The 60th Eurovision Song Contest takes place next month, and unless you’re an obsessive Eurovision spoiler-phobe (do those even exist?), you can already check out the contestants on YouTube. We’ve selected a few of the standout numbers, from corny Europop to a controversial song about genocide. (Actually, the protest song is also corny Europop. Eurovision is a magical place indeed.)

Spain

This is basically everything you could hope for from a Eurovision video. Within the first 15 seconds, we have some kind of fantasy landscape, a male model wearing a leather vest and no shirt, and a live tiger. Vocally, it sounds indistinguishable from at least 10 other Eurovision entries this year. But we all know that the presentation is what counts.

Finland

Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät is already an established band in its own right, which is more than you can say for most Eurovision artists. It’s a punk band whose members all have developmental disabilities, and they were the subject of a documentary called The Punk Syndromeback in 2012. As far as we can see, they’re the only group this year not performing some variation on pop, rock, or folk music.

Australia

Australia, as you may already know, is not in Europe. But for whatever reason, Eurovision decided to invite their friends down under to submit a guest entrant this year. Australia’s contestant is a singer-songwriter called Guy Sebastian, the kind of name that could only possibly be given to a Eurovision artiste. Clearly, this is his destiny.

Armenia

No Eurovision is complete without some kind of political controversy, and this year, the focus will be on Armenia. Last weekend marked the commemoration of the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, when an estimated 1 million people were exterminated as a result of Ottoman government policies. Though Pope Francis and Kanye West acknowledged that anniversary, the present-day Turkish government refuses to admit that the genocide took place, a stance that continues to be highly upsetting to many Armenians.

Armenia’s entry makes no explicit mention of the genocide, but its original title was “Don't Deny.” The music video shows a 1915-era family slowly disappearing as a group of international vocalists from the Armenian diaspora sing, “Face every shadow you deny.” France’s entry is also believed to be a message of solidarity with Armenia, inspiring more than 400 people to sign a petition demanding that France and Armenia be disqualified for politicizing the event.

United Kingdom

Someone always attempts (and inevitably fails) to explore a trendy genre of music at Eurovision, and this year it’s the U.K., keeping up with the zeitgeist of 2011 with an electro-swing number. Highlights include fake American accents and lyrics like “You're bound to get sneezes/And nasty diseases.” 

Switzerland

Is Switzerland’s entrant wearing a hipster racist interpretation of an American Indian headdress? If so, it wouldn’t be the first time a Eurovision performer has gone this route, with the Netherlands’ Joan Franka inexplicably wearing a war bonnet during her performance in 2012.

Screengrab via Eurovision Song Contest/YouTube

A father filmed his young daughter watching the devastating Mufasa death scene, and though the clip is less than a minute, you can see her world crumble in about 30 seconds. Her dad’s words at the end will make you tear up even more.  

H/T Uproxx | Screengrab via DisneyMusicVEVO/YouTube 

While the pain of Robin Williams’s death last year is still fresh, one thing that helps soothe is laughter. A new video from actor Jamie Costa does just that, paying tribute to Williams with 20 spot-on impressions of the late comedian.

Embodying his characters from TV and film, Costa does bits from Mork and Mindy, Flubber, The Birdcage, and many more of Williams’s iconic lines and faces.

Williams isn’t the only impression Costa can nail. He’s also uploaded compilations of Matthew McConaughey and characters from The Lord of the Rings. Still, his turn at Williams will leave you both impressed and nostalgic for the late, great funny man.

Screengrab via Jamie Costa/YouTube

How do you handle a Twitter commenter who tells you how you should be dressing? Singer Janelle Monáe just offered the best possible example.

Yesterday, someone tweeted this at her:

girl stop being so soulful and be sexy..tired of those dumbass suits..you fine but u too damn soulful man.

