An apropos classic …
February 15, 2011
June 2, 2010
Wednesday video — just amazing
This clip is titled, “World’s Luckiest Bike Rider !!!” I have to say, I agree. Talk about being at both the wrong, and the exactly right, place simultaneously.
(Hat tip: the Daily Dish)
April 28, 2010
Wednesday video fun — er, just wow
This might possibly be the most dangerous thing you’ll see a human being do that doesn’t involve any explosive devices.
Just wow.
(Hat tip: Deadspin)
March 6, 2010
Saturday video fun — 1969 IHOP ad
Yep, I’m doubling down on the strange and unusual today. This gem from the mind of late-60s admen looks like the result of a little too much microdot with a splash of funny mushrooms thrown in for good measure. It’s weird, and it’s trippy, but does it really make you want to head down to the International House of Pancakes?
(Hat tip: boing boing)
March 3, 2010
Wednesday video fun — amazing chalk art
Here’s the title from the YouTube page, “Jamin’s Crazy Chalk Drawing #2 – Where The Wild Things Are.”
And here’s the video …
(Hat tip: wakooz)
January 22, 2010
YouTube enters video rental business
Looks like the focus is small and independent filmmakers who need more than ad-supported revenue. With all the competition between console games, video-on-demand services, web-based content and the rest of the video watching/music listening/game playing/et.al. options out there, the lines between types of media and delivery systems are becoming blurrier and blurrier every day.
This YouTube effort could be quite the boon for independent filmmakers. Since it’s supposedly going into effect today sometime, it is also quite bereft of important details. Little things like cost and, more importantly, how the service is going to work.
From the link:
Starting tomorrow, YouTube will offer video rentals, according to a post on the site’s official blog. The first available content will be five films from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance Film Festivals, and they will be online until January 31.
Also from the link:
Exact details of how the rentals will work aren’t yet available, but the company says they will post more tomorrow. It has said, however, that money will be collected through Google Checkout.
January 21, 2010
OK Go on today’s music industry
Short version: YouTube, change your tracking metrics so our label (EMI) will let our fans embed our videos again. Long version (after reading through the lines): the industry is completely broken, but we’re in too deep to walk away.
From the link:
We’ve been flooded with complaints recently because our YouTube videos can’t be embedded on websites, and in certain countries can’t be seen at all. And we want you to know: we hear you, and we’re sorry. We wish there was something we could do. Believe us, we want you to pass our videos around more than you do, but, crazy as it may seem, it’s now far harder for bands to make videos accessible online than it was four years ago.
See, here’s the deal. The recordings and the videos we make are owned by a record label, EMI. The label fronts the money for us to make recordings – for this album they paid for us to spend a few months with one of the world’s best producers in a converted barn in Amish country wringing our souls and playing tympani and twiddling knobs – and they put up most of the cash that it takes to distribute and promote our albums, including the costs of pressing CDs, advertising, and making videos. We make our videos ourselves, and we keep them dirt cheap, but still, it all adds up, and it adds up to a great deal more than we have in our bank account, which is why we have a record label in the first place.
(Hat tip: boing boing)
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.
December 25, 2009
December 21, 2009
Monday video fun — “Prisencolinensinainciusol”
From the Wikipedia page on the song:
“Prisencolinensinainciusol” is a song composed by Adriano Celentano, and performed by Celentano and Raffaella Carrà. It was first released as a single on November 3, 1972, later also on his album Nostalrock. The lyrics are pure gibberish, intended to sound like American English as heard by a non English-speaker. In an interview, Celentano explains that the song is about “incommunicability” because in modern times people are not able to communicate to each other anymore. He added the only word we need is “prisencolinensinainciusol” which is supposed to stand for “universal love.”
And now, the video:
November 28, 2009
Saturday video fun — techno chicken
If you’re hitting the clubs tonight you might want to pick a few moves from this funky chicken …
(Hat tip: the Daily Dish)
November 13, 2009
YouTube goes full high-def
High-def as in a full HD 1080p resolution.
From the link:
At the NewTeeVee Live conference on Thursday, YouTube director of product management Hunter Walk announced that the video-streaming service is getting a new high-quality streaming option: full HD, or “1080p” resolution. The current “high-quality” option, when available on YouTube videos, is 720p, referring to the number of horizontal scan lines that make up the image.
Walk said the new resolution, as well as a new full-screen player, will roll out to all users within days.
YouTube co-founder Steve Chen announced high-quality YouTube viewing at NewTeeVee 2007. He also said, then, that YouTube stores all video it receives at the resolution it’s uploaded at. So when YouTube ads a resolution option, as it did then and is doing now, it simply needs to re-encode videos for the new player, not get new raw content.
September 2, 2009
Monetizing YouTube …
… through streaming movie rental. Interesting idea since YouTube is currently something of a monetary black hole with massive bandwidth costs.
From the WSJ link:
Google Inc.’s YouTube is in discussions with major movie studios about allowing users to stream movies on a rental basis, according to people familiar with the company’s plans, marking one of the video giant’s first moves toward charging for content instead of making it available free with advertising.
While some studios already make full-length movies available on YouTube, they tend to be older, lesser-known titles. Now YouTube is talking to Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.,Sony Corp. and Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. about integrating newer titles into the existing YouTube site.
Most newer titles would carry a rental charge. In some cases, these titles might be available the same day they come out on DVD. It is unclear to what extent older movies or television shows will be part of the new agreements.
A YouTube spokesman said the company is always working to expand on “its great relationships with movie studios and on the selection and types of videos we offer our community.”
While details vary from studio to studio, generally speaking the agreements would allow consumers to stream movies for a fee. However, in some cases, the movies would be available the same way that they have been previously on YouTube — free, with advertising.
Negotiations are continuing and there are no guarantees a deal will be struck. Many details remain in flux, including whether users also will eventually be able to download movies.
David Kirkpatrick 