Amazing Performances by Quest Crew on MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew"

Not much I can really say about these two videos other than they are probably the coolest dance performances I've ever seen. How is Dancing with the Stars even popular, these guys have REAL talent. Make sure you notice the final trick in each performance...amazingly athletic.

These videos are from the show America's Best Dance Crew on MTV. The shows finale will be air next Thursday where the winner will be announced. This is Quest Crew from Los Angeles, the soon to be winners of the show.

Quest Crew Week 7 Hip-Hip Decathalon


Quest Crew Week 7 Or-Quest-ra

Deep Sea Fish with Rotating Eyes and Transparent Head

From the depths of the Monterey Bay, the mystery of the barreleye fish is caught on tape.
[article at SFGate]


MBARI researchers Bruce Robison and Kim Reisenbichler used video taken by unmanned, undersea robots called remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to study barreleye fish in the deep waters just offshore of Central California. At depths of 600 to 800 meters (2,000 to 2,600 feet) below the surface, the ROV cameras typically showed these fish hanging motionless in the water, their eyes glowing a vivid green in the ROV's bright lights. The ROV video also revealed a previously undescribed feature of these fish--its eyes are surrounded by a transparent, fluid-filled shield that covers the top of the fish's head.

This video is narrated by senior scientist Bruce Robison.

For more on this story, see the news page on MBARIs web site at http://www.mbari.org

Tiger's Back...The Good Life is Over

The new Nike ad promoting the return of Tiger Woods is pretty good I must say. I was a little surprised at first that all these other golfers would be in a commercial basically outlining how they can never beat Tiger, but hey we all know it's true.

Tiger Woods' return to golf is cheering up fans, broadcasters and corporate sponsors such as Nike. The only ones bummed are Woods' fellow Nike Golf endorsers Anthony Kim, Stewart Cink, Trevor Immelman, Justin Leonard and Carl Pettersson, who realize the fun's over for them.

That's the lighthearted premise of a new Nike Golf TV commercial celebrating Woods' return to action at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship this week in Marana, Ariz. [via USAToday]

MMA Live Recaps UFC 95 and Previews WEC 39

The Future

This made me laugh, thought I'd share

New Franz Ferdinand Song in iPod Touch Commercial

I keep seeing this iPod Touch ad over and over again and just like every Apple commercial, it features the most catchy song currently out. The song featured in the commercial is from Franz Ferdinand's new album "Tonight: Franz Ferdinand."

Apple iPod Touch 2G Ad


Franz Ferdinand - No You Girls

Crazy Woman Misses Her Flight at HKIA

Check out this viral video going around the net this week of some crazy lady after she misses her flight at Hong Kong International Airport.

Geez, either calm the hell down or get to the airport a little earlier.

Rich Eisen Running the 40 at the Combine

The NFL Scouting Combine came to an end yesterday and NFL Network's Rich Eisen continued his annual tradition of running the 40 yard dash in a full suit. The video of Rich running the 40 is funny by itself but the video gets far better when they superimpose images of actual NFL prospects running alongside Rich.

NFL Fantasy Files

The Fantasy File series, created by Blue Room, started in August 2006 with three high profile NFL players, Neil Rackers (Arizona Cardinals), Chris Simms (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) & Braylon Edwards (Cleveland Browns), performing some absolutely fantastic acts, crossing the line of possibility, in order to get picked.

Last year the New York-based creative services agency continued the campaign with the addition of six new videos to its “NFL Fantasy Files” series starring NFL personalities Marques Colston (New Orleans Saints), Mike Nugent (NY Jets), Andre Johnson (Houston Texans), Jason Campbell (Washington Redskins), David Akers (Philadelphia Eagles) and Marc Bulger (St. Louis Rams).

Four new 2008 “NFL Fantasy Files” videos have been released by Blue Room. This year the following NFL players are asked to perform their tricks: Laurence Maroney (New England Patriots), Mason Crosby (Green Bay Packers), Chris Cooley (Washington Redskins) and Chris Chambers (San Diego Chargers)

To date the “NFL Fantasy Files” videos have received in excess of 4.7 million YouTube views! All videos are quite amusing to watch, even if you’re not a fan of the NFL or American Football in general.

[via ViralBlog]

Devin Harris' Miracle Half-Court Buzzer Beater

[via Ball Don't Lie]

If you only watch one NBA highlight this season, I recommend you press play below. This is one for the ages, or at least pregame warmups — a lunging half-court heave at the buzzer that I still can't believe I actually watched.