A post on Gradient Lair unpacked exactly why this comment is troubling:

And the “too damn soulful” comment in that tweet? That’s that binary reference to the idea that “soulful” Black women exist to be “respectable” and “sexy” Black women exist to be “non-respectable” and clearly binary thinkers experience conflict when these lines aren’t treaded in a way they are used to consuming.

Monáe’s suits were part of her persona, and as Gradient Lair pointed out in 2012, her reasoning for wearing them is powerful:

When I started my musical career I was a maid, I used to clean houses and the girls I used to clean houses with used to always beg me to sing while we cleaned. I lived in a boarding house with five other girls and I would sell my $5 CD out of my room. My mother was a proud janitor, my step-father who raised me worked at the post office, and my father was a trash man. They all wore a uniform and that’s why I wear my uniform to honor them. I have work to do. I have people to uplift. I have people to inspire. And today I wear my uniform proudly.

With that in mind, her response to the commenter was even more inspiring:

H/T Gradient Lair | Screengrab via WondalandVEVO/YouTube 

It’s a lip-sync dub of Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest earwig “I Really Like You,” and so many celebs are singing along to clip, which looks like it was partially filmed at someone’s mom’s pool: Ariana Grande, Empire star Bryshere Gray, Kendall Jenner, and… Lance Bass? Yeah, that’s Lance Bass. 

I’m too old to know who the rest of the people in the clip are, but I’m sure they’re important. 

Madame Tussauds London will soon add a new breed of celebrity to its lineup of famous wax models. The museum will include two new wax figures to its collection based on YouTube stars Zoe Sugg (known as Zoella to the online video masses) and her boyfriend Alfie Deyes (aka PointlessBlog).

Sugg and Deyes, dubbed “Zalfie” by their loyal followers, will be re-created in a setting already familiar to the YouTubers’ viewers—the duo’s spare bedroom in their Brighton-based flat. The wax figures of the two digital celebrities will sit on the bed, uploading videos to their respective channels. “Zalfie” will join the ranks of wax models at Tussauds inspired by more traditional entertainment and cultural icons like movie stars, sports figures, and historical shakers and movers.

Sugg and Deyes are already involved in the creation of their wax models. The couple attended a sitting for Tussauds’ sculptors in London on April 13. Sugg and Deyes will also donate their own clothes for the wax models to don, and advise on overall styling so the set and figures are as real to life as possible.

“We are delighted to be working with Alfie and Zoe,” said Tussauds’ General Manager Ben Sweet in a release. “It’s a first for the attraction and reflects just how huge these YouTube stars are.”

Sugg and Deyes definitely have enough clout to earn their way into the famous wax museum. Fashion and beauty vlogger Sugg boasts over 7.8 million subscribers on her channel, while Deyes claims more than 3.9 million on his. In addition to their YouTube channels, the two digital stars are also traditionally published authors. Back in September, Deyes’s Pointless Book hit the top of Amazon’s U.K. charts. Only a few months later, Sugg’s book managed to break first-week book sales for a debut author.

No debut date has been set for the “Zalfie” wax figurines as of yet, but Tussauds notes they will be ready sometime later this year.

The Daily Dot is celebrating Woman Crush Wednesday, better known as #WCWon Twitter and Instagram, by highlighting female creators on YouTube whose work we admire.

Let me start this off with a confession: My writing and use of dramatic punctuation might suggest that I’m a pretty hip, classy lady, but in reality, I’m all about that Harry Potter, cat lady life. Are we on the same page? Hearing this, it should then come as no surprise that I’ve spent numerous subway rides contemplating who I’d want to narrate my my life. For a while, Morgan Freeman was the frontrunner, because if he was good enough to narrate the dramatic lives of penguins, he was certainly worthy of living inside of my brain. And then I stumbled up Lex Croucher, the dynamic dreamboat behind the channel Tyrannosauruslexxx, and it was settled: Croucher was the best person for the job.

