This blog exists to point you all toward awesome Internet phenomena, but since Netplay’s main writer is leaving the Northwestern bubble for six months, we thought we’d make him into an Internet phenomenon. There’s no way a video of this toddling, stumbling, pumpkin-kissing Patrick St. Michel won’t go viral.
Thanks to the footage from Carrie St. Michel, you can see where this site’s most prolific writer’s passions developed. He cringes at a cup of foul drink like he cringes at the sounds of Mika. In search of cute animals, he yells out for a doggy. His singing amounts to the experimental noise that One Click Wonders always pimps out. He starts reppin’The Simpsons at age four. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any video evidence of the Mr. Lister he’d become, but he does gurgle something at his father that sounds vaguely like “Top ten food-centric music videos.”
NBN will miss you, Patrick, and we wish you a Happy Hanukkah.
A new video has hit the web featuring Los Angeles Lakers superstar and NBA MVP Kobe Bryant dunking a basketball into a hoop over a pool full of water snakes.
The spot, featuring the modern-day philosophers otherwise known as the cast of Jackass, are intended to hype up a new Nike shoe, dubbed the Hyperdunk (they only cost $1,500!). Pretty cool, even if I have my doubts about its authenticity. Seriously, no NBA player, let alone one of the top three players in the league, is going to get permission from his team to pull off a nutty stunt like that. Same goes for the original ad in this series, featuring Kobe jumping over a car.
Again, cool but most likely fake. Neat idea though. Hope Kobe can jump out of this potential disaster. Bonus video of an Inside the NBA spoof of the car-jumping ad.
Northwestern’s favorite day of the year looms, and I’m sure you don’t need any help getting excited for NU’s most debaucherous hours. Well, to help out anyway, here are a few videos of previous musical acts who graced Dillo Day with their presence. Also, don’t forget to get your, uhh, supplies, now.
Cake (2007)
Little Brother (2006)
The Roots (2007)
Some random student on a fraternity roof (2006)
Ben Folds (2006)
And how about some footage of how the day ends…fireworks!
Whether or not you like that Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley will be Northwestern’s commencement speaker this year, seniors have to face the fact that they can’t do anything about it. But you can start preparing adequately, and I don’t mean stockpiling Everclear to pre-game commencement with. In the videos below, Daley shows he can be both impassioned and kinda funny. But still pretty bland.
All you seniors can only hope Mr. Daley brings the same energy he brought to a press conference about wetlands, captured in a video below. The good stuff (okay, snoozefest) begins at the 3:30 mark.
Most importantly, the mayor doesn’t quit. Just watch the video below, where he battles a croaky voice to deliver a speech more thirlling than that chase scene from the latest Indiana Jones. And hey, those balloons are our school colors, this is almost a preview.
I’ll leave it to the music blog to critique this song, but the fresh-out-the-kitchen video for rock band Weezer’s new song “Pork and Beans” has hit the Internet. The idea behind the video is…cram as many popular Internet fads as possible into a three-minute video. Check it out.
If you don’t recognize all of those, you seriously have failed at being Internet-concious in the past six years. Weezer roped in some of the acutal celebrities for this clip (Tay Zonday, Numa Numa guy, Kelly) while referencing a gagillion others. Points for the G.I. Joe shout-out, but big deductions for a creepy dramatic groundhog and references to “Shoes.”
Here’s an Internet milestone; FOX Broadcasting is creating a new TV series called Hole in the Wall based off the Japanese game called Brain Wall, a show that took off globally after being uploaded to YouTube as “Human Tetris.” The network will decide whether to pick up the show later this year. In case you haven’t seen the original…
I can think of plenty of TV shows and movies influenced by Internet trends, but this is the first time I can remember a show has been created because of a YouTube videos popularity. This is a nice reminder of how prevalent YouTube has become in our world, bridging geographical gaps and now actually should be considered a player in the entertainment industry.
But does this show actually have any chance of thriving on network television? YouTube videos are short blasts of entertainment (every human tetris clip I’ve seen is just that, a clip. Not the entire show.) that can be viewed when the viewer wants to see it. I imagine most people outside Japan saw human tetris by either clicking a link on another website or having a friend tell them “get over here, you got to check this out.” The most important obstacle the show will have to overcome is getting old fast. I loved human tetris…for ten minutes. Then I fell in love with this. Human tetris is a great YouTube watch, but as a half-hour gameshow it could get really old, really fast, unless the show offers some sort of other game. Other countries, like Mexico and Denmark, have adapted the show, so it could work. But remember, “human tetris” is only one segment of a larger show in Japan - even the people who created this game can only take so much of a guy getting hit by a styrofoam wall.
But, hey, you should still try to get on the show.
Being a junior-almost-senior, the prospect of having to actually find a job in the “real world” leaves me terrified. But, even though I’ll have to do stuff and abandon my current “gross concert” wardrobe for suits and ties, I am kind of excited about the prospect of having my own business card. I just hope it’s as cool as the ones featured on this page. I’m an especially big fan of the cards that you can grow plants out of… and the divorce lawyer cards. Here’s to the future!
