Best Videos - 2008

This was posted in November 2007 to YouTube, but I thought it was pretty funny.

MADtv's take on the iPod Nano commercial featuring Feist:

Apple iScrewed Me Again

Hah, that was nice!

Some pretty nifty lip-sync editing....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBu3N8_U4WE

Hugo

Is that a "real" song? As in, does it exist as a commercial recording or was it something put down by the person who made the video?

The iPhone seems to have become ubiquitous within a measly 6 months. I'll go so far as to say that it has made every phone released prior or since completely irrelevant, at any price point. Like the iPod, no one else will be able to market any other phone model for the foreseeable future and gain any type of product/brand awareness since people will invariably always compare it or even confuse it with the iPhone if the designs are similar enough. In many circles "iPod" already means "MP3 player" in a generic sense.

It's a shame that this same attention doesn't bring close and accurate criticism except for the most flamboyant of issues (issues of monopolies, DRM, etc.) The iPod and iPhone need a lot of UI/functional re-factoring to make them "ideal."

I don't know if the song exists aside from this video; I googled for it but didn't find anything - if it was original for this youtube post I'm seriously impressed, it sounds fairly professional...

However, I'll not derail the videos thread with discussions on apple marketing except to say the guy who did those "how to" iphone videos found the youtube post hilarious

Google? Heh. Did you check out the url to www.PeteMiser.com over in the "About This Video" section of the youtube page?

That reminds me of a few years ago, when the company I worked for took a nicely organized collection of local recommendations, and replaced it with a completely un-organized BBS. I asked "why?" They said "because now you can find things by searching for them." Never mind that you could find things before without searching, because the information was organized.

Err <blush>... no, I didn't. I have become too used to google finding things that my brain doesn't function logically anymore...

TV-B-Gone vs. CES

That Gizmodo writer has been banned from CES for life and in the article linked next to your video, they attempt to defend their actions...

Italics are mine- I don't get how they think their prank is in any way earning them the respect that they think bloggers should get. If you're going to be irreverent you don't get to have 'untouchable integrity'. Not yours.

I just thought it was funny.

I just thought it was funny, too.

Note to self: When setting up tradeshow booth, gaffer tape over the TV's IR sensors is a must.

I do, however, agree that it crossed a bit of a line. I agree with the commentor that said, "hey, it's not like anyone's job depends on a trade show presentation. Oh wait, it does."

It was definitely humorous. At least watching it in a montage. I don't think it would have been humorous in the least for the people at the show. Not the presenters, their IT people nor the spectators.

Humor aside, Gizmodo staffers seem to be a bunch of douche bags, Brian Lam likely being the biggest of all. At least that's how they (and he) come off in practically everything they write. I can't believe I still visit that sh*thole site a few times a week.

It's definitely a lesson to be learned. Make sure your IR sensors are not open to the floor.

Oh- yes! I did, too! ...a bit over the line, but funny, still.

I used to do that at school. But then i grew up. Turning off someone's monitor during a presentation like that just strikes me as childish.

What to do with a 150kg capacity industrial robotic arm? Why, take it to the desert and throw bowling balls, of course!

The perpetrators(?) have added comments to the thread at slashdot.

Ted Talks David Pogue: A 4-minute medley on the music wars:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/196

Ms. Pac-Man: Feminist Hero

That was hilarious. The part about Pacman's possible echo-location was very remeniscient of a Zero Punctuation review.

US 2008 Election results accidentally leaked early ?

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/diebold_accidentally_leaks

Coming to Alderaan


(ps- it's been far too long since we've posted videos to this thread )

Is "unfunny" a word? Well, irregardless, that Star Wars clip was unfunny.

I see what you did there.

That reminds me of How Star Wars Episode IV Should Have Ended.

An Engineer's view on owning cats:

http://www.spike.com/video/engineers-guide-to/2975763

Brilliant: Song For Sarah: "Mrs. Palin, I Made a Telescope for you..." (Vlad and Boris via YouTube)

Dance-off

Too bad they didn't remember that McCain can't raise his arms above his shoulders and incorporate that into the dance.

Still funny.

Wassup 2008.

All of these are from amateurs.

When it comes to video, I leave it to The Pros from Dover.

The Vet who Did Not Vet

Boxing Tonight

A Bricovision animation syncronised with audio from a Gameboy using a hardware interface. Just brilliant!

Oo! Hah!

Quick, before they go down!

The Simpsons and mApple.

Funny!

I can remember back to 1997 when Steve Jobs re-joined Apple. Back when the Simpsons was still mildly funny.

I've tried to watch a few Simpsons episodes over the past three years, but they all seem to fall completely flat. The six minute segment had only one highlight for me - the hammer throw by the comic book guy. But it still didn't make me laugh.

I guess I've been ruined by Family Guy, American Dad and the all-time best animated adult-oriented show of all time, South Park.

Agreed that Family Guy, American Dad, and South Park are funnier these days than The Simpsons. But all of those series owe their very existence to The Simpsons. If it weren't for Groening and the Fox network, the idea of prime-time animated cartoons oriented towards adult humor wouldn't have existed at all.

