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This is madness! Does this video really need a description? Fine.

I record a lot of videos. I also happen to stream live video 24/7. I don’t blame you if you haven’t watched it, though. Nothing exciting tends to happen in my office – usually. You may tune in and see me doing nothing more than typing away while music plays in the background. Other times, you might just get lucky enough to see something you’d never expect.

In any case, I tend to record things that may have never been published for one reason or another. Either I’m afraid you won’t understand why I thought a moment in life was worth capturing on video, or… well, it just didn’t seem interesting enough to warrant uploading. You may not understand my sense of humor, or you might not quite get why I find something in life exciting. Our tastes are just – different, you know?

My life is more than just technology, you see. It involves spaghetti, too! It also revolves around music, art, Star Wars, LEGO bricks, helium, PUGS and a long list of things that would take me all morning to write about.

Oh, and – yes, I accept dares. Dare me to do something else on video. I dare ya. I triple-dog dare ya. You’d be shocked to see some of the things that others have managed to get me to do. I’ve gone hiking, cleaned my pores and even have been known to dance around my office in a dress.

Okay, enough. Either you’ll enjoy these clips – or you won’t. To each their own. You don’t have to enjoy what I enjoy. You aren’t required to laugh when I do. You aren’t even supposed to find things interesting that I feel are important to the world.

See? I told you this video shouldn’t have included a description. But NOOOOOOOOOO – you just HAD to have a description for the video, even though I think the description was just as pointless as this particular video upload. That’s the point – to have no point.

What Would You Do on a Dare?

This is the guy responsible for the LOLcat craze.

1. Add your own caption to this photo.
2. After you create your own caption, be sure to link to it in a comment below.

Photo taken at [re]Think Hawaii this morning. I’m very grateful that Hawaii Vacations was able to hook me up with a killer travel package!

[awsbullet:lolcat]

I Can Has Eric Nakagawa?

This is Jack Carroll’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

Recently, I ran a quiz on Facebook, asking people what they thought were the funniest videos on YouTube. They left comments saying what they thought was the funniest, and i made a poll with the top 20 YouTube videos mentioned in the comments thread. The votes are in, and i have the top five funniest videos from YouTube. Please leave a comment on why you disagree, or agree.

(1) Chris Crocker

I remember the first time i watched this video. I thought it was so funny, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Now when i watch the video, i just see a weird guy screaming and crying. I’m sure all of you have seen this video. What is surprising is that 23% of people voted for this video.

(2) Pop-Tarts

I personally love this video. Its a nice, random video about… what you can do with a Pop-Tart. Ha ha! Gotta love pastry comedy!

(3) Afro Ninja / Nunchuck Guy

Now, this has to hurt. At first, he looks like he is going to do some awesome moves, but then he falls… and almost blacks out. I love this video because it never gets old!

(4) Dramatic Prairie Dog

I honestly think it is short, and not very funny – but everyone voted for it, so here it is. Does anyone think that this one deserves the number 4 spot on the best Youtube videos? If you do, tell me by commenting.

(5) Dancing Stormtrooper

I think it’s funny for the first 30 seconds. Then it gets old – because it’s just is a loop of a Stormtrooper dancing.

(6) Chris Pirillo’s TechTV Laughing Fit

I personally think that this is the funniest video on YouTube. This video is actually how i found the Geeks community. I was surfing YouTube looking for funny videos, and i found this video. I think Chris had a few too many nuts. The guy on the phone must have been so mad that his question didn’t get answered. What I want to know is who the guy behind Chris wearing the mic is, and why does the video freeze right there? I bet Chris’s boss had a long talk with him after that. Ha ha! Leave a comment on why you think that Chris started laughing so hard.

I only surveyed about 200 people, so it’s not very accurate. You can help change that by writing a comment about what video you think is the funniest video on YouTube, and why. Agree with these choices? Comment on what you like about them, or why they are (or are not) funny.

What are the Funniest Videos on YouTube?

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So maybe there IS something fishy in my egg nog. Or just maybe… it’s Geek Gone Wild! No matter… it made me feel like getting up and dancing to some awesome music!

Nah, it’s the newest fad in Geek fashion! The 8-Bit Tie is sure to please any Geek on your shopping list.

A few of us monkeys at ThinkGeek had this great shared dream a few months ago. In it, the whole world was 8-Bit, just like the video games we grew up on. We found ourselves having to leap from platform to platform, to search for pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom, and to fight scary mutated plants and animals. The music was awesome (and still stuck in our heads) but the coolest part was what we were wearing: a tie. But not just any tie, an 8-Bit tie!

