YouTube Stars!

Guest Blogger Emma Samuelson is back with her second post! Emma is a singer-songwriter from California who writes her own songs, sings and plays guitar. Check out the excellent music videos on her YouTube channel! In Emma's own words, "I am a spiritual person and I love music, listening to it, creating it, and everything about it." Her love of music is obvious in her videos!

Emma's first post for YouTubeStars was a review of some videos about Comedian Bill Hicks. In this post, Emma does something similar to what her friend and fellow guest blogger, Kayleigh Levitt recently did in this post on Thought Provoking Videos.



Emma tells us about three videos on what gets us motivated, the state of the environment, and a Free Hugs campaign. See what she has to say and watch the videos she discusses!


But first, The News!


This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a beautiful performance of the classic Christmas song, "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire", by 11 year old Tina! Visit her YouTube channel for more great music videos. This video is featured in our YouTube Christmas 2011 playlist and is our way of wishing a Merry Christmas to kids from 1 to 92! Enjoy the Holiday Season!

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week! Go and Bookmark the Top 100 YouTube Chart at YTChart.com right now!



Now, here are Emma's Comments on Thought Provoking Videos.



In the current of life, there is a constant flow of information, opinions and issues that provoke our thoughts. Whether it be an environmental disaster, struggling with income, or simply deciding what to eat for a meal, it's all here for us to think about. You could take any person in the world, and have them watch a video, read an essay, or be told a story, and the information they have received will be traveling through their train of thought, initiating feeling and opinion. Thinking and analyzing our thoughts is what makes us human. It's our basic, yet extremely complex biological feature that has created countries, economies and governments. Simultaneously, it's also what has created music, film, and art. It all began with a single thought.

So what's something currently flowing through our world that is provoking our thoughts?

Work. Working in a career, in school, or just working to solve a problem is something that is present in everyone's life. But, what is our motivation to work? Why are we working? Dan Pink gives us insight on what he believes to be the answer. In this video, RSAnimate illustrates and outlines Pink's speech at the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, their website: www.thersa.org) about motivation, the 'Rewards System', and how thinking affects working and having a job. With the clever and brilliant illustrations RSAnimate brings to this speech, viewers take a look at what is going on within the economy and workforce, as Pink examines what people are doing and why they are doing it.






Currently, we are discovering, that after hundreds of years of utilizing the earth's natural resources, we are beginning to see depletion of these resources take a toll on something much larger than our society. Mother Earth herself is suffering the consequences for our benefit. Now, when you are eating a nice and juicy hamburger from a local fast food joint, what are you thinking about? Do you think about the animals that were raised to provide you this meal? Or what about the trees that were cut down to become your wrapper, napkins and soda cup? Many would probably answer: "No, I was thinking about my burger."

Although it isn't an option to destroy all fast food restaurants and force everyone in the world to recycle, buy a hybrid vehicle, and only purchase organic food, it is possible to provoke their thought about the possibilities of doing those things.

This video shows Mother Earth in her prime, as she inhales, water is abundant and plentiful, creating beauty among nature. But as she exhales, the water is sucked away, leaving the earth as a dry, unlivable habitat that is causing casualty among species. We are taken on a journey, through the world of majestic landscapes, diverse species, and colors unimaginable. But what do we want? Technology, money, sex, luxury… resulting in the over production and destruction of Mother Earth. This means that we are sacrificing the very nature of what gave us life.

At the end of the video, there are various people shown that helped to protect and preserve the environment. Sadly, all these individuals were killed fighting for their cause. So the next time you're sitting there, eating a burger, on your cell phone, or throwing a bottle in the trash, stop for a moment, and think. Think about the people who gave their lives to save the world you might be taking for granted.






If you saw a man stand on the street, smile, and hold up a sign that read "Free Hugs", what would you think? What would you do? Would you hug him? Would you make a judgment and continue on your way? Well, this was put to the test.

In this video, a man walks around with his "Free Hugs" sign and no expectations. At first, many people have questioning looks, and he is clearly avoided by most that are walking by. What were all these people thinking as they saw this casual, normal individual on the street hold up this sign? Was he even being serious?

