This clever 2006 promo for US movie channel Cinemax set footage from all six Star Wars films to Coldplay‘s Fix You.
Notice how the images match the lyrics.
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Category: Viral Video
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The Boxxy Meme
A short Rocketboom video explaining the whole Boxxy meme.
Know Your Meme: Boxxy from Rocketboom on Vimeo.
> Blog post on the Boxxy story
> The Guardian’s Bobbie Johnson on the affair
The dance sequence to A.R. Rahman‘s Jai Ho at the end of Slumdog Millionaire has been getting some heavy remix action on the web recently.
Here are some of the more notable tributes:
(Jay Leno with A.R. Rahman on The Tonight Show)
(By composer/music programmer Darrel Mascarenhas)
(Filmed in Tim’s Jazz 101 class at Dance101 in Atlanta, GA)
(Mick Hagen and Rachel Hagen. Follow them on Twitter: @mickhagen and @rachelhagen)
(Justine and Lizzie of FOAMproductions)
[Links via Buzzfeed)
> See the lyrics to Jai Ho translated into English
> Instructions on how to do the dance at The Age
> Check out our interview with Danny Boyle on Slumdog Millionaire
> See other related posts on Slumdog Millionaire
Salon have done an interesting mashup of different actors and their reactions to not winning an Oscar.
Although not included here, Samuel L Jackson’s reaction to losing to Martin Landau in 1995 (he clearly mouthed ‘sh*t!’) has to be the most refreshingly honest.
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Friday the 13th Deaths in 7 Minutes
Given the success of the Friday the 13th remake this weekend, here is a compilation of all the deaths from the original series:
The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown talks about his favourite film.
You can download the video here (just right click and save to your computer).
> Official site for the PM
> More on Gordon Brown at Wikipedia
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Fan made Thundercats Trailer
[youtube]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fb50GMmY5nk&feature=channel_page#[/youtube]
Fan made trailer for the upcoming Thundercats film using the following movies:
- 10,000BC
- Masters of the Universe
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Lord of The Rings: Return of the King
- Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars
- Chronicles of Riddick
- Pitch Black
- X2: X-Men United
- X-Men: The Last Stand
- Troy
- Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country
- Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone
- Stargate
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
- Garfield
- Enemy Mine
- Spykids
- Underworld
- The Mummy
- The Mummy Returns
- Galaxy Quest
- John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars
- Planet of the Apes
- Aliens
- Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
- Reign of Fire
- Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
The ‘cast’ are:
- Lion-O: Brad Pitt, Mel Gibson.
- Panthro: Vin Diesel
- Tygra: Hugh Jackman
- Cheetara: Gigi Edgley
- WilyKat: Daryl Sabara
- WilyKit: Alexa Vega
- Jaga: Robert Eddison
- Mummra: Richard Cetrone
> More about the upcoming film
> Thunderlair – Extensive Thundercats fansite
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Cult Cinema Ads
DCM, the recently formed joint venture that bought Carlton Screen Advertising, are trying to discover the most popular cinema ad of all time.
Notable ads have has been selected by heavyweights from the cinema and now the public can vote on their favourite.
The short list includes ads dating from the 1970s till today, including the following:
Maxell Tapes ‘Break the Sound Barrier’ (1982):
Carling Black Label ‘Dambusters‘ (1990):
Bacardi ‘If’ (1991):
Dunlop ‘Tested for the Unexpected’ (1994):
Ford Puma ‘Bullit’ (1997):
Guinness ‘Surfer’ (1999):
Agent Provocateur ‘Kylie’ (2001):
Sony Bravia ‘Balls’ (2005):
Orange Gold Spot ‘Anjelica Huston’ (2008):
For nostalgia reasons I’d vote for Maxell but if it came down to quality the Dunlop spot directed by Tony Kaye (who went on to make American History X) is the best.
You can check out others on their official YouTube channel and vote on their site here.
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2008: The Cinescape
A montage of 2008 movies made by Matt Shapiro.
The song is Hoppipolla by Sigur Rós and the films in order of appearance are:
– The Dark Knight
– Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
– Wall-E
– Quantum of Solace
– Iron Man
– Defiance
– Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
– Australia
– Forgetting Sarah Marshall
– Wall-E
– The Curious Case of Benjamin
– The Dark Knight
– Frost/Nixon
– Wall-E
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
– Slumdog Millionaire
– Milk
– Seven Pounds
– Revolutionary Road
– Pineapple Express
– Speed Racer
– Burn After Reading
– Ghost Town
– Revolutionary Road
– Quantum of Solace
– Rachel Getting Married
– Australia
– Role Models
– Choke
– The Tale of Despereaux
– Cloverfield
– Zack and Miri Make a Porno
– The Visitor
– Milk
– Be Kind Rewind
– Synecdoche, New York
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
– Doubt
– Wall-E
– W.
