world, all connected only via their individual Internet connections for the purpose of creating something meaningful and to share in a cause in the spirit of the Christmas. Hokey? Maybe. Successful? Incredibly.

The cause was a simple one: to bring together voices from the YouTube vlogging community in a choir of sorts to present The 12 Days of Christmas. A simple cause but no small undertaking. But if the definition of a successful cause, by YouTube standards, is a high number of views, then this one is a smashing success. This entertaining video (as of Dec. 17) has surpassed 1.24 million views. (And they received 3288 comments.)

In early November Matt5413 posted a video request asking others to send in their renditions of the traditional Christmas song. After all the entries were received Matt5413, SilentWhistle and Zipster08 went to work creating this very creative piece of living art that wove together not only the many varied voices, but also the lively images and personalities of each of the 'choir' members.

Kudos go to the flawless editing by SilentWhistle, with production help from Zipster08. (I'm still trying to figure out how he kept everyone's singing in time with the musical track that carries the song throughout the video.)

What makes this piece more layered and interesting and infinitely more watchable is the homespun nature of it. Some of collaborators have, um, well, shall we say less than professional sounding voices, while a few of the voices are very impressive. The backgrounds, lighting and sound quality are all varied and most are imperfect. And again that's what brings the community feel to this and makes you want to stay for every verse.

I apologize for sounding like a cliche, but successful efforts like these that obviously involve many hours of tedious work without the thought of monetary reward are what Christmas is all about. Excellent work.

Labels: aitkins, Christmas, crossmack, DiGiTiLsOuL, ezaviar, fehquig, geriatric1927, gguider, karldaly, loonylisa, Matt5413, mharris1920, mrspassic, people, proudyke, rmrsgirl, SilentWhistle, Zipster08

From YouTube.com user: theresidents

Today, Timmy tells us about a one-legged man, a chipmunk named Charlie, and about his sister's funeral. Timmy hopes Charlie doesn't die. Cute little Timmy is a little strange.

The Residents' quirky takes on the '60's all have a sinister, twisted, funny feel to them.

Labels: charlie, entertainment, penny watkins, theresidents, timmy

From YouTube.com user: psylentknight

I enjoyed the nature slides in this "moment of peace" by psylentknight. Towards the end, there were, in fairly quick succession, slides of three mounted camels sillouetted against the desert sky, a night moon with Santa and reindeer (I think) across it, and the light tower shining from the World Trade Center site. Not nature, and symbolic of what? The music was not peaceful, but it was perfectly matched with the video. Great job, psylentknight.

Labels: earth, moon, nature, peace, penny watkins, psylentknight, stars, sun, travel and places

From YouTube.com user: renetto

Renetto finds himself in a cathedral at the holidays, and is impelled to sing because he likes the sound of his own voice (which is very good). And, perhaps, because of the wonderful acoustics. He films himself quite close up, singing "Silent Night" acapella. It makes a very nice Christmas (or Hannakuh, if you'll excuse the Jesus reference) card.

Labels: carol, Christmas, entertain, penny watkins, renetto

From YouTube.com user: theresidents

TIMMY's little sister (how many sisters does he have??) got a giant doll for her birthday, and it must have been a cabbage patch prototype, because it was an orphan, and its parents were killed in an accident. TIMMY thinks it was kind of creepy, so maybe it was more like Chucky than a cabbage patch. Or maybe Chucky is a cabbage patch. AAGH! The Residents make these TIMMY videos so confusing. They have so many layers, so much depth, so much symbolism. Or, maybe they're just a drug-induced dream left over from the '60's.

Labels: doll, entertainment, eyeball, penny watkins, theresidents, timmy

From YouTube.com user: sweetteafilms

Sweetteafilms treats us to another comedy interview. This time the announcer, "Steve" interviews Shep Hensley, who is a top teaching prospect. Steve has a flat, high-pitched nasal voice, and he sounds like he's consitpated or high. Shep is sincere, honest and direct. He wants to be a great teacher and a role model for kids. He's been compared to Ted Phillips, but Heck, he finds the comparison flattering. Shep just hopes he can do that well.

There are risks to a career in teaching, but Shep thinks he can run with the ball and be a powerhouse teacher. Yes, he heard how Maggie Duncan fell. She used to be the best, she was teacher of the year three years running back in the '80's. National MVP. But, well, she got lax. Stopped going to in-services, and lost control of her classroom. She's been traded for two student teachers. So yeah, it can happen to anyone, but Shep hopes it won't happen to him.

If he had to, he could play professional sports, but you can't support a family that way. Besides, most kids look up to their teacher, not those ball players. Steve thinks we'll be hearing more from Shep. We sure hope so.

Labels: baseball, comedy, penny watkins, prospect, sweetteafilms, teaching

From YouTube.com user: jessicapeanut

Vitamin C's "Smile" is the perfect song for this video. Lots of cute animal smiles, "Your dimples are so cute."

"LIfe it ain't easy, it's so tough." Especially if you are a gorilla or a rhino or a baby giraffe with Mom licking your head (Remember your mom spitting on a kleenex and washing your face? Imagine a great big black tongue instead of the kleenes...). But you can still, "put a smile on your face, make the world a better place." Jessica is very skilled at synchronizing slides with music, and you'll enjoy the way she put them together in this cute animal video.

Labels: animals, cute babies, entertainment, jessicapeanut, kittens, panda bears, penny watkins, pets, puppies, put a smile on your face

From YouTube.com user: Gr8Shotz

I've been looking forward to this vlog by Gr8Shotz because I wanted to see the pig. He said he met a pig at the church carnival he took his folks to. And, by the way, this was a lot cooler than any church carnival I've ever been to. They had real carnival rides, games and a midway. It was night time, and the video is a little dark in some places, but Russ did a wonderful job of capturing the carnival atmosphere--screams, voices, lights, rides, food, music--it was all there.

My favorite spots were the Irish dancing and the Sunday School Singers, and the little girl who was too scared to sing. Despite the dark, you could see the tears in her eyes. AWWW.... Russ liked the pig, and now he wants one. Maybe his dad and step-mom will get him a potbelly pig for Christmas.

Labels: carnival, dad, family, Gr8shotz, news and blogs, penny watkins, pig, stage fright, step-mom