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The dirty reality behind HBO political drama 'God Save Texas'

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With the critical success of Netflix’s House of Cards, it seems that HBO—which was famously outbid for the David Fincher show—wanted to get in on the political drama action. And so the network will dive into the Texas Legislature with God Save Texas. Having worked in the Texas Legislature and having seen firsthand the insanity that was 2013’s session, I can safely say everyone should be excited for an action-packed show.

House of Cards can be quite relatable; every American citizen is represented by a U.S. congressman. God Save Texas, on the other hand, will be incredibly localized, only dealing with issues relevant to the Lone Star State. But with leadership like Gov. Rick Perry—a 2012 presidential candidate, and one rumored to join the 2016 fray—Wendy Davis, Greg Abbott, and Leticia Van de Putte, and policies on abortion and immigration making national headlines, the old adage about everything being bigger in Texas really holds true. Here's what to keep an eye out for when the show eventually premieres.

It's action-packed

Unlike the U.S. Congress, which meets year-round, Texas hates government. Texas hates government so much that the Lege only meets once every two years for five months. That means that any reforms or policies must be passed within those five months; if not, constituents are out of luck for the next 19.

Those five months are incredibly intense. Because time is so short, hearings can last long into the night, with people testifying for and against bills in the wee hours of the morning. Things also get really bitter really quickly; one killed bill is responded to by another killed bill. HBO viewers will hopefully get an inside look at the backroom dealings, arguments, and candid things reps say about each other. We're sure there’s going to be a lot of drawled swearing. 

It's a hotbed of gluttony and vice

For five months, lobbyists spend a ton of money on brisket and booze. There’s so much free barbecue, ice cream, and alcohol, staff members only need to feed themselves for half the week. Representatives seldom, if ever, need to buy their own lunch. Texas is so open with its lobbyists, especially its oil lobby, that many representatives can be easily swayed. Viewers may finally see which reps succumb to oil dollars, or at least how tempting it can be.

The Texas Legislature has also become victim to certain vices. State rep Naomi Gonzalez was arrested for driving under the influence in 2013; she won't be representing El Paso in 2015. 

It's surprisingly low-budget

Again, Texas hates government. The annual salary for a state representative is $7,200 a year—which, yes, averages out to $600 a month. That makes it easy to see why it might be very tempting for representatives to fall for big corporate dollars. The representatives that don’t have those funds usually cannot afford the expensive campaign costs to keep their seats. It’s also not uncommon to see a freshman representative raise more money than a long tenured rep just because of the oil lobby. 

The stress surrounding finances deserves a big part in the show's overall narrative. Texas politics can really be a beast, and money is a big part of that.

It's wired and social

Surprisingly, Texas has a very connected Legislature. There are iPads all throughout the capitol helping people sign themselves up for hearings, and all bills are digitally stored and can be pulled up at any time. Twitter becomes a part of each session. The hashtag #TXlege becomes the de facto way to find out what’s going on in the capitol. During the SB 5 abortion debate last session, Twitter users were quick to call out any shenanigans on the Senate floor—or in the media coverage surrounding it.

It's incredibly partisan

Some of the most contentious pieces of policy that get pushed by the Republican majority are ideological bills, like those related to abortion, which might make it easy for HBO to make Republicans out to be overly evil. The network has already pushed left-leaning shows like Veep, so it wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary for it to push God Save Texas from a democratic perspective. This is of course just speculation, but it would be interesting to see if the show came from a conservative Republican—or even staunch Tea Party—perspective. 

•••

The stressful timeline, strong partisan politics, pressure from lobbyists, and unyielding free alcohol makes for a hellish five months. It’s surprising that anything gets passed. But watching events like last session's Wendy Davis filibuster is an excellent reminder that sometimes, in politics, truth is stranger than fiction—and it's that truth that will make God Save Texas a blast to watch.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons


Conan O'Brien tests his fluency in another language: emoji

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This world is running out of words to use. Or we’ve grown tired of the ones we have. Or emojis are awesome. Or whatever. Point is: We’re sending lots of texts with nothing but funny images.

Capitalizing on the trend, Conan O’Brien and eternal sidekick Andy Richter took to the texting world in a segment that's no longer up on Conan's website to announce their unrivaled dominance in the Understanding Emoji as Actual Sentences game. You'll find the full video below, but highlights include:

Your fly is open.


I got drunk and went on Zappos.com.


I just lost our house in a poker game. Oh, and happy anniversary, baby.


I secretly filmed you on the toilet and sold the videos to a German porn site. Now I can afford to buy a speedboat. 


Watch the full segment below. Emoji: They’re taking over our TVs.


Conan Reads Emojisby NewsTodayTV

Photo via NewsTodayTV/DailyMotion

11 reasons North Korea should really condemn Seth Rogen and James Franco

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Kim Jong-un and his loyal followers are not fans of Seth Rogen and James Franco. After all, the duo's upcoming movie, The Interview, features the two frequent collaborators as reporters who are secretly hired by the U.S. government to assassinate the near-universally despised leader of North Korea. 

A North Korean government spokesman hit out at The Interview over its portrayal of North Korea, calling the movie an "act of terrorism and war." He went on to dismiss the film as the work of a "gangster filmmaker."

But is The Interview really Franco and Rogen's worst-ever trespass?

We found video evidence of Rogen and Franco that is far more damning to their names than their work in The Interview. If Kim Jong-un wanted to condemn the pair for the following reasons, he might finally have an ally in America—well, in its moviegoing public, anyway.

