Youtube | The New York Observer

The Cubicle Queue: Balloon Boy's Dad's Web Show, Candace's Broadroom, Bittman, Gay Marriage & More!

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:45:44 -0400

Tired of clicking around YouTube and iTunes for online videos of substance? Search no more! The Observer has your weekly handy guide to what's worth watching on the Web.

Balloon Boy's dad's Web show — Richard Heene, the father of the now infamous Balloon Boy, has a history of trying to make it big in strange ways. According to this Fox News article, he was an aspiring actor and filmmaker and created a show called Psyience...

The Cubicle Queue: Vintage Gaga, backstage at Gourmet, and more!

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:46:06 -0400

Tired of clicking around YouTube and iTunes for online videos of substance? Search no more! The Observer has your weekly handy guide to what's worth watching on the Web.

David Letterman's scandal on YouTube — Letterman's love triangle has been playing out online this past week, with old footage of Stephanie Birkett, a former assistant (and alleged lover) to Mr. Letterman and girlfriend of blackmailer Robert Halderman, appearing in an old sketch (doing a little shimmy,...

How a YouTube Video Got an Emmy

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:12:03 -0400

In 1969, when he was 14 years old, Jerry Levitan sauntered past a row of reporters lined outside John Lennon's Toronto hotel room, knocked on the door, and convinced his favorite Beatle to give him a short interview. Mr. Lennon was about to swaddle himself in bedsheets and conduct his Montreal Bed-In for Peace with Yoko, and the press was eager for him to settle rumors about a possible Beatles break-up and make a...

The Blonde Ambition of Blip.tv

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:18:57 -0400

In the early autumn of 2005, Dina Kaplan was freelancing as a spot reporter for WNBC 4 New York, “covering fires and murders and bodies found in dumpsters and things like that,” she told The Observer on a recent humid morning in Soho. But on Wednesday nights, the petite strawberry blonde was routinely having dinner in the cafeteria of the World Financial Center with a group of guys who were coding a new...

Pew: Online Video Viewership Reaches Critical Mass

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:31:41 -0400

Is online video-watching officially the future of TV consumption? According to an April 2009 survey released by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project this week, the number of adult Internet users who watch videos online has nearly doubled since 2006. That means that, today, 62 percent of all online folks have watched a YouTube video or a clip on Hulu, up from 33 percent three years ago. A whole 89 percent...

Williamsburg Musician Churns out YouTube Hits Transforming TV Talking Heads Into Soulful Songbirds

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:46:12 -0400

Here at The Observer, we love a good TV- news-anchor- dance- mash-up.

Last year, we marveled at Torrey Meeks' hilarious Bill O’Reilly Flips Out—Dance Remix. Today, we got hooked on another brilliant contribution to the genre, Michael Gregory's new video, Auto-Tune the News #2: pirates, drugs, gay marriage. (Also check out Episode #1.) With the help of an audio-processor, Mr. Gregory—a 24-year-old musician who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn—has transformed a number of talking...

New York Pols Who Make Tweets

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:24:00 -0400

I never thought cutting my hair was a sign of the implosion of the American economy, until I read about it on Twitter. “benpolitico: times tough: @azipaybarah cutting own hair.” The item is short, true, and was written a few seconds after the words left my mouth. I was sitting at my desk in City Hall making some idle conversation with a source when part of the talk went online. Not that it was all that surprising....

In The City: Events 3.19.09

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:41:00 -0400

1 p.m. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and actor Denis Leary will dedicate a new $4.2 million high-rise simulator to the F.D.N.Y. Fire Academy on Randall's Island.

3 p.m. New York Knicks forward Wilson Chandler will visit Manhattan's Democracy Prep Charter School for a rally on "the importance of physical fitness and good nutrition," at 207 West 133 Street.

5 p.m. Barbara Walters will present awards to the Reverand Calvin Butts, his...

Facebook, Google to Rally the Kids at Columbia

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:16:40 -0500

"Social media" tools like YouTube and Facebook have a new name: "killer apps" or powerful platforms for extremist groups to smear messages of hate. But those same companies are hoping to counter that those negative cabilities for good.

