YouTube Stars!

Spring is here! The weather is getting warmer and it's time to gather with friends for good food, good music, and good fun and games. In this post, we will look at some videos that you can watch with your friends, or talk about with your friends. The first deals with food, the second is a music video, and the last two are about some mysterious online games.

First, let's have a look at this week's YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart. Well, it finally happened! Lonelygirl15 fell from first place this week. She had been in the top spot since 9/18/2006 but now she has switched positions with Smosh. Debuting on the chart at number 84 this week is anafree. More on this female singer/songwriter/guitarist below.

The 2BuxMall, a place to make your own Store where you can promote or sell things, continued testing this week. So far, there are 9 test Stores open. Many of the links on the Store pages are live; visit some of the Stores and see for yourself! Store customization has been tested. Comment system has been tested. Video auctions are being tested. Sales of digital downloads (songs -MP3s) are being tested. "Get YOUR Tube Bucks!" See 2BuxMall.com for more information.


Youtube Sandwiches

If you're getting together with friends, there has to be food available! The easiest thing to do is put out a spread of cold cuts, some bread and condiments, and paper plates and napkins. Let everyone go to this buffet table and make their own sandwich. Oh, and make a video of yourself making your sandwich - that's what YouTuber raz0rsex wants you to do! Nineteen year old Paulina made a video about sandwiches on February 13th asking people to make a video response about what kind of sandwiches everyone likes. Now, after almost 1 million views, the video has 121 responses! Watch the vid and make response 122...


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Ana Free - Chained

Now that everyone is fed, it's time for some music. Usually, someone in the group has some musical ability. Maybe Sammy can sing some Karaoke tunes or Katie will lay down a rap. If your group of friends is lacking in talent, have a listen to anafree as she strums her guitar and sings a song. Ana is a young attractive dark-haired woman from Portugal who has earned over 10 thousand subscribers since she started posting videos in January. Here is an original song for you to watch and listen to!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Wanna Play?

Let's play some games! Someone has to get up and lead the group in an interactive fun party game. Lately, my friends have been playing "I'm going camping..." Have you ever played that one? How about some online community games! It looks like GreenTeaGirlie has some game ideas. Kallie is 20 (or 22, depending on where you look) and sells Green Tea. She has caused quite a stir in YouTubia since she began making videos a month ago. The next video in this post goes into some of that. But first, watch this one and try to figure out the significance of the numbers on the white board behind Kallie.


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

GreenTeaGirlie Query

Who IS GreenTeaGirlie? This video investigates that question. Is she real or fake? Here we go again! It's LittleLoca, LucyInLA, Lonelygirl15, Daxflame all over again - real or fake? Watch and see what writer and now videomaker AwkRando has to say on this topic. Either way, a mystery is always fun to talk about with your friends!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Labels: anafree, AwkRando, GreenTeaGirlie, raz0rsex

posted by KennyCrane at 4/30/2007 01:49:00 AM 1 Comments

In this post, I'll show you three music videos. The first is from a marvelous singer who sings to purchased backing tracks. The other two are from singer/songwriters with guitars. We'll end this post with a funny but insightful comedy sketch from one of the best and most popular musicians on YouTube.

First, let's have a look at this week's YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart. There's only one switch in positions in the Top 20 and not much movement in the rest of the chart, either! Is this the calm before the storm? Will there be a wave of new videomakers climbing the charts in the coming months, as many YouTubers begin their summer vacation? We'll just have to wait and see! There is one big mover, communitychannel. Natalie jumped up 36 positions with her 4204 new subscribers this week, to land at the Number 61 spot! Check her out!

The 2BuxMall, a place to make your own Store where you can promote or sell things, went online for testing this week. So far, there are 8 test Stores open. Many of the links on the Store pages are live; visit some of the Stores and see for yourself! For more on the 2BuxMall, see the FAQ and Blog.