1) Franco makes light of a scandal involving an underage fan

Earlier this year, news about Franco's communication with a 17-year-old fan over Instagram tarnished his name. While he made a public apology for his actions shortly after it went public, he nevertheless did not miss the opportunity to poke fun at it during Seth Rogen's Saturday Night Live hosting stint.

2) Franco is apparently quite egocentric

His Instagram account overflows with selfies, and much of his charity work could just as easily be called self-service in disguise. But, perhaps this is our fault as fans.

3) Franco and Rogen do Kanye West and Kim Kardashian

It's bad enough that there is already one Kimye coupling out there. But Franco and Rogen force us to endure it twice, whether by wearing their attire or remaking their music videos.

4) They teased us with a Pineapple Express sequel

We'll give them this: Pineapple Express was an excellent movie that made awesome use of Franco and Rogen's talents as crime-solving stoners. So why did they have to tease us with an upcoming sequel in This Is the End, only to never (yet) deliver?

5) Franco's line "So good" in Spider-Man 3

While Spider-Man 3 was widely considered a putrid mess in every possible way, this cheesy line, delivered by Franco's supposedly badass and upscale character Harry Osbourne, assigned the movie a camp value not seen since Batman and Robin.

6) Spring Breakers

Seriously, Franco with cornrows and a grill? We're not sure what Hollywood was thinking.

7) Your Highness

I'm sure that the idea for this looked great on paper—and even better on the weed that was rolled into that paper. But the actual execution was just pitiful, no matter how much Danny McBride tried to help things along.

8) The 83rd Academy Awards

David Letterman and Chevy Chase likely breathed sighs of relief upon seeing this telecast, as their own stints as Oscar hosts were no longer the absolute worst. A visibly nervous and slurring Franco paired with a too-enthusiastic Anne Hathaway was not the best way to celebrate cinematic achievement.

9) The Green Hornet

No. Just… no. Seth Rogen, this never should have happened. Ever.

10) The Guilt Trip

Ditto this.

11) Did Seth Rogen really need three roles in Fanboys?

There are millions of struggling actors out there looking for work. So why did producers of Fanboys give Rogen not one, not two, but three separate roles? Was there really no one else available to play the single-line role of "Las Vegas Klingon"?

H/T Uproxx via Telegraph | Screengrab via JoBlo Movie Trailers/YouTube

The definitive ranking of the 'Game of Thrones' cast's music ventures

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Game of Thrones is on hiatus, and while some people might choose to spend it by diving into the books the hit HBO show is based on, others have gone diving into a different direction: the cast's professional past.

The Sean Bean death reel is an excellent place to start, but fans are going beyond IMDb pages now. A few weeks ago, Redditdiscovered that Bronn, played by Jerome Flynn, was part of an English pop duo called Robson & Jerome that was popular in the U.K. during the mid-to-late ’90s. And on Monday, the same sleuths discovered that Grey Worm, a.k.a. Jacob Anderson, performed under the stage name Raleigh Ritchie.

YouTube is like a graveyard when it comes to actors’ early work—ripe with digital skeletons. You can easily stumble onto over a dozen Game of Thrones cast members' ventures into music, which range from starring in music videos to full-blown careers.

You might not have the time or patience to find everything, so we’ve done the digging for you—and we’ve even rated their performances. (As fun as they were to see on the show, our list does not include Sigur Rós, who appeared during the Purple Wedding, or Coldplay's Will Champion, who had a cameo as a drummer at the Red Wedding.)

1) Wilko Johnson

A certified legend in some circles, Johnson's band, Dr. Feelgood, is often cited as an early influencer of the English punk movement. On Game of Thrones, he's Ilyn Payne, mute because the character had his tongue cut out.

Johnson released a new album this year with the Who's Roger Daltrey, Going Back Home, and he's been touring to support. That's in spite of being diagnosed in March 2013 with terminal pancreatic cancer and was given 10 months to live. As of April 30, doctors remain hopeful following a radical surgery. 

For obvious reasons, he rules supreme here. 

2) Iwan Rheon

Ramsay Bolton might be one sadistic son of a bitch, but Rheon’s music is anything but. It fits right in with the sort of folk or acoustic music you’ll find playing in your local coffee shop—and maybe you already have. It would work in today’s world, and he’s already got three EPs out. (He’s also great live.)

3) Jacob Anderson

Game of Thrones fans might just be discovering that the commander of the Unsullied is a musician in his own right, but Anderson has been performing under the stage name Raleigh Ritchie for years; some fans didn’t even realize it was the same person.

With three EPs under his belt and a debut album on the way, his music is club-ready for those on the other side of the pond. While some may be comparing him to Usher (and not in a good way), don’t let the Auto-Tune throw you off. It’s a completely different experience live.

4) Michiel Huisman

Before he courted both Orphan Black’s Sarah Manning and the Mother of Dragons on the same weekend of television, Huisman both acted and sang on other shows. As Liam on Nashville, he would duet with Connie Britton’s character as a fellow musician and music producer, and he starred as Sonny, a drug-addicted musician, on Treme for three years.

It’s as Sonny where he gets to shine and even performed in New Orleans at the Treme Creole Gumbo Festival. There's no post-production magic here.

5) Carice van Houten

The Red Woman also has an album of her own. Released shortly after her first season on Game of Thrones, there are 11 tracks to listen to but only two available on YouTube. Her music video for “Emily” even starts out with media commentary on actresses (like van Houten) and other performers who try to do something else, like have a music career.

The song is rather repetitive, with “Emily” uttered over 20 times in the song, but it’s also the most radio-friendly song on her YouTube channel.

6) Natalia Tena

We may not see Osha, Rickon, and Shaggy Dog in the North again for some time, but you can still catch her when you see Molotov Jukebox, where she’s the main vocalist and plays the accordion.

