FUNNIEST VIDEOS
It's one of those great-idea sites I haven't had a chance to explore as fully as I'd like to, yet. It reminds me a lot of those Funniest Video shows available on cable television.
THE PROBLEM WITH CABLE
We don't have cable at my house. It's not available in our area (yes, that's how far out in the woods we live) and if it were, I still wouldn't have it.
Why should I pay huge amounts of money for way too many channels I'd never have time to watch anyway? Not doing it.
I satisfy my pitifully weak cable-urge by vacationing at the beach once a year. The cabin has cable. We all sit around watching Animal Planet until our brains explode.
Here's a very silly YouTube video about cats. My opinion is that most of them are possessed by demons. Nothing a good exorcism wouldn't cure.
HSI FOR CHEAPSKATES
One thing we do have at my house, however, is high-speed Internet. It's cheaper than paying a mental-health counselor to help us work our frustrations with dial-up.
With HSI, YouTube is easily accessible, loads quickly, and runs without seizing up. High-speed Internet also costs less than cable.
In some ways, YouTube satisfies an unmet need I have with regard to cable. If I could pick the cable channels I want and only pay for those channels, I might be tempted to explore cable further.
But the cable service providers would never stand for that.
POWER AND CONTROL
However, with YouTube, I can search for the type of videos I want to watch. Most are home-movie-style amateur productions--many of them surprisingly well done, actually. Some are informational or instructional. A lot are humorous, and a few are basically commercials with professional production values.
It's actually quite a nice mix, and viewing is entirely voluntary, so the viewer is in control. I like that.
WHAT DOES THE SUPERBOWL HAVE IN COMMON WITH FRANCE?
I read somewhere, many years ago, that in France, instead of being spread out throughout the day, all the TV commercials aired during a half-hour period from 7 - 7:30 p.m.
Supposedly, it was (or is) lots of people's favorite show. Highest ratings share of any TV show in the country. Advertisers pulled out all the stops and paid huge sums for a minute or two of time. As far as on-air advertising went, it was the only game in town.
I have no idea if that was, or is, really true, but it's a nice concept. Sort of like TV commercials in the U.S. during our annual broadcast of the Superbowl. Advertisers go all out, design great, unique commercials that people anticipate with pleasure and actually tune in voluntarily to watch.
Hm. YouTube seems to have tapped into the concept of voluntary viewing as well.
COMMERCIALS & MUSIC VIDEOS
I took a look at the links to be found under the instructions for completing Thing #16. Google Video looks to be a functional clone of YouTube. That there are now over 60 similar Internet video providers just goes to show that this is a concept whose time has come.
It was fun watching some of the old TV commercials I remember from my childhood. Kind of embarassing, too. I can't believe we were that unsophisticated.
The video of the man caterpillar-breakdancing across the intersection was amusing, but it was followed by something even funnier--I don't know if I accidentally clicked on a link or if it just started playing spontaneously--a commercial for TripAdvisor which bills itself as a way to avoid infested hotel rooms with lamentable housekeeping and severe plumbing problems.
Nadine Velasquez in her femme fatale persona writhing around on satin sheets and warning us to beware of "dirty, dirty, dirty hotel rooms" was a stitch.
LIBRARY RELATED VIDEOS
Library Dominoes was interesting, but they should have had a much longer and more complex domino trail. I've seen a similar video done with VHS videocases that went on and on. It was amazing.
The WSU Library Tour was a great example of how a good soundtrack and rapid-cut editing can make even the most pedestrian subject (welcome to the library--yawn) engaging.
The OCPL Library Commercial was nicely conceived but didn't go quite far enough. After the buff young history student leaped over the furniture into an imaginary trench to avoid enemy fire, he should have found somebody else crouching there, perhaps an attractive
literature major hiding from zombies or musketeers.
LIBRARY JOKES
I had heard about the video in which the clueless young woman attempts to order fast food in the library, but had never seen it.
The Bible verses following the actors seem tacked on, not well integrated with the first part of the video. Perhaps the video was shot by a faith-based outfit promoting education? I couldn't tell.
If only the video had come back to the actors at the very end for a brief, live-action zinger. Perhaps library staff could have handed the patron a religious tract promoting wisdom and told her, "Here's the menu." We needed something to tie together the two halves of the piece.
Conan the Librarian was another YouTube I'd had recounted to me on several occasions but never before seen. It was a hoot.
MUSICALS AND COMEDY
Prankstgrup's High School Musical spoof entitled "Reading on a Dream" was pretty funny.
The actors' hyper-earnest portrayals of two sad and lonely people who find personal fulfillment and one another through singing and dancing hammily in front of dozens of other (rule-abiding) library goers was spot-on.
Even better was the spontaneous, embarrassed snickering of the nonmusical after the two protagonists clasp hands and run joyously from the premises.
IT versus Librarian was elegantly simple and wittily low-key.
I had seen Introducing the Book before and found it as funny the second time around as I did the first time.
The fact that the actors are speaking a language I don't (Dutch?) and I have to decipher it by the subtitles just makes it funnier somehow.
The main character is clearly a monk. I'm wondering if the man who arrives from the helpdesk is supposed to be Gutenberg. I love it how they play it absolutely straight.
It reminded me eerily of an old Saturday Night Live sketch with Steve Martin and Bill Murray entitled Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber.
I couldn't find it on YouTube, so I had to go to Fancast.
I hope you enjoy these three videos. I had fun with them. Now on to Thing #17!
I thought you'd like these: ninja cat and ninja kitten.
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