Every Little Star

Oh my! YsabellaBrave keeps making the best singing videos on YouTube! This time, MaryAnne sings an early 60s hit originally sung by Linda Scott. (Actually, the words and music were written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II for the 1932 Broadway musical "Music In The Air") The song also appeared in David Lynch's enigmatic movie, "Mulholland Drive". This video is cuteness to the max! Have a look...


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Shine Your Light

Here's a nice song from a singer/songwriter who goes under the YouTube name of eatmorecookies. I'm doing that right now and have to be careful not to get any crumbs in the keyboard! This Nashville man has uploaded 20 videos in the month that he has been a member. They all feature him accompanying his singing with his guitar playing. This video is eatmorecookies' newest addition. It was recorded in one take with no editing. The chord changes are enjoyable and his singing is very good. Check out this uplifting video!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Dear Ovaries (original)

As they used to say on Monty Python, "and now for something completely different..." Here is a song by singer/songwriter StitchedElf - and even she admits "...it's weird...". I think its a creative music video by a young lady with a very nice voice. Gina has uploaded 12 videos; some are originals and some are covers. They are all quite good! Watch this video here, then click over to YouTube to read the lyrics. They're pretty unique!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

No-One Makes Videos Any More....

Leprechauns are real! There's one in this video, and he's a pretty good psychologist! This funny yet insightful video from popular singer/songwriter Periurban looks into the thoughts and feelings that people may have as they progress through their videomaking career. Watch as Peri converses with his inner self about the ups and downs of YouTube popularity.


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Labels: comedy., eatmorecookies, guitar, PeriUrban, singer, songwriter, StitchedElf, Ysabellabrave

posted by KennyCrane at 4/23/2007 01:36:00 AM 2 Comments

This is a copy of a post made to the 2BuxMall Blog.


Periurban and Renetto, two popular YouTube videomakers, have recently made videos about a meeting they had in which a new video sharing concept was discussed. This new concept may seek to fix some of the problems that the YouTube users community has been experiencing, such as communication problems via video comments and YouTube messages, and abuse of some of the Terms of Service by many members. This new concept may also lead to individual ownership of their own channels and a democratic system of governing the operations.

From what I am able to see, this new concept seems to be a very good idea! It is worth trying, and I am very interested to see if this concept is implemented and to see what they put in place to deal with some of these issues.

Our 2BuxMall system addresses some of these same issues. We hope to roll out the system in a slow and orderly manner, addressing issues as they develop. 2BuxMall Store owners are selected by invitation only, so we can match the volume of business with our ability to provide the community with good service.

Individual owners will have a good deal of control over their own Stores. They can customize its appearance and decide what to promote or sell. We intend to provide a micropayment system to make it easy to pay for purchases made through our system.

I don't think our system could be classified as being run in a democratic way. It will be the case that everyone who becomes a user will have been invited by someone who already is a user. We feel that responsible community members will recommend other responsible people for invitation. There will also be a Level system which may help people to feel a certain amount of trust in users who have moved up in Level, which would indicate that they are active and positive members of our community.

I think that any discussion of the way in which positive people can group together in a community that can be helpful to themselves and others, is a good discussion to have! Here are the videos from Periurban and Renetto on this subject. We hope to participate in this creation of a better experience for the videomaking community.


An Open Letter To Renetto (Periurban)


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


The Future of YouTube... is it really up to us? (Renetto)


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Labels: 2Bux, 2BuxMall, community, future, PeriUrban, renetto, YouTube

posted by KennyCrane at 4/18/2007 11:32:00 PM 0 Comments

I've been hearing about a lot of YouTubers becoming involved in interesting projects lately. Recently, I wrote about LittleLoca's movie project and Geriatric1927's music making project. Today I'll tell you about some other projects that you might want to check out. We'll see and hear the latest music project from capo420420, learn about an interesting, active and growing forum for discussing videos, and get an update from Periurban on a community project that he may be working on with Renetto and others.

First, let's have a look at this week's YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart. There is hardly any movement at all in the Top 20. I did notice an interesting person at the number 80 position this week, up 12 from last week - applemilk1988. Emily (visit her website) is a soon-to-be 18 year old from Florida who has made 41 vlog and random comedy videos since she joined YouTube last October. She has been experiencing a surge in subscriptions lately. It was only a week ago that she made a vlog about approaching 9000 subscribers. Now she is over 10,400! Check out her videos (including this secret one) and see why she is getting a lot of attention lately.