Eventually, a small elderly woman looks up at the man, so he gets to his knees, and they embrace. At this moment, it seemed as if a huge lock had found it's key, and love was open. All of a sudden, various people embraced this man with enthusiasm and love, some even took the sign themselves and tried it on for size, creating a chain of connection between the people who released fear, and embraced love. This man opened up the possibility to connect to other human beings in the simplest form: physical touch. Towards the end of the video, local officers make the man aware that what he is doing is banned, and he will not be allowed to continue his "Free Hugs". At this juncture, the man creates a petition, for which he reaches his goal of 10,000 signatures to allow "Free Hugs". The connection continued. Provoking our thoughts is what makes us have impulses, make actions, and decide on how we feel about everything in our world. Thinking is a revolutionary art that cannot be mastered, and it leads to the opening of society's mind, allowing knowledge to be accessed. All actions start with a thought, and this mans' was a great one.

Labels: "Emma Samuelson", bittusahgal, lindas32, theRSAorg, zcau06

posted by KennyCrane at 12/23/2011 02:24:00 AM 2 Comments

To all who celebrate Christmas, I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas! To all celebrating something else, or not celebrating anything at all, I wish you all the best too! For those who like Christmas songs, I have created my annual Christmas Songs playlist. Here is the 2011 YouTubeStars Christmas Playlist; enjoy!



Here is our 2010 Christmas playlist!



Here is our 2008 Christmas playlist!




If you want some non-Christmas music that is very cool, try this 1960s Garage Rock and Psychedelic Acid Rock podcast!



Happy New Year 2012!

Labels: Christmas, Garage, GarageRockRadio, Happy New Year, holiday, psychedelic

posted by KennyCrane at 12/21/2011 06:35:00 AM 0 Comments

Hello and Happy Holidays! Are you ready for them? Got all your shopping done? Regardless of what you celebrate this time of year, take a minute to reflect on the origin and meaning behind these special days. Have a wonderful time with your family and friends!

Guest Blogger, Kayleigh Levitt has written another excellent blog post for your reading pleasure! Kayleigh is a creative young lady with a real talent for writing. In her last article, she discussed nothing less than Life and Death! In her first Guest Blog for YouTubeStars, she wrote about Artist and Filmmaker Andrea Dorfman. We're glad to present the third Guest Blog post from this talented young lady who can sometimes be found in a tree singing and playing guitar! This post reviews three videos; a film about random acts of kindness, an interview about how curiosity leads to scientific discovery and a talk about a 17 year old girl who decided that she was going to change the world! Kayleigh does a great job of discussing the subject matter of these must-see videos - read on!

But first, The News!

This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a warm and wonderful music video from Kayleigh's friend and also a guest blogger here at YouTubeStar.com, Emma Samuelson! Emma has captivating covers and original songs too, on her YouTube Channel. Watch Emma sing Samson by Regina Spektor, it will make you smile!

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week! Go and Bookmark the Top 100 YouTube Chart at YTChart.com right now!



Now, here is Kayleigh's article on Thought Provoking Videos.


Change For A Dollar

Sharon Wright wrote and directed this film about the journey of a homeless man and the ripple effect.

Change.

We can befriend change by being the change. The idea a little goes a long way works if you let it. Philanthropy is not just about having the financial resources. Changing the world is not fueled by money, it is fueled by compassion and love.

This film is mostly silent. It opens up on this homeless man sitting on a cement step holding up a cardboard sign that says, “Change?” This provokes thought as he proceeds to pass a long the dollar he made in coins through random acts of kindness.

Throughout the day, he participated in making the world a better place. By placing a penny on the sidewalk, he helped a poor mom get a job. He bought coffee for 35 cents and gave it to another homeless woman. He gave a dime to a charity and a little girl gave him a flower in return. A couple had a fight in the Laundromat; he gave the man a flower. The man gave it to his partner and they made up. He bought matchsticks for 15 cents and gave it to cold homeless people who stood in front of a bundle of wood. He gave his last quarter to a teenage girl sitting in the park at dark, which she used to walk to a payphone and call her mom. She asked to come home.

