The End

Well this is it. This is the last blog post for this blog. The end. The grand finale. The closing of the curtain. The final bow. The fat lady is right about to sing her last note. It's been fun and laborious, rewarding and menial, all sorts of lessons have been learned. I hope anyone who has read my blog enjoys it and will mourn it's passing.

Passing on is taught to us from an early age as an inevitability. We all know that no one is immortal and that death is there to balance life in a constant flow. Everything fades eventually. Eventually, according to some science, everything in the universe will spread out and eventually lose heat to entropy and fade away. Instead of focusing on such a large cosmic scale, I wanna talk about my blog topic one more time, Youtube.

Will Youtube ever die? It's a tricky question. It has remained popular throughout most of the digital age and has seemed to find a foothold on the mobile app platform, an important milestone. The reason why Youtube creating a successful app is important is because eventually the "web" will be replaced by a mobile app based system that is quicker and more efficient. Youtube seems like it will be able to survive this transition. So when will Youtube dissapear? It seems to fill a purpose that will be needed through the next several generations, and dominates the market well enough that any group would have trouble surpassing it. It is hard to tell when Youtube will die, because it is mainly dependent on other websites and technologies being developed. Twitter led to the recent downfall of Facebook, and perhaps someday an app will lead to the downfall of Youtube.

Another important aspect of the question is what is meant by the word "die". Most people would consider Myspace a dead website, but you can still go to it, register for an account, and start using it. Even if no one uses a website and can still be accessed and used, such as my blog, and therefore isn't "dead". I think a better question is "When will Youtube become unpopular. A lot of it depends on the Youtubers to keep producing entertaing material and for Youtube to keep updating and redesigning.

Some institutions can stay a long time. Certain colleges have been around for centuries, some Confucian schools for millenia. I believe that Youtube has a strong and valuable enough principle that it could survive centuries if it stays on the forefront of the tech curve. However,  a Youtube four hundred years from now might be completely unrecognizable to us today.

Unfortunately all things, Youtube and otherwise, must come to an end. Even when Youtube is gone, it is my hope that there will still be online platforms for creative people to share their art. For a final time, thanks for reading.

The Voice of Broadway

As we near the end of this blog I would like to call back to the beginning of my blog. I originally started this blog for music and humor. I have always been inspired by this, and I definitely worked it into a lot of my posts on Youtube. I have always had a great reverence for the ability of music to bring people together. One man who has always inspired me is an icon on modern Broadway, Aaron Tveit.

One of the things that I love about Aaron Tveit, besides his absolutely wonderful voice, was that his background is so similar to mine. He came from a suburban background, was involved in a wide variety of activities, and through his pursuing of music he came to be one of the biggest Broadway stars in the modern age. He just continuously worked and learned and performed his way up the ladder to becoming a major star. He did a mock audition at his college with the director of Rent's national tour and ended up getting his first gig in Rent. As he moved up through several smaller pieces and national tours he eventually received his big break with his starring role in "Next to Normal". "Next to Normal" is an extremely powerful show about a dysfunctional family trying to hold it all together, and it relates really well to anyone whose family has fights sometimes, which I believe is everyone.

From there, Aaron Tveit became wildly popular on Broadway, starring in major Broadway hits such as "Wicked" and "Catch Me If You Can" and the oscar-winning movie version of "Les Miserables". His voice is absolutely mesmerizing, and manages to keep it's luster and sparkle even through the recordings, a very tough task. I listen to his music all the time now, and am grateful to the show choir for introducing me to his works. I found myself singing "Alive" from "Next To Normal" in the hallway on the way to class. Not only has he been a star, but he is now transitioning to TV acting through the show "Graceland". He was already labeled as "The next Hollywood Heartthrob". I wish Aaron Tveit all the success in the world.

Aaron's story makes me excited for what the future holds for myself. I don't see myself becoming a huge Broadway star like he was, in fact I think it is foolish to try to picture your future. However, it does make me extremely hopeful that through my work and dedication I can accomplish something amazing. I encourage everyone in the world to go out and accomplish something great so that I can write a praising blog post based on your life. Also, I hope that you listen to some of Aaron Tveit's work, it's truly wonderful.

Aaron Tveit Bio- http://aarontveit.net/aaron/biography
Les Miserables Aaron- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me7DMpMaKI0
Catch Me If You Can Soundtrack- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqCweDxaUHY&list=PLYUQXUa0t9ps6LEeUwMWQJTZxgfPskNAW
"Alive" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjpH15kuTps

Leaving

Well it's the last week of blogging and, as much as I did enjoy writing the blog, this will probably be the last few blog posts I write for this year. For anyone who has read my blog I would like to say thank you. If there is even a slight possibility of someone who religiously follows my blog posts and gets enjoyment from my posts, I want to apologize for the fact that I am discontinuing my blog. If you really feel strongly about my blogging, feel free to leave a comment and I will continue for you. However, I don't think anyone actually reads my blog anyways.

In honor of my leaving, I want to take a look at those Youtubers who retire from Youtube. It may seem weird to the average viewer that Youtubers can retire. This is due to the fact that Youtubers often are young vibrant people that enjoy what they do thoroughly and so a rare amount of Youtubers have retired. For example, NigaHiga has been doing Youtube videos ever since he was a teenager at the dawn of Youtube and it seems as though he is going to keep doing them as his career for the next decade or so. I thoroughly encourage him to continue as he is absolutely wonderful. As Youtube continues and the original Youtubers become older, the amount of farewells and retirements from Youtube will grow.

Youtubers do retire. Usually when they do it is due to either a lack of interest or some other issue that got in the way, such as another job opportunity and such. One such channel that has retired was called "Your Favorite Martian" who composed and animated original music videos. During his heyday he pulled in tens of millions of views to his music videos, and they are still being watched today. However, his channel is now called "This Project Has Been Retired" and no new videos have been added. It's a shame to lose his creativity and humor when it came to writing music videos.

Recently a Youtuber who retired was the gamer "JonTron".  John Tron and his parrot Jacques entertained millions of people with his clever reviews and vlogging. He was connected throughout the gaming community to many other channels and worked through "NormalBoots", a collection of gamers. With the widespread influence John Tron had, it is no surprise that his fellow Youtubers were wonderfully respectful and honorary of him when he decided to retire from the "JonTronShow".

One of the gaming channels he was connected to called "Game Grumps" even released a special video called "Ode to Jon" which commemorated his humble beginnings on Youtube and wished him the best in the upcoming years. It was a wonderful tribute to John.

I hope that as my blog finally dwindles away, someone was impacted enough to write an "Ode to Adam", but I think I might be aiming too high. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Ode to Jon- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNizrobWjBU
JonTronShow- https://www.youtube.com/user/JonTronShow

Working Together

The amount of traffic Youtube gets every second is ridiculous. Just to show you how ridiculous it is, please visit this link http://onesecond.designly.com/. This is a website called "Every Second on the Internet" and it shows you how much activity occurs on the internet every second such as google searches, facebook likes, or youtube views. I was genuinely surprised to find that there are more youtube videos viewed every second than google searches made. There is enormous power in that amount of people. The website also shows you how many of each item has been made since you have been on the website. I had been on the website for around 300 seconds now, or about five minutes, and more than 14 million youtube videos have been viewed. That is an insanely large amount of people, about one twentieth of all the people in the United States had watched a Youtube video in that time period.

Something in my mind connected this with another website my AP Biology teacher Mr. Horton had told me about. It was a website that researchers posted polypeptide chains to a public forum and then regular individuals such as you or me would spend the time figuring out how it folded into proteins. The scientists benefited from the large amounts of free effort and individuals benefited from feeling as though they had contributed to the forward advance of science, and they had. This kind of work is called crowdsourcing, in which a professional or a group will post work that is too large or menial to be done by professionals, and instead relies on normal citizens. Imagine it as a form of online volunteering. There are many other examples of this online such as scallop counting for scientific research, the game spore which relies on user-made creations to generate it's characters, and even a documentary titled "The American Revolution" which was created based on the contributions of individuals.

I think I made this subconscious connection in my head because I realized that the large amount of traffic on Youtube means it inherently has a great croudsourcing potential. How has there not been any sort of Youtube croudsourcing. There has been quite a bit of Youtube charities in which they simply ask their followers to donate to a charity, but I think Youtube would be more effective if they used croudsourcing. The reason why croudsourcing is more effective than charity is because people enjoy being active participants. I would call for Youtube personalities to call for people to contribute to specific croudsourcing activities as a livestream in which the Youtube personality would contribute as well for a period of time. Youtube could even implement croudsourcing through the comments section to report for scientific research or ask questions before videos. The possibility for croudsourcing is endless.

Just as a short reminder, the number of Youtube videos watched at this point on the website is 158 million.