We woke up screaming. An 8-Bit tie – what an awesome way for the drones of Cubeland to show their independence from Corporate America! So, we did what we knew you’d want – we had the ties made. Silk-like Microfiber construction, clip on* (for easy dressing and t-shirt wear if needed), and custom designed by us for you. You’ll be the envy of the office or, at least, you’ll get tons of attention.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2pxIPGIDeCo"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2pxIPGIDeCo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/">Chris</a> | <a href="http://live.pirillo.com/">Live Tech Support</a> | <a href="http://media.pirillo.com/">Video Help</a> | <a href="http://feeds.pirillo.com/ChrisPirilloShow">Add to iTunes</a>

Geek Fashion

I can’t think of the last time I set any site as my default “start page” (other than my own, or a local document of collected links and search fields). I was checking referral logs for bLaugh and noticed that Protopage and Netvibes kept popping up. I had visited each of them a while ago, but never really bothered to return to either – portal sites aren’t really my thing.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that our daily comic was toggled as a default widget on the primary Protopage tab! So, not only is Protopage the best designed AJAX portal, but it also has the best sense of humor. Okay, so maybe I’m a bit biased with the second claim – but it’s still incredibly thrilling to see just how many people have picked up on bLaugh since its launch a few months ago. Technorati reports that we’ve moved up to 831 (3,919 links from 1,353 blogs), though Hugh has been around substantially longer and has a insanely better numbers (and rightfully so).

Comic impressions are different than text impressions and/or video plays – just like most Web images (read: banners) have always been better played for branding purposes. For instance, there’s virtually no way of telling how many people read bLaugh on a daily basis through mass aggregation services like Protopage, Google Reader, Bloglines, etc. I can tell you one thing: I certainly welcome the use of our feed and/or API by any third-party. Brad and I have already been profitable with our madcapped adventure – without having to resort to venture comical capital. GoDaddy seems equally as happy! Move over, United Feature Syndicate and King Features Syndicate!

My Favorite Portal: Protopage

When we released the bLaugh API, I was hoping that some enterprising developer would use it to create something fun. Mike from Singer’s Creations just unleashed Comicazzi tonight. Essentially, it’s a desktop app that will let you drag and drop bLaugh comics onto your current wallpaper. If that doesn’t sound very exciting to you, I’ve suggested that the interactive comic viewer eventually include other Web comics – hence, the generic “Comicazzi” title. If you would like your comic to be included in the app, you’ll have to talk to Mike about it (and give him an easy way to access the images). I’ve also suggested that Comicazzi eventually call on the Flickr API to help people build dynamic wallpapers from Flickr iamges, too. Fun times! Download it!

Comic Freeware

Who does this remind you of?

Okay, so… Brad and I released this comic on bLaugh today:

Should be chuckle-worthy, though it wasn’t the original strip. I showed another image to friends, with some of them suggesting that we hold it indefinitely – and others suggesting that we run it immediately. If you’re offended easily, you don’t want to see this: the comic we chose not to run.

Did we make the right decision in not running the original version? It’s culturally offensive (playing on stereotypes), but so are countless political cartoons these days. I personally think we did the right thing by going with the ski-masks. Last thing I’d ever want to do is incite an interracial (or international) incident.

Is This Offensive or Funny?

For some reason or another, choosy users choose bLaugh. At least, that’s what the readers and staff of BusinessWeek Online report. We just received a “Best of the Web” award in the Humor category. I’d still like to see bLaugh pushed out and shared on more Web sites, portals, and print media. Who else won?

• The Onion
• The Joy of Tech
• Rocketboom
• gapingvoid
• Go Fug Yourself* (tied)
• Ze Frank* (tied)

I suppose this means they want us to do a parody of their brand. “BusinessWeak” sounds kinda funny, especially if we do a mock cover? Until then, I guess today’s bLaugh will have to do…

bLaugh is a Reader’s Choice

I’m not a professional music critic – and don’t pretend to be. However, I’ve gotta tell you that “Straight Outta Lynwood” [SOL] is one of the best albums that “Weird Al” Yankovic has produced to date. Yes, I’m biased – having been a fan of the band ever since the seventh grade. His originals finally, in many ways, outshine his parodies. SOL nails the melodies and harmonies, as expected.

SOL is a bargain at $15: “DualDisc includes PCM Stereo, 5.1 Surround and instrumental mixes of the entire album (with on-screen lyrics option), plus a 9-minute behind-the-scenes documentary and 6 brand new music videos.” I bet you wish your favorite artists did this, too. If there’s anything that’s going to keep physical media alive, it’s jam-packing titles with every bonus imaginable. A few weeks ago, Al unleashed the half-sactioned “You’re Pitiful” online. It isn’t included on the album, though the original artist gave Al permission to do so:

Yankovic recorded the song to be included on his Straight Outta Lynwood album after, according to Yankovic, having been given the James Blunt’s blessing to parody the song. However, following its recording, the artist’s record company, Atlantic Records, allegedly told Yankovic that he could not include the song.

