Tag Archives: car

Marriage Proposal Goes Viral: SUV Lip-Dub to “Marry You” by Bruno Mars

She listens to "Marry You" by Bruno Mars, and gets 2012's most interesting proposal.

Watch on YouTube as Actor Isaac Lamb proposes to his girlfriend Amy Frankel to the tune of “Marry You” by Bruno Mars (which she enjoys on headphones as she rides a Honda CRV).

An ensemble of dancers join a street parade, punctuated by Isaac dropping on one knee. Learn more on Broadway World.

 

Face Fail on Live German TV: “Jumping Stilts” Accident

As seen on TV: the jumping stilts (warning: do not attempt to jump over car heading toward you)

Remember the jumping stilts (kangaroo stilts) you may have discovered on YouTube around 2007 (see SMPFilms video)? It’s probably not a good idea to use them to jump over the moving car your dad is driving.

Sir? You have a collect call from the Darwin Awards.

Here’s one for the Darwin Awards, Failblog, and “what did you think would happen?” file. Below is a video from the live broadcast of the German “Wetten Dass?” television show December 4, 2010… it’s not a pretty site, and the accident occurs at seven minutes. The “kangaroo stilt jumper” (Samuel Koch) takes a serious face plant while attempting to jump over a moving vehicle driven by his father. It’s really quite grueling to watch. I suppose when you perform with tigers, they will occasionally eat you.

Naturally, as long as we are entertained by wild stunts, we’ll encourage people to take risks. Those risks will come with consequences that are quite horrific. If the kid lives, it would appear paralysis would be possible– if not likely. And that kinda puts my balcony fail in perspective. The next time I trip and fall, I think I’ll utter the extremely unsympathetic statement “now I know how Samuel Koch felt.”

According to the BBC: Koch, a 23-year-old German contestant on a German game show, was hospitalized over the weekend, had numerous surgeries to fix his back and neck fractures, and remains in a “critical stage.” He made several successful jumps, but the live broadcast ended abruptly after the fail.  The show, which has been airing for about 30 years, is called”Wetten Dass?” It translates to “Want to Bet?” To read fairly comprehensive coverage with photos, see this DailyMall (UK) article. And if you get really obsessed, here’s more.

Again- not something to watch if you have a weak stomach. I caught the story on NBC, so of course I instantly searched recent videos with the words related to the story. I can only imagine what Sxephil and Failblog will do with this. It’s kinda sick to derive humor for it, but then again… I’d love to hear the “what were you thinking” answer from the network or television show’s safety crew.

In related news, Justin Bieber cancelled his appearance on the show. So if you want to see a young singer swallow razor blades while swimming through a piranha tank… you’re going to have to surf YouTube.

iPad is Pissed

I couldn’t help reflect on my commute this morning about how very sad the iPad must be from the scathing reception he’s received. Perhaps he’s hurting deep down, and needs to vent in a “hater” vlog. So I gave him the chance.

It was fun to watch the faces of people as I drove up Route 202 through New Jersey with a mask on my face, a camera on the dashboard, and a paper taped to the window with some notes I drafted up (while at a red light, of course).

Poor guy. Can you blame him for being so angry? He’s doing the best he can within his own limitations.

Mac’s New iPod Shuffle: My Social Media & Search-Engine Guinea Pig

 

The new shuffle can be controlled via the headphones if you know Morse Code.
The new shuffle can be controlled via the headphones if you know Morse Code.

I love my Macs, but I don’t care for the companies antiquated marketing style. Hush, hush and then mass marketing. Very 1980s/1990s, and not enough evidence it nurtures or rewards the enthusiastic fan base. Heck, the fact that Mac didn’t embrace HappySlip after her Mac Beautiful song made me think the company lacked basic marketing instincts. For the cost of a computer, Mac could have dazzled her and her audience. A relevant and permanent impression worth more than dozens of ad exposures.

 

So let’s backup, and see how Mac today became my guinea pig for a social media & marketing experiment: can social media stand between buyers and a new product.

