Tag: youtube

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Chocolate Rain

No, this kid is not lip synching – that’s his real voice. Check out his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel (skip forward about halfway thru for the interview) if you don’t believe me. The above clip has generated over 10 million views and has spawned a bunch of covers and remixes. Here’s a few that I liked:

You can find a complete list of YouTube clips here

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Luck of the Wii

You may remember the ordeal we went through last Christmas to get a Wii for the boys. Although we failed to find one before Christmas, we came up with a pretty good idea to convey that we would eventually be buying a Wii: I stuffed 250 dollar bills into a Wii box that I borrowed from a guy at work and we put the whole thing under the Christmas tree. The boys were happy to see the Wii box and not very disappointed to find that there was no Wii inside it. Luckily, I was able to capture the moment on a digital camera. After I put it up on YouTube for friends and family to see, I thought that would be the end of it.

It wasn’t. Last month, Thomas noticed a new item in my YouTube inbox:

My name is Patricia McNaney and I am the Broadcast Business Manager at Young & Rubicam Advertising Agency. My work phone number is: (redacted) and my email address is (redacted).

We are interested in the possability of using a portion of the above referenced video clip in a Sears Holiday TV commercial.

Can you please contract me, at your convenience, to discuss the possability of the use of this clip in a TV commercial for Sears.

I look foward to hearing from you.

Regards,

I was skeptical that this was a typical online get-rich-quick scam, but I called her and found out that her offer was legitimate. They were looking for the kind of great holiday moments that you just can’t get from child actors. If I wanted our video to be considered for final selection, I had only to provide a copy of the video and sign a couple of legal releases. I gave her my email address and she sent the following:

Mitchell –

It was great talking to you yesterday regarding the possibility of using the above referenced footage in a Sears Holiday TV commercial.

As discuss, I have attached two (2) releases for signature. The Footage Release needs to be reviewed and signed by you or if you do not own the video, by the person who owns the video. This release gives us permission to use the footage in a commercial for Sears.

The Consent and Release form is to be signed by anyone who appears in the video. This release gives us permission to use the footage containing their image.

It also explains that if this footage is used in a commercial, anyone appearing in the footage will receive a SAG contract for signature and will receive residual payments. The SAG contracts will be forwarded to the individual(s) in the video after final client approval of the commercial.

I also need to get a copy of the video. If you have the original, that would be the best quality for us to work with. If not, please send the best possible quality copy.

You can send the signed releases and a copy of the video to:

Patricia McNaney
(address redacted)

Please send via Fed/Ex so we can track the package in case it is lost in transit. Please charges shipment to Y&R Fed/Ex # which is: (redacted).

If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact me at anytime.

Regards,

Patricia McNaney

Today I sent three signed Consent & Release forms (Tina, Graham and Thomas), a signed Footage Release form and the video in original AVI format burned on to a CD. There is no guarantee that we will be selected for a commercial, but the boys already have plans for spending their residual checks!

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Gerry Phillips

This afternoon Graham and I saw an incredible performance of “Bohemian Rhapsody” on Jimmy Kimmel live by self-described “manualist” Gerry Phillips. We found his collection of music videos on YouTube after a little searching. You should go check out the entire list yourself, but some of our favorites include “Wizards of Winter”, “Sweet Child Of Mine” (a recent favorite of mine on Guitar Hero II), “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Classical Gas”, “Linus and Lucy” and “The William Tell Overture”. My absolute favorite is undoubtedly this one which he humorously calls the “The Fart of the Bumblebee”:

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It’s alive!

Tina and the boys heard the “snap” again while they were eating breakfast this morning. They thought it was by the cat food again, but I didn’t think they could hear a trap in the garage from the dining room. I was right – it was under the stove where I had set two traps over the weekend. Not only was this one alive but it was squeaking up a storm!

I pulled out trap/mouse and put them in the middle of the kitchen floor. Eventually, both cats became interested enough to check it out. I cruelly shot some video with my digital camera while Ming had a look. I should warn you that these videos will be upsetting if you don’t like seeing mice in traps:

I only let this go on for a couple of minutes before I dropped him in a salsa jar with baking soda and vinegar. It was all over in about 15 seconds. (Thanks for the great advice, Thane!)

Finally, here’s a few more from YouTube:

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News

Thomas became interested in something called Pictochat Animation when he found some movies on YouTube that used the technique. Soon, he started drawing his own animations, which are essentially flip book animations that use the Pictochat feature on his Nintendo DS handheld game. He’s been working on an epic inspired by Star Wars, but it’s not ready quite yet. In the meantime, he commandeered my iSight and my computer to produce this animation in iMovie.

Tomorrow Thomas has two flag football games and Graham has one. Last week Thomas was sick, so we both missed his and Graham’s first games. Tomorrow I’ll miss them again since I’m helping Uncle Buddy move into his new house. Buddy is one of the rocks we have in Portland and we’d do anything for him, so I’m not too bothered to help.