From December 3rd to 5th, Facebook, Google, YouTube, MTV, and Howcast will sponsor a summit to mobilize young people against violence and oppression at the Columbia Law School. The global network, called the Alliance of...

Obama Offers Fireside Chats on YouTube

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:20:10 -0500

Okay, so now it's a YouTube Presidency, too. In Chicago today, President-elect Barack Obama will video record his weekly Democratic address and post it on YouTube and his transition website, Change.gov, once the original radio address airs this Saturday morning.

"This is just one of many ways that he will communicate directly with the American people and make the White House and the political process more transparent," spokeswoman Jen Psaki told The Washington...

Moldy MGM Joins the YouTube Generation

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:35:41 -0500

YouTube has courted its first studio to offer feature-length films on the site. It's MGM, the 84-year-old film empire with financial troubles. They're looking to pick up hundreds of millions of viewers on YouTube's site, especially the young ones.

More from The New York Times' Brad Stone and Brooks Barnes:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios will kick off the partnership by posting episodes of its decade-old 'American Gladiators' program to YouTube, along with full-length action films like...

YouTube to Offer Feature Films

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:43:50 -0500

YouTube is trying to make nice with major studios so they can offer feature films on their site. CNet announced the news yesterday that the Google-owned company is in negotiations to launch an ad-supported, streaming movie service (perhaps expanding their Screening Room section?).

"It's not imminent," one of the executives told CNet. "But it's going to happen. I would say you can expect to see it, if all goes well, sometime within the next 30...

Now Showing: Dexter, Californication on YouTube

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:52:19 -0400

It's always been a huge bummer to find your favorite TV show episode on YouTube only to have the content police take it down within minutes. But now, in their scramble to increase ad revenues, YouTubehas the daggers out for sites like Hulu, NBC.com and ABC.com by offering full-length episodes of TV shows on the site.

They'll start with shows from CBS, including The Young and the Restless, and the original 90210...

In Latest YouTube Dispatch, Katie Couric Gets Back in Touch With Her Tri-Delta Days

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:42:26 -0400

With Katie Couric's stash of amazing Sarah Palin footage running perilously low, we thought we'd check back in with the CBS News anchor's personal YouTube channel.

Lucky us!

Turns out that yesterday, Ms. Couric posted her latest candid camera video, which was shot last week at the University of Mississippi on the eve of the first presidential debate.

There, Ms. Couric catches wind of a banner bearing her name hanging outside the university's Delta, Delta,...

Where Are All the Palin Videos Going?

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:02:51 -0400

Sometime earlier today a video of Sarah Palin during her beauty-queen days begun to circulate on the blogs, and now it's gone--the videos are showing that message that usually means YouTube pulled it down (We're sorry, this video is no longer available).

That wouldn't be all that remarkable, but I noticed by chance today that the clip of Palin as a sports anchor had also been pulled down.

UPDATE: A new version of the beauty contest...

Joy Luck Club Director to Release Princess Movie on YouTube

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:52:51 -0400

Filmmaker Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club, Maid in Manhattan) will release his new film The Princess of Nebraska on YouTube on Oct. 17, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Princess is the companion film to Mr. Wang’s A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, which will be released in theaters on Sept. 19. The decision to release Princess online was part of an overall distribution strategy developed by Magnolia Pictures, Cinetic Rights Management...

Couric Taken Out of Context: YouTube Pulls McCain Ad

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:57:11 -0400

According to reports on Politico and TVNewser, the McCain campaign's new "lipstick on a pig" web ad has been removed from YouTube after CBS's lawyers objected to its use of a quote by CBS News' Katie Couric, which the ad took out of context.

Steve Krakauer of TVNewser has the story:

The clip is from one of Couric's Reporter's Notebooks back in June when she criticized the media for some of the coverage of Sen....

Miss You!

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:17:33 -0400

In Denver, YouTube set up a video booth in a highly trafficked hallway of the convention center where passersby could stop and make videos explaining why they were nominating Barack Obama. Hundreds of you took YouTube up on their offer.

On Monday morning in St. Paul, the YouTube video booth stood empty and abandoned on a lonely stretch of the Xcel Energy Center, not far from a commemorative Zamboni and a shuttered popcorn stall....