Personally I can't get enough Robot Chicken (Star Wars 2 was awesome), but that's a different animal. That one is edgy enough to be aneurysm-inducingly funny while sometimes making me want to erase my brain and forget I ever saw it.

Family Guy? Funny? That was written in 2004. The last time I watched Family Guy, a couple weeks ago while sitting in a hotel, it didn't appear to have shown much, if any, improvement. The Simpsons, even in their current non-peak funniness, is still better than Family Guy. IMHO.

It's all about different tastes. I used to actively dislike Family Guy, and I believe I even said so in a post on this very BBS. It changed subtly after the first couple of seasons and now it cracks me up every time.

I skimmed that article and I disagree with most of his main points. Quick examples: Stewie is not a rip-off of Pinky and the Brain, Stewie and P&B are *both* parodies of megalomaniac stereotypes. Reference humor is not lazy writing, it's a specific type of humor that appeals to a specific taste; being a longtime MST3K fan, reference humor appeals to me, and they do it particularly skillfully (as does Robot Chicken, hence my love for that show too).

I do agree with him on one thing, though: Duckman was awesome.

Fred Flintstone would like a word with you...
Ok- 'Adult Oriented' in the 60's vs today is quite a radical step and I can't honestly compare South Park with The Flintstones. Instead, I'll argue that the Simpson's today is as much a 'Family Oriented' show as the Flintstones was back then.

Yes! I have a Robot Chicken addiction.

I haven't read the article, but I couldn't agree more. I have seldom seen things less funny than Family Guy. I got more laughs out of Equus.

Edit: Read it. Totally agree.

The problem is that it can be funny when the reference is a punch line to a joke, as it was on MST. On Family Guy, there is no joke for the reference to be a punch line to. Apparently it's supposed to exist as its own joke. And that's just not funny.

You beat me to the punch. I think that's why the author called it lazy writing. All they're doing is finding something that was funny in its original state, and dropping the whole thing into the Family Guy. At that point, it's no longer a "reference" -- it's just blatantly copying someone else's material. It's as far from skillful, as one can get.

MST3K, on the other hand, has references. They don't keep bludgeoning you with it for 5 minutes, to make sure you really, really got it.

I think we're getting off topic. Sorry, I think I started it. I prefer American Dad to Family guy at least 2:1 easily. But I still maintain that the Simpsons has not been consistently funny in at least 10 years.

However, if were to consider South Park a 10, even though I like the other animated programs mentioned, none of them would be higher than a 5. SP is simply that much better than anything else. Better references, better stories, more social commentary, just plain funnier stuff.

BTW, I also like King of the Hill but I haven't watched it in ages, though episodes are accumulating on my PVR. In fact I have yet to watch any of this season's Family Guy or American Dad either.

I could quibble with some numbers or degrees, but I will not disagree with any of the basic sentiment in that statement.

Notice that it does not compare The Simpsons to Family Guy/American Dad. And, IMNSHO, The Simpsons has the advantage because it has ever been funny.


Generally true, but their political episodes tire me. Their espoused viewpoints are usually wrongheaded, poorly defended, and irritating. They do great when they do an episode that's basically about kids, though.

There's always this old thing:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cu7nAMLnFao

OMG! That was one of my favorite Archimedes demos!

Hi all: some of you know that I am co-owner of a very (extremely) small (did we mention how small we were?) film production company. This year we received funding to produce a pilot for a series of small, and quirky, comedic shorts, called "Cappers." Premise: richly eccentric bottle cap openers with telepathic powers--of course-- living in a bar, where else? You probably 'have to see-it-to-believe- it' ...

Anyway, believe it or not... over a year later, Cappers finally premiered on Comedy Central's web tv outlet.

http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/cappers_xmas_102/

Every hit is like a vote in the popularity contest of entertainment commerce ... Comedy Central will buy more episodes only if it's popular. As the Bartles and James guys would have said, "Thanks for your support !" If you know who they are... well, let's just say you may find that my use of the term quirky is a radical understatement. Keep in mind who watches TV on the net. If the Bartles & James reference is lost on you... never mind, you'll love Cappers !

...thanks and enjoy, -T

Heh- YouTube has several of the old Bartles and James ads.
It's like a trip to the 80's! LOL

NSFW due to languague... thank heavens for earphones.

YouTube to the rescue. You prompted me to go look for an old Wendy's ad. No fan of Wendy's but I thought the Fashion Show ad was brilliant.

Now to see if I can find the Bartles and Jaymes "vernal equinox" ad.

I rank this as the best television commercial ever filmed. As opposed to this one which I rank as the most effective commercial: 35 years after it first aired, just about everybody I know can still sing the full song.

tanstaafl.

For most effective, I would suggest this classic -- and it is much more widely known than that local meat commercial.

EDIT: Hey, does that ever sound cool with multiple windows playing it simultaneously about a phrase behind each other!

This thread continuing for 2009...