Protein Croudsourcing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foldit

The vast sea

In case you hadn't noticed from my previous posts, I really enjoy watching the Vsauce videos and recommend them to everyone. They cover a wide array of topics in a really interesting manner, so that everyone will find a video they enjoy, particularly if you are keen on science. Today he talked about the internet and something he said struck me deeply. Most of the terms used for online activities are related to the ocean such as "surfing the web" "pirating" "phishing" "flooding" "navigating websites" "streaming". Even what I am doing right now, blogging, came from the term captain's log or a naval recording of daily events, like a diary. Apparently this arose from the nature of the internet as the ocean, vast, connected, and hidden.

Most people don't agree with the hidden part because they see the web as a place to access things. However there is such a thing as the "Deep Web" or the "hidden web". This is information on the web that can't be accessed by the normal person due to passwords or protective software. While it may seem as if the majority of the web is accessible, we have to realize this is because of the distorted viewpoint. In actuality anywhere from 80 -96 percent of all information on the web is hidden.

Another thing that was said in the Vsauce video that really spoke to me was the calculated statistic that every website is, on average, 19 clicks away from any other website. That connectivity is something I've been talking about for a very long time on this blog, and why that makes the web special.

As these statistics flow in about the vastness of the information, the connectivity, and the sheer amount of activity online every single second of every single day one can easily see why the comparison was drawn to large bodies of water. However, I feel as if we are wasting. I feel like the internet right now is the child in the lunchroom who throws away the burger so that they can eat the fries. We have this extremely powerful engine that is powered by massive amounts of human activity and yet we waste our energy expended on trivialities. Can you imagine a world in which the information and effort on the web could be used in coordination effectively to solve world issues. We almost need yet another hierarchy inside the web to organize it. Adding another tier onto the pyramid of information to regulate and harness the massive quantities entering the system. I don't know how you would even begin to create statistical systems to comb through the entire web, but it would be invaluable. Just another conjecture from your captain. End of log

Wonderful Vsauce Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scWj1BMRHUA&list=UU6nSFpj9HTCZ5t-N3Rm3-HA

We are the Social Media Generation

When you look at the bottom of a Youtube video you will see a button that says "share". If you click on this a multitude of colorful icons appear. Some of these icons are instantly recognizable by almost everyone in the US today such as the twitter bird or the Facebook f and, yours truly, Blogger. Some of the others are a bit more underground such as digg, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, and two which had only Russian alphabet names. The variety and prevalence of social media is a phenomenon that is relatively new when compared to the internet, a baby when considering the age of technology, and almost non-existentially small when compared to the history of human innovation in communication. It is a phenomenon that is contained within our generation.

Call it generationatism or ageism or whatever you want, but people have a fierce pride in what their generations have accomplished. My parents still listen to rock & roll because their generation came up with it. Grandparents take fierce pride in the military accomplishments of their day and inventions. As our generation is a relatively new one, the one main contribution I think our generation has made so far is the advent of social media. It has already changed the face of the world and the way people connect and interact on a day-to-day basis. As a member of that tech-savvy, digital, generation I am extremely proud.

At the same time, I think most of social media is an absolute waste of time and I would never become a part of it, unless it becomes inconvenient for me NOT to be on it. It is wonderful for connecting those who we can't see on a day-to-day basis, I love Skype for my ability to keep in touch with my brother in Seattle. However, the majority of social media today is used for creating "statuses" for those who see us almost every day to see. It's lost the original purpose of connectivity, and exchanged for a hollow shell of public narcissism. That transition is something that I am absolutely not proud of when it comes to our generation.

I think there is still time to reclaim that one precious innovation that our generation has been responsible for so far. We can transform social media into a force for good, as some are already. We can make it something that will be valued and reminisced upon for centuries to come. It is up to our actions at the genesis of this trend, to make it a positive one. Let's leave our mark on history as our generation. Use social media to start a charity or connect to someone you haven't seen in years. Let's be proud of what we have created, lest we end up with some Frankenstinian nightmare.

The Fear of a Youtuber

For every great thing there is always someone trying to sabotage it. For every comedian there are hecklers, for every politician there are political enemies, for every scientist there are rivals. The main person a Youtuber has to fear is the notorious hacker. Hackers are people who use coding and programming knowledge to gain access to someone's account and either manipulate or seize it. They are unfortunately slightly common on the Internet and can cause major damage.

Hackers are such a threat to security and privacy that many governments have anti-hacking divisions. The Computer Crime Research Center reported that in 2002 the US had 162 hacker attacks on systems that included the House of Representatives, the National Park Service, and the New York Education System. Sometimes credit card companies are hacked into and valuable personal information is stolen. As the world becomes increasingly based on the computer, the hacker becomes more and more dangerous.

On a more trivial level, many famous Youtubers have had their accounts hacked into. The pinnacle of Youtube himself, yes Pewdiepie, was even hacked. His original account was Pewdie before it got hacked and he had to create a new one. Being hacked on Youtube is a nightmare for Youtubers. You lose all of your videos that you worked so hard to create. You lose all of the subscribers that you worked hard to build your fan base. It is like starting again from square one, and it is awful.

The good news is that Youtube has grown and now has larger resources to protect it's channels. The other good news is that people nowadays have a much greater awareness of the dangers of hacking and know how to maintain proper computer security. The bad news is that the amount of people to protect and the amount of hackers is growing as people obtain more knowledge on computers. Another issue is the multiplying methods of hacking.

The future of hacking is a scary one. Cracked did an article about how even nuclear power plants have been hacked before, and several other disturbing incidences that infringe heavily on national and personal privacy and security.

We must stay aware of our computer security as members of the digital age. Stay wise out there on the internet. Hopefully my blog doesn't get hacked.

CCRC- http://www.crime-research.org/news/2002/11/Mess1403.htm
Cracked- http://www.cracked.com/article_19412_8-things-you-wont-believe-can-be-hacked_p2.html

What makes things creepy?

Previously I had talked about what makes things cute, called kinderschema, and the evolutionary reason for them. Today I want to talk about the probable opposite of the cuteness, creepiness. We are all familiar with the feeling of creepiness. It's the feeling you get in the middle of the night, or when you you feel something supernatural or sinister. This may seem like just an human phenomenon that has developed alongside urban legends and scary stories but there is actually a discrete scientific and evolutionary reason for the feeling of creepiness.

When something is creepy, people say it lives in the "uncanny valley". I used to think that the "uncanny valley" was just a place that the supernatural lived. The term "uncanny valley" derives from the area between survival response and rest, or in other words, the area between fight and flight and rest.

Our body is hardwired through adrenaline responses and total physiological changes to respond to a threat with a instant reaction. The problem comes when our brain isn't sure whether there is a threat or not. This in-between area means our body isn't sure whether to respond or not to a possible threat. This creepiness caused by perceptory discrepancies is why many things are creepier at night. This causes the feeling of uneasiness and fidgeting that is characteristic of a response to being creeped out. A video on Vsauce talked about how this uncanny valley can be used in scary stories. The stories about things like ax murderers feel creepy because it convinces us that there is a threat when our minds tell us that there isn't a threat. It is this discrepancy that causes the feeling of creepiness associated with scary stories.

Another theory about creepiness is one by Masahiro Mori about human familiarity. Basically the theory is that as things become closer to resembling humans they get creepier and creepier until they reach nearly exact resemblance with a human such as a picture or a living human which stops being creepy. This is illustrated in a graph by Mori in which creepiness occurs as soon as the human brain tries to recognize the object as human. This is why stuffed animals and mannequins are not creepy as they barely have human features, while humanoid robots, ventriloquist dummies and dolls are all creepy.

There are several other theories about what makes things creepy. These theories involve the avoidance of pathogens, such as why dead things are creepy. These collection of factors provide the large scope of what is scary and creepy in our life.

One video that shows the varied aspects in person is the urban legend "Jeff The Killer". Here is his picture

So what makes him creepy? The almost humanoid features in combination with distinctly inhuman features create a feeling of unease. The smiling face in comparison to the killings in the urban legends and the unsettling surroundings create the contrasting perceptions that also create a feeling of unease. It is these combined factors from both theories that make "Jeff The Killer" creepy. These same factors will lead to the uneasiness that some people will feel at night due to seeing this picture.

Vsauce- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEikGKDVsCc
Masahiro Mori Curve- http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/040210-who-is-afraid-of-the-uncanny-valley

What makes something cute?

When looking at Youtube it is impossible to miss the wide variety of cute animal videos. There is certain aspects of a creature that makes it cute. The cuteness is actually a built-in perception that humans have to something that they deem not to be dangerous and that we should protect.

Cuteness has it's origins in evolution. In order to protect the vulnerable young of our species we began to gain a strong affinity and protectiveness towards the features of a young child. Some of these features include large round eyes, large head in comparison too body, and a chubby nature in facial features such as cheek. Konrad Lorenz, a scientist who did some of the pioneering research on this, called these common traits kinderschema, which comes from the German root kinder for children. These features disappear during puberty as our young develop independence and require less protection.

This affinity for kinderschema is so strong and programmed so deep into the human psyche that the aspects of kinderschema can even apply to other species. This is why animals that are round, have large eyes, and small noses are cute, such as kittens and hamsters.

