$16,000

These guys are great – enough said.

Raffaella Carrà

Keeping up with the disco theme after a long hiatus we bring you another gem:

And, naturally, the Wikipedia entry. But don’t worry there is plenty more on YouTube.

That is probably one of the catchiest songs I’ve heard for a while.  I think the world needs more disco.

Disco Dancer

You probably have come across this, but if you haven’t, here is a great song from an Indian movie from the 1980’s:

-for more information read note associated with this video and the Wikipedia article on the movie.

You might like this clip too:

Norton Furniture

This man, Marc Brown (different from the creator of Arthur) , is probably a genius, I’m serious:

Click here for an article about him.

Lots more material is on his YouTube channel.

Welcome to the Army

This is a gem from the Jordanian military:

” Marhabah bil Jaish مرحبا بالجيش“

classic…

“Angry German Kid” + “Douche Girl”

Here is an interesting YouTube phenomenon: two or more viral videos are combined to create something new. I guess here it is pretty important that you need to rely on the subtitles to understand what the “German kid” is saying. Don’t feel obligated to watch any of the videos past the point in which you stop laughing; they don’t get funnier.

“Angry German Kid”

original note from video {(Translated) Angry German Kid – Correct Translation}

{Video information:

This video was made as a response to some German politicians attempting to restrict access to violent video games. He was trying to show how they view gamers. Very amusing and intelligent. Too bad most people missed the point.

“Journalists” from Focus TV (Germany) used this as an example of an internet addict, claiming the kid to have been secretly taped by his father and to be undergoing therapy in addiction clinic. Naturally, this was not what “Leopold” understood to have agreed on when he gave approval for airing it on TV.}

Plus…

“Douche Girl”

original note from video:

{ Its come to my attention recently that this video is actually a spoof of whiny girls and the ridiculousness of internet drama.}

equals…

“Angry German Kid vs. Douche Girl”

Another similar video:

“Angry German Kid vs. Numa Numa Guy”

Hope you enjoyed those!

how to sell pizza on YouTube

Brother films his spoiled brat sister as she complains about the color of the car she got as a gift.

“My Sister Freaks Out“ Video note reads: “haha, my sister is so dumb. here she is freaking out on her birthday over the wrong color car. this is priceless…” (December 14, 2006)

Sister responds: “I’m not a spoiled brat!” (December 20th)

“MacKenzie gets what MacKenzie wants“ (December 20th)

“MacKenzie sells her car for $9.99″ (December 28th)

“And the winner is…” (January12, 2007)

the Dominoes marketing campaign!

If you didn’t know, the video series was part of a viral video marketing campaign to market Dominoes pizza. What is interesting is that advertisers successfully studied, copied and exploited a non-commercial medium to promote their product; the videos did not look professional, both the brother and the sister had their own accounts, videos were posted in a time frame consistent with the story. Finally, the videos elicited responses from other viewers.

Dominoes essentially found a way to exploit the user-generated format of YouTube to serve their own ends. (1) Whether they actually sold more pizzas after people realized they had been mislead, I don’t know.

notes:

(1) For a further discussion on this topic you might like: Consumed, How markets corrupt children, infantilize adults, and swallow citizens whole. by Benjamin R. Barber. New York. W.W. Norton and Company, 2007 (pages 213-290) In fact, a good deal of what is written above is directly inspired by the book.  The book is a bit dogmatic but it might be worth your time if you care about these things.

“Brother’s” profile on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MySisterIsLame

“MacKenzie’s” profile:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MacKenzieheartsu

(why her profile does not have a blue background puzzles me)

the song behind “Little Superstar”

With over eight and a half million views, the”Little Superstar” film clip on YouTube has achieved notable popularity.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:

But what is the song in the background? With a little help from Wikipedia, we find that the above video clip of a Tamil language film features a remix of a Madonna song by the Dutch duo, MC Miker & DJ Sven. (1) A portion of the song, used in “Little Superstar,” comes in at about 3:02.

“Holiday Rap”:

Sources:

(1) Wikipedia “Little Superstar.” Wikimedia Foundation, 2007, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Superstar (accessed January 2, 2008)

Video Sources:

Little Superstar :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx-NLPH8JeM

MC Miker & DJ Sven, “Holiday Rap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7aJr1fIGMk