Take On Me, Literally!

So, I know that literal version of music videos has been done before. But normally, it's a mashed-up interpretation of a popular song with widely unknown lyrics (one of my favorites being the misheard lyrics to Pearl Jam). As a welcomed twist on the music parody scene, dustin films re-recorded the song to mimic the actions playing out in the video. To quote videogum, "if viral videos could get book deals, this viral video would be on your coffee table."

Baman Piderman

A love of comics mixed with an admiration for nonsensical comedy explains why I've spent the past few days replaying this one-minute short by Alex Butera on any device I could find it on.



Sitting here at my desk, overworked to the point that my brain can't take another intellectual thought, it's really hard for me to resist such brilliantly irrelevant lines as "my boots are sticky." I think I'm going to watch it again!

"Fake Bombs" in Boston

Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28, were arrested on Wednesday for installing 38 circuit boards featuring "Mooninites" - little LED-lit guys (with their middle fingers pointing up) in public areas. The blinking electronic signs were created as a promotion for Cartoon Network TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" and placed in high profile spots around the city, leading to mass confusion and major bridge and subway closings.

After the campaign was completed, Berdovsky posted a video of the “Moonites” being sparked up and hung in various places around the city. From watching the techno-themed short, the whole prank seems completely harmless when given the context of their promotional value. The video itself is entertaining and is probably as valuable to marketers as the guerilla event itself.

Nuckin Futs- A JibJab Year In Review

The latest addition to the JibJab pop culture collection proves that the world is, indeed, Nuckin Futs.If you were cryogenically frozen earlier this year and just woke came out of a deep-seeded coma, JibJab’s “Year in Review” will guide you through '06. Google buying YouTube, Brangelina reproducing, and the Dems winning the Senate -- this elaborate animated dance number has it all... Read more

Slob Evolution

A response to the wildly popular Dove Evolution campaign, this video deconstructs the sharp, emaciated features of a male model. Watch as the rocker-esque model transforms into “that guy” who lives next door and never leaves the sofa.

Would you really want to see an ad for this lard-o plastered across your fair city? Created by the campaign against real life, this viral argues that consumerism has created the current standard of unattainable beauty. In reality, nobody wants to see the guy next door, except when he is getting the morning paper and cordially saying hello. So maybe, just maybe, the computerized falsehoods that advertisements project are in everyone's best interest....

I’m to Busy Blogging

This short is hilarious, mostly because it is my life - and probably the life of any other online editor – in a nutshell.

Who would've ever thought blogging was this hectic? There have definitely been times that I've ignored the world because I was “blogging.” Fashion trends come and gone, major news broken, celebrities walked by, and I was too busy to notice.

Even more ridiculous is the tone in which this guy says the word “blogging;” he says it like eight times in one minute and I just couldn't stop laughing. “Um..sorry, I’m blogging.. can’t you do that I’m blogging…Send that to my voicemail. I’m blogging here.” So funny. Also, who in the internet biz actually wears a suit any more? My suggestion: put on some jeans and some Chucks and get a latte, Bud. Because in this web savvy world there is a whole lot of blogging to be done!

Nobody's Watching Friends

Does any one else feel gypped? I can’t believe that I spent 10 years watching the sitcom that Derek and Will highlighted in 90 seconds. In this hilarious short, the characters some how manages to establish all major plot developments and the characters reactions to them.

Nobody's Watching is a scripted web series conceived by Bill Lawrence, the creator of "Scrubs" and "Spin City." Originally intended for television, Nobody's Watching broke the two cameras and a stage sitcom and fleshed out the characters of Derek and Will, two young guys from Ohio who were so over television that they decided to make their own comedy show.

In this episode, Derek and Will play all of the characters in the Friend’s cast. Though all of quirky dramatizations are effective, the Jennifer Aniston bit cracks me up.


Related: Nobody's Watching the Emmys

PMS Survival Tips

A parody of 1950 educational and government propaganda videos this short by has been passed from inbox to inbox. Copyrighted in 2003, this PMS how-to has only been online for a week. With a million and a half views on YouTube, this is one of the most commented and linked to video online. And why shouldn’t it be? It is absolutely frightening.