The scenario, with a tip of the cap to Basketball Prospectus: Andre Iguodala's second free throw puts the Sixers up 96-95 with 1.8 seconds left. The Nets are out of timeouts. New Jersey inbounds the ball to All-Star Devin Harris, who pushes it quickly up the left sideline. Iggy reaches in and knocks the ball loose — fortunate to not be whistled for a foul — but Harris recovers the rock in stride, flips a shot from half-court, and ...

DC Shoes Founder Ken Block Makes a Viral Vid on Drifting

[via AdFreak]

Anyone can talk about making a "viral video," but the reality is that it takes a lot of great content, planning and hard work to make it happen. That's why it's no surprise that more than 16 million viewers have watched this clip produced for rally racer Ken Block, DC Shoes and Subaru. This stunning display of Block's driving is packed with mind-blowing stuff, and you don't have to be a "Tokyo Drift" fan to enjoy the show. "Ken approached us in early 2008 with the idea of co-producing a viral web film that would showcase his driving skills on tarmac, and put the sport of Gymkhana (pronounced 'jim-ka-nah') on the map here in the U.S.," writes marketing agency Mad Media on its site. "We worked with Ken over the course of 6 months to develop his idea into a practical shot list, and secured the El Toro Marine Base for location shooting. After two days of intense filming, and several weeks of editing, we delivered the final Gymkhana Viral Web Film." The result was more than 10 million views on KenBlockRacing.com, 4 million views on YouTube and many more on other video sites since the clip was posted in November 2008. Only 15 million views to go before they catch up to that damn sneezing panda.

Even Shaq is on Twitter

Ok ok, I did it...after months of trying to save myself from its grasp I gave in and signed up for Twitter.

It makes me feel a little better to read this amazing story about two guys meeting The Big Shaq-tus in a diner by following his Tweets. I won't bother you trying to paraphrase the story anymore, just click the link.

Finally, A Use for Twitter

The 81st Academy Awards Were Last Night

[via Wired.com]

Like the Mumbai orphan at the heart of its story, Slumdog Millionaire overcame stupendous odds and on Sunday won the 2009 Best Picture Academy Award. Producer Christian Colson said, "When we started out, we didn't have enough stars or enough money to do what we wanted to do, but we did have a script that inspired madness in everyone who read it, and we had a genius for a director."

Slumdog (pictured below) nearly became a straight-to-DVD release when its original financier, Warner Independent Pictures, went out of business.

Instead, the crowd favorite, picked up by Fox Searchlight, triumphed as the evening's top award winner, bringing in seven trophies. Colson added: "Our film shows if you have passion and belief, anything is possible."

The most moving moment of the awards telecast came when Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight.

Ledger's father, sister and mother accepted on the late actor's behalf. Mr. Ledger thanked director Chris Nolan for "allowing Heath the creative license to create and explore this crazy Joker character."

Method actors bonded briefly when Robert DeNiro praised Sean Penn (pictured below) for his portrait of gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

A few minutes later, Penn took the stage as 2008's Best Actor. At the podium, he joked: "You Commie, homo-loving sons of guns.... I know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often."

Embracing the Milk message, Penn said "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

Continuing on a political tangent, he said: "I'm very proud to live in a country that elected an elegant man for its president."

In a tip of the hat to the star of The Wrestler, Penn said, "Despite a sensitivity that has somehow brought challenges, Mickey Rourke rises again, and he is my brother."

After six Oscar nominations, Kate Winslet finally won Best Actress for The Reader, in which she played an illiterate Nazi guard who has an affair with a young German teenager before going on trial for war crimes.

"I think we all can't believe we're in a category with Meryl Streep!" Winslet (pictured below) said. "Meryl, you'll just have to suck that up."


Hugh Jackman's song and dance kicked off the 81st Annual Academy Awards Show, which quickly got down to business when Penelope Cruz (pictured below) picked up Best Supporting Actress Award for her role as Javier Bardem's insanely fiery ex-lover Maria Elena in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

"Has anybody ever fainted here? I may be the first one," Cruz said from the stage.

A few minutes, later Wall-E, as expected, won for Best Animation Feature.

Funniest bit: Uncommunicative Ben Stiller, in fake beard and sunglasses, impersonated Joaquin Phoenix.


