He'll Realize the Irony Soon

I happen to be a big fan of the Hitler Downfall parodies on YouTube -- much to the confusion of my Facebook friends who became awkwardly silent when I posted Hitler's Reaction to the Oasis Split. Maybe they don't like Oasis.

But you can't watch that particular parody video now. It's been DMCA'd -- taken down, along with many other Downfall parodies, by a copyright claim from Constantin Film. This is a real shame. There's something fun about watching the crazy-eyed murderous loon having a nervous collapse over modern trifles like balloon boy, Michael Jackson, and MySpace.

But all these parodies are clearly fair use and never should have been removed by YouTube. Luckily, Rocketboom has put together a video explaining how to dispute a YouTube content take down in six easy steps. Hitler will be relieved.


(YouTube video.)

Bad Parent Blames YouTube

Apparently there is stuff on the Internet that slow children shouldn't see:

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So does this mean the Internet will be closed tomorrow? But really, while little Russell Gortzig is propped up in front of the television for the next few months -- Internet privileges taken away I presume -- his ever watchful mother and sister better keep him away from Jackass, Beavis and Butthead, and The Roadrunner. "Monkey see, monkey do," as my mother would say.

The funniest part of this story isn't even mentioned. Through an interview with Marco (the buddy who poured the gasoline) "deputies learned that Gortzig had set his pants on fire on three previous occasions without any accelerant."

Hey, I have a good idea. In addition to watching your children carefully, how about keeping gasoline, cigarette lighters and accelerant out of their reach? I'm hoping that's what Ann Curry really wanted to say to these clueless dimwits.

Basically it's a Google

John McCain recently joked about using the Internet to investigate his list of potential VP candidates.

"You know, basically it's a Google," he said. "What you can find out now on the Internet -- it's remarkable."

That's great that he's learning about "the Google," but one day he should learn about "the YouTube." It's also remarkable. In fact, the most remarkable consequence of video sharing is that it's making it harder for politicians to get away with lying. Take for example this montage of McCain's own words (h/t The Jed Report):



My favorite McCain quote: "I disagree with what the majority of American people want."

Remind me to run this post again in early November.

Things to Play With

Adobe launched Photoshop Express this week. This free photo-editing web site simplifies many of the features available in the industry-standard Photoshop: crop & rotate, remove red-eye, touch up, sharpen, soften, tint and other color effects. Express works in any web browser with Flash 9 software installed. After signing up, you get 2 gigs of storage which allows you to e-mail, link, and embed your images. Here is my first test:

Another cool site to play with today is Hulu.com. This site is the "YouTube Killer" that the major networks promised us. Well, I'm sure it's NOT going to kill YouTube -- YouTube has done quite well even after the major networks pulled all their programming from the site. But Hulu puts a lot of professional programming in one place with high quality, full screen, no sign-up, no special player required. It's as easy as watching TV.