Kinderschema is not just some useless phenomenon. Marketing companies and other media has been using this ingrained human response to create characters that seem vulnerable, cute, and like we should protect them. One of the most famous uses of kinderschema was by the great animator Walt Disney. One of Disney's animators, Preston Blair, who animated Bambi and Pinocchio, has written a book called "Advanced Animation", which in one part showed a set of guidelines on how to make a character cute. These same basic guidelines have been used to create many of the famously cute characters we know and love. The cute guidelines are often used heavily in the Japanese animation style of anime.

People enjoy cute because it triggers a sense of protectiveness and care. Videos or pictures that have high levels of kinderschema become extremely popular. One website called "Zooborns" accesses this kinderschema through pictures of baby animals, and has become extremely popular. A recent video, that had sparked my interest in the subject of cute was of a hamster eating tiny burritos. The second video enhanced the kinderschema by personifying the hamster through using human cuisine, as well as small versions of silverware and restaurant decorations. In many ways, kinderschema is a very tangible and effective literary and visual strategy that can be used to evoke a sense of vulnerability and protectiveness or empathy.


The Science of Kinderschema- http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/blog/babies-cute-explained/
Preston Blair's Guidelines - http://stevenbrisson.tumblr.com/post/150100380/disneys-definition-of-the-cute-character-as
ZooBorns- http://www.zooborns.com/\
Hamster with Burrito- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOCtdw9FG-s

HeTube or SheTube

Something I recently noticed, mainly due to the discussions that we are having in class about gender discrimination in our society, is that most of the Youtuber's that I watch are male. When I think of all the people I regularly watch, a large percentage of them are male. I became really curious to find out whether this is simply because I am a male and therefore enjoy watching videos on topics that are typically addressed by males or if, on Youtube, there is a misrepresented amount of female Youtubers.

My belief that it may simply be my gender was sparked by personal interactions. I have female friends that do follow female Youtubers. I was shocked at the amount of female Youtubers that I had never heard of. I was first introduced to the ever-popular Jenna Marbles, but than came a wave of others such as Hannah Hart, Justine Ezarik and others. The reason I had not found these Youtubers before became clear when I watched their videos. They appealed to their gender. Their topics were ones that other females could relate to and therefore enjoyed watching. I didn't understand a majority of the references or jokes because I hadn't experienced them. In the opposite direction, it made me realize that some of the Youtubers that I find funny may not be funny or entertaining to the opposite gender for the exact same reasons. This entertainment gender line comes from the societal gap in the roles each gender plays. The same gap applies to male vs. female comedians.

Yet at the same time I still believe that there is a misrepresentation of female Youtubers, and that it is not merely my own view being clouded by personally experiences. The reason I have to believe this is the all-important top Youtuber's list. Only 8 of the top 50 subscribed Youtubers are female, and about half of those show up in the last 10.

Do these stats show a misrepresentation of female Youtubers or is it still just societal trends. To know this, we would have to see how many people who visit Youtube are male or female to see if male Youtubers are more popular because a majority of the people who watch videos on Youtube are male.

Even if it is simply a case of men preferring to watch videos by men because they are relatable and vice versa for women, I would encourage people to reach out across the gender lines and attempt watching a Youtuber of a different gender. Maybe it will be just another step towards the gender equality that many yearn for in our society.

Effort

If there is one thing I can respect it is effort. I believe that almost anything can be accomplished through sheer force of will. That if you work hard enough, you will eventually get there. The challenge I find is in our finite lifespans. We only have so much time. We can't perfect everything. We don't even really have time to perfect one thing. So how do we decide to spend our effort.

In my mind there are four categories of effort. Those that have a lot of effort or don't, and those that succeed or don't.

Those that have a lot of effort and succeed are the rewarding stories. Stories that uplift others and make them want to work their hardest. A wonderful example would be CorridorDigital's channel. They spend large amounts of time meticulously animating their videos, and were rightfully rewarded for their work with fame and money. A perfect and inspiring story that makes you want to spend time and effort on something.

On the other side of the spectrum is those that put in a lot of effort and yet don't succeed. These are the nightmare stories. People who put years of work into something that resulted in nothing. Sticking along the lines of animation, the one example that comes to mind is "The Thief and the Cobbler". A movie that was completely hand-animated, in which every single frame was drawn by hand. The production of the movie took 30 entire years and was intricately detailed, as well as containing twice as many frames per second than needed just to make it look smoother. Yet right before it was released, a CGI movie with a similar story stole all of it's success and many thought that "The Thief and the Cobbler" was a ripoff. What movie did they think it was a ripoff of. You may know it, Disney's "Aladdin". Please watch this video to pay tribute to the incredible amount of work that went in. A link to one of the scenes is at the bottom.

Some people post very lazily and don't succeed. They deserve it. It's not impressive or inspiring or teaches a lesson. It merely occupies space and is possibly the worst of the four categories. I don't feel like posting an example because that is encouraging the creation of more.

Then there are the lucky ones. The ones you wish you could be yet at the exact same time you hate for being so successful with so little effort. Sometimes it's the unpolished nature that makes it so good like Sir Fedora or the off-the-wall antics in NigaHiga's ADHD posts, that seem very friendly and real. Sometimes the Youtuber just somehow strikes a chord that resonates with a large amount of people for some strange reason, such as NyanCat. They are like a needle in haystack and are very hard to predict most of the times. They can be extremely enjoyable yet probably not something you should place your hopes on.

Effort is tough and taxing. It is hard to constantly expend effort, even when you love what you are doing. But it is rewarding and I encourage everyone to find something and give 110% on it.

Corridor Digital's channel- https://www.youtube.com/user/CorridorDigital
Thief and the Cobbler- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdJbo-4rg1k#t=33
Nyan Cat- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4

Power of Youtube

I just finished watching a eye-opening Youtube video by Matthew Patrick, otherwise known as MatPat, the Youtuber that runs the channel "Game Theory". His channel attempts to scientifically analyze the different aspects of video games, such as "Why do we play video games?" "Why is the faceless protagonist so common?" "Does Mario have diagnose-able psychological diseases?". His recent videos were about the success stories and the failures of the gaming industry. What causes a game system to be successful?

In general, gamers tend to like to stick to a pattern, which is why sequels are so popular. Buying a video game is now a $60 investment and so they tend to stick to games that they know will be good. The interesting thing he looked at is innovative games. He tried to examine why some innovative gaming systems flop, such as the Virtual Boy, and why other innovative gaming systems, such as the motion-controlled Wii, go on to be the most profitable and successful gaming system yet.

The basic idea is found the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. Essentially, only 2.5% of the human race are considered "innovators". They are innovators because they have become powerful and influential enough that they can take the risks associated with trying something new. Behind them are another 13.5% of the population referred to as "early adopters". They pick and choose from the innovator's ideas and spread them, which is slightly less risk than the innovator. These two groups set the trends that eventually lead to the majority appeal and viral diffusion.

Youtube contains this same system for gaming. It is no surprise that the main innovator for all of Youtube's gaming community is Pewdiepie. It's no surprise because he was named King of The Web, and has one of the largest amounts of subscribers than anyone else. Pewdiepie can innovate by playing lesser known games. If these games are successful, the other gaming channels serve as the "early adopters" and do their own videos on them. The games then reach the majority, us, who start to play these games.

One of the ways this affects things is by causing the viral gaming trends. Flappy Bird got extremely popular around the same time, January 27, that Pewdiepie posted a video of himself playing Flappy Bird. Soon after that, the "early adopter" channels posted their own videos, until the game had mass viral appeal and publicity that reached almost everyone.

In the same way that Flappy Bird exploded in popularity, games and game systems can be stifled by lack of publicity. One of the reasons that the WiiU extremely under performed is because Nintendo has a very strict copyright policy for their games that makes Youtuber's hesitative to play those games in fear of the blocking of their video due to copyright issues. This has led to a lack of support from innovators and early adopters which leads to a lack of interest in the popular majority.

This system of innovation and hierarchy of ideas shows how Youtube can have serious real-world applications. As Youtube continues to grow in size and influence this effect  becomes more obvious. When used correctly, Youtube can be the most powerful marketing tool in the world. However, a lack of publicity on Youtube can, at least for gaming systems, easily kill a product.

MatPat's video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyXcr6sDRtw&list=PL35FE5C4B157509C9

Satire is Tough

Most Youtube comedians use the form of satire as their comedy. Satire is basically pretending to support an ideal that you actually criticize by emphasizing it's flaws. This can be absolutely hilarious and extremely effective, which is why it is used by so many people. Some examples of Youtubers who use satire extensively are Ryan Higa, Jack Douglas, and Ian and Anthony from Smosh. They all pretend like they believe outdated or offensive things in order to show the ridiculousness in believing those things. These topics can range from something trivial such as varying pop culture fads or serious topics like homophobia and racism.