– Get Smart
– Iron Man
– Tropic Thunder
– Iron Man
– Tropic Thunder
– Doubt
– The Reader
– Happy-Go-Lucky
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
– Valkyrie
– Frost/Nixon
– Yes Man
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
– The Wrestler
– Revolutionary Road
– Snow Angels
– In Bruges
– Waltz with Bashir
– Wendy and Lucy
– Rachel Getting Married
– Get Smart
– Hamlet 2
– Hancock
– The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
– Cloverfield
– Wall-E
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
– The Day the Earth Stood Still
– The Dark Knight
– FADE OUT
– FADE IN
– The Dark Knight
– The Incredible Hulk
– Wall-E
– Seven Pounds
– Wendy and Lucy
– The Wrestler
– Australia
– The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
– The Dark Knight
– Wall-E
– Cloverfield
– Australia
– Miracle at St. Anna
– Waltz with Bashir
– Valkyrie
– Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
– Rachel Getting Married
– Pineapple Express
– The Dark Knight
– Defiance
– Che
– Valkyrie
– Australia
– Defiance
– Quantum of Solace
– Slumdog Millionaire
– The Wrestler
– Revolutionary Road
– The Dark Knight
– Defiance
– Australia
– Iron Man
– Cloverfield
– The Strangers
– Defiance
– Wall-E
– Slumdog Millionaire
– Revolutionary Road
– Synecdoche, New York
– Defiance
– Iron Man
– The Day the Earth Stood Still
– Waltz with Bashir
– The Dark Knight
– Australia
– The Wrestler
– Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
– Cloverfield
– The Dark Knight
– Pineapple Express
– Defiance
– Rachel Getting Married
– Milk
– Quantum of Solace
– Defiance
– Kung Fu Panda
– Pineapple Express
– Seven Pounds
– The Wrestler
– Iron Man
– Eagle Eye
– Frost/Nixon
– Revolutionary Road
– The Reader
– Milk
– Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
– Gran Torino
– Che
– The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
[Link via /Film]
> My favourite films of 2008
> All the films I saw at the cinema in 2008
I actually think this could make a funny web series.
> More videos at Funny or Die
> Director Adam McKay talks to me about Step Brothers and Funny Or Die
Die Hard reimagined as a silent 1920s film.
[Link via YouTube user Team Tiger Awesome]
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Bruce Lee ping pong viral ad
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Star Wars Gangsta Rap
This Star Wars Gangsta Rap mashup has been viewed an incredible 9,560,574 times on YouTube.
This is the 30 minute campaign ad for Barack Obama that ran on most US TV networks last Wednesday.
Entitled Amercian Stories, American Solutions, it was directed by Davis Guggenheim, who also made the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
It was simulcast on NBC, CBS, Fox, Univision, MSNBC, BET and TV One and Fox even asked for Game Six of the 2008 World Series to be delayed by 15 minutes in order to show it.
The ad got just over 30 million viewers across all the networks on which it aired and currently has 1,542,234 views on YouTube.
> Find out more about the Obama Campaign at Wikipedia
> Davis Guggenheim at the IMDb
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McCain Obama Dance Off
Check out the CG on this viral which somehow puts John McCain and Barack Obama in a dance off (!).
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Whassup 2008
The Budweiser Whassup?’ ad has been reworked as a viral campaign video for Barack Obama.
For anyone who doesn’t remember the original from 1999, here it is:
See more Hayden Panettiere videos at Funny or Die
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O RLY? Know Your Meme
Know Your Meme: O RLY? from Rocketboom on Vimeo.
In another Funny or Die campaign spot Paris Hilton gets advice on how to be a great fake president from Josiah Bartlett (aka Martin Sheen) of The West Wing.
> Find out more about President Bartlett (aka Martin Sheen) at Wikipedia
> Listen to our interview with Funny Or Die co-founder Adam McKay
> The previous Paris Hilton Funny Or Die spot
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Sarah Silverman backs Obama
Sarah Silverman urges Jewish voters to back Barack Obama in this video called The Great Schlep.
> Sarah Silverman at Wikipedia
> US Election coverage at BBC News
A clever viral ad from the Obama campaign called Seven that has already got over 600,000 views on YouTube since it was posted yesterday.
You may have seen the rather tacky ad the John McCain camp issued recently, equating Barack Obama to a Paris Hilton-style celebrity unfit for the US Presidency.