Her music isn’t something everyone will enjoy, but it’s eclectic, and she even included friend and Game of Thrones costar Oona Chaplin in her band’s latest music video.

7) Jerome Flynn

Flynn was one part of Robson and Jerome, and while most of us in the U.S. may have never heard of them, they were pretty big in the U.K. during the latter half of the ’90s, even if some critics thought that the group “offered nothing new musically.”

The band's popularity grew thanks to an appearance on the British show Soldier Soldier, but after a few singles, the two faded into obscurity.

8) Iain Glen

Ser Jorah’s portrayer doesn’t have any record deals to speak of, but he’s still able to demonstrate his vocal talents in films and on stage. He received an Olivier Nomination (the U.K. equivalent of the Tonys) for Martin Guerre and took up a guitar and sang “If I Could Only Fly” in Small Engine Repairs.

This jam session during a break shows off what he can do.

9) Emilia Clarke

Clarke has a lovely voice, but we only have a mere one-minute clip to base our rating on. It's from the movie Dom Hemingway, in which she plays the estranged daughter of Jude Law’s character. 

10) Peter Dinklage

Chances are, you’ve already seen Dinklage at it. In an appearance on Sesame Street, he turned to song to explain why everyone had to do exactly what Simon said.

We’re not sure if Dinklage would be able to take on an album, but at this point we’d listen to him say just about anything.

11) Jason Momoa

With the terrible video quality it’s hard to tell, but Momoa first showcased his singing abilities on an episode of Baywatch. If you’re looking for something better, here he plays some tunes in front of a crowd at a Stargate convention a few years back, where it looks like playing the guitar is more of a hobby.

12) Alfie Allen

We already know that Allen is the brother of singer Lily Allen and was the inspiration for the song “Alfie,” but even he has the chance to let it all out during a scene in Agent Cody Banks 2. (It's OK; we haven't seen it either.)

Regardless, does anyone ever sound good covering “War”? It’s not exactly a karaoke staple.

13) Kristian Nairn

Nairn is well-known by now for his DJ work—as well as the 70 ways he says “Hodor”—but it’s still worth a listen even if you can’t watch him do his thing anytime soon.

Photo via RaleighRitchieVEVO/YouTube

Here's the new teaser trailer for 'Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1'

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The first teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 is here and it’s pure, pure propaganda.

The concept of using propaganda for The Hunger Games franchise isn’t a new concept at all. Before every movie starts its marketing campaigns, a new issue of Capitol Couture, the fashion magazine from the dystopian trilogy’s Capitol that features various Tributes and “heroes” from the 12 Districts of Panem, is released.

In fact, the ad campaign and trailer fit right in with the very nature of Mockingjay. Thrown into disarray after Katniss Everdeen and the other rebels escape the Hunger Games arena, President Coriolanus Snow needs to keep the Districts united as the “elegant system, conceived to nourish and protect.”

There’s no sign of Katniss, but there’s another familiar face in the trailer. If Snow’s slightly threatening tone is any indication, I’d be very worried for him.

Photo via The Hunger Games/YouTube

You need to hear Meryl Streep's take on beauty standards

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Hollywood culture has changed dramatically in the last half century, and nobody’s realized that more than the people who were there.

A new video from PBS Digital Studios’s Blank on Blank series brings a 2008 Entertainment Weekly interview with Meryl Streep to life, much like it did with Philip Seymour Hoffman last month.

In it, she’s rather up-front about beauty, going from Yale to Hollywood, the sexist norm that appeared in a ’60s women’s magazine ad, and how she was more focused on her career than what she wore, which put her on many a fashion critic’s blacklist.

"I loved to wrangle my talent, my need to express myself," Streep said. "I liked to do it that way. I never thought I was somebody that would be on the cover of magazines in fashion wearing fashions! It's not me. But that is what movie stardom entails."

She even has her doubts as an actor, but she wants her work to speak for her.

“I have a lot to say about the world, clearly,” she said. “Only I can’t put together, as you can see, a clear sentence about it all, but through the work, I can say what I think.”

H/T Blank on Blank | Photo via Vincent Luigi Molino/Flickr

Here's what happens when you try to watch 3 Michael Bay movies simultaneously

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There is much to be said about the YouTube video “Half In The Bag: The Transformer Series”—and yet not very much at all. To wit: Three men sit down and watch all three of Michael Bay’s Transformers movies at the same time. It's good stuff from the team that brought you the world's most biting commentary on the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

The ensuing video, filmed from two angles—one facing them and one from over their shoulders—offers a compelling illustration of and commentary on the postmodern condition and how we live with technology, which can more or less be summarized by this GIF:

Transformers 4: The Age of Extinction comes out on Friday. If you have never seen a Transformers film in theaters, you might consider giving it a shot. But maybe bring earplugs, and good luck trying to get this mashup out of your head while you watch.

Screengrab via RedLetterMedia/YouTube

8-Bit Cinema's 'Kill Bill' is every bit as gruesome as the original

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You don't realize how many similarities Quentin Tarantino masterpieces share with a decades-old NES game—until you see them reimagined in the style of one.

Audiences may have had to wait several months to see both halves of Tarantino's epic Kill Bill, but now, thanks to 8-Bit Cinema, a part of the YouTube channel CineFix, you really only need two minutes to enjoy it all.