Sweet segment: a restrained Queen Latifah crooned the old ballad "I'll Be Seeing You" in tribute to artists who died in 2008, including Bernie Mac, Michael Crichton, Harold Pinter, Cyd Charisse, Roy Scheider, Richard Widmark, Isaac Hayes, Paul Scofield, Stan Winston, Charlton Heston, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack and Paul Newman.

Shut out: Iron Man, The Hulk and Wanted failed to win any awards in a variety of technical categories.

Other winners:

Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Foreign language film: Departures (Japanese)

Song: Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire

Score: Slumdog Millionaire

Documentary: Man on Wire

Sound editing: The Dark Knight

Sound mixing: Slumdog Millionaire

Film editing: Slumdog Millionaire

Visual effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire

Original screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk

Adapted screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Art direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Costume: The Duchess

For the complete list of winners, visit www.oscar.com/oscarnight/winners

Photos courtesy Fox Searchlight, Paramount, Warner Bros., Pixar

Sean Penn Wins for "Milk"

"Funny People" Trailer, Third Film Directed by Judd Apatow

Funny People is an upcoming 2009 American comedy-drama film, written, co-produced, and directed by Judd Apatow, starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen as stand up comedians. According to Apatow, the movie is due out July 31st, 2009. Similar to Apatow's previous films, the film would use both comedic and dramatic elements, though it will contain more of the latter. Funny People is in post-production as of January 2009. The film is a co-production between Happy Madison Productions and Apatow Productions. Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures will co-finance the film, while Universal will distribute worldwide.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

Thought this was pretty interesting...pretty sure no one cares

"The Short and Simple Story of the Credit Crisis.

By Jonathan Jarvis.

Crisisofcredit.com

The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated. This project was completed as part of my thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

For more on my broader thesis work exploring the use of new media to make sense of a increasingly complex world, visit jdjarvis.com or email me at jonathan.jarvis@gmail.com."

Part 1


Part 2

Can 6 Year Old Madin Mohammed Be the Next Zinedine Zidane?

[via Goal.com]

British tabloid The Sun has sensationally reported that Chelsea and Real Madrid will battle it out for the right to have a six-year-old child on their books.

The talent in question is French youngster Madin Mohammed, who is described as an "amazing talent."

Christian Lazaoui, the president of Madin's local club, Roubaix, added, "He can cross the ball, control it, swerve, pass between the legs. He is spectacular with the ball--really magic."

Madin's family moved from to France from Algeria three years ago and has reportedly been handed a scholarship by the FFF (French Football Federation).

The Algerian link has brought inevitable comparisons between the child and Zinedine Zidane, but you can judge for yourself!

Another Amazing Goal by Alexander Ovechkin

Sportscenter has already called it the goal of the year in the NHL. Who else would have been responsible but Alexander Ovechkin?

Goal against the Montreal Canadiens - 2/18/09


That goal, reminds me a lot of this one (probably the best goal I've ever seen)
Ovechkin's goal against the Phoenix Coyotes - 1/15/09

SethComedy - Backstage with Bob Dylan

This is the newest video on Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. In case you don't know, Seth MacFarlane is the genius behind Family Guy. His YouTube channel has some big time sponsorships with Priceline and Burger King...talk about brand integration.

Alex Rodriguez Details Steroid Abuse at Press Conference

Yesterday, Yankees slugger Alex Rodridguez addressed his steroid issue once again but this time in much greater detail. Who knows whether he is being completely honest with us (I highly doubt that) but it was interesting to note that A-Rod went into much greater detail than any other player who has admitted to using steroids. The whole "boli" thing seems a little odd, but Rodriguez was pretty detailed in saying how often he took steroids, when during the season and how it affected his play.

You can see a Yahoo news article HERE

A-Rod Details Steroid Abuse At 2.17.09 Press Conference


A-Rod’s Steroid Q&A With Reporters At 2.17.09 Press Conference

Lil Wayne Gets an ESPN Blog...and a Tattoo

Looks like ESPN has taken their relationship with Lil Wayne to the next level. If you remember, rapper Lil Wayne has been featured on shows like First Take and Around the Horn in recent months. The response from his appearance on ESPN was good enough for ESPN to offer him his own sports blog on their site. Lil Wayne returned the favor by getting an ESPN tattoo on his arm (see above).