The dangerous part of satire is that, when it is taken out of context, performed ineffectually, or merely misunderstood, can be misconstrued that the satirist actually believes those views. For example, if Ryan Higa performed a satire on how some people are inexplicably racist towards asians by being overly offensive and satirical, it might be thought that he actually meant those offensive remarks and was himself, a racist. This might be slightly hard though as Ryan Higa himself is Asian-American.

Still, there are comedians whose careers and personal lives have been ruined by their misunderstood satire. One of the earliest satirists was Swift in his "Modest Proposal" in which, among other offensive remarks, he offered cannibalizing babies as a method to ease the economic troubles. Even today, I have still met people that upon reading Swift's "Modest Proposal" honestly believe that he was condoning and suggesting eating babies as a serious solution.

Even in modern times the misunderstanding of satire can hurt comedian's careers. One of the great comedians/satirists of our day, especially in the political field, is Stephen Colbert, who satirizes the Conservative party. In a segment in which he satirized the racial comments of the Washington Redskins owner he made a racial comment about Asian-Americans. When taken out of context, many saw Colbert's remarks as racist and Suey Park, a "hashtag activist" started the #CancelColbert hashtag. While this was merely a minor hiccup in the career of Stephen Colbert as many others vindicated his joke and showed that is was satirical and not genuine, it could have severely hurt his career if the majority of the population perceived him and his show as racist.

Two pieces of advice come out of this. One, if you are a satirist, make sure you are clear about your actual intentions so that you don't get misunderstood and accused of supporting the belief's that you are condemning. Two, if you are a viewer, try to look at the quote or segment in context before making rash judgement on whether someone is actually being offensive or satirical.

Swift's Modest Proposal - http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html
Cancel Colbert Story - http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/03/twitter-campaign-to-cancel-colbert-report.html

Enthusiasm

One of the most powerful forces in the world is genuine enthusiasm. It's the reason why our counselors and anyone who gives career advice will first ask you "What are your passions?" When you are enthusiastic about something you will work hard for it. There are all kinds of stories of dedicated fans going to insane lengths to create detailed replicas, homages, and collections. So when Youtubers are enthusiastic about their job they tend to succeed from all the work that they put in.

This relates back in part to my protest against companies like VEVO and highlight pages created by Youtbe being counted as "Youtubers". They don't have any enthusiasm about what they do because they don't create anything. They see it merely as a business opportunity. This trend has not only been showing up in company-run Youtube channels but also in Youtuber's channels. It is standard procedure now for every Youtuber to advocate for themselves and ask for likes, subscriptions, and other social media mention in order to compete with the other channels. In other words, notice and support from the Youtube community means making money, and making money is turning Youtube channels into businesses.

Call me nostalgic or old-fashioned, but I want a return to old Youtube. The Youtube that made the name "Youtube" famous. In which random people decided they wanted to share something with everyone, like a song or comedy skit, and people enjoyed it. There was no such thing as asking for subscriptions or likes, people just did it if they enjoyed the video.

I'm not trying to condemn the idea of likes and subscribers. They can make people who post feel absolutely amazing about themselves and give vindication for all of their work. It is like when a musician gets a compliment on their playing for the first time, or the first piece of art that an artist sells.

While on the subject of the power of enthusiasm I would like to look at the inspirational story that got me thinking about the merits and drawbacks of the "like" system. C Jackson, or as he is known on Youtube as "Sir Fedora" or "One Like Kid" was an unknown amateur vlogger. He made a video all about how one of his previous videos got a like. He was so excited and enthusiastic about the recognition. Someone posted his video of being excited about one like to Reddit. The amazing thing was that when people saw it they started liking everything he had posted. They were so enamored with his sheer enthusiasm and gratefulness for that one like that they wanted to support him too. His video about the excitement for one like now has 181,930 likes. Once I refreshed the page after a minute it had gone up another 39 likes.

Enthusiasm is powerful. Being excited about what you do will make others excited about what you do. Find your passion and work for it.

I just refreshed it again, now its at 182,003. Congratulations Sir Fedora. You stand as a testament to what passion can accomplish

His Viral Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZcDjcaSHvc

Censorship is (Redacted)

I was recently talking about how cultural influences shapes Youtube as it appears to viewers around the world. Yet I missed probably one of the most important influences that shapes the appearance of Youtube in different countries, at least in China. China's communistic government has the ability and right to censor any online content it deems to be inappropriate or detrimental to Chinese society. Most people associate the Chinese censorship mainly to Google, but it also spread to Youtube.

The first time the government of China censored Youtube was in 2008 when China blocked Youtube during the Tibet riots. Although the Chinese government denies any reason for the bans, many people believe it was to stop videos of violence against protesters from reaching and influencing more people. Many websites have been censored by China when they are considered to spread "harmful information". Even the New York Times has been blocked in China at points. Website blocking is relatively rare in China although some websites are routinely blocked and almost every website containing user content has been censored at one point or another.

Not only does China censor and block foreign-based websites that bring in "harmful information", but China also heavily censors Chinese websites. Weibo, otherwise known as the "Chinese Twitter", is one of the most popular websites in China and is ranked by Alexa Web Analytics as the 17th most visited website in the world. However the user content has been severely censored. Anything from political dissent to sexual innuendo is subject for complete censorship. Some of the citizens are very dissatisfied with this, as it infringes on their free speech.

Censorship and website blocking are not simply a Chinese phenomenon. Almost every other country, including the United States has varying degrees of online censorship. Youtube alone has been blocked in countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Turkey as certain videos were deemed politically unacceptable. While the US may not censor quite as much as China, but much more than most American citizens realize and would be comfortable with.

As we are constantly reminded that our forefathers fought for the freedom of speech, among other liberties, the average US citizen abhors censorship. I used to have the same mentality that censorship would deter learning and lead to further oppression, and arguments can be made on how much censorship is acceptable. However, I know realize that there are several censorship systems that exist to protect us. An example on Youtube is the flagging system. If a video is deemed inappropriate or harmful it can be blocked or removed by Youtube. Part of the consideration that goes into this is if the video gets flagged as offensive by many viewers. It is this system that keeps graphic and vulgar videos off of Youtube and allows it to be a relatively safe place to search videos and connect to others.

What freedoms we should have when it comes to speech and expression have been argued and debated for a long time. I personally enjoy the levels of freedom and regulation that we have in our country. If you prefer less regulation or more regulation there is a varying continuum of countries in our world. However, it seems that we have it pretty well off here.

Alexa Web Analytics - http://www.alexa.com/
Youtube Censorship - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_YouTube

Am I a Youtuber?

So I just realized that I myself have a channel! Apparently having an account on Youtube means you have a channel as well, automatically! I don't know why, but in my mind I never associated myself as one of the "Youtubers". However, it seems that I am to join that rank of elite. I am a Youtuber.

That is if I choose to post anything. I feel like I should contribute to Youtube in some way. I was just talking recently about how I disliked the VEVO channels because they occupy the top spots while posting videos extremely rarely. Yet I have never posted a single video to my channel.

What should I post about? Do I just post about my life? I would say that I don't think my life is exciting enough for people to watch, or that I don't have very funny video ideas. However, when you watch videos from all of the top Youtubers, they are all surprised in the exact same way. They didn't think what they were doing was going to be extremely popular. They just did it for the fun of it, and are pleased with the results.

Do I have responsibilities as a Youtuber? Do I have some sort of obligation now to give back to Youtube after they bestowed this honorific title upon my shoulders. Is there some sort of initiation process I missed, or a newbie Youtuber orientation to give me my bearings. I don't even know how to post a video, or annotate, or add additional information!

 It's easy to take in all the information that Youtubers put out, yet a little bit disorientating when you are the one trying to prepare a video for everyone to watch. It gives me a lot more respect for those Youtubers who post daily with original work. I mean, I've only done 50 blog posts, some of which aren't even about Youtube, and already I'm starting to hit a wall for new ideas. I can't imagine how hard it must be to produce something every single day that is original and worthwhile. I definitely won't complain anymore when a Youtuber doesn't post in a while, or if they might recycle an idea.

I'm starting to realize now that I am a legitimate blogger as well! 60 or so blog posts is a lot of material I put out! If someone really had a desire, a surprising one, they could spend hours just reading my writing. That's one of the things I love about all the new media platforms like Youtube. Everyone on the web is now a "creator". We all are now creative producers with the opportunity to be discovered for our thoughts and succeed based off of those. It's a pretty inspirational idea to think that someone someday, perhaps years from now, might read my blog or subscribe to my Youtube channel. I am a Youtuber and a blogger. I am a creator. Now I just have to wait until I get discovered.

Is Vevo a Youtuber?

If one looks at a list of the most subscribed channels, they will find that a large portion of the highly subscribed channels consist of musical artist's VEVO accounts? When I have talked about the purpose of Youtube recently, it always is about sharing ideas and videos and introducing new talent to the populous. Therefore I think it is against the purpose of Youtube for the subscribed lists to be dominated by VEVO accounts. They should place the VEVO accounts on a separate list so that more individual Youtubers and aspiring creators can earn their place on that hallowed list.