Let's face it, the two volumes' main selling point is Uma Thurman's violent and systematic revenge on her fellow assassins after they rained on her wedding day. And that's all that you really see in the 8-Bit Cinema reimagining of the films. Clad in her trademark yellow jumpsuit, Beatrix Kiddo, better known as The Bride, slices and dices her way through characters like Gogo Yubari, Vernita Green, and, of course, Bill himself. The video looks almost identical to Nintendo's popular 1980s video game series Double Dragon and even flashes controller commands during key fight scenes.

<iframe width="640" height="365" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rHXsvHaSzJA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

8-Bit Cinema struck gold recently with its interpretation of Mean Girls. Its other simple yet amazing masterpieces include renderings of classics like Inception and Fight Club, as well as another Tarantino trademark, Pulp Fiction.

<iframe width="640" height="365" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Gdv55pki5As" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Let's hope that 8-Bit Cinema continues to tackle Tarantino's entire library in the immediate future. Reservoir Dogs and Django Unchained would be fantastically—and appropriately—absurd.

Screengrab via CineFix/YouTube


Triumph the Insult Comic Dog takes World Cup fans down a peg

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The anti-soccer set here in the United States has alternately mocked and dismissed the sport for the duration of the 2014 World Cup—but now they can step aside and let a professional do some heavy lifting: Everyone’s favorite rubber canine puppet is back and ruder than ever.

Not bothering to travel to Brazil itself, presumably because he’s banned from every major airline, the Robert Smigel-voiced, cigar-chomping character known as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog visited Astoria, Queens, to remind some day-drinking fans that they have “no gooooooooaaals.” The results, as one might hope, are as hilarious as they are racially insensitive.

Whatever your position on the planet’s most popular game, one thing’s for sure: Nobody interviewed in these segments has ever managed to snatch victory from the jaws of Triumph.

H/T Hypervocal | Photo via teamcoco.com

I applied to be Wu-Tang's unpaid social media intern

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Why does it feel as though the Wu-Tang Clan’s latest escapades are all about satirizing the Internet’s toxic effect on the music industry? First there was the one-of-a-kind new album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin—asking price $5 million—that at least one man wants to buy and destroy. Now it’s a Craigslist job posting for an unpaid social media manager position.

Behold, the list of qualifications for repping the Wu online:

Wu-Tang Management is currently looking for people that are versed in social media networking and also up on the newest social networking trends. We are looking for individuals that are able to set appointed times thorough [sic] the day to do social media updates and stay consistent with posts. The perfect candidate would be someone that is available for various events to document footage and pictures on all social media outlets i.e facebook, twitter, instagram, etc.

What we are looking for:

Excellent written communication skills, with ability to communicate with diverse audiences

Interest in the music/entertainment industry

Professional demeanor

Experience with social networking (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Ning, Blogspot, etc.)

Well organized with attention to detail and ability to carry out tasks independently

Ability to meet deadlines

Before you get excited, you should know that the position is based in New Jersey. But, hailing from the armpit state myself, I couldn’t resist the chance to be SEO janitor for the 36 chambers. We’ll update if—or, realistically, when—my lazy, résumé-less application lands me the job. 

H/T Spin | Photo by The Come Up Show/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The state of the YouTube community at VidCon 2014

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As the masses of YouTubers, fans, and online video professionals colonize Anaheim, Calif., this weekend for VidCon, the annual conference that bills itself as the premier gathering for online video, the medium and its natives are facing a future of increased visibility for good and for ill. While YouTube stars are rapidly moving into household-name territory, they also face scrutiny of their community and the practices that have facilitated its growth. In anticipation of the event, we explore what’s changed in the digital video landscape since last VidCon, what power players in the space will take part in this year’s festivities, and what VidCon will likely tell us about the future of online video.

At the center of it all, there’s no missing Hank and John Green or the influence they wield over the YouTube masses. The pair have had individually massive years: Hank released his fifth album, Incongruent, and earned a Creative Arts Emmy for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, the webseries he co-created with Bernie Su. John, meanwhile, saw the major motion picture adaption of his novel The Fault in Our Stars top the box office its opening weekend. As a pair, known as the Vlogbrothers, they worked with their Nerdfighter community to raise $869,591 as part of Project for Awesome, their annual charity drive. John recently appeared on The Colbert Report, and Nerdfighters have been mentioned in dozens of major publications and all over TV.

But the brothers are not the only YouTubers becoming household names. YouTube itself started to promote its own, and in a big way. Vloggers Michelle Phan, Bethany Mota, and Rosanna Pansino became an unavoidable part of many New Yorkers' commutes as the women’s faces plastered subway cars. Video ads featuring the women ran on The CW and ABC Family, as well as during tentpole events like the MTV Movie Awards. Instead of marketing YouTube at large as a service, YouTube marketed specific creators on the platform in a move designed to justify and inspire ad dollars flowing into the site. As for the featured creators, they have begun to brand themselves outside the YouTube sphere. Last August, Phan released a makeup line with the L'Oreal Group, and Mota released a clothing and accessories line at Aéropostale in December.

Self-proclaimed “professional fangirl” Tyler Oakley has crossed the fourth wall of fandom and embraced his celebrity power for good. To celebrate his birthday, Oakley rallied his fans to raise over half a million dollars for The Trevor Project, an LGBT youth suicide prevention charity, and he was recently honored by the organization with its Trevor Youth Innovator Award. This year Oakley (along with Hannah Hart and other youth influencers) met with President Obama to talk health care reform, and as LGBT rights and youth-related political issues took center stage in the past year, Oakley and other YouTubers have been there to lead the charge emotionally through their access to legions of like-minded youth. His videos may talk about cute butts and booze, but by actively engaging in social rights and political issues, he’s made pop culture and politics go hand-in-hand. 