As it’s plain to read, I love pretty much everything about Croucher: her badass wrist tattoo, the Harry Potter poster that hangs on her wall, the fact that she’s written video letters in defense of pigeons. But the reason you should love her is that her biweekly videos bring a dose of laughter into your everyday. While you might look at your horrible Tinder date as a fail never worth mentioning again, Croucher’s retelling of the same experience will make you realize just how important all of life’s embarrassing mishaps are in shaping our full and colorful life stories.

Screengrab via tyrannosauruslexxx/YouTube

A new lawsuit alleges that the plot of Joss Whedon’s cult horror hit Cabin in the Woods was lifted from an unexpected source: indie author Peter Gallagher.

Now the author wants $10 million in damages from Whedon and Lionsgate for copyright infringement. (You can read the full complaint here.)

If you were lucky enough to stroll down the Venice Beach boardwalk between 2006 and 2007, you might have noticed this man hawking his wares.

Gallagher self-published his book and initially printed 2,500 copies to sell to the Santa Monica boardwalk, just blocks away from Whedon’s Santa Monica office. 

The lawsuit claims that local press attention, given to the book years ago, publicized its tagline as “a different way of telling a story you think you’ve heard before.”

Gallagher alleges this blurb is “strikingly similar” to the tagline of Cabin in the Woods: “You think you know the story.” He also alleges that the works are similar in terms of character dynamics—specifically which hot girl hooks up with which hot guy. The full complaint cites the similarities as follows:

In both works the female brunette lead (Dura/Dana) has a romantic relationship with the more sensitive, shy, and mature male (Matt/Holden) which culminates in a love scene in front of the fireplace. Similarly, in both works the female blonde lead (Julie/Jules) has a relationship with the strong, charismatic male character who drinks regularly and looks like a movie star (Ian/Curt). The appearance and behavior of the third male lead (Sam/Marty) is similar in both works. Both have quirky personalities, have messy dirty blonde hair, wear a grey shirt and jeans throughout the film, smoke marijuana, and enjoy gazing up at the stars.

This all sounds fairly generic, especially considering Cabin in the Woods was intended to play off tired horror tropes before turning the genre on its head.

Gallagher’s book does promise to subvert your expectations. “Don’t expect the good guy to get the girl, or the murderer to come back for that one last attack scene,” he writes. But apart from subverting the basic horror trope of terror in the woods, A Night in the Pines doesn’t seem to be a complete template for The Cabin in the Woods. For one thing, the protagonist in The Cabin in the Woods is female, while the main character in A Little Trip in the Pines is a boy who claims to have told his “real” story to the author Peter Gallagher. While the story-within-a-story framework is a staple of horror, Whedon uses it to a different end in Cabin. 

Then there’s the fact that (more spoilers ahoy) the protagonist of Little White Trip actually survives to tell the tale. If you've seen Cabin, you know that’s an indication that the plots of both stories diverge wildly.

Moreover, the big twist that the whole cabin setup is staged in Whedon's film is the cue for a lot more plot development as we learn more about why it’s happening. In A Little Trip, the big twist comes just at the end, and without any explanation.

But you can judge for yourself: Since leaving the Venice Beach area for warmer Arizona climes, Gallagher has made his work available online for free, for all to enjoy. 

H/T Hollywood Reporter | Photo via The Little White Trip/Blogspot

We may now call lip-syncing an acceptable art form. 

Thanks to the likes of Lip Sync Battle—a game on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that is now its own show—this craze has made a cushy home out of YouTube, with similar parody videos taking the Internet by storm. A notable example are those produced by Australian comedy trio SketchShe, whose boob-grabbing rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody” inspired watchers to come up with their own flawless performance. A new group has risen to the occasion.

In the video below, Russian parodists Bonya & Kuzmich invited someone’s grandpa into their vehicle and launched into a SketchShe-inspired routine. Their playlist is impressive, hitting modern hits such as “Uptown Funk,” “Shake It Off,” and “Chandelier,” as well as paying homage to forgotten favorites like “Barbie Girl” and “Macarena.”