One of the main problems I have is that VEVO is not a creative individual, it is a large corporation. VEVO was formed as a video hosting service by several music companies such as Sony and the Universal Music Group. They do benefit off of having the large amount of views and revenue that comes from that. They also serve a vital purpose by creating a platform for musical artists to display their music videos. My problem with them is that this corporation is taking away recognition, something not really needed by a corportation, from creative individuals. 

Another problem I have with VEVO is that it is extremely spacious. Not only do they take away fame and recognition from other aspiring Youtubers, but they do so on as large a scale as possible. I would be much less bothered with VEVO if they presented all of the artists on one channel, something that would be absolutely possible with the playlist system. Instead, VEVO creates a separate channel for each different musical artist. This flood of well-subscribed channels blocks out others from the top list, like a fame-hungry attention seeker. 

It is so widespread that 1/5 of the top 50 channels are all VEVO accounts, which serve no other purpose than to just post the music videos as the artist releases them. The last time Rihanna's VEVO (11th most popular Youtube channel) even posted anything was 4 months ago, Eminem's VEVO (16th most popular) last posted a music video 3 months ago, Katy Perry's VEVO (17th most popular) 1 month ago. They don't post any original or consistent content. It is just another form of advertisement for the artists, and blocks out regularly uploading and aspiring Youtubers from fame.

This problem is compounded now by the mandatory subscribing channels that Youtube has created. All Youtubers have to subscribe to this channel. The leading individual channel is Pewdiepie at 25 million, but three channels: Music, Gaming, and Sports, now top the list with around 80 million a piece. These accounts also do not post original content, but merely advertise other videos. With these accounts added in 2/5 of the top 50 Youtubers are not even Youtubers! 

These channels are corroding the purpose of Youtube, to introduce new ideas and creations to a vast audience. They have overridden a large portion of the top Youtubers list and easily take all of the top positions. Individuals producing creative content have been replaced by large companies who rarely, if it all, post videos, and mainly as a form of advertisement. We need to remove these 20 accounts from the top list onto their own list, so that more individuals and creative partnerships can continue to grow and expand.

Top Channel's list- http://vidstatsx.com/youtube-top-100-most-subscribed-channels

What does Youtube mean worldwide?

Something I recently found was very interesting to me. In Mat Pat's video "Game Theory: How Pewdiepie Conquered Youtube", he talks about how part of Felix's (Pewdiepie) success was that he came from Europe but posted his videos in the US. This meant that Youtube sponsored him to US viewers as well as Western European viewers, both of which compromise a large portion of Youtube watchers. If Youtube sponsors different videos to different areas based on the creator's background, nationality, and subject matter, does that mean that Youtube, in China for example, would look different than the Youtube that I see.

Many of us take for granted that most of the Youtube videos that we watch are in English, and to be fair a large portion of Youtube videos are in English because it is a very prominent language, especially online. However there is also a large number of Youtube videos that are in foreign languages. So why don't we notice these videos? This is because the programmers at Youtube, in a very wise fashion, decided that we, as Americans, probably wouldn't be interested in videos that are spoken in Bengali or Arabic. As a side effect of this, we might miss out on some of the clever and innovative ideas or videos put out by foreign users.

Due to the fact that the programmers separate what people see based on the common interests of their country or the Youtuber's relation to their country, this means that their Youtube would reflect the unique cultural landscape of the place or country in which they live. I think it would be extremely interesting to do an analysis of how the cultures of different countries relate to the Youtube videos that are sponsored in their areas. For example, I do know that Youtube videos for KPop (Korean Pop Music- Gangnam Style e.g.) are extremely popular in Asian countries, yet get little showing in America except for some niche groups.

 I almost feel as if I am missing out on large parts of Youtube, as if they are hidden to me because of my cultural background. I consider this completely contrary to the point of Youtube as a video sharing service meant to bring varied ideas and creative people together. Something I would look forward to in the future is a mass translation of all Youtube videos, but the effort required for that would be monumental. The subtitle system does work, but it doesn't allow for all the importance that comes with inflection.

This all stems off of a larger argument explained in HowStuffWork's article "Why don't we all speak the same language". There is a set of pros and cons with adopting a more universal culture. If we made all Youtube videos in one consistent language it would encourage interaction between creators and give viewers access to watch all videos regardless of cultural origin. However even with the adoption of a single language, this would eliminate the cultural heritage of some languages and cause the cultural diversity that we prize on Youtube to dissapear into homogenization.

It is an interesting prospect to consider how different Youtube must be for other cultures, and how someone writing a blog about Youtube from a different country might be experiencing something absolutely different from me.

How Stuff Works Article - http://people.howstuffworks.com/speak-same-language.htm

Are we too distracted?

For all the wonderful aspects of the internet, there is one feature that has condemned it among many. It is a huge distraction.

It would be interesting to run an experiment or find an experiment in which people are given access to the internet while doing homework and others only have tv and other traditional entertainment, and to see how much work they complete comparatively.

I recently talked about the sheer amount of stuff that we can access, thanks to the internet. That leads to a very important question. What is worth looking at and what isn't? I don't have an answer for this question. Personally I am on the internet too much. The fact that I made this blog about Youtube videos was because I thought I knew about this subject to be able to talk about it in-depth three times a week for a whole school year, which is a lot in total.

There is a reason that I get to sleep at 2 am some nights. There is a reason Stumbleupon-induced sleep deprivation is a running joke. There is a reason that there are Youtube playlists in which you can watch days worth of videos. There is a reason that people become emotionally attached to Youtubers. There is a reason that I am typing this blog post three hours before it is due. Part of that last one is due to procrastination, but also it's because I was watching a dumb video on Youtube when I realized I needed to do a blog post.

Youtube is distracting. Is it a detriment to our society as it drains vital mindpower and attention away from the youth that will one day run the country? Is it a welcome relief in the high-stress lifestyle we all live?

The key, as with all addictions, is to find the moderation point. If you are hurting your social life, physical health, or career by watching too much online videos than you should stop. If you are always working, maybe you need to sit down and have a good laugh over a kitten video. This moderation point may shift as you age, get married, or switch jobs, but it is vital to find it.

The internet is an extremely powerful tool, we must be wise and judicious in the way that we use it or we risk letting it envelop us. Let the internet be an enhancement to your lifestyle instead of a hinderance. There are plenty of ways that we can use the internet to make us more efficient, mentally acute, and physically fit. It is up to us to use it correctly. Be smart web surfers. Thanks for reading

How effective is online learning?

How effective is online learning actually? I s it worth the effort and time that it takes to develop these websites for the school. I want to delve into how much benefit the individuals in our school and in our district are benefiting from the new online tools. I would want to look at this using personal testimonials and more statistical GPA analysis.

There is a new trend that has started to occur across the country. Some people absolutely adore it, while others hate it with a burning passion. I'm feeling lukewarm on the subject, but I understand both sides. The issue of course is online education and how it should figure into our daily school life.

For the first time this year I am really deeply involved with online learning. This is mainly through my AP Chemistry class and our use of tablets (another idea I'd like to talk about later). However, most people are being forced into becoming acquainted with it through the use of the Canvas website this year. We watch videos of lectures on Youtube, we can get our assignments and missing work, edit and submit homework, and even take tests. I honestly feel like I could reach all the information I needed for the school year from my own home.

This is one of the great things about Canvas. I am missing a day of school tomorrow and, hopefully, I will be able to find all of the work I need online. This is so much easier for both the student and the teacher. It also provides some platform for collaboration and communication among students. However, that aspect has a long, long way to come.

My problem with all this online learning is that it is much, much harder to learn when it is simply a video rather than a face-to-face instruction from a teacher. It is so easy to get distracted while watching a video, or become frustrated with the fact you can't ask questions. In my mind, there is no substitute for a classroom setting until we somehow learn to implant knowledge directly into our head. We desire and need that interaction with our fellow students. It is our collaboration and struggles that allow us to truly learn something. Any student will tell you that the things they remember the most are what they did in the classroom, not just watching the video at home.

It is the same reason why can't just sit at home and watch Youtube all day. Even though I like Youtube, it is no substitute for the real thing. You can watch first-person perspectives of extreme skiing or hangliding, but you can't feel the wind on your face or the joy of accomplishing that. We need to have a classroom so that we can physically achieve our goals of learning. So while I do see how Canvas can be a useful tool for organization and communication, I don't see online learning as a replacement to our current education system any time in the next century. Thanks for reading.

Do they deserve it?

We all feel a certain sense of satisfaction when someone in a Youtube video who is being a jerk finally gets what is coming to them. It's that certain pleasure you get from knowing that karma works and good people get good things and bad people have bad things happen to them. For example, there is a robber who, while robbing a gas station, had his tires stolen off his car. The money was then stolen from him by another person, and he was later arrested. Classic karma, right?