From the studio side, everything wasn’t as peaceful as in years past. Major studios saw shakeups, sales, and splits, as when Grace Helbig had to leave her DailyGrace channel and content behind when she broke from My Damn Channel at the start of 2014. After My Damn Channel continued to upload and promote Grace content, fans and fellow YouTubers rallied around her new channel, which now tops 1.8 million subscribers, edging close to surpassing her original channel’s 2.2 million. Helbig has appeared in commercials for St. Ives, and she also crossed over into life on the big screen when she starred alongside YouTube's Hannah Hart and Mamrie Hart in the film Camp Takota. All three also appeared as guests on Comedy Central’s @Midnight. Meanwhile, several major studios were acquired by media giants. In March Disney purchased Maker Studios for $500 million, giving the Mouse access to 55,000 channels, 380 million subscribers, and 5.5 billion monthly views. In April AwesomenessTV acquired BigFrame, bringing it into the DreamWorks fold since AwesomenessTV was acquired by the animation studio in 2013. 

With all the shifts in the YouTube landscape this year, VidCon has shifted with it, especially in response to the various challenges the community faced in the past year. A dispute over Microsoft paying Machinima vloggers for positive game reviews brought attention to the dangers of brands being too directly involved in video content. As the community grows, so too must its boundaries, and several talks at this year’s VidCon will address the intersection of Hollywood with YouTube—and how the community can flourish there while still retaining its own quirks.

Another noticeable shift in programming this year includes several tracks dedicated to struggles of women in the YouTube environment. Last year the issue of women on YouTube wasn’t addressed, and so female community members gathered away from the convention center to address their own issues. Now, that programming is being brought to the main convention, and at an important moment for the community. In March 2014, women began speaking out about inappropriate relationships with various YouTubers who were or are signed to Don’t Forget To Be Awesome (DFTBA) Records, a digital music label launched by the Vlogbrothers. In a medium that prizes its connectivity between creator and fan, it was a sharp wake-up call that YouTube celebrities were perhaps just as privileged as traditional ones, in relationships prone to power imbalances and unsafe environments if left unchecked. Beyond putting in place a formal code of conduct for the event, how directly the con will address the celebrity culture of YouTube and the responsibilities of creators in interactions with their (often young, female) fans remains to be seen. However, after the allegations surfaced, Hank and John asserted their plans to develop a task force on sexual abuse, and several fandoms' members opened up communication about their own experiences, inspiring plenty of conversation on the subject both online and off-.

In years past, "viral" was the buzzword. Creators hoped for a one-off hit that could propel their channel to stardom, and marketers were itching to fabricate viral-style videos as advertising tools. With time, planned content has surpassed the viral itch. We’ve seen brands and creators turn to marketing integration, events, and long-term strategies to build loyalty and promote themselves and their products.

As YouTube grows as an industry, VidCon exists on the cusp between fan conference where subscribers can get face time with the stars they obsess over, and networking ground for brands and agencies to latch on to the future of entertainment. Time will tell if VidCon can perfect the balancing act of a grown-up video space that still wants to play in the sandbox with its community.

Photo via WhiteHouse.gov (PD) | Remix by Jason Reed

This New Zealand pop duo's music video is equal parts adorable and bizarre

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From the Department of Stuff We Can’t Stop Watching: Doprah is a duo from New Zealand who make gauzy bedroom electro-pop with lots of dark corners and rough edges, in the vein of Portishead, the xx or their fellow Kiwi, Lorde. They’ve already released a couple of intriguing music videos from their self-titled debut EP, but nothing could have prepared us for their latest clip, “Stranger People.”

In the video, Doprah singer Indira Force transforms into an anime-inspired J-pop princess, prancing around an adorable dollhouse set in a brightly colored babydoll dress. As the video progresses, her outfit becomes ever more cartoonish, all at the behest of a giant male hand (played by her Doprah bandmate, Steven Marr) that sometimes pats her on the head to reward a particularly cute dance move, but more often expresses its displeasure by literally slapping her with more makeup.

On one level, the video plays out as a simple homage to the neon-bright J-pop videos of artists like Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. But as Force’s character becomes ever more artificial and puppet-like, it’s also possible to read “Stranger People” as a critique of Japanese kawaii and anime culture and the people who consume it. 

Maybe that’s reading “Stranger People” too literally. Maybe Force and Marr are just using the exaggerated imagery of Japanese pop videos to make a broader statement about how all women in pop music tend to be hypersexualized, or infantilized, or both, by what is still a male-dominated industry.

Or maybe it’s best not to worry about any of this and just watch the video again. Force looks so cute in that lavender wig!

Here, for comparison purposes, is one of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s most famous videos, “PonPonPon.” Are Doprah satirizing this stuff or celebrating it? We’re still not sure—and maybe that’s the whole point.

Screengrab via Doprah/YouTube

YouTube teams with SiriusXM for radio show hosted by Jenna Marbles

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BY SAM GUTELLE

The Buggles sang about how video killed the radio star, but YouTube is out to prove audiences can flow from the screen to the dial. The world’s largest video sharing site has teamed with SiriusXM to launch The YouTube 15, a weekly radio program hosted by Jenna Marbles.

According to a press release, The YouTube 15 will play “the top emerging and breakout songs based on YouTube data of the previous week.” It will live on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 channel, which typically plays Top 40 tracks. This is a logical home, as the most popular songs  on YouTube also tend to be the most popular songs on Top 40 radio stations. The YouTube 15 will debut each Friday at 6 PM EST and will replay throughout the weekend.