This short film speaks to the act of giving for the sake of giving. It makes us ask the question, what kind of change are we asking for and how can we be that for the world? The cheesy posters from elementary school instruct us to do random acts of kindness. The man in this movie does not live in his own little world where being kind is random recognition of the world around him. He lives in the world outside of himself. His life is not the self-absorbed life that most of us live. Maybe his kindness came from the humbleness of having no material possessions. Maybe it is in losing everything that we learn to give.

Change.
Be it.

He is not the only one asking for it.
The world is.






Curiosity and Science

Richard Feynman created this video about the concept of curiosity. No one meets up and says, “What about those cars?” We would probably just shrug our shoulders and say, “What about them? They are just cars.” We may care about what kind of car it is or how much it costs, but he invites us to consider the fact that the complex outcome of a car just breaks down to atoms that are following orders. This universe is very strange, but we are used to it. It is not foreign to us because we are comfortable in this mysteriously functioning world.

He states, “There is so much distance between the fundamental rules and the final phenomena that it is almost unbelievable that the final variety of phenomena comes from the steady operation of such simple rules.” The stunning visuals of this video reflect on the beauty around us that is all interrelated and connected. It shows amazing architecture, beautiful animals, the Stonehenge, the desert and many more of just things that are on this planet.

When people wonder how things work, they get answers. Then only to realize that the answers to these questions are connected. We are made of curiosity. At our most primal human nature, we are designed to be curious in order to survive and evolve. He points out how exciting it is to realize that we are actually on a floating rock in space and half of us are upside down at some point or time. The truth is so much more remarkable than the stories that we could ever create with our minds. The universal mind is infinitely more creative and we get to tap into it with our curiosity.

We are all just atoms that are working perfectly. The world around us is complex yet it breaks down to the same thing, atoms. How does that work? Atoms create the Grand Canyon. Atoms create sky-high buildings. This earth is floating in space. When we look at the basic truths of this universe, we are faced with how much we do not know. Curiosity leads us to understanding. Curiosity is what created science.






Anonymous Extraordinary Teen

Natalie Warne is an Anonymous Extraordinary. To be an anonymous extraordinary one must let go of the need to be recognized for their service to this world. One cannot give and receive simultaneously just as we cannot inhale and exhale at the same time. We truly give when we give without the motivation of our ego.

At 17, she decided she was going to change the world. At 17, most of us are still idealists because we have not had the years of reality disappointing us. At 17, she did. She became a part of the Invisible Children organization. There was a 25-year long war happening in Africa where children were being forced to be soldiers.

If we are not a part of the solution, we are the problem. She decided to be a part of the solution. She stood on the shoulders of giants as she helped orchestrate a hundred thousand silent protesters, a bill being passed by Obama, and getting Oprah’s support on national television.

The youth of this generation have pure potentiality readily available and Natalie is the perfect example of that. We know where we have been and with the combination of technology and the evolving minds of our youth, anything is possible.
How much does it take for us to realize it is time to change the way we think and act? As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Empathy is a commodity. Where is the action to back up this feeling? It begins with connecting with each other. We cannot change the world single-handedly. Together we are strong. When we stand for something together, we make a statement. The only way we can come together is to begin to understand where others are coming from. It begins by the way we live our life. When arguing between political issues, we must listen to the other side and hear more than the words they are saying. People are just people like us. Their beliefs are not them. Let us see other people as more than what they say. Anything that doesn’t show up as love is just a call for love.

Warne says that we must remind ourselves everyday to be extraordinary. She says that the most pivotal moments in our lives are the everyday moments we are walking the path of our dreams.

Labels: "Kayleigh Levitt", change, curiosity, emmalane94, empathy, science

posted by KennyCrane at 12/18/2011 12:56:00 AM 1 Comments

Last month I showed you some super cool dance music videos to get you up and moving, by Freezepop! Now I'll show you some ultra cool psychedelic trippy pop rock music videos by The Dandy Warhols. Like catchy Indie guitar and organ rock? Dig 60s inspired Psychedelic Garage Rock? Like cool and controversial music videos? You'll love The Dandy Warhols!