Lil Wayne's ESPN Blog

Lil Wayne Appears on "Around the Horn" & Wins


Lil Wayne @ The Super Bowl ESPN Party Doing Interviews

Homer goes HD'oh in new 'Simpsons' intro

From AdFreak:

In case you missed it, here's the new, high-definition intro that debuted Sunday on The Simpsons. It's rare that a TV show's intro merits much chatter, even online, but The Simpsons has sputtered by for more than 19 years on the same poorly drawn animation. Even long-absent fans may have tuned in this weekend to see how one of television's most famous openings had evolved. Or they at least checked out the official YouTube clip, which was posted Friday and already had over 750,000 views by Sunday. The result was a healthy burst of buzz for a show that's otherwise been on the cultural back burner for years now.

—Posted by David Griner

MMA Live Talks Strikeforce Expansion and Reviews UFC Fight Night 17

A little late with this episode of MMA Live but here you go anyway.

Freaky Best Man Speech

According to the site info:

This speech was given at a wedding reception where 300 people were in attendance. The bride and groom are both attorneys.

Pretty funny video...I bet the wife hates him though. Whoever owns the rights to this video sure is determined to maximize their advertising revenues so you have to actually go to the site to see video. Enjoy the bombardment of ads on the site.

http://www.freakybestmanspeech.com/

NBA All-Star Weekend Highlights

Here you go, below you will find videos that give you the full rundown of all the great things you missed from the NBA All-Star weekend.

3 Point Shootout Highlights


Dunk Contest Highlights


All-Star Game Highlights


Shaq dances with the JabbaWockeeZ during All-Star intro

Family Guy Spoofs Christian Bale's Rant

Thanks to Ryan Digicrest for posting this video.

As if Christian Bale's profanity laced tirade a few weeks ago wasn't funny enough, the producers of Family Guy had to give their take.

The Late Show with David Letterman - Where's Joaquin Phoenix?

Good job CBS, now keep up to date on actually posting clips like this more often and you could attract a serious audience.

Anyway, if you haven't seen this video, it's pretty interesting. Joaquin Phoenix has been "strange" to say the least recently. First he quit acting. Then he decided he wanted to grow a Grizzly Adams' beard and pursue a career in rap.

In this video Joaquin Phoenix shows up as a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman but is he really present?

Special Video in Honor of Valentine's Day

Only 1 more day until Valentine's Day (aka Single Awareness Day for the lonely people of the world). In honor of this Hallmark holiday I would like to invite you to check out the romantic and thoughtful marriage proposal videos featured over at OldestLiving.

CultureCatalyst readers know that "romantic and thoughtful" isn't really my style, so here's a wedding proposal that I think is much more appropriate.

Catalyst:SF featured on Adotas.com

Just wanted to share this little gem with you all. We just recently had this piece written about us by Adotas.com, which is an internet advertising and media news site.

I'll copy the whole article below but I encourage you to check the article out HERE.

Catalyst:SF, a ‘marketing capital’ firm
Written on February 12th 2009
Author by George H. Simpson

ADOTAS — Catalyst:SF was founded in 2007 by John Durham and Cory Treffiletti, who together, have nearly 40 years of marketing and sales experience, much of it in the digital media industry. The company calls itself a “Marketing Capital” firm that helps clients combine selling a product or service (Marketing) with sources of profit or benefit vs. the competition (Capital) to produce ideas, intelligence and insights that achieve an advantage in the areas of marketing, sales or consumer insights. We asked the privately-held San Francisco-based company to tell us more about itself. Here are John Durham’s answers.

Catalyst:SF is not an ad agency, not a consulting firm. Exactly what is it you do?

Catalyst:SF delivers mission critical intelligence to the intersection of Madison Ave. and Silicon Valley through marketing and sales services. Our core business is strategy and execution for brands, start-ups, publishers and agencies who are looking to utilize new media for the success of their core business metrics and we support that core business making sure that business gets done efficiently.

We’re a different kind of agency; one that can work with all the different players in digital media. We have a team with deep experience from both sides of the coin (agencies/brands and publishers/technology) and in all sorts of categories and we apply our knowledge and expertise to achieving results. We have a theory for how an agency should be structured and how it should be compensated and this company is proof of that concept.

Rather than being paid for what agencies do best, which is spend money, we get paid for strategy and incentivized on performance. Our strategy starts with the tools and services that are available in the marketplace and a deep understanding of how the target uses these tools. The last thing we do is try to spend money, so most of our clients are pretty happy about that! There are a lot of ways to reach an audience and convey a message that are not dependent on a paid media placement.

Can you give me a few examples of how you have helped start up companies?