Since YouTube already functions as an on-demand music player for many of its users, one may wonder why the site craves a radio show of its own. According to Vivien Lewit, Director of Music Partnerships for YouTube, The YouTube 15 opens up YouTube to a distribution platform it had not previously reached. “YouTube is fundamentally about connecting fans with their favorite creators and artists, anytime on any device you’re using,” she said. “[SiriusXM] share our goal of supporting great new music from today’s well known artists and emerging stars.”

The YouTube 15 also hits on YouTube’s role as a digital jukebox, which is an important point to reiterate as the site launches its new, subscription-based music service. It’s not clear if The YouTube 15 will tie into that platform, but its weekly playlist will be posted to SiriusXM’s YouTube channel.

Marbles, whose 13.4 million subscriber make her the most popular woman on YouTube, said she is “honored” to be chosen as the show’s host. She’ll get her first chance in her new role on July 11th.

Screengrab via Jenna Marbles/YouTube

Pastor likens 'Game of Thrones' viewing to crucifixion

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Tyrion Lannister once pondered: “The Lord of Light wants his enemies burned. The Drowned God wants them drowned. Why are all the gods such vicious cunts? Where is the god of tits and wine?" But perhaps the question he should have been asking all along is “What would Jesus do?”

That’s more or less the question Pastor John Piper sought to answer on a recent episode of his podcast, Ask Pastor John. When a listener wrote in asking Piper what he would say to Christians who watch HBO’s nudity-filled hit, Game of Thrones, Piper responded with some questions of his own. His 12-question guide is meant to be a reflection before partaking in 60 minutes of debaucherous, bare-breasted programming that most likely negates your attendance at Sunday morning’s church service just a few hours prior.

Piper begins his analysis with a real bummer: Does your viewing of programming like Game of Thrones recrucify Christ?

It is an absolute travesty of the cross to treat it as though Jesus died only to forgive us for the sin of watching nudity, and not to purify us for the power not to watch it. … If we choose to endorse or embrace or enjoy or pursue impurity, we take a spear and ram it into Jesus’s side every time we do.

A spear?! Oh you mean like the spear that [spoiler] used when he fought [spoiler] as champion for [spoiler] in the season 4 finale? Are we sure Pastor John isn’t trying to troll his flock?

He follows it up with other heavy hitters such as “Do I care about the souls of the nudes?” and “Would I be glad if my daughter played this role?” so it’s safe to assume that Piper isn’t familiar with the show's rich history of casting female adult entertainers, let alone its tragic gay love story of Loras and Renly. Let’s not even get into who Joffrey’s real parents might be.

Perhaps Piper does truly get to the heart of Game of Thrones viewership when contemplating, “Am I craving acceptance?”

No, what keeps those Christians coming back is the fear that if they take Christ at his word and make holiness as serious as I am saying it is, they would have to stop seeing so many television shows and so many movies, and they would be viewed as freakish. And that today is the worst evil of all. To be seen as freakish is a much greater evil than to be unholy.

Unholiness aside, no one wants to be ostricized from Monday's juicy Gchat recaps. Missing out on prime Game of Thrones plot talk is more lonesome than being stranded north of The Wall. Like lemmings off a cliff, on some level we all likely crave the social acceptance that comes with being counted as a fan of programming that's been critically anointed.  

In short, if you're concerned with any of Piper's 12 points, it might best to stick with the Chronicles of Narnia, it’s just like Game of Thrones, but without dragons or the sexy, sometimes naked blonde who owns them. Or at the very least, take a vow of chastity like the Night's Watch before tuning in on Sundays. 

H/T Mediaite | Photo via sdaponte/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

 

'Exclusive' videos about Tracy Morgan on Facebook are a scam

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Scammers are using Tracy Morgan’s car crash and precarious but improving condition to attack unsuspecting victims.

They're spreading fake videos on Facebook claiming that the comedian most famous for his work on Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock has succumbed to injuries from his six-vehicle traffic accident earlier this month, Malware Bytes reports.

In this case, scammers hope you click the link titled “[Death Video] R.I.P. Tracy Morgan died few minutes ago in hospital” that will redirect your browser and try to install malware on your computer.

Hackers use almost every major news event to set up similar traps for unsuspecting victims.

Last year, the birth of Prince George was another major story in which hackers set up “watering hole” traps and waited for curious news readers to come to them. In that case, enticing headlines like “#RoyalBabyBoy - Exclusive Pics!” led to viruses that infected victims and stole sensitive bank information.

More  events like the Super Bowl, Osama Bin Laden’s death, the Boston Marathon bombing, and the election of Pope Francis were similarly utilized by hackers to push links promising “exclusive” and “new” videos to legions of click-happy Web surfers.

For the record, Tracy Morgan is doing well.

H/T Malware Bytes | Image via David Shankbone/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)


Gary Oldman rounds out anti-Semitic apology tour with Kimmel appearance

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Looks like someone's taking a page out of Jonah Hill's apology playbook.

In an interview with Playboy that was published on Tuesday, Gary Oldman went on a tirade about hypocrisy and political correctness. Attempting to defend the actions of fellow baby boomers Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin, he went on an obscenity-laced rant that was peppered with racial and homophobic slurs but was chiefly anti-Semitic in nature.

Oldman's comments left him at odds with the Anti-Defamation League. The actor issued an apology that seemed earnest but clumsy and more than a bit wince-inducing, with one paragraph being essentially akin to the cliche “but some of my best friends are Jewish!” His attempts to sign off with some Hebrew seemed patronizing at best. 

