Youtube vs. the infomercial

So, I've seen the infomerical for the Water Jet a bunch of times and, like I always do with these kinds of commercials, I wondered, "Does that really work?" A quick google search gave me this video. How awesome is that? I love that people are doing things like this.

Bill Murray Reads Poetry to Construction Workers

Check it out here.

Cool ad...

So Andrew Sullivan often posts cool ads on his blog. I really liked this one.



If you've got another four and a half minutes, the "making of" video is pretty cool, too.



I enjoy watching dance numbers way too much for someone who can't dance at all...

Obama's Elf

This made me laugh--probably way more than it should have. I blame this nasty head cold (which has fried my brain a bit) and 75 minutes with an uncooperative class (which also fried said brain). And it's only Tuesday...



Via Andrew Sullivan.

Proofreading...

Funny stuff. My students have made several of these mistakes...heck, I am sure I have, too. Via The Daily Dish.

Happy holidays...

Check out this video.



By the way, anyone else find it impossible to copy a youtube embed link in Windows Vista? I can do it just fine when I am working with my computer at school (which still runs XP), but when I use my laptop, it will only copy the part of the link that is visible. It drives me crazy.

UPDATE: As you can see, I was able to embed the link (finally). But I had to paste it in Word and then paste it from word to Blogger. If I go straight from Youtube to Blogger, it only does part of it. Weird! By the way, I am almost certain I tried the "paste into Word" solution before and it didn't work. Well, I won't complain. I am just grateful it works. I will say, though, there are a number of little quirks using Blogger with Vista as opposed to using it with XP.

Music and dancing...

Two quick links:

1) Have you seen the awesome Japanese dude who makes vegetable instruments?

2) Dance for your Ph.D. Anyone who has ever seen me attempt to dance can attest to my relief that this wasn't a requirement to get my degree.

Adventures in Grading: Cheese Edition

The good news: I've just finished entering my last set of grades for the semester. The bad news: this semester, I didn't find nearly as many hilarious pieces of student writing to excerpt as in previous semesters. I am not sure why. But just when I was losing hope of finding anything good, I came across this gem:

"If there is any truth in modern advertising, it is that sex sells, whether advertising alcohol, cars, or cheese."

Cheese? Really?

Awesome.

But then I got to thinking--can sex sell cheese? I asked Vogel about this and she said, "Sex does not sell cheese. At all."

Well, not so fast, my friends.



Or try this one:



So there it is--sex can sell ANYTHING. Even stinky cheese.

By the way, here's one more cheese commercial I found while searching youtube. It has nothing to do with sex, but it really made me laugh--and made me want to dance around my kitchen with my family singing about cheese.

Messiah Watch

Like lots of people, I've been a bit uncomfortable with the "Obama as Messiah" theme that is circulating among some of his supporters (although they would never call it that). This video does little to quell those fears:



Now I've blogged before (positively) about pro-Obama videos, but this one creeps me out. Look--the kids are cute and all, but doesn't this remind anyone of the kids who sing for Castro? (No, I won't go as far as those who are saying it reminds them of kids singing for Hitler--that's a bit much.) But still, the whole thing just a bit Orwellian, and that ain't a good thing, folks.

P.S. I do like this explanation that the video's producer provides: "What we accomplished in a few hours on a Sunday afternoon embodies the nature of the Obama campaign: its grassroots inspiration, its inclusiveness, its community building." That is something the grassroots Obama folks have been so good about from the start--organizing, uniting folks, getting things done, but still...

UPDATE: First of all, the video has been taken down now. However, you can read the lyrics from the song here. Also, check out what someone over at Gawker had to say about the video. Glad to know I am not the only one creeped out by it. (I understand that Hannity and Rush also ran it on their shows yesterday, which probably fired folks up all over the place. Not that I am at all excited about agreeing with those guys...)

UPDATE #2: Here's another link to the video.

Art from dirt...

This is pretty cool, although it's depressing to think about how dirty the world is.

Am I a bad aunt?

This weekend I was home in NY for Father's Day and as we were cleaning up from a cook-out on Saturday night, the rain started to roll in, complete with thunder and lightening. The kids kept saying "It's raining!" which, for some unknown reason got me singing a certain song (wait for it). My niece Kelsie (all of nine years old) thought it was a funny song, so she asked to hear the whole thing, which led, eventually, to a visit to Youtube for the video. The rest of the night (she slept over) and all the next day, she kept laughing about it and saying, "Remember the part when the men danced around the bed in their underwear?" So I ask you again, am I a bad aunt or did I simply introduce her to a classic song?

Just try not smiling...

...when you watch this video of Lithuanian baby racing...

Technically, I should save this for Science Friday...

...but I'll be out of town on Friday, and this clip is just too groovy to put off posting any longer. It's long, but so worth it: educational and awesome. Burt should get his students to do something like this.

Laughing baby...

A totally random youtube clip guaranteed to cheer you up no matter what. Why? Because sometimes we need to see laughing babies...

"It says I've got a knish in the oven."

Check out the trailer for Jewno.



A favorite line (among many): "The best thing you can do is find a person who makes us happy."

Awesome

He's got a whole series of clips.

I can't resist the urge anymore...

A friend of mine posted this on her Facebook page and it made me laugh so hard. For some reason, I said I wouldn't post it, but I can't help myself. I feel obligated to share it with you, faithful readers (basically that's you, Shannon).

I could have written this...

...because this is about all the Spanish I know, despite what my transcripts might indicate. Don't tell--I don't want to lose my degree. Anyway, here is "The One Semester Spanish Love Song."