Over the last year and a half we’ve helped a number of start-ups and emerging publishers to properly position themselves in the marketplace and either launch effectively or drive growth against a set of measurable business objectives. In some cases, with very early stage start-ups, we developed positioning and messaging and created a launch strategy to get them into the marketplace. For other companies who are farther along in their growth cycles who came to us with a set of positioning and a business model, we developed their outreach and customer acquisition efforts and managed the execution to help them hit their needs for growth.

A few examples of some of our successes over the last year and a half:

- Freewheel.tv: Freewheel came to us post Seed funding and we launched them into the marketplace as their outsourced marketing department, managing all messaging, including their PR strategy, website and sales materials. Since their launch and through our combined efforts in their first year, Freewheel has successfully become the leader in advanced advertising and monetization management for online video, working with a who’s who of the online video category.

- Kenshoo: Kenshoo was an established SEM management tool in the UK and they worked with us to revise their positioning and messaging for US introduction with initial meetings at US agency leaders. As a result of these and additional efforts, Kenshoo has quickly assumed a position of leadership for intelligent campaign automation in SEM.

- Sportgenic: Our team managed a series of events that featured the roll-out of a new name and logo while increasing awareness and generating leads for the targeted, vertical media company. Our efforts resulted in dramatic approval from brands and agencies alike.

- Brightroll: Catalyst:SF developed and executed a national road-show that resulted in direct, highly impactful exposure to more than 180 brand and agency representatives at a senior level, opening markets and continuing its growth as the leader in online video.

How do you measure your success?

Our success is measured very simply; by sales, market share and revenue. It is our philosophy, after having spent the last 15 years on digital strategy, that marketing dollars are only spent to increase sales, market share and revenue. We identify the objectives of the business and apply a proprietary Behavioral Planning process that takes into account the responsibility of media and the power of messaging to create strategies that are rooted in fundamental marketing principles.

The “SF” in our name is a reminder of that methodology; strategy and fundamentals. Too many companies attempt to create strategy that forgets the fundamentals. Too many people try to be “innovative” for the sake of innovation, but we believe that you need a mix of what has worked in the past and what may work in the future in order to be efficient with your money and responsible for your business. If you aren’t measuring the ROI for your dollars, how else can you possibly measure success?

Give me a short history of the company.

The company’s genesis was back in 2004 when Cory and I worked together at Carat Fusion, the interactive arm of Carat USA. Each of us have always been intrigued and involved in emerging media, dating back to our various roles in interactive as far back as 1994 and 1995. In 2005 we started thinking about finding new ways to build the marketing paradigm and focus our attention against emerging media and innovative publishers. In 2007 we decided after having left Carat and done stints with a couple of companies to formally pursue the idea for a Marketing Capital Firm.

The idea was to provide marketing services to venture-backed companies and continue to build expertise within these formats, thereby honing our expertise in these vehicles and being able to provide that experience for brands. We build the team, created the model and have been successful since then!

We are all entrepreneurial at heart and we like working as a catalyst for business between Silicon Valley and Madison Avenue. We like translating these two languages for one another and our relationships and our network of contacts have benefitted by being tuned in to what’s new and what’s working. Everyone seems to benefit and everyone learns. We firmly believe in the concept that all ships rise with the tide and we want to do our part to make sure that the tide is high!

What have you got in the works coming up in the next six months?

Over the next 6 months we are looking to launch some new services that will make it even more efficient to drive users and build a customer base for start-ups that provide a real solution to a real challenge in the marketplace. We are also looking to work with more brands and more publishers at the intersections of their business to provide solutions that go beyond advertising and paying for placement. We want to get into the nitty gritty of how you weave your brand into the actual experience of the web, thereby becoming more than a marketer and more of an integrated solution. We could explain exactly how to do that, but then where would our competitive edge reside?

More Catalyst Links:
Home Page
CrunchBase
TradeVibes

Two Great Links You Need to Check Out

I felt the need to share these great websites with the millions upon millions of faithful Culture Catalyst readers.

First, a great website that lets visitors post short little messages of why their life is terrible...trust me it's entertaining.

http://www.fmylife.com/

And second, a website that lets users submit their terribly unhealthy and grossly fattening foods. You will feel better about the pint of ice cream you ate last night.

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Enjoy and happy surfing. If you come across any other great sites I should know about please leave a comment.

Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' Trailer Released

I didn't really know anything about this movie so here's a quick blurb from Wikipedia:

Inglourious Basterds [sic] is an upcoming ensemble war film/spaghetti western written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It has the largest cast of characters (with speaking roles) of any Tarantino film to date and is currently in production with several locations, among them Germany and France. Tarantino plans to complete production of Inglourious Basterds in time for release at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2009. Filming began in October 2008. The title (and partial premise) of the upcoming film is inspired by Italian director Enzo Castellari's 1978 movie Inglorious Bastards. The Weinstein Company has slated August 21, 2009 as the tentative U.S. release date.

Premise:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "two story lines converge: One follows a group of prisoners-turned-soldiers whose mission is to take down a group of Nazis, and the other follows a young Jewish woman who seeks to avenge the death of her parents by this Nazi group."

The film will be divided into five chapters:

* Chapter One: Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied France
* Chapter Two: Inglourious Basterds
* Chapter Three: German Night in Paris (filmed in "French New Wave Black and White")
* Chapter Four: Operation Kino
* Chapter Five: Revenge of the Giant Face

(Also available in HD at Yahoo)

Sports Illustrated Swimsuite Issue 2009 is Out

A day that is marked on the calendars of men across the world. The release of the annual SI Swimsuit Issue is proof that Christmas can really come twice a year. This year's cover model is Bar Refaeli (seen above). I would say Brooklyn Decker & Julie Henderson are some of my favorites, but who am I kidding, they are all my favorites.

Check these links to see more:
SI.com
WithLeather
WWTDD

A-Rod Admits Steroid Use

Since it's definitely been the biggest story in sports the last week, I guess I should post the video of Alex Rodriguez's interview where he admits he took steroids.

If you don't know the story behind it, I'd rather not try and type out all the ins and outs of how this all happened, so I'll just point you HERE.


You can find the full transcript of the interview HERE

SNL Digital Short: I'm On a Boat

Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island boys have returned again with another Saturday Night Live Digital Short. This one is entitled "I'm On a Boat" and while I think it's funny I don't think its anywhere near their previous work (Here & Here).

You can go pick up Incredibad which is the new album from The Lonely Island, it came out yesterday.

Performances from the 51st Grammy Awards

Sooooooooo.....I was going to make a post where I aggregated all the various videos of the performances from last nights' Grammy Awards. The key word being WAS, then I realized that CBS.com is still dumb and doesn't upload or host any content so I'd have to get all the videos from YouTube. I'm sure we are all familiar with the problem of this; the videos will be taken down in a few days once CBS gets around to making a copyright claim (CBS you could avoid all this if you would just host the videos on Hulu or CBS.com).

Anyway, I found a page on Mahalo that does a way better job than I could ever do:

TO SEE ALL THE GRAMMY AWARDS PERFORMANCES GO HERE

Chris Brown Arrested...Assault on Rihanna?

Some interesting news has come out of the Grammys last night. No, I'm not talking about MIA being ready to pop onstage, but news that Chris Brown was arrested over the weekend for assault. I won't go into detail trying to cite all the various sources who are breaking this story since the details are all still unconfirmed. Here's the gist: Chris Brown turned himself in for assault on a woman, sources are reporting that woman was his girlfriend Rihanna, this story seems to make sense since both artists backed out of their Grammy performances last minute.

February FAIL Update - 2/6/09

Here's some new FAIL videos for you all to enjoy on this rainy Friday afternoon.

Microphone FAIL


Man vs Wild FAIL

Not the first time Man vs Wild has been accused of being fake

Escape FAIL


Road Sign FAIL

Beer Bottle Dominos

From what I can gather from the YouTube page, this video comes to us all the way from Denmark. Apparently the Danes like making Rube Goldberg machines using beer and beer accessories. Since I can't speak Danish there's no point in me trying to decipher the video info. Instead I'll go with this:

"This video is a paradox. You'd have to drink a lot of beer to get all those bottles. You'd have to drink a lot of beer to want to build this. You'd have to be totally sober to pull it off."

14-Year-Old Breaks Guitar Hero III Record

14-Year-Old Breaks Guitar Hero III Record

[via Wired]
Danny Johnson, a 14-year-old from Texas, is the latest gamer to break a world record in Activision's Guitar Hero III, earning himself an endorsement deal in the process.

Johnson managed to pull down 973,954 points on Dragonforce's "Through The Fire And Flames" during a "media-sponsored" event at a Best Buy in New York City, topping the previous record of 899,703 set by Minnesota's Chris Chike, reports The New York Times.