Screengrab via Боня и Кузьмич/YouTube

"All I Ask Of You" is a popular romantic duet, and while Groban and Clarkson are certainly topping the list of standout covers, several other versions have made pop culture dents, from tiny children to The Voice contestants and YouTube stars. Here's the full carousel of standout covers.

Screengrab via Josh Groban/YouTube

Orange Is the New Black’s third season hasn’t even premiered on Netflix yet, but the ladies of Litchfield Penitentiary are already booked for a fourth round.

OITNB star Uzo Aduba made the announcement earlier Wednesday on Good Morning America, where she introduced a new clip featuring her character Suzanne Warren (better known as “Crazy Eyes”) and Poussey Washington (Samira Wiley).

“Season 4 is now the new news,” Aduba said. “In June we’re going to go back to work. Netflix just let us know we’re going to be doing a new season.”

OITNB has been a success with both critics and audiences since its 2013 premiere, with the show winning three Emmys—including one for Aduba. And it’s easy for her to see why.

“I think people find themselves surprisingly relating to a lot of these characters. It’s not just exclusively about inmates,” she added. “These are people’s mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, neighbors, employees, and people can relate to those struggles and the challenges of just trying to make it through every day. And I think also it’s this idea that good people—good people—can make mistakes.”

There’s no word on whether Larry is still out for the count, but fans might not complain if he sits out another season.

The third season premieres on Netflix June 12.

H/T Variety | Screengrab via Netflix/YouTube

A trio of fresh faced 20somethings helm the video, throwing dollar bills to emphasize the cash you save using the library for things like music and movies and highlighting all the benefits to membership. They transform Swift’s tune about ignoring the haters into an uplifting reminder that libraries have everything from space for kids to come and “play play play play play” to “high-def Blu-ray ray ray ray.”

The video ends as all good Swift parodies about libraries should: with a group dance number. Plus, if you watch the video carefully, there are tons of tiny references to Swift and her fans, from a tissue box labeled “Use to prevent teardrops on your guitar” to book and movie titles feature that all double as Swift song titles. The library put all the hidden messages on a BuzzFeed post for the fans.

Screengrab via TopekaLibrary/YouTube

Michaels signed a deal in 2007, stipulating how Lionsgate could use her likeness for content such as television and direct-to-video sales. It also allowed that selections of her content could go on then-nascent YouTube. However, this contract preceded the YouTube partner program and the explosion of ad revenue on the platform.

In 2012 Lionsgate launched BeFiT in conjunction with YouTube’s Original Channels initiatives, receiving funding and support to create a wellness and fitness brand using new content as well as archive footage, including Michaels’ content. Now the channel boasts 1.5 million subscribers and 200 million views, and many of Michaels’ videos take the top slots on the channel, with videos ranging from 22 million views to more than 9 million.

“There is no provision in the Agreement which grants Respondents the right to unilaterally distribute Ms. Michaels’ full length Lions Gate Pictures without payment to Ms. Michaels, or, for that matter, the right to place Ms. Michaels' Lions Gate Pictures on services where the world can view them at no cost,” states the filing.

Michaels also claims she was never consulted about using her likeness on the channel’s branding materials and that Lionsgate exceeded the number of videos it could put on the platform. Michaels now has her own YouTube presence, aimed at her life coaching projects, with only 10,447 subscribers.

While it’s far from a ruling, the way this lawsuit is handled could shape how content creators can approach contracts in the future. With digital platforms and payment structures constantly evolving, the agreement someone signs one year might not cover them for the correct compensation in the future. Keeping a close eye on where your content is distributed will be key for YouTubers moving forward.

H/T NewMediaRockstars | Screengrab via Jillian Michaels/YouTube

Then the first trailer hit, and suddenly nobody cared who played Mad Max anymore. It was discovered en masse that Max isn't about who plays Max—it's about steampunk cars, oily explosions, weird and scary masks, and armor made out of scrap metal—and that trailer had all of that.