Well, now Paris and the folks at FunnyOrDie have hit back with this response:
See more funny videos at Funny or Die
> Barack Obama and John McCain YouTube channels
> More on the 2008 US presidential election at Wikipedia
Matt Damon does a great impression of his old friend Matthew McConaughy, as this Letterman appearance from last year demonstrates.
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Bert and Ernie try Gangsta Rap
A YouTube user named Stian Hafstad has created an amusing Bert and Ernie gangsta rap video:
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Darth Vader is Coming to Alderaan
There have been previous Darth Vader remixes but this one takes the character James Earl Jones played in Coming to America (King Jaffe Joffey) and dubs his voice neatly into Vader’s opening scenes in Star Wars.
[Link via The House Next Door]
> Check out the Vader Sessions (an ingenious remix of using clips from James Earl Jones’ career)
> Coming to America and Star Wars at the IMDb
> Find out more about James Earl Jones at WIkipedia
This is another viral video of games designer Matt Harding – who travelled the world and shot footage of himself and others dancing in various places across the globe.
This is the third video of his to become a huge viral hit and already has 529,142 views on YouTube.
> Matt’s official site with more about him and a FAQ
> Check out his first dancing video from 2005 and his second from 2006
> More videos on Matt’s YouTube channel
> An interview with Matt at Payscale
> More about Matt at Wikipedia
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Joan Rivers swears on Loose Women
Live TV can be very funny, especially when someone does something they shouldn’t.
Joan Rivers was recently on Loose Women (for US readers, it is essentially the UK version of The View) and she clearly didn’t realise it was a live show when she gave her thoughts on Russell Crowe:
ITV bosses issued the predictably stern press release:
Guests are always briefed that it is a live daytime show and are reminded not to swear or use inappropriate language.
An editorial decision was taken that Joan Rivers should not appear in the final part of the programme.
We would like to apologise to Loose Women viewers for the inappropriate language used on today’s show.
But Joan was hilariously unrepentant about the whole affair, according to BBC News:
‘I said: I apologise. Everyone apologised. It was hilariously funny’.
During a commercial break, Rivers said producers took her off the set, adding that it was the first time she had been removed in 40 years and she was ‘thrilled’.
However, the star is prepared to return – but only on her terms.
‘I would be delighted to go back if they would apologise and give me a gift’.
In 2005 she got into a row with Darcus Howe on Radio 4, calling him a ‘son of a bitch’.
Can someone high up in UK media please give her a show?
> BBC News on the latest swearing story and on the 2005 row
> Media Guardian with their angle
> Find out more about Joan Rivers at Wikipedia
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Star Wars dance off
This has to be one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while – a Star Wars dance off with Chewbacca grooving to Footloose, Princess Leia jiving to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Darth Vader dancing along to Thriller.
[Link via The Movie Blog]
Slate have come up with an ingenious video that somehow manages to compress the 2008 Democratic Primary into 8 minutes:
> Check out Slate’s previous video comparing Hilary Clinton to Tracy Flick from the 1999 movie ‘Election’
> Find out more about the 2008 Democratic Primary at Wikipedia
> More video at Slate
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Jill Bolte Taylor at TED
Jill Bolte Taylor is a brain scientist who spoke at TED (the technology, entertainment and design conference) back in March.
She gave a memorable speech about her own stroke that has since become a huge viral hit on the web:
[Thanks to Jennifer for reminding me about the speech]
> Find out more about Jill Bolte Taylor and TED at Wikipedia
> Jill Bolte Taylor’s official site
> Official site for the TED conference
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Badly dubbed films for TV
Have you ever laughed or sighed when a film on TV has a ridiculous piece of editing to replace ‘offensive’ language?
This Basic Instinct video that compares the original film with the badly dubbed version altered for sensitive TV audiences.
Check out the differences between Scarface and the US TV cut (“this town is like one big chicken, just waiting to get plucked!”):
How about the safe-for-TV version of Die Hard 2? (“Hey turkey!”):
Or what about this scene from the TV edit of The Big Lebowski, with possibly the strangest substitute line ever? (“This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps!”)
And what about Casino, where the f-word is said 422 times?
This scene with De Niro and Pesci in the desert finds a way of avoiding it completely (“You better get your own fighting army pal!”):
Den of Geek has noted some other TV dubbing disasters:
Goodfellas: “Go fu*k your mother” bizarrely becomes “Go feel your mother”.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: “Pardon my French but you’re an AARDVARK!'”(????)