Even after having publicly stated that the band doesn’t make much money from digital purchases (through iTunes or otherwise), Yankovic still treats his fans fairly – he knows that we’ll all buy whatever he creates. In fact, I’ve been known to buy his albums for friends – just because I think that as a serious and smart musician, “Weird Al” is underrated. His musical genius is fully exercised in a few SOL tracks – which won’t leave you SOL.

1. White and Nerdy: Computer geeks should love these lyrics twice as much as they did “It’s All About the Pentiums” – with references to Wikipedia and MySpace included. Even if you don’t like “rap,” you’re going to love these lyrics. And honestly, which one of us isn’t white and nerdy?! I think I have a new personal theme song. Great way to start the album. Even Ponzi LOL’ed a few times when she first heard it. Five stars.
2. Pancreas: Out of all the songs on SOL, this one is probably my favorite. It begins a capella, flowing and weaving in a classic “Beach Boys” sound. I’m not sure I’d consider this a complete style parody, though I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear something similar on a TMBG album – which is probably why I love this track so much. If you don’t find yourself strangely attracted to the final refrains, there’s something seriously wrong with you. “Insulin, Glucagon, Coming from the islets of Langerhans.” I can’t get it out of my head. Er, pancreas – if you will. Five stars.
3. Canadian Idiot: For the second parody on SOL, we have a parody of Green Day’s “American Idiot.” Much like in “Lasagna” and “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi,” Al is finding gold in stereotypes. It’s a fun song, though I must admit that I find myself enjoying the R&B parodies more than punk/rock music these days. Still, I’m not anxious to skip to the next track – if only because the original song is catchy to begin with. If you don’t know anything about Canadian culture, you probably won’t be impressed by this tune (but I bet your Canadian friends will be). Four stars.
4. I’ll Sue Ya: Speaking to the trend of crazy lawsuits appearing in the headlines every other week, Al gives us a “Kid Rock” style emulation – littered with popular brand names and outlandish experiences with them. I’ve never been attracted to “angsty” music, but this beat is to my liking (far more than an earlier “Young, Dumb, and Ugly”). If there’s a low point on the album, I’d say this is it – unless you happen to be a fan of the genre. Despite my indifference, I don’t consider it to be a “skip track.” I wholly expect these lyrics to show up in a future email joke thread – and please don’t take that as a suggestion. Three stars.
5. Polkarama!: I look forward to the polkas on every album, always believing they’re not long enough. This accordion-heavy montage does not disappoint. While I couldn’t necessarily name every polkafied artist strewn throughout, I was definitely familiar with every lifted lyric. I think his combination and range of styles (R&B, Rock, Alternative) speaks to Yankovic’s continued range expansion and broad appeal. If you’re not into a wide range of pop music, you might not appreciate Polkarama! half as much. It’s not my favorite polka (as I appreciate his classics more than the newer ones). However, it’ll certainly satiate my polkanerve until the next one bounces in. Four stars.
6. Virus Alert: Another Yankovic classic has been born – very upbeat, very addictive, original, and extremely replayable. If I played this tune back-to-back with “Hardware Store,” it’d make for a smart mix. Al’s falsetto feels natural and really fits inside this composition – with the lyrics being equally as amazing as the music itself. I find myself hitting the rewind button for this one – and not just because it’s about technology. I’m blown away by the song’s entire structure, particularly during “If you even get infected. turn off your computer, and make sure it powers down..” Can’t help but sing along. Too much fun. Five stars.
7. Confessions Part III: You might remember Confessions part I & II, so this is. what you’d never expect from a third one. Usher probably should have stopped with one, but I’m glad that Al made it a soul-bearing hat trick. The original song was ripe for satire – strong enough to support a parody. We’ve all been in love, and we’ve all done wacky (read: inexplicable) things in those relationships. Of course, I don’t know if any of you like to dress up like Shirley Temple and beat yourselves with a hockey stick – but you should enjoy the open confessional nonetheless. Four stars.
8. Weasel Stomping Day: Oh. My. God. This is Dr. Seuss in Bizzaro World! Close your eyes and try to imagine this one, folks. Not sure why Al references mayonnaise for the second time on the same album, but. that’s not the point. What sound does a weasel make when it’s stomped? There’s no safer way of finding out, I can assure you. The song is festive, but leaves the listener with a gigantic question: just exactly when is Weasel Stomping Day? I’d personally like to nominate July 27th if it hasn’t already been suggested. Let’s all celebrate! Five stars.
9. Close But No Cigar: Another Yankovic original – and likely his best non-parody relationship-centric song to date. “And I loved her even more than Marlon Brando loved souffl‚.” “And I was crazy like Manson about her…” “She got me all choked up like Mama Cass.” – Dennis Miller would be proud. The music, in and of itself, has an addictive pop quality to it. Then again, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I really like it, but I don’t think I love it. Four stars.
10. Do I Creep You Out: I make it a point to watch the first few episodes of every American Idol season. Taylor Hicks kinda looks like Jeff Barr to me, though. I enjoy a good ballad every once in a while, so this serves my ears well. It’s over in less than three minutes, which is fine by me. My guess is that this track served as a substitute for the Blunt parody, though. I wanna lip sync this at my wedding reception – if only for shock value. Four stars.
11. Trapped in the Drive-Thru: You can always count on one extended track on a Weird Al album. This time, it was a pointed parody of a pointless R. Kelly rambling. In many ways, Yankovic did a better job with it! I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that some of these lyrics were based on actual events in Al’s life. I can tell you that Ponzi and I had the “Olive Garden” argument recently. Art imitates life. Although, Ponzi sold my bunny slippers on eBay last week. Five stars.
12. Don’t Download This Song: Yes, it’s what you think. Imagine if “We Are The World” was dedicated to the plight of the millionaire musician. The anthem is long overdue. You might have seen the video when it was uploaded to the Internet a few weeks ago. Aptly, you couldn’t easily download the encoded video. Listen to the very end – he screams “Ya cheap bastard!” Heh. The physical media was quite affordable, actually – filled to the edge with value. Four stars.
13. You’re Pitiful (Unreleased): He starts singing early, but that flub wasn’t edited out before the song was released and distributed to fans (in an unofficial capacity, as mentioned earlier). It’s too bad Atlantic had a stick up their ass about not including this in SOL, because it would have fit in well. Since I don’t listen to much popular music these days, I wasn’t tired of the “You’re Beautiful” sound by the time I heard this track. Xbox geeks will love the Halo 2 reference, but I still crack up every time I hear “farty pants.” Five stars.