Now, the fourth trailer is looking at the Gibson-Hardy issue dead in the eyes, and letting audiences know that it's truly not an issue at all. By sticking the two actors and four films side by side, it's letting fans know that Max isn't necessarily about a character (although that character is awesome), but more so about the world-building. And, oh boy, Fury Road has plenty of that.

Find out how Fury Road stacks up to the rest of the Max library on May 15. And if you're not in the theater on that date, or a within a few days after it, we're officially revoking your Film Fan Card.

H\T Badass Digest|Screengrab via CBR Trailers/YouTube

The total running time for the trailer will be 15 minutes, which will include an intro by director Zack Snyder, and rumor has it that extra footage from the film will be shown as well.

As is the modern tradition, releasing a full-length trailer requires a 15-second trailer for the trailer to be released beforehand, and Snyder has taken to Twitter to give fans exactly that:

Expect the full-length trailer to be released by Warner Bros. either on midnight on Monday or sometime later in the day. These things are always hyped up as "come and see it!" events, but we all know that studios will simultaneously release them online. Warner Bros. may still be playing catch-up on the superhero movie game, but they're no dummies—they know a lot of their target audience won't be getting off of the couch that day. 

H/T Variety| Screengrab via MOVIECLIPS Trailers/Youtube

This season of Saturday Night Live feels like it’s turned a corner. Sure, there are still clunker sketches, but the show’s gotten more diverse (when’s the last time SNL could spoof an all-black Game of Thrones?) and has more players who are pushing boundaries. 

The projects SNL cast members do outside the show are good supplemental material. Above Average has become the main outlet for cast members’ non-SNL projects, and their original series offerings have beefed up in the last year or so. Saturday Night Live also just teamed up with Honda for the Above Average–produced webseries Saturday Night Line, which features cast members interacting with fans standing in line for the show. 

Here are a few webseries from SNL players you should be watching. 

1) Notary Publix

Are you excited about Hillary Clinton’s run for president mainly because it means more of Kate McKinnon’s impressions? Us too. McKinnon has quickly become SNL’s human roulette wheel of weird and wonderful characters, filling the void left by Kristen Wiig’s departure. In the new Above Average webseries Notary Publix, which can also be seen on IFC, she and (real) sister Emily Lynne play notaries Gina and Theresa Fra Diavolo, who take their job very seriously. SNL’s Aidy Bryant stars as the sisters’ notary rival, Erin Oatmeal, and yes, there’s a scene in which a notary demon possesses Lynne.

2) Pursuit of Sexiness

SNL’s Sasheer Zamata and Girl Code’s Nicole Byer anchor this webseries about best friends in New York City, and Above Average just released the second season. In the latest episode, they discuss the sexual nature of the apple (and the banana and the cucumber) in an amazing montage. Never forget: Zamata’s also responsible for this perfect sketch about street harassment. 

Vanessa Bayer's character on Sound Advice, Janessa Slater, is an oblivious “media coach” who attempts to help artists like Weird Al, Demi Lovato, and Drake sort out their PR issues by giving them the worst advice possible. This interview with Sleater-Kinney needs to be an hour longer. 

Before Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett were on SNL, they starred in this offbeat webseries about three roommates. It’s not an Above Average joint, but it’s still very weird and heavily informed by their improv backgrounds, as witnessed in this dinner sketch. If Mooney’s JNCO-clad SNL character “Chris” looks familiar, it’s because he was born on Good Neighbor. You can watch all the episodes on YouTube. 

Screengrab via Above Average/YouTube 

If you’ve got Jason Statham up on a pedestal as one of your favorite action superstars to watch onscreen, it’s probably because of his immense badassery in films like The Transporter, Crank, The Expendables franchise, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, to name a few. That, or the fact that he’s pretty damn fine to look at.

If your reason for fandom is more of the latter, then you would probably appreciate the clever detective work of some folks on Reddit who somehow managed to scour the depths of YouTube for videos featuring a scantily clad Statham, body-groovin’ to the tunes of incredibly cheesy ’90s European dance music.