Offering tips in “home etiquette” when dealing with the dreaded PMS (Prehistoric Monster Syndrome), this clever short is a spoof on both vintage propaganda and the horror of the everyday.

iPod Shuffle

A welcome accessory to any outfit, the new shuffle is small enough to clip to any shirt of pocket; you'll forget it's even there. Just in time for the holiday season, this gigabyte-sized mp3 player can play up to 12 hours of continuous music and weighs about a half an ounce.

For this new spot, Apple abandoned their rockstar attitude and went with an anyone/anywhere vibe. A fresh change from previous iPod campaigns, this ad features a composite of torsos putting on different layers of clothes and attaching an iPod shuffle to them.

Another obvious change from iPod’s previous ad campaign, the song Who's Gonna Sing? by the Prototypes is in French. Roughly translated, the lyrics mean: "I really like what you're doing, I like your style, I like your game."

Michael Richards Paints It Black in "Whoops Apocalypse"

Honestly, I am tired of the “racist” debate, the real question is when does comedy stop and racism begin. Regardless of his personal views, Richards’ words were conceived in hatred, and hatred is not-so-funny.

It has been a little over a week since Richards’ slur slinging viral buzz hit the web and the buzz is still ringing. After being threatened by Jamie Foxx and hiring power-publicist Howard Rubenstein to handle the backlash of his candid camera video, Richards continues to apologize for his comments.

Along with his original rant and Letterman apology, this video clip of Richards playing a blind, back man in Whoops Apocalypse (1986) has been gaining popularity on YouTube.

His tirade -not funny- but some of the media surrounding it has been. This clip being a prime example, it is inevitable that at least once in his comedic career Richards would have portrayed the minority that he had so brutally offended. Another funny viral is this user-generated rap song that plays off of Richards quote “I’m not a racist, that’s what’s so insane about it.”

I think it is time to step back form the stone throwing and appreciate the plotline as a whole. Richards established himself a great comedian and a spastic character, Cosmo Kramer, who no matter how much trouble he has cause is ultimately forgiven. And just like his be-loved Seinfeld character, this guy is insane.

The Papdits

CBS began streaming a new online comedy/reality hybrid show called The Papdits on its broadband channel Innertube. From the writer and producer of the Da Ali G Show, The Papdits is “a docu-comedy about a family from Kashmir and their interactions with Americans as they travel through the U.S.”

The comedy/reality pilot, written and produced by Ant Hines, is about a fictional family from Kashmir and the members' interactions with real Americans as they travel cross-country in their RV. The Papdits was originally developed for Fox in late '04. CBS planned revive the show last year but decided it wasn't a "mainstream show."

With the attention that Borat generated online prior to the film's release, it is only fitting that Hines’s prior work lives here in the viral “mainstream.”

Update: Full episodes that were availible on YouTube this morning have recently become private

K-Fed Gets the News

What! Can you imagine being in an interview, hooked up to a wire, sitting in a room full of people and BAM! divorce. Who does that? And why is it on YouTube?

I thought an email or a message on an answering machine would be the wrong way to go. But this is disgusting. A text message! Who does that?

MOD was shooting a behind the scenes with the "rapper" on the eving the papers were filed and they seem to think that they got his office notice live on tape:

Much Music was filming a special on Kevin after his appearance on Much On Demand. This was the night before Britney filed for divorce, during dinner his demeanor changed after getting some text messages, he asked them to stop filming and didn't eat any of the food he ordered.

I don't get it. Was she sitting at home, babies in the bathtub with a pint of Ben & Jerry's on her lap, thinking to herself "I just can't do it any more. I have to tell him now." She whips out her Sidekick and Wham! K-Fed gets served.

I feel like a train crashed and everyone was ok, but you still can't stop thinking about it. This is a wreck. I don't care and neither should the web watching community.

Earlier: Oops Brit Did It Again!

Pre-School Political Ad

Not the most politically savvy journalist you’ll ever meet, politics seems a lot like pre-school to me. With all the mud sligging and cake walking, it seems that localized campaigns get more childish every year.

This campaign spoof convinced me once and for all that if local electoral candidate don’t get his or her way, they may through a temper tantrum or squirt milk out their nose.