Well I think that we may be a bit too hasty to judge all these people on Youtube. I mean obviously the robber was in the wrong breaking the law, but I'm talking about the "jerks" on Youtube. People who are recorded at some of their worst moments. Thinking back, I'm sure we have all had moments we regret. We have said mean things that we didn't mean, we have done awful things in the heat of the moment due to peer pressure, tiredness, or just young inexperience. Does this mean we deserve the amount of hate and notoriety these "jerks" get on the Internet.

Not only does hate come in real life, but it often reaches out into the real world. We all know, and probably have made fun of, Rebecca Black. She was a viral hit in a bad way for her annoying single "Friday". Sure, it wasn't the best or even a good song, but the lashing out of the viral community against her for laughs or simply out of cruelty was not warranted. She was tormented by her peers and friends for the video, and some people even sent death threats in 2011.

I can not imagine being in the situation of notoriety that Rebecca Black had to suffer through. I applaud her though for keeping her head held high and following her passion for music. She still makes songs for a record label, something that I wish I could accomplish. Not only that, but she confronted all the issues with "Friday" and even was cool enough to satirize and parody her video in the new song "Saturday". That takes a lot of courage, self-acceptance, and pride to be able to laugh at yourself on a national stage. As a personal opinion, "Saturday" was infinitely better than "Friday" and even a little bit catchy at some points.

As often as there are people who are able to overcome the hate there are people who fall into depression from their internet notoriety. Amanda Todd became notorious for some explicit pictures of her that were leaked online. The pictures were definitely a mistake, but one that we should forgive in a child. She was tormented by her peers and the online community which drove her to depression and eventually suicide.

I think we could all benefit in a larger understanding of the circumstances surrounding these videos. Hopefully, seeing all the ramifications of our videos will make us slightly more cautious posters and watchers.

Unhealthy Trends

There has always been a very negative connotation to the word viral, and yet being a viral video is one of the most celebrated things you can be on Youtube. So why is there that negative connotation with viral? Well a virus is something that spreads very quickly from person to person, giving the viral video it's name. The main difference is that a virus is something that hurts you, while viral videos are often considered harmless. My question is are viral videos actually harmless? What real life impacts have these videos had?

The main reason I've brought up this topic is because of a few viral videos who had some unfortunate consequences. The first group of viral videos that have had really negative effects are challenge videos such as the cinnamon challenge, in which people take videos of themselves swallowing a whole spoon of cinnamon, often unsuccessfully. Some of these videos have a very dangerous nature about them, such as the salt and ice challenge in which salt is placed in the hand and ice is squeezed in that hand. This causes a chemical reaction that leads to a severe skin burn. Or the gallon milk challenge, in which challengers drink a whole gallon of whole milk, often leading to puking pink as the milk wears away the stomach lining. These may seem like rare instances, but a lot of the challenge videos involve ingesting dangerous amounts of something or placing oneself in a dangerous situation.

Another group of viral videos that has been dangerous are the ones that involve public displays. These are ones that create a large commotion in a public place for the humor of watching people try to react. One example is called the two gallon smash, in which members would go to a grocery store, smash two milk cartons together, and lie in the puddle pretending like they had fallen until someone tried to help them up, and then proceeding to slide all over the ground when people try to help them up. This upset grocery stores a lot who started to become less and less sympathetic to the people who did, until arrest became a serious possibility. This was upsetting to the grocery stores for obvious reasons, it created a mess, it wasted milk, it hindered other shoppers, and made their stores look like dangerous places.

The last group is more of just the attitude towards viral videos. People want to be the biggest and best at each viral challenge or pose. The one that most easily comes to mind is the planking fad. People became obsessed with finding the best planking pose and the coolest, funniest, or most dangerous planking pictures. This came to a head when a man was killed after he fell off of the hotel balcony that he had been planking on. It was an absolute tragedy and a warning against this type of behavior, but planking still continues on and on. 

In some ways the online community has created more of an online school playground in which people are competing to get attention through stupid, offensive, or self-harming actions. We need to stop applauding those people who turn our online community into that kind of overly defensive macho competition. Whether this is a situation in which Youtube should use their banning  privileges is a question for another debate. 

Carefree

I am a little bit fed up with how much people attack "mindless" music, music that doesn't have some deep emotional meaning. I appreciate carefree artforms, art that doesn't take itself too seriously. Some of the greatest moments in culture have come from people just taking a step back, relaxing, and realizing their own extremes. Most recently I have noticed it in movies, songs, and tv.

Many movies, recently, have been mocking their own genres flaws. One of the most prominent examples I can think of is "Cabin In The Woods" which mocked the horror story genre in a hilarious way, that still made sense with the plot. This has peaked in recent years with meta-comedy for action movies (Tropic Thunder), disaster movies (This is the End), cop movies (The Other Guys/21 Jump Street) and spy movies (Get Smart). I absolutely loved all of these movies. It was cool to see how they twisted and mocked their genres, while often remaining true to the tone and plot style of their genres. The Other Guys still had that twist revelatory ending of the ultimate plan after they had been banned from the job, classic cop movie.

I've seen this same trend in songs, more specifically in rap. A lot of my more favorite rap artists are the ones that criticize and mock the rap industry. I've talked about them before but Mac Lethal, Bo Burnham, and George Watsky all criticize the rap industry in many different songs. It makes it so much more interesting than just the common rap music that comes out of that industry.

When it comes to tv, it often happens in humorous shows, yet many times occurs in longer running shows. This can be absolutely hilarious when they mock themselves or their previous habits or qualities. Seth Macfarlane is really wonderful at this, and often exchanges insults between his own shows which is extremely enjoyable to watch.

More often than not, these meta-humor arts are more clever and well thought-out than run-of-the-mill art. They show a remarkable sense of self-awareness and self-acceptance. They allow the writers to explore a whole new variety of jokes on a subject that they know best, themselves. This is what makes meta-humor so enjoyable for me

George Watsky's "One Hundred Words You Could Say Instead Of Swag"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFhM1CoyP7Q

Business Competition

The first question I would have when approaching this topic would be "what are the major competitors to Youtube". Thinking on it, I would have to say that Youtube thoroughly dominates the video sharing market. I can not think of one other website devoted to streaming user content and only that. It would be interesting to look at if there ever even was any sort of competition for Youtube and what happened to that competition, why isn't it still around? This question would give a more comprehensive history of Youtube, and help us understand why certain aspects of Youtube are the way they are, and what makes Youtube so special and invaluable.

I would also be interested in looking at the hiring process at Youtube. How does Youtube stay on top of the game by hiring the best programmers and designers? How many people are working for Youtube at any one time. Are they programming large changes or simply doing maintenance on the already extremely successful website. This question is of particular value to those who are interested in programming or designing. It can be argued that designing and programming for Youtube is one of the more prestigious positions in the digital age.

Another question I would like to look into is who is the CEO of Youtube, where is their headquarters at.
Youtube has existed for so long in my life, yet I don't know the name of the CEO or any real information about them. Nearly everyone knows of Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs, so why not the CEO of Youtube. I'm sure that his personal background greatly defines the changes he makes and how he runs Youtube. It would be easier to understand some of their business decisions if you understand the man who is making those business decisions.

It is weird sometimes to think of Youtube as a company although it definitely is. It relies on all the same principles that other businesses do, and therefor must follow many of the same practices and techniques. The major difference between Youtube and many other businesses is how different it's setup and output product is from other businesses. This means Youtube is a wonderful example of a business model for the Digital Era, a field of study that is becoming increasingly important and will shape the future of our economy.

Why Does It Look LIke That

As a large, and very powerful, website, Youtube contains a lot of meticulously placed details. These are there to make the website run smoother, provide a more enjoyable experience, and sometimes to keep the viewer on the website for longer periods of time. In many ways, the things done by Youtube are to help us and make us like the website, but some of it is manipulative as encouraging more watching increases the amount of money made off of ads.

The first obvious thing about Youtube is it's design. It would be interesting to know why they designed it the way that they did. To try and find the reasoning for the relatively simplistic color scheme, or the positioning of subscribe buttons, like meters, and various information about the videos. Everything has a reason, purpose, and effect on the overall experience of the website. There are many courses in website design, and occupations as website designers. These effects matter, and if we could see a breakdown of these reasoning it would not only make us more appreciative, but also better designers ourselves and smarter video watchers.

A lot of the design focuses around achieving Youtube's ultimate goal: get people onto the website watching videos.Some of the things I have noticed personally in the design, and how it achieves it's goal include the homepage showing all the featured videos, the "recommended" videos, the list of related videos on the side, the use of interesting pictures to advertise the videos, to provide a comment section, and many others. I'm sure they have a lot more techniques than I know about. That's why I would want to know, and feel other people should know. If we know the different methods Youtube uses to manipulate us, you can use that knowledge to avoid video traps, and to waste less time aimlessly searching Youtube.