But first, The News!

This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a captivating music video from YouTubeStars guest blogger and talented musician Emma Samuelson! Emma (EmmaLane94) does an amazing cover of Regina Spektor's Samson. Her singing performance will make you smile! Watch the video right here!

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Last week's Featured Video, now on our Previously Featured Videos list, was by Tamara, also known as Tamy, from Germany. Tamy did an infectious cover of Pixie Lott's song, Mama Do. Tamy really gets into the song and you can tell she had a great time recording it. Watch!

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week! Go and Bookmark the Top 100 YouTube Chart at YTChart.com right now!



Now, here are 4 Psychedelicious videos by The Dandy Warhols!

I will never forget the first time I heard The Dandy Warhols. It was one night in the late 90s while watching MTV, probably 120 Minutes, and this video came on - "Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth". The tune is a trippy anti-drug psychedelic droner and the video is a parody of 80s MTV videos. I love this kind of music and immediately went out and bought "The Dandy Warhols Come Down" - their second CD.






The Dandy Warhols were founded in Portland Oregon in the early 90s by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and Peter Holmström. Then drummer Eric Hedford was added along with keyboard player Zia McCabe after Courtney saw her working in a coffee house. According to Wikipedia, "The Dandy Warhols performed in bars throughout Portland and became well-known for their nudity-filled live shows. [Their music] combined elements of 1960s garage rock and 1990s shoegaze music." Here is a very cool song called "Boys Better" which features the band highjacking the famous Capitol Records building in LA and shows clips of live shows by the band. If you are offended by a topless girl playing keyboards and a tambourine then please do not watch!






The Dandy Warhols are probably best known for their song "Bohemian Like You". This is a very catchy Indie dance rock tune and the video is done in Karaoke format; you can read the lyrics and sing along! Warning, there is female and male full frontal nudity in this one. No sex in this YouTube video, just brief nudity. Don't watch if you are offended by seeing a naked girl or naked guy.






If you can get past the first few seconds of rather annoying feedback, you'll be rewarded by a very cool trippy rocker with a totally catchy guitar riff! The person who made this video used an old cartoon for the visual accompaniment to this pounding psychedelic rock tune. Great beat, great harmonies, great dance song!

Labels: "the dandy warhols", dandy, emmalane94, naked, naked girls, nude, nudity, TamyFanClub, topless, warhols

posted by KennyCrane at 12/12/2011 12:47:00 AM 0 Comments

We have another new Guest Blogger, Emma Samuelson! Emma is a singer-songwriter from California who writes her own songs, sings and plays guitar. Check out the excellent music videos on her YouTube channel! In Emma's own words, "I am a spiritual person and I love music, listening to it, creating it, and everything about it." Her love of music is obvious in her videos!

Emma decided to write for us after reading the Guest Blogs from her friend, Kayleigh Levitt. If you would like to write for us, and get paid, contact Kenny!

In her first Guest Blog post for YouTubeStars, Emma reviews three videos about "The Conscious Comedian" - Bill Hicks. Emma does a great job of telling us who Bill was and what his message was, read on!


But first, The News!


This week's Featured Video on our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts is a beautiful duet from Australian singers Zoe Giddings Jones and Maribelle Anes. Zoe says this in the video description: "I am a singer, songwriter, Actress, Fashion Designer & dancer from Brisbane, Australia. I believe that you can Achieve anything if you put your mind to it. Never stop Aspiring to reach your goals no matter how far away they may seem. You will Astound yourself and Astonish the world."

We have a NEW Featured Video every week on our YouTube Top 100 Chart. If you missed any of our Previously Featured Videos, you can still watch them here.

Check out our Top 100 and Top 200 Charts of the Most Subscribed YouTube Channels every week! Go and Bookmark the Top 100 YouTube Chart at YTChart.com right now!