Yes, we should all try to be friends with each other and hold hands in a field of poppies singing showtunes, blah blah blah. But sometimes people just piss you off. And, since pegging someone with ninja throwing stars isn’t legal, the best way to retaliate is a little verbal smackdown. Here is a list of extra-special insults from around the globe. A few standouts include “a thousand dicks in your religion” courtesy of the Arabs, and Icelands suprisingly stinging “grandfatherfucker.” Lots of bad words ahead, so don’t let your mother catch you reading this.
This is a pretty simple-ish game to play if you get bored during the usually dull set of Monday classes. Basically, your goal is to get a block of putty from one point to another, with all sorts of obstacles thrown in your path. The actual page explains more. Also, click “Webstart it” to play the thing, unless you want it on your computer.
Back in the rootin’, tootin’ lawless early years of Facebook, tons of fictional characters maintained profiles on the social network site. I recall every character from Mean Girls being around, along with Doug and several Arrested Development characters. Eventually, Facebook got uptight and eliminated the majority of these not-really-student pages, and the only excitement most of us get comes with stuff such as Lauren Cohn.
But some non-real Northwestern accounts still exist. I don’t know how they get to exist while Stephen Colbert’s made-up page got axed, but they are still around. Here is a helpful guide to these ficticious Facebookers, just in case you ever feel the urge to beef up your friend total but don’t want to look creepy.
Joseph Medill — The original Medilldo, Joseph Medill’s Facebook page is loaded with nerdy journalism references that would make the most talkative tool blush. All his favorite movies and books relate somehow to the fourth estate, and the only groups he calls membership in relate to the kinda-top-notch journalism school his name is affixed to (though I don’t get why he’d lose his Gucci sunglasses in McTrib). Plus, only a real jerk would include something he said as a favorite quote.
Willie the Wildcat — Yeah, if you actually shell out the tuition to go here, you know who Willie the Wilcat is. But the feline’s Facebook page raises an intriguing question: is Willie a student? I’m not naive (I’m aware a student puts on a costume, as there are no records of a man-sized, upright standing cat existing), but clues abound hinting at the fact Willie is suppossed to actually exist amongst us, the poor college students he entertains. He claims he goes to class, but I’ve never seen him before (don’t like Medill, Willie?), and he’s in every group with NU slapped on it. Not to mention, his taste in music (Jack Johnson, Counting Crows), movies (Wedding Crashers for humor, Crash for idiotic social commentary) and TV shows (Family Guy, Grey’s Anatomy) imply he’s a part of NU’s Greek community. A grand mystery….
Pat Fitzgerald — Hypothetically, football coach Pat Fitzgerald could maintain a Facebook page. My mom has one, why not him? I just pray to the football gods he doesn’t, since he should be trying to turn the Wildcat football team into something not-so-mediocre. Wait….uh oh, this video says this might not be fiction….
Dear goodness, he really did go “from sideline to online!” I wouldn’t be so concerned if he didn’t commit the ultimate Facebook sin: Writing on your own wall. For shame Fitz, for shame.
NU Syllabus - Taking a page out of the NU Athletics marketing playbook (”If we go online, all those hip youngsters in Chicago will go from MySpace to our space! I win the Internet!”), Northwestern’s yearbook created a profile promoting itself. At least it isn’t an actual human being. The profile also avoids pretending it’s real in any capacity outside advertisement, filling in fields with reasons why you should buy a copy when it comes out this Monday. The groups NU Syallabus joined are also pretty ho-hum, except for “I Couldn’t Get Into Hogwarts…So I Came to Northwestern” which is just creepy and perplexing. Also: that may be the most boring profile picture a yearbook could select to represent itself.
One final question: if any of these folks appeared in your “Facebook five,” what does that say about you?
So, one of the most evil people in recorded history is now an Internet phenom. The trend, as the Wired story explains, sees people take a scene from a 2004 movie about Hitler where the Fuhrer screams a lot and put funny subtitles unrelated to World War II underneath it (the story incorrectly says “jokers are dubbing humorous dialogue” into the scene, but the audio is the same from the film). Here is an example, using this year’s Super Bowl as the subject:
The various videos cover all sorts of topics, from more sports, DVDs to video games. The Hitler joke videos have apparently been around for awhile, but like a true Internet sensation, are just now getting more widespread attention. Part of the reason they haven’t stopped yet is how easy they are to make and, more importantly, how they can be constantly updated with new jokes. Take this one about Hillary Clinton:
It illustrates all the reasons Hitler videos of this nature are still going. These videos are simple to make - one doesn’t have to edit the video or the audio, they simply just need to add funny text to it. The written words don’t even have to come close to matching the dialogue (as most of these videos showcase), as German was long ago determined to be the funniest sounding language and nobody will pay attention to the actual vocalized words. Hitler remix videos aren’t hard to make, but offer a great outlet to get a lot of hits and laughs.