Rounding out his press-turned-apology tour, Oldman appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live in a previously booked apperance to promote his upcoming film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Choosing to address the uproar at hand, the Brit spoke humbly, using rather expensive words in his delivery of an apology that seemed somewhat rehearsed—a fact that Kimmel jokingly himself pointed out, citing Oldman's sublime acting skills. The actor self-depricated, calling himself "an a-hole," and apologized to both those offended and his Team Oldman fanbase. His apology, while certainly needed, hit all the marks of polticial correctness that he originally lambasted in his Playboy interview, causing many to mark it off as simple PR triage

Regardless of Oldman's sinceirty, Kimmel did a wonderful job of hand-holding his guest through his apology and adding some much needed humor to the rather labored remarks. Now let's leave old men and their antiquated thoughts in the past and get back to Andy Serkis pretending to be a monkey.

H/T Jezebel | Photo via gageskidmore/Flickr (CC By 2.0)

Meet the man behind your favorite musicless music videos

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In his spare time, Mario Wienerroither spends hours gutting iconic music videos of their soundtracks. But it's not because he hates music. He loves sound.

In a YouTube series called Musicless Musicvideos, Wienerroither records and mixes new audio for popular music videos that comprises the shuffles, knocks, and sneezes of quotidian life. He works from a sound library that he's spent years amassing, and the results range from humorous to disturbing and everywhere in between.

As a sound designer, editor, and mixer, he spends hours roaming the streets of his adopted hometown of Vienna, Austria, looking for the perfect spot to record footsteps, handclaps, or just a rustle of fabric. Those sounds go into his personal library of sound effects for future use in commercials, films, and, of course, his Musicless Musicvideos.

Wienerroither, who studied audio production in Salzburg before moving to Vienna eight years ago, first hatched the idea for Musicless Musicvideos when he accidentally saw the video for Queen’s “I Want to Break Free” with the sound muted. Something about the video’s domestic scene, with the band members vacuuming and doing the dishes in full drag, got him thinking about what all those activities would sound like without Queen’s music.

“That was the vital spark,” he says. Inspired, he isolated the song’s vocal track and meticulously added layers of sound effects, from the video’s opening alarm clock and vacuum cleaner to more subtle effects like tapping feet and the rustling of a newspaper. “But I thought about uploading and sharing that thing only just a year ago.”

The Queen video was meant to be a one-off, but he got so much positive feedback that, in December of last year, he decided to start posting new videos as regularly as his professional schedule permitted. The breakthrough came with his third clip, a musicless version of The Prodigy’s “Firestarter” that racked up over a million views in just 33 days.

Since the “Firestarter” video was shot in various underground tunnels, Wienerroither was able to really show off his talent for adding just the right amount of echo and reverb to make his sound effects match the space. He also hit his stride satirically, drowning out singer Keith Flint with the roar of a passing subway train and punctuating his trademark head-flails with sneezes. No one who’s seen Wienerroither’s parodies will ever be able to watch a Prodigy video again and not think, “Boy, that Keith Flint sure has bad allergies.”

A typical Musicless Musicvideo takes Wienerroither about nine hours to produce: three hours to record and assemble his sounds, and another five or six for “brainstorming, drafting, editing and mixing, adding effects, deleting, editing again.”

He learned by trial and error which videos lend themselves best to going musicless. “The harder the artists try to look cool,” he explains, “the funnier or [more] unsettling it gets in a musicless video.” He also looks for videos that jump frequently between different locations, so he can “play around with atmospheric sound changes,” and he prefers older videos that offer some kind of human dimension or narrative element. “That's the problem with most of the newer music videos. They look great, but that's all.”

Wienerroither says he makes “98 percent” of all sounds in his videos from scratch, only resorting to foley libraries as a last resort. (Foley sound effects are those everyday noises you hear all over film and television soundtracks, like doors opening and car engines revving; many of the most common ones are licensed from sound “libraries” and used over and over again.) All human vocal sounds, from grunts and sighs to more dramatic yelps, laughs, whistles, and, yes, sneezes, Wienerroither does himself. “Since no one complained about those spastic human noises, I now use them kind of as a Musicless-branded feature.”

When he’s not creating Musicless Musicvideos, Wienerroither works similar sonic magic for German and Austrian TV commercials through his company, Audiobakery. For one commercial for an Austrian bank, he built musical instruments out of credit cards, then mixed their sounds together into a massive jam session with over a dozen musicians. For another, he recorded various objects hitting different floor surfaces, then mixed those sounds together into a sprightly dance track. In a“making-of” video for the spot, you can see Wienerroither at work, happily setting up microphones around Ping-Pong balls and using a mop bucket to generate more resonance as he slaps a wooden floor.

He’s also begun tackling a new pet project: “Silentless Movies,” in which he adds sound effects and even bits of dialogue to films from the pre-talkie era. “Since nearly no one watches silent movies anymore, I thought this would be a good way to make them somehow attractive for a younger audience again.” He had hoped to start with a Charlie Chaplin film, but switched to the classic vampire film Nosferatu when the Chaplin estate wouldn’t approve his alterations. Complete with creaking coffins and horrified gasps, Wienerroither’s condensed, four-minute version ofNosferatu works as both parody and homage.

Last week, Wienerroither released what may prove to be his most successful Musicless Musicvideo yet: a send-up of David Bowie and Mick Jagger’s “Dancing in the Street” that crossed the million-view threshold in less than four days. The original video’s abandoned-warehouse setting and goofy dance routines made it a natural for the musicless treatment, which features catcalls, a passing train, plenty of Wienerroither’s trademark “spastic human noises,” and a well-timed Mick Jagger belch.

Wienerroither spent over two hours recording just the scuffling footsteps that accompany Bowie and Jagger skipping and dancing down the video’s deserted dirt road. “I’m very into details,” he explains. “I could talk hours about the mixing and mastering process [alone]. How I treat the sounds is the key element that makes the musicless videos work.”