Key to Johnson's success was carefully planned use of the game's Star Power points multiplier and months of strenuous practice, which included the destruction of "about 80 plastic Guitar Hero controllers."

"When you’re hitting that many notes and playing that fast, it just terrorizes the controller," Johnson's father remarked.

His virtual shredding skills (displayed in the below home video) earned Johnson an endorsement deal with "gaming team and event promoter" eMazingGaming.com, not to mention a write up in the New York Times -- a point that should illustrate the growing popularity (or, perhaps, perceived novelty) of competitive gaming.

Leaving a Broken Record (and Guitars) in His Wake [New York Times]

Marshawn Lynch Values Family, Penguins

Even more reasons why Marshawn Lynch is the man. This guy seriously cracks me up. Check in the related posts for my previous Marshawn post, you will not be disappointed.

Marshawn Lynch has already earned himself an honorary passport to the Republic of People Everyone Should Think Are Totally Awesome Forever with an impressive resume of oddball accomplishments: his MarioKart victory celebration from his time at Cal, Beast Mode, his sporadically updated and even more sporadically punctuated blog at Yardbarker ... he's a five-tool player in the world of ROCK, and we're not even taking his professional accomplishments into account here.

His Sporting News Today profile does nothing to weaken our already high opinion of Lynch, where he answers questions in what must be complete Beast Mode:

What's on my iPod: "Keak The Sneak and da Farmboyz...Lee Majors...Li'l Boosie...Sleepy D." (And that's an incomplete list. There's more.)

Talent I'd most like to have: "Mackin'. Straight mackin'. No, I'd like to have the talent of a magician, so I could hypnotize all of the ladies!"

On my office walls: "A mural of me and everything important in my life that my cousin painted: it includes my mama, penguins..."

[via TSB]

Katie Couric Interviews Lil Wayne for "All Access" Grammy Special

Well CBS, I really wanted to post the interview video directly from your site, even using your embeddable player but alas, it was no where to be found. All you had posted on your site was the preview videos for Katie Couric's "All Access" Grammy Special and none of the actual interviews, even though it aired last night.

Sorry to say CBS but you really missed the boat on this one. Since you failed to post the Lil Wayne interview video, someone else put it on YouTube and its gaining significant traffic. Next time try and be on top of things. You could have made some money off advertisements with such a popular video. Oh well. Better luck next time.

I Just Don't Get It

I must be missing something. Why the hell has the video below been the most viral video on the internet the last few days? I just don't get it. Wow a kid goes to the dentist and is out of it after...OMG STOP THE PRESSES AND CHECK YOUTUBE! I seriously do not think this is funny at all. I was waiting the whole video for something cool to happen then it just ended. Precious moments of my life are gone. Why am I even posting it?

Video Info

This is my 7 year old son who had an extra tooth removed last summer, 2008. I had the camera because he was so nervous before I wanted him to see before and after.

He was so out of it after, I had to carry him out of the office. The staff was laughing and I had tears it was so funny.

He is doing fine now and the teeth are great.

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UPDATE
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I found some dance remix video (geez those things are everywhere now) and it's mildly entertaining. Still not very funny but better than the original.

Christian Bale's On Set Tirade is Great

I have a soft spot for great outbursts and rants. Many times those tirades seem to include a sports player or coach (ie "Playoffs?" or "The Bears are who we thought they were").

Well this week, actor Christian Bale decided to give us one of the best tirades I've ever heard. Not only was he pissed, not only did he swear a lot, but he absolutely ripped a director of photography right to his face.

[via Wired]

Christian Bale's on-set meltdown, in which he tore a Terminator Salvation cinematographer a new one, catapulted the volatile actor into rare company with other celebrities who managed to make absolute jackasses of themselves while the recorders were rolling.

"I want you off the f****** set, you prick," Bale said in the vitriolic outburst that's turned into a viral sensation. "No, don't just be sorry -- think for one f****** second."

A totally NSFW audio clip (.mp3) of Bale's F-bombing tirade, which took place in July, surfaced on TMZ earlier this week, touching off a fireworks display of online dance remixes like RevoLucian's "Bale Out" (embedded below).

Parodies, in which Bale takes on craft services and other easy targets, a Christian Bale Soundboard and the inevitable T-shirt quickly followed.