And, like any great Internet trend hoping to last a few years, the joke has to be malleable. That is to say, new situations can be adapted to the joke. The Hitler parodies touch on everything from the Super Bowl to the primaries. Like a great YTMND trend, these videos offer a funny, easy way to comment on something current. This is the same reason LOLcats continue to be big - they allow for a wide range of topics to be made fun of. Just replace cute kittens with an evil head of state.
Expecting something complicated? About why these are popular? About why Hitler is now funny? About…anything? Well, stop expecting. These Hitler remixes are a simple reminder of popular Internet content. They are easy to make, they are ironic, they are topical and, most importantly, they are funny. Some trends aren’t so difficult to pin down.
No, we haven’t yet figured out the literal significance of those five names that showed up beneath everyone’s Facebook search bar Tuesday. Facebook claims that it wasn’t a list of the people who search for you the most, nor was it a list of the people you search for. Supposedly, it was just Facebook’s guess as to who were the “most important” people in your life. Whatever that means, the more interesting thing here is the way people reacted. Here are some lessons to take away from all that frantic speculation, list-comparing and general titillation…
We’re egotistical. Somehow, when news of this “glitch” got out, the assumption was that we were getting a glimpse at a “stalker list” — that is, the people who most regularly look at your profile. It’s a lot more likely that those five names were determined by some algorithm that takes into account your searching and clicking and wall-posting. But still, it was thrilling for a moment to believe that all those people you had been scrutinizing had been scrutinizing you back.
Some people still pretend that their profile info is supposed to be “private.” All those creeped-out reactions — “eww, I don’t want THAT GUY looking at my profile” — just don’t make sense: Your Facebook page is meant to be looked at by everyone on your friends list. Accept it!
The real privacy danger with Facebook is the one nobody talks about. Those warnings about employers, advertisers and cops looking at your profile seem overcooked: It’s pretty rare for the content of any intelligent person’s profile to be all that damning anyway. No, Facebook’s potential for creepy, life-ruining privacy violations is in the way the website secretly tracks how you use it. It’s a lot more awkward for your ex-girlfriend to know how often you look at her photos than it is for your boss to find out that Showgirls is one of your favorite movies. The search-bar gaff on Tuesday raises the issue that Facebook pays attention to how you spend your time. The fact that Facebook’s programmers so quickly disabled the feature once suggests that they realize they’re treading on dangerous ground by collecting that kind of information.
Facebook matters to us. A lot. The entire experience of having everyone I encountered on campus talking about this thing was really bizarre: It only took a few hours for word to spread that there was some new feature on Facebook that might mean something. We didn’t even know what it meant. Most of the people I talked to said their list didn’t make complete sense by any measure they could think of: While best-friends and secret crushes showed up on people’s lists, so did totally random semi-friends. Of course, we were interested for all the reasons listed above (egotism, self-consciousness, privacy concerns, plus just good old fashioned gossip-lust). But still, I can’t think of anything other than Facebook that could spark so many people to start talking about their personal lives at the exact same time: All at once, we had a new parlor game, focused on figuring out who we spend our time caring about and why.
That’s probably a lot more than needed to be said about this topic, and yet there’s probably a lot more that could be said. Anyways, check this Gawker post to go deeper down the rabbit-hole and find out how Facebook ranked all your friends.
Jumping off a recent post where I emphasized how terrible John McCain is, this blog emerges. Titled “Things younger than Republican Presidential candidate (oh, and did I forget to mention “war hero”?) John McCain,” this blog aims at telling you things that are younger than John McCain. A few highlights - the chocolate chip cookie, Bugs Bunny, the AARP and Helvetica. Surprisingly funny (given that there is only one joke) and informative, as I now know when cobb salad was created. Thanks to NBN staffer Megan Friedman for telling me about this one.
Our brother in blogging Tech Express revealed a terrifying creature last night by posting the trailer to a new Disney movie titled Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Based on the preview, it is sure to be a horrid affair filled with talking dogs, and raps featuring awesome lines such as “the real hot dog/hold the bun.”
What intrigues me is how people react to the trailer. I showed it to a bunch of people after I watched it (I enjoy sharing my suffering with others), and everyone reacted in the same terrified manner. And then I turned to YouTube, to see if anyone recorded themselves watching the Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Lo and behold…
Now, there are only two total, but I feel this could be a trend to watch. Not since “2 Girls, 1 Cup” has a piece of media caused such pain in people. Start showing this trailer to your friends, your grandma, your newly appointed dean. This could be big.
Now, I don’t think anyone should be ranking mothers on any scale today (we are supposed to celebrate how awesome our moms are, not compare them to others), but these two lists Time did are still entertaining. The top moms list has a few questionable entries (Gaia? Wasn’t she on Captain Planet?), but enough strong entrants to make up for it. Especially the last one, didn’t see that coming. As for the worst moms list, good stuff.
Don’t forget to call your mom! Unless she hits you with wire hangers.