Iraq Doc No End in Sight to Air on YouTube

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:22:23 -0400

If you're lucky, you can find a few clips of obscure documentaries and mainstream films on YouTube. But they don't stay up long because the site's police take it down because of copyright issues. But now YouTube is getting into the feature film screening business.

They're airing filmmaker Charles Ferguson's documentary No End in Sight between Sept. 12 and Nov. 1, according to Reuters. The documentary, about America's dubious decisions in the lead-up to...

Is There Anything YouTube Can't Do?

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:11:48 -0400

Two fresh takes on YouTube in today's New York Times.

On the op-ed page, Daniel Kimmage files a piece from Baku, Azerbaijan, titled "Fight Terror With YouTube" about how Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda aren't keeping up in the Web 2.0 world.

As Mr Kimmage writes:

Statements by Mr. bin Laden and his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, that are posted to YouTube do draw comments aplenty. But the reactions, which...

Jon Friedman Apologizes to Time Magazine, You, Me, and Everyone We Know

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:10:39 -0400

Jon Friedman is back with another amazing Media Web Minute as part of his MarketWatch column.

This week, an animated, gesticulating Mr. Friedman (has someone had some coaching?) address a nagging error on his part. It seems that he was wrong in rejecting Time magazine's selection of "You" as the person of the year in 2006.

Now, Mr. Friedman wants you to know that "the YouTube phenomenon has taken over the...

Indie Filmmakers Go Global on YouTube

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:51:03 -0400

Independent filmmakers will be given a chance to profit from sharing their work on YouTube, the Associated Press reports. Next Wednesday, the video-sharing site will launch a virtual screening room, a feature that will highlight four new short films every other week. Films will be chosen by an editorial panel that will cull material from direct submissions and film festivals. In addition to heightened exposure, the selected artists will be given a portion...

Canadian Sex and Biker Scandal Comes Alive on YouTube

Wed, 28 May 2008 16:27:33 -0400

Finally, an inventive new use for YouTube that doesn't involve a kid practicing Star Wars moves or Kobe Bryant jumping over a pool full of snakes. Someone by the screenname BLABLABLAPQ has posted a musical montage that starts with the phrase "Le Scandale de la Semaine au Quebec" ("The Scandal of the Week in Quebec"). The video, which is comprised of screenshots and French pull quotes, highlights the sex-politics-and-biker-gang scandal currently engulfing...

Great Moments in Candid Katie

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:26:57 -0400

Candid Katie Couric can be a great thing. But recently most of the genre's memorable moments—Husky eyes!—have come to us courtesy of Harry Shearer. Not from the official Ms. Couric sanctioned YouTube channel.

That said, this most recent clip from the YouTube project, in which Ms. Couric travels to an interview with CNN's Larry King, has one pretty classic moment.

At the 1:24 mark: She is following the venerable newsman down a hallway outside...

Adam Green Scrapes Off the Mold

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 06:48:52 -0400

So there's no way Adam Green could have known that, when asked by director Jason Reitman what music her character ought to listen to, Juno star Ellen Page would reply "The Moldy Peaches" faster than you can say "homeskillet."

And there's no way Mr. Green could have known the film would become such a runaway success, or that a tune by his old band, the Moldy Peaches, featured prominently therein would become one of iTunes'...

Oprah Launches YouTube Channel

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 11:44:17 -0400

Oprah launched her own YouTube channel here. You can watch exclusive (and ridiculously cheesy) videos of Oprah's production staff presenting a skateboarding bulldog and P.Diddy announcing his search for a new assistant. His special requirements: "You gotta know how to read, you gotta know how to write."

According to Broadcasting & Cable:

According to Winfrey, the channel will feature “exclusive video including video I made myself just for YouTube, what’s coming up on my...

Lorne Michaels: SNL Misses Its Dicks in a Box

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 20:00:00 -0400

Lorne Michaels, the creator and executive producer of Saturday Night Live, is a big fan of YouTube. “I think that YouTube is great, because if you do something like ‘Dick in a Box,’ someone in Pakistan can see it,” said Mr. Michaels in a phone interview. He was referring to the now-ubiquitous skit by SNL cast member Andy Samberg and guest host Justin Timberlake in which the duo sang about giving your girlfriend...