Now, here is Emma's article about Bill Hicks.


The Conscious Comedian

Combine dark humor, profound insight, and a strong, independent voice… and you have William "Bill" Hicks. Born in 1961, this young stand-up genius began his career at a local Comedy Workshop in Houston, Texas at 16 years old. Soon he became a regular, along with his good friend Dwight Slade, and they were quickly seen as an unforgettable comedic duo. After Slade moved to Oregon, Hicks focused on his solo comedic career, began touring and eventually, moved to Los Angeles with Slade. After a while of trying to make it big in California, Hicks made his way back to Houston, where he continued to tour and expand his career. Hicks experimented with drugs, and eventually started to drink heavily, which affected his comedy greatly. His friends commonly refer to that time as the 'dark years' of his career. With time and commitment, Hicks leaned away from drugs, which transformed his comedy, and took his career to New York City, where for 5 years he performed regularly and worked on leading a sober lifestyle.

By his mid-20's, Hicks had developed his voice further, with main topics of drug use, politics, philosophy and society that questioned the power in America. Not only was his dark comedy intriguing and hysterical, but he also brought out his deeper side as an activist. Hicks never ceased to tie in the humanity of life, and how corruption in government and religion erodes the fabric of love in the human experience.

This video shows Hicks in 1979 during the beginning of his career, as an 18 year old regular at a local comedy club. Hicks discusses the absurdity of 'flinching' and the draft, and receives a consistent response from his audience. Even as a young adult, there was something in him that was different and enlightening. He wasn't afraid to speak his mind, and he always spoke with great conviction.






Hicks wasn't just known for his comedy and strong opinions. Since adolescence, Hicks also pursued music and formed the trio "Stress" during his teenage years along with Slade and Kevin Booth, his high school buddies. Although it wasn't always his main focus, Hicks quite enjoyed creating music and never gave it up, producing songs throughout his life.

This song "She's A Woman" is a calm, sweet tune that captures the attention of any pair of ears close enough to listen. Hicks has a classic voice, with somewhat of a Neil Young tone, that comforts you in this pleasant song about loving a woman. "She's a woman, I'm a man, together we stand, face the winds and the rains in our life." The depth in Hicks' heart as he serenades us with this loving melody is quite beautiful, and expresses how facing struggles with a person you love is worth the time and the effort.






After constant touring in the United States, Hicks became interested in expanding his audience, which took him to London, where he was critically acclaimed for questioning American society. British audiences were much more receptive to his ideas than American audiences were. Hicks continued to tour throughout England and gained more and more fans.

Hicks reached a new level of expressing his ideas, and focused on the truth of humanity. He often stated, "We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution." Hicks began frequently talking about consciousness, and that we are all part of One life, and he would stipulate that we are actually living within a dream, and that we are the 'imagination of ourselves'. His ideas were very metaphysical, in that there is only One, and we are all apart of it at every moment. We create our life as we want, and we can be conscious of all that is truly going on. These ideas took hold in Hick's shows and routines, and he became seen as the comedian who dared to speak up about what had been suppressed.

In the early 1990's, Hicks was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He decided not to share this publicly, and continued to tour for the last time. His last show was on January 6, 1994 at Caroline's in New York. He spent his last few months with his friends and family, and just enjoying his life. Some of the last documented words from Hicks were: "I left in love, in laughter, and in truth and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit." Hicks passed on February 26, 1994, at the age of 32.

This video is the trailer for the biographical documentary about Hicks' life entitled, "American: The Bill Hicks Story", which was released in 2010. This documentary is a profound, intriguing film that navigates through Hicks' life by means of archive footage, photographs, and interviews of his friends, family and colleagues. It outlines how he became the comedian who sought to show the truth, and reveals his ideas about the world. Bill Hicks is the American comedian who showed the world the conscious way of looking at life, and was truly the 'outlaw comic who tried to save the world.'

Labels: "Bill Hicks", "Emma Samuelson", emmalane94, ZoeGiddingsJones1

posted by KennyCrane at 12/02/2011 05:38:00 PM 2 Comments