Another thing that would be interesting to look at is the evolution of Youtube. How much it has changed from past design schemes, Just like any other website they go through major reforms, It would be extremely  interesting to see how they accumulated the critique and knowledge to decide those reforms as well. How much they use the comment system in their reforms would be extremely interesting to know, as it would dictate the amount of comments I leave, and how involved I become in contributing my own ideas. A very important ability for a website, as the web is a new and ever-changing media, to be able to adapt to the problems and critiques of their website.

As this information would require some personal stories and knowledge from the designers themselves, this might be one of the hardest research topics I've described this week.

What makes people famous?

How do the ordinary people on Youtube get to be famous? What characteristics do they share that causes them to explode in popularity and appeal to such a wide variety of people? Does it have something to do with their subject, their creative process, an internal motivation, or somehow just luck that has brought fame to these people.

This is obviously of interest to a lot of people. There are hundreds of thousands of aspiring Youtube stars out there, hoping to reach the goal of fame. They want to know how to succeed, how to appeal to and entertain, a large group of people. The aspects of fame on Youtube apply to every single performer and could provide some tips and advice on how to succeed, although obviously some aspects would be limited to just the online form. The paper might encourage the average person to take up an account and attempt to reach out to others. The idea of using this paper as sort of a guide to achieve fame is more of a practical research paper.

The more conceptual research that could come out of this idea is in what the trends say about our society. The things that make the Youtubers popular shows a lot about what the majority of our society values and enjoys in a performer and a person. It could reveal what topics grab people's attention, a very interesting research point for someone such as a writer, columnist, or reporter.

Youtube might be very interested in this topic, as well as other sharing sites. The research may show some unfairness in the system, how some people might have a more natural advantage over others due to a flaw in the website, something that could be fixed.

Determining what constitutes fame in this situation is very interesting. There are many indicators of fame on Youtube depending on what you want to determine. The like/dislike rating system would give an indication of how well-liked or appealing a certain video is, the same applies to the comment system. Another indication of fame is in the amount of pageviews to a certain video, showing how mass popularity, sharing, and the nature of viral videos affects fame. Since I'm mainly looking at this research as a way to analyze how individual accounts become famous, the most acceptable statistic might be in subscribers, which not only indicates fame but also commitment of those who follow them. However, using all three statistics in conjunction would probably provide the most comprehensive viewpoint.

Popular channels http://vidstatsx.com/youtube-top-100-most-subscribed-channels

Popular videos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_viewed_YouTube_videos

How Much Time

Something that has always been a constant complaint or criticism of Youtube is that it is a waste of time and a draw on the focus and work ethic of you the younger generation. As this is pertains heavily to my topic, it really interests me to research. I want to find out how much our generation spends time online as opposed to other decades, or even just the trends in recent years. I would also want to find how much of the time we spend online is dedicated to Youtube, and of the time spent on Youtube what percentage of the videos being watched could be labeled as frivolous or a waste of time.

I'm hoping that this knowledge would help me better understand the exact impacts of Youtube on the daily life of the average teen, and how much it can be considered a detriment to our society. I also want to be able to examine the trends over time to form a good idea of where Youtube and the usage of Youtube will be in several years. It is important to know this, as it could become the basis of a conceptual research into how our generation is different from older generations, or as the basis of a practical research in reducing the amount of time wasted on Youtube or shifting the focus of Youtube videos away from frivolity.

A huge part of what makes this research hard is determining what Youtube videos qualify as frivolous or mere time-wasters. One could argue that a music video is a simple waste of time, while others could argue that it is a valuable look into the styles of artists and helps young aspiring artists be inspired and practice.

Another argument is that time spent relaxing is not time-wasted, merely not spent on work, that relaxation is important. This is why it would be important to specify that by "frivolous" videos I mean videos that don't have a direct connection to becoming a better person or contributing directly to a job or task. As it is a thoroughly subjective piece on the detriment of something a lot of people use daily, it would have to be handled with care and very choice diction to avoid offense. The good news is that the data would be fairly straightforward and rely on math and non-arguable calculations. These solid facts could provide a more credible and believable background to my research paper.

Some sources that I found in a cursory search for data
time spent online: http://www.pewresearch.org/millennials/teen-internet-use-graphic/
online time spent on youtube: http://mashable.com/2012/11/28/social-media-time/
youtube time spent on specific genres:http://youtube-trends.blogspot.com/

Do we need more time?

We have all noticed the same trend in education. The amount of information that we have to teach just compiles and compounds as our knowledge of the universe increases. Recently in Ap Bio we have spent a large amount of time, about three months, on the subject of genetics and evolution, comparitively newborn fields of study. The amount of new knowledge we have on the subject of physics, a class covering three years, is growing as I type this blog post. The recent discovery of quarks and the idea of dark matter has transformed the field. If there is this vast new amount of information in every field of study, why are we not lengthening the amount of years we devote to our education?

We are no longer in a time where people only live to the age of 50. Our lifespans are growing at such a rate that I can easily envision myself living for longer than a century. This has made the amount of years we educate ourselves become proportionally less and less. As a junior in high school, I can tell you that the rush to absorb all of the information we will need for our entire lives and future careers is a daunting one. I feel pressed to take every single course available otherwise I will be missing out on vital information.

It is this pressure that has made me realize that we need at least one more year of high school. I firmly believe that no ambitious high school student is ever able to take all the classes that he desires.We need an extra year to reach out and explore every field that we are interested in. We do not have enough time in high school to explore all of the opportunities. Registering for my classes next year has been a bevy of trade-offs. I want to participate in and learn so many things, but there is not enough time for it. This pressure has been laid onto us so hard that we now have eighth-graders pushing to take high-school classes in a vain attempt to cover it all.

This year alone I had to pass out on jazz and chamber choir, which hurt so much to sacrifice. I couldn't take AP Psych or APES like I wanted to, and I probably won't be able to next year either. I would love to take part in the philosophy or acting class but there is no time. I want to do all sorts of sports and extracurriculars like debate or clubs that go out and volunteer but there is simply not enough time in the scant four years we are given.

Some may say that this is simply due to a lack of focus or initiative on the part of the students, and that we simply slack off. I stand as a testament to that. I have spent all day today slaving over AP homework, and will continue to. All for the love of learning and education, and yet I still am not able to find time to do all the things I love. That doesn't even take into account all the missing social life that I am sacrificing for school. Every teacher seems to assume that we only have to do work for their class and therefore an hour a day isn't that hard. When seven teachers want an hour a day, and you still have speech, showchoir and sports until seven pm. You can see how the time evaporates extremely quickly.

I think an extra year of highschool, would be beneficial to every student. We would be able to explore more options before we commit our lives to a certain career. We would be able to complete more cohesive, polished, and comprehensive work instead of the scrambled attempts at completion that we are currently locked into. I think the sheer inability to cover it all is what causes some kids to just give up and not care anymore. I've heard honor students talking about how useless it is to try and do it all. We need a change, and I think a little bit of time is all we need. Thanks for reading

Lookalikes

There is something that we all assume. We are unique. We are individual. There is no one in the world who is exactly like me. That is why it is so shocking when we meet someone who looks like us.

Recently a friend of mine befriended another guy in Colorado. She showed me a picture of this guy and I was shocked. He had my same face, but with a different haircut. I honestly thought it was a picture of me from middle school for a while. I had two urges at the same time. One, the more common thought, was to meet up with him and form an amazing friendship based on the fact that we kind of look like one another and pull wacky pranks based on that. Two, the slightly more disturbing one, eliminate him so that I am the only Adam-lookalike in the world.

There is an interesting statistic out there that puts a twist on the phrase “one in a million”. It goes “Even if you are one in a million, there are six thousand humans exactly like you.” A clever little statistic twist on a common saying, and yet disturbing. We like to think of ourselves as unique individuals. The whole foundation of social media is that we are unique and we should let everyone know the things we do. It’s hard to picture another person like yourself.

I always have envied and pitied identical twins. It must be amazing to have someone who is that close to you. That, genetically, is the exact same as you. There are so many fun things you can do if your twins, and it’s always an interesting conversation-starter or joke among friends. At the same time, I think if I was someone’s identical twin, I would strive all the time for individuality and my own personal recognition. I want to be recognized as Adam instead of Adam and Alec (We have similar first names because that is how you are supposed to name twins).

I think the really important part of being an individual is that it recognizes that we have our own separate set of experiences, thoughts, and feelings that make us important in some way or another to the universe. If we were all exactly the same, what would the point of doing anything be? That is one of the reasons I think identity theft and catfishing should be illeagal. Tarnishing someone’s identity is something that, in some cases, can never be fixed and will affect them for the rest of their life.

I will write another blog post about this when cloning technology reaches pedestrian levels. Oh, and Ryan Walker looks like Macklemore. Thanks for reading

Improv

So I just got back from an improv performance at Speech Night. If you weren't there shame on you, you should've been there supporting your school! However, I would like to talk about group improvisation or improv. It's so much fun to do, it feels exhilirating and terrifying at the same time. You form a wonderful camaraderie with your fellow improvists (improvers?) and the self-confidence you can find in it is absolutely wonderful. I think that being in improv should be required at Kennedy for every single student for the invaluable skills you learn while performing.