Photo courtesy of Mario Wienerroither

Grace Helbig is driving to your hometown for new webseries

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At Thursday's afternoon keynote at VidCon, popular YouTube comedian Grace Helbig revealed the trailer for a brand-new transmedia webseries, #HeyUSA.

The show features Helbig and her Camp Takota costar and best friend, fellow YouTube comedian Mamrie Hart.  Designed as a summer road trip for fans of the duo, #HeyUSA will allow fans to determine where Helbig and Hart go and what they go next ​as they visit various cities and towns across America. The series will premiere July 1.

In a press release, Helbig called the show "a modern-day, choose-your-own-adventure travel series." She added:

This show is so exciting and innovative. Not only do I get to travel the US with my best friend, I get to experience places and things I wouldn't have seen had it not been for the help of our audience. ... It's completely interactive so if it sucks it's not our fault! Perfect scenario!

The series will last eight weeks and rely heavily, as most transmedia series do, on multiple social platforms, including YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. The first half of the series will essentially be short "near-real-time" clips of the duo broadcasting from their road trips. The second half will tell a more overarching narrative of the trip.

"On YouTube," Hart explained, "we're used to putting out content and then getting feedback from our audience. #HeyUSA will bridge that gap. We will be able to gear our trip to what the audience wants and when they want it."

#HeyUSA will air on the YouTube channel Astronauts Wanted, a transmedia youth content brand that seeks to enrich engagement between fans and creators. The series was created by Billy Parks and Nick Shore, who are executive producing with Ken Treusch of Bleecker Street Entertainment.

Helbig and Hart will also be continuing to update their respective channels. Helbig's channel currently has 1.8 million subscribers since she ended her longtime partnership with YouTube network My Damn Channel last year. Hart's channel, You Deserve A Drink, recently won her a book deal and currently has over half a million subscribers.

Photo by Maddie Cordoba courtesy of Astronauts Wanted

YouTube musician Troye Sivan announces 'Trxye' at VidCon

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Troye Sivan dropped an album on his fans during the first day of VidCon.

After a year of keeping things under wraps, the YouTube musician was finally able to share that his new album would be released on Aug. 15.

He teased his news prior to VidCon, but he made things official with a YouTube video explaining what he’d been up to over the past year and why he wasn’t allowed to say anything about it.

“I wrote over 40 songs and it’s been the most intense and insane journey, and I had to keep it a secret from you the entire time,” he said.

Sivan made the first 2,000 signed copies of TRXYE available for preorder, something that caused some problems as fans frantically tried to get their hands on a signed copy.

In case you aren't able to preorder a signed copy in time, the album will also be available to preorder on iTunes.

Photo via Troye Sivan/YouTube

5 highlights from VidCon 2014's massive first day

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The first day of a convention is traditionally its slowest. If this is what VidCon calls "slow," we're in for a crazy ride.

Fans, members of the YouTube community, and industry insiders all converged on Anaheim, Calif., yesterday for the first day of VidCon, the annual YouTube conference that's ballooned over the last five years to the tune of 17,000 attendees.

The first day of the conference saw an exciting mix of industry news, celebrity/fan interactions, and surprises from YouTube favorites. One recurring theme that emerged was that of the need to build community even while the growth of YouTube inevitably places an emphasis on dollars over inspiration. It's a theme prized by Vlogbrothers and VidCon cofounders John and Hank Green.

Here are the highlights.

1) Sharing is caring

"Shoutout to YouTube for sharing the money," Hank Green said this morning in his keynote, which looked at the growth of YouTube culture. "How much money does Twitter take? All of it." Green went on to praise YouTube for helping to fund channels and community growth.

2) DreamWorks dream team

In an early morning fireside chat, Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg sat down with VidCon cofounder Hank Green to discuss the state of YouTube and the success of DreamWorks' 2013 acquisition of the YouTube channel AwesomenessTV. Katzenberg called Awesomeness, a sketch comedy group for kids and teens, "our biggest ... and our most exciting bet on the platform."


3) Epic Lip Sync Battles of history

NBC's Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon announced a special fan challenge to compete to be on a montage for Fallon's popular Lip Sync Battles. The NBC VidCon booth features an interactive space where fans can take their best shot at lip syncing one of five songs selected by Fallon, including Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" and DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win," best remembered as the one Emma Stonecompletely dominated on the show in April.

4) Fullscreen digs deep

George Strompolos, the CEO of management company Fullscreen, spoke at the afternoon keynote. He announced that Fullscreen, which represents a wide variety of YouTube entertainers including the Fine Brothers and Shane Dawson, would be investing up to $10 million in original YouTube programming to locate and cultivate the stars of tomorrow.

5) Go Green

A keynote speech by John Green focused on the importance of building community on YouTube. "The most interesting stuff we've done have always been community projects. Project For Awesome has always been our least-popular videos."

Green also talked about The Art Assignment, the project his wife Sarah Green hosts with PBS Digital Media. Green spoke of the importance of allowing projects like The Art Assignment and creators like famed PBS artist Bob Ross to flourish in order to engage audiences with contemporary access to art.  "They're good for the community even if they lose money," he said about such projects. "The [community] will want to be part of your journey... the economic incentive of YouTube runs completely counter to building community."

If all that wasn't enough to catch your attention, there were also big announcements from Grace Helbig, Jenna Marbles, and Troye Sivan. We can't wait to see what Friday and Saturday will bring. You can watch the livestream from the conference main stage here.

Photo courtesy of NBC

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