At the tail end of the chart, we welcome Spricket24. Karen, one of my favorite videomakers, debuts this week at number 98. Long time popular videomaker Morbeck is hanging on at number 99 this week, down 2 from last week. Lets see if he's still on the chart next week!


youtube forum TubeRavers.com 2

In January, along with a new year came a new forum to discuss videos - TubeRavers.com. Three months later, over 150 members are posting on this active and interesting forum. Admin StormBeforeTheCalm (watch this thought-provoking vid by Sean) has been doing an excellent job of setting up many interesting features on this forum. I contributed by adding a video details box that shows up to the right of videos that users embed in their posts. Watch this little intro video to TubeRavers, then go and join our fun group!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Charlotte North Carolina's Jeff Williams "Helpless"

There are very few YouTubers like capo420420. Jeff is a man with a heart as big as the sounds that he gets from his guitar. Anyone who has gotten to know Mister Williams knows of his enthusiasm, love of the community and his passion for music. Jeff shows his support for the community by helping other musicians and videomakers. He helps others by encouraging them to respond to his videos, which help them to get viewed. His amazing Blindfolded video has 124 response vids and his PROFILE ICON PaRTy, where people respond with their profile pics, has 127 responses, WOW! Jeff is a popular man with over 3100 subscribers but he still finds the time to create projects like these response video parties which are very helpful to the community. Let's check out this YouTubeStar's latest video!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

An Open Letter To Renetto

What's up with Periurban's latest video? Peri, well known singer/songwriter (I love this song of his!) has been trying to keep a secret. I'm not sure what it is! At first, I thought he knew some inside info about YouTube's long rumored but yet to be seen revenue sharing plan (see this vid). Then I watched this mysterious video where he vlogged about being handed a big secret (from Renetto?) Now, some of the secret has been revealed! Peri has been wonderful at starting interesting discussions in the community and this time I'm sure there will be lots of interesting comments. Watch this then leave YOUR comment.


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


We're doing a project too! Please have a look at our 2Bux web application. We're getting ready to roll out and test the 2BuxMall section of this project. A big thank-you to the persons who have volunteered for beta testing! We have our team set up now and next week, we'll get started in this exciting experiment. Let's see where we can take this!

Labels: 2Bux, 2BuxMall, capo420420, PeriUrban, renetto, tuberavers

posted by KennyCrane at 4/16/2007 01:56:00 AM 1 Comments

Tonight, I was watching a movie on TV called "Waxworks". While watching this 1988 horror-comedy, I noticed that one of the stars was Deborah Foreman, the co-star, along with Nicolas Cage, of 1983's "Valley Girl". I was a big fan of the movie because I saw it on cable shortly after I returned from California on an enjoyable business trip. It reminded me of the good times I had in the LA area. Also, the music in the film is pretty cool. My three faves are the theme song "Girls Like Me" by the Bonnie Hayes Combo, "The Fanatic" by Felony, and "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)" by The Flirts. I began to wonder where Debby Foreman is now and I found out, from her website, that she is teaching yoga at UCLA. Good for her!

What about the YouTubeStars of the past? Do you still follow their videos? Here's a chance to catch up with some of the big names from the earlier days of YouTube.

Loca's new Movie!