Very NSFW but hilarious


Christian Bale vs. Bill O'Reilly
(to tie in another great meltdown I posted about long ago...also very NSFW)

Viva Futbol Vol. 28

Another volume of Viva Futbol is up on FootyTube

ChaCha CEO Scott Jones Has an Awesome Computer & House

I was flipping through the channels the other day and noticed an episode of Cribs was on MTV. I also noticed that the person giving the tour of his amazing mansion was only a teenager. By the first commercial I realized I was watching an episode of Teen Cribs but I did some digging to figure out just who this kid's dad was.

Turns out the kids' dad is GraceNote founder and current CEO & Founder of ChaCha, Scott Jones. I figured the guy had to be somehow involved in tech since his house was complete with retinal scanners, remote control toilets & an 8 screen computer.

Here's a picture of his computer setup:3.4 GHz P4 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 8x Dell 19 in. monitors, Colorgraphic Xentera GT display with ATI, Schwinn 205p recumb bike, Ergotron frame

You can view the episode of Cribs below:


Links:
Scott Jones Personal Site
TechCrunch Article

New Google Earth 5.0 Takes You To Mars & The Bottom of the Ocean

Had a few minutes to play with the new Google Earth 5.0. It's very impressive. I don't have an application or a real purpose for anything I do on it but I think its a fascinating program.

New Google Earth 5.0 Takes You 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
By Scott Gilbertson
via Wired.com

Google has rolled out a major upgrade for Google Earth, the company’s desktop, geo-mapping browser. Google Earth 5 beta offers a host of new features, including interactive underwater details, historical maps, Mars togopography and the ability to easily record your Google Earth journeys.

The most exciting of the new features are the oceanography details. Google Earth has long offered minor, 2D topographical sketches of the Earth’s oceans, but the latest version adds the sort of details that Jacques Cousteau would have flipped for — you can now dive under the ocean and fly over undersea landmarks — mountains, trenches, shipwrecks and more.

The coverage isn’t complete, but it’s pretty easy to see where the details are and from there just simply keep zooming to dive underwater and swim around.

To go along with the new oceanography features, Google Earth has a few new data layers, including content from National Geographic and Cousteau Ocean World. Highlighted features include shipwrecks, maps of global chlorophyll levels, animal tracking data and more.

Article Continues HERE

What's New in Google Earth 5.0


Explore the Ocean in Google Earth 5.0

Hulu’s Super Bowl Ad Comes With An Ad

Hulu’s Super Bowl Ad Comes With An Ad
by Erick Schonfeld on February 1, 2009 [from TechCrunch]


The Super Bowl is perhaps the one television event where people actually look forward to the ads because so much effort is put into each one. And every year, there are a handful of standouts. You can watch the ads plenty of places online, including on Hulu. You can even watch Hulu’s own Super Bowl ad on Hulu, which oddly enough is preceded by a regular Web video ad. That just seems wrong to me on so many levels, especially since Hulu itself (which is partly owned by NBC) probably didn’t have to pay for the spot

I guess you could argue that some of these commercials are now entertainment in their own right, and thus deserve their own mini-commercials. The Hulu spot with Alec Baldwin (above) is certainly one of the better ones. He delivers the line:

They say TV will rot your brain. That’s absurd. TV only softens the brain, like a ripe banana. To take it all the way, we’ve created Hulu.

There were also lots of ads that poked fun at the economic downturn, including an ETrade ad with talking babies and a Cash4Gold.com ad starring Ed McMahon and and MC Hammer. To get people to come into its restaurants, Denny’s decided to offer free breakfast to everyone in America on Tuesday. But my favorite is this one from Monster.com which asks, Need Another Job?

CareerBuilder hit the same theme, but wasn’t quite as funny. In fact, CareerBuilder’s ad which repeatedly shows a woman miserable with her job screaming in her car, is downright depressing.

Then, of course, the trailer to the new Star Trek movie debuted as well, which I will embed below just because I know you will watch it (the trailer for Transformers 2 will also be popular).

Which was your favorite Super Bowl ad, and why?

Forbes' The Web Celeb 25

Forbes released its third annual Web Celeb List, recognizing the world's 25 biggest and brightest stars in the internet and technology space. Most have reached fame by blogging and/or podcasting. Gossip blogger Perez Hilton topped the list for the second year in a row, followed by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and Digg co-founder Kevin Rose. Here are Forbes' top ten:

The Top 10 Web Celebs if 2008
1. Perez Hilton
2. Michael Arrington
3. Kevin Rose
4. Frank Warren
5. Cory Doctorow
6. Pete Cashmore
7. Beppe Grillo
8. Heather Armstrong
9. Guy Kawasaki
10. Jason Calacanis