Wide-eyed and Jaded

…is “watch this video.” Please.

This video went live less than a week ago and now has over one million views. I will never be able to express how brilliant it is. Just watch it.

Have you guys heard about Lauren Bernat yet? I saw this tweet from Jason Calacanis this afternoon and decided to dig a little deeper:

Meet the latest internet celebrity Lauren Bernat: http://mahalo.com/Lauren_Be… (famous for playing Wii Fit in panties in YouTube video).

Really, that’s all you need to know, but it’s an… interesting video to watch nonetheless:

An advertising guy taped his advertising girlfriend hula hooping on Wii Fit, put it on YouTube and titled it Why every guy should buy their girlfriend Wii Fit. Yikes, Gutierrez could have come up with a more grammatically correct sentence, but I digress.

There are speculations that, because the couple work in advertising, the video is a marketing tactic from Nintendo. But, both the couple and Nintendo have gone on record saying the gaming company had nothing to do with the new YouTube phenomenon. Fair enough—though I think it would have been a clever idea.

The whole thing is kind of ridiculous and blown way out of proportion just like every other weirdo YouTube star. But, the nearly 2.5 million views and 2,300+ comments just go to show the power of consumer as spokesperson.

I was 11 years old when the Spice Girls first introduced their version of girl power to pop music fans worldwide, and I ate it up. My bedroom walls were also adorned with pictures of the (I then considered) dreamy Backstreet Boys. I was never into ‘N Sync, but I still love Hanson—sorry.

Within two years, three bands/musicians began to change my life—or at least the way I heard and appreciated music. My big brother (unintentionally) introduced me to Beck, Foo Fighters and Weezer. The former two have been up to so much, I find it difficult to keep up, but I will always respect them for leading me to better music. Weezer, however, remains one of my top two favourite bands of all time (the other is the Smiths).

Unlike most hardcore =w= fans, I still believe if it’s too loud, turn it down. Yes, Blue and Pinkerton are AMAZING and UNBEATABLE albums, but that’s just it; Green, Maladroit and Make Believe are good records, but the band started it’s career too perfectly to ever live up to the standards it set in 1994. I recognize this. That’s why I’ll stand by Rivers Cuomo, Brian Bell, Pat Wilson, Scott Shriner and even ex-bassist Matt Sharp (but probably not unstable Mikey Welsh) ’til the end.

June 3 marked the release of Weezer’s sixth album, The Red Album. I’m ashamed to say that all I’ve heard from it so far is the single, Pork and Beans.

Many of you have probably seen the video continually growing more popular on YouTube. It features many Internet fads and celebrities (either the real thing or a parody), including:

• the Numa Numa guy
• Britney’s BFF Chris Crocker;
• Drama Prairie Dog (loved by Eden’s son);
• Daft Hands;
• Daft Bodies; and
• Chocolate Rain Man himself, Tay Zonday.

Say what you will about the band trying too hard or stealing ideas from the Barenaked Ladies (can someone link me to the video Pork and Beans is being compared to?), but the bottom line is: Weezer is listening.

Dr. Pepper is not the only man capitalizing on Mr. I move away from the mic to breathe in. Watch this video of Zonday covering Weezer… with Weezer:

Okay so, I’m having way too much trouble embedding this video without completely effing the layout, so here it is until I figure this out. My apologies.

Photo from Stereogum.

I love YouTube. I spend hours following link after link, searching for interesting characters to be my Internet celebrities. However, there are some things that anger me on YouTube. It’s not so much YT’s fault as it is the users’, but I can’t help but wonder if there is something the site’s maintainers can do to lessen the number of times this happens.

Many of us have seen this video, right?:

Well, this passionate boy just might be the gateway to the success of the musician featured above. Calgary, Alta.-based indie folk musician Rae Spoon posted his video (featured above) as a video response to a popular vlog by Chris Crocker.

Fans of Crocker (yes, they exist) will click the link to Spoon’s video with expectations of seeing a RESPONSE to the post they just watched. Such will not be the case. But, I suppose it’s not fair for me to place all the blame on Spoon; everyone does this.

I just think it’s unfortunate that people have to attach themselves to something so ridiculous in order to get hits—especially someone as talented as Rae Spoon.

Perhaps even worse is tagging on YouTube. I came across the channel of a very clever rapper (I know I can’t pull off saying things like this. I’m sorry.) who tagged his videos “sex,” “porn,” “69,” etc. just to get hits; just to be picked up in YT searches.

YouTube doesn’t even allow overly risque videos (at least, I don’t think so. Does anyone know? It may have changed), but people will search these key terms regardless. And, none of the results will be what they’re looking for. But, certain YT users will be seen.

I don’t know… it just seems dishonest to me. Am I being too naive here? What do you guys think?

All things aside, please watch the first video I posted. I think it’s a beautiful song, and it’s all thanks to YouTube that I stumbled upon it.

Update: Rae Spoon’s video is no longer a response to one by Chris Crocker. He found a more popular video to attach his to. 111 others have done the same.  Personally, I prefer Crocker.

The title says it all, but I wanted to share this article taken from Thursday’s Metro.

When a thief started taking cash from his register on the weekend, Dunkin’ Donuts employee Dustin Hoffmann fought back. But Hoffmann admits he was less worried about the stolen cash than how he might look on YouTube.

“What was going through my mind at that point was that the security tape is either going to show me run away and hide in the office or whack this guy in the head, so I just grabbed the cup and clocked the guy pretty hard,” Hoffmann told a local paper.

How incredible is it that before thinking of his safety, this retail worker thought about the value his actions would have in cyberspace?

I love that there was an article written about this because I know many of my peers think in the same way Hoffmann does. I do too.

When someone adds me to Facebook or MySpace, I take another look at my own profile after viewing theirs. I want to remind myself how I’m represented online to others. I can’t count the hours I’ve spent looking at the same photos, words, videos and songs on my many profiles.

Am I alone in this thought process? Do I over think my space in social networks?