Is This The End Of Internet Video Sub-Culture?

The Spartaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! video meme

Some of the most treasured activities and applications of the Internet sub-culture are going “legit” – with major companies and movie studios taking notice, and a piece or all of the action.

Take the case of Hulu, NBC/Universal’s streaming video venture. Not only is it like YouTube – it’s like those awesome clips and clip collections you find on YouTube! You know the ones: for Family Guy, The Office, Arrested Development, etc. The infamous “where’s my money” sketch from Family Guy — in which Stewie shoots out both of debtor Brian’s kneecaps and sets him on fire – was made famous by the unofficial clip on YouTube, made by a fan. Hulu offers the same types of clips, as well as embed features – all authorized by NBC/Universal.

“I remember the good old days when we had nothing but silly putty and old Dilbert comic strips.”

Then look at PopTok, an IM application that works in conjunction with AIM or MSN Messenger, allows you to take little movie snippets and “splice” them into your online conversation. Now, anybody familiar with forum culture knows that people have been creating little gifs and clips of their favorite movies and using them to express themselves. The only catch with PopTok? Their clips are all licensed by the movie studios.

Finally, there’s the “Pork and Beans” video by Weezer, which showcases a whole slew of Internet memes. Yes, Weezer is an alternative band, and yes, the video features a narrative in which the working-class heroes/”freaks” of the YouTube celebrity world are finally given their due respect. But, in the end, “Pork and Beans” – and the music studio – have co-opted those memes, those “underground” performers. It’s Tay Zonday gone mainstream.

Etch A Sketch Portrait Of Tay Zonday

Should we be in mourning for the end of the “wild west” of fan clips and video memes? Or are the reports of their imminent demise just a bit too premature?

Do we feel guilty using Hulu? Is it too much like using “The Man’s” streaming video service? Is there a quaintness about viewing the same video clip in YouTube, with the little symbol from the cable channel the clip was recorded off of in the corner like an Izod alligator on a pocket?

What is more mood-specific: a smiley or Patrick Bateman explaining Huey Lewis?

Is using PopTok just too simple? Now that we have the cool American Psycho clip, in flawless video, to drop into the online chat – is it like Christmas happened already? Is the thrill of the hunt over? Do we miss the process of ripping the film off the DVD or unlicensed YouTube clip, then figuring out how to turn it into a small playable box? Or do we use the IM app guilt-free and bask in the sheer joy that is Patrick Bateman making an everyday phrase sound sinister?

Further – does the techie with the skills to create bit torrents and professional-quality DVD rips use those skills to go “legit” themselves?

Dramatic Chipmunk died for your sins

I’m talking about where the underground and the mainstream meet on the face of the online world. Is it an uncomfortable border to be straddling? Or can we let ourselves enjoy both?

Kid Rock Says To Fans: Steal My Music!

When Kid Rock was told by Atlantic Records executives to publicly denounce music file sharing, Wired Blog reports, he told them:

“Wait a second, you’ve been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?”

Now Rock has boycotted ITunes and encourages his fans to illegally download his music.

“Download it illegally, I don’t care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live.”

And his feelings about the current gas crisis?

“You know how much money the oil companies have? If you need some gas, just go fill your tank (up) and drive off, they’re not going to miss it.”

ATTACK OF THE ROBO-ZOMBIE MYSPACE BABES

Say, have any of you ever noticed getting robo-zombie babe spam in your MySpace friends list? I’m talking about hot chicks who suddenly appear in your friends box, ones you’ve never approved. Amber. Glynis. Another Amber. A third Amber. An Amber with two Rs: Amberr.

So what is this, an actual spam virus that enters your MySpace account? It’s like I leave the account for a few minutes, and then — oh noes! Porn! Many buttcheeks.

In fact, I think MySpace might be the buttcheek capital of the social media universe.

BBC To Offer All Shows For Free Online

In a bold move, the BBC announced plans to archive their entire library of TV shows online, Techradar UK reports — and apparently for free.

Greg Dyke, then-director of the BBC, was quoted in 2003 as saying about the plan:

“For the first time there is an easy and affordable way of making this treasure trove of BBC content available to all. I believe that we are about to move into a second phase of the digital revolution, a phase which will be more about public than private value; about free, not pay services…”

The first phase of the venture will be creating an informational page for each television series, such as Doctor Who and Fawlty Towers. Phase two will involve uploading the shows onto streaming video on the site — which has apparently already begun.

The question remains, however — will citizens in Britain still have to pay their BBC TV license?

Your Name On Toast: Unique Online Advertising

What better way to get your message out there on the Internet for everyone to see than by having it written onto a piece of toast?

That’s the idea behind the website Your Name On Toast. For a donation, you can have your message put on a piece of toast and have it displayed on their website; every penny goes to the charity Oxfam Ireland.

Your own piece of toast will be displayed for up to two years, and will include a link to the site of your choice.

(via Fabulist)

Cruel Google Adsense Ads Target Aging Users

Since I was reading these Google ads on a site called Sarah Jessica Parker Looks Like A Horse (Dot Com), I thought they were part of the “joke.” But they weren’t. They are actual Google ads for actual businesses — all targeting/putting down people middle-aged and older.

“Old Hag Varicose Veins Treatment” is the title of one, for the Vein Treatment Center of New York.

“Over 40 And Your Career Is Shot?: Educational Opportunities For Washed-Up Actresses” directs the user to NY Careers.

and “City Botox Injections For Aging Hipsters” is for some place called Smooth Synergy.

I think the way these ads are phrased are a little on the harsh side. Perhaps they were composed exactly for that purpose — to be edgy and thus noticed in the jungle of Internet advertising. And the super-cruel way Parker is referred to on the site itself must have tripped up those keywords.

But do these ads actually lead to conversions?

New Service Sends You Email After The Rapture

Read about this on the Christian Newswire via The Raw Feed. What’s even more news to me than this particular post-Rapture messaging service is this line from the Christian Newswire piece:

“Unlike other post-Rapture mailing services, the You’ve Been Left Behind website allows the customer to edit all documents and addresses at any time.”

Unlike OTHER post-Rapture mailing services? There’s more than one? is this a whole cottage industry I somehow missed?

The Rapture, according to the Bible, is when Jesus Christ comes back and takes all true believers to heaven. All the true believers will up and disappear, hence creating a need for an automatic email delivery service to the heathens.

Weezer Internet Meme Video: Pork And Beans

How many internet memes can you spot in this Weezer video?

YouTomb: Where Deleted YouTube Videos Go To Die

YouTomb is a project by MIT Free Culture that tracks down videos taken down from and by YouTube for copyright infringement. The site tells you how long each clip had been up, and who asked it to be taken down.

For example, this video, a review of Cloverfield, was taken down due to a TOS violation after being up for 117 days.

According to their statistics page, the companies who ask for the most videos to be removed include Viacom, Warner Brothers, and World Wrestling Entertainment.

(found via Google Operating System Blog)

Sift’d: A Kinder, Gentler Digg?

I tried the newly-launched Sift’d recently, desiring to participate in a news aggregation service but not one that seemed so “locked up” with an established hierarchy of users. In many ways, Sift’d is similar to Digg: you can submit and vote on stories, and the hottest stories get on the home page.

Sift’d offers a few other features, however, that I liked using:

• Expanded choice of images to use for individual stories

• Choice of uploading an image of your own choosing for stories

• Expanded choice of story categories

• A lot of great options for tracking your posts

Will Sift’d prove to be a real challenge to Digg’s throne? Only time will tell. But it has all the basics to become a kick-ass news aggregator, plus a few improvements.