Introducing the book

Tech support woes are nothing new, it seems. Via Nick on the SL educators' list, via What is the (next) message.

YouTube star goes mainstream

So YouTube funny gal LisaNova has been spotted for her unique take on situations and comedy (very good looking too) has landed herself a spot on the cast of MadTV, a US sketch show. Well done on her. There is much more of this to come, naturally, but good on this particular character. I find her hilarious.

She says she will continue with YouTube, but I wonder if she will a) have the inclination to or b) be allowed too.

YouTube furries

I think I have found some real life furries* amongst some anime "chicks" on YouTube. Check out rabbitinthem00n's friends too**.If you are unfamiliar with furrie culture online, check out Wikipedia. I want "her" anime mask (not shown in this picture, obviously). Her profile says she is 80. Well, no one really pays attention to that - I am 105 on YouTube after all. But, in this case, she could well be. Who knows?***

*Check out this piece for some Second Life furry background.
**Some of whom border on the slightly dodgy.
***Although her hands don't look like they belong to an 80 year old.

Masturbating cat

OK - so I am disappointed that after the Big Brother furore, Channel 4 has decided to axe their planned Wank Week.

Shame, I was rather hoping they would feature this video.

*weird*

Meta meta

So I have been checking in every now and again with LonelyGirl15 and co. I sort of binge on the videos all at once.

Anyway, given that the news came out today that the ARG Perplex City (or Perspex City, as I have been calling it for a long time, ahem) has been solved (a UK man found a red cube in a Nothamptonshire woods and bagged 100k), I was intrigued to see this set of videos from tigerlilylynn.

Now I have never participated in an ARG - too short an attention span and little patience - so I am not sure about all the language and arg norms.

Whether she/he is part of the action and planted as a guide, or whether she/he is a true ARG nut just being helpful, I am not sure. But this has all sparked my interest again and I will now have to go watch all these other characters' videos. I need to clone my eyes and brain!

Big Media still in the dark

Why don't Big Media get it yet?

The New York Times reports that Viacom has demanded that YouTube removes 100,000 of its clips from the site, uploaded mainly by the very people it is desperate to keep as the "audience". If you listen to what YouTubers say about such clips, their take is characteristic of the culture of media that is growing. By letting the "audience" sort out and share the clips it likes most, which "it" thinks other people might like too, there is a great attention generating thing that happens. Some who stumble across such clips while on places like YouTube may never have bothered to watch the Daily Show before. Hard to believe, I know. But by stumbling on it there, who knows - they might be drawn to watch it properly on the tv (cos that screen is still useful to many you know).

Same goes with music clips and film snippits. Anyone who has spent enough time on the web knows this happens.

Boing Boing makes some more serious points about the "shockingly bad behaviour" displayed by all the corporates involved:

YouTube can't afford to just let any lunatic -- including the savage pricks at Viacom -- indiscriminately censor the content it hosts. That's not fair to its customers.

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us

Comments please. Via Somewhat Frank.

Meowarchy: Demon Cats

While we are here, check out this fantastic montage of Demon Cats. Look out for the ginger one who screams like a banshi and the smokey grey one who.. well... talk about being one pissed off kitty. *

*Although nothing in here is cruel in any way, the sounds are quite fiendish.