MTV to Skateboarders: Break a Leg, Live!

Sun, 08 Apr 2007 20:00:00 -0400

On the evening of May 31, 2006, a shaggy-haired teenager in Buffalo, N.Y., peddled his skateboard toward a flight of concrete steps and launched into the air. A few seconds later, Mason Jukes lay at the foot of the stairs, screaming. His fibula and tibia had shattered on the pavement upon landing. Nearby, a second teenager kept a camcorder rolling. Weeks later, home from the hospital with a titanium rod holding together his reconstructed...

Hillary on the Bright Side of the Big Brother Video

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:30:28 -0400

Hillary Clinton says she may quibble with being depicted as Big Brother -- and IBM, for that matter -- but that it's a good thing as long as it gets people interested in politics. From an interview with NY1 about that pro-Barack Obama video that has spread like a super-virus around the internet:. Q: What do you think of the video? "I haven't seen it but I'm pleased that it seems to be taking attention...

Hynes About to Make Someone Else Famous

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:00:00 -0400

At 2 p.m. this afternoon, Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes will be handing out DVD copies of video surveillance allegedly showing former Judge Gerald Garson accepting a $1,000 bribe, and cigars, from an attorney. A spokesman for the DA said that the footage will be played in court before more than a dozen copies are given out to interested media. The last time the DA released footage -- of Assemblywoman Diane Gordon asking someone...

The Round-Up: Thursday

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 03:41:44 -0500

City Council passes nightclub-safety bills. [NY Post] Atlantic Yards investors may make $700 M. in sell-off. [NY Post] Tenants keep mum on Coney Island's future. [Daily News] New control tower going up at La Guardia. [Daily News] Mayor wants to look into plans for old firehouses. [NY Sun] Michael Shvo gives brokers sales advice. [NY Sun] Brooklynite battles development with YouTube. [NY Sun] Downtown Brooklyn booms onward, upward. [NY Sun] Did we miss any New York City real estate news this morning?...

Edwards on the Hair Video

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 02:27:01 -0500

Here is Jon Edwards during his recent appearance on the Brain Lehrer show where the host asked Edwards about YouTube's impact on campaign, and specifically about a two-minute clip of Edwards fixing his hair. "But they're entitled to do that. What's wrong with that?" Edwards went on to say that sort of thing goes with the territory and overall, it's good to see candidates unscripted. -- Azi...

Rudy and Conservatives

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 05:56:17 -0500

Rudy Giuliani will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in D.C. on March 2, which should make for some YouTube moments. Jason Horowitz looked at how some conservatives are unconvinced with Rudy's red state credentials. And Maggie Haberman of the Post got her hands on Rudy's writing from his days as an outspoken liberal college student. And for most of his campaign so far, Rudy has been seeking only friendly audiences. So get your tickets...

Letters

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Closure on Cloture To the Editor: I had to laugh out loud when I read Steve Kornacki’s article on the Senate maneuverings over the Iraq War debate [“Republican Senators Deepen a Hole for 2008,” Wise Guys, Feb. 12]. It’s hard to imagine that someone would think to criticize another, when they themselves are completely misinformed about what happened. Unfortunately for Mr. Kornacki, it appears that he actually believed Harry Reid’s bald-faced lie to reporters...

Letters

Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500

Elsewhere: Biden, Spitzer

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:33:06 -0500

Hillary Clinton said that compromise should be "a goal -- not a dirty word." And she hired another spokesperson. John Edwards got hawkish on Iran. If you enjoyed the Biden stories today, check out the YouTube clips Errol Louis has. "N.Y. Gov. Spitzer stands by 'steamroller' boast" is the headline in Reuters. The temporary commission which employees George Pataki's former top aide, is getting shut down, says Coop. The All-Star Game is coming to Yankee Stadium. Nominations for city...

I Was a Male Warhol Bride! Pop Go Barneys' Windows

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:00:00 -0500

I feel that Andy Warhol spoke for all of us when he said: “You can’t take a princess to dinner and order a cookie for starters no matter how much you crave one. People expect you to eat protein and you do, so they won’t talk. If you decided to be stubborn and ordered the cookie, you’d wind up having to talk about why you want it and your philosophy of eating a cookie...