LittleLoca has been making movies on YouTube for almost a year now. She never really went away but she has been involved in other projects lately. One big thing in her world has been a half hour movie that she stars in! Check it out at http://www.bullfighterscafe.com/Loca/ticket.html. In early May, it will be one year since Stevie Ryan brought her LittleLoca to YouTube and she is still going strong!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

NOW IT CAN BE TOLD....THE SECRET IS OUT

Last summer, a 79 year old UK gentleman named Peter made a few videos for YouTube. Within a week, he was featured and began a lightning fast climb to the top of the Most Subscribed chart. We first wrote about Geriatric1927 in that first week. Peter is still in the top 10 (number 9) on the YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart this week and people still love his videos. Even though he has been offered quite a lot of publicity from newspapers, radio and television - Peter prefers to keep a low profile. But he recently had the opportunity to work with the Zimmers, a group of over-60 people who got together and made a cover of The Who's "My Generation". Watch this video, then check out the song on the Zimmers Myspace page!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Communication Terminated

What could that title mean? It's the latest video from Lonelygirl15. I first noticed LG15 last summer when she first began to become controversial. I had seen her first few videos and she seemed like a lot of other teens who blog on YT. But it was her "My Parents Suck" video released on July 4th that really got her noticed. Read all about that video, here. LG15 is still the Most Subscribed YouTube channel and no one is even close. Her channel continues to put out a few vids each week and the story continues. But are we near the end? Watch the video and then read the comments!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Labels: Deborah Foreman, Geriatric1927, Jessica Rose, LittleLoca, Lonelygirl15, Nicolas Cage, Peter Oakley, Stevie Ryan, Valley Girl, YouTube, YouTubeStars

posted by KennyCrane at 4/10/2007 12:31:00 AM 2 Comments

This is part 21 in our continuing series, Cinema du jour, the movie of the day. In this episode we'll see a video on Videomaking Advice, watch a Japanese Love Story, hear a cool song and find out about some YouTube News.

First, let's have a look at this week's YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart. Daxflame continues to climb the chart. This week, he is at Number 44, up 8 from last week. Also, EclecticAsylumArt, the fabulous artist we mentioned here moved up 16, to number 69. EclecticAsylumArt just painted Daxflame using Hershey's Chocolate Syrup! See it here. New on the chart at number 95 is Tommy Chong from the comedy duo Cheech and Chong. He just created his channel, CitizenChong, a few weeks ago. Check it out - but don't do drugs!!!

One more point, then on to the videos. I mentioned in this post that Daxflame's sister is making videos on YouTube as well. She is closing her laladylalyn account and will now be uploading to her DylanPatrello channel. She is a pretty good singer/songwriter; go subscribe!


Smart ways to gain YouTube subscribers - Part 1: The Basics

Castaa (Jon from San Francisco) has recently made a detailed video on ways to gain subscribers. He talks about 4 things that you can do to insure that your videos are interesting enough for viewers to subscribe to your channel. One point he makes is that you should check out what popular videomakers are doing, and suggests that you check out the YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart for that purpose. Thanks for the mention, Jon! Be sure to check out Jon's 30 other videos, including a 2 part documentary on "The Meaning of Life"


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Love Story Ending -My Heart is Broken, No!!-

This is the cutest video!!! Watch Lucymisser, a young Japanese woman, talk about a man she admired from afar at school. She likes him but there is no way that they can ever get together. Is Lucy okay with that? Yeah! This video has 350 thousand views - make sure you watch it too!

Embedding disabled by request, watch it on YouTube.


Green Onions

This very cool song was a hit in the early 60s by Booker T and the MGs. Watch and listen as it is covered by ontrashakotra, a man from Georgia named J David B. He played all the parts in this song and even edited together video of himself playing the guitar, keyboards and bass! Check it out and get up and dance!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


YouTube Staff Picked Me! =)

Did you know that YouTube has a Blog on their site? Every week, the editors pick their favorite videos of the week - kind of like what I do! This week, editor Joe picked a video by faintstarlite, a young woman named Esther from the UK who I had just recently found and subscribed to. She is attractive and has a great smile! Check it out in this video, then watch some more - she has 85 videos uploaded so far!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Please read our last Cinema du jour 20 - Music, Skit, Quotes - it's here! That post mentions Rockstar122083, UndiscoveredJulie, MysteryGuitarMan and U2bianSynic.

Labels: Castaa, Chong, Daxflame, DylanPatrello, EclecticAsylumArt, faintstarlite, Lucymisser, ontrashakotra, Tommy

posted by KennyCrane at 4/02/2007 01:31:00 AM 1 Comments