Improv is so important to Kennedy. The first memory I have of Kennedy was the improv performance by Shane Nielsen and Andrew Hanzelka during freshman orientation. I instantly thought it was the funniest thing that I had ever seen. Just when one of my ideas was thrown out onto the stage, it felt absolutely empowering. It might be a little bit of the attention hogging, but I love seeing the ideas come to life on stage.

At the same time I thought I would never ever be able to do what they did. I didn't audition the first two years simply out of fear. That is why I think improv is such a valuable experience. It teaches you to overcome nerves to create something wonderful, and to operate under tight pressure. Even four year improv veterans get extremely nervous before competitions. There is a ball of tension deep within your gut that you have to work around. Because if you show the nerves, your improv skit will not work. It is an invaluable life skill.

Another amazing ability improv teaches you has been, relatively unsuccessfully, attempted at teaching in high school. The ability to work as a cohesive team has been emphasized throughout education and especially in the workplace. Improv relies on harmonic chemistry between each person on the team. The ability to craft an idea together with three voices in two minutes is a talent. One that took us weeks and months to be able to work with. It was tough, but I feel much more comfortable working in a group now.

It seems fitting that all of my drive to be in improv had started with Youtube. There is an absolutely amazing tv show that was canceled called "Whose Line Is It Anyway?". They did a series of improv games each show, the ones that we use in improv today. They were my favorite comedian's in the world when I was a kid. I am so happy and lucky to be able to do improv. It makes my day every single time we do improv. I wish that happiness on every Kennedy student. I think it would make our school feel a little smaller and more friendly. Thanks for reading 

Trick Plays

As the Super Bowl inches closer by the hour, I remember one of my favorite Youtube subjects to research, trick plays. They are so interesting to watch, and enjoyable to try to figure out all the intricacies. I guess I have always liked the idea of complex deception as a method of success, mind vs. mind. This is why magic tricks always have captured my attention. 

The trick play is a tricky by nature. It requires precision and planning, flawless communication and execution to play outside of the box. Usually it requires using skills that aren't normally required, players to diversify into positions they don't normally assume. A field goal kicker throwing a thirty yard pass, or a lineman running the ball. 

The pleasure of a trick play comes in the success. A well-executed trick play should leave a complete gap in the defense. In a game where every yard is earned through blood and sweat, it is so refreshing and powerful to have no opposition. There is always a moment of confusion in the audience, and then the sudden realization (either good or bad). It is such a momentum changer when it succeeds. 

I have absolute respect for the coaches that consistently come up with new trick plays. They have so much opposing them. The defense is professionally trained to stop them in any way possible. The entire referee system is in place to stop teams from abusing and finding loopholes in the rules. Every time a dominating trick play is created, it is constantly banned. One of the greatest compliments you can say about a coach is how many rules were created to stop them. It shows the creativity, intellect, and understanding of the intricate aspects of the game.

I guess I should tell you my favorite trick play. My personal favorite is the Statue of Liberty, in which the quarterback pretends to throw the ball but doesn't, and quickly hands it off. My favorite instance of this is when the quarterback hands it off to a lineman. It is always fun to watch the trick plays about whether the ball is snapped or not, when the quarterback just walks through the defense. When executed cleanly the Hook and Ladder, in which the ball is passed and then immediately pitched is so smooth and perfect to watch. They are all extremely enjoyable, as long as they aren't against my team. Thanks for reading

New New New

Nostalgia is the feeling of fondness or missing something in your past. I just find that the pace of everything from technology to society to pop culture is advancing and developing so rapidly that the period of nostalgia becomes closer and closer to the modern day. For example people who had cars might have been nostalgic of the horses decades or even centuries ago or the people who got the tv might have been nostalgic of the radio that was decades ago. Now, we are nostalgic of things that have happened one year ago or earlier.

All the things that seem like "past history" are shockingly recent. Everyone is sick and tired of the Harlem Shake yet that was less than a year ago. The cellphone is an extremely recent invention. One thing that shocked me in AP Biology today was that the founders of molecular biology, Watson and Crick, are still alive and kicking today. The amount of advancement in the field that they created during their lifetime must be astounding to watch. The internet itself is practically a baby next to most human technologies.

When you take in the scope of the entire history of the Homo sapiens species, the recent advancements we have made are at a astounding pace in comparison. The growth and advancement is almost exponential. I'm so excited to be a human living in the time period that we are living in. The amount of new and world changing developments that will occur during my lifetime would give me enough to write this blog until the day I die. I am also really excited to contribute to this expansion as I become an adult, and hope that my contributions are pivotal in the developing world.

At the same time I miss the olden days. I know, I am seventeen and I have no right to talk about the "olden days". However, we have experienced a lot in our lifetimes. In a few short years we will be adults, and scary thought, we will be voting to elect the leader of our country. So yeah, I can miss my own "olden days". I miss when everything was so much simpler. I miss when I didn't have to worry about everything so much, I just knew I was gonna grow up and be a doctor or a firefighter. Cookie and nap time were standard throughout the day, and homework only took fifteen minutes. I miss not having the time at night to sit down and leisure read.

So as much as I am excited to be heading out into the bright horizon to start my life, I still yearn for the simplistic ways of the past. This has seemed to be a theme not only present in each individual person but as a major political and societal feature. I don't know if the future or the past is better, but right now is pretty good as well. Thanks for reading

Humor

We have been talking in class quite a bit recently about the role of humorists in society. One of the points I stated today is that humorists rein in the extremists in our society by satirizing and parodying their position. I think one of the perfect places to observe this on Youtube.

The parody is an art form that focuses on where on the continuum of ridiculousness you place your parody. If the parody is too over-the-top it becomes heavy handed and overwhelming, yet if it is not ridiculous enough the joke is not conveyed and some people might question if that is your actual viewpoint.

I think an absolutely wonderful channel to show how satirizing is used effectively is "Key & Peele"'s channel. They span a wide array of topics, some sensitive like racism, slavery, and drugs, and some more calm like football and teachers. They show the ability of humorists to point out touchy subjects to our society and show the ridiculousness of them. Yet they actual create some serious attention to some of the more troubling personal and societal issues we share.

Another reason I love "Key & Peele" as an example is because they show how humorists who seem to have polar ideas due to their parodies can still be relatively unbiased. If you examine one individual video it will seem like they have a strong viewpoint in one direction, until you realize they make fun of that same viewpoint, even in the same video.

Collegehumor did a great political video parodying the problems with both sides agendas and the fears that partisan voters have. They attacked both the Democratic and Republican sides with equal fervor. Their goal is not to push a serious political position, but to expose the flaws in our society.

Some people might not appreciate having flaws pointed out to them, and that's why we get offended when humorists seem to attack our viewpoint. I try to remind myself that it is not because of people being against my viewpoint but just pointing out the flaws in an effort to improve.

I have to deal with a lot of criticism and critique in the performing arts, especially since the subjective nature makes it nearly impossible for all three judges to love your performance. I have had to learn that criticism, even blunt criticism, is not an attempt to be mean, but an encouragement to improve. That is why I personally feel like humorists are vital, and how Youtube exemplifies that.

Skype- Is it really conversation?

When I want to talk to my brother all the way in Seattle or stay connected to a friend who has moved away, or simply do homework with another friend from my house I can virtually call them and have a "face-to-face conversation" with them. This has been repeated by many other online services like Omegle and Facetime. It is an absolutely wonderful substitute for conversation, but I feel like interactions with another person in the flesh are invaluable and can never be dispensed with.

There is a future out there in which we remain in pods in our house all day, and every interaction we have is digital. As a off-and-on sci-fi dork I think that's utopian and I honestly can't wait for all the amazing inventions of the upcoming century. 

The only problem I have with it is the lack of human interaction, especially touch. There is something extremely comforting and real about the physical touch of another person, or even a pet. We all have to admit that hugs are pretty wonderful. We convey some of our most powerful emotions through non-verbal means. That is what I think is the most important reason why we never fall into a completely digital world.

I realize that some people believe that a more advanced virtual setting could recreate the sensations of touch and warmth. The problem is that I don't believe it's the actual touch itself that is so powerful. The power comes from knowing you are bonded in some way with another person. Shaking hands with a robot that feels exactly like a human hand is not the same as shaking a human hand.

The main reason I'm mentioning all of this is because there is an impending wave of virtualization into the near future. There was an article about a military virtual simulation that was real enough to give a trained soldier the early symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. That is intense! The feedback system is advancing in leaps and bounds from the primitive Siri to Google's new, and more advanced, conversational AI. The displays we are able to create are now becoming so in detail that the human eye can not distinguish it from real life anymore. With the shrinking of processors and the invention of bendable displays (super cool technology that you should check out), it might not be long before the virtual world is projected out in front of us from a chip in our retina.

I still urge for people to remember the power of human presence and contact. Give someone a hug or a pat on the the back today, it will make them feel better. Thanks for reading