I Was a Male Warhol Bride! Pop Go Barneys’ Windows

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Wu-Hoo! Nutty Professor Is Voice of a Generation

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Last week, a group of five women law students from Columbia University took seats on a small makeshift stage, dressed in identical skimpy black hot pants and white tank tops, mimicking law students in classes taught by their 34-year-old professor, Tim Wu. A voice-over pretended to broadcast the contents of the female students’ wandering minds. “Is Tim asking me whether I want to have his baby?” the voiceover intones. “I only took this class...

Elsewhere: Spitzer, Hillary, RNN

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 12:30:00 -0500

The National Review likes Eliot Spitzer's stance on public money for private schools. Hilllary Clinton's support of an upstate company's use of recycled car tires has lead to a warning about pollution in the early presidential primary state of New Hampshire. ReformNY looks at Nick Spano's condemnation of alleged voter intimation tactics. Despite the improvements, Streetsblogs is still frustrated with the Department of Transportation. The newsroom of the future is revealed. Polit.bureau learns not to call the prospect of...

RNN and YouTube

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:42:51 -0500

This must be a first. RNN interviewed their own news director about "new media" things like blogs and YouTube and, to complete the incestuous circle, and posted the clip on YouTube. Tomorrow, I'll interview my editor, Josh Benson, about what he thinks me writing about this. --Azi...

Vote McCourt

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 07:46:56 -0400

Prose-rich but cash-poor Green Party candidate Malachy McCourt strikes a blow against Eliot Spitzer's Rose Garden campaign strategy with this no-nonsense internet ad. Thank you YouTube. -- Azi...

Green's Phone Lines Down, Ad Up

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 11:07:28 -0400

Sometimes it's just not your day. According to a Mark Green staffer, the campaign's phones were down for about two hours this morning. (So far, there have been no Lieberman-esque claims of sabotage.) On the bright side, though, one of Green's YouTube ads has broken into the top 100 most-viewed clips in the News and Blogs category, only a few places behind "Steve Irwins Last Moments captured on Camare." --Jason...

Elsewhere: Lieberman Down, Cuomo Up

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 14:30:00 -0400

Joe Lieberman's website is "pretty much down -- minus (ironically) a YouTube video..." Andrew Cuomo pretty much up. Up in the polls and uptown in Harlem, where he got a group endorsement from politicians there, including Charlie Rangel. Ned Lamont could be up a bit if he gets an endorsement tomorrow from the United Auto Workers. Greg Sargent says that "could give Lamont an organizational and political boost at a time when Lieberman...

Tasini Internet Ads

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:15:00 -0400

Jonathan Tasini released five "Internet ads" today on Israel, labor, health care, discrimination and this one, on the war in Iraq. The money line:

"Hillary Clinton voted for the war and continues to support the occupation to this day. I believe the United States should withdraw from Iraq immediately and end the occupation."...

Once Again, Ladies and Gentlemen... Al Gore

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 12:49:46 -0400

Yesterday we posted an item about an iChat event in the Bronx at which Al Gore's head appeared to float like a moon in the Internet ether. (Ben, who actually went to the event, quoted a local artist saying that she had "never seen so many white people in the Bronx in my life.") In any case, we may have done Gore something of a disservice, which we're now determined to rectify. As the event organizers...

The YouTube Devolution

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Once upon a time, it would have meant something to have watched the Zidane head-butt in the World Cup final live on TV. I did see it. I missed the first 85 minutes or so of the match, then tuned in for the critical juncture. Pow! Right there. But who cared? The blow was right there—and there—and there: Almost instantly, it was all over YouTube. Anyone in the world could click and replay it....

New York World

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Mac vs. PC MAC: Hi, I’m a Mac! PC: Hi, I’m a PC! USER: Yeah, we’ve met? I work with you [points to PC] at the office, and I work with you [points to MAC] at home. MAC: Cool, ’cause I’m more informal and creative, right? And he’s all square and “official.” PC: For your information, he works with me at the office because I run the 11-years-out-of-date text-editing program that his company still...