Me 'N Youtube

There's such an abundance of videos on YouTube, it's hard to know where to start. And who wants to spend the time searching. With our YouTube blog, we let you know about the videos worth watching, the ones best skipped, and the ones that we don't know what is going on with.

Updated Apr 23, 2008

“Summer heights” hits comedic highs

Posted by Machiko Yasuda, April 23, 2008 at 1:23 a.m.

“Summer Heights High,” an eight-episode Australian comedy series, is an acquired taste. Those who enjoy the discomfort of “The Office,” will find similarities, but must prepare themselves for a much higher level of uncensored awkwardness.

UCLA-generated YouTube content

Posted by Machiko Yasuda, January 24, 2008 at 1:36 a.m.

We searched for YouTube videos by UCLA students and here are some of the best ones we came across.

Tom Cruise Scientology Video

Posted by Alene Tchekmedyian, January 22, 2008 at 1:27 a.m.

I, unlike many of those firing angry bombs on the YouTube discussion boards, don’t have much of a problem with Tom Cruise and Scientology. The man has the right to root for whatever belief system he wants, from the well-established to the

Soulja Boy just one of many snap-music dances

Posted by Alene Tchekmedyian, November 28, 2007 at 1:09 a.m.

Although it may seem like the Soulja Boy is a calculated attempt at popularity (and it is), it is also the outermost extension of a legitimate musical movement that has its roots in Atlanta. Snap music is a subgenre of Southern hip-hop that consists of bass-heavy, minimalist beats with finger snaps instead of snare hits. It perhaps can be exemplified by the two oft-maligned flagship groups of the movement, Dem Franchize Boyz and D4L, the tunesmiths behind “Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It” and “Laffy Taffy,” respectively. As it turns out, these two groups paved the way for the juggernaut we know as Soulja Boy, because he belongs to snap music just as much as they do. And as it turns out, the Soulja Boy song and dance is just the tip of the snap-music cultural iceberg. If you do some digging you can find dozens and dozens of other snap-music songs and dances. It’s got the same features: big bass-heavy kick drums, snaps, steel drums, club-friendly chants and, most importantly, club-friendly dances. These dances, like anything now, have been chronicled on YouTube just like the Soulja Boy. Some of them are pretty similar to the Soulja Boy – actually most of them are pretty much variations on the Soulja Boy theme – but who’s to say which came first? Some of them tread into truly bizarre territory. In any case, move over Soulja Boy, and make room for these: These kids can’t be a day over 12. Keep that in mind for extra LOLs. Lion King: This South Carolina guy has a whole series of these. He’s dedicated himself to mastering all the popular snap dances, just as a dedicated monk swears himself to learning the secrets of martial arts. I guess mastery today means knowing something well enough to “crank that” in an empty parking lot while your buddy films it from your car. On another note, look at his legs! Crazy! I guess the XXL pants enhance the perception of motion. Make sure not to miss the intro either. Batman: These dudes keep it serious. I can practically feel how hot it is in their neighborhood on the day they filmed this. To crank that Batman in that weather is, as Cam’Ron would say, “just plain banittles.” Peter Pan: Finally, a feminine perspective! After all this talk of Superman-ing and Spider-man-ing, it’s good to see someone taking a step forward and cranking it just for the sake of cranking it. SpongeBob: Our Lion King man from South Carolina’s best friend pinch hits for the SpongeBob. This one looks the most tiring. Forrest Gump: Our man from South Carolina comes through in the clutch for the dance with quite possibly the most hilarious inspiration. The “Run, Forrest, run!” sample is classic, the dance looks like running, and it doesn’t look too hard. I think this one has the greatest potential to do Soulja Boy numbers. As ridiculous as these dances all seem, they seem to be part of a legitimate cultural movement in Atlanta and the greater South. People love to dance in the clubs, and it’s easier and more fun if everyone does the same dance. There’s an element of competition that keeps it alive too. People want to be the best at the dances, like our South Carolinian, and the artists try to come up with the newest and freshest dances. Case in point: In “Crank Dat Spiderman” they even say, “We don’t Superman no more,” a clear reference to Soulja Boy. Like it or not, this is a scene all its own. In a recent Rolling Stone, the magazine listed the top five reasons why hip-hop is dead, and the top five reasons why hip-hop is alive and well. On the former list, they mentioned ringtone rap, which is defined as rap songs with little lyrical depth, canned beats, and easily chanted vocals that seamlessly translate into ringtones – which are becoming a more favorable and reliable source of sales for rappers. Needless to say, “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” is often mentioned in the same breath with ringtone rap. On the list of reasons why hip-hop is alive, Rolling Stone mentioned regional dances, saying that the grassroots development of new hip-hop dances provided evidence that the culture was still alive. They even included the SpongeBob in their write-up. Well, these dances are as regional as regional gets, but most of the accompanying songs could very well be considered ringtone rap. Rolling Stone can’t have it both ways, and neither can the rest of us. At this point, it’s fine to malign the Soulja Boy dance, just because it’s the prepackaged version of that Atlanta snap-dance culture, designed to make money. But the songs and dances that are still just local phenomena, that people go out of their way to learn before it gets to popular, that people request on local radio – those songs and dances are an indication that there is still some grassroots culture in this country, some tradition that comes from the ground up. And that tradition is all on YouTube as it’s happening. Which means that we can all get a head start on learning how to crank that Lion King before it’s all over the place and before my high school band teacher does it. -Jake Ayres E-mail Ayres at jayres@media.ucla.edu.

"Gay Robot"

Posted by Machiko Yasuda, November 7, 2007 at 12:09 a.m.

There are plenty of glamorous, big-budgeted and star-filled shows that have filmed on our historic campus, including “House” and “Alias” just to name a few; even the ABC Family teen soap fest “Greek” set up camp here last spring. But these pale in comparison to the glory that is “Gay Robot,” which features recognizable UCLA locations.