YouTube Stars!

Here is an excellent review of 4 videos by our newest Guest Blogger, Anna.

Anna's YouTube channel is Annaconda1984.

Visit her channel and watch some of the 182 videos she has uploaded.

My favorites include Anna's singing duet with KrisShred and her compilation with 18 YouTubers reciting The Raven by Poe.

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CharlotteSpeaks

If Georges Braque had chosen to be reborn as a YouTuber, he'd probably come back as this creative 24 year old girl, CharlotteSpeaks. "Why?": you may ask. For that, you will have to watch her bold and very unique lip-synch video Again and Again, which feels like a virtual cubistic painting come alive. Most of this clip is shot in black and white, which makes it elegant and balanced. In addition to this, the colors are not distracting and the viewer gets a great feeling of the form and the texture of the moving image. Another video of hers I enjoyed and has a similar style and tone as this one is Hands.

Charlotte was born in Birmingham, England and has lived in Chicago most of her life. She shows us around Chicago in several videos, her overall approach being a positive portrayal of everyday life mostly artistic, with a touch of humor here and there.

This makes her videos entertaining to watch. There seems to be some influence of her biggest passion, photography, in her clips making everything flow together beautifully. Sometimes she makes the viewers fly to an extent where we almost feel dizzy and at other moments we feel like we have been turned into bugs who crawl along fields of emerald - sort of like Kafka's Metamorphosis, gone outside. These are just a few factors, which in my eyes make her channel one of the most recommendable ones on YouTube.






Cataglyphis

The first impression you get before even looking at a channel is when you see a username, that makes you think about its meaning. This channel belongs to a North African desert ant called Laura, who has extraordinary orientation skills. Ok, maybe not North African, she's actually German. Like Charlotte, she is 24 and into photography.

To be more precise she's a hobby macro photographer, which means that she loves taking close-up shots which transform ants into giants. Some of it can be seen in her videos, parts of which she sometimes turns into macro video clips. Her assistant director is a Sapphire colored rabbit called thegreeneater, who makes short appearances in her videos from time to time and who is responsible for the set. Sometimes, when everyone is asleep, he can be seen running up and down the romantically flowery wallpapers, turning them into fields of roses.

Her videos, such as the one here, "it's my life I can do whatever I want" and "leftovers / stew" use a combination of many little clips, which all fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. My favorite is how she turns dates into snails by wrapping pieces of bacon around them and at the same time you have the snail symbolizing the passing of time slowly sliding along. Her videos seem natural, light and un-staged, raw and at the same time poetic; in some of her vids she puts an emphasis on color especially green, which seems to be her favorite and as well as blue. I especially enjoy her sense of humor and the atmosphere setting music that she picks so suitably. Her favorite, the German actor, director, writer and humorist, Loriot would surely have enjoyed her channel, if he had come across it and so will you.





ZOMGitsCriss

Cristina is a hip Romanian girl who vlogs about a variety of topics with the main focus on religion or the lack thereof. Queen would agree, she's a "shooting star leaping through the skies, (she's) a satellite (she's) out of control. If YouTube is the night sky her videos are many little shooting stars, in fact. Appearing in random unexpected moments, they add a spark that lights up the sky and most important of all they make the viewers think after they vanish and inspire to discuss.

Her videos are dynamic and she deals with serious topics with a touch of humor which make pretty much any video she produces entertaining to watch and at the same time they make one curious for more. If the Tasmanian daredevil could talk and used logical reasoning, had argumentation and observation skills it would be a ZOMGits. "It's Zo-my-god, what the f*ck is a ZOMGITS anyway..." Christina laughs, her username gets mispronounced a lot. Perhaps we should reflect first.

Her video Reflection is one the gems of YouTube. "Don't be too harsh, it's the first time I try to rhyme in english" she says but it feels like she was has been doing it her entire lifetime. K-rina (her nickname) is a true artist. Whether you agree with what she says in her videos or not, I have to warn you, this channel is highly addictive.





Azrienoch

One of the most fascinating people on YouTube and someone you'd have a fantastic "Tea Time" with is Jeff Smith Luedke, a 26 year old writer and philosopher, who has been named Azrienoch by the great Gandalf himself, while playing Dungeons and Dragons. He himself is in fact a wizard too. However, unlike Gandalf, Jeff juggles with words and with such elegance and skill that it will make you curious to read his blog and to order a very interesting book he wrote called "The Absurdity of Philosophy".

While watching his videos, you'll probably turn into a lilliput and sway back and forth sitting on his nose ring, listening attentively. Having watched all his videos I must say the quality never drops and there is always something you can learn from them. In a lot of cases people complain about how certain users change just for the sake of views. He, in fact, if there is any change at all is getting better. He uses a lot of effects but I don't mean his Tea Time Series by that. Willy, the doll and 18 are all real, in fact 18 travelled to europe and we've hung out. In general effects can be distracting but in his case they seem to make each video into a visual piece of artwork and they underline his message.

My favorite videos by him are his Minimalism - Kinetic Typography Poem and this video X vs O in which he runs around with a big invisible brush, action painting. After watching a video by him you wait for a few seconds, think and smile with satisfaction. XOXO Anna

Labels: Annaconda1984, azrienoch, Cataglyphis, CharlotteSpeaks, ZOMGitsCriss

posted by KennyCrane at 11/11/2009 12:54:00 PM