Ponzi listens to artists like Chamillionaire, R. Kelly, and Usher all the time – so hip hop music regularly flows through our halls at home. It’s because of this that I find SOL so interesting and fun. Had my tastes not been influenced by my fiance’s choice of music, I don’t know how I’d feel about the album.

The included videos are somewhat fun; “Weasel Stomping Day” (Robot Chicken) and “Close But No Cigar” (Kricfalusi!) really hit it out of the park. I’m disappointed that “White and Nerdy” didn’t make the DualDisc, though – I was hoping to watch a higher quality version of it. If the visual extras don’t win you over, then perhaps the instrumental tracks and 5.1 surround sound recordings will. SOL is an absolute bargain at $15.

Perhaps other artists should start copying Al – filling their physical albums to the brim with value. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?

Don’t Download This Album

We’ve been Hughtrained! Told you I love this guy…

I can’t imagine anybody wanting to put bLaugh on business cards or coffee mugs. Gaping Void, however, is teh shiz no matter where you view it. We’ve got a good lampoon coming up for you, Hugh.

A Void Has Been Filled

I was playing around with our new Web comic this evening. We launched the other day and are making fantastic progress with the gags. Steve Rubel wants a larger version of his strip, suitable for framing. Don’t know if there’s a market in that, but… maybe we should post larger and smaller images, too? I thought I’d check to see if RubelWithoutACause.com was taken, and it’s not. I kept playing with the GoDaddy search form and found several that weren’t taken (as of the time of this entry):

• ComicCrazies.com
• MyComputerAccident.com
• SpywareRules.com
• SearchMyCloset.com
• ComputerAdvice.com
• FileFever.com
• DownloadDisco.com
• GottaBoogie.com
• FreewareFunHouse.com
• SirNotAppearingInThisFilm.com

What I really want to know is if you subscribed to the bLaugh feed and tried it on your iPod or PSP yet? We’re looking for testers for those (and other mobile) devices.

RubelWithoutACause.com

I love to laugh – so now I’m preparing the world to bLaugh! Today, we’re launching the (un)Official comic of the blogosphere – colorful, satirical, and comical. Expect parodies of “A-List” bloggers all the way down to the meme of the day – no holds barred. Brad Fitzpatrick is bLaugh’s artist, and I’m the writer. The strip is exclusively sponsored by a single company, GoDaddy. We have a bLaugh feed for you to suck down – and we’ll rotate the daily comic image in a static URL to encourage deep-linking from anywhere (widgets, anyone?). Of course, all you ego-whores should be watching closely – because you’re likely the ones to be parodied on a regular basis. If you blog, or your name (brand) is getting tossed around in the blogosphere, you’re on our radar. That includes you, Hugh and Jacek (because we love everybody equally).

bLaugh: The (un)Official Comic of the Blogosphere