Reel Pop

Latest vid comedy site BushLeague.tv debuts

The handiwork of various and sundry L.A. comedians/actors/writers, BushLeague.tv is a hodge podge of dude-analia, i.e., in their words, "jackass opinions on video games, tech, news, sports, boobs, 101's, and all the other essential tools every dude needs" -- a suh-weet grab bag that apparently doesn't have room for "original premise." The site's a combo of HBO/AOL's failed vidblog This Just In and vote-centric sites like Funny or Die: Every post is voted by readers as "sweet" or "bush," with the top posts ranked on a scoreboard, e.g., the top earner ("I Got My Hippie Shuffle On Last Night"), a how-to vid ("How to Change Your Oil"), and a post about an Eagle that was shot in the face titled "As AMERICAN as MOM, apple pie, and rhinoplasty."

All in all, the site's chock full of tepid puns and smarmy exclamations, and suffers from a lack of a cohesive voice and, apparently, juiced up stats -- on its first day, none of the posts have been voted "bush," but every post has a surfeit of "sweets." The site has promise, though, if the writers can focus their message and stop hoping against hope that the Internet needs yet another group blog produced by charming asshats.

Flickr's 1st vid hit? The Day There Was No News

[via] The handiwork of Jason Arber, director of production at U.K.-based video producers Wyld Stallyons, The Day There Was No News displays a series of outtakes in which BBC News anchors silently fidget in front of the cameras as they prepare to begin addressing their audience. The news ticker scrolls anti-headlines, e.g., "Breaking News: Nothing is still happening," "There are no terrorist attacks" and "There are no funny stories."

The vid's eerie effect comes from the fidgeting -- shuffling papers, practicing chin raises and knowing looks, pursing lips -- which is every bit as practiced as their artificial, accent-less speaking cadence. You wonder in what context these skills are useful besides television. I bet anchors are really good at silently standing in an elevator with only one other stranger. And doctor's appointments.

As one Flickr user observed, comedian Adam Buxton uploaded a similar clip to YouTube last year that has about 375k views. Buxton's vid, which eschews Arber's calming soundtrack for BBC sound effects, is striking because it zeroes in on the anchors' awkward, expectant moments -- when they're resetting themselves to speak (the chin raises, the half-lip grins) but are unsure when the speaking begins. Almost like a man and wife awkwardly waiting for their child's experimental dance program to finally, blessedly, cease.

Given Flickr's absence of video view counts (only the owner sees his/her uploads' popularity), "success" on Flickr is more ineffable. Better for the site, which prides itself on communities engaged in aesthetic judgments rather than views. Err..somehow I missed that view count over the last few years. I'm blessedly not a view whore on the site. Those counts are teensy tiny though.

Latest political vid hit: Hillary's Downfall

Wired's Jenna Wortham -- who recently did an excellent job unpacking ROFLCon memes -- IM'd me earlier today to chat about Hilary's Downfall, the latest iteration of the Downfall meme, with 300k+ views. [Update: Here's Jenny's article on the Downfall vids.] This time 'round, Hitler = Hilary who, confronted by pessimistic advisors, rails against the American voters who "stole the election" form her and gave it "to the dandy, Obama."

I explored the Downfall meme a bit in a January post, but it's worth reiterating a few reasons why the meme's so effective:

1. By juxtaposing a reviled person with a relatively fleeting subject (HD-DVD, Cowboys' playoff loss, etc), the vid's throw into relief both the trivial nature of the topic at hand and the ludicrous amount of reasoning that goes into dissecting it. (Somebody should really do a Chris Berman Downfall, stat.)
2. The argument carries the weight of historic inevitability.
3. The meme entertains with logic.
4. The meme is a mad libs for deductive and inductive reasoning. Simply substitute any argument, run through your supporting points, and voila.

Carson Daly's planned webcast already boring

With an existential caterwaul from the dust bunny'd depths of my un-Swiffered apartment, I hear the news of Carson Daly's planned webcast about popular UGC vids and wonder, dear god, why?

Branded entertainment shingle Madison Road is partnering with NBC latenight gabber Carson Daly on a daily webcast devoted to user-generated videos.

Daly and Madison Road will launch in July "The Really Big Internet Show," a daily five-minute webcast that will feature the day's most talked-about original online videos.

Justine Ezarik, an Internet vid star who goes by the name iJustine, will host.

The studio math here is simple: Lots of people watch the most popular vids + Justine Ezarik is bangin = eyeballs and advertising dollars. But really, have you ever seen anything quite as boring as a show about popular videos? Besides, maybe, Web Junk, they all rather suck.