The first video uncovered is a song titled “Comin’ On” by the Shamen, an EDM band from Scotland. The “special effects” are a bit cringe-worthy, but it might be worth it if you want to see multiple copies of an oiled-up Statham. Gyrating. In a leopard-print Speedo.

H/T Reddit | Screengrab via ErasureVEVO/YouTube

A YouTube phenomenon is coming to television, as the hit series Side Effects is being converted to a 90-minute special to air on E! Entertainment April 17. But don’t worry, the series isn’t eschewing digital completely for the TV. The series will combine a television debut with a chance to air new content and continue its online legacy.

Side Effects began as a longform YouTube project, and the first installment generated 2 million views in a single week. The story follows Whitney Connolly, a 16-year-old dealing with her mother’s death and her father’s disappearance—all while on prescription medication that comes with the unlikely side effect of musical hallucinations. The show plays on YouTube’s love for cover songs, with pop hits performed as well as original songs.

The E! premiere will air as a 90-minute special, starting from the beginning of the already-aired YouTube series but also incorporating new footage that will debut as the third season of the series the following day on YouTube. The content will also be available as a digital HD download at iTunes, Amazon Instant, and other online sources. For those looking to catch up, the series remains on YouTube.

AwesomenessTV has already taken Side Effects to new platforms, launching Awesomeness Ink to publish the Side Effects story as a novel. Likewise, E! has already made major commitments to YouTube creators this year, with vlogger Grace Helbig now at the helm of her own talk show on the network. This AwesomenessTV deal is just another step in bringing the digital to the television forefront.

Side Effects airs April 17 at 3pm ET, and the new series debuts online the following day, with episodes every Saturday through May 9.

Photo via AwesomenessTV

For a quick-witted, enormously wealthy star, Jerry Seinfeld has said some really dumb things over the years.

We remember Seinfeld’s inane comments about his brush with Scientology and his totally off-base remarks regarding his self-diagnosed autism. His latest bout of sneaker-stuck-in-mouth disease comes courtesy of a comment Seinfeld made at Crackle’s upfronts. When asked about the role user-generated content will play in the future of entrainment, the comedian answered:

“The less the better. I don’t want to see this crap. We have a giant garbage can called YouTube for user-generated content. We’re trying to generate a little higher level. I think show business is for talent, that’s who should be in it. But let’s keep it in its hierarchy. And I like being at the top of the pyramid.”

This from the man who not only made a king’s ransom from a show about nothing, but chose to have YouTube star Miranda Sings on the most recent season of his Crackle webseries, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Maybe this is Seinfeld’s way of admitting that episode should be put out to pasture, much like his sitcom’s misguided view of the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

One thing Seinfeld has proven is his ability to get himself out of sticky messes… for the most part.

He was able to pull off the roommate switch,

discover who was leaving him racy messages on his tape recorder,

find out the name of a woman from an AIDS walk volunteer list,

and stake out a potential date in an office building lobby.

But he was not able to extricate himself from violating a good samaritan law.

Chances are, his comments about YouTube being a garbage can will only result in comedic fodder for his act, just like everything else. An act which, of course, you’ll be able to watch on YouTube.

Photo via Ryan Dickey/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) | Remix by Jason Reed 

John Krasinski has a lot to prove.

Lip Sync Battle, a fake-singing game that got its start on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, is his creation, along with his co-conspirators, British comedian Stephen Merchant and Emily Blunt, Krasinski’s wife whose awesome lip-sync performance of Blackstreet’s “No Diggity” totally got destroyed by Anne Hathaway’s epic rendition of Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” on the show last week.

After Blunt’s embarrassing defeat, Krasinski needs to win one for the team, especially if he’s going against Anna Kendrick, who is a force to be reckoned with.

In the Spike TV teaser below, Kendrick takes potshots at Krasinski, using a slideshow of Blunt’s pictures as a centerpiece during her mute rendition of One Direction’s “Steal My Girl.”