Field of Dreams: “We were going to ask Ty Cobb to play, but none of us could stand that son of a squid”
Robocop: “You’re gonna a bad mothercrusher…”
Lethal Weapon: “We bury the funsters!”
The Last Boy Scout: “I POPPED your wife, and later I’m gonna POP her again”
If you know of any others, just leave them in the comments below.
> Melon Farmers reprint an official BBC response as to why Thelma and Louise was cut for TV
> Bad TV Edits
> More edited-for-TV movies at Den of Geek
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Weezer’s Pork and Beans YouTube video
Weezer have done a video for their single Pork and Beans which features a number of people who became famous on YouTube.
Look out for:
- Chris Crocker ( the guy who said ‘Leave Britney alone!’)
- Tay Zonday (of Chocolate Rain fame)
- The Daft Bodies and Daft Hands
- Miss Teen South Carolina (aka Caitlin Upton)
- Afro Ninja
- The Peanut Butter Jelly Time Banana
- Charlie the unicorn
- The Dramatic Chipmunk
- The Numa Numa Kid
- Judson Laipply (the ‘Evolution of Dance‘ guy – nearly 86 million plays on YouTube)
- Eepy Bird (the Mentos and Diet Coke guys).
> Official site for Weezer
> A timeline of Internet Memes at Dipity
This is an amusing Indiana Jones mashup of an early Harrison Ford film called The Frisco Kid and Brokeback Mountain:
[Link via MCN]
> See more links and videos on our Countdown to Indy 4 post
> A summary of the critical reaction at Cannes to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Just days after Bill O’Reilly’s timeless meltdown was leaked all over the web, here comes another contender for the YouTube Hall of Fame.
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews is having a debate with a conservative radio host named Kevin James.
The subject was President Bush’s recent comments in the Knesset, that compared Barack Obama to Nazi appeasers like Neville Chamberlain.
A couple of moments to look out for:
- Why are you screaming? (1.14)
- What did Neville Chamberlain do wrong in 1939? (2.18)
> The Huffington Post on Bush’s comments about Obama
> More on Neville Chamberlain at Wikipedia
> Official site for Hardball with Chris Matthews
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Gay Top Gun
Quentin Tarantino explains the gay subtext of Top Gun:
Tarantino’s speech is from the 1994 film Sleep With Me.
> More on Top Gun at Wikipedia
> Popmatters with a review of the Top Gun sepcial edition DVD
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Bill O’Reilly is Angry
When Fox News presenter Bill O’Reilly was on Inside Edition at CBS in the early 90s, he could still get angry:
UPDATE 14/05/08: A YouTube user has done a fine dance remix of the video with music from RevoLucian:
UPDATE 16/05/08: Stephen Colbert has his take on the video:
Bill’s arch nemesis, Keith Olberman of MSNBC has his take:
And Bill himself comments on the video in a piece on Fox News:
> More anger from The O’Reilly Factor
> Find out more about Bill O’Reilly and Inside Edition at Wikipedia
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The Dogway Melody
This is one of the strangest viral videos I’ve ever come across.
Called The Dogway Melody it was a short made in 1930 that recreates scenes from early musicals, such as The Broadway Melody. As you can see the cast are trained dogs with humans providing the voiceovers.
It was directed by Zion Myers and Jules White and is part of the MGM produced series of Dogville shorts.
> IMDb entry for The Dogway Melody
> More discussion on the MGM Dogville shorts at ToonZone
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Gremlins BT Ad
The Gremlins are back.
Those creepy little monsters from Joe Dante’s 1984 film have been resurrected for this BT ad starring Peter Jones from Dragon’s Den.
Some quick facts from the press release:
- Special effects company Artem created 20 Gremlins for the ad.
- It took a crew of 34 specialist technicians and over 2,500 man hours to produce the different component parts required to bring the mischievous creatures to life.
- More than 100 litres of liquid latex and 75 litres of soft foam went into the bodies; hundreds of teeth had to be made and each set of eyeballs painstakingly hand painted.
- A separate crew was working simultaneously on the internal mechanisms to make them easy to operate for the puppeteers and give them distinctive Gremlin™ expression and movement.
- The shoot required 28 puppeteers and technicians to operate the Gremlins who each developed their own character.
- The ad airs on TV for the first time on Monday May 5th.
The ad agency Swarm – who are behind the ad – have also released this making of video:
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The Empire Strikes Barack
Someone has created a very slick viral video that reimagines the Democratic presidential primary as The Empire Strikes Back.
> Find out more about the 2008 Democratic presidential primary at Wikipedia
> The Empire Strikes Back at the IMDb
UPDATE: It looks like it was created by a YouTube user called Humanitainment.