Context: Last night I toiled in my day-job to help improve the way my employer monitors and engages in social-media. This morning I wrote a white paper (proprietary) that addresses the convergence of online-video and social media. And ironically I missed a social-media conference today in NYC. All of this at a time when social media is consuming more of our day than e-mail. (see previous post) That’s a really big deal.

hanna loves nalts but not his ipod nano shuffle reviewGoal: When the new Mac shuffle came out yesterday, I thought it was time for a test. Our mission: could little old ME rank higher on Google for basic terms related to the new Mac mini iPod Nano shuffle thing with autovoice? Could I possibly outrank Mac, CNet and Mac blogs on search terms people might use to find out of the device sucked or not? Remember Uncle Nalts says Google indexes well-viewed YouTube videos rather high. Certainly easier than buying Google ads perpetually or optimizing a website for 50K.

The Ditched Video Idea: My original plan was to make a skit about the Mac in hopes it would travel like my Mac Air parody (500K views and media pickup)…  Alas, none of my ideas struck me as particularly clever. At best, I’d play a frustrated PC designer launching a paperclip size MP3 player with a giant headphone device that allowed people to control it. And he’d be a day late. It just didn’t crack me up, and there was too much to cover and the clock was ticking.

Oh No You Din’t!
But my local Mac retailer didn’t even stock the new Shuffle today. Can Mac’s desire for launch secrecy prevent it from trusting distributors with the product immediately? Did Mac’s failure to stock for the impulse buys actually deprive me of my God-given right to buy more technology I don’t need despite debt?  

Results:
In a grumpy mood, I decided to vlog a bad review of the Mac Shuffle, and post it to YouTube. I then pretended to be a consumer searching Google for a review of the new device. Sure enough, below are the top three listings. To be fair, the search parameters are rather specific. But since Mac uses the same brand names (Shuffle, Nano) for each new release/generation, it’s hard to find the BRAND new one without adding a unique phrase like “autovoice.” You’ll otherwise get dated results (I’m talking 2005/2007), and I’m not impressed with Google blog search or anything Google is doing to sort with recency emphasis on basic searches.

Here’s something even more interesting (at least to me). Minutes later I couldn’t replicate the results depicted below, and I wonder if it was because my edits to the video’s keywords set it back temporarily?

mac shuffle autovoice review

Help Make a Parody of Gina BMW Video: Cloth Skin is “Context Over Dogma”

I haven’t seen a video so begging for satire in ages. It’s a BMW promotion for GINA — a new cloth-like exterior for cars. Who needs pesky, antiquated metal structure on their cars? Metal is so Neandorthal, dude. The first Terminator was big and clunky, but the next ones got smooth and sexy. Metal only gets in the way of fluid movements. Slow patient rivers can tear through mountains.

GINA is about flexibility, says the spokesman who was carefully selected to represent that bearded guy you used to work with… you know, the one that read Walden Pond and attend Corcoron exhibits on the weekends while you rode naked on a moped with your friends? “It’s about context not dogma,” he says. You know, I’m not even sure he said that but it’s quotable.

Let’s brainstorm a parody, okay? I’ll play the the bearded guy and wax philosophically about absolutely nothing to do with the car.

  • B-roll may include my car covered in a white sheet or newspaper.
  • The perplexed glances of people in public parking lots will be the most essential dynamic.
  • Maybe we see my kids making Gina with a glue gun and some of those press-on gem things from the 1970s. What were they called?
  • Clearly the new technology begs the question about safety, but the parody glides by the issue. It makes you almost feel stupid for wondering how screwed you’d be to crash a car wearing GINA. It’s too easy to show someone impailed by a guard rail. There has to be a subtly to the accident- like we’re not sure it even happened.

I’ll point back to this post when I’m done the video, so you can get credit for your contributions. But let’s be clear I aint sharing the YouTube revenue. That’s going to pay for the white sheet. 

P.S. BIG thanks to Jan for getting the new WordPress working on this blog! I was totally overwhelmed by the 235 steps required.