The reasons why are pretty simple: the online video experience is promulgated by interaction, however fleeting. Forwarding, commenting, IM'ing, whatever. But meta shows about popular videos removes that personal connection and, instead, simply shows you a collection of funny/interesting things you can't do anything with. Instead of adding to the fun, meta commentary kinda endcaps it.

Oddly enough, I think that's why a show like America's Funniest Home Videos can thrive for 19 seasons. AFV reveals videos you haven't seen before, it adds something (however smarmy) to the mix, and its content was never interactive to begin with.

If I want to watch the most successful UGC content, I'll find it myself. Or it'll be forwarded to me. I don't need or want to watch Carson Daly do it for me.

Jenny McCarthy's 'In the Motherhood' in the dumps

At least on YouTube it is. I was browsing through YouTube's most viewed videos today when I noticed a promo for "In the Motherhood", the MSN original series starring Jenny McCarthy that debuted last year. Seven webisodes from the series' first and second seasons were uploaded in the last few months. Total traffic between them: 28,896. The highest performing video is the premiere episode, the title of which contains McCarthy's name.

The series' poor performance on YouTube probably isn't indicative of the show's quality -- YouTube's not typically a mom agora, and the MSN site for the series seems bustling enough. But it does demonstrate that simply dropping in otherwise well-produced, topical content into a social network(ish) setting doesn't guarantee success. Maybe if every soccer mom's browser automatically opened to YouTube...

Afghanistan gunbattle voicemail YouTube'd

A recording of a gunbattle between U.S. soldiers and Afghan forces -- recorded onto voicemail when an embattled soldier accidentally pocket dialed his parents in Oregon -- has been uploaded to YouTube by the soldier's brother. The full story is at the BBC, and the YouTube clip is below.

Save for a brief written intro, the three-minute clip contains no images but has been viewed almost 250,000 times in the past 12 hours (I first saw the clip last night, when it had fewer than a 1,000 views). The sound of semi-automatic gunfire, followed by calls for more ammo and exclamations of force positions, is the only sound. The absence of melodramatic added footage makes the clip all the more disturbing -- the viewer is confronted with confusing sounds in an unfamiliar landscape, an experience that, even if only just, is analogous to the American experience in the Middle East. It's an odd sort of wonderful that, of all the visual footage I've seen of our Middle Eastern conflict, a clip with no images conveys the most about our situation there.

Most ominously, the clip ends with a U.S. soldier saying something similar to, "Hey, they're coming" or "Hey, they got me." The soldier who accidentally phoned home survived.

Second City to launch web shows

From THR's Alex Woodson: Media Rights Capital and storied comedy concern Second City announced today they are partnering on an online comedy venture called "Second City Quarantine," which will launch later this year with original material from the current troupe and alums like Tina Fey, Steve Carell and Bob Odenkirk. Quarantine will launch with six or seven mini shows. More at HollywoodReporter.com.

CineVegas promos YouTube vids

In preparation for the June festivities, the folks behind the CineVegas Film Festival have begun uploading short original compositions to YouTube from indie directors like James Fotopoulos, Cam Archer,  and Kevin Everson. Surreal, haunting stuff.

SuperDeluxe folds into AdultSwim.com

Turner's original comedy vid platform SuperDeluxe is being folded into AdultSwim.com, the company's more successful, young male-oriented comedy channel. From the memo to employees:

Our management of the Turner Animation, Young Adults & Kids brands requires us to always look for efficient, strategic ways to grow them. In Super Deluxe.com and Adult Swim.com, we have businesses whose potential for individual growth is limited by their increasingly complementary content. Rather than position them as competitors for the same audience, the smarter move is to consolidate the two brands to create a richer, stronger platform that builds on Adult Swim’s number-one position with young adults.” Candolora described Super Deluxe as “a business with a loyal audience and critical following.

I'm a big, big fan of SuperDeluxe -- classic vids include Douche, by NY comedy troupe The Post Show, the guide to cheap living by Jonah Ray, and I am Baby Cakes -- but it's no surprise Turner's consolidating their brands. Doesn't make sense to compete against yourself for the same audience, especially when the web's not exactly hurting for comedy aggregators: Funny or Die, Comedy Central, CollegeHumor, ad infinitum.

Lohan, Sandler cameo in YouTube dance battle

I missed this, but over at Buzzfeed, my neighbor and former j-school colleague Scott Lamb notes that Lindsay Lohan and Adam Sandler recently made cameos in the episodic dance battle between "Step Up 2: The Streets" director John Chu and Billy Ray's tweenily-tawdry scion Miley Cyrus and her dance instructor-cum-gal pal Mandy (aka The Mandy and Miley Show, which NTV contributor Karina ably dissects here).

Lohan and Sandler cameo in the third video -- Chu's reposte to Mandy's response video -- and their presence is something of an oddity. Chu's dance crew is so accomplished, and their moves so undeniably, gobsmackingly slick, you've got to wonder who's big upping whom here. The videos have 5 million-plus views between them.

Philadelphia police beating video draws ire

I don't usually post on police beating videos -- they seem to crop up with disturbing frequency -- but this latest seems particularly egregious:

POLICE COMMISSIONER Charles H. Ramsey yesterday asked Philadelphians not "to rush to judgment" when watching a video showing baton-wielding cops repeatedly striking, kicking and stomping three young men whom they had stopped after a triple shooting in Hunting Park.

The officers stopped the men after witnessing them fleeing the scene of a shooting. Philadephia cops are reportedly on edge after a fellow officer, Stephen Liczbinksi, was gunned down last weekend. The video of the beating is below:

Other beatings that've made YouTube-y headlines in the last few years: The beating of William Cardena in LA, which developed into an FBI investigation; This New Orleans beating of a drunk man, in which the officers were later prosecuted; and the recent Victoria Lindsay beating, which led to the arrest and prosecution of several teenagers.

Webby winners: You Suck at Photoshop, The Onion, more

Well damn. I haven't completed my survey and recommendation of all the nominees yet. Regardless, the Webby Awards just announced this year's winners. A few highlights from the online video category:

• Best Writing -- The Onion News Network. I was rooting for my fave Getting Away with Murder.
• Best DIY and How-To: You Suck at Photoshop
• Drama Series: The West Side
• News and Politics Series: Hometown Baghdad
• Variety: Tom Green's House Tonight

Of all the winners, the viral recipient -- Here Comes Another Bubble -- irks me the most, mostly because it's entire comedic premise is based solely on the familiarity of a Billy Joel chestnut. Plus it's almost an entirely intra-industry joke. Ridiculous. Here's the whole list.

Microsoft adds Zune TV downloads

Microsoft has added about 800 episodes from MTV Networks, Turner, and NBCU to its online store as part of a subscription push. Other networks and movie deals are forthcoming. The 800 episodes pales in comparison to iTunes' 350 shows (w/ seasons of episodes to each show).

I hate to sound like a fashionably hip MS-trasher (and I've got no severe love for Apple), but truth is the Zune's crappy. I bought one for my mom for Christmas and spent the next 2 days on tech support because the Zune (like most MS products) is not intuitive to use. The download store, which didn't have TV shows at the time, is a mess of un-navigable options. The Zune itself, while pretty, is similarly complex. It's as if MS looked at every thing Apple did with the iPod then changed it slightly for the worse, just to see like they weren't copying from the iPod directly.

That's all very harsh, and, admittedly, I haven't looked at a Zune since December. But it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Oh my GodTube: Vid site raises $30M

In a deal of biblically unexpected proportions, vid share site GodTube -- derided, since its launch last year, as little more than an entertainingly earnest knockoff -- has raised $30 million from hedge fund GLG Partners. [via]

When GodTube launched I spoke with WNYC's Brian Lehrer about the site. Although GodTube has an obviously derivative public-facing presence --embeddable flash video, a YouTube-like similarity in design -- the site just as obviously has the potential to tap into America's burgeoning religious fervor, especially given, as Russ Douhat notes in The Atlantic, that Americans are more likely to embrace innovations in religious practice and celebration.

What's more, GodTube's public-facing vids are only a small part of its offerings. The site also provides access to Godcaster, a subscription-based live streaming service that, according to execs, is used by hundreds of churches. According to Rafat over at paidcontent, GodTube plans to offer white label social networking services to churchgoers soon. That, right there, is a pageview goldmine.

After credits Iron Man scene a YouTube hit

As widely reported on the web, Favreau-directed summer blockbuster Iron Man ($100M sales this weekend) contains a single scene after the credits. Sam Jackson, as super-spy Nick Fury, confronts Tony Stark about The Avengers Project -- apparently a reference to multi-hero Marvel title The Avengers, though in the original Marvel universe (I'm a geek), Fury had nothing to do with the creation of the team. Anyway, here's the scene, with 60k+ views and climbing:

Mini-montages of 70s/80s/90s films

[via] Outside the Oscar montages (sadly tepid, in recent years), I've never seen film clips strung together so brilliantly as these: Films of the 70s, Films of the 80s, and Films of the 90s. The 80s montage is particularly stunning in its soundtrack synchronization -- listen for the symbols as Elias as shot in Platoon, and the drumbeat when Otto puffs away the panties on his face in A Fish Called Wanda. The YouTube user barringer82, who created these, has also created director compilations.

Is JohnnyBoyXO punking gay YouTubers?

A 17 year-old, plat blonde-tressed Philly boy affecting the crass mannerisms of an urban teen girl, JohnnyBoyXO blathers at one-minute intervals about agro-sexual teen topics, e.g., menstruation, sex, infidelity, etc. JB vidcasts from a bedroom decked in posters and magazine clippings and claims to be a musician, evidencing her talent by croon-squeaking over bubblegum pop (Paris Hilton, Hilary Duff). A pedestrian counterpoint to the mainstream cute-osity of Hannah Montana, JB's popularity reflects the appeal of her vulgar posturing: 4,000 subscribers and fourth most-viewed musician channel this week (#3 being IdolStudios, an American Idol channel). 

It's hard to mention a YouTuber like JohnnyBoyXO -- who, BTW, really seems to be a girl punking the gay and lesbian community -- without referencing Chris Crocker, the southern gay vlogger who rocketed to fame after posting his tearful, maudlin defense of Britney Spears. Though both achieved popularity in different ways (JB's rise has been much slower, and unmarked by national attention), they both represent the perennial popularity on YouTube of gay and lesbian content (including everyone from big names like Perez, down to What the Buck, down even further to Five Gay Guys).

I don't pretend to know the reasons for that popularity, though one can hazard guesses -- typical teen curiosity, the availability of online support, the relative anonymity (or appearance of anonymity) that YouTube screen names confer, the cross-sex appeal of homosexuality, etc. And in comparison to straight content, popular gay/lesbian fare's relatively uncommon, so perhaps I'm un-scientifically highlighting those specific vids. Nevertheless, the popularity of amateurs like JohnnyBoy is apparent. And readers of a certain age will recognize the character. Just like the angry, confused, creatively vulgar kid you knew in high school. But this one has an outlet.
Check out JohnnyBoyXO at YouTube | JohnnyBoyXO on MySpace

CollegeHumor's All Nighter

The fellas down the street at CollegeHumor are wrapping up their all night video-making marathon. I think the final count is 8 videos, but I'm a little groggy. Been playing GTA IV all night.

Alternatives to Rick Roll

In the annals of webby peekaboo -- surprise viewings of tubgirl/goatse/2G1C, scaring children who stare too closely at the screen -- no meme has achieved as much success as the Rick Roll, a video gotcha which, like a heavily-sampled P-Diddy track, succeeds almost solely because it's a nostalgic earworm.

IOW, there's nothing new here, neither in practice, e.g., ye olde duck roll, or content, i.e., it's an old ass song. The meme-ability comes from the surprise context, followed by the song's offline earworm-ability -- you get rickrolled, you hum the tune, an office mate says wtf dude, you explain why you <3 Rick Astley, and your office mate victimizes a third party. Moreso than other memes -- Star Wars kid, All Your Base, whatever -- the Rick Roll is infectious offline as well as on the web.

Caveat: The Rick Roll succeeds b/c of it's ends-directed use, too. There's a reason to spread the meme.

Honestly, it took me awhile to appreciate Rick Rolling -- I've been humming the song since 1988, so, like, whatever -- hence this belated posting on it. I only wanted to share this link: Five alternatives to the Rick Roll, including a Jagger/Bowie cover of Dancing in the Streets, the Iron Mic freestyle vid, a Seals and Croft cover, a webcam chic's wigga challenge, and Smell Yo' Dick.

Of all those options, only the Jagger/Bowie clip passes the sniff test -- it's old enough to be ironically appreciated, plus highly earworm-y. Still. Each worth a listen.

Related: NewTeeVee's Rick Roll Timeline.

Apple offers same-day movie purchases

Apple announced same day-and-date DVD release downloads today with several studios, including Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate and New Line. MGM's not included, but boutique firms like Magnolia and Image Entertainment are. The deal for rentals was already in place as of January. More details at HollywoodReporter.com.

This is long-awaited news for consumers. It's a change the studios have fought against given the potential for same-day downloads to cannibalize DVD sales, worth about $16 billion in 2007. However, that amount was down almost 4% from 2006, perhaps